INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, welcomed Dr. Cassandra McBride-Smith to provide another commentary in a series.
The Dr. Cassandra McBride-Smith Commentaries
We’ve all heard the bullying stories on social media, a breeding ground for confidence slayers, also known as trolls; the meanspirited, hateful, plain evil remarks people post make me wonder about their upbringing, self-efficacy, and their confidence. I also wonder, how do confidence slayers do their jobs so well?
In a time where vitriol is common, how do we gain respect when engaging with others or at least not succumb to the negativity that so easily besets and surrounds us? How do confidence slayers targets easily succumb to the slayers? I sought to answer many questions about confidence hits and the slayer impacts! Some of the brutal words and actions alter the confidence slayers targets’ moods and/or take years to recover from, dig out from the low place. It seems women-on-women confidence slayers scenarios saturate the workforce. Historically, men have dominated business environments and women have fewer opportunities for career progression. Although this has improved, you would think that now if we have more seats at the table, we’d rally and support each other. This is not always the case.
I share a story about working for an airline in my book where women in C-suite roles were acting more like spiteful girls in high school than educated women. I’m being generous as high school students probably wouldn’t behave as such. Backbiting, gaslighting by not including other women in important meetings, pitting against other coworkers, calling out others’ inadequacies—you name it, and in the most strident way.
Aside from fear, we can reason that the poorest behavior against others in these types of scenarios is rooted in fear; I heard someone say that the attempts to hold others back are fixed in the person not thinking there is enough to go around – the mindset that if you get acknowledged, blessed, a profit, then it won’t be enough for me. That is ludicrous! It is a big world with a lot of talented people created to problem-solve, invent, support, and create. Selfishness and power-thirsting behaviors deplete resources.
Here’s a training tip:
Leaders complete a confidence slayers survey. You can use the example in my book and/or do a skip-level meeting. The skip-level meeting is with your direct reports’ team members. Check-in to see what is happening with the employee and his/her manager or employee-to-employee unmanageable conflict. One step in the right direction can change the trajectory of your people engagement, your biggest resource!
McBride & Smith Training Advisory Group offers employee engagement training. We implement simple ways to train busy adults in the workforce based on adult learning principles.
For help with training, visit Mcbridesmithtraining.com
Listen to the commentary for more on “Confidence Slayers – Mean Girls”
Dr. Cassandra McBride-Smith is a thought leader in people management, CEO and founder of McBride & Smith Training Advisory Group with over 22 years of training and professorship in Adult Learning. Her company specializes in helping businesses with training strategies, employee engagement, creating eLearning, and building leadership skills.
Dr. Smith has led global training for Fortune 500 companies and taught tertiary students online. Smith’s expertise spans both academic and corporate settings as she has done extensive research on leadership, working virtually, and enhancing soft skills for people managers.
Smith is a published author and the creator of the Virtual Team Global Business Model (VTGBM™) explained in her book Working at a Distance: A Global Business Model for Virtual Team Collaboration and her newest product Virtual Behaviors App an innovative employee engagement tool to help support to connect leaders to their remote teams.
Learn more at https://www.mcbridesmithtraining.com/.
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