What's breakfast got to do with anger?

Apparently, a whole lot. My breakfast meeting with WHY Club was interesting. WHY stands for "We Help You" - it is a networking group that meets once per week for breakfast and to exchange ideas for generating business in the form of leads. Each week they have a speaker, and I was honored to be invited to address the group. The weather was horrible (thunder, lightning, torrential downpours), but there was a fairly good turnout nonetheless. I talked about my business, BODA reLEAF consulting, and our focus on team development, anger and stress management and communication.

Right away, someone said - "you should talk to the fire department" - the St. Catharines fire department is in a bitter dispute with its fire chief. Others said, "you should be really busy!" I agree - I should be really busy. Not because people are SO messed up, but because anger is a part of everyday life, and one that we tend to ignore because of the negative stigma attached to it.

I think half the battle of getting business to realize just how important a topic like anger could be to their bottom line is awareness. By doing presentations like the one I did for WHY, I am slowly getting the word out to businesses of all sizes that anger, stress, poor communication, and low performing teams will have a detrimental effect on the bottom line profits of any business. And this doesn't just apply to business... What's the number one thing couples argue about? MONEY. What is the number one reason couples actually end up in divorce? LACK OF COMMUNICATION. It's funny how we know this, but still don't see the need for learning more effective communication skills.

Did you know that Canada is the fourth most dangerous country to work in because of workplace violence? Betcha you didn't... Anger and stress can lead to people behaving in ways they never thought possible; still employers hesitate to admit they could have a problem with workplace violence. The reason again, is that they don't want to have negative stigma attached to their organization. However, just as it is in personal rehab, admission that you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Businesses need to be proactive if they are to reduce their risk for workplace violence, and to ensure that their human resources are functioning at peak performance levels.

My new e-book, Crazy Busy, talks all about this challenge and how progressive businesses can begin to turn the tide. If you would like a copy, please email me at info@angersolution.com, or of course, you can just post a comment to this blog site. Have a good one! I'll be back with more ramblings about anger and other stuff.

Everyday Anger is Normal

Although not new to blogging, I am new to blogspot - my other host seems to have a lot of technical difficulties and it was making me angry... just kidding. I am a counselor/coach with too many years experience counselling and more recently coaching "angry" people and showing them how to make their anger work for them instead of against them. It seems to me that people like to look at this subject from a distance, as long as it doesn't relate directly to them. In fact, I have observed when people see my book cover, some of them take two steps back because its as though the anger is contagious. The truth is that anger is part of every day life. When that jerk cuts you off on the highway - you feel angry! Face it - cause it ain't going anywhere.

Think of it this way - when you squeeze an apple, apple juice comes out. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out. When circumstances squeeze you - certain emotions come out (happiness, joy, anger, fear, sadness, whatever). That's because they were inside of you already, just waiting for an opportunity to be used! I think it's time to drop the stigma associated with anger and realize that anger is part of the human existence; we just need to learn how to express it appropriately. Tomorrow I'll be speaking to a women's business group about how anger shows up at work, and how it can negatively impact human productivity. Once it's over, I'll be back to share my thoughts on the experience.