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Articles
by & about Susan Hastings

Quick links to a except of each article on this page
and to full article on it's own page:

Emotional Weight - Make peace and then let it go.	excerpt	article
Dealing With an Irate Customer	excerpt	article
On Being a Good Listener	excerpt	article
Teachers as Leaders	excerpt	article
Changing Perspectives On Leadership	excerpt	article
Committing to a Compromise?	excerpt	article
About Susan Hastings	excerpt	article
The HEART of the Matter	excerpt	article
Spotlight on Susan Hastings	excerpt	article

Emotional Weight - Make peace and then let it go.
(Published in Personal Excellence - www.leaderexcel.com)

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOSE a few pounds? Many people resolve every year to lose weight. How are you doing with your desire to shed a few pounds?

Many of us also desire to lose another kind of weight that affects us physically, psychologically, mentally, and spiritually. I’m talking about the emotional weight, the heavy baggage we carry around with us, often buried below the surface—all the “could of’s”, the “should of’s”, the “wish I had’s”, the “wish I hadn't.” These surface when we’re embroiled in an issue or concern that, in the end, doesn’t matter.

So I recommend that you use the mantra—make peace and let it go. This forces you to pause and consider a new point of view. Once your brain and heart are ready, you can release your emotional weight.

10 Ways to Lose Weight
Here are 10 of my favorite ways to shed emotional pounds. Choose the ones that are relevant for you.

Click here to read the full article.

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Changing Perspectives on Leadership

“A leader is someone others want to follow ….” That is my favorite definition of a leader and has been since I first heard it 20 years ago.

I’m finding that my perspective on leadership is changing – and has been changing for quite awhile, though subtly. As I try to develop my spiritual nature more; to go inside myself for answers more than seeking them outside; to be more gentle both with myself and others; to go with the flow more and control less, I am feeling a different perspective on leadership.

Do know that I have not mastered the above – no, not even close. But it’s my intention to do so and two of my favorite words are intention and attention: having an intention to change and then putting the attention on the intention.

And little by little, I am noticing changes. I do – and have done – a lot of work in the field of Leadership. I give workshops on it; I’ve written articles about it, I’ve been told I’m a leader. But somehow what that really means has never had the depth of understanding in the way it does now.

I read about a study done several years ago that said the 3 most common problems in business were poor attitudes, poor communication skills and poor technical skills – and the easiest of these to change were the technical skills!

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Dealing With an Irate Customer:

How do you view an irate customer? As an asset or a liability?

Most of us have been one at some time or another; many people have to deal with them in their everyday work. Certainly one of our greatest challenges in business is to create positive results from negative beginnings when such opportunities arise.

The customer who has a specific complaint and has something legitimate to complain about.
The customer who starts out being pleasant but because of a situation that arises, becomes dissatisfied.
The customer who is generally irate about life.

==> Click here to read the full article <==

Listening:

Have you ever had the experience of feeling misunderstood?
Or misunderstanding?

Of course!

A recent study of 2,000 HRD professionals cited poor communications as one of the top six problems in organizations today. Another study cited the three greatest challenges were lack of communication skills, poor attitudes, and lack of experience.

So what is the common dilemma?

COMMUNICATIONS!

When I do a Needs Assessment for the companies with which I work, inevitably communications emerges as the #1 problem. And that, of course, affects everything else - customer service, team building, attitudes, leadership to say nothing of morale.

Most of us know the components of good communications: listening so that others will talk, and speaking so others will listen, including when we need to confront others, and win/ win conflict resolution. They seem rather trite and familiar but knowing and doing are not necessarily the same. Let's explore them a little more closely.

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Teachers as Leaders:

Is there any profession that can make a bigger
difference to the future of our society than education?

Our young people are the future decision makers of our country. Is there any profession where excellent leadership is more important for our young people? In my opinion, the answer is, "no." My answer is based on a decade of experience as a school counselor, and, most recently, on the. experience of. teaching teachers in-service and graduate credit courses. Education is a profession where leadership is paramount for the future of our young people who are clearly our greatest natural resource.

What is leadership anyway?

My favorite definition of a leader is simply this: "A leader is someone others want to follow." So what does this have to do with teachers as leaders? Teachers by virtue of being teachers are role models for our young people.

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Committing to a Compromise?

“You cannot commit your life spirit to a compromise.”

That was a message I heard from Robert Fritz, the creator of Technology of Creativity and DMA, many years ago. It resonated with my soul.

When I look at the times I have compromised with my life spirit over my lifetime, they have been the times of greatest stress for me. It has felt like I’m trying to fit a square peg in a round hole or to make something right that I know deep down is not. Or to stay longer in a situation when I know the time has come to move on, whether it is personally or professionally. I have experienced both.

I was a part time Home School Liaison at the Richmond School in Hanover, New Hampshire for ten years. I loved it! I started out as being a part time counselor but when the school hired a full time counselor, I could see the hand writing on the wall: they were not going to need both a full time and a part time counselor. I looked at where I saw the need to be and it was in involving parents more in the process when their kids were having problems.

I then went to the superintendent and presented my idea of Home School Liaison, which he accepted. As such, I met each week with the teams of teachers, met with students individually and occasionally as groups, and now, met with parents when their intervention would be an asset.

I thoroughly enjoyed my job: the kids were a delight (although there were times I was glad they went home to someone else’s Mother!) and I felt very loved by them. even worked on my birthday, which I usually don’t, but I wanted to be with them – and they rewarded me with a party. I enjoyed the teachers with whom I worked, the administrators. I felt I was doing a good job, and it was during this time that I started teaching Parent Effectiveness Training where I know I made a difference in ways I never had the opportunity to do before.

However, as time went on, I was aware that I had moved into a rather complacent phase; I didn’t feel as creative or as energized, it was just comfortable to be there twice a week. Ironically, it was at that time that I spoke to my principal whom I really felt connected with, and told her that maybe the time had come for me to move on. That felt like a risky move to me because I sure didn’t want to get fired but that turned out to be one of the most life changing and significant conversations I ever had because the next day, in my “cubby” was an ad that asked such questions as “are you energetic?” “a self starter”, etc? If so, become a Performax consultant, using behavioral assessments for better communications. I still do that today and it is the backbone of all of my work.

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