This was a sentence taken from my NLP qualification notes, and it really stopped me in my tracks.

I talk about this a lot in my training sessions. How we react in any given situation (you or them) is ALWAYS as response to how we are thinking about that situation/person.

By thinking I mean;
📓 The story we are telling ourselves.
🖼️ The pictures we are creating in our minds.
🔤 The tone and language we are using.
📸 The focus of our thoughts.

All external behaviour is (consciously or unconsciously) communicating your internal experience.

That might include;
👉 How you react (and how quickly)
👉 What you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to
👉 Your body language and facial expressions
👉 Your spoken tone and language
👉 What parts of the ‘story’ you fixate on

This is why investing in good coaching and training for your team to strengthen the skills needed to manage thoughts and deepen self-awareness is essential for boosting team cohesion, productivity, creativity and overall team happiness.

As leaders, this training and support also helps us to stay curious and be less reactive to unwanted behaviours and be more likely to identify and address the root causes rather than waste money on superficial interventions.