Extending Invitations Last week I purged all the books from my bookshelf, I threw out all my workshop notes and articles, and I deleted 1800 blog posts and 1400 images (everything) from my website. I wanted to begin with an ending for a beginning I do not yet fully understand. I ask for your patience as this evolves and I strive to be patient with myself. What I do know is that the concept and experience of invitations will be the backdrop of how I proceed. I don’t care for rules, commandments, cheap advice, manifestos, proclamations, and all the various things tossed our way that feel more l ..read more

I have taken the next radical step in my purge of the past. It feels freeing, enthralling and edgy. I went into my website at www.davidzinger.com that I started on November 11, 2005. I proceeded this morning to delete every blog post I wrote — a total of 1836 posts on engagement and strength based leadership. I also deleted over 1700 images, most of them my own, that accompanied these posts. There is no backup! I plan to embark on a refresh of what I will do in the future on April Fool’s Day. I do not know where I am headed but I feel that I am moving forward after letting go of the past ..read more

There are at least twenty-three possible symptoms when we fail to build a pyramid of engagement within our organization. 1.     There is a lack of clarity of results or even a lack of results 2.     Too many results are attempted without enough capacity 3.     Results are clear but lack any meaning or significance for employees 4.     Performance is reduced to a management system rather than the daily lifeblood of work 5.     There is a failure to hold engaging co ..read more

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” — Swedish proverb Welcome to the fifth issue of Hey Shrink. The first series of issues of this new newsletter is devoted to understanding, reducing, managing, and transforming anxiety. “Safety IS the treatment. — Stephen Porges Sit in safety. Dr. David Martin, a psychologist who taught and wrote about counselling at the University of Manitoba was instrumental in teaching me how psychological safety extinguishes fear. His teaching was in regards to a counselling relationship where the safety created by the counsellor allo ..read more

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” — Arthur Somers Roche Welcome to the fourth issue of ‘Hey Shrink.’ This first series of 6 to 8 issues of this newsletter is devoted to understanding, reducing, managing, and transforming anxiety. “I love you like a river that understands that it must learn to flow differently over waterfalls and to rest in the shallows.”  – Paulo Coelho Anxiety like water. Imagine you are standing in water. My question for you is, how deep was the water ..read more

Issue #3 of Hey Shrink: Breathing into Anxiety “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray Welcome to the third issue of ‘Hey Shrink.’ The first series of posts for this newsletter is devoted to understanding, reducing, managing, and transforming anxiety. Takeaway. Don’t let anxiety take your breath away. Anxiety Defined. If you joined us late I am using the Cambridge dictionary definition of anxiety: the uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or worry about something that is happening or might happen in the future. Per ..read more

Welcome to the second issue of Hey Shrink: Psychological Zingers for Better Living, Working and Wellbeing. This issue continues with anxiety and focuses on expanding awareness of both the consequences and possible benefits of anxiety to provide you with a roomier view of anxiety because sometimes rather than fighting anxiety it can be helpful to “sit with it” for a while. You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will r ..read more

Hey Shrink #1 – Lower Anxiety: Stop Taking Mental Selfies In 2017, according to the World Health Organization, over 264 million adults experienced anxiety. With COVID and the disconcerting levels of uncertainty over the last 5 years that number today is much higher. The Cambridge dictionary defines anxiety as the uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or worry about something that is happening or might happen in the future. My daughter, a school psychologist was asked to do a presentation on anxiety for the teachers and staff of a school. I taught Educational and Counselling Psycholo ..read more

During a brief spring snowfall yesterday I paused to watch the snow fall. As the snow made its way to the ground I saw how much of the snow was falling upwards, at least temporarily, on its journey to the ground. Many of us have felt like we are falling over the past few years with COVID, changes in where and how we work, isolation, mental wellbeing challenges, burnout, uncertainty, the war in the Ukraine, and so much more. To fall upwards we must take ourselves lightly. As snow rides the currents of the wind we too can ride the currents of this decade. I am not asking you to be a positive thi ..read more

I first encountered the phrase psychological safety thirty-two years ago in William Kahn’s brilliant article on ‘The Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement.’ I loved the focus on safety but I believe over three decades it has become jargon and management speak which also happened when we went from the term personal engagement to employee engagement. Once something like psychological safety gets in the hands of experts, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches it tends to become more complex, convoluted, and requires a twenty-two point action plan, and of course mandatory training f ..read more