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Health & Fitness

Shari Storm Shares How to Use your Parenting Skills to your Business Advantage

Shari Storm, spoke at Bellevue Business Professional Women today on How to Use your Parenting Skills to your Business Advantage.

Shari Storm, author of Motherhood is the New MBA, was the guest speaker at Bellevue Business Professional Women luncheon today.  The topic was How to use your parenting skills to your business advantage.


Here are some ideas Shari shared with us.


Give people time to process their emotions.  

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Shari gave the example that by the time she gets her children up in the morning, she herself has already been up for 2 hours, had her coffee, checked her emails.  Her children had just gotten out of dream land.  So she gives them time for that transition.  

How does this apply to work?  If there is any news that require internal processing (such as reorganizing the company, someone leaving the department...) give it time for the listener to process the news.  If the response is a pause, just let it be.  Do not automatically assume resistance.  People simply need time to let the news sink in.  Go over the 
information again later if needed, after the listener has had a chance to process the information or emotion.

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Fun can change behavior for the better.  Shari shared a video clip of the piano stairs with us.  To encourage people to take the stairs 
instead of the escalator, a piano stair was put in Odenplan, Stockholm.  66% more people than usual took the stairs instead of the 
escalator.  It was called the fun theory.  You can watch the utube here:  http://www.thefuntheory.com/piano-staircase.


This works at home and at work.  One staff member enjoys focusing on her creative work with no interruption.  Since her job requires interacting with the public, an arrangement was made for her to work at home one day a week so she can focus her entire attention on her creative activity without any interruption.  


There are ways to get around the tasks we dislike.  Shari gave an example from her own life.  She does not mind grocery shopping, but it's the unloading from the car to the pantry that she does not like.  So her part of the task now only involves the shopping.  The unloading from the car to the pantry is done by family members.  Problem solved.


Our new membership co-chair, Jean Prather, said about Shari Storm, "I think the speaker at today's luncheon was really interesting and insightful. I believe all of us in attendance could relate to her topic and gain from her knowledge and experiences."


I thoroughly enjoyed Shari's presentation.  And I highly recommend her as a speaker.  You don't even need to be parents to benefit from her  information.  And I find her book packed with practical ideas you can use immediately.  You can learn more about Shari at 
http://www.sharistorm.com/.


Our next BPW Bellevue networking event is Tea Time at Tully's (Main Street and 108th NE, Bellevue) on March 6th, Wednesday, from 5-7pm.

Our next luncheon is March 20th, Wednesday, from 11 to 1 at Red Lion Hotel Bellevue.  Our speaker, Fara Li, will share with us the topic 
"How to get the most out of your life transitions".  Her personal journey is an inspiring one, and Fara will be sharing the tools she 
used to help her clarify her journey in a relatively short period of time.  For more information, visit www.bpwbellevue.org 

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