Personal Development Archives • Page 7 of 36 • Sasuga! Communications

3 Checkin Questions To Reduce Meeting Distractions

by Helen Iwata | Jul 3, 2023 | All, Communication, Conference Calls, Facilitation, Interviews, Meetings, Personal Development, Presentations

Have you ever been in a meeting where your colleague didn’t seem to be paying attention or contributing fully? You might feel frustrated. But you probably don’t know what’s going on in that person’s life that could be distracting them. One day, I joined a 1:1 coaching...

3 Tips To Deal With “Mum Guilt”

by Helen Iwata | Jun 20, 2023 | All, Announcements, Communication, Conference Calls, Facilitation, Interviews, Meetings, Personal Development, Presentations

“My son has been sick this week, and he ended up watching YouTube for kids all day since he wants to be in my room where I work. I felt bad.” This is a classic example of mum guilt. In many cases, “Mum guilt” (or “Mom guilt” or “Mommy guilt”) is when you want to be a...

Is It Unprofessional To Smile?

by Helen Iwata | Jun 13, 2023 | All, Announcements, Communication, Conference Calls, Facilitation, Interviews, Meetings, Personal Development, Presentations

I was amused when I read an article about how Japanese people were taking classes to learn how to smile after spending so long wearing masks during the pandemic. It makes sense though. Our facial expression has a huge impact on our communication to others as well as...

Are You Being Hard On Yourself?

by Helen Iwata | Jun 6, 2023 | All, Communication, Personal Development

(Just for fun – the photo is with my friend, Sam, about 5 years ago on the stepping stones at a lovely village in Yorkshire where we used to go on family holidays as children.) The other day, Junko (not her real name) told me on a call that she’d recently been...

The Difficulty Of Receiving

by Helen Iwata | Jun 5, 2023 | All, Communication, Personal Development

Oh, the difficulty of receiving! This photo is from 2014. I was speaking at a seminar organized by FEW (For Empowering Women) Japan and this was the panel discussion toward the end of the event. After this, there was a raffle. My name came up as a winner! In my mind,...

Simple Skills For Less Effort And More Impact

by Helen Iwata | May 9, 2023 | All, Communication, Personal Development

As we come out of Golden Week in Japan, I have a sort of “New Year” feeling. In March, many businesses went through the crazy busyness of the fiscal year end. In April, it was all about new hires and moving to new departments. And then the holidays. So now seems like...