This International Women's Day, let's embrace the themes of #Inspire and #Inclusion by empowering women to thrive alongside men. The "GOOD" toolkit offers GOOD strategies to build confidence, navigate workplace challenges, and foster mental well-being and collective strength. Let's make it happen! G - Gain Positive Confidence: Own Your Power!Feeling empowered starts with believing in yourself. Imagine confidently presenting your ideas, captivating the audience, and making a real impact.Acknowledge Your Strengths: Reflect on your strengths and acknowledge your potential.Action step: Take 5 minutes daily to list 3 things you're good at and visualize yourself achieving your goals. Examples:I am a reliable and dependable team player.I am skilled at resolving conflicts.I go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.Silence Negative Self-Talk: Combat self-doubt by replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations.Action step: When self-doubt arises, write down the negative thought and replace it with a positive affirmation. Believe in your power! Example:Turn "I can't to I can."Celebrate Your Wins: Every victory matters!Action step: Acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments to boost your confidence.Example:Treat yourself to a nice dinner to celebrate your small wins. O - Observe & Own Your Thoughts: Self-Doubt Doesn't Control You.We all have that self-doubting voice. But remember, it doesn't control you. Observe and question those limiting thoughts and reframe them into empowering statements.Action steps: Journaling: Express your appreciation and positivity.Meditation: Find your inner calm and clarity.Mantra: Empower yourself with words.Object & Overcome Inner Critic: Feedback is an opportunity for growth.Define Feedback: Determine if criticism is constructive or rooted in negative emotions like envy. Action steps: Identify emotion: Recognize how the feedback makes you feel and accept these emotions without judgment.Evaluate assumptions: Don’t accept feedback automatically as truth.Seek clarification: Clarify confusing points, specific areas for improvement, and the intended outcome of the feedback.Embrace Growth: See feedback as a chance to learn and improve.Action steps: Reframe Perspective: Shift your mindset. See feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow, not a personal attack.Focus on Actionable Points: Identify specific, actionable points within the feedback you can work on.Set SMART Goals: Break down actionable points into SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.Affirm Your Capabilities: Counter negativity with affirmations reinforcing your ability to grow and succeed.Action steps: Silence Negative Self-Talk: Challenge self-doubt with positive affirmations.Recall Past Successes: Reflect on past achievements and challenges you've overcome.Visualize Future Success: Imagine yourself implementing feedback and achieving goals.D - Dote on Yourself: Self-compassion is essential and not selfish.Practice Self-Compassion: You deserve your own love and support. Action step: Reflect on things you're grateful for daily and schedule time for activities that bring you joy. Prioritize Self-Care: Make time for exercise, hobbies, and meaningful connections with loved ones. Action

Are you looking to unlock your potential but feel held back by going alone? Group coaching offers a powerful alternative to traditional one-on-one sessions. By bringing together like-minded individuals in a supportive environment, group coaching allows you to benefit from the expertise of a coach while gaining insights and encouragement from peers to enhance your mental well-being. Tailored Support for Your Needs:At iGROW, we offer a diverse range of resource groups aimed at boosting overall mental well-being in both your personal and professional life. Whether you're a parent seeking better work-life balance, a couple aiming to strengthen your relationship, or anyone pursuing greater happiness and fulfillment, we have a group tailored to support you. Here's a glimpse into some of our groups: Personal Well-being:Parenting Success Resource Group: Empowers parents to juggle responsibilities, navigate challenges like distractions and discipline, and create a thriving family environment.Work-Life Satisfaction Resource Group: Discover strategies for achieving work-life balance, prioritizing life demands, setting goals, and taking action steps towards a fulfilling life.Workplace Happiness Resource Group: Explore building positive relationships with colleagues, navigating workplace dynamics, asserting yourself, and finding joy in your day-to-day work.Relationship Health:Marital Bliss Resource Group: Enhance communication and strengthen your commitment to a happier marriage.Positive Relationships Resource Group: Develop essential relationship-building skills and lasting connections.Additional Benefits of Group Coaching:Shared Experiences: Gain insights from the successes and challenges of others in the group.Increased Accountability: Stay motivated and on track with support from your peers.Cost-Effective: Access expert coaching at a more affordable rate than individual sessions.Confidence Boost: Witnessing others' achievements can inspire belief in your own potential.Ready to Join the Journey?Ready to take your personal and professional growth to the next level? Join one of our group coaching sessions today.For more information, you may reach us through the channels below: Phone: +65 6871 8777 x 201Website: www.iGROW.co   Email: cess@iGROW.co  

As we celebrate International Women's Month, it's crucial to prioritize workplace mental well-being for women worldwide. From breaking barriers to overcoming challenges, women often face unique pressures that can impact their workplace mental well-being In this blog post, we'll explore seven initiatives aimed at empowering women and enhancing their well-being throughout International Women's Month.1. Self-Care Workshops:Organize workshops dedicated to workplace mental well-being and tailored self-care practices that address the specific needs of women. Cover topics such as stress management, mindfulness techniques, and strategies for achieving work-life balance. These workshops provide practical tools that empower women to prioritize their mental health at work and enhance overall workplace well-being.2. Support Groups:Create safe spaces where women can come together to share their experiences, challenges, and victories related to workplace mental health. Whether in-person or virtual, support groups provide a sense of community and solidarity, fostering connections that can alleviate feelings of isolation and promote mental wellness among women at work.3. Mental Well-being Webinars:Offer webinars featuring experts in workplace mental well-being, resilience, and self-empowerment. These sessions can cover a range of topics, such as building resilience, setting boundaries, and enhancing self-esteem at work. Valuable insights and practical advice will empower women to take control of their mental well-being especially in the workplace. 4. Creative Expression Sessions:Encourage women to explore their creativity through art, music, writing, or other forms of self-expression at work. Creative expression can serve as a powerful outlet for processing emotions, reducing stress, and fostering self-discovery in the workplace. Consider organizing workshops or events that allow women to tap into their creative potential and nurture their mental well-being at work.5. Mindful Movement Classes:Offer classes focused on mindful movement practices such as yoga, tai chi, or dance for women at work. These activities not only promote physical health but also encourage mindfulness and stress reduction in the workplace. By connecting mind, body, and breath, mindful movement classes can help women cultivate a greater sense of calm and balance, promoting workplace mental well-being.6. Gratitude Journals:Encourage women to cultivate a daily practice of gratitude by keeping a journal or gratitude diary at work. Each day, encourage them to reflect on three things they're grateful for, no matter how small. Practicing gratitude has been shown to improve mood, reduce stress, and enhance overall well-being, contributing to workplace mental health.7. Volunteer Opportunities:Provide opportunities for women to give back to their communities through volunteer work or charitable activities at work. Engaging in acts of kindness and service can boost self-esteem, foster a sense of purpose, and strengthen social connections—all of which are essential for maintaining mental well-being. Incorporating volunteer opportunities into workplace initiatives promotes employee well-being and corporate wellness.Conclusion:International Women's Month is a time to celebrate the ac

At the end of the day, members of the LGBTQ+ community are just people: your co-workers, people who are in the trenches of the office with you and who just want to do a good job and earn their paycheck well. As with other people, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone, and if you nurture them and give them a safe space to work at, then they (and by extension, their team and the company as a whole) will thrive. Self-Determination Theory states that you can help your employees reach their full potential as workers if you support their individual experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness; for LGBTQIA+ people, that means creating an environment where they can feel safe to be themselves without fear of harassment, and which allows them the freedom to focus on their outputs for the company instead of the stress of existence. Anti-Discrimination Policies For a modern workplace, progressive and accepting LGBTQIA+ spaces are paramount to attracting and keeping top talent in the workplace. It’s not just talented queer individuals that a company might be missing out on; many straight cisgender allies will forego a company if its policies regarding the LGBTQIA+ community aren’t safe or progressive enough. To send a message that you care about your workers enough to create a safe space, proper anti-discrimination policies must be in place to ensure that your workers can feel safe enough to make connections and do good work for the company that they are in. With that in mind, here are some effective ways to not just encourage diversity at a company, but to foster a welcoming environment for the gay and transgender community there. Seminars, workshops, and training about LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace, with clear objective of fostering understanding and inclusion between co-workers, and giving them the ability to communicate better with each other. Strong policies against LGBTQ+ discrimination and harassment, and the ability to report SOGIE-based harassment without fearing retaliation as part of Diversity and Inclusion. Prohibition of retaliation against any employee making a complaint or participating in an investigation or legal proceeding related to the harassment or discrimination of an LGBTQ+ employee. Employee ambassadors who promote an environment of inclusivity and acceptance within a small workgroup. Clear company policies on the use of a transgender or nonbinary person’s name and pronouns and properly gendering them on a day-to-day basis. Having a unisex bathroom on every floor or strong policies that allow transgender individuals to use the bathroom they feel most comfortable with. It’s important to foster a strong relationship of trust between an employer/company and an employee. Having comprehensive policies that ensure that LGBTQ+ employees can feel safe in the workplace and be allowed to live safely is an important part of that trust. It shows your commitment to them, to the ideals of diversity and inclusion, and to create an equal opportunity environment in the workplace that allows for the best talent to rise up and work well together. Why These Policies Work and What They Can Contribute The tide regarding LGBTQ+ people in the workplace has been shifting. Over 80% of non-LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ people, even in the modern day, can still be discriminated against by companies and corporations across the globe. Even in countries with laws recognizing the rights of queer individuals to not be discriminated against, LGBTQ workplace discrimination and that bias against them still exist. In hiring practices, for example, studies in South East Asia have shown that a transgender individual was less likely to get any positive reception from a company compared to cisgender individuals even if their job experience and resume are on par with their competition. It also says that many jobs tend to exclude transgender individuals, with 48.8% of transgender individuals saying that their transgender status has gotten them fired or not hired for a job. This forces many of them towards informal work that offers them even fewer workplace protections. People who identify as gay and lesbian, on the other hand, are also discriminated against, with many individuals either being dropped during the interview once their sexual orientation is apparent, or pushed into less visible work if their qualifications are too strong to ignore. Many people who are not out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community tend to hide their orientation out of fear of being judged or harassed, with many fearing their job security if they come out of the closet or if they are outed by colleagues. Especially in countries that lack anti-discrimination protection for LGBTQ+ individuals, many of them are forced to live in fear of being found out and excluded for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Workplace Discrimination for the LGBTQIA+ Community The LGBTQ+ community receives different types of discrimination from society, depending on which side of the umbrella you might fall on. In a 2021 study by UCLA, over 38% of LGBTQIA+ employees reported that they experienced workplace harassment.  For lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, here are some examples of the discrimination that they can face in the workplace. Sexualization of their personhood - Many openly-gay individuals feel like their existence is overly sexualized by some people around them, with 68% of LGBTQ employees saying that they’ve been sexually harassed in the workplace and 12% of LGBTQ+ women reporting being sexually assaulted; despite this, over 57% of these employees don’t report these incidents out of a fear of having negative repercussions in their work relationships, and 44% for the possible consequences to their career.Inappropriate or bigoted jokes/language about gay people in the workplace - Some co-workers would joke negatively about being gay to their co-workers, and for closeted people, this can create an unwelcoming environment around them that reduces the trust that they can have for their co-workers or company.Sometimes, these jokes are used intentionally to weed out their co-workers who aren’t bigoted against LGBTQIA+ people, and to ensure that anyone who is in that community would not only be uncomfortable to come out but be forced to adhere to their toxic heteronormative principles—and probably ensuring that if they lived openly as gay, that they wouldn’t be part of them and lose out on the benefits of association.Unable to talk about personal lives in the workplace - For

Opening Closet Doors: Welcoming LGBTQ+ People In The Workplace is a short series of informative articles about workplace discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people and what your company can do to be an inclusive and open place for people of different SOGIE backgrounds. ***The LGBTQIA+ community has been gaining a lot of prominence and attention worldwide in recent decades. Not that they haven’t always existed—gay and trans and bisexual people have existed for as long as human communities have—but with the advent of social media giving voices to more marginalized communities, they feel more prominent than ever. Because of the marginalization of LGBTQIA+ identities, many experience mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety, due to the lack of acceptance in society in general. As a way of celebrating Pride Month, we at iGROW would like to discuss the history of this movement and the mental health challenges that they face in society—and what businesses and managers can do to ensure the safety and mental wellness of their LGBTQIA+ employees. Definition of Terms In this part, we will discuss some important key terms that LGBTQIA+ people use to describe themselves and the world. It can feel complicated to learn these terms, and a lot of people claim that they are “unnecessary” because it doesn’t reflect their own personal experiences and beliefs which tend to align with traditional perspectives. But do keep in mind that these terms are not harmful to anyone despite what some people may say, and they help many people whose identities and lives fall outside the traditional perspectives to be able to describe themselves properly and to help understand who they are and thus bolster their self-worth and their place in the world at large. So, yes, allow yourself an open mind, and see that these terms may not be made for you, but they are made for someone, and they have a positive effect on the lives of those people. LGBTQIA+ - a broad term for the coalition of sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions that do not fall under the traditional perspectives of society. The plus sign at the end is to allow for other gender identities and sexual orientations that would fall under the umbrella but aren’t necessarily named in the acronym. The letters are short for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Biromantic, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual/Aromantic’ SOGIE - short for ‘Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression,’ is a neutral catch-all term to describe a person’s gender and sexual leanings. It is something that everyone has, and this terminology is used to bring different experiences together under one umbrella. Sexual Orientation - a term to denote the kind of people that one is attracted to. This can be the opposite gender (heterosexual/straight), the same gender (gay/lesbian), indiscriminate to the gender (bisexual and pansexual), or not attracted to any (asexual). Gender Identity - a term to denote the gender that a person has, their sense of gender that they feel from within. This is either aligned with the gender assigned at birth (cisgender) or different from what they were assigned to at birth (transgender). Gender Expression - a term used to describe the way that a person pres

Much like how cancer needs to be detected at an early stage to allow people to fight it, cancer in teams should also be identified to prevent it from festering and put treatment plans in place to allow for building trust in the workplace.Building Trust in the Workplace: The ABCs of Addressing the Lack of Trust in TeamsThe dysfunctions in a team are all rooted in one cause: the lack of trust. If you want to remove all dysfunctions in your team and make your work environment healthy, building trust in the workplace is the most essential thing you can do.The ABCs of Building Trust in Teams: 3 Steps to Build TrustA: Agree on Expected BehaviorsIn the office, everyone has a standard way of acting and a standard way of knowing how things are happening. Then the pandemic came along and forced people to adapt to a work from home setup.And after a long struggle, some parts of the world are now going back to the office through a hybrid setup - a mix of office and home working. However, This back and forth will leave the wiring in peoples’ brains all messed up and can have them feeling lost no matter which environment they are working from.And so in a hybrid environment, it is important that you re-establish those team norms that were instinctual before the quaratines started. It is through these team norms that everyone will know how to act and behave.All you need to do is ask just one question to your team: “What behaviours are most important for team success?”A helpful technique is to get your team to start saying be. Be positive. Be prompt. Be on time. Be responsive.The 1st step in building trust in the workplace and forming a healthy, high-performing team is to agree on behaviours everyone expects everyone else to hold close and uphold, no matter what.B: Bond Together SociallyThe value of social interaction is significant, especially for your younger colleagues. Building trust in the workplace through social interaction is very powerful in that it forms bonds on a personal level, and gives team members that feeling that they are part of a group that values them.Working together in the office is actually a good way of promoting social interaction because people can hang out and it becomes a spot for people to talk and have a chat.In a hybrid environment, you have less opportunity to connect socially. Additionally, for hybrid workplaces, there’s the danger of forming factions according to the work arrangement. Fully home-based workers will feel out of the loop, with the full office workers having a group of their own.As such, it is imperative that people find other ways to socialize. Fortunately, it is much easier to connect even at a distance these days with the help of technology. Still, it can leave people feeling exhausted having to stare at a camera and screen all day.Think of ways you can bond with your team even in a hybrid work setup. There is no rule for going about it since different teams have different backgrounds, and what may work for one team may be less effective for another.What’s important, however, is the initiative to find out what works best for you and your team. Building trust in the workplace is a team effort, and neither a lone manager nor a single member can pull it off.C: Check In RegularlyBuilding trust in the w

Trust is an important factor of team success and effectiveness, but it is not the only component of it. It's also important to have a culture that is focused on achieving goals and showing results.Achieving Goals: 4 Ways You Can Get Your Team to Focus on ResultsKeeping your team aligned on the goals and tasks is essential when achieving goals and getting your desired results. Below, we highlight the 4 ways you can get your teams aligned and focused on achieving goals.The DEFG of Achieving goals: 4 ways to get your team to focus on resultsD: Determine Common Goals & Weekly TasksDetermine the Common GoalsThe first step to getting your teams to focus on achieving goals is to apply (the good kind of) peer pressure.(The good kind of) peer pressure helps get your team to commit. The idea is that you get your team to support each other and thus achieve commitment to goals. And the way to do this is by determining a common goal that everyone works toward together as a team.Determine what your common goal is. You want everyone to work towards this goal collectively as a group, not as a person. A practical method of doing this is setting a time-based goal. As an example, there can be a 90-day goal that can be broken down into monthly goals, which can then be further divided into weekly tasks.Determine the Weekly Leadership TasksOnce the team has a goal to work towards and smaller goals that lead to the completion of the team goal, you’re going to want to identify what the weekly leadership tasks and actions are needed to be taken to be able to move forward.Find ways to phrase these tasks in a positive way so people feel empowered. Instead of thinking, “Okay I’ll do it because I have to,” their mindset will be, “I will do this. I want to do this. I want to make this happen.”As humans, one of our best motivators is the sense of accomplishment we experience from successfully completing tasks and, eventually, goals. Set up the tasks in such a way that there are tasks that are easier to accomplish and tasks that are a bit more challenging. Completing the simpler tasks fills up our motivation tank, and allows us to go that extra mile when doing the stretch task.Lastly, the whole team is encouraged to work together to determine the common goals and the weekly leadership tasks so that there is a shared commitment to the goal from start to finish.Teamwork is paramount in achieving goals, and having everyone committed to that goal makes all the difference.E: Express Feedforward RegularlyFeedforward is not just a made-up term. It's the more wholesome and less toxic version of feedback. Here's why.When people are giving feedback, they focus on providing evidence about the wrong that was done. The recipients then feel the need to defend themselves, resulting in a back and forth of arguments.It’s scary, making future conversations awkward and scary and generally anxiety-inducing. Now suddenly, you have to worry about everything you do and everything you’ve done.Instead of focusing on the mistakes in the past, focus on what can be done right in the future. That is what feedforward is, and it is a much healthier form of communication than arguing back and forth.There are two things here that we need to be critical of: to be regular and to be specific.

Many of us think that to improve our lives, big and drastic changes are an absolute necessity. Examples of this are starting a rigorous workout routine after a long period of inactivity, or making a huge cut in the amount of food we consume to lose weight. While it can lead to changes, it may not be necessarily good, and in most cases even backfire and cause us to rebound and actually become worse. No, we don’t need to make big and drastic changes. What we need instead is to make small changes and know how to form healthy habits.How to Form Healthy Habits in 5 Important Aspects of LifeMaking small changes is certainly a lot easier than making big ones, and thus do not require a lot of effort. This allows us to do them repeatedly over time, and they slowly but surely become part and parcel of our lives. We make enough small changes and the compounding effect of these turns into something huge. And the key difference with making big changes is that many smaller changes are far more sustainable and doable.So, which aspects of life do we need to have healthy habits in? We call them the 5 M’s: mindset, mood, movement, meal, and momentum.The 5 M’s and how to form healthy habits in them Mindset: Your thinking Our mindsets include our thoughts, ambitions, views, and how we react to the situations in our lives. How we react to things that stress us out is just as important - if not more - than the stressor itself. The truth of the matter is that we cannot avoid getting stressed or getting put in tough situations like accidents, traffic, or other emergencies we might experience - these are simply out of our control. What’s within our control, however, is how we think and view and react to these situations.Simply put, developing a positive mindset will do wonders for us. Here’s how to form a positive mindset: Set your intentions. Start every day with a clear goal and a firm expectation that it will be a great day, or at least not a bad day. Our minds are magnets that attract what we think, and we’re fairly sure you want to attract the positives! Be realistic. Being positive does not mean forcing positivity. Realize that things are bad when there is proof that they are bad. But don’t get lost in the gloom and doom, too. You need to balance being positive with being realistic Savor your successes. Celebrate your good work and milestones no matter how big or small they may be. Pat yourself on the back for washing the dishes and making your bed, or starting a light workout. It matters! Mood: Your feelings How we feel affects how we think, and how we think affects how we feel. Trying to stay positive is indeed difficult to do when you’re not feeling positive, and the other way around. Fortunately, our mood can be changed depending on what’s going on around us. In other words, we can change how we feel based on what we choose to do, where we choose to be, and the media that we choose to consume such as books, television programs, and music. Here are some ways you can start to feel more positively: Show gratitude. One of the best ways to be happy is to be thankful for what you have. Really look around you and really see what you have, and then appreciate them. Having friends and family around you, being able to eat enough daily, or even