I Feel Like…

A lot of my work involves helping leaders navigate conflict that creates positive outcomes instead of degenerating into drama. This is Compassionate Accountability®, and it starts with being transparent about our feelings. Unless we take 100% responsibility for our feelings, which includes sharing them with others, our path toward win-win solutions will be obscured.

There is a right to share your feelings.

I feel [insert feeling].

No blaming. No hedging. No minimizing. No excuses.

Easier said than done. Sometimes it’s really difficult to identify our feelings, and even harder to express them in an appropriate way during conflict. It’s a lot easier to make assumptions, blame, or jump to conclusions about other people’s motives.

Conclusions masquerading as feelings.

Although it sounds very similar, beware of conclusions masquerading as feelings. It sounds like this;

“I feel like you don’t respect me.”

“I feel like I can’t speak up.”

“I feel like nobody cares.”

None of these statements are feelings. Whenever you insert the word “like,” what follows is not a feeling.

Like turns the word feel into a conclusion.

It could be your assumptions about a person, an opinion about what you are experiencing, or an accusation. These are conclusions, not feelings.

When I’m coaching leaders and they use “like,” I ask follow-up questions to get to the feeling beneath the conclusion;

“When someone doesn’t respect you, how do you feel?”

“When you consider speaking up, how do you feel?”

“When you think nobody cares, how do you feel?”

Next time you start a sentence with “I feel like…,” be aware that you aren’t sharing a feeling. If your intention is to be transparent about your feelings, then get rid of the “like.”

Read my self-care resources for resilient leadership to help manage your emotions and well-being!

Copyright Next Element Consulting, LLC 2021