Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

Decision Making

5 Areas that can PREVENT you from long-term success!

Here’s a question for you… “Regarding business development, are you in it for the short or long term?”. May sound like a senseless question but consider the following article ‘Deming’s Five Diseases of Management’ which looks at 5 common problems that STOP organisations from succeeding in the long term!

It’s all about behaviours and attitude and I certainly know some managers with the latter. Here we’ll just cover what I consider to be the 5 most fundamental that any company/firm needs to consider.

1. Having no consistent purpose – All too often new strategies are introduced yet rarely seen through to conclusion before another strategy is muscling its way in due to ‘new ideas’ coming in from the top!

What generally happens is a lot of energy is initiated at the beginning but with minimal result. Staff become despondent and find it difficult to commit to anything long-term, why should they, it’s likely to change after all! Worse still, morale drops leading to dissatisfaction and even high turnover of staff. (some retail outlets are a great example of this)

Create and certainly promote your ‘Mission’ and ‘Vision’ statements for all to see and understand. Ascertain the ‘Values’ that drive them and get staff to buy into them making sure any changes or new strategies follow this path. Set specific goals and actions, then make sure it’s seen through to the end.

2. Emphasis on short-term profits! – It’s still tough out there with instant orders/profits taking priority over longevity of the business. Be warned that short-cuts are often taken with regards quality of service or product, innovation is suppressed and often replaced by fear. Be mindful that the economy is showing signs of improving so now is the time to start investing in your organisation’s long-term health and development plan.

3. Management by fear – Leads neatly on from the last heading. Often fear emanates from the unknown and, in turn, it’s easy to make threats. Fear can help people focus on short-term situation but at the expense of long-term success.

Carry out performance reviews/appraisals but in a manner of fairness with a good dose of honesty and sensitivity. Adopt a supportive, coaching approach giving them empowerment over their own success.

Also complete mini one’s throughout the year. I know I used to hate these as it always seemed to be used by directors to beat you rather than look for the most productive way forward.

Implement mentoring or coaching packages that focus on regular improvement.

4. Senior management high turnover – It takes time for any manager to gain an understanding of their role and equally as much to develop an understanding relationship with the team and those they are responsible for as well as expertise in the job itself, ergo, you will never have an efficient business if the key players aren’t bedded down.

Without stability from the top down, others will also adopt a short-term approach.

Start to consider long-term objectives with new managers. Looking at both short/long-term, create career paths or goals that align with the business’ objectives. SWOT analysis work well here to establish individual’s S & Os and look to embrace these rather than concentrating on W or T.

5. Looking at just the ‘Visible’ results – All too often I see how organisations simply look at the bottom line figures. Even in a sales environment, figures are important and as far as the board are concerned, yes, figures are critical but refrain from simply looking at these.

What is your organisation’s Critical Success Factor (CSF)? What are the key elements that drive your business? This should be created from your mission statement, from that, activities can be created to insure it. These aren’t all necessary figure based but can be around client/customer satisfaction, staff wellbeing etc.

This is a subject matter in its own right as are any of the aforementioned headings. Just to start being aware will make immense differences within your organisation and should you wish for long-term success, then please get in touch.

After all, Coaching to Success’ mantra is “… Our business is Your success” so take that first step and contact me to discuss some areas of concern or wanting to move forward at neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238, where you’ll be assured a friendly and positive greeting.

Need some tips to help keep up with those new resolutions?

It’s the beginning of 2014 and how many of us have made those promises to change something we do or behaviour we have? How difficult is it? We start with an idea that sounds simple enough but once we put it into practice, damn it’s hard!

Often though, it is more about how we approach it rather than just getting on and doing it then letting it slip because thought hadn’t gone into it at the offset … Oh, and I’ve been as guilty as the next person in years gone by for not achieving what I initially set out to do!

So here are 7 ‘Nutburn’ tips on how to achieve those resolutions.

  1. Set ‘Realistic’ targets – All too often we aim too high and as we move along, we realise this and rather than change, we simply let it slip by the way or we set too broad a goal! To make it work, set simple goals with small steps that can be increased as each becomes achieved.
  2. Outline what you wish to achieve – To change, you have to take yourself outside of your comfort zone, otherwise you would have done it some time ago, wouldn’t you? Do a Pros and cons list so you can see the benefits and also check what hurdles may crop up? Set out a plan to check on progress/targets etc
  3. Is it something YOU wish to do? – Insure this is something that you want to achieve and not something to conform to someone else’s wish or expectation.
  4. Accurate and Specific! – Rather than stating that you wish to lose weight, for example, be specific, ie lose a stone by year end. This may seem daunting but break it down into further specific and achievable slots such as 2lb each month by the end of March then 1lb Apr etc thereafter. Now it’s realistic whilst being specific.
  5. Become accountable to others – Make it public. Tell family, friends, those on your social media contact lists what it is you’re aiming to achieve and give them updates on your success. As a coach, it’s amazing how my clients achieve what they set as a result of making promises to me.
  6. Reward achievements – No matter how small or large, set rewards along your path. When you hit a target, reward yourself.
  7. Handle Failings – Remember, you are creating new habits, it’s reported that it takes 21 days to create new habits and 6 months for it to become part of your psyche, so there is a likelihood that you may slip up along the way. It is imperative not to berate yourself over this, get up, dust yourself down and get back on with it. Much like I had to when I didn’t write as many workshops as I thought I would have done in the time I set myself.

 

This is something Coaching to Success knows about, it’s what we do … help others to change their ways for improved life/work outcomes so if you need someone to help you create new resolutions, take that first step and contact me at neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238, where you’ll be assured a friendly and positive greeting.

 

Let’s start to build morale now we’re on the turn!

Sociologist Alexander Leighton stated “Morale is the capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose” so it’s critical to invest time in developing good morale for your organisation to flourish, those that do experience much higher productivity, profitability and staff retention, decreased level of absenteeism and turnover of employee numbers as well as producing an amazing place to ‘want’ to come and work in!

With all the positive talk about the economic climate, let’s insure or teams also buy into this lift in morale while avoiding the common factors I often see causing it to dip:

  • Difficult co-workers.
  • Heavy workloads and/or stress.
  • No recognition or reward/gratitude.
  • Restructure or Layoffs
  • Deplorable leadership.
  • Inflexible working conditions.
  • Cancellation of team benefits.
  • Lack of enablement or autonomy. opposite

How frequently do you see managers turning a blind eye, or not even realising the state of morale by blaming workload pressure? Don’t wait for others, lead from the front and build your own positive attitude or outlook. ‘Positive’ thinking encourages positivity around you (negative has the same contrasting effect).

So I’ve put together some tips for you to consider:

  1. CONNECT WITH YOUR TEAM – Avoid hiding behind a desk or closed doors. Get out there, speak to the team, find out about personal as well as work subjects and show interest. Show presence by walking around and being approachable. Remember my earlier comment ‘No recognition’? Reward your team and this doesn’t have to cost a penny, simply making an announcement to all how well a member/team have done builds positive feelings but physical rewards work well when they’re due.
  2. CLARITY OF DIRECTION – Set ‘Clear’ goals. This way members ‘know’ what they should be doing or aiming for. SMART goals, yeah, I know, business spiel but it works!
  3. COMMUNICATION –Without clarity, rumours start, so it’s imperative that timely and accurate information is given. If there are changes being made, keep those around up to date so they can’t make their own ‘assumptions’. Remember to ‘Receive’ as well… after all, communication means “the activity of conveying information through the exchange of information”
  4. MAINTAIN MOTIVATION – All too often there’s a positive ‘get up and go’ approach and the following month, life’s back to normal! Know what makes your team members tick! (look into Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs). Keep up with SMART goals and stay ‘Connected’ with your team(s).

Coaching to Success understands how to help those leaders develop a positive environment and keep motivated to succeed through these times as well as supporting you along this path. If this is an area you feel you, your team or firm/company would benefit from, take that first step by speaking to someone who can help you improve morale whilst keeping you on track to reach them, after all, that’s what coaching is all about so pick up the phone to arrange a free consultation on how we can help, contact Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk… We’re here to help.

Eeek! Even less daylight hours to do all those things!

Although daylight doesn’t make a great deal of difference to most of us in the working environment, it’s a great analogy on how to squeeze even more into the precious time that we have. So using that as a comparison, how come we’re finding even less time to get on and do the important things? Even as a mentor in such subject, I have to constantly be aware of the signs myself.

As an avid fan, I’d like to share Stephen Covey tool’s called the ‘Time-Matrix’  which looks at taking control of your time and realising where you’re spending it.

To start, grab an A4 sheet of paper and divide into quarters. Along the top, write ‘URGENT’ in the left and ‘NOT URGENT’ in the right. Along the side, against the uppermost squares, write ‘IMPORTANT, and the lower, write ‘NOT IMPORTANT…

Your quarters will be Top Left (No.1) ‘Urgent/Important’, Top Right (No.2) ‘Not Urgent/Important’, Bottom Left (No.3) ‘Urgent/Not Important’, Bottom Right (No.4) ‘Not Urgent/Not Important’, viola, your matrix.

So what are we to put into these quadrants?

I= MANAGE: These are the un-expected things that land on our laps. The things that we couldn’t or don’t have control over when they arrive. Crisis, Medical emergencies, Pressing problems, Deadline driven projects etc.

II= FOCUS: This is where your time should ideally be spent. Preparation & Planning, Prevention, Exercise, Relationship building etc.

III= AVOID: These are the things that may not affect you directly but may have a bearing on what’s happening in work. The sort of things you really you could keep your nose out of and let the responsible parties take control. Texts, Calls, Interruptions, Some emails etc. and the dreaded FaceBook are also mingled into this area.

IV= AVOID: You’ll be surprised at how long you actually spend in here! Trivia, procrastination, Junk Mail, idle telephone call when things need to be done etc.

Now look at where you ‘honestly’ spend your time. Ideally No.2 is where you will be most productive. Planning ahead so that items don’t suddenly find themselves in box 1!! Look at your own activities during the day or week and see what takes up your time and see where you can plan things in more efficiently. This is the place I desperately try my best to work on yet, I’m human too!

Hopefully that will help to a certain degree but we know how difficult it is to see the wood for the trees, especially when you’re operating at 115%. If that’s the case, then time management is an area that either you or someone in your team could possibly do with gaining some clarity. Coaching to Success has a variety of ways to help with ‘Time Management’ so contact me for a FREE Introductory chat or send me an email at neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk where you’ll be assured a friendly and positive greeting.

7 TIPS TO DEAL WITH CONFRONTATION

How many times have you got caught up in an argument that if just one of you had been less defensive, could have been resolved or at least diffused, if handled better?

Here’s 7 tips on how to control your own demeanour and, in turn, the potential landmine that an argument can be.

  1. Take a deep breath just before the confrontation or during it. This lowers your heartbeat and blood pressure.
  2. Breathe a little slower, again, the amount of adrenaline running through your body also drops.
  3. Take 5 minutes, if you can, quickly rehearse what you are going to say to someone. Make key points of your argument.
  4. Get to know what triggers your anger. Prepare a new response to that trigger. By doing this you are aware of the buttons people can push to elicit a certain response.
  5. Make the person aware of how confrontational they are being. Saying something like ‘why are you shouting at me?’, ‘Why are you being so aggressive’. This turns the energy back on the person and lets them look at themselves for a minute, this might calm them down as people get lost in the moment.
  6. Turn all the attention back on the person you are arguing with. ‘You seem really angry about that!’. This can have the same effect of point 5.
  7. Don’t get sucked into their arguments. The purpose of an argument is to manipulate you into losing one, thereby showing the other person they are superior.

Consider this story…

I drove past someone who lived on our estate and he was walking his dog. He was on the pavement as I drove past. I pulled into the driveway then heard this guy shouting at me. He walked aggressively and I prepared myself for a confrontation as I hadn’t a clue what had happened. The conversation went as follows;

“You soaked my dog”, I looked at his dog and suddenly realised I must have driven through a puddle. Inside, I questioned the absurdity of this man looking for a fight because some water had gone over his dog. I said

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.”’

“You did soak him, you went through a puddle and soaked him.”

“I said, apologies for soaking your dog I didn’t realise” repeating what I had said before. His demeanour changed.

“Well you did and I’m pissed off!”

“I can see you are, but it was an accident”. As he turner to walk away, he added “

I’m sorry I was so angry, it’s just it happened last night as well with somebody else.”

“It’s okay, I understand. See you later” I replied.

This shows that different things annoy different people, but it’s easy to deal with their behaviour if you point out how they are behaving.

If there are anger issues within your workplace, give Neil a call on 07761 187238 or email info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to arrange a free, no obligation consultation and discuss what issues are affecting you.