Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

General

How does ‘Procrastination’ effect your business’ success?

I’ve got to put my hands up and admit that I am a procrastinator, but I recognise this fact and have actions to insure those tasks I keep putting off don’t get shelved until the last minute!

So how many of these statements apply to you?

  • I usually have to rush to complete tasks on time.
  • I avoid important tasks on my to-do list and fill my time doing low-priority work.
  • When I need to do something that may be a little tasking, I put it off until I feel more inspired.
  • I frequently find myself doing things I had intended doings days ago
  • I sit down to start an important project only to immediately go off to grab a cuppa.
  • When deadlines approach, I often waste time by doing other things.

If, like myself, you find that some of these apply, then I’m afraid to tell you that you too have that disease known as procrastinationitist (OK, I may have made that up!).

No problems, Dr. Nutburn is here to help you…

Prescription A (Work out the WHY):

Is it simply that the job is unpleasant or boring? If so, attack it head on and get it out of the way quickly because it will just loiter there distracting you from other tasks.

A common thought process for procrastinators is that it has to be perfect! Unless you have the resources or knowledge base, it’s not worth starting is it? Sorry to say but ‘good enough’ is often just that. Your work is likely to be at a much higher standard than some so be aware of this ‘why’ and just go for it.

Is it too over-whelming or outside your comfort zone? Are your skill-sets in doubt? Accept this and go for it… you’ll surprise yourself as I often do!

Prescription B (Recognising):

Put off the low important tasks and set a time to do these later (this is prioritising!). Look at the statements made earlier and know which apply to you.

Be aware of continually re-scheduling tasks. This is okay occasionally but check you aren’t doing it regularly for the same tasks!

Prescription C (Look at strategies):

From a psychological point of view, procrastination is a habit. Habits take at least 21 days to form and we all have different ways of taken new ones on board.

Take what you can from these following tips. Try them for 3-4 weeks to insure you have a better chance of creating them:

  • Prioritise – Put jobs in order and do them in that order.
  • Peer pressure – ask someone to check on how you’re doing against set objectives
  • To-Do lists – Create orders so that those ‘unpleasant’ tasks don’t ‘accidently’ get missed!
  • Consequence vs Actions – what are the disagreeable consequences of NOT achieving the objective?
  • Rewards – Set yourself rewards for accomplishing a task. I enjoy making a decent percolated coffee as a simple reward so this doesn’t have to be big.
  • Time constraints – set a time boundary to start and complete tasks.
  • Jigsaw – Large projects can be broken down into segments. Focus on the important parts (borders) then bits that work together (colours/shapes) and then the rest (infill).
  • Try! – We sometimes assume a task will be worse than what it is. Start by simply giving it a try

So start understanding ‘Why’ you are procrastinating, ‘Recognise’ your triggers and ‘Strategies’ how to overcome them.

If you are struggling to find time to complete tasks, getting frustrated with putting things off or feeling overwhelmed by what needs to be achieved, Coaching to Success understand what you are going through so call for a free assessment by contacting Neil Nutburn on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.

How to achieve the best from appraisals

As is the nature of what I do, ie ask a lot of questions to gain clarity of thought and direction, it wasn’t surprising when I was recently asked to help a client with appraisals.

This brought about a shudder running down my spine remembering days where the big boss would hold appraisals. Or rather, interrogation, where you felt placed in beaming spotlights, asked a myriad of questions extracted from some manual that bore no resemblance to what you actually did.

Bombardment of questions with answers not even considered. A one way conversation on how you need to improve is not, I know this will be hard to believe for some, the correct way to hold an appraisal!

Remove the shackles of normality, re-look at what the appraisal should be about. This is a joint venture for all to develop better ways to harmonise the workforce. Dare I say, ways for the company/manager to also improve as a result of observations from the staff! Now there’s a thought.

Fine tune your LISTENING skills too. Avoid the ‘Why’ question (justification) and ask questions that open with What, Where, How, Who, When (exploratory), eg ‘What would the reason for this be’.

Prepare a report of the appraisee.

  • List training needs and discuss.
  • Note both what organisation and the appraise needs to do.
  • Look back – how well has the appraisee performed against set actions
  • How could they have done better?
  • Look objectively, not emotionally. Work off ‘evidence’ based aspects.
  • What hurdles did the company put in their way as well as what they put themselves
  • Look forward – what achievements are you looking for over the next 6mth/yr
  • How will you assist them in reaching their objectives?
  • Draft a report within 3 working days, both sign and conclude the process within 5 days

Art of listening

  • Show the appraisee that you are listening – look at them
  • Listen to what they DON’T say – look for avoidance around issues
  • STOP TALKING! – once asked, let the appraise answer. If there’s a pause, allow them time to process what they are thinking about.

Conducting

  • Review appraisee’s documents (ie time keeping, job description, client/customer feedback etc)
  • Allow at least half as much time again as anticipated to carry out the appraisal
  • Highlight success and initiatives taken.
  • Question how failings could be handled better (without reprimanding!)

Feedback

  • All evidence based. NOT around personality or assumed motives
  • Provide examples and not generalisation of observed behaviours
  • Ask appraisee to describe their thoughts and feelings about the impact that an identified behaviour will have (ask rather than tell)
  • As Stephen R. Covey stated “First seek to understand, then to be understood”. Use this philosophy throughout the questioning in the appraisal. Both will get so much more from it

Before any meeting, create questions under headings such as Job & Expectations, Supervisory, Fulfilment & Morale, Continued Personal Development (CPD), Teamwork, Equality & Impartiality, Communication, Organisation’s Overview, Clients/Customers so you gain a broad spectrum of understanding and this can then be analysed to create further questions at the one-to-one meetings.

If you wish to go through the process of Appraisals and want to get the best out of managing them or help running them, contact Coaching to Success’ Neil Nutburn, email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238 to set up discussions. We also have 60 incisive questions based on the above headings too.

Coaching to success is all about creating successful businesses, firms and organisations. We’re here to insure you succeed.

5 tips to make the New Resolutions stick!!

2015 is upon us with resolutions to lose weight, give something up or re-organise your career or work/life balance.

We inevitably start off with the best intentions that rarely come to fruition! Statistics report that only 8-10% of goals are achieved. There are a myriad of reasons for this including:

  • Setting ‘Negative’ goals – I want to ‘Give’ up…, I want to ‘Lose’ …lb, I need to ‘Stop’…
  • Multitasking – With a hope you’ll reach your goal sooner.
  • Underestimating timescale – Accurately assessing time to complete without building in an element for procrastination!
  • Goals set by others or setting other’s goals – Goals need to be your own for them to work!
  • Unrealistic objectives – It’s great to aspire being the CEO of a multi-national company if you’re already on the board but don’t expect to take over in the next year if you’ve just joined!
  • Review – All too often we’re caught up in doing the activities while drifting off course without noticing as a result of not carrying out frequent reviews.

How can we change those stats to work in our favour? Coaching to Success bring you 5 top tips which aren’t rocket science but will help you reach the moon should that be your destination.

  1. MOTIVATION – What motivates us? Normally something that is important to our beliefs. Are you looking to pacify someone else or creating your own goal so they’ll reach theirs? Establish what will make it happen for YOU. Prioritise what is important to you. Focus on the outcome as hard work will be required otherwise you would have done this some time ago!
  2. Be S.M.A.R.T. – Most of us know this acronym and this is the key to success.Specific is the clarity or path to reach the final goal. Be clear in what the outcome is to be. Measurable is data, the timeline, quantities that are needed to get you there. Eg, If you want to increase your database by 100 over 6mths. That’s 17/mth or 1/day. You can then make 3 calls per day to assure 1 will sign up. Not such a big goal when broken down! Attainable is making sure it’s within reach. 1000 new contacts may not necessarily be achievable incorporating other aspects of work! Relevant is simply that. What’s the reason for reaching that number of contacts? Just to increase your likes on FB/LinkedIn isn’t relevant on its own! Time Focused is all about setting timelines. These should include intermittent goals so you can celebrate early successes as well as the ultimate end goal!
  3. Don’t just SAY it, WRITE it! – There’s a psychological link between the physical action of doing the old fashioned thing of ‘writing’ (not typing!) your goal down and action. Use positive affirmations such as ‘Will’ over ‘Would like’. ie “I will increase database by 17 new contacts per month”, as opposed to “I would like to see database increase…”
  4. Plan it –A main factor often missed is considering the steps required to arrive there. You may get as far as writing a goal down but you need to create a plan of ‘what/when’ each step is to be carried out.
  5. Keep it Alive – We have to live with it and nurture it. A journey where actions need to be taken along the way and for long-term goals. It may get hard at times, these are the moments of upmost importance to stick with the plan. If you start to lose sight, it may just be down to re-aligning your own commitment to accomplishing it.

Coaching to Success help their clients to reach goals throughout the whole year so New Year isn’t any different other than this is a time we often focus on making those all important changes.

Here’s wishing you an exceptional start to 2015, a prosperous one too. For those who want to truly excel in the upcoming year(s), please contact Neil on 07761 187238 or email your enquiry to neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk

HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.

 

The 9 Hit list of common time-management mistakes … Prt 2 of 2!

Part 2 of 2: A fortnight ago we started off by discussing the first 5 parts of mistakes so commonly made in managing the tasks we have in the time to achieve them. How we manage the task is what is imperative. Time continues regardless and there are always 60 minutes in an hour, 24hrs in a day and 168hrs in in week no matter how you look at it.

See how many you’re guilty of! Here’s to the start of insuring you spend your time wisely and, in turn, create wealth for your business or time for the family or friends…

  1. PROCRASTINATION

This is the mother of all distractions from taking us away from important tasks. There are a myriad of reasons why we put things off and find other, often menial in comparison. Maybe you’re dreading the task or find it’s too big. I will often create an action plan to break the task into smaller, manageable components, work for half hour on each and then spend a last element joining the pieces together. Another is to set a time break when you will start/finish regardless of where you are. Repeat this until it is complete!

  1. MULTITASKING

So you can multi-task eh? Here’s some data for you, as a result of not concentrating on one task or another, or speaking on the phone while emailing a reply to someone, you can actually take up to 40% MORE TIME to complete a task as you are not focused on it. Also, the person on the other end of the call realises you are not giving them your full attention and we won’t even go in to mistkaes yuove made in yur emails (or article in this case)! Become aware of the traits of Multitasking to insure you don’t fall into the trap.

  1. FAILING TO COPE WITH DISTRACTIONS

I used to be forever reading emails as they pinged through or picking up the phone as yet another FB message found its way there. Now it’s different! I’ve turned off all email alerts and my phone goes on silent, as if I was in a meeting, when I have something important to accomplish. Manage your distractions as well as interruptions

  1. NOT TAKING BREAKS!

We are not robots and can’t produce the best quality work over an 8hr+ stint. This is treasured downtime which enable our brains to gain a chance to breath. We feed our bodily engines with food so feed your brain with frequent breaks. Create time in your diary to go for a walk, do some exercise anything to stop your brain focusing on what you are currently doing and when you return, you’ll be surprised as to how things become so much clearer.

Coaching to success specialise in time-management to help their clients become much more productive in work while freeing up time for family and friends. If you wish to know more, simply take 10 minutes out to contact Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk and discover who we can help you make those changes.

5 Chairs to conflict resolution!

I got myself into a potentially heated discussion the other day through a dismissive comment I made that hit a raw nerve!

After receiving a barrage of aggression, I realised how easy it is to upset someone. So what did I do? Stand and fight back, but to what end? Just to prove I was superior in the use of the English language (that’s not to say I was!), only to create the catalyst for a break down in our relationship over a petty remark?

Now, I realised that I was at fault and should have refrained from using flippant remarks. The situation dispersed straight away when I put my hands up and announced “my bad, I only meant to make light of the situation”. At this point, the hypothetical inferno that could have potentially gone out of control was eliminated.

All too often, we allow simple situations to spiral with both parties wanting the upper hand. It’s not a sign of weakness to back down, more of strength, as long as you are doing it for the right reason, ie I was in the wrong, not to simply appease the other person.

So what happens when it’s gone beyond the niceties and there is a definite issue, with seemingly little resolve due to the fact that “I’m not in conflict, they’re simply WRONG!”

This tool is best handled with someone to arbitrate and ask the questions. It involves 4 chairs facing in on each side of a square and 1 chair to the side.

  1. Person one. Directly opposite is…
  2. Person two. The chairs on either side will be…
  3. The company/boss/family and opposite…
  4. Outsiders looking in.

The 5th chair is for person ‘2’. Observing only.

Person ‘1’ sits in chair 1. Questions are asked concerning their views, reasons and thoughts behind what has started this conflict. The arbitrator’s task is to ask questions while insuring person 2 doesn’t interrupt.

Once person 1 has exhausted their thoughts, they are then asked to sit in chair 2 and express how they think person 2 feels about the situation. This is the critical stage for person 2 to listen and realise how their actions affect the other person.

When complete, asked them to move to chair 3. How would the company/boss or family look at what it going on and eventually to chair 4 representing someone who could potentially be effected by this.

Once complete, the whole exercise is repeated with Person 2 starting off in chair 2, then 1, 3 and 4 and the first participant in the observation chair.

When completed, all parties are brought together having a clearer understanding of cause and effect, working to resolve issues as logic has had an opportunity to step in rather than allowing emotion to gain full control.

The physical movement between chairs is an NLP trick that triggers the brain to realise they are leaving one post behind and can see clearer in the next post.

Debate adds energy to new potential ideas. Conflict dampens the thought process and the potential of moving forward. This can be costly not just for business but the morale too.

Coaching to success know the right ‘incisive’ questions to ask as we’re trained in this process to alleviate the tension and build on answers given. If you have conflict and are looking for a resolve, then make your initial enquiry with Neil either via the phone on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk for a friendly, informal chat to see how we can help.