Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

General

‘LEADERSHIP’ IT’S JUST A WAY OF MANAGEMENT… ISN’T IT???

We were recently approached by a client who was looking to improve their team by appointing a couple of leaders to insure the organisation’s vision was carried out.

Firstly, it’s important to understand that not all MANAGERS are, or even make, good LEADERS! Management is the process or method; it’s all about getting things done. Leadership is about getting others to do what’s needed. This then brought to our attention that some simple guidelines may be beneficial to those, such as yourself, that read these fortnightly blogs, so here are some little pointers to help you understand the role of a ‘Leader’ or at least remind you of some of them. 

  1. Focus, with positive expectations, on your team
  2. You are realistic (in areas of the desired goal/outcome, own capabilities and those of the team members)
  3. Develop and maintain a clear vision of expectations and goals
  4. Understand that your people are key with regards the context of this vision
  5. Trust in your people to empower them to turn this vision into one of reality
  6. Set an excellent personal example in the workplace
  7. Continually maintain the highest integrity at all times 

Now with regards the activities involved, consider how you relate to the following aspects and how you could modify the way you do things currentlyto help you be aware of the ‘Leader’ within, so, some simple steps :

  • HUMILITY… Would you want to follow an arrogant person? Then adopt this in your own leadership.
  • VISION… Have this firmly implanted in your own mind and the ability to inspire others will flow from this.
  • CAPABILITY… Are you a Jack of all & Master of None? Know your own capabilities and work to your strengths and let others help out in areas of weakness.
  • LEAD BY EXAMPLE… Don’t criticise others for spending time on Facebook whilst standing there texting a friend about something! Get the idea?
  • DETERMINATION… When times are looking tough, persevere through any barriers that stand in front of you and others will be inspired by these actions.
  • GIVE!… Your people look to you and are the most important element of the business for leaders. Make time for them and let them know when you’re free for discussions.
  • DELEGATION… You can’t do it all, does the captain of a submarine know how to build a sub or does he trust his and his crew’s life to others! Please, this is only by way of getting you to think, I don’t need all the arguments, ha ha.
  • FEEDBACK… provide prompt feedback to your people, without it, you’re depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance! 

This is not exhaustive and there are many other factors but these should certainly help and having understood these and a whole range of other areas not published here, gave our client’s new leaders, the tools and ideas to follow up after our coaching sessions to insure the maximum benefit for the company will come from maximising the involvement of the teams therein. 

Coaching to success have helped numerous individuals and organisations improve performance by ‘Leading’ their teams and the first step is to simply give us a call on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to discuss how brilliant Leadership results in exceptional returns. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

‘MARCH’ FORWARD TO CREATE NEW BELIEFS!

Have you ever considered how often the things you expect to happen to you, frequently end up happening!?

Often these are areas of our subconscious awareness. Bringing to fore, areas of which we have no awareness, as such, due to the way our subconscious state simply doesn’t evaluate or be judgemental but created from our ‘Beliefs’ regardless whether or not they are true or genuine.

Let me try to explain whilst not to trying to delve too deep into the realms of Erik Erikson child psychology, but often our beliefs are brought about by the way we were brought up and/or treated and these, in turn, are projected on to current or new circumstances but do not fear, by a little re-programming of the subconscious mind, these can be changed.

And here are a few things to try…

  • Write a list of all the ‘Positive’ beliefs you have about yourself
  • Underneath or against each one, write the positive aspects that occurred to lead you to these beliefs.
  • Do the same for all the ‘Negative’ beliefs
  • Take the top three or four negative beliefs and ask yourself these questions… (1) Where did this belief originate? (2) What is this belief costing me on a daily or weekly basis? (3) If I continue to hold onto this belief, what will the long term cost be to me? (4) How will my life change if I just abandon or let this belief go?
  • Re-write this negative belief into a positive affirmation… i.e. from “I don’t have the physique or stamina to run any distance” to “With training, correct diet and apparel, I could run next year’s marathon”
  • Finally, write 5 sentences all starting ‘I must…’. Try not to spend too much time thinking on this, let your mind drift and to come up with the ideas. Once done, for each sentence question yourself and write what would happen if you DIDN’T accomplish them!

In the world of sport, it was stated that man could NOT run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Scientists set about proving the human body was not physically designed to be able to do this so everyone took it as red that this wasn’t achievable… well, up to the point of Roger Bannister who, in 1954, changed his own belief on this matter and broke the record achieving 3:59:4. Funnily enough, this set about a ‘New POSITIVE’ belief and 2 months Later (British Empire and Commonwealth Games, Vancouver), Australia’s John Landy and Britain’s Roger Bannister did it again and from that point a NEW BELIEF has arisen.

Coaching to success has helped numerous people change ‘Negative’ beliefs into ‘Positive’ outcomes and the first step is to simply give us a call on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to discuss what it is that’s holding you back and to see how we can help you move forward.

We look forward to hearing from you.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR AND ANOTHER SEASON IS ABOUT TO ‘CHANGE’!

With the promise of a new season upon us and the ‘changes’ that this will bring, what deviations are you going to make in your life or business?

As a rule, we don’t take too kindly to change but as Charles Darwin put it so eloquently “It is not the strongest that survive but the one most responsive to change”. As an example of this, Deloitte stated at the end of last year when they were appointed as being the administrators for Barratt/Priceless shoes “The reason they have failed again is that adequate changes to the operational business HAVEN’T been made”

There’s also another saying that if you stay on the same path, you will end up getting the same result, so what can you do about it?

They’re great these sayings but they don’t help us to make the necessary change whereas Richard Beckhard developed a concept called ‘The Change Equation’ which, although not a miracle cure, brings to our awareness via a simple formula that can be used to illustrate some of the important issues in making those changes.

As stated before, people will resist or even avoid change as it often brings an element of pain, or at least some discomfort, along with it! So Beckhard realised that some countervailing steps were necessary, hence, his equation.

        A = An attractive vision of the future

        B = Some dissatisfaction with the present

        C = Some practical first steps

        D = The pain involved in changing

The sum of A + B + C must exceed the value of D

Now look at some questions to ask yourself in each of the areas…

(A)        What do I want? … What do I need to do to clarify my vision? … What is my clear and attractive vision of how the future might be for me? How can I best use the strengths I have or the gifts within?

(B)        How much do I enjoy my present role/situation? … What is the basis for this dissatisfaction? … What has the greatest pull, the way things are or the way they could be if I was to step out of my comfort zone and changed things? … What would I most like to change? … If I was to change my situation/role/job, what would I leave behind and how important is that to me? … How much do I REALLY want to change?

(C)        Within the near future, what are some of the things that I could change to move forward (i.e., Develop skills/education/knowledge; Develop existing skills and strengths; Improve network connections; Obtain different experiences… etc)

(D)        How big is the degree of the change required? … What would be involved to make this change? … Who else would need to be involved? (Family, friends, peers, line managers etc) … What support do I need through this evolution? (had to bring Darwin back in here somewhere!)

Once you’ve created your list of actions that affect each criteria, look to put them into a priority assessment and either score as Low/Medium/High or rank them on a scale between 1 (very Low) to 10 (couldn’t be Higher), whichever you feel more comfortable with and then return to the formula.

This can prove to be a useful tool for any change, whether it be a case of shopping at ASDA or M&S or right through to Moving your business from its current location to somewhere new.

Coaching to success welcomes the opportunity to submit a proposal to help you, or those around you that will be involved in change, from creating a smooth transition to helping avoid conflict where two or more people are concerned. Simply give us a call on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to discuss other factors that we can help you make that change go through to reduce ‘D’ to a simple inconvenience rather than a large hurdle! We look forward to hearing from you.

ROMANCE IS IN THE AIR, VALENTINE’S DAY HAS ARRIVED AND IT’S ‘TIME’ TO ‘MANAGE’ THE SITUATION!

Romance is in the air whether it be for known loved ones, those with their heart on their sleeve for another or those looking at their business and where they would like it to be! Unlike the first two, unless you have a plan for your businesses to actually take it where you want it to be, then, alas oh romantic ones, that’s all it will be, romance!

So where are we in the world of commerce! Well, in the UK at least, the CBI are predicting growth of 0.9% for 2012, woo-hoo, but this is off-set with the BDO continuing to predict turnover will fall and the CIPD have stated that employers are still more likely to be laying off staff… however, this may indicate losing some fat which means the leaner, sharper people remain (not in every case mind you) and that doesn’t necessarily mean companies won’t do better!

Coaching to Success has found that with the potential of having less staff, or attempting to grow with the workforce on board (even if that just means yourself), an area that most of us can benefit from is, as (not so) subtly indicated in the header, TIME MANAGEMENT… that illusive beast which always manages to slip away quietly taking a handful of time for the ‘should do’ jobs along with it! How do we conquer this un-seen thief of time? We insure we don’t allow it in.

There are a myriad of things we can do, exercises to complete etc etc but, quite simply, the word ‘Manage’ is the critical factor and by managing it, you take the control back.

Here at Coaching to Success, we use one easy tip that, if followed, helps manage the day-to-day items. This being a ‘TO-DO’ list… do I hear “Hmm, done that, nothing new there, doesn’t work for me!”, well that’s because it hasn’t been managed and remember, that’s the key.

  • Set a time, the same time, every day to do the next 24hr listing. Some prefer this to be the first job of the day, others wrap the day up with this as the start with items that haven’t been done or know they have to do.
  • In no particular order, line by line, write down what needs to be done with open brackets at the end of each item. For clarity, try to keep each item on one line.
  • Once your list is complete, in the bracketed area, write the time you will start that task, dash, and the time you will complete it. This timing ‘has’ to be realistic, if you’re sure it will take an hour, don’t think you can do it in 45 minutes.
  • Allow some overspill time, inevitably you will have interruptions by colleagues, phones, those ‘must be done now’ things etc. and this blank time allows you not only to catch up but insures you don’t give up doing your list each day as you’ll see each day, you’re completing more.
  • And a means of visually seeing it’s been completed, this is very important as it gives that mental reward for doing it. This can be by drawing a small box to one side with, once the timing had been sorted, the order number for each item, when complete, fill it in, others may choose to draw a single line once done whereas others may like to use a highlight pen or completely obliterate the item with the biggest permanent marker pen they can find… whatever works for you.

Several factors have been taken care of here. (1) Each day you set about writing your tasks which creates a new habit. (2) Important tasks are given a time to start, not just ‘complete by’ which often gets missed and thus focuses your attentions. (3) You start to incorporate those tasks you keep putting off that started small and are now getting bigger as you keep putting them off (Brian Tracy ‘Eat that Frog’ is a good book on this subject!) and (4) you’re managing your time more effectively meaning you’ll actually achieve more each day, week, year, millennium (OK, you get the idea).

We have other time-management tools which can be used in coaching sessions so if time-management, whether it be yourself, your team or your business as a whole is an area that can be improved, simply contact us to arrange an informal meeting to see if we can help and we can offer a proposal should this be the case.

STOP MOANING!

STOP MOANING! If you or your team wants to succeed, the message is clear.

OK, The fun (and the stress!) of Christmas has passed. We start 2012 with all our hopes and aspirations before us and then the dark days hang around, it’s cold (& about to get much colder!) and after the New Year celebrations, the social calendar is looking a bit forlorn. Then this or that issue arises and next thing you know, you’re having a good old moan being reciprocated in the same way, which reinforces your point exactly! And to top it all, there’s minimal opportunity to improve the situation as there’s nothing out there… Really?

Let me let you into a little secret, if you carry on thinking this way, then it’s a sure fire way of making sure YOU MISS those opportunities to succeed.

Research shows that those who continue in a downtrodden thought process or even a serious frame of mind do not have the same ‘Breakthrough’ moments of sudden inspiration as those with a more light-hearted disposition. Think about it, have a thought about something that may or may not work and do this with a smile. How does it feel, even if there are some rough edges that need to be worked on, these aren’t so insurmountable, now, do this again with a frown and let your body sink and see if you’re as positive.

Have a look at the studies of Karuna Subramaniam, a psychologist at Northwest University across the pond in USA, who found that those being studied expressed a delight on finding new ideas (didn’t Archimedes have an expression when he proved that an object plunged into liquid becomes lighter by an amount equal to the weight of liquid it displaces… I’ll leave you to think on that one) after having watched a comedy film and did much better at finding solutions than another group who was subjected to a ‘technical talk’ that wasn’t, shall we say, as interesting.

So let’s have a look at businesses today. The climate may not be good out there, individuals may not be feeling as secure in their roles as they were a few years ago, the news is constantly giving us doom & gloom and I’m not going to mention the weather again! As a company, savings have to be made, ideas on how to squeeze more profit from reduced resources, possibly even for survival and new revenue streams must be developed.

New ideas are required, New inspiration is needed and how do leaders address this? Is it a case of sticking the team in front of someone (possibly themself) and giving a ‘technical talk’ or at least announcing the doom and gloom of the scenario scaring them witless or, are they encouraging an environment where staff, to coin the text talk, LMAO (laughing my ‘something’ off!) to find solutions?

So what’s the ‘logical’ way to solve this, what’s the ‘norm’? Unfortunately, it’s the former. Let us lay it on the table, what is the problem and what (the scary bit) is the potential consequence if it’s not resolved! The result is exactly as indicated before, people shut in on themselves and have another good old moan about the disastrous situation they find themselves in and take the spiral down instead of lifting the hatch open to all the possibilities they would otherwise miss.

As an individual or leader in a business… which route are you going to take?