Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

Goal-Setting

How is your Self-Motivation doing? Need a pick-me-up?

Sometimes, in those moments of slump, we need to find areas of inspiration to get motivated! So take charge of your goals and here’s help to achieve this…

Self-motivation is a complicated subject as what drives us can be different as to what drives others. A common link is the ability to set challenging yet reachable goals that push us.

With this in mind, here are three factors to build levels in self-motivation.

1. Confidence – Building self-confidence

As a martial artist, had I considered my competitors to be too strong or fast I would never have entered competitions. When it came to grading, had I thought them too challenging, well, I wouldn’t have progressed.

This is no different in our lives or business. Those who don’t believe in themselves or their abilities will start by thinking “I know I can’t do that” and will often achieve their own self-fulfilling prophecy. Those with a positive outlook will think “OK, that didn’t work but this one set-back won’t stop me” approach.

Building from a point of self-confidence insures a much greater chance of success. The consequential joy that this brings positively hits the endorphins setting you up wanting the next challenge, creating a self-perpetuating circle.

Steps to help confidence:

  • Set goals that are obtainable and go get them! Then get the feel-good factor.
  • Ask friends and colleagues what they see as your strengths – you may be surprised!
  • Do a self-analysis on SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, Threats). Focus on areas you could stretch or improve yourself (W & O)
  • Look back on your achievements. Remember how you felt.

There may be knock-backs but look to what positive things you can take from this.

2. Positive, Pro-active and future forecasting way of thinking

This is an assisting factor to self-confidence. If you constantly look for the negatives, you will find them and continue to live by that mantra, however, those who find the positive will likewise, fulfil that mantra too.

When questioned about the number of attempts to develop the light bulb, Thomas Edison replied “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work”! Now that’s positive mind-setting.

Steps to help Positive Thinking:

  • Challenge ‘Negative’ thoughts, replace with ‘Positive’ ones. Re-frame the way you say things (ie, not to ‘give up’ but to ‘aim for’)
  • Visualise how things will look better once your goal has been achieved
  • Read books on positive thinking styles (put ‘positive thinking’ into Amazon for a plethora of choices!)

3. Strong goals (S.M.A.R.T.)

You’re most probably already aware of the SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time scale). By setting these, self-confidence increases as each stage is achieved giving focus on ‘Positive’ mind-set.

Look at every component of SMART and set your goal around these.

Steps to help setting strong goals:

  • Make goals difficult enough to be interesting but not unsurmountable
  • Progress report! Frequently check up on how you are doing
  • Prioritise – make sure things are in order of relevance and importance (check out this blog for time management matrix)

Coaching to Success are renowned for being another element of motivation, and that’s being held accountable to someone! If you make a commitment to someone, you’re chances of success improves dramatically and we’re here to help support you along YOUR journey of self-motivation.

Whether looking to gain clarity to what you are aiming to achieve or needing that assistance to get you on your self-motivational journey, Coaching to Success are here to help. For further information, simply call Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk for an informal conversation to see how we can help increase your ‘Mojo’ or other matters concerning business development

 

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.

 

Critical Success Factors … Have you looked into creating yours?

John F. Rockart popularised Critical Success Factors (CSFs) during the 1970s and they’ve been used broadly in businesses since then.

Having a clear and focused mission/vision statement is imperative. Something the whole company are involved with. To compliment this, objectives and goals need to be in situ and this is where our core skillsets lie.
I was never really a believer in ‘Mission Statements’ as I felt they were simply the words of my Bosses. Unfortunately, at the time, that’s all they were as I had no input or education as to what it stood for. Having worked with many organisations to achieve their own with the Team’s input, I can now see the true benefit.

This ‘Statement’ will, in turn, help all to bond towards CSFs as you have created a common focal point. As Rockart determined, CSFs aren’t a one hit wonder but need constantly and careful attention for success to become apparent.

Now going back to the goals and mission statements, these are where the focus should be as to WHAT needs to be achieved. CSFs refer to the HOW and to identify what really matters to obtain success and the measurements you put into place to observe this.

Often we can’t see the wood for the trees so let’s use a Timber Merchant as an ironic example and take a fictitious statement “To uphold a customer satisfaction level of 93% while expanding an increased product range appealing to new clients all resulting in a 38% of regional market share”.

You then look to what the (a) objectives are in view of this statement and then the HOW, the (b) Critical Success Factors. So to continue:

(a) Uphold Satisfaction levels of 93% …

(b) Keep customers informed of latest products. Insure staff are fully trained and updated via manufacture visits on latest tools.

(a) Expand product range…

(b) Welcome new reps/organisations to see what they have to offer. Look at market trends. Ask staff for their input.

(a) Achieve 38% market share…

(b) Marketing and advertising to attract more clients. Look to become more competitive.

From initially creating your objectives and CSFs, keep this as a basis to work from but then hone in the essential ones, the ‘C’ part!

Whatever you do, don’t create a long list of CSFs as they will simply get lost within their own numbers. 5 or fewer ‘Essential’ ones are ideal to focus on.

In summary

  1. Formulate a company Mission/Vision statement
  2. Create an objective list to achieve the goal and then the HOW (the CSFs themselves)
  3. Hone down – make sure your CSFs are manageable, achievable and realistic
  4. Constantly visit, re-visit and re-re-visit to evaluate and monitor how things are progressing (or
    not) then re-enforce the CSFs
  5. Communicate how it’s going. Include staff, suppliers etc

Give it a go and should you wish to look at creating a fantastic Mission Statement or the means to put this into place long term, we’re here to help and as we’re affiliated to the Growth Accelerator scheme, we understand about success. Simply call to arrange your free consultation and see how you can help make those changes! Neil looks forward to hearing from you either by calling 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk

Are you on the Chair-Lift or the Slippery Slopes when it comes to achieving your Dreams?

I’m going to let you into a little secret here. In coaching, one of the tools we use is the GROW model and to help you start to understand coaching better, here’s a quick adaptation of a 20-30min coaching session exercise obtained from The Coaching Academy.

The idea of coaching is to provide the cutters for mental chains that hold you back, allowing you the freedom to explore all avenues. This is only a glimpse as coaches will listen to your replies and question further based on your replies.

GOAL

What do you want to focus on improving? This must matter to you and be something that you have control over

  • Go forward in time to when things are exactly as you’d like them to be in this area of your life.
  • What would be happening that tells you this issue has been resolved? What would you be doing? Where might you be going? How might you be feeling?
  • How will you know when you’ve got there?
  • What’s the first step that you can achieve in the short term?
  • Write it down as a ‘positive’ sentence (eg “It’s Friday 10th May and I am skiing down the slopes” keeping to the theme!)

REALITY

Thinking about your goal …

  • What tells you that this is an issue at the moment?
  • What’s missing that you want? Be clear.
  • What’s good in your current situation that you want to keep?
  • What might stop you achieving what you wrote down you want?
  • What have you done before to overcome these sorts of obstacles?
  • When have you achieved something similar to this before?
  • What can you learn from all of this?

OPTIONS

Make a list of things that you COULD do that will move you closer to your goal. Let all thoughts flow.

  • If you actually believed in yourself fully, what could you do?
  • If you weren’t scared of anything, what could you do?
  • If others gave you space, what could you do?
  • What if you were advising a friend/colleague?  What would you suggest?
  • Look at your list, read through… what else?
  • Write down two more

WILL/WAY FORWARD

  • Select a couple and think specifically ‘what are the actions that I need to do to bring this option about’
  • If it’s too big, what are the components that you can break it down into?
  • What actions do you need to negotiate barriers within?
  • Who else may need to be involved?
  • When’s a realistic time for you to complete those actions?
  • Project yourself forward to when we have taken these actions … What will you be thinking, what will your self-talk voice be saying to you?
  • Think about what you’ll be thinking, seeing, hearing or feeling, whatever is best for you?
  • How strong is your intention to take that step and carry out the action? Score yourself out of 10. If below 10, what would make it a ten?

Coaching to Success’ Neil Nutburn takes these, and other, principles to finding the best way forward in helping you secure your dream. The first step to take is to contact him for a friendly chat either via phone (m: 07761 187238) or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to see how you can benefit from GROWing yourself or your business.

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.