Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

Leadership

If you want to win ‘by-election’!, then you have to first listen

Politics isn’t everybody’s cup of tea but just as a comparison, the current political situation in Eastleigh, Nr Southampton is all about who can shout the loudest, parties all trying to make their point heard and this is no different in the world of commerce… It all comes down to ‘communication’.

In coaching/mentoring, we often refer to ‘Two of these and one of these, use in that order’ referring to our ears and mouth. As an individual, business owner, company, solicitor or practice then this advice rings true too and to succeed, you first have to listen … not just hear but ‘truly’ listen! In this age of whiz-by technology, can we honestly say we do as the next distraction flashes across our retinas?

So, to win the hearts and minds of people, first listen. Here’s 5 tips to help you achieve this:

  • LET ME PROVE I’M LISTENING – Body language and actions that show you are. The occasional ‘Uh-huh’ or ‘yes’ encourages the speaker to continue. Use facial expressions appropriately like smiling. Nod in affirmation. Create a welcoming and open posture.
  • I AM PAYING ATTENTION – Refrain from reading/glancing at those emails or reports that find their way onto your desk. Look at the speaker not at other things. Don’t predict and mentally prepare a rebuttal. Look at the speaker’s body language and listen to that too! Try to put aside other distracting thoughts.
  • I WILL RESPOND APPROPRIATELY – Refrain from letting emotions over-run and take over what you really need to say. By all means, assert your opinion but do this respectfully. Do not hide, be open and honest with your reply and remember to always treat others in the same respect that you wished to be treated yourself.
  • LET ME GIVE YOU SOME FEEDBACK – A great way to repeat back what you have heard or your interpretation of what you ‘believe’ was meant. Turn it back so the speaker knows you are actually listening and has chance to make further clarification should it be needed. Use phrases such as “What I’m hearing is…”, “My understanding of this is …”. Every now and then, summarise back to the speaker just to ensure they know you are listening. And remember, if you are starting to get emotional about what is being said, do not make assumptions and react but ask for further clarification.
  • OK, LET ME HOLD BACK ON JUDGEMENT – As the ratio was stated before, 2-to1. Listen more intently before interrupting to make your point. The speaker will more than likely be put off a logical thought process in their deliverance and the outcome will likely be a more emotive conversation without being able to gain the full understanding. Allow the speaker to complete what they are saying ‘before’ raising questions.

It may sound easy when someone asks of you whether you are an ‘active’ listener… it isn’t. If it were, maybe our politicians would gain much more credence by listening and not just shouting. As a person, you will also gain the respect of those around you whilst also understanding what the people want.

Coaching to Success does just that, we listen first then ask incisive questions to dig further to the truth of what is being said. Should you be looking to develop your business, start off by talking to someone who will listen to your needs, call us to arrange a free consultation by contacting Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.

What is your Leadership Style? And what of your leaders?

Some people have it, others don’t … or so it would appear. How many people do you know that are great leaders and how many different ways do they lead? Business leaders such as Branson. What of the likes of Obama, recently inaugurated into his second term of office. Cameron taking a somewhat debatable stance on the EU referendum… historically we have Martin Luther King, August Caesar, Darwin and to even dare say Hitler.

And what of their style? There appears to be as many ways to lead as there are people to carry the role out. Fortunately, there are simple ways to describe the main styles of leadership.

Here’s details of 5 from the 10 known styles that may well be effective within your teams and by understanding them, it may give you some insight as to how best to lead.

1. Transactional Leadership … A simple state of you get paid to do a job/task. If you do it and do it well, you get rewarded. If you don’t, you get punished. More akin to ‘Management’ style than leadership but offers clarity concerning team member’s responsibility.

2. Autocratic Leadership … The next and extreme step over Transactional Leadership. Leaders have ‘complete’ power over their teams who have little or no opportunity to make change even if the organisation could benefit from them! Incredibly efficient, as work gets done through decisive instructions, but as humans, this doesn’t sit well with us and often leads to high absenteeism as well as turnover. Crises management, such as the armed forces, are best suited for this style.

3. ‘Leave it be’ Leadership … Hmm, not one of my favourites! This is more of a hands off style (the French and sometimes our own businesses refer to it as Laissez-Faire) and allows people to work completely autonomously for themselves. Effective when team members are highly experienced, only needing feedback when required. Laissez-faire offers high job satisfaction in the right circumstances but can have detrimental effect if members have poor time management skills, easily swayed with procrastination or do not possess the relevant acumen to complete the task.

4. Democratic/Participative Leadership … Involves the teams’ input in the final decision. Encouraging creativity and team work. Often resulting in high job satisfaction from the followers as well as productivity in non-mechanical tasks. This leads to increased motivation to complete relevant tasks but not simply for financial reward. The downside is that decisions can often take longer to be reached.

5. Transformational Leadership … In business, this style is often found to be the best. These leaders take the best elements from themselves as well as their teams resulting in higher productivity and involvement from the majority of followers. Although strong in motivating others and offering enthusiasm, often these leaders need detailed leadership themselves from such types as transactional leaders! Ergo, to create a strong leadership in any given organisation or firm, both types would parley together nicely.

There are five more styles and if you would like further information on these, please send an email so they can be forwarded to you.

Coaching to Success are very active with regards insuring the correct style of leadership is appropriate for the situation. Not all styles will necessarily obtain the desired result but through coaching, leaders can come to see the benefit from amending the style currently adopted to increase the required productivity from the team members.

If you are one of those forward thinking individuals or companies who can see the benefit of leadership (in the right style) and want to make absolutely sure you are getting the best from your team, call us to arrange a free consultation by contacting Neil (07761 187238) or email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.

… and here’s the last reminder … The deadline of 31st January 2013 to take us up on the offer of a complementary 30 minutes coaching session that will be designed to hit hard and fast to help you get you on track to your new you is nearly upon us … ACT NOW!

Do you need to un-freeze your business potential?

Looking at what the weather is threatening to bring, another big freeze is on its way, but is your business already frozen?

Back in the 1940s, Kurt Lewin developed a model for organisational change that applies to firms, companies or individuals therein to look at the common thread that runs through all businesses regardless of size and that’s the need to change.

Whether working for yourself or within a bigger group, “Change Management” is a common term used in business today and, much like what the weather’s going to bring, Lewin’s model is based around the principal of UN-FREEZE … CHANGE … RE-FREEZE.

In simple terms, the best way to understand Lewin’s model is to compare it with ice. If you have a square block of ice and want one that looks like a cylinder. You take what you have, un-freeze it to make it more responsive to change. Then mould it into the shape you want, ie cylinder. Finally, solidify it, ie re-freeze.

Although a lot deeper in it’s delivery, the fundamental principles are as such…

Unfreeze

  • Determine what needs to change … Analyse your Firm, Company or behaviours to understand the current state … Recognise why change has to take place.
  • Ensure there is strong support from upper management, partners, those around you … Identify and win the support of key people within the organisation … Frame the issue as one of organisation-wide importance.
  • Create the ‘need for change’ … Emphasise the “WHY” … Formulate a convincing communication as to why change has to occur … Use your vision and strategy as supporting evidence.
  • Understand then manage the doubts and concerns … Remain open to concerns and address in terms of the need to change.

 

Change

  • Communicate often … Do so throughout the planning and implementation of the changes … Describe and continually promote the benefits … Prepare everyone for what is coming, don’t assume they’ll just accept … Detail and explain how the changes will affect everyone.
  • Oust rumours … Deal with problems immediately … Answer questions openly and honestly … Re-visit and repeat the need for change back to operational necessities.
  • Empower action … Empower employees and give them responsibilities … Insure you and your line managers provide day-to-day direction.
  • Involve people in the process … Generate short-term wins to reinforce the change … Negotiate with external stakeholders as necessary.

 

Refreeze

  • Anchor the changes into the culture … Identify barriers to supporting change … Identity what supports or nourishes the change and embrace this.
  • Develop ways to sustain the change … Ensure leadership support … Adapt the organisational structure as necessary … Establish open feedback systems … Create a reward system.
  • Provide support and training … Keep everyone supported and informed … Celebrate success!

 

Coaching to Success helps firms/companies and the people therein not only to understand the benefits of change but the necessity for it too.

If you are one of those forward thinking individuals or companies who can see the benefits of change but need some assistance with the delivery, take the first step by speaking to someone who can help. Call us to arrange a free consultation by contacting Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.

… Oh, and don’t forget the deadline of 31st January 2013 to take us up on the offer of a complementary 30 minutes coaching session that will be designed to hit hard and fast to help you get you on track to your new you!

MOTIVATION… WHO DRIVES YOURS?

The fun and festivities of Christmas and New Year will soon become fond memories as we drive forward into 2013… Oh, and on that note ‘Happy New Year’ to you. So with regards getting up on damp, dark and cold mornings, what’s going to be your motivational push?

One of our primary motivators is to work on our strengths rather than highlighting potential weaknesses! However, sometimes we don’t really know what our core strengths are in ourselves or for those we’re responsible for.

As an example, let’s use the Olympics and the gold medal winners. We have Greg Rutherford who took it in the Long Jump, Tirunesh Dibaba took the 10,000km, Barbora Spotakova secured the Javelin and Usain Bolt took the 100m. Now the team coach/manager wouldn’t look to someone like Usain to compete in Greg’s given strength or Barbora to run in Tirunesh’s given sport of long distance running. Each have different skill sets and different characteristics from endurance to knowing when to jump or release the javelin to give it the greatest distance or have muscles that explode with power for the sprint! Bosses, Managers, Leaders all too very often miss out on individuals strengths and focus on weaknesses as do we with ourselves and this can be such a demotivate outcome when criticism is handed out under the banner  ‘areas for improvement’!

Negative feedback often gets us, or those we distribute it to, to become defensive and the desired result is rarely obtained as we seldom believe what is being said is actually true but more of a personal attack! The outcome is usually that we don’t feel ‘motivated’ to do anything about it. However, think back, when praised we feel like we are doing something worthwhile, we feel appreciated and seek to receive the same ‘reward’ by continuing with the positive behaviour.

A tool that coaches often use is to create our own survey on how others see our strengths and is known as ‘The Reflected Best Self’. So how do we go about achieving this, here we go…

  • PUT OUT A SURVEY … Choose 10 people (Existing colleagues/boss, clients/customers, old acquaintances, family members, friends … generally, a broad spectrum of people who know or have known you). Ask them to consider what they believe to be your strengths complemented with an example so it quantifies what they are writing. Also, stress that this isn’t simply ‘work’ orientated but aligns to what they see in you as a person.
  • IS THERE A THEME APPEARING? … When you have them all back, group the responses into ‘theme’ groups. There will be the obvious ones you’ve always been aware of but you will undoubtedly find new ones that you hadn’t even realised others see within you because this is something that’s natural to you and you just take it for granted!
  • CREATE YOUR ‘STRENGTH PROFILE’ … take the key strengths that emerge and write a few paragraphs that summarize what you are really good at. The purpose of this is two-fold, one, this acts as a support when confidence may somewhat escape you and, two, it will help you guide forthcoming actions and choices.
  • PLAY TO THESE STRENGTHS … so you now have your list of strengths, how do these fit in with your current role? Are you playing to these strengths? If you’re great at analytical work but not so hot on cold-calling, is there someone else within your firm, team, organisation, that are more people orientated that could do that task and you get on with accumulating data? I think you get the idea.

 

This simple exercise allows you to truly understand your own strengths as well as those within your responsibilities (or even suggest this to your manager/director as a good idea to consider) and by playing to your strengths your SELF MOTIVATION will improve accordingly resulting in not only a better outcome but one that you’ll wish to continue pursuing.

Coaching to Success helps firms/companies and the people therein to develop motivation through such activities both one to one and in teams whilst also building confidence through the benefit of praise within the workplace. If this is an area you are looking to develop within your working environment to either simply increase the positive atmosphere or to improve performance, take the next step by speaking to someone who can help. Call us to arrange a free consultation by contacting Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.

IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE… NO, NOT JUST CHRISTMAS!!

Woo Hoo! Christmas is upon us and whether religious or not, what a time of year to get together with family, friends, colleagues and customers/clients by way of celebrating. Look how the BBC recognised some of the years’ achievements with the Sports Personality of the Year award held on Sunday night. Now that was something worthwhile celebrating! But what of yourself? How has 2012 been for you PERSONALLY? It’s time to celebrate YOUR successes.

Whether you refer to it as a Goal, Dream, Objective or something else, we live in a goal-orientated culture but all too often, we get a buzz over achieving that ‘task’ and before we know it, we’re onto the next! SLOW DOWN… let’s take stock of what you have done, and learn to celebrate what you actually may consider as just something that had to be done.

We’re about to leave 2012 and cross over into a New Year, so take stock of what you’ve accomplished before you do. By undertaking this little exercise, it will help give inspiration to step into 2013, develop confidence and a healthy pride, as well as offer proof that we are growing and succeeding in life and/or work. This is what we refer to as ‘evidence based’ proof rather than the internal critical voice that puts doubts in our head without any foundation other than negative beliefs we build for ourselves.

 

“So what have I achieved?” is a question we rarely ask ourselves. Here are 3 successes people tend to gloss over without stopping to think about:

  1. Steps towards the BIG GOAL! Each step is like learning to walk; the first teetering wobbles, standing upright for the first time, the bigger steps, jogging then running, and eventually winning the 100m race. We know how to acknowledge winning the 100m, but celebrate each milestone along the way!
  2. Inner achievements not recognised by the wider society! These are another part of those achievements which mean something to us personally. For example, Christmas is coming but you have no idea how to cook a roast and now you’re planning to cook a turkey, a joint of beef, and a slow-cooked gammon joint!! So once the Christmas meal is over, allow yourself time for reflection and to enjoy the sense of satisfaction on successfully completing something you were nervous, or even scared to start. What an inner achievement  – careful how you celebrate though, as I know how easily the Christmas spirit flows, hehe!
  3. Overcoming Failures & Mistakes! Celebrate these; we only make mistakes because we’ve stepped out of our comfort zone, so look at them as learning experiences, and not mistakes. Thomas Edison once wrote “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.”

Back to your success, consider the following to help you realise what you’ve achieved this year. Get a note pad and put each question as a header on a separate page (7 in all):

  1. What were or was your biggest achievements this year?
  2. What are you most proud of?
  3. What were your minor achievements that led to the bigger goal?
  4. What has surprised you with regards an accomplished achievement?
  5. What were those times of ‘Ooops!’? Those moments of Failure or Mistake? What did you learn from this and what was the resulting sense of achievement or feeling of pride by overcoming them?
  6. What are those ‘Personal’ achievements (like cooking the roast, sorry if I’ve led your thoughts that way!)
  7. AND NOW TO CELEBREATE… How are you going to celebrate those successes? How are you going to recognise them?

Celebration is personal to you. Whatever takes your fancy… go out for a meal with someone you care about (honestly, food isn’t the only thing I think about). Buying some reward whether it is something small or large, you have to recognise that this is bought because of your achievement. Go for a massage or a spa. Take a hike, climb a mountain, get on your bike to take time out for yourself! Just make sure it’s something significant enough to remind you of the reason you have or have done it.

Coaching to Success has helped firms/companies and the people therein to develop strength through building confidence and understanding the need to celebrate ourselves as well as helping others understand the benefit of praise within the workplace. If this is an area you are looking to develop within your working environment to either simply increase the positive atmosphere or to improve performance, take the next step by speaking to someone who can help. Call us to arrange a free consultation by contacting Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk. We’re here to help.