Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

Management

Let’s lead by transformational approach rather than lack of vision!

 

Whether a cash rich company or one on the up, great Leadership will make the difference in ‘How’ you’ll reach the firm’s objectives and ‘When’ too.

As a director within supply and logistics of building material, using positive leadership, I led a great team to move location, while still trading and growing all during the last recession!

This recession attacked the finances of every business. Consequently, focusing inwardly became the new emphasis but NOT in a good way! Staffing levels reduced, outside training obliterated and cutting costs became the norm. Leadership was all about how to maximise the output using the constant restraints of cuts. This has now frequently become ingrained in the current work methodology.

Maslow wrote in 1966 “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail!” Based on this observation, if leadership continues to adopt the aforementioned attitude, growth will actually be hindered so now is a great time to look towards creating the new order.

Consider this thought… “If you are to stay on the same path, you will inevitably reach the same destination!” Now is the time to be ahead of the game and carve a new path.

How is the ‘Leadership’ in your organisation? Is there fresh inspiration? Can someone internally hold the mantle in going forward, if not, then maybe external help. Does the team lack motivation? Are you still focusing on process via transactional driven leadership rather than positive ‘relationship’ leadership? Be truly honest when reflecting on this question as opposed to what you wish was the reality.

How do we start taking real positive steps forward?…

  • Internal S+O to fix business W+T ~ Using the SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) acronym, look for the strengths within your teams. Not just the obvious ones. Find the Strengths and Opportunities within to see how they can assist with resolving the Weaknesses and Threats.
  • Aristotle: “The sum of the total is greater than the sum of its parts” ~ Allow different sectors to work together. Conjoin ideas to overcome the obstacles. Take ideas from everywhere. Ie Speak to accounts, admin, sales, marketing about logistical transport issues, great ideas can come from a myriad of different locations. Simply learn to be open-minded.
  • Open Communication ~ Develop trust between team members and hold open conversations where no ‘new’ idea will be ridiculed but rather explored! With all changes, 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”. Do not assume, communicate!
  • Clarity of Direction ~ Set ‘Clear’ goals. This way members ‘know’ what they should be doing or aiming for. Use SMART goals, yes, we all know OF them but how many put them into PRACTICE? I’ve found they can be really beneficial if set realistically and worked towards.
  • motivate .. Motivate .. oh, and MOTIVATE! ~ We frequently set off with all the best intentions only to fall back to ‘Old ways’ a month or two down the line. Motivation is tricky to uphold but look to see what makes your team buzz. Keep on top of the SMART goals, keep lines of communication open, work to unite not segregate. Look to the internal strengths to fill the business holes. And while you’re at it, why not have a look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

This is just the start to creating a positive workforce, there are many more ways but all are generated around emotional behaviour as opposed to system checklists. Try out some new ideas, involve others around and see what difference it makes!

Coaching to success work with many teams and their leaders in creating a pleasurable working environment where a smile carries so much more productivity than trying to work with processes alone.

Check out our other features to find out more or contact Neil Nutburn direct at neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238 to arrange an complimentary meeting and if you’re online, have a look at his interview video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco where you’ll be assured a warm welcome to discuss how we can help.

‘Procrastination’ – Why do today what you can put it off until tomorrow?

How often do you find that you are about to start something with the best intentions only to find … sorry, hang on a minute, let me just read this email, oh, I better have a look into this… and sometime later we’re back to writing this feature!

There are several reasons we (and I include myself in this!) let procrastination get a grip. These may include:

  • Waning interest – This is sooooo boring!
  • Motivation – The Mojo has taken a holiday!
  • Skill factor – Umm, how do I do this?
  • Rebel – Don’t want to do it and I’ll prove I don’t have the time!
  • Failure – What if I can’t do this?
  • Success – If I do well, will they expect more?

There will be more but I have found that these 6 normally top the bill, so let’s look at them individually.

  1. Waning interest – If, like me, when doing something that’s not that interesting, the ping of an email or something irrelevant but enjoyable suddenly seems to take precedence … STOP! Find somewhere without the distractions and concentrate.
  2. Motivation – Do you believe you need motivation to begin a task? How about this for a radical idea, start the task and then find it! Even the initial steps to beginning a task can promote the somewhat lacking motivation. Set yourself up with a reward once complete, after this feature, a nice inexpensive filter coffee and half hour read of a book will be mine!
  3. Skill factor –Sometimes it’s our own beliefs that hold us back. As a coach, many of my clients hold unfounded beliefs until we establish exactly where the problems lie and look at ways to overcome them. Consider breaking tasks into manageable parts. What is the starting point and the desired end goal? See what areas you are competent at, others may require some additional training or even delegating.
  4. Rebel – Predominantly another ‘subconscious’ level barrier generated from power struggles. I was amazed how when someone gave me a task I didn’t wish to carry out I managed to find every reason for not accomplishing it on time, whereas, jobs I did enjoy, would be cleared straight away! Remove the ‘Emotional’ attachment to the task and look at it from a practical sense. How much trouble would I be in if I don’t complete it? How will this benefit my business by completing on time? Only you can know the truth of this and letting the emotional attachment go will give a much clearer picture.
  5. Failure – None of us set out to fail, nonetheless, it is something that we learn from. Each step we take we learn something new or to persevere can win out in the end. Take J.K.Rowling for example, she got rejected by numerous publishers while working as a waitress. Her break came from the publisher’s 8yr old daughter begging him to publish it! Sometimes it’s simply down to timing!.
  6. Success – “Now if I do this right, they’ll expect me to continue or even improve!” Maybe expectations of you will be increased? And with each successful outcome, you raise your standards once again. Consider each and every task on its own merits WITHOUT considering where it may lead.

There are many tools that can help with procrastination, however, the biggest obstacle is ourselves! Until we start to realise what our own barriers are, procrastination will let its tentacles stretch out and feed on our daily distractions.

Coaching to success work towards breaking down barriers, opening up confidence levels, assessing what’s ahead and planning to succeed in whatever goal their clients wish to attain. To improve your own levels of procrastination or focus, take the first step by contacting Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk and if you’re online, have a look at his interview video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco where you’ll be assured a warm welcome to discuss how we can help.

STRESSED?!! Know the signs and how to help yourself

Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether the way we are feeling is down to stress or something else!

To start, have a look at the following to see if you recognise any of these symptoms in yourself or someone close:

Emotional symptoms

  • Frantic mind wishing it to quiet down, difficulty with relaxing
  • Agitated, frustrated and moody
  • Distant to those close. Unknowingly pushing near ones away
  • Feeling overwhelmed, losing control, worthless
  • Avoiding others.

Physical symptoms

  • Clenched jaw, teeth grinding, headaches
  • Insomnia
  • Nervous, shaking
  • Low energy
  • Frequent colds, infections
  • Raised Blood Pressure

The Health & Safety Executive report 10.4 million working days are lost with one in five visits to GPs associated with stress!

We are designed to deal with stress as a way of life. This can be positive if managed as it helps us remain alert. However, life can throw too much of it our way and this is how our bodies react so we need to be able to recognise these signs nature has been kind enough to give us!

Enough of the symptoms, how do we address them? As a director or senior manager, I have personally been subjected to more stress than should be allowed so I have empathy, actually no, sympathy to those who suffer. I was both physically and mentally strong but even I started to eventually recognise the traits and did something about it before drink or smoking took over!

There is no easy one-fix-all answers, however, try out the following and see which best fits you:

  • Share and Time it! – When you get home or meet your partner, set up a routine to dump the day’s activities. With a time against it, ie 1hr, for both to offload. Give yourself permission to accept it’s okay to stop worrying about things.
  • What’s the cause? – One you recognise your own stress warning signs from above symptoms, look to see what’s causing them (Starting a new project, reports to be written, the next blog such as this, lol, items at home.
  • Own your feeling ~ Take control – How often does your mood change because someone else has ruined your happy time by careless comments? You own the direction of driving your emotional car, avoid giving someone else the keys! Where others are concerned, assess how they make you feel and what you need to make your mood change. Accept areas out of your control for what it is, YOU can’t change it, allow yourself to accept it. This will help reduce stress.
  • Relax and/or Meditate – Give yourself permission to take time out of everyday life. This truly helps as another means of disconnecting. Listen to some music, read a book, listen to a meditative audio track (something we offer), consider yoga! Try to set aside time daily for an activity, rather than becoming a slave to tasks. Even just 5-10 minutes breaks to simply breathe and think of all the pleasures you have around you while releasing negative thoughts helps!
  • Scheduled To-do list – Stress can be reduced by creating a timeframe to complete a given task therein. This may be considered an addition rather than a release of stress, however, people who set themselves a time limit, focus on when they start and finish with a much better chance of achieving their objective.
  • Mistakes happen – The stress of perfectionism adds to the pile! Learn from your mistakes, embrace them and take what benefits you can from this. This is also often related to confidence issues and mastering the fact that we are not robots gives us freedom to relax, reducing stress levels.
  • Don’t try to please all! – A boss, friend, neighbour always comes to you because you’re always willing to help. Is there someone else who can help that request normally thrown in your direction? Sit back, negotiate what is really important to YOU with those that aren’t.

These are just a handful of areas Coaching to Success can help and we hope this brings about an awareness if nothing else. Stress, if not recognised and managed, can lead into some really dark places, recognising the signs is the first step.

Should you be looking to move forward in Work or Life, take the first step by contacting Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk and if you’re online, have a look at his interview video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco where you’ll be assured a warm welcome to discuss how we can help.

Do you listen, ‘Truly’ listen to what the other person is saying?

You may have come across a book called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by the recently deceased Stephen Covey, if not, it’s a good book for those wishing to become truly effective

Out of the 7 habits, one of my personal favourites is #5 “First Seek to Understand, THEN to be understood” and this is what this week’s feature is about.

In the early days of sales and retail, I soon learned that your sales would improve once you started to LISTEN to clients’ needs and NOT what I had to sell. Whether it was a ‘Deal of the week’ item or not, if it fitted their needs, great, they got double satisfaction but first and foremost the art of Listening was paramount to a successful sale.

As a coach, this is a skillset which has been enhanced to insure I hear what isn’t being said as well as what, on the surface is! From here, further incisive questions are asked, then more listening is required to reach a specific objective for clients to obtain their goals.

So how can we improve our listening skills both at work and home to help others and, in turn, ourselves as a result of this? First, look at the following questions and respond honestly with as many answers you believe relevant against each one.

How effective are my Listening Skills?

  1. When listening to someone, I’m likely to:
  2. I interrupt people when:
  3. If I had to choose between speaking and listening, I’d chose to …… because:
  4. Listening comes easy to me when:
  5. When people express their emotions, I feel:
  6. If I can’t have my say, I feel:
  7. I find it easy to listen to people when:
  8. I become easily distracted when listening if:
  9. People I tend to find it difficult to listen to include:
  10. The best listener I know is …… because:

Now review what you have learned about yourself as a listener and list these out.

Once accomplished, complete the following statements:

  1. I know I actively listen well when:
  2. Habits I find irritating in a person speaking comprise of:
  3. To become even more effective at listening, I need to:

With a clearer understanding of your own foibles and strengths, write down what you will work on to improve your skillset.

How often have you started a conversation about something that has happened to you and before you even finish what you’re saying, another party has taken over the story with their own examples? We are all guilty of having what others say trigger our episodic memory but some of us learn that this conversation is not about Our needs but actually to ‘Listen’, in full to the other party.

So once you have mastered the skill of listening, the next step is to quell the desire to re-iterate our own examples into the situation unless it will be ‘truly’ beneficial to the other party.

If you are finding that there doesn’t appear to be anyone around to really listen to your concerns, ideas or plans or feel that an external person to your current situation who will ‘Listen’, truly listen to what you have to say, please contact the author, Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk and if you’re online, have a look at his interview video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco where you’ll be assured a warm welcome to discuss how we can help.

The art of just getting on with it

With the full knowledge a deadline was looming to write this feature, other ‘Little’ jobs that needed to be completed consistently remained in focus because I wasn’t clear on what it was I needed to write about

Funny really, I was procrastinating as well as hiding away from the task in hand. And then I took my own advice and set about following one or two of the following

How many times have you found yourself in a similar situation where you know you have a project to start, a job that needs to be done or something needs to be prepared but you aren’t clear on what it is so we find ‘warranted’ distractions that take us away (justifiably, of course!) from what really needs to be addressed

We’re all fallible, so such things happen to even us who should know better but it affects us differently. Much like I did here, you can learn to recognise it, then address it with the help of such methods that now follow.

  1. TIME-MATRIX – Steven Covey’s matrix is a 2×2 square. Along the top is ‘Urgent’ (Left) and ‘Not Urgent’ (Right). Down the side is ‘Important’ (Top) and ‘Not Important’ (Bottom). In each quadrant , asses what is Important/Urgent (Manage), Important/Not Urgent (Focus), Not Important/Urgent (Avoid) or Not Important/Not Urgent (Avoid)
  2. CARTESIAN QUADRANT – Similar to above, this time, along the top (a) If you do make that change & (b) if you don’t make that change. Along the side, (c) will happen & (d) won’t Once drawn, this will help give a much clearer picture of importance to focus on this or any other area where a decision needs to be made.
  3. EMAILS – Turn off warnings that an email had arrived. Helping to avoid the temptation to continually check each and every new one.
  4. MONOTASK SETTING – Focus on one task at a time. Although ‘Emergencies’ may arise, can you assess their urgency? Do they all need to be done NOW?
  5. PROCRASTINATION – Guide your wandering thoughts back to where or what you are doing. If thoughts drift, acknowledge what you’re doing and a little self-talk of getting back onto the item in hand.
  6. STOP JUGGLING – You will inevitably be drawn back into to quagmire of multitasking and when you do, take a short break from everything! Allow your mind to re-focus, the stress levels to reduce and concentration to reframe itself.
  7. PRIORITISE – If you are clear as to what is truly urgent as opposed to preferring to do, this will help with the focus too.

These are but a few ideas to help you get back on track. There are others that will also help and this is where a coach can help you to gain focus and meet the objectives, in the meantime, address these and see how you get on.

Coaching to Success’ director, Neil Nutburn, welcomes your enquiries if you are struggling with juggling all those tasks or, as above, avoiding the ones that need to be completed. Contact Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk and if you’re online, have a look at his interview video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco