LEADERSHIP GRANTS FOR MANAGING DIRECTORS

For several years the Train to Gain grants have enabled SME managing directors to benefit from cost effective Leadership Development. Using these grants &Coaching have helped many business owners to drive their companies through the difficult trading conditions of the past few years.

In a recent publication the Government says:

“Good leadership and management is a key driver of business performance…..
……. underinvestment in leadership and management skills is particularly prevalent in small firms, We welcome views and ideas on ways in which businesses can be encouraged to increase the UK’s leadership and management capability to create better run and more highly performing businesses.”

That’s great news, provided it is followed by practical support.

To let the Government have your views go to:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/s/10-1073-skills-consultation

CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE IT’S SPOTS?

Yes, of course it can. All it takes is millions of years of evolution to go from the African Leopard to the Indonesian Clouded Leopard. What caused the change? Adapting to a different environment.

Fortunately for us, humans have large brains specifically equipped to make us adaptive, so we don’t have to wait for evolution to make changes.

The leopard’s spots is a popuar metaphor used to suggest that people’s behaviours are fixed. And often when faced with someone who’s behaviour we don’t like or who is not delivering what we want at work this appears to be true.

Let’s ask some questions stretching the leopard metaphor to check out what’s actually happening. Maybe it will stretch your beliefs about those awkward people as well.

Do you really want this leopard to change spots?
Or do you want some new spots added or just to lose one or two? Maybe you like certain spots emphasised and to play down others. Is this all the time or only in certain situations?

What’s changed?
If they work for you, then chances are you picked them with those spots?

Let’s get personal. What do you want the leopard to do for you? To blend in and bring in more prey or attract less danger. To be more decorative and attract people towards you or be less attractive so less of a threat to your postion?

Do your spots clash?
Do you want this leopard to be more like you or less like you?. Or maybe like or more different from someone else you have in mind? Maybe if you changed your spots, their spots would complete the pattern.

What’s in it for the leopard?
They have a lot hanging on keeping those spots. Their spots got them to where they are. They know how to be and act with those spots. They know how the world will react to them with those spots, how they help and what to watch out for. Will you protect them whilst they adapt to their new pattern?

Have you told them they need different spots? Telling a leopard to change can be risky if not handled with care. (too many teeth and claws). If no-one clarifies what needs to be different, how can the leopard know that he needs to change and which bit to focus on. Be courageous and constructive.

Do they know how to get those new spots? Can you help them. ? Do they just need some advice and support from a fellow leopard or do they need a full makeover at the leopard spot shop?

For your leopard spot shop go to www.andcoaching.com.

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE BETTER, IT’S ALL ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THINKING PATTERNS

Chatting, explaining, giving instructions, persuading and influencing or simply gossiping. All these communications can be fraught with difficulty, and often the message we are trying to get across is misunderstood. The reason for the misunderstanding starts with our own thinking style. Our brains, just like our computers, uses different pathways to process information depending on what we want to achieve. Your computer has Word, Excel, Powerpoint and maybe a project programme.

Imagine all brains filtering information into four pathways: analysis, synthesis, instinctual social and process thinking. Each one of us tends to favour one or two of these categories above the others and this is where the communication difficulties begin. For each of these pathways are distinct from each other:

Analytical thinkers talk about facts, they want the evidence, they show little emotion no matter what the issue. They work out internally what they want to say and then talk carefully without diversions or discussions.

Instinctual/ social thinkers are all emotion, they’re very animated and use stories to illustrate their point. The impact on people is their main concern and they talk out loud whilst they’re thinking, making it up as they go along.

Synthesis thinkers are also emotional although their concerns are ideas, They tend to be impatient with detail and often stop mid sentence believing others can fill in the rest. They use metaphors and musical themes to illustrate their point.

Process thinkers need the detail. They want every step filled in. They will ask question after question to pin down every eventuality. They speak in full sentences and paragraphs for each aspect of the subject.

If you are getting frustrated with your colleagues; if you can’t get your message through to them, or if you sense their priorities are different to yours, a deeper understanding of the brain’s Mind Filters will help you to make progress.

If you want to understand a bit more, go to: www.andcoaching.com/diagnostic and try the test!

JUST DO THIS AND IMPROVE YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT

Keep a todo list

At the start of every day review the list and ask:

• How urgent is each task
• What can wait
• What can I delegate

Consider which task you least want to do: AND DO IT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE

Use a bright coloured marker pen to cross through the completed tasks

Give yourself some breaks every day: get away from your desk, go outside if possible, have a brief walk, but give your mind time to think; you will be amazed at how many problems you solve this way

At the end of every day:

Review what is still on your list

Ask yourself why the item is still there: if it really is important then resolve what you have to do tomorrow to deal with it

If it’s not important, either delegate it or put it onto another list of things to do when you have the time

DISCOVER HOW MUCH TIME YOU WILL FREE UP BY FOLLOWING THESE SIMPLE RULES

Was Scrooge Being coached?

Listening to a rendition of the Christmas Carol last week I wondered whether the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future were in fact highly effective Business Coaches.

You will all remember the story: Mean old Scrooge was a totally introverted owner manager of a typical Victorian enterprise. His old fashioned views on business and the world prevented him from empowering his staff and led him into a lonely workaholic life.

Fortunately for him he stumbled upon GhostCoaching and in a very short period and for an unspecified fee, they helped him to completely re-evaluate his life and make powerful decisions to change which had long lasting benefits not just for himself but for all around him.

When Scrooge awoke on that Christmas morn, everyone around him was expecting life to go on as usual, only Scrooge saw things in a new light, and as a result of that insight was able to act differently and make a difference to those around him. If only all coaches could be as effective as those old Ghosts.

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So are you a leader or a manager?

So are you a leader or a manager? Not really a fair question when we’ve spent the whole book so far making sure you are a good manager. But the really effective, efficient and startlingly good managers are also leaders — they inspire and motivate, encourage and enthuse. They draw people to them like moths to a flame. They are charismatic and dynamic and stylish. They are leaders indeed. But they are also good managers. Too much management and you stagnate. You have to revel in change, seek new challenges, stay on your toes, find new ways of doing things, motivate your team in new and exciting ways, introduce new technology and ideas, start trends, jump fences, light fires. You can’t be seen to stand still or moss will grow over you and you become a fixture and people stop noticing you

I know it’s difficult sometimes to see beyond today’s workload, tomorrow’s meetings, and next week’s directors’ report. But you have to be moving or you will stagnate. Set aside a little time each day or week – only half an hour perhaps – to think up new ways of being revolutionary. Why? Because if you don’t do this you become bogged down in the day-to-day, the humdrum, the ­routine Yes, you are a manager, but you are also an innovator, motivator, inspirer, leader, trendsetter.

If the moss has already grown over you and people have come to regard you as part of the furniture you will have to work very hard to shake off that image. Don’t scare them with radical change do it bit by bit.

From THE RULES OF MANAGEMENT  by Richard Templar

The Gift Relationship

Why workers who do favours are more productive

From The Economist April 10-16 2004.

Is generosity good for you? At work, at least, the answer may be yes. There, says a recent article in the Academy of Management Journal, productivity rises when workers help each other more.

Francis Flynn, of Columbia University’s business school, studied 161 engineers working for a telecoms firm near San Francisco. They work in eight teams, but each individually sorts out detailed engineering problems sent in from around the country. Mr Flynn asked each employee how often they swapped help with each member of the team – help such as technical advice or taking a second look at a recommended solution – and who, in each case, had given relatively more in their exchanges. Thus, he looked separately at the frequency with which individual workers made such swaps and how one-sidedly generous they were. He also asked employees to rate how highly they regarded one another.

Mr Flynn correlated the answers he got with information from the firm on employees’ productivity. He found that generous employees who get little in exchange are well-regarded by colleagues. Employees who helped colleagues generously but did not received help in return were less productive. Those who receive as well as give were relatively more productive, particularly those who helped each other more often. A pattern of frequent giving and receiving boosted both productivity and social standing.

Why should productivity rise when employees frequently swap help? Mr Flynn has two explanations. First, as employees learn more about the resources they can offer each other, they develop a more efficient pattern of requesting and giving help. Second, helpful employees learn to trust each other more, and so become willing to offer bigger favours, as they feel more sure about the likelihood of reciprocation. And, of course, it is nicer to work with helpful people than with the other sort.

Top 10 ways to get the most from your coaching

Just by having a coach and chatting with him or her on a regular basis, you will get plenty of value; you don’t have to work hard at it for the benefits of coaching to occur. This is because the synergy that occurs as a result of the coach and client relationship is what makes the biggest difference to any well-motivated client.

But if you want to maximise the value of the coaching relationship, here are 10 ways that I have seen work very well. If some of the ideas are new to you, we can talk about them during our first sessions.

1) Focus on how you feel and want to feel, not just on what you want to produce

Sometimes clients feel the need to focus the coaching time on how to produce more tangible or financial results. But don’t forget the intangibles, such as feeling happier, more peaceful and more inspired. Results are very important, but the feelings you experience during the day are equally important. Think of a brick wall – the bricks are the results, the mortar is the feelings – enjoy having both.

2) Talk about what matters most to you

You may talk about anything you want to during the coaching sessions. This includes your goals, your life, your needs, what you want to improve, what’s bothering you, an idea you have, a problem you are dealing with, even stuff that may not appear to be all that ‘useful’ to talk about. Its surprising what a difference it makes in the long run when you focus on what you most selfishly want to talk about during coaching, not what you feel you ‘should’ talk about during the session in order to get the most value from your session.

3) Sensitise yourself so that you see and experience things earlier than before

As you know, time is collapsing, meaning that things are happening faster and faster and the pace of change continues to increase. For some, this causes stress because they feel both the pressure to keep up and the fear of getting left behind. But for others, they recognise this phenomena as a chance to recognise opportunities as they occur, instead of seeing them too late. How does one do this? By reducing whatever is clouding your ability to see or numbing your ability to sense: we call this process ‘sensitising yourself’. The more you feel, the faster you can respond to events and opportunities. You sensitise yourself by reducing or eliminating alcohol, television, adrenaline, stress and caffeine.

4) Feel coached during the 10,000 minutes of your week, not just the coaching session

There are 10,080 minutes in a 7-day week. Coaching is accruing all during your week, not just during your coaching session – such is the power of coaching and the coaching relationship. What you and your coach talk about during your sessions will resonate with you during your week, and some of the seeds and ideas that have been discussed will grow between your sessions. All you have to do is to fully live your life between coaching sessions and be open to seeing what you and your coach have talked about.

5) Reduce the drain and strain in your life

Coaching works because it focuses you in two areas. First you’ll be helped to stretch yourself further, take more actions than you would on your own, and devise/implement effective strategies to get what you want. At the same time, you will also be identifying and reducing things that drain and strain you, such as tolerations, stressful situations, difficult relationships, pressured environments, and recurring problems. So, don’t just hoist a bigger sail, make sure there are no cracks or barnacles on your hull!

6) Get more space, not just time, in your life

Coaching needs room in order to work. If you’re too busy, rushed, adrenalined or burdened, you may be using coaching to push yourself harder, instead of using coaching to become more effective. It is strongly suggested that you put some projects on hold, reduce your roles, simplify your day, reduce your goals, streamline your work and install personal management systems before or immediately after starting with your coach. Simplification gets you space. Space is needed to learn and evolve yourself beyond where you are today.

7) Become incredibly selfish

Coaching is about you and what you most want. As such you will probably need to start putting yourself first if you haven’t done so already. At the very least, you will want to become selfish, in the sense that you are what matters most. When you are happy and doing well, others will benefit as well.

8) Be open to seeing things differently

In coaching you will be working with your goals (called ‘Outcomes’) and your strategies for reaching those goals. But you will also be working on you. In other words, you will get more from coaching if you are willing to re-look at some of your assumptions, ways of thinking, expectations, beliefs, reactions and approaches to success. There are always newly-developed concepts, principles, distinctions, and evolutionary steps to learn. You won’t be forced or even encouraged to make these changes given they are so personal; but we do ask that you at least consider different approaches and ways of thinking and try them out to see if they work for you.

9) Be willing to evolve yourself, not just develop yourself

Coaching is both a developmental process as well as an evolutionary one. In other words, you will be learning how to accomplish more with less effort – let’s call this the developmental side of coaching. But you will also be thinking differently and expanding yourself and your world, which we call evolving. Perhaps surprisingly, evolving is a skill and it’s worth learning because life itself is evolving, not just developing.

10) Design and strengthen your personal and business environments

The value of coaching can be extended if you use part of your coaching time to design the perfect environment in which to live and work. Where you live and how you live are key to your success. Who you spend your time with and are inspired by can make a difference between success and failure. Be willing to invest some time -and money?- in improving your environment so that you feel fully supported to be your best.

© Thomas J Leonard 1998 – May be distributed on a one to one basis with attribution and copyright intact

Two glasses of wine

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 glasses of wine…

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else; the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

” One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend.”

Christopher Elwes, December 2009