Archive for the ‘coaching’ Category

Motivation: What makes you tick?

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

We are all unique.  What motivates one person might be a complete turn-off for another.  If you know what motivates you, you can use these motivators to getting you going when you are stuck, lethargic or procrastinating.  Sources of motivation include:

• Deadlines
• Fear
• Rewards
• Appreciation
• Contributing
• Visioning
• Producing outputs
• Connection
• Feedback
• Change
• Progression
• Challenge
• Stability

During the next few days take time to identify:

• Your motivators
• How you use them
• How you could use them more

Embracing Change

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that change is difficult or requires some special skills which you might not have.  In reality, we are dealing with change every day.  The weather, how we are feeling, new food in a different restaurant, visiting new places are just a few examples.  The next time you are faced with a major change, ask yourself the following questions:

What are you resisting?
Why are you resisting?
What are you afraid of?
What is the cost to me of not changing?
What benefits are there?
What would I need to do to make the change?
What is the first step I could take?

So what gets in the way of you making change?

Achieving Results: What’s stopping you achieving and what to do about it?

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Are you achieving all that you want at the moment?  If you are keep up the good work, notice what you are doing right and do more of it.  In reality there will always be times when everything is going well and other times when it feels like everything you touch falls apart.

There are a whole host of reasons why you might not be achieving all you want right now.  Let’s explore some of these:

Fear: You might not be taking action right now because you are frightened of failing or frightened of the consequences if you succeed.  People do worry that they might be too successful, become overwhelmed and then not deliver.

Lack of focus: Often when working with clients they complain that they are not making progress.  When we dig below the surface we often discover that they are not completely focused.  They might not be getting signed up for courses essential to their continued development, getting their CV completed or asking to get on a particular project that will given that essential experience to their success.

Lack of desire:  To achieve anything you need to have the desire and hunger to get the benefits that success will bring.  You might not be motivated because you are playing safe and operating in your comfort zone and taking what might be regarded as a logical next step.

Lack of commitment: Do you find yourself starting lots of new things but never see things through to completion?  Sometimes it takes a lot of commitment to achieve things so ask yourself if you are willing to do the work to achieve.

Lack of skills, knowledge or other resources:  Maybe you are clear on what you want but tell yourself that you cannot do it because you don’t have the right skills, knowledge or other resources to do it.

Lack of clarity: We can often lack clarity on what you want.  If you don’t know where you are heading, it is difficult to plot out your route to success.

If any or all of these reasons apply to you, what can you do to start achieving?

1. Clearly define what you want, why you want it and what the benefits will be once you achieved it.

2. Start one big project at a time, plan it thoroughly and follow through step by step.

3. Drop things that you don’t really want to do but feel you need to do it because it is expected.

4. Start consciously choosing what you will and won’t do rather than leaving it to chance.

5. Accept that when you take action you will fail some time but by stretching your comfort zone you will achieve more than you would have done otherwise.

6. Recognise that it is better to have something that is 90% complete now than 92% complete in 3 month’s time.

Bottom line – If you want to achieve anything, the first obstacle you need to address is yourself.  So what’s your first step to achieving more success?

4 Common Challenges Tackled By Coaching in Organisations

Monday, January 12th, 2009

More and more organisations are looking to add coaching to their learning and development offering.  So what are some of the common challenges that can be tackled by coaching in organisations?

Winning the war for talent

In many businesses there is a constant challenge of recruiting and subsequently retaining the best people.  Coaching can help to build relationships in the organisation and also give a strong message to employees and potential hires that people development is taken seriously.

Leadership development

Many employers offer opportunities to employees to gain professional qualifications, masters levels degrees and participate in the in-house development programmes.  All of these will work for employees but for some the opportunity to work one to one with someone else is much more effective.  It allows open dialogue and attention to be focused on those areas of improvement that will deliver greatest impact.

Increasing productivity

The opportunities here are almost endless.  Someone could be work with a coach on work organisation, delegation, time mastery, project planning, process re-design, goal setting, decision making to name just a few.

Communication

Like productivity the opportunities in the area of communication are significant.  It might be presenting a new strategy, getting buy-in to a change programme, asking more effective questions when handling conflict,improving presentation skills, listening more effectively or even how to write in a more compelling way.

So what other areas would you add to the list of challenges that can be tackled by coaching?  Leave a comment with your thoughts.