Do you know how to be successful? It might not be how you think…

Posted by

In recent months, I’m seeing some patterns with my coaching clients – intelligent, driven, responsible leaders who have worked hard for a long time, find themselves increasingly needing to do more with less time and resources in ever changing, complex environments. In addition, most have challenges that cause tension for them in how to best use their time that relate to their non-work commitments such as child care or elder care. Perhaps not surprisingly, several are asking themselves some big questions. Is this what I want? Can I do things differently? Where is this leading?

(more…)

Loneliness – how to ensure the workplace isn’t a factor

Posted by

We live in an age where loneliness has been described as a social epidemic with a study by The Co-op and the British Red Cross stating that over 9 million people in the UK across all adult ages – more than the population of London – are either always or often lonely. This isn’t just an issue for the elderly. It can affect any of us throughout our lives.

While there are national measures and bodies tackling the issue of loneliness, the focus below is on what we can do as leaders and managers in the workplace, to ensure that while at work, at least, our colleagues are included, feel a sense of belonging and are confident. (more…)

Sleeping your way to productivity.. and good health

Posted by

How much sleep do you get a night? Is it something you are aware of?

It seems more and more of us are becoming aware of our sleep patterns as we recognise the impact of sleep on our daily lives. If this is not something you’ve thought much about and you want to give yourself the best chance of being at your best, not only at work, but for your health and family, read on for some tips. (more…)

Thinking about a career change? Lessons from sport can help

Posted by

 

Photo by Ryan Riggins on Unsplash

Are you at a point in your career where you feel you are facing a wall and are perhaps not enjoying what you do?
Do you ever wonder what you could do to breakthrough to find something more fulfilling that you can excel at? One way to do it is through a combination of stepping out of our comfort zones to face new horizons, adopting a mind-set that says we can rather than we can’t, and using and growing current skills and capabilities to launch into a new direction (transferable skills).

My awareness of such a 3-pronged approach has been triggered as a result of seeing parallels in sport. Let’s explore each of the 3 in turn. (more…)

The Pressure-Stress Balancing Act and how to manage it

Posted by

Have you ever found yourself wondering how you suddenly became so stressed when only recently you were enjoying high performance? What causes stress and what small things can we do each and every day to keep our balance?  (more…)

Tapping into your emotional detective

Posted by

Photo Credit: Voyagerix

As we say goodbye to one year and hello to another, I find myself thinking about feelings and emotions. I can’t help notice the irony of that sentence as all too often we hide behind thinking instead of connecting to feelings.

Why might this be something you could benefit from considering at the start of a New Year? My proposal is that your year will be richer if you more consciously focus on feelings and emotions because recognising and acknowledging emotions can help us think, emotions can enable us to relate better to others, to manage others, and to manage ourselves.

(more…)

Investing in your Mental Wellbeing – a leadership imperative

Posted by

Credit: lesly-juarez unsplash.com

What’s on your ‘to do’ list this week? Revisit the strategy? Review your budget actuals against planned? Develop your people? How about strengthen your mental wellbeing?

Not that last one? Mmm, that could be the most important of the lot.

Why focus on mental wellbeing?

According to the charity Mind, Approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, and, in England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week. Chances are, someone in your team considers themselves to have a mental health problem so that’s a good reason to read on, even if you don’t consider you have one yourself.  (more…)

Developing good learning habits to fast track your growth

Posted by

Credit: leoleobobeo on Pixabay

Being successful at work and in your career is dependent on a number of factors. One of those is your ability and willingness to learn and grow. Taking a proactive approach to learning is a sure fire way to give yourself a better chance of success.

Learning is not just about attending training courses though. Learning requires making the most of opportunities that present themselves (or that you can engineer for yourself) during your day to day work, as well as learning from others. It also requires the discipline to reflect on your behaviours and results so that you have a better understanding of why things worked out as they did. What did you do that supported positive results? What might you do differently next time? (more…)

Investing in relationships to improve performance

Posted by

Photo by rawpixel.com on unsplash

Last month I wrote about the importance of your relationship with your manager. This month, building on this theme, I am exploring the power of building relationship through any of your interactions that support you getting your work done.

We all have preferred ways of working to get things done. For some of us, being focused and efficient is the way to go. For others it is about taking time to interact with others and to build networks. While these may be our preferences, we likely need a bit of both at times in order to be successful. There are very few people who can get their work done without the need to interact with others. Not only is working with others necessary, it is something which most of us need.  (more…)

Building a GREAT relationship with your manager …it takes more than coffee

Posted by

Photo by Javier Molina

Do you remember how it felt to have a manager for the first time at work? Perhaps you are new to the world of work and only just finding out?

We expect a lot of our managers. Sometimes we even forget that they are people just like us – with hopes, fears, concerns, career aspirations, and a manager of their own.

We often expect them to be there for us – to make it straightforward for us to fulfil our responsibilities, to support our development, to ensure we get pay rises and promotions, to back us in a meeting, to listen to us and to value our opinions. Sometimes, it is all too easy to blame them when we don’t want to take accountability ourselves for something not going our way: If only my manager had done this or that. (more…)