July 2nd, 2009 by Paul Smith
“In the space of a fortnight, six different people told Paul Smith they were having a horrible time in their executive jobs. One told him that he wanted to resign forthwith. Another confessed to just having endured the worst month of his business life. A prominent Family Business owner said: “I just want to give up and sell up – it’s all too hard.”
These were not Paul’s employees, bosses or friends. They included corporate or government leaders, business owners and executives who engage him as a business mentor (and coach) and who felt free in a one-to-one setting, to confess how they were really feeling about their jobs. Big pay packets and titles are no buffer to human needs and emotions.
It’s a cliché, but life at the top really can be lonely or isolating, says Paul, because few employees can imagine that their “superiors” might sometimes feel vulnerable and bewildered. He’s been there too!
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July 2nd, 2009 by Paul Smith
Do you need an Executive Coach or Mentor? Do your managers? Here is a useful framework for thinking about the role of 3rd party guidance.
Credibility. A nice word. Sufficiently powerful to unmask the pretentious and unethical who plague our professional lives. Credibility is hard to gain. Easy to lose. Difficult to restore.
With credibility you leverage a successful career, enhance your organisation and engender meaningful relationships. Without credibility you’re left to ponder what went wrong.
Increasingly, the credibility of the burgeoning executive coaching sector is facing scrutiny.
We are witnessing an influx of over-hyped, ill-equipped people calling themselves coaches -yet often bereft of business acumen, empathy, analytical skills and interpersonal qualities.
Much of what’s being offered is drawn from the heavily hyped US coaching market with a seemingly endless variation of coaching specialisations like life coaching, personal coaching, leadership, experiential, executive, success, corporate, relationship and career coaching. Then there’s remedial coaching, retention, change, mentor, developmental and situational coaching.
Let’s be clear, good executive coaching is a value-adding contributor to contemporary senior management, but identifying a credible coach is difficult. Not to mention a mentor!
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July 2nd, 2009 by Paul Smith
Reminders for why we communicate and what we want to achieve!
- To be understood – to get something across so that the other person/s knows exactly what we mean
- To understand the other person/s and to get to know their exact meaning and intentions
- To gain acceptance for ourself and/or our ideas
- To produce action – to get the other person/s to understand what is expected, when it is needed, why it is necessary and sometimes how to do it
The Facilitator’s Role is to:
- Provide safety – so that all family members can get the individual help they need to successfully manage themselves in difficult discussions – and talk about their difficulties
- Track the process and help the family stay on task – often this can be a challenge when there are strong emotional reactions that make it hard for the family members to stay focussed
- Help contain the conflicts and manage emotions – facilitators need to notice and respond to emotions in family members including those who may not be part of the immediate problem
- Provide reality testing. It is easy to become so involved in the family’s “web” and lose perspective
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July 1st, 2009 by Joe Tyney
In the workplace, the home, the sporting field or in any activity where people come together to achieve a common purpose
HOW THEY “FEEL” IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO HOW PRODUCTIVE THEY ARE
Not feeling OK is an annual $33 BILLION eyesore to Australian business, because people are not engaged. They don’t feel good about themselves and their situation for a wide variety of reasons such as lack of recognition, support, being poorly treated, ignored or not listened to. Some of them give up, even good people, because of this. They become disillusioned, cynical and negative. The major reason for this is lack of leadership or totally inappropriate leadership. It affects the bottom line, causing unhappiness, disharmony and pain.
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