Why coach? What's the return for investing valuable time in coaching?

Every organisation has its own approach to performance management and coaching, but more often or not coaching is something a line manager or supervisor does to a more junior member of staff.

At the Enfys Acumen we view coaching as an interactive process. Our approach to coaching helps individuals grow as professionals and contribute fully to the success of an organisation or business. Done well, it can turn performance management into a collaborative process that benefits everyone.

In today's environment of rapidly changing technology and evolving organisations, coaching can have a strategic impact. It ensures continuous learning and develops people to meet current and future needs. Coaching is an investment that you make in developing your key resource, people, for the long-term benefit of the organisation.

About 6 out of 10 (59%) organisations currently offer coaching to their managers and executives, according to a survey of more than 300 companies by Manchester, a human capital consulting firm. Another 20% of organisations said they plan to offer such coaching within the next year.

Here's why

Most organisations need to improve productivity to fuel growth and profitability. Productivity doesn't happen when people are only focusing on the financial or technical issues. They also must build the capacity of managers to help their employees with the intangible elements of human interaction - because the work gets done through personal relationships. The key to ROI is developing and sustaining individual and group behaviours through personal relationships to achieve the desired business results. Executive coaching encourages the organisational development to get this done.

The Enfys Acumen is leading the way with executive coaching and can work with all kinds of organisations and businesses to develop the capability of their staff. Ask us how we can support you to introduce coaching into your workplace.

What makes a successful leader?

No one questions that effective leadership determines the success of an organisation. Management that places a strong focus on high impact leadership can instil trust and passionate commitment to the organisation's goals, mission and vision, even during turbulent times. It is that commitment that drives profitability and success.

How does an organisation define "high impact leadership" today, and how is that different from management models of the past?

The biggest change and trend in leadership has been a shift from a "command and control" model where decisions and orders are dictated from the highest levels to a model that works to inspire and motivate people through empowerment and active participation in decision-making processes.

As a specialist in organisational development, one of the most common requests the Enfys Acumen receives is for assistance in creating a strategic leadership plan that will implement this new model, focusing on identifying and developing key internal talent and linked to succession planning. This is even more critical as organisations become leaner and there is greater reliance on teams.

If you think about of leadership characteristics, there is g an underlying assumption that the individual has to have a good understanding of the business and to have "business savvy."

People skills

Beyond this, however, some of the most important leadership characteristics are strong "people skills," ie ability to build relationships internally and externally, and agility in managing constant change. A strong leader is someone who can create and articulate a vision, but strongly linked to this skill to the ability to motivate people toward that vision.

The emphasis on "people skills" as a critical leadership competency is not surprising. Research into the art and science of effective leadership has consistently identified "people skills" as the critical variable underlying not only successful leaders but organisations that are successful long term.

Effective leadership

What constitutes an effective leader? An effective leader brings out the best in the organisation's people in terms of their aspirations, potential, performance and contribution. They encourage collegial, collaborative and supportive work styles and use this to build strong teams. Leaders seek and welcome feedback and are comfortable analysing both their successes as well as their failures.

Self-awareness

A key component in effective leadership is self-awareness, the ability to recognise and understand your moods, emotions and drives and in particular the impact these have on those around you and the work environment. Leaders who have good self-awareness present as self-confidant without being arrogant, can voice unpopular views and are decisive in the face of uncertainty.

Self-regulation

The second skill is self-regulation. This refers to the ability to manage one's potentially disruptive emotions and impulses effectively, to remain composed during challenging moments and to be able to think clearly and remain focused when under pressure.

The Enfys Acumen’s executive coaching roles bring out the critical importance of self-regulation. One of the more common reasons we are asked to provide individual coaching to an executive is because of overly aggressive behaviour, the "bull-in-a-china-shop syndrome." Typically the individual is technically brilliant, but they leave a human path-of-destruction everywhere they go.

Social skill

Another major leadership component is social skill, which is proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. This includes a number of skills such as the ability to influence and persuade others without coercion, to listen openly, to manage conflict effectively, to inspire and guide individuals as well as groups and being able to serve as a change catalyst.

A leader with good social skill is able to balance business issues with the creative side of the business when there are no longer unlimited resources available. As resources dwindle, maintaining motivation and focus becomes imperative.

Agility

In developing strong leadership skills with the people we work with, another key factor is agility, i.e., the ability to be flexible and adaptable in a constantly and rapidly changing environment. Many organisations are beginning to look at agility as a critical organisational skill, and differentiate this from older "change management" approaches.

In the older organisational models, change was talked about as going from Point A to Point B in a certain amount of time. Once you got to Point B the process was over and that is where you stayed. That model often doesn't work today as changes occur so fast that before you get to Point B, something is guiding you in a different direction Point C, and before you get to Point C it starts changing again.

Agile executives are ones that are able to quickly change their mindset and direction and not stay locked into ideas that forces are indicating are no longer relevant or important. Additionally, agile executives are ones that are flexible in their leadership style and know how to apply different leadership approaches to meet the unique demands of the individuals they manage or the situations they encounter.

The agile leader has to have the ability to lead others through constant change while keeping them motivated and focused. The most effective leaders use a collection of distinct styles--each in the right measure, at just the right time. Such skill is unique and very high-level; and while such agility is tough to put into action, it pays off in overall organisational performance. And the good news is, this high-level executive skill can be learned and the Enfys Acumen can help.

Leadership always starts at the top

The bottom line on effective leadership is that while there are certainly unique business skills, the core of leadership regarding people skills and motivating and inspiring others to a shared vision are the same in most industries. How that occurs or is supported is unique to each organisation and its culture. Regardless of the industry, however, leadership always starts at the top.

To develop leadership in your organisation or business, why not contact the Enfys Acumen today.

Spring Clean Your Life

Spring cleaning has its origins in ancient history. Back then, with no labour saving devices and no electricity, spring marked the start of the season when the weather allowed a complete cleaning of the cave or house.

Since then, the tradition has been maintained but now there is a new angle. It is called coaching and it is, in effect, spring cleaning for your life.

In my view and the view of the thousands of people who receive regular coaching sessions, coaching is one of the most effective ways of staying green and growing instead of becoming ripe and rotten. It is simply a way of looking at where you are now, where you want to be in the future and how you are going to get there.

As a trained, professional coach I help my clients to do just that in a series of one hour telephone conversations at weekly intervals. A few people are able to do this for themselves, but the vast majority find that having an outsider like me to keep them on course is a vital ingredient in their life spring cleaning.

Frankly, I am not interested in how they got to where they are now. The only place that they can start to change their life is here and now. So we focus totally on the future and the actions that will lead to the positive results that they desire.

In the same way that our homes can become musty during the winter months and often look in need of a new lick of paint, so our lives can become a bit tattered and full of mental junk that no longer serves us well.

We all, without exception, carry a load of excess baggage in the form of worry, guilt, fears and false beliefs or expectations. I am a great believer in the power of a positive mental attitude and very few of us ever achieve anything approaching our full potential.

In coaching, clients are shown how they can easily let go of all this baggage to create room in their lives for new and exciting challenges. Many of my clients are amazed at the positive impact that even a small change or shift in attitude can produce. This really is spring cleaning for the mind.

In the same way that the onset of spring is often the catalyst that triggers a burst of domestic action, so a coach can be the catalyst that allows amazing and positive changes to happen.

I am always happy to discuss this or other aspects of his approach to coaching, absolutely free of any cost or obligation. You can the Enfys Acumen at any time or by telephone during usual office hours on 01633 769352.

I am still surprised at how often my clients tell me that their emotional and mental spring cleaning is like a weight being lifted from their shoulders. The joy is that they do it all themselves, I am just there to show them how.

10 tips for developing better relationships

Twenty years ago I qualified as a teacher and my first position was in a residential school for boys who were labelled in those days as emotionally and behaviourally disturbed - an awful label I know and it certainly helped me to realise that labels are for jam jars not for people.

I entered the teaching profession with lots of values and a real vision to make an impact on developing young people. Although I'd had various holiday jobs over the years, this was my first experience of the real world of work. I think at the time I used to see the world through rose tinted specs, but over the next two years my worldview changed significantly and now I realise it wasn't necessarily for the better and has had a very negative effect on my professional life.

The term I started coincided with the appointment of a new headteacher, it was his first headship and even though I am sure he was a great teacher, he lacked a lot of skills in managing and motivating his staff team. I really learnt a lot about how not to manage and motivate people and some of the pitfalls in organisational development.

In the two years I worked at that school, I think I only went into the headteacher's office about three times, one of which was for the actual job interview. I never had any one-to-one support and the only feedback I ever got tended to be negative and involved a ticking off in front of the kids. I'm sure you can well imagine how that made me feel.

Although I enjoyed the teaching side of things I really hated the school environment and couldn't wait to get away from there at the end of the day. I'm sure I used to get on my housemates nerves moaning about my job and complaining or rather in line with my view of life at the time, I would be making excuses for my boss. After all it was his first management position, he was only developing his skills too!

One day things really hit home. I had gone home quite upset and started making excuses for the headteacher again when a friend really pulled me down to earth.

"Stop there!" she said "This man is your manager, he's doing the job because he demonstrated to someone he could do it , he is getting paid twice as much as you are, you deserve to be supported and developed in your role."

I thought right, I either stand up to him or get out of that environment as soon as I possibly can. I chose the latter and at the end of term I was gone, off to pastures new and out of the teaching profession completely. I was escaping or running away. What I resolved in my own mind however was that I would never again expect less than the best possible support from my line manager.

Now I have had several jobs since that first teaching job and have had some great managers and some downright awful ones. What I did however was set myself some very high expectations for the way I wanted to be managed and how I, in return, would manage my staff. When my manager or the people responsible for employing and supporting me didn't fulfil my expectations of them or if my staff didn't meet my standards and in my mind, refused to be motivated and led in the right direction, I would often get myself into a rut of depression and consequently the quality of my own work and impact would suffer. I would be on a downward spiral until I lifted myself out of the situation by moving on to employment elsewhere. Running away again.

Since starting the Enfys Acumen however, becoming my own boss and having no-one else to blame as it were, I have put a huge amount of effort into personal development and understand now that I had placed myself in a position that I was setting myself up failure. Nobody is perfect and managers and staff have a shared responsibility to the team-playing role.

I have written before about teams and how in a team you have some people you are completely comfortable with and others you don't necessarily want to have much to do with, but recognise they too have a crucial role to play. See my blog post on Teamwork and Bicycles.

The rest of this post gives 10 tips on developing better relationships. I wish I'd discovered them sooner. If you are in a role where other people aren't meeting your expectations, I'm sure you'll find them useful:

1. Remember that however unreasonable someone is acting, their behaviour is derived from a positive intention. When you act as if all behaviour has a positive intention behind it, through discovering it, your life will become more pleasant. An example: You meet an angry person and you think how childish and silly they are. But if you were to ask yourself, "what is the positive intention behind this persons angry behaviour?", you could come up with something useful that allows you to feel more comfortable. For instance people often act angry because behind this they believe it will protect them from harm.

2. When you find yourself feeling uncomfortable in an interaction get some perspective by disassociating. In your mind's eye see yourself and the other person interacting over there, rather like you would if you were to see a video film of the situation.

3. Step into their shoes. This is one of the most powerful methods for gaining wisdom about your relationships. To begin, you imagine communicating with the other person, noticing how they talk, observe their facial expressions and so on. You then step into their shoes and see through their eyes and hear through their ears. So of course you will be looking at yourself! Run through a conversation you've had before, that could have been better. Notice yourself and become aware of how seeing things from this other person's perspective gives you new insights into the relationship.

4. What assumptions are you making about the other person? Are you willing to challenge those assumptions? Pick one. What is the opposite of that? eg narrow minded/open minded.
Now imagine interacting with the person with this new attitude.

5. Step into the WE frame: Think about a person you want to get along with better. Disassociate: Picture both of you interacting in your minds eye. Now allow yourself to find a common purpose between the two of you. Of course if you can't come up with anything you can always fall back on the fact that you are just two human beings who are trying to experience more happiness.

6. Funify your boss (or that irritating colleague). Many people experience difficulties communicating with their boss. It's often due to being too serious. So here is a simple, quick way to inject the antidote: FUN! Okay, picture your boss or whoever. And then notice their facial features. What stands out? Is it their nose, their eyes, eye brows, chin? Now you simply exaggerate those features rather like a caricature cartoonist does. Exaggerate and funify it in such a way that it makes you laugh or at least feel better towards the relationship.

7. No Failure, only feedback (or learning experiences.) A really useful way to make beneficial changes is to view everything as a learning experience. So thinking about a relationship you find challenging, notice how you usually respond to the person and then ask yourself, "How else could I respond?" How many different ways could you respond in your interactions? Come up with at least 3 possibilities. This enables your mind to generate more flexibility of behaviour.

8. Often when we experience difficulties in our relationships it is due to focusing on faults. This distorts our perception of the overall relationship, which is really a mixture of good and bad qualities. To re-focus our attention on the bigger picture begin to remember qualities you admire in the other person. Come up with three, picture them, increase the size of the images and place them around an image of the faulty qualities of the person. And remember positive intention, take a look at Tip 1 again!

9. What would be the consequence of staying stuck in the same relationship dynamic with a particular person, say ten years from now?! The fact is if you want to experience better relationships YOU are going to have to change your viewpoints or attitude. It's okay, this can be fairly simple. Imagine stepping into the future ten years from now and look back at that relationship and notice that it has remained in the same stuck pattern year after year for ten years! Looking at it like this, acting as if it could really happen, allow your feelings to arise that make you say, "enough is enough I MUST change!"

10. Think of someone you would like to get along with better. Choose someone of medium level problematic-ness and then read the following questions slowly: Isn't it true that all of the problems that we experience when relating to others is due to OUR feelings? What if we were to change our feelings? This could make things easier couldn't it?

If you are stuck in a professional relationship that is giving you grief in some way, why not try some personal coaching or ask the Enfys Acumen to help with developing a strategy to help your team work together more effectively.

Is your priest or pastor a servant of the Lord or a slave to the church?

As a Christian I am aware of the huge pressures that may be placed on clergy to manage their time effectively, work with limiting resources and deal with the fantastic number of challenges that face them every day from a diverse range of people. I am also aware as a church member, that clergy can often be in quite an isolated position, the kind of management support that is available in other careers and callings may not always be available and it is possible to become stuck in a creative rut or a cycle of procrastination. What I sometimes think of as a slave to the machinery of the church.

If these issues sound familiar, you might like to make sure that your priest, minister or pastor receives a copy of this blog post.

I would be delighted to offer my services as a coach to help your clergy to remain positive and increase their success in their role as a servant of the Lord. More information about the kind of coaching support I can provide and the benefits to the coaching client can be seen on the Enfys Acumen website.

In today’s changing church environment, I am sure you will see how they could be applied to church leadership professions.

As an introductory opportunity I am offering four coaching sessions, by telephone at the client's convenience, for the total fee of £108 (ongoing sessions can be agreed at a favourable rate). Naturally, professional confidentiality will be guaranteed. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to know more.