Do you need a coach?

Your need for coaching might be greater than you think.

Are you stuck in a technical job?

Are you stuck at a level that no longer satisfies you, and you think you'd make a stellar chief operating officer? If you have specialised skills, such as financial knowledge, fundraising or computer expertise, you may need a leadership coach to help you get out of your rut, er, niche.

Do your softer skills need work?

You may be a brilliant negotiator, a financial whiz or a technical genius. But do you have what it takes to manage other high-level employees? If your communication skills have been a sore spot during your annual reviews, a leadership coach might be able to help.

Are you doing just fine, thank you?

That's great. But "just fine" for your current job level might be "not good enough". If you're happy where you are, that's fine. But if you want to get to the next level, a coach can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Have you lost enthusiasm?

Are you finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning? If the projects that used to excite you now fill you with dread, you may need a career coach. But if you want to stay in your job, a leadership coach could help you identify new challenges within your industry

Are your team dynamics suffering?

Are you still getting along with the other senior managers on your team? If your interpersonal dynamics have suffered, it's time to find out why. Leadership coaches can work with you alone, or they can work with an entire team.

Do you have high staff turnover?

How does your retention compare with that of your competitors? How does it compare with your retention a year ago? If your employees seem like they've lost some of their enthusiasm, it might not be the winter blues. There may be some underlying problems you need to address.

Have you just made a big transition?

If you started a new job or just taken on a new member of your senior leadership team, there may be more adjustment pains than you expect. If you're experiencing friction with a new boss or a new subordinate, a third party may be able to help you adjust.

Is your market in flux?

Global warming, emerging markets, spiraling health care costs: Is your company prepared for the global trends overtaking the business world? If you feel like you're not prepared to confront 21st-century challenges, you could pass the baton--or hire some help.

Why not give yourself the best Christmas present ever? Start the New Year with an Enfys Acumen coaching programme and make 2008 your best year yet.

12 Tips for Christmas Networking - Advice on how to make the most of those seasonal networking opportunities

Networking is WORK! Don’t be fooled into thinking otherwise. You can enjoy it for sure, but to be effective you should be alert to opportunities at all times and remember that you’re not just out to have a good time.

I have written before about my passion for networking and its value in a successful marketing toolkit. Recently I became the founding leader of a brand new networking group in Newport called 4Networking. To book a place at the next event click here.

The need for people to develop their business development and networking skills is vital. As a business coach I know that this does not necessarily come easily to everyone – most of us have to learn these skills and develop a formula which works for us.

The business landscape has changed in the past few decades, and continues to evolve at pace. How do you get past first base? Your reputation? Expertise? Level of service? Competitive pricing? That’s what they all say, and it’s all very important. But the bottom line is that business is still done face to face. People do business with people they know like and trust. Everyone in the business community is either VISIBLE or INVISIBLE – no-one wants to be invisible in their networks.

Networking is a skill and most people need some training before they perfect it. It is also a science. To be effective at networking you have to be clear about who you need to network with, otherwise any successes you gain are by sheer good fortune. Make a list of clients whom you wish to court and another list of potential targets that you would like to meet and with whom you would like to develop a relationship. Without the relationship you are unlikely to get past first base. Once you have done these tasks you will be able to gauge which of the many Christmas party invitations that land on your desk you wish to accept and by following your strategic plan you will be able to make an informed choice rather than a possibly more haphazard approach.

But remember, if you feel uneasy about walking into a room and striking up a conversation with someone you have never met before, you are not alone. The first three things to remember are STOP! LOOK! And LISTEN!

Stop…
…And think for a minute about what might interest others before going on about your work (even if you do something absolutely fascinating). Try to practise your small talk – what is your favourite film; book; food; holiday destination? (If you have to think too long about your favourite book you watch too much television!)

…Talking about how bad the weather/car parking/economy is. This can drag the conversation down, so be positive. Be someone that people enjoy talking to (accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, don’t mess with mister in-between)

…And take a little while to think about what makes you interesting (there must be something)

…Going into your pocket for a business card after just a few minutes (what’s all that about?). There are no prizes for collecting the most business cards – people never gained more business by collecting business cards alone.

Look…
…And use your eyes when you arrive to get a sense of the occasion.
…For someone appropriate to talk to, then simply go up and introduce yourself. Don’t wait too long, or before you know it you’ll be reading the fire escape instructions and drinking too much. Don’t be the weirdo on their own!

…But with your brain engaged. If two people are deep in conversation leave them alone (they may be looking for mistletoe, not company)

…Confident and relaxed, make eye contact and smile (look at their body language for signs they would rather be washing their hair or painting the lounge ceiling). And remember to look good! Dress for success (polyester musical Christmas tie? Trying too hard?)

Listen

…Actively by looking as if you are listening as well as simply hearing

…To names at the beginning of conversations and repeat them a few times to embed them (this is important, so concentrate)

…By adopting good posture and an appropriate distance (just over a metre shows you are interested: too much closer and you are too interested, too much farther away and you are a stalker!)

…And affirm with little noises like uh-huh and mm as well as nods and the like (shows you are conscious, always a good thing), and with occasional interjections, making relevant comment and adding your own stories (shows you understand, but avoid taking over)

…and PS
It was that inveterate socialite and party animal Oscar Wilde who said, “Only the shallowest people do not judge by appearances.” So if you are one of those people, remember – the rest of us do!

Enjoy all the parties, but consider what you’ll look like at the end of the night, not just what you’ll look like at the beginning.

We would be delighted to help you decide on the best networking strategy for your business. Why not plan some networking coaching for the New Year?

Getting the most from Executive Coaching.

Executive coaching is beginning to be seen as less of a solution to a problem and more of a tool to help people realise their full potential. With increasing numbers of top-level executives having tried and benefited from it.

Fellow coach, Matt Henkes has looked at how its effectiveness can be measured.It wasn't too long ago that many saw business coaching as just the latest fad, soon to find itself condemned to the same pile as sparkly disco trousers and the CB radio. However, with increasing numbers of firms turning to coaches to help employees realise their full potential, is it something HR should be seriously considering for its executives?

Executive coaching has increased steadily since the late 1990s, despite some experts considering it to have a limited shelf-life. As proof of its growing popularity, a 2005 study from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) suggested that almost 90 per cent of organisations employed coaching activities in their leader development strategies, with two-thirds hiring external coaches to work with more senior or high-potential employees.

Gil Schwenk, principal consultant at the Bath Consultancy Group (BCG), believes its popularity could be due to the fact it is often more effective than simple, traditional training courses because the development is focused on the individual. However, it's not an either/or choice, he adds. "There's a place for both as they do different things," Schwenk explains.

The confusion seems to be over what coaching actually is, compared to mentoring or training. Isobel Rimmer, director of coaching firm Masterclass, describes it in terms of holding a mirror up to the person being coached. "They're seeing for themselves what they're doing and what they're thinking, and then making decisions on whether they like what they see and whether they need to change," she says. "The sharp HR people are very aware now of how coaching can be a very powerful way of working with people and raising the bar in what they do."

Choices

Coaching can come from within the organisation or from exterior consultants. Which you use will depend on your budget and what you want to achieve.

Although it is often cheaper in the long run to train up a cadre within your firm than to hire an outsider, it is worth considering that the relationship between an internal coach and an executive who may hold a fair amount of sway in the company is unlikely to be as fair and frank from both sides as it could be with an external coach. Senior executives are less likely to divulge their deepest professional fears to a subordinate.

As a coach, our job is to challenge our subject. If you're working with a client as an external coach and you push them too far, you've lost one of your clients, says Schwenk. If you do that as an internal coach, you've lost your job. "It’s extreme and rarely happens, but it's a concern that might be there for internal coaches," he adds.

Coaching is 'hip' at the moment, but is still a relatively new discipline. And with so many firms employing the approach, it's important not to just jump on the bandwagon. All parties must be clear on what is expected from the process, which is why discussions between HR, the coach and the coachee, can help define what these goals are. For example, if the goal is to modify a number of behavioural shortcomings, these must be agreed in the coaching contract.

Measuring

There are various ways to measure whether the sessions have been effective. Sharon Brockway, a senior consultant at the Roffey Park development consultancy, believes the trend for many firms is to look at the individual experience, often using one-to-one conversations between the coachee and HR to gauge effectiveness.

There are useful pieces of information HR practitioners can gain from these types of interviews. Even though it may seem quite a one sided view, it can show you if the coaching has been effective in the eyes of the individual. How effective that is in terms of their changed behaviour might be another story, but you are at least gaining a sense of their perception of the process.

Another approach becoming popular is to gather 360 degree information before and after the coaching process to glean any changes in behaviour or performance. The drawback to this, however, is the large amount of information that needs to be gathered and collated by HR. "Not all of it will necessarily apply to the coaching context," warns Brockway. "In that sense, it makes quite a lot of work for HR – separating out what is key for the coaching process and what isn't."

However, it is possible you won't have any specific aims defined at the beginning, depending on why you have employed a coach. Brockway says HR directors are increasingly turning to coaches as a way of helping senior figures reach their full potential, rather than to fix a problem. In this instance, there may not initially be any particular area that demands attention; the manager is already good at their job and the specific skills or behaviours they need to work on will only become apparent as the sessions progress.

This is a relatively new approach in the coaching world and an area where there is currently much discussion. "Some people are saying there's advantage in keeping it loose and letting the goals develop as you go through it," says Schwenk. "I think there’s merit in that."

However, he admits he is "concerned" by this approach. Firms are investing a lot of money into the process while not being clear about why they want coaching in the first place.

Coaching can be a good way to help senior people who often have no one in whom to confide openly about their hopes and feelings. "The benefits of having someone to listen are clearly very hard to measure," says business psychologist Sherridan Hughes. "But if someone feels that they benefited from the coaching and are not able to put a finger on exactly how, that should not be discounted."