Retreat for Summer Miracles

Indians, we are told, do it more than any other nation. People with religious beliefs often do it once a year. Captains of industry do it less often. You can do it whenever you like.

For centuries, the practise of taking time out to do something different has been recognised as a sure-fire way of recharging your batteries, igniting your enthusiasm and solving problems. In commerce it is sometimes called a sabbatical, others may call it going on retreat, I’ve often called it an away-day.

We could all benefit from this simple procedure, couldn’t we? I’ll even go a step further. You don’t have to spend a week as a hermit on a mountain top. Just one day will release amazing benefits and the best part is that it doesn’t cost anything.

As a coach, I see that many of my clients benefit from this simple change to their routine. When you put a little distance between yourself and your routine challenges or issues, you see them in a different light and from a different perspective. You may even create a few miracles for yourself as a result. These will come as flashes of intuition that can lead you to take the action needed to resolve a problem.

Look at it this way, If you look at something, say an apple, and hold it close to your face so that it is touching your nose, you will see a very small part of it. Hold it at arms length and you will see the whole apple and its texture and colours. Look at it from the other end of the room and you won’t see the detail but you will see it in the perspective of its surroundings and in true proportion. It is the same with issues or problems. You add distance and see them from a new angle.

I know the weather out there this week might not seem like summer, but this is a great time of the year to do this. Simply set a weekday date in your diary right now, when you will take off to the countryside, the hills or the beach. Go by car, bike, train or on foot but go to somewhere that you have never been before and where you can be sure of some space alone. Set off early and plan to be out all day. Leave your mobile phone at home and travel light. Then just wander around for the day, thinking of nothing, focusing on the ‘now’ experience.

Many coaching clients are amazed how easy this is. They are ‘off the leash’ and just by being in a different place they find that their thoughts turn to solutions and answers rather than problems and challenges. You create in life what you think about.

So, make that date in your diary now. Look forward to it, keep it without guilt, enjoy it and return refreshed.

I am always happy to discuss this or other aspects of my approach to coaching, absolutely free of any cost or obligation. You can contact during usual office hours on 01633 769657 or by email.

If you do the same thing, in the same way, you will get the same results. Your away- day summer retreat may be the one enjoyable change that you need to create those spectacular ‘miracle’ results that you know you deserve.

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.

Performance management won't happen over night

Regular readers of my articles will know that I am a strong advocate for supporting businesses and organisations to develop a positive culture of accountability to ensure everyone concerned sees what needs to be done, owns it for themselves, has a role in solving the issue and goes off to do whatever is necessary to achieve the needed results.

In his own recent article Dan Martin expounds similar sentiments and asks:

“Is performance management simply about managing the way employees perform?”

“If you answered yes, you'd be wrong” writes Dan. “The process is actually more complex than the phrase suggests and as a result many organisations struggle to successfully embrace it.”

The Enfys Acumen model of organisational development has been addressing this for some time, but why is this approach so relevant?

In simple terms, performance management is the holistic approach to managing performance across an organisation. However, the term does require slightly more description. Angela Baron and Michael Armstrong, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and two of the UK's leading experts on the subject, define it as:

"A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved."

Monica Franco, research fellow at the Centre for Business Performance, Cranfield School of Management, says a key element is that the process should be linked to the direction an organisation is taking. "Performance management could be defined as the set of processes by which organisations manage their performance in line with their corporate strategy," she claims.

The experts agree then that where organisations fail on their definition of performance management is when they only focus on the practical processes used. While things such as employee appraisals, talent development and rewards are of course vitally important they are simply the tools which are used to help manage performance. Just having these tools in place is not enough. Effort above and beyond them is required.

As we have been saying, success in a business or organisation is very much about achieving a culture of accountability and this sort of thing just can’t happen over night that’s why a staged approach like ours is so valuable. We suggest that effective performance management needs a four stage process and a strong programme of coaching to ensure people stay on target and receive the kind of support they need and deserve.

Organisational development must be seen as a living process and not something written on a tablet of stone, organisations are after all organic, evolving, growing bodies.

To find out more about the Enfys Acumen organisational development click here or please get in touch we’d love to talk to you about it.

Start standing up to the monsters that are holding back your success

Did you know that there are three monsters lurking about in the heart of our shadows and lonely corners of our lives and businesses:

The first monster is fear.

It is simply not the done thing today to name our fears and deal with them now is it? All of us are afraid of the unknown, but instead of telling the fear like it is, we hide and blame others or say that something is impossible to do.

In the safe pair of hands of a good coach you can make magical things happen, what seems impossible suddenly becomes achievable.

The second monster is control.

Many of us are in roles in which we are expected to take control of a situation - parent, carer, teacher, youth leader, manager, business owner, whatever? Effective leadership today however requires people to give up control and share power with those who have been denied it in the past. The first step here is to invite those who have been out to join us at the table. By asking the problems to be part of the solution, we will enter into powerful partnerships for change. We need to support everyone to see what needs to be done, to take ownership of the situation, to help solve the problem and go off to take control over whatever it is that needs to be done. By sharing control we empower both ourselves and our new partners. Everyone wins.

Using organisational development tools can help you face up to the Control Monster.

The third monster is change.

Change, though inevitable, scares us all. We fear change. We are always more comfortable with the status quo. Through working with the Enfys Acumen you can make the change you want explicit, face the fear and then give up the old controls that stop you from moving forward.

Don't let these old monsters hold you back get in touch with the Enfys Acumen today. It does not matter where in the world you are, we can offer you an organisational development and coaching programme that can meet your needs.

The Best Valentine - Love Yourself

This is the month when love is in the air, thanks to Saint Valentine. But here is a thought for you. When did you last give yourself a Valentine?

That is not as strange as it may seem. As anyone who knows true love will tell you, the more love that you give, the more you receive. This starts an amazing circle of ever increasing love, which makes your eyes shine; your energy level rises and improves every aspect of your life. The place to start this whole cycle going is with self-love. This doesn’t mean selfishness and introspection. It means taking time out to truly appreciate all your great qualities, skills and talents.

As a coach and I know that many of my clients benefit from this simple change to their approach to love. Let me explain, because so many of us are brought up in a culture where it is considered bad form to put yourself first, we can severely limit the love that we have to give.

We can also limit your capacity to receive love. If you don’t love yourself, you may feel that you are unlovable by someone else. At best, this can make you doubt any expressions of love that you receive. At worst, it can even make you repel those who want to love you and that can result in the collapse of a relationship.

Self love is not the same as selfishness. It is the ability to acknowledge all your good points instead of a continual focus on your faults. It means looking into the mirror and seeing a person of great potential. When you can do this you can look the world in the eye, you can give freely and you can project love outwards to others.

I think that a reason why so many people never get to find the one true love that the Valentine’s cards talk about. It is because the whole idea of self love is alien to them. If they think about it as self-esteem then it becomes more acceptable. Every truly happy and successful person has high self-esteem. This is not the same as arrogance or conceit, it is about giving as much credibility to your positive qualities as you do to all the others.

Some of my coaching clients have discovered that, once they have addressed the issue of selfesteem, then everything else just falls into place. The process of increased awareness is simple, gradual and very effective. The biggest pay off is that when you have done it once; you have it for all time. Then you become truly aware that you can be, do or have whatever you want in life - and that includes love.

I am always happy to discuss this or other aspects of our approach to coaching, absolutely free of any cost or obligation. You can contact me during usual office hours on 01633 769657 or visit our website.

One last word. We are all born with a good awareness of ourselves. What subsequently happens is that we remember all the negative things that others tell us about ourselves and these can swamp our opinions about the good qualities that we have. Decide to base your impressions of self on what you truly know to be true instead of the opinions of others and you are well on the way to building up that never-ending store of love that is your birthright.