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."

What ‘Coaching’ means to a hotel management team

I recently came across this article, and thought I couldn't have said it better myself, so here it is:

Individual Performance Coaching for Teachers and School Leaders

For some months now the Enfys Acumen has been promoting a performance coaching programme for teachers and school leaders. During October 2007, two major developments have taken place.

Firstly, I have started delivering a coaching programme for a primary school teacher in Monmouthshire. Funded entirely by a grant from the General Teaching Council for Wales, the coaching programme for this teacher is focusing on issues that have been agreed with the school's headteacher.

Secondly, I have been recruited as an associate of Dysg, the Welsh Assembly Government division focusing on on improving the quality of teaching and learning in the post-14 education and training sector.

Headteachers and teachers interested in introducing performance coaching in their schools are encouraged to read this extract from an Enfys Acumen information sheet:

What is coaching?

Generically, coaching is a form of support for individuals as they decide what they want to achieve in their career, relationships, health, finances - in fact any area of their lives. Coaching has developed from the stages of mentoring and guiding to empower people to make decisions about their lives and to support them whilst taking the necessary action to achieve what they decide they want.

In a professional setting like a school, an independent coach can reflect ideas, evoke solutions and support their implementation in a way that few organisational insiders could ever do. Individual or one-to-one coaching is ideal to work with a person who wants to develop themselves on issues that are unique to themselves. Individual coaching is the best choice in the following scenarios:

· support for a new member of staff or a recently promoted teacher or manager. Research suggests that 1 in 8 workers resign before getting to grips with a new role and the average worker needs a minimum of 5 months to become competent in a new job. Competency in a role is usually directly related to the levels of confidence felt. Coaching increases individual confidence and therefore reduces the time needed for competency to occur

· to provide extra recognition to high achievers and a school’s future leaders

· to help an individual meet key performance indicators

· to assist an individual to increase their confidence in their role

· support for an individual who has non-work related issues that are affecting his/her performance

What are the benefits of coaching?

· coaching enables people to find clarity in a situation where currently they feel unsure of what is the 'next step' to take

· coaching helps people to find their best decision making state of mind so that they can trust their choices and move forward without doubt

· coaching helps people with strategies to achieve what they want

· coaching gives people a support mechanism to stretch them out of their comfort (or discomfort!) zone

· coaching gives people someone to help maintain motivation on action where they might previously have given up

How does coaching take place?

Coaching sessions last between 60 and 90 minutes. These can be either face-to-face or more usually, over the telephone.

Having a series of coaching sessions is ideal because this enables people to build up momentum to be empowered to continue with their action plans after the coaching sessions finish. We suggest that booking a series of 4 coaching sessions is a good starting point. 10 sessions tend to be the average.

How to introduce coaching into your school?

Organisations that are most successful at introducing coaching have been found to introduce coaching throughout their organisations. Very importantly, having senior management support when implementing coaching greatly increases the success of coaching initiatives in the workplace.

Fifty per cent of UK Companies now have coaching initiatives within their organisations.

How much does coaching cost?

Single session	Block of 4 sessions	Block of 6 sessions	Block of 10 sessions
£100	£360	£480	£750

NB A grant is currently available from the General Teaching Council for coaching. Additional discounts available for contracts to coach more than one member of staff

About the Enfys Acumen Coach

Nigel Griffiths is the founder of The Enfys Acumen and has been coaching for most of the last 20 years, but he admits that he hadn’t realised that’s what it was called until relatively recently. And now regularly receives coaching himself!

He initially qualified as a teacher in special education and after a couple of years teaching became a manager and developer of voluntary services. Starting from humble beginnings he rose through the ranks to the role of chief executive of a national charity with resources worth £4.5m and doubled the staff team in a three year period.

Nigel has always been committed to personal development. In 1998 he was awarded an MSc in Interprofessional Studies and more recently an Advanced Diploma in Marketing for Coaches. In order to enhance his skills he is currently working towards diplomas in Personal Performance Coaching and Executive and Management Coaching, both with Europe’s top Coaching Academy. Nigel is an avid reader of management theory and theology.

Nigel was born and bred in Holyhead, North Wales and is semi-fluent in Welsh. He has lived in Newport, South Wales since 1984 (except for 2 years “missionary work” in Shropshire, England in the late 1980s). He actively supports his children’s leisure activities and is a leader in the Scout Movement (CRB checked).

For larger coaching projects, the Enfys Acumen works with a core group of qualified/respected and experienced coaches.

Achieve Your Business Results Through Executive Coaching That Yields a 500% Plus ROI

The following is an article by Leanne Hoagland Smith that she has very kindly allowed me to reproduce – it really does speak for itself

What if you could have a 500% plus return for very pound that you invested in your employees? What would that mean for your business? Possibly right now you are thinking that this is not possible and even if it was, any business owner would jump at the chance for such an incredible investment?

First, it is true. So begin looking for that jump rope. According to a recent report by MetrixGlobal for a Fortune 500 company, executive coaching provided a 529% return on investment. This report is supported by other research including Dell Computers. Half of the 761 senior managers at Dell Computer Corporation recently received executive coaching within a two-year time period. Dell has been actively monitoring these managers through pre-determined measurements. One of these criteria indicates that executives who received coaching tended to be promoted more often than those who were not coached.

If you are now convinced that coaching is a viable strategy to enhance your bottom line, then what do you need to do as a business owner to implement a coaching programme?

First, research any coach or coaching organisation that you are considering. Ask for specific references where measurable results were put in place prior to the coaching. The coaching should be results focused with clearly identifiable measurements. Also, coaching certification should not be a limiting factor as many certified coaches fail to earn even mid five figures. The determining factor should be about the results that the coach has delivered with his or her clients.

Second, look for a coaching programme that works with your company and can be quickly and affordably aligned to your company’s culture. This curriculum should also be easily adapted to other training and development group sessions as well as to the different roles within the organization including Executive Leadership, Management, Supervision and Leadership.

Third, coaching is a personal relationship between the coach and the client. Your employees must feel comfortable with the coach. Some preliminary communication should take place with your employees before the implementation of a coaching program.

Fourth, the coaching curriculum should be structured, proven and provide numerous opportunities for application and feedback.

Fifth, everyone in the organisation needs to support and reinforce the coaching program. Management above those in the coaching programme must understand and be in agreement with the programme.

To be truly effective, an excellent coaching approach extends beyond the professional life into the personal life. For it is within each individual personally where the performance excellence evolves.

Coaching is a proven way to dramatically enhance your bottom line provided you incorporate at least these five strategies. By taking such action, you can achieve your goals quicker and leave your competition in the dust. That is unless of course they decide to enact a coaching initiative before you do. So what are you waiting for?

12 Customer-centred tips – whatever your business

1 Serve others or yourself: your choice

We have a choice every day of serving or being self-serving. Too many leaders are self-serving. We need new role models for leadership.

2 What business are you really in?

The financial services industry should aim to be in the "peace of mind" business. Disney doesn’t say "We’re in the theme park business." They say ‘We are in the happiness business."

3 What are your values?

Only 10% of companies set values. Those that do tend to make two mistakes – too many values (research shows people can only handle three or four) – and failing to rank the values. Life is about value conflict.

4 Stop killing creativity

What kills creativity? In large organisations you have to prove that a new idea will become a £50 million business before you can launch it. Those kinds of projections don’t work. You don’t know if it’s going to be a £50m business. I don’t know. Nobody knows.

5 Stop accepting other people’s frameworks

Once you have learnt someone else’s framework, you are bound to think within it. Michael Porter and others will tell you your strategy is based on how you create value through your value chain. But, good strategists by-pass the value chain completely. Michael Dell’s business plan was rejected by his Professor because it defied Porter’s reliance on a value chain. So, Dell launched it anyway. Don’t use frameworks or case studies to learn. Think about the product, service or company five years from now and how it should be. That is where your strategy starts: it frees you from having a limiting framework.

6 Knowledge is obsolete. Sense is not.

It’s not the knowledge economy. The Japanese compulsory education system takes nine years, in which you have to memorise masses of knowledge. That knowledge can be condensed onto a pound coin. But, you can’t automate ‘That sounds right’ or ‘That feels right.’ Today, those two things are far more important than the ability to say ‘That’s the right answer.’"

7 Know what motivates people.

It’s different for different people – including yourself. Sir Steve Redgrave, the five-times Olympic Gold Medal winner summed it up: “Some people train to win. I used to train just not to lose. Know what your motivation is. That’s what will bring consistency of perfection.”

8 You can’t manage customers

I hate the use of the words Customer Management. It assumes we can do things with them. When we talk about Customer Relationship management or CRM, what is the assumption we make? That WE can manage the relationship, that the consumer is passive and a recipient.

9 You cannot market an experience

Just think of high net worth experiences for a moment – a meal in a top notch restaurant, an concert with your favourite band, choir or orchestra, an exotic holiday. The people who sell these things aren’t selling at the cost of provision, because you pay for the experience. You cannot market an experience, You co-create it. It’s contextual and depends on who you are with.

10 We misunderstand customer-centric

Prof CK Prahalad, the distinguished corporate strategist said "Becoming customer-centred does NOT mean the firm becomes more customer oriented. It means the consumer becomes part of the unit of analysis, becomes part of the value creation."

11 No more sectors

Stop thinking ‘sectors’. The consumers decide what sectors they are in, what their ‘portfolio’ is. For example, the individual consumer decides what their personal health portfolio of products and services is – their wellness portfolio – not Merck or Pfizer, who only have 10% of it. When you realise there are no sectors, you can create hybrids. Tesco and Asda are now in financial services. The traditional boundaries are irrelevant.

12 Failure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

“The secret of success is the capacity to survive failure,” said Noel Coward. Failure teaches you about life. My life is, at the moment, much sweeter for it. - Gerald Ratner

Why not let the Enfys Acumen help you develop your business or organisation, have a look at our website for more information about organisational development and executive or management coaching.

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.

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.

Teamwork and bicycles

My daughter Elinor came home the other day saying that her primary school would be starting an after-school cycling proficiency club in a few weeks and she wanted to join. This got me thinking as always and I remembered an article I wrote some time ago about teams and thought it was worth resurrecting it in the Enfys Blog.

Now teams are one of those areas that some people assume look after themselves - put a few individuals together, call them a team and off we go, but a team is just like a human being though, isn't it?. It is born, grows up and hopefully reaches maturity. It has its own personality, its own needs and characteristics and its own pattern of development.

Just putting half a dozen people together in the same place to work does not make them a team. It makes them half a dozen individuals in the same place. If teams develop well, everybody wins. If they don't, well who knows what might happen, but it is unlikely to be as positive or successful as it could be.

Why not take a few minutes to think about a team that you belong to.

• Does everyone know exactly what the team's purpose and objectives are?
• Is the leadership style and approach participatory, not autocratic?
• Do the team members between them have all the skills and attributes the team needs?
• Is the climate one where people are always open and honest and don't hold back?
• Do team meetings and discussions help you to operate as a real team?
• Do you regularly ask the question, "how are we doing as a team?"

Let’s get back to that bicycle…

Think about a bike and you see that it works because there is a whole range of different components: wheels; pedals; a frame; handlebars and so on. Some components look shiny and some, like the saddle, should make you feel comfortable. The chain on the other hand is probably greasy, and you don't really like getting your hands on it, but you can't operate effectively without a chain.

The makeup of a team is much the same, isn’t it? There will be some people who play a part you are very comfortable with and others you find difficult to handle, who make you feel uncomfortable.

But… teams are people aren’t they? They are not parts of a bicycle. And because teams are people, they are emotional and have feelings.

A key hallmark of an excellent team is its members’ ability to say what they think or feel, without putting other people down or being put down themselves. For individuals to make a worthwhile contribution they have to feel valued and listened to, even if they don’t always get their own way. They have to feel other people want to hear from them.

What kind of team member are you?

• Do you listen to other people’s contributions? Remember - listening is an active process. It isn’t the same as waiting your turn to speak

• Do you accept that you aren’t the only one with feelings who get hurt? Everyone does, so put yourself in their shoes and don’t take it personally or make it personal

• Do you recognise the importance of all the other team members and the roles they play? Accept that someone is trying to make a positive contribution and accept that a quiet individual may need encouragement to speak their mind

• Do you deal with the facts, not the individual? If you disagree with a point of view say “I disagree with the point of view”, not “That’s stupid”

• Do you respond or do you react? Think for a couple of seconds before you launch in with a personal counter-attack, especially when it is someone whose team role is very different to yours

Is it time to give your team some TLC?

There is no need to struggle with trying to make the group of people you work with or sit on the same committee with you into a team. The Enfys Acumen would be delighted to give you the help you need. Why not get in touch 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.

Mother’s Day and Lots More Too

Last Sunday’s Mother’s Day made me ponder even a bit more than usual.

Now, we all have a mother and a father and, of course, most of us remember them especially on their special days. Perhaps now it could be time to go beyond cards and flowers.

Do you remember in the 1980’s there was a trend for a range of what were on the whole rather twee A3-sized posters and often featuring a cutesy picture of a kitten, a puppy or some other baby animal with some words of wisdom or a pithy saying of some kind. Do you remember them?

I recall at the time most of them made me cringe, but one poster especially has stuck in my mind. It was given to me by my mother when I left home for the first time for teacher training college. It was a picture of an eagle soaring high above a fantastic mountain range and the caption said “The two greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings.” Brilliant don’t you think? It has always stuck in my mind, especially when I later became a parent myself.

I think there is a great message here however, not just for parents but for anyone in a leadership or management position.

In my coaching work I often come across people who would like to be able to give their team members roots of a secure business background and wings to explore the world and soar to the heights of their own potential. This is an ideal position and, alas, one that a great many people feel they have lost out on. Including myself for a greater part of my career.

It is interesting isn’t it that that many of our attitudes to work, relationships and life in general are coloured by how close our childhood came to this ideal. Any couple can become parents without any training, lessons or experience. Similarly, many people become managers and supervisors without any training or induction into the role. So it is not surprising that many fall short of the perfection that we might have felt was our due.

Let’s continue with the parents and family analogy

The key to overcoming any resentment or regret is forgiveness. After all, what has been done cannot be undone and you are what you are. You are also what you think, so Mothers’ day is a great time to eliminate any negative thinking about your parents or even about bosses who you feel have let you down in the past.

Everyone does the very best that they could with the knowledge that was available to them at the time. Just like you, they only discovered what they didn’t know when they needed to know it - so it is hardly surprising that they may have made a few mistakes along the way. I have to exclude parents who wilfully mistreat their children and bullies on an ego trip from this general observation. These individuals will require a greater effort for forgiveness but it is an effort well worth making.

Some of my coaching clients are held back in achieving the great things in life because there is simply no room to let them in. I see it like this: If you harbour a grudge or resentment it will fester and impact on everything else that you do and that is like trying to cycle uphill with the brakes on. The way to release the brakes is to just let go. If it becomes apparent that a client is being held back by some imagined past injustice I ask them three simple questions:

• Could you let that feeling go?
• Would you let it go?
• When?

Their answers invariably lead to the client becoming aware of the way forward and going for it. This process also has a positive impact for clients who are parents or leaders or managers themselves. In understanding their own parents, they find a greater understanding of their children. In understanding their managers, they find a greater understanding of their own skills and work ethics.

I am always happy to discuss this or other aspects of my approach to coaching, absolutely free of any cost or obligation. He can be contacted during usual office hours on 01633 769657 or through our website.

In the final analysis we all have a choice. We can carry negativity and bitterness with us to the grave or we can decide, right now, to let it go and replace it with happiness and love. Share that love, especially with your parents before it is too late.

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.

Business coaching: a growing business - its official!

Those of us in the coaching business have known for a long time that the need for our specialist skills are growing and growing, well now its official.

A major survey by consultants, CO2 Partners suggests as many as half of managers have received some sort of coaching in the workplace in recent years.

“We knew coaching was growing, but are surprised by how quickly it seems to become the norm among executives in positions that require them to manage others,” said CO2 Partners President Gary Cohen. “We suspect the coaching in question encompasses various kinds of support, from formal guidance provided by outside professionals, to mentoring as well as advice from one’s immediate supervisor. Nonetheless, the finding indicates a startling trend.”

The survey also implies that people are being more open about the coaching they receive, said Cohen. “Coaching is now seen as a development initiative, not as problem solving, with more people both receiving it and being willing to say so. A stigma once associated with coaching seems to have gone away.”

The study also found that 60% of those surveyed believe that coaching that focuses on leadership development would be of the greatest benefit. Of those that got coaching, 59% reported that they found the experience beneficial.

According to Cohen, more individuals are seeking coaching today. “About one in three coaching assignments at mid-size companies is being initiated by the manager rather than by HR or the employer.”

Cohen advises individuals to get the most out of their coaching by being clear on the results sought. “There are different types of coaching available and deliverables, styles and outcomes can vary significantly. Clarify these issues in your first meeting with a coach so you know what you can expect and if it’s a good fit for you and your situation.”

CO2 Partners surveyed 3,447 individuals via the Internet, nearly 90% of whom are middle to senior-level managers.

This is brilliant news for the Enfys Acumen, it really shows we are ahead of the game - click here to find out more.

Some of you will have read before that soon people will not be asking if you have a coach, but rather the more prestigious question:

"Who is your coach?"

Make sure your answer is an Enfys Acumen Coach!