Career Coaching

Career Coaching has a valuable role to play in retaining and managing talent

"Don't ask what the world needs - ask what makes you come alive because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

There are few organisations who would argue with the need for talent management. Talent management is about getting the best people in the right places at the right time. It is about highly skilled individuals performing optimally according to changing business needs. It is also about developing those highly skilled individuals in a way that realises their full potential and satisfies their aspirations.

And it is those last three words – satisfies their aspirations - that often get lost. Organisations focus so much on what the high potential employee needs to do to meet the business’s needs that they lose sight of what the organisation needs to do to meet the employee’s needs. And this is crucial if you are going to be effective in engaging and managing the talent within the organization.

It is vital that talent management processes take into consideration employee’s career aspirations because:

- People make their own career decisions and need to balance their work lives with their home lives;
- High potential employees have arguably always managed their own careers and will turn down roles they are offered which they do not want;
- High potential employees are at risk of leaving the company if they are never told that there are exciting career opportunities available to them.

Career development is a tricky area for organisations. This is because it deals with the future and is a venture into the unknown. It is also deeply personal. Many managers worry that asking about career intentions may unsettle staff or even make them leave. But the evidence shows that discussing and attending to career issues makes staff more committed to the organisation and more productive.

So organisations need to help employees manage their own career development. And this is where career coaching has a clear role to play in talent management. Where the organization is turbulent, or individuals have specific career development requirements, targeted coaching by a skilled career coach can be extremely effective.

Career coaching can help employees develop:

- A clearer sense of career direction – not necessarily a detailed career path but an idea of where they are going in the future
- Increased self-insight – a more realistic view of their abilities and potential
- A broader understanding of the career options available to them and the resources available to help them learn more
- Increased confidence and motivation – an emotional impact, which often lasts a long time

With the increased clarity and confidence that career coaching can provide, employees will be in the best possible frame of mind to share their aspirations with the organisation, discuss future career options and produce a focused and realistic development plan.

These outcomes also have positive impacts on the organisation. Career coaching plays a strong role in developing the potential of employees (maximising their contribution over time) but even more as an essential component of a motivational style of leadership (maximising their engagement). A strong business benefit can be gained from the impact of attending to the real concerns that employees have about their futures.

As a wise person once said, “High-flyers will stay for today if offered challenge and empowerment; they will stay for tomorrow if offered the chance to grow.”

Written by Antoinette Oglethorpe, Banana Park Consulting

Book Review - Psychology for Trainers

Psychology for Trainers (E-book)

by Alison Hardingham

When I was first asked to review this e-book I must admit my heart sank as I have not hitherto been a fan of e-books. However – this e-book is quite different from others I have read. It is well laid out with good spacing and a clear and readable font. The graphics are clear and easy to read and one is not faced with a massive block of text to attempt to read and digest on screen.

So much for visual appeal. What about content?

As a coach who does training (or should that be a trainer who does coaching?) I have always been interested in the psychology of training so I was particularly interested to hear what Alison had to say on the subject.

As one might expect the book starts with building rapport and establishing credibility and then moves on through getting information across; gaining commitment to change; managing the group; counselling the individual; handling conflict, facilitating the transfer of learning and ending on surviving as a trainer.

Alison certainly practises what she preaches as she uses a wide range of communication techniques to expound and illustrate her points. There are questionnaires; diagrams; personal anecdotes all designed to catch and maintain the reader's interest while informing in a highly effective and clear way. There is something to suit pretty much everyone's learning preference Again the layout of the e-book contributes to the ability of the reader to take in and retain information. At the end of each chapter is an 'In Brief' section summing up what has gone before.

Whether you are at the beginning of your career as a trainer (or indeed as a coach) or have may years of experience in either field I am sure you will find this book of interest and use. In fact, far from avoiding e-books, I now have this one downloaded on my desktop as it is fast becoming my 'go to' book of reference every time I start designing a new training workshop or take on a new client. I heartily recommend this book!

Rating 5 out of 5

Angela Lawrence
The Cinnamon Coach
Isle of Man
angiecoach@manx.net

Understanding Unconscious Bias

By Carolyn Sheppard

At a seminar I attended a short while ago (on the subject of Leadership During Challenging Times), all of the four speakers, from very different backgrounds, mentioned the issue of unconscious bias and the effects it has on leadership, followership and the organisation. Unconscious bias is the underlying, subconscious prejudices that every single person has, due to nature, nurture and experience.

As an illustration of this, one of the speakers (an eloquent and impressive French IT Director), recounted a particularly relevant story regarding her employment at a company in the US. She said that no matter how good her performance and results, she could never succeed because of the culture of the organisation. She struggled in the company for three years. The company talked a good ‘diversity and inclusion policy’, but the behaviour of the employees (right down to the woman who assumed that any other female in the organisation must also be a PA), set the culture based on their own unconscious biases. Changing the entire culture of a huge, Texas-based heavy industry company was not a task she desired to take on (and probably not an achievable one) so, with no sense of failure but a great deal more understanding, she moved on.

That’s the negative side of unconscious bias – acting out a bias that is discriminatory or prejudiced. But the positive side of unconscious bias is that it is a basic survival instinct. Our brains recognise situations or scenarios that get right down to the ‘flight or fight’ principle. However in these times, for most of us, there is much less need for these responses – there is not the physical danger that required us to develop these instincts. We can transfer them from physical to verbal or even intellectual responses – but your brain is still crying out for a reaction of some kind. Our biases are there for a reason, your brain has learned to react in a certain way because of an experience or learned behaviour (eg prejudice demonstrated by parents, culture or other external influences).

Your experience may include, for example, knowing an extremely argumentative red headed person (whatever example I use, it will demonstrate a bias!). You automatically, therefore, are on your guard when you talk to any red head, no matter what their personality.

Unfortunately instinct is not discriminatory – and it takes a lot of training to overcome those gut reactions (take for example being a fire-fighter – deliberately moving towards a threat that you would naturally wish to flee).

Can you train the bias out of an individual? The answer is probably no, you can’t easily ‘undo’ the conditioning or personal preferences of an individual, but you can educate them to recognise unconscious bias in themselves and in others, and to consider the consequences of their actions and reactions in the context of their bias. By making individuals and teams aware of the biases that operate personally and in their culture or organisation, they can make a tangible difference in changing behaviour (if not beliefs) and increasing the opportunities for diversity and inclusion. As a result the organisation can tap into the broad range of talent that may be within their reach that they otherwise may have ignored.

A good example of this is the ‘selling more toothpaste’ story. Instead of just sitting in the boardroom wondering how they could sell more toothpaste, the MD asked everyone in the factory what ideas they had. One shop floor worker put his hand up and said ‘make the hole bigger’. There was the answer they needed – and it wasn’t in the marketing team or in product research. It was right there on the shop floor. This story is many years old, from a time when there were far more class distinctions in society and in the workplace. By disregarding their bias (which was perhaps not so unconscious then, admittedly), the owners of that toothpaste factory achieved a very positive result and sold more.

When you are next in a training room – look around at the people you are with. What unconscious biases have you already applied just in looking at those people? What assumptions have you made about the place you are in, the behaviour of others, the likely outcome of the day? Whether you are a delegate or a trainer – consider those unconscious biases you hold that will be positive or negative be aware how they could affect your behaviour and the results you will get.

Resources:

On-line Implicit Association Testing: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Training on unconscious bias: www.angela-peacock.com/unconsciousbias.html

Time Termites

The Top 10 Time Termites and How to Exterminate Them - by Anne Alexander

Did you know that “time termites” eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time? It’s true, and in this article I’ll discuss what a time termite is, as well as what the top 10 time termites are, and - most importantly! – how you can exterminate them and take back a huge amount of your time and your life.

Time termites are activities and people that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. In my Time Architect™ model of time management, we design a life that is grounded solidly in the four cornerstones – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. We protect these areas by understanding and applying the storm proofing principles.

Just like you design your home to withstand intruders (such as termites), you must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life - if you let them.

Let’s look at the top ten time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients.

1. Wasting time on trivial items – computer games, gossip, etc.
2. Waiting around to talk with the boss or manager
3. Meetings without a good agenda and/or good facilitation
4. Too many unnecessary reports to write
5. Problems in locating documents or other needed items
6. Answering unimportant phone calls & email
7. People with a negative attitude - complainers and whiners
8. Inability to say "No." That is, saying "Yes" to too many people
9. Interruptions
10. Add your own: What’s your biggest time termite?

Time termites vary depending on whether you work in a huge Fortune 500 type business, or a small company or organization, or are a solo entrepreneur, but these are a representation of what steals most people’s time.

As a business and executive coach I work with hundreds of high achieving business owners and professionals. In my experience, only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach will work to protect your time.

Extermination tactics:

1. Values & vision: Get crystal clear on your personal values and vision. You must know what matters most to you and where you are going in order to be able to make choices that support the best use of your time.

2. Planning: When you create annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals, plan with your values and vision clearly in mind. This way, you will focus in on your highest value activities.

3. Systems: Get good systems in place. Be able to find immediately any information or tools you need in your business or organization. These systems are highly individual. Feel free to contact me for information on resources to help you get organized.

4. Boundaries: Erect strong barriers around yourself – you can think of this as a sturdy fence with an electronic gate around your house (and life) that only grants access to those people and activities that fit in with your priorities. This is a challenge to anyone who likes to think of themselves as a “nice person,” which is many of us. It takes some practice to regroove our neural pathways to hold a new belief that having boundaries is not only OK, but downright healthy. (For more on strong boundaries, email me for an article that goes into more depth on that topic.)

So get crystal clear on your values and vision, create a good plan, install excellent systems, and erect strong boundaries. When you implement just one of these suggestions each month, in a year you will have 12 awesome new habits that will help you take back 25-50% of your time…and your life. Congratulations: your time termites will have been exterminated.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com/

Dealing with problem employees

Turnaround or Terminate?
How to Deal with "Problem" Employees

Do you struggle with a "problem" employee? If so, join the crowd! Many of my coaching clients - businesses owners or managers - tear their hair out over one or more toxic employees. In our business environment, we tend to recreate the dynamics of the family we grew up, so no wonder problems develop.

It's amazing often a business owner or manager will endure a "problem" employee, unable to help the employee make positive changes and unable to fire them when necessary. Tolerating a problem employee is like walking around with a sliver in your foot - highly irritating, but you can kind of get used to it. Then, when you finally pull it out, you can't believe the relief! That relief generally comes in one of two ways: either you and your employee are able to make some mutual improvements, or you part ways.

I recommend a two step approach to this issue. First, you do whatever can be done to turn the situation around. Very often, you may have made a few half-hearted attempts to resolve the situation, but feel lost at sea about what else can be done. You must address the issues directly, calmly and clearly with the employee. Expectations must be set, problems and solutions explored. Check in regularly with the employee to monitor progress.

On a more powerful level, the turnaround can result when you learn your own and your employee's behavioral style. I like to use the Platinum Rule assessment, developed by Dr. Tony Alessandra. It's inexpensive ($30 - $50), easy to understand and extremely powerful in helping us understand our own and others' behavior. Your style and this employee's style probably differ. (For more information on the Platinum Rule, visit: www.authentic-alternatives.com/platinumrule.htm )

The Golden Rule advises you to treat others as you would like to be treated. The Platinum Rule advances this to the next level and suggests that you treat others as you would like to be treated. Your "problem" employee may be - and probably is - a different style than you. The Platinum Rule shows us four core behavioral styles (Relater, Socializer, Thinker and Director) and gives us many concrete tactics of how we can flex to meet the other person's style. I have seen near miracles occur - the proverbial light bulbs go off - when my clients use this assessment to better understand themselves and their employees and co-workers.

The second step of the two-step approach: suppose you've fully implemented the first step (turnaround) and the situation remains unacceptable. Now it's firing time, and because I bet you care about other people, you know that it's one of the most unwanted and difficult tasks an owner or manager faces. I encourage my clients to remember that a business or organization cannot afford to carry an unproductive and toxic employee. An employee person unwilling or unable to make the necessary improvements must be sent to find an employment situation that fits them better. This does not make you an evil or uncompassionate human being.

So pull out "the sliver" and create a positive, unstoppable team. The number one key to professional success is the quality of the people you surround yourself with - employees, colleagues, spouse, friends. Life speeds by, so remove the rocks from your river and let it flow forward, full force. If you can't turn around a problem employee, you must let them go. It's not your fault and if you want your business to flourish, and you will at times find you have to terminate.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com

Coaching by accident

I had some new coaching cards arrive from Israel. I have to say that just by looking at the supplier's website I was 'taken' immediately, but once I'd spoken to my guy in Israel and got a real feel for them, I was hooked!

The Points of You cards arrived and within two days I'd had three sets taken by a training company who were delivering a series of 'coach the coach' programmes to a major UK insurer. All I'd done was show one pack to them, and they were instantly engaged!

Why do I like these so much? I don't really do my own product reviews, I like my customers to do that, but these cards have a lot going for them - not the least of which is the fantastic imagery they use.

What I learned, talking to Yaron, is that the cards themselves are made by prison inmates, and the packaging is made by workers in a factory employing the less abled. I didn't only like the product, but I liked the whole philosophy behind their creation and in the execution of their manufacture.

So why did I call this post 'accidental coaching'? Simple! I was showing them to a colleague. She chose three cards, laid them out on the cloth 'board', and we started talking. I asked the relevant questions, looked up the references in the book and... well, I very nearly gave an 'acciental coaching session'.

The cards are also promoted as a self-development tool and they are great for that too - I have sat with a set and looked through images and used them to help with creative thinking and also to lay out some personal issues and perceptions.

I have two sets of coaching cards on the site at the moment (and a third set coming soon) - I believe in offering choice and, of course, it's horses for courses (and cards for coaches!). Take a look at the cards, both sets, you'll find one or other appeals to you more.

I'd love some feedback, but everything I've heard so far about Points of You and the Kairology cards has been extremely positive. I'm meeting Ian, author of the Kairology cards and book in November - I'll post my thoughts on these cards then. I already bought his book for myself.

Behavioural Analysis

Trainingzone have published Carolyn's article on Behavioural profiling. Visit or you can read more here:

For the last four years I have regularly used DISC profiles which give you a snapshot of your ‘behaviours’ in a work environment. DISC is an acronym:

D = Dominance-Challenge: How you respond to problems or challenges.
I = Influence-Contacts – How you influence others to your point of view.
S = Steadiness-Consistency – How you respond to the pace of the environment.
C = Compliance-Constraints – How you respond to rules and procedures set by others.

The concept of DISC profiling is based on the work of Dr. William Moulton Marston who, in 1928, published ‘The Emotions of Normal People’. This book described the theory which is applied to nearly all the versions of DISC profiling available today. The profile is a behavioral assessment designed to accurately measure the four dimensions of normal behavior.

A few years back I completed a Level 3 ILM management qualification and I chose Communications as my main project. For this I mapped all the preferences for the office staff using their DISC profiles and created a ‘how best to communicate with xx’ chart. It was used for many years, indicating communication preferences and styles. It was a very simple and effective way to implement the results of our profiles and use them practically. Nothing more personal than communication preference was shared.

DISC profiles were used for recruitment and appraisal and with clients. The reports, which are created by answering very simple ‘most like’ and ‘least like’ questions, give a comprehensive summary of behavioural preferences. They are used by line managers, trainers, HR, recruitment and outplacement consultants.

The value of using these profiling tools is not just in ‘input and output’ – you put in your answers and get your report – but what happens next. Many people will be open minded enough to accept the validity of the report, feel happy to internally challenge areas which they do not feel accurately match their perceptions, and even perhaps accept the areas which may indicate a need for self-improvement.

I recently took a different profile from the one I’d done for the last four years – this one was from The Trusted Adviser and followed a similar DISC format so it was not unfamiliar. The resulting report, however, was superior to those I’d taken before. The depth of information was far greater – the profile included more aspects and gave a greater analysis of my behaviours and preferences. Though every assessment is affected by variables (hence taking them annually), this one was definitely the most accurate I had ever taken.

Most importantly the language it used was more accessible – though probably still generated by an American English language programme, the terms and language used were easier to understand and I found much less to challenge than in previous reports. My next stage, importantly, is to go through the report with my coach.

The real power and value of behavioural assessments is how they are used to develop individual performance. The ideal scenario is that the report is not just given directly to the respondent but is reviewed by an appropriately qualified coach or manager who can then spend time going through the report with the individual and build a positive action plan.

There are many ways in which assessments can be applied:

Recruitment: does the report reflect the right personality for the role they are being considered for?

Job hunting: the report may produce some excellent wording and highlight skills and strengths that the respondent can use in their CV or job applications

Appraisal: the line manager and respondent can work together (both may have their profiles completed) and improve working process and performance

Team building: pick members of a team who have the right mix of skills or who you know will work best together

In fact behaviour assessments can be used in many ways, for leadership development, trouble shooting, team development, sales skills, benchmarking; with the right training and understanding of the psychology behind how these reports are generated, they can become an extremely powerful tool for trainers, managers and the individual respondents.

Finally, the most important question - do they work? From personal experience, yes; impartially, one assessor I know performs over one million assessments per year – that’s just one provider! I think the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Carolyn Sheppard is director of The Complete Trainer, a training resources ecommerce company. She has been in marketing for over 30 years and directly in learning and development for over five years.

Delivering Bad News

by Susan Heaton Wright

Last week I received some bad news about a future speaking opportunity. The lady that called me was fantastic in ‘softening the blow’ so that my expertise and time was still valued. In fact she immediately booked me for future engagements that were very exciting.

Delivering bad news can be a real challenge. We will all be faced with the unpleasant role of delivering bad news at some point in our lives. Here are the top 5 communication strategies that compassionate leaders have used:

Tell the truth. Give as much information as you can to put the situation into perspective. We tend to fear what we don’t understand. Don’t speculate and try to squash rumours by addressing the best and worst possible scenarios.

Put yourself in their shoes. Empathise with their situation. Give them all the facts. They will be worried about how the situation will affect them, and it is unfair to leave them guessing. It is unfair and useless to tell the other person not to worry.

Acknowledge their feelings. Don’t devalue their feelings by telling them to ‘Cheer up’. Let them vent and express their emotions. Negative emotions must be expressed and dealt with before they can be replaced with a positive plan of action.

Take charge. Lead a discussion or outline a specific plan of action for the future. Do not express your own specific fears to others. You need to assume the role of leader.
Keep the group unified. Facing a crisis alone can be terrifying. Encourage the group to pull together, support each other and share ideas about how to find a solution. Conclude the meeting on a positive, optimistic note by reemphasising the commitment to overcome the present challenge.

And just a couple of notes on the delivery; if you are delivering bad news over the telephone, check that the listener has the time for the call, and suggest they go into a quiet room.

If you are meeting someone face to face, consider the environment of the meeting. Try to be on a level with the other person – both sitting down, and a private room rather than an open plan office, so that the other person has an opportunity to let off steam.

Copyright 2009 Susan Heaton Wright of Executive Voice

Coaching and the Learning Process

by Sean McPheat

John Radshaw offers what I feel is an incredibly apt definition of what it means to be a coach. He says that coaching is:

“Systematically increasing the capability and work performance of someone by exposing him or her to work-based tasks or experiences that will provide the relevant learning opportunities, and giving feedback to help him or her learn from them”

He’s absolutely right.

The role of a coach is to get the coachee from A to B quicker than if they tried on their own. They are there to question, probe, push, align and provide a thought provoking sounding board.

A coach is a catalyst for change but the coachee has to want to change!

The coach does not have to know the answers either and they do not need to be the best in the field.

Don’t believe me? Well, what’s the name of Tiger Wood’s coach or Usain Bolt’s? Did their coach ever win major golf tournaments or win an Olympic gold? The answer is No!

But they know how to get the best out of their coachees and that’s what the role of a coach is all about.

As a coach you need to know how to get your coachee started - how do you jumpstart the learning process?

There are three things that need to be in place before you can teach anyone anything. They are:

Desire - the person you are coaching must want to learn as opposed to finding himself in a situation where he is forced to adopt a coach

Opportunity - you must have the time to coach your employee, he must have the time to dedicate to the things you are teaching him/her, and you must have the support of your organisation (in both time and materials)

Competence - you must be an expert in your area of specialty. Otherwise you’ll only cause confusion to the person you are coaching. The person you are coaching must be competent as well - he needs to care about his work, have the skills necessary to do the job, and be willing to work with you to make his job even better.

If these three main points do not exist you will have a very difficult time facilitating the learning process. Of course there are people who just do not want to be coached, but we'll deal with that in a later session! Take the time to review your situation before you get started. Doing so will enable to you make the changes necessary to ensure you are successful.

Sean McPheat is the Managing Director of management development specialists MTD Training. http://www.m-t-d.co.uk/

Coaching skills - using simulations

One of the products I feature on my site is a 'sales skills simulation' - and I have to say that looking at the product description I wasn't that sure what it meant. But I received the pack to evaluate and I spent some time on line with the producers and was taken through a step by step demonstration.

No, that's not necessary to understand the product, but it was necessary for me as a non-trainer!

I have to say I found it easy to use, simple to understand and the scenarios used very easy to associate with even though they were different sectors to my own experience.

The simulation is very easy to understand - it takes you through a scenario (for example a sales meeting), gives you profiles on the people you are going to 'meet', and various things happen that you have to respond to. Each option you choose not only has an explanation, but also a weighted value, so at the end of your virtual meeting, you can see how well you did.

Not only can you review your success factors, but you are also given information on techniques and options, and receive detailed feedback for each decision you make.

It's not just a 'walk through' though. The simulation is accompanied by subject specific training material and the simulation part of the package is used to test the learning from the session. For sales trainers and facilitators it provides a bite size coaching session that gives feedback through ‘live’ business scenarios, adding interest and a competitive element to training. It's a great way for building confidence, improving skill sets and teaching new skills too.

Yes, I have to say I was impressed with this product (and I didn't score too badly myself either). There are 11 titles covering three subject areas sales skills, sales management and leadership.

I'll collect some more info on this and maybe get an article going which can tell you more.