Day 1: Making your New Year Resolutions stick

Happy New Year everyone!  At this time of year, many of us take the opportunity to set ourselves some resolutions (usually related to some kind of self improvement).  Sometimes we follow through on these desires and create a lasting change for ourselves.  And sometimes, maybe we don't, despite having the best of intentions!  Sometimes it just gets too difficult, or life gets in the way, or we have a moment of weakness and give into temptation.  And then we feel guilty or just give up trying.  Does any of this ring a bell?  

So, we decided that we would begin this year with 31 hints and tips for turning your New Year Resolutions into meaningful and compelling goals, which you can act on immediately and enhance your chances of making the changes you want in your life.  

Over January we will post up a hint a day, so keep visiting our blog - it may even help keep up your motivation.  Over the month we will be looking at how to get clarity on your goals, how to keep going, what to do when things get tough and how to make your new behaviours stick.

You can also put up your own comments - tell us what you have committed to, how you are doing and help others by posting up your own hints and tips for keeping going.  We would love to hear from you.

Here is the first tip (it's really simple but effective!)

Tip 1:  Take action on your goal in the first 24 hours.

This simple step will get you moving towards your goal immediately.  It provides a momentum and direction and it is the single most important thing you can do to turn your wish into a reality. Your first step doesn't have to be big, it just has to be immediate.  If your desire is to lose weight it might be simply closing the lid on the biscuit tin then putting the tin on the high shelf.  You might schedule an appointment, make call, join that gym  you always said you would, whatever it is do something today.  Good luck and welcome to the journey!

Coaching under scrutiny

I've just finished reading 'Smile or Die' by Barbara Ehrenreich, a damning indictment of the growth of the 'positive thinking' movement in the USA.  In her analysis she includes criticisms of positive psychology and also of coaching.  Some of her book made uncomfortable reading, some of it I disagree with and some of it I thought was long overdue in being said.  Obviously, I work in the coaching industry, so I've already got a view (and a vested interest), but nevertheless, it is a good discipline to read books like this, if only to hone your skills or to enhance your reflective practice.  Ehrenreich is matter-of-fact and to the point.  I like her directness.  I would love to meet her and talk with her because I think she would 'tell it like it is' and  in doing so, thoroughly test your own thinking.  Some of her criticisms are levelled at the industry, its overblown claims and its lack of evidence base.  Other criticisms are more about the potential harmful effects it can have on individuals, such as creating unrealistic hopes and expectations, developing motivation without capability and a failure to address the impact of an individual's circumstances on their opportunities.

Coincidentally, two papers covering the same topic were published in OP Matters (BPS, No 17, November 2012).  Rob Briner's paper ('Does coaching work and does anyone really care?') shows up a number of potential weaknesses in the coaching profession.  It has a relatively low 'entry point' (anyone can call themselves a coach), there is a lack of regulation in the industry and even a failure to agree what coaching is/is not.  There are serious ethical implications due to this lack or regulation and it also highlights his main point, that of efficacy.  There is a lack of rigorous studies based on sound methodologies (eg randomised controlled trials) and the evidence for the positive effects of coaching is, therefore, open to criticism.  Vicky Ellam-Dyson's paper ('Coaching psychology research:  Building the evidence, developing awareness') is an attempt to balance some of these criticisms, for example, highlighting the difficulties of carrying out 'robust' research in applied settings.  I can also hear the humanists start to respond with 'To submit coaching to empirical research methods is to miss the point that coaching is experiential, subjective and it is the study of meaning that is important').  I have some sympathy with this view but I also support the idea that if coaching (or one-to-one work in general) is to be seen to be credible, we need to establish a much firmer evidence base, which goes beyond self-reports of either coach or coachee.  'Do what works' is no longer enough of a rationale.  We also need to be ready to subject ourselves to tougher, industry-wide standards, a code of ethics and regulation.  Coaching is about to get tougher and I don't mean for the coachee.

The role of the coach

I was sent this rather amusing image via Facebook the other day.  

Of course, it's meant as a bit of a put-down, a 'win-lose' strategy ('I elevate myself at your expense') and it is rather amusing, although I wouldn't want someone to use it on me.  So the fact that initially I found it amusing no longer sits comfortably with me.  Had I automatically put myself in the role of 'giver' rather than 'receiver'?  Why would I find it amusing from one perspective but not the other?  So it got me thinking, what is the difference between 'description' and 'insult'?  And why does one seem to matter more than the other?

Well, firstly, as I've just hinted, one important difference is that of intent.  A description implies a neutral stance, one of simply communicating a 'truth' that is 'out there'.  'Insult', on the other hand, implies that there is an intent attached to the narrative - there is an outcome attached to the 'description' - there is a lack of neutrality which is designed to achieve some aim or other.  An insult is designed to hurt and we feel it because it often attacks our sense of identity or we feel humiliated.  This particular statement works as an insult because it is attempting to form an equivalence between a person's opinion and an objective truth.  (ie 'I'm not just telling you what I think, it is also a fact, therefore true and indisputable'.)  It also implies that the receiver has failed to understand (and therefore there exists a difference in intellect) and also that the receiver has now walked into a carefully laid trap, which he only discovers at the moment it is too late to do anything about it.   It is saying 'Game, set and match - and if there is an audience to witness my expert humiliation of you, all the better'.

Let's leave aside the philosophical argument about whether there exists an objective world out there that can be described.  Minds much greater than mine have pondered this and I would add little to the debate!  What really struck me about this quote is that, more generally, it sums up what the job of a coach actually is.  In many circumstances the role of the coach is to separate 'facts' from 'interpretations'.   The popular psychology approach of Neuro Linguistic Programming (developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder) is one where the subjective experience of the individual is put at the centre of the field of study.  It proposes that we convert the world of objective reality to our own highly individualised subjective experience through the processes of Generalisation, Distortion and Deletion.  These are necessary and inevitable processes, but lead to a version of reality that is very different from the 'world out there'.  Uncovering just how someone has converted the facts to an interpretation can give some powerful insights into why they act the way that they do, while also providing useful pointers on how the person can change, should that be what they desire.

Sometimes these interpretations are deliberate and conscious.  (Have you ever felt the need to protect yourself, by blaming someone else, when an objective hasn't been achieved?).  More often than not, these interpretations are largely unconscious and have been established over time.  The longer they exist, the more they start to feel like 'reality' and we forget that they aren't really facts at all, just our perceptions.  At times, if left unexamined, these patterns can lead to limited choice and behaviours that don't always get the results we want.

A good coach can help to recover the difference between the two and in doing so, open up greater choice for the coachee.

Giving helpful feedback

It was widely reported in the UK press last week (see The Sunday Times, 14 October 2012 for an example), that Sir John Gurdon, recent winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine had been told at school that it was 'ridiculous' for him to consider a career in science.  On this news there flooded in many other examples of talented people being told at school that they were no good (including David Beckham being told that he wouldn't amount to much as a footballer).  Why would someone ever say such a thing?  I'm sure it was well meant at the time, but why make such a devastating prediction about someone's abilities, especially at such an impressionable age?  

There are many skills involved in giving feedback, one of which is knowing when you are moving from facts to interpretation (and then even further into prediction about the future).  Take the example of a young footballer who might be struggling with a specific skill.  The facts of the situation are based on tangible, visible elements such as his behaviour (in this case motor skills) and the results he is achieving.  Moving into an assessment of his current abilities is also a movement from the objective to more subjective territory.   Even so, the trainee's current performance might be more objectively compared against norms for his age group.  Shortfalls can easily be spotted and addressed without needing to go down the route of the 'no hoper' type of feedback seemingly given to Becks and Gurdon.  The performance manager who fails to notice when they are moving from facts to a more partial and individualised interpretation is setting him/herself up for difficulties while also potentially limiting the performance of their protege.  When ego gets involved and 'teacher knows best' takes over we are on dangerous ground.

When we train people to manage performance we first ask, 'Why would you take time out of your busy schedule to give someone feedback?'  There are many possible answers to this question, but we think, fundamentally, that you either want that person to repeat a good performance or to improve on their current levels.  Only once you are clear on your purpose can you then decide on what type of feedback to give (eg specific or general, motivational or formative) and what best style to use (eg ask or tell), how much to give and when to give it.  

Sure, there will be times (eg in selection interviewing or development centres) where some assessment of that person's potential has to be made, but telling someone they will never be any good (ever) surely can't help anyone?

Well this is day 1!

Today is the day that Miles began his big challenge and it started in Blackpool Wakeboard Park. This is where he elected to do his first 10k of the 38k swim to add a bit of interest and get some fresh air! Thanks to Gary for allowing the challenge to take place and provide chairs and brolly's when the weather took a turn for the worse. An unexpected visit from Jonathan (an Olympic torch bearer) allowed for an impromptu picture mid-session which raised a smile from the buoyant challenger.

6 hours later and time for a change of scene and a few hours rest at Ribby Hall Holiday Park before the mammoth 28k remainder is to take place. Thanks to Colin who didn't hesitate to offer the chance of using the pool there through the night and lifeguard Katherine for keeping an eye on our guy. 9pm and the fun started again with some rousing cheers from the Tri Preston cheer leaders and the lovely Lindsay, Miles entered the pool for the next 2 hour stint.

It was hard to leave him but I know he's in good hands. What a complete inspiration, I have no idea what powers this man but I know I'm especially lucky to know him and see what he is prepared to do for others. BBC Radio Lancashire is interviewing him live tomorrow between 7-9am who knows they may jump in with him and swim alongside!

Kate Peacock

Market Mind Games

Read our latest One Page Book Review of Denise Shull's 'Market Mind Games'.  It is a fascinating insight into how we make complex decisions and the role that emotion and intuition have to play.  You can find our review in the Executive Lounge page on our website.

Mirror mirror - who is the fairest manager of them all?

The spring 2012 edition of the CIPD Employee Outlook survey makes for interesting reading.  (cipd.co.uk/employeeoutlook).    Taking into account the views of nearly 2000 employees, there are some optimistic signs and also some seemingly contradictory data.  Attitudes to immediate managers appear to be positive and improving, although senior managers are less well regarded.  Contact with immediate managers, especially when the context is the employee's self-development, feedback on their performance or simple praise are correlated with employee engagement, yet these seem to be the topics that managers talk about the least, when meeting with their staff.  More interesting is the difference in perceptions that managers and employees hold when expressing the level of satisfaction with the manager.  80% of  managers think that their employees are satisfied (or better) with their manager - only 58% of employees agree.  Again, the report highlights the correlation between satisfaction with manager and employee engagement. And yet, 62% of respondents rate 'people management skills' as very important as part of their role (women more so than men).

So what's going on?  Managers seem to think that they talk to their people, and at some level, intellectually they understand that focusing on the individual is an important aspect of getting performance, but do they actually do it?  Or is it that employees either expect too much, or perhaps don't recognise that sometimes a conversation can have multiple purposes? For example, explaining task objectives can also be an opportunity for coaching and development.  One of the issues when coaching is that if you are inviting the coachee to think about 'content' they are unlikely simultaneously be thinking about 'process'.  In short, they may not know, or be interested in, what the boss is doing.  Even further, there are so many different definitions of coaching that it would be easy to understand that managers and employees actually have different opinions of when they are/are not being coached.

Trust doesn't seem to be the issue; what scores lowest is the level of consultation and the amount of coaching which occurs.  It's easy to see how these things diminish in tough times, when time is tight, demands are high and workforces are depleted.  

I wonder if managers need more help in the specific language that they use, when interacting with their employees, so that they talk about the things that make the biggest difference.  Part of this may be making more explicit the level of consultation, facilitation and development activities so that employees actually feel that they are involved in the process, that their personal contribution and their own development actually matters.

The report concludes that 'efforts to improve employee engagement will be fatally undermined unless employers place an emphasis on building management capability at all levels.  Increasingly this is about leadership skills rather than management.....leadership tends towards the more emotional aspects of helping people to deliver and is more closely tied to individual personality and authenticity'.  

'Trust enters on foot, but leaves on horseback'

This phrase comes from a report on repairing organisational trust, by Rosalind Searle, Veronica Hope-Hailey and Graham Dietz, OP Matters, No 15 May 2012, The British Psychological Society.   We've talked elsewhere about the importance of trust (See our Hints and Tips handout on 'Giving Bad News' in the Executive Lounge area of our website for a brief introduction).  This current paper is of interest because it is focused towards repairing trust, a situation that many organisations may find themselves in, given the current tough times, when circumstances mean that previous promises may not have been met.  The authors highlight four dimensions of trust (Ability, Benevolence, Integrity and Predictability) and they also highlight that an employee may confound trust in the organisation with how much they trust their leader (individual trust).  They also found that trust is not a one-way process; an employee is much more likely to give trust if they, themselves, feel trusted by their manager.

The authors identified 5 types of approaches to trust in organisations:  Trust in each other, trust in leaders, trust in the organisation, trust in external relations and trust in the direct line manager.  The results of their research showed that those organisations which exhibited high levels of trust in each other were not only able to repair damage to trust but had built up a reservoir of trust prior to negative events.  These inter-relationships between interested parties meant that  the organisation could draw on an existing support network of goodwill.  Organisations which relied more heavily on trust in their leaders were more vulnerable to loss of trust, particularly if the individuals concerned were lacking in any of the four personal dimensions of trust (Ability, Benevolence, Integrity and Predictability).  

Other factors that helped organisations repair trust in hard times were those that kept their staff informed, despite the news being bad (Treat your people as adults).  Also, organisations where leaders stayed available and demonstrated a high level of presence with their employees fared better, as did those where there was a 'line of trust' which flowed through all levels of management.  '...the greater the firm relied on the direct interaction between customers and low level employees, then the more crucial it was that the link of trust between senior managers, line managers and employees was not broken'.

Perhaps most interestingly, the re-negotiation of formal contractual relationships with employees also had an effect.  Having the courage to develop more realistic relationships based on current circumstances may be hard to do, but the dividends may be greater in the long run.

You can read a full report in the March 2012 publication of the CIPD journal 'People Management'.

Creating a Coaching Culture

The term 'coaching culture' has been on the scene for the last few years and still it raises discussion about what it is and how to create it.  The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) produced a paper May 2011 as a result of surveying 250 large organisations giving some interesting facts.

"83% of organisations surveyed source coaches internally while 65% hire them in.  External coaches are used primarily to coach senior managers. Interestingly,there is more rigour over selecting external service providers than internal coaches. Benchmarks of quality are still needed though in an unregulated coaching industry".

This has been our experience, particularly in the last 18 months where the L&D spend has been towards the senior executives who are experiencing a greater requirement to 'walk the talk' through difficult times and inspire the workforce to do the same. 

In terms of an unregulated coaching industry this is also very true and doesn't serve to show the 'quality' of the coach/coaching team particularly when bidding for large scale projects in tenders.  With no clear indication of  which accreditation body clients would back,we've been in a VHS or Beta max quandry (that's one for all of you of my generation!)  With this in mind we have over the last year decided to go with ILM and many of our team have gained ILM 7 accreditation in Executive Coaching & Leadership Mentoring (no small task and well done all!).  This I hope goes some way to also demonstrate that we are also 'walking the talk'  -a daily challenge for us all.

To read the full report https://www.i-l-m.com/downloads/publications/G443_ILM_COACH_REP.pdf

Kate Peacock

The optimum ration of positive to negative thinking is 5 to 1

Interesting little review in the Sunday Times 'Style' Magazine, (22/4/2012) of psychologist, Maureen Gaffney's book, 'Flourishing'.  Apparently we need a dose of realism,  not all negative thoughts are bad and to pretend that we don't have them can lead to unhelpful strategies like denial.  So we need to recognise that we have some negative thoughts but also outweigh them with positive ones too.  Apparently the optimum ratio of positive to negative thoughts is 5:1.  3:1 is OK for survival, but 5:1 will mean you flourish and have a sense of well-being.  Not read the book yet, so if anyone has done so already, please post up your comments.  The book is 'Flourishing' by Maureen Gaffney, Penguin £15.  

Report on the North West Business Conference

We thought that the conference was much quieter than previous years, although we only chose to attend on the second day this year.  One notable change was that there was no large auditorium for the main speakers.  This was always a good opportunity to network with other attendees and a 'headline' speaker always seems to pull in the crowds.  Instead, this year there were smaller theatre-style rooms and the upside of this was that you could see more speakers, while also being able to spend time moving around the stands.  Two people of note we saw yesterday were Brad Burton of 4Networking www.twitter.com/BradBurton and Andrew Thorp of MojoLife http://mojolife.org.uk/.  Brad is a self-made business man, motivational speaker and author of two books, 'Get off your Arse' and 'Get off your Arse Too'.  The titles of his books give an insight into his approach - blunt, no nonsense and to the point.  One gets the impression that his philosophy is one of action, rather than reflection.  A Salford lad made good after being told that he wouldn't amount to anything, he takes a 'full on' approach to starting your own business ('If you have a Plan B you will never make Plan A work').  Simon Thorp gave an interesting presentation on the power of story-telling in business.  He showed what makes the difference between a sales pitch and a compelling story that actually engages the listener.  He talked about the power of viral marketing and how stories, if interesting enough, can spread quickly with the use of social media, and how the value of these can be priceless.

Although they had very different styles, at the core of Simon and Brad's messages was the same idea - that we are at our most powerful when we are acting authentically.  The days of polished presentations and slick sales pitches are over.  Your buyers want to believe in you, not appreciate how well you perform.  That is a simple message,  but remaining authentic when under pressure to achieve a result can sometimes be more difficult.  However it is an approach that we also support - we believe that leaders are at their most powerful when they are being themselves.  This requires a heightened level of self-awareness and an ability to adapt.  

North West Business Conference, 18th April 2012

Welcome to our blog!  We hope you enjoyed the North West Business Conference and thanks for taking one of our cards.  Hopefully, it has stimulated your interest to find out more about us.  

A brief introduction - We are a training and development company, providing insights into leadership, innovation, team working and personal development.  Although we design and deliver structured events, much of what we are valued for is the 'sticky stuff' - helping to work through problems that arise when individuals come together to work on a common task.  (Rather like the kind of issues we show on our cards).  These kind of things feel very real to the people involved and don't always fit nicely into a structured course.  Our clients  value us for our skills in facilitation, conflict resolution and our one-to-one work. 

If you want to know more about us click here  and you will be taken to our website.  

To get a flavour of the work we do then the click here   for a series of short case studies from our clients.

If you want to find out more about the topics we showed on our conference cards, you can download a range of summaries, hints and tips and book reviews by joining our 'Executive Lounge'.  It's free and we won't bombard you with spam.  Our interest is in sharing information and showing you what we can do.  The value we add through expertise we have built up over many years is as much in how we do things as what we do.  


Below you can find some resources to check out:

Not Getting On?

Check the following posts on this blog:
16/4/12  Enthios and Workplace Mediation
3/5/2011 The Upside of Conflict
1/4/2011  Facilitation and Conflict Management
3/3/11  Giving & Receiving Feedback
In the Hints & Tips section of Executive Lounge - 'Conflict Management'

Difficult decision?  

Check the following posts on this blog:
10/4/12  Complex decision-making - the power of beliefs
In Executive Lounge check the following 1 Page Book Reviews:
'Stop Talking, Start Doing'
'How We Decide'
'The Upside of Irrationality'


In 'What's New Pussycat?' section you can read about our own approach to one-to-one work with execs and directors.  Read 'Rubik's Cube'.

Giving bad news?

In the 'Hints and Tips' section in 'Executive Lounge' you will find a useful summary of best practice.

Toughing it out?  

There is a lot of work being done in the area of 'Mental Toughness' (or 'Reslience').  There are many approaches to this topic.  In the Executive Lounge you can read a 1 Page Book Review of Moorhouse & Jones' take on the topic.

You might want to check out our comments in this blog on Goal Setting too (see 2/8/11 - Does your Goal Setting Measure Up?')


Read about our own attempts to 'walk the talk' and raise £20K for charity on our blog http://doingthedeca.blogspot.co.uk/

Need to say sorry?

 

Check out the following posts in this blog:


7/4/11  'Need to say 'Sorry'?   Then consider your victim
27/4/11 'Leadership & Forgiveness - Part 1'

Follow us on Twitter: @enthiostraining

Giving Bad News

Not often an enjoyable task but inevitable if you are in a leadership role.  Like all things, with a bit of practise we can make this task easier and still treat the receiver with honesty and empathy.  Do your attempts to 'soften the message' actually only create confusion?  Or can you leave the receiver with a sense of hope?


Have a look at our latest 'Hints and Tips' information sheet in the Executive Lounge on our website  www.enthiostraining.co.uk.  

Enthios and Workplace Mediation Services

‘I think mediation is a good first port of call for the business. For the Ministry of Justice to have mediation is very valuable because we are investing in the staff. Conflict causes all manner of problems including health problems resulting in sickness absence and stress or anxiety. It can have a detrimental impact in teams within the workplace who are directly or indirectly involved.’                      Ministry of Justice (2008)

‘We sort stuff out’– not the eye-catching strapline to have on the website but it is what our clients say about us.  With this is mind, our mediation service is complementary to our philosophy in tackling the important people issues within a business swiftly and sensitively.  Over the last 12 months we have found a distinct increase in situations requiring mediation, some examples are;

·         Organisational and individual leadership values clash

·         Business acquisition tensions between retained Directors and incoming Leaders

·        Performance issues which have not been addressed by previous manager and incoming managers are tasked with tackling individuals

·         Inappropriate behaviour and attitudes within the workplace

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) commissioned GfK NOP to carry out a telephone interview survey of managers in 500 small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to assess their experience of mediation.  Of those that had used mediation almost half said that the last mediation had resolved the issues completely (49%), and four in five (82%) said it had resolved the issues either completely or partly (Johnston 2008). Conflict between individuals in the workplace can be extremely expensive.  In 2007–08, the number of individual employment tribunal claims rose to over 190,000 so not only does it make sense as an investment in the wellbeing of staff but also financially practical to engage in mediation early.

Download the full Acas/CIPD guide

 http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=949&p=0

Kate Peacock

Pay it Forward - progress so far

Since going public with my quest to raise £20k for Right to Play, sponsors have already started to commit to the big adventure (A Deca Ironman - swim 38Km, Bike 1800Km, Run 422Km all in 2 weeks).  


 Thanks to all the following:


Mike Barber and colleagues at NRL  http://www.nrl.co.uk/
Paul Concannon at Elysian Training  http://www.elysiantraining.com/welcome.html
Carolyn Blunt at Real Results Training  http://www.real-results.co.uk/
Liz Couchman at Alex Merlin  http://alexmerlin.co.uk/
Anthony Clarke at Design Force  http://www.designforce.co.uk/

Thanks for your support and your generosity.  It keeps me motivated to train!


I'm aiming to find 1000sponsors.  If you would like to make a donation you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock.

You can follow my preparations on my blog http://doingthedeca.blogspot.co.uk/

Ingenuity for the sake of itself

Have you heard of the term 'Rube Goldberg machine'?  Its origins are in cartoons of over-complicated machines performing seemingly meaningless tasks.  But now people actually build these machines for real.  The latest is a balloon-popping machine that involves 300 operations!  Check it out on http://www.rubegoldberg.com/.  You can read more about the Rube Goldberg idea at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine.  Who knows what practical applications may grow from such frivolous activity, but it is surely a great way of fostering creativity.

Natural genius versus coaching

An interesting and thought-provoking article by Jim White in the Daily Telegraph, 10 April 2012, on the success of the Masters champion, Bubba Watson. 

 It is reported that Watson has never had a formal golf lesson in his life.  Watson has learned to do what he does so well by experimentation and trial-and-error.  This, in a sport which is renowned for its technical difficulty and with an emphasis on technical coaching which breaks down every movement involved in swinging a club towards a ball into minute detail.  What results is a non-conformist swing not found in any rule book, but one that is devastatingly effective.  To analyse it might be to destroy it.  (Although elsewhere in the same newspaper another journalist attempts to do just that). 

White goes on to list other athletes who have achieved great things without the need for reference to a coach.  Elsewhere, Mark Cavendish in his autobiography, 'Boy Racer' pays due respect to the contributions of Steve Peters, the psychiatrist who has helped many GB cyclists win medals.  Cavendish, on the other hand, on race day just wants someone to 'Blow sunshine up my a**e' - to tell him that he is the best there is and that no one can beat him.  What I find interesting about White's article is it is really asking the question, 'What is a coach for?'

As someone who coaches in the world of business and who has an interest in sports psychology, of course, I'm going to say that a coach can be a useful asset.  But I don't believe everyone needs a coach.  Some people may want technical advice which is provided by an expert.  (Some call this teaching or mentoring).  Others may just want a quick confidence boost, like Cavendish, a reminder of their extraordinary talents before the race begins.  (What is crucial to Cavendish is that this confidence boost is provided by someone he respects).  But there is also the science of what people need to learn and how best to learn it.  In the world of sport and in business there is a commercial/economic element to be considered, so we also need to pay attention to the most effective ways of learning.  (If you are first to learn something, you can also be putting yourself in first place in the race).  The work of Wulf (on external focus) and of Masters (on reinvestment) are two approaches which look at the best ways of learning so that expertise can be acquired effectively and, more crucially, not lost under moments of pressure.  (These two approaches are more concerned with the outputs achieved rather than the motor-movements involved in the performance).   The renowned sports psychologist, Ken Ravizza, says that before working with an athlete or a team, the coach has to be clear what he/she is there to do.   (It's not always straightforward to find out!)

Finally, there is the issue of replication.  If Bubba Watson, for example, has stumbled on the new template for playing championship-winning golf, then other people are going to want to learn it too.  If what he does is 'natural' he may not be the best person to explain how he does what he does.  So, let's leave room for the natural geniuses - that's where creativity and innovation are going to come from, but let's also tip a hat to the role of the coach too.  It's not always about giving advice.

Complex decision-making - the power of beliefs

We've been doing a lot of work around how people make decisions, often where there is a mass of (sometimes conflicting) information or where there is a great deal of uncertainty, risk or ambiguity.  A new book, published in February this year, 'Market Mind Games' by Denise Shull puts another perspective on the topic.  (We will be posting up a review in the near future).  She looks at both the emotional and cognitive aspects of decision-making in one of the most high-pressure business environments, that of financial trading.  The subject of this post is her take on beliefs, which I found highly interesting, a great summary of what they are and how they work and importantly, intuitively sensible!  She says that beliefs are formed from both internal and external sources, and that once formed they influence our behaviour and are the source of what gives as that feeling of whether something is 'right' or 'wrong' when we are facing a novel situation.  She also adds that they contain both a cognitive and an emotional element.  As she puts it in her chapter, 

'Is it possible to believe in something that you simultaneously feel is incorrect?'  

Hence, we can decide on a course of action not just because the data suggests it is the correct thing to do, but because it feels right too.  In fact, when the pressure is on, making decisions based on feelings may be the only way of performing well.

But, interestingly, she also points to research that since it is possible for an external agent to easily manipulate our feelings we can be also be mis-led.  The context provides a 'feelings state' which then influences our perception and ultimately the decision that we take.  It seems that feelings play a vital part in making complex decisions, but we also need to be aware of just why we are feeling any particular emotion at any particular time.  Perhaps this provides a reason for why Emotional Intelligence is such a hot topic at the moment.  Without self-awareness, can we be trusted to do the right thing?

If you want to know more about decision-making, have a look at our '1 Page Book Reviews' in the Executive Lounge section of our website www.enthiostraining.co.uk, in particular 'How we Decide' by Lehrer and 'The Upside of Irrationality' by Ariely.

Pay it Forward

One of the things we believe in at enthios training and development is the idea of 'Pay it forward'; acting unconditionally, in service of someone else, in the simple belief that it makes the world a better place.  In pursuit of this idea we raise money for charity, by taking on various challenges and events.  This year, Miles is taking on the  Deca Ironman, where over a two week period you are required to swim for 38Km, cycle for 1800Km and run for 422Km.  We aim to raise £20000 for Right to Play.  Check out what they do on their website, http://www.righttoplay.com/uk/Pages/Home.aspx.  Why Right to Play?  Well, the truth is that there are many charities that we would like to support and we have to choose one.  Play is an important developmental tool - it helps children learn the social rules of cooperating with others and is also the source of creativity.  If we want to make the world a better place then these two qualities will be important in instigating change.  Finally, sport at its finest can teach people of all ages about honour, respect and achievement.

There are 12 weeks to go before the big event.  Miles is scheduled to start at 9pm on 26th June 2012. 

If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock.

If we can get 1000 people to sponsor Miles at 1p per kilometre, we will exceed my target by £2600, so tell your friends and let's get this crazy idea going viral!  

Thanks everyone for your support. You can follow Miles' progress, on his blog http://doingthedeca.blogspot.co.uk

The Parenting Pyramid - some insights to leading & managing?

This interesting article looks at the fact that most parents are looking to correct behaviour and attitude rather than considering how they can support things going right.  Isn't this also true of leaders and managers? 

The article suggests that effective parenting reverses the order in expenditure of time and energy by having the primary question in our minds at all times - "How do we help things go right?"  With parallels to Maslow, the pyramid follows a hierarchy of concerns with the first being the most fundamental and deepest foundation - our personal way of being.  (This dovetails into the enthios coaching approach around authenticity and accessing who you are as a person.)

Translating this model into a business context only requires a tweak to the 5 points in the summary

1. Although correction is part of leading and managing it is the smallest part
2. The key to effective correction is effective teaching
3. The key to effective teaching is an effective relationship with your employee
4. The key to a good employee relationship is a good peer to peer and line manager relationships
5. The key to a good peer to peer and line manager relationship is our personal way of being

http://www.arbinger.com/en/downloads.html

Kate Peacock

The top five regrets of the dying

A really interesting  article today in The Guardian on a nurse's experience of the dying and the regrets they express.  It all seems so simple, yet how do manage to distance ourselves from these desires?  A very moving read, and for the living, a chance to put things right before it's too late.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying?fb=optOut

Employee engagement - can we trust the data?

An interesting article in December '11 issue of the Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology - Muller, K, Voelke, M.C., & Hattrup, K.  (2011)  On the relationship between job satisfaction and non-response in employee attitude surveys:  A longitudinal field study.  What makes this study particularly interesting is that it was based over 4 years in business setting, so about as real as you can get.  Although employee engagement is an increasingly popular activity in organisations there are problems with definition of 'engagement' and of measurement.  One such difficulty is non-response.  If the non-responders are not a random sample then it is likely that the results of the survey will be biased in some way.  (For example, if all the employees who were dissatisfied with the company chose not to respond, the results of the survey might give an over-optimistic view of the current state of morale of the workforce).

Muller et al.'s study showed that employees who did not respond to the first survey were also less likely to respond to subsequent surveys.  Likewise, job satisfaction aslo was a good predictor of response, with those employees reporting high job satisfaction more likely to respond to survey requests.  Another important factor that influenced response rate was the level of satisfaction that the employee expressed regarding his/her supervisor and the authors highlight the importance of the supervisor's role in the success of employee engagement interventions, including the communication of information before and after the survey has been conducted.

The obvious implication of measuring employee engagement is that the organisation's leaders will want to act on the results, but in order to take appropriate action they need to be able to trust the data.  This report gives a fascinating insight into how any data need careful interpretation before an action plan is created.

Hockney on the power of questions

An interesting interview with the artist, David Hockney on BBC 1's 'Countryfile' on Sunday 8th Jan 2012.  The interviewer asked him how it was that he saw so many colours in the landscape.  His reply was enlightening.  He said that he often gets asked that question and he told a story how a friend of his had asked him that same question during a car journey.  Hockney's reply was to ask his friend 'What colour is the road?'  Hockney's argument is that it is only when we are asked the question that we really begin to look.  He implied that you may see all the colours that there are or you may just continue to see the road as black, but 'At least you have to ask the question'.  I thought this was a great metaphor for the power of coaching.  It is the asking of the question that offers the potential to heighten awareness.  The information may be around you all the time, and you may even think that you know it is there, but it is only when someone asks you the question that you really pay attention to your experience.

Enthios New Year Newsletter

2011 Summary

Not a surprise to find that in 2011 our clients were very much focused on managing costs and generating more from what they already had.  Whether that was in terms of business generation, clients, productivity & efficiency, staff or all of the above!  Many of our clients took a good look at both their people and processes and were keen to put their investment in training where it could give tangible returns - which was music to our ears.  As a consequence, much of the work we have done this year has been highly focused on meeting specific objectives and often as a reaction to adverse events.  We’ve noticed a move to working one-to-one with clients on specific issues.  In addition, we continue to increase the amount of mediation and conflict-resolution work we are being asked to do.  We found that the coaching work we were involved in was extremely complex and demanding; a true reflection of what people and organisations were experiencing first hand.

While we continued to win business through our existing clients and referrals, we are also being contacted by those who have no previous knowledge of Enthios and as I’ve said before if I knew how it was happening we’d do more of it!

Type of work we’ve been involved in 2011

·         Managing Performance

·         Executive and Management Coaching

·         Assertiveness Skills

·         Operations Managers Workshops

·         Executive Development Programme (now in its 4^th year)

·         Time Management

·         Advanced Presentation Skills

·         Team Building and Purposeful Away Days!

·         Project Management Skills

·         Managing Change

·         Telesales Techniques (new for 2011 and very much in demand)

·         Effective Delegation

·         Communication Styles

·         International Telephone Coaching with Psychometrics

·         Targeted Management Programmes

What else we’ve done…

·         Began to tweet and blog thanks to Miles we’re catching up with the technological revolution – well maybe a bit!  You can find us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/enthiostraining and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enthios-Training-Development-Ltd/186738851365133 and Linked in at http://www.linkedin.com/company/enthios-training-&-development-ltd Also continue to check out the Executive Lounge section of our website for latest developments, book reviews and hints and tips on leadership.

·         Won a place on the AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) Workforce Development Provider Framework for 2012 – 2014 after a very extensive and demanding tender process over 3 months, where 120 providers pitched for the People Management lot.

·         Became approved providers for the Business Enterprise Groups Leadership & Management Funding, (the fund is ending in March 2012 so make your requests early if you’re eligible)

·         Became members of the Mentor Focus Group following the NWDA Mentoring Programme we were heavily involved in with a number of providers through 2010 - 11.

·         CIPD – Miles took over the running of the Lancashire CIPD Consultants’ networking group.

·         Added to a number of our teams skills this year with accreditations in both coaching (ILM 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching & Leadership Mentoring) and mediation (ONC Certificate in Workplace Mediation); areas we feel will be tightened in the future, (while quality is not yet officially regulated, the NHS is leading the way with its stipulation of ILM accreditation in formal tenders). A Sports Psychology Masters for Miles after many months of hard work juggling both delivery and study – phew!  At first sight you might wonder why he did this (at times, so did Miles!).  It’s all about the study of excellence and there is a huge cross-over between sport and business. 

·         Moved the business premises on the 19^th of December and hopefully none of you experienced any difficulties even though it was not without its challenges (I think that’s what we’re supposed to call them!)

Playing out? Very important to us!!

·         Well some time spent in France continually trying to conquer the language, alpine and cross country skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, cannoning and anything else the country can throw at us, of course allowing a little time for an apero!

·         Liz has been busy this year competing in the National Cheerleading Championships held in the mecca of the North, Blackpool and her squad walked away with the first place in Masters Stunt (yes that is the one where you throw people around in the air!) She has also been perfecting her crack-shot abilities and won her regular clay-pigeon shooting competition a few times in 2011- here is to more trophies in 2012!

·         Motivated by the need to keep up with his 6 year old son Simon learned to roller-blade, entered the village weekly summer time trial (over a demanding 4 mile circuit) and is slowly overcoming his fear of heights! Again inspired by his son he also wrote his first book for children (is he the new J K Rowley? Remember you heard it here first!)

·         Kate thought about a 10k charity run in under an hour but it wouldn’t do to have no goals left for 2012 so postponed that for another year.  Hum, is there an issue with commitment here?

·         Miles – a year of studying left little room for sporting challenges, but still found time to play out a bit, as well as buying a shiny new road bike.  Highlight of the year?  Maybe open water swimming in Lac Passy with Mont Blanc as a backdrop, while being nibbled by a fish (not in any way a spiritual experience!)

So what does 2012 have in store………?

As usual our commitment to personal and organisational learning is never over with more of the team going through the ‘ONC Workplace Mediation Accreditation’ and stepping up to another level with the ‘ILM 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching & Leadership Mentoring’ in the early part of the year. Oh and yes, Kate is going on a one day ‘Continental Bread Making’ course in June.

Big chunk..

We’re lucky enough to be in our 4^th year of an internal ‘Executive Development Programme’ which focuses on working with senior leaders in the organisation who are selected as significant contributors within their business area.  This is self-directed learning on a one-to-one basis, a combination of coaching, mentoring, sounding board and training – whatever is required by the individual at the time. One of the most successful organisations we have worked with who have great people – game on!

Elsewhere we helped redesign a management programme in its second year across three sites aimed at up skilling middle and senior managers in handling change and managing difficult conversations – is this a sign of things to come?

An example of where organisations want to maximise the returns on their investment in training was with a large Council.  Building on the success of 3 workshops in 2011 around delivering the organisations PRD system, ‘Meaningful & Effective Goal Setting’, ‘Coaching Conversations for Success’ and ‘Meeting the Feedback Challenge’, we are now delivering the second wave of ‘Performance Management’ and hope to widen the work we do with this fantastic organisation.

We’re currently awaiting the outcome of a number of tenders around coaching and facilitation so fingers crossed Enthios’ national reach continues its progress to date.

Detail…

We still love working one-to-one with individuals whether they are running their own business or part of a wider organisation.  These relationships continue to cause us to raise our own professional standards to meet the demands of their ever-changing circumstances and environments. Thank you for the push!

And more thanks…

For those of you who know us well (or have taken a look at our website) you’ll know that one of our values is that we work with people we like.  While this may sound ‘twee’, it’s the best way we know how to do the work that needs to be done, in the most honest way possible and have a brilliant time which is enjoyable for everyone involved.  It’s how we build our own team and how we target organisations and individuals to work with.  So thank you for supporting us through 2011 and let’s have another brilliant year together in 2012.

Kate Peacock