Swine Flu, Global Recession, UK under threat of insolvency…I mean, come on you guys of the media, give us a break, doom and gloom is ever upon us in dear old blighty, or should that be blighted!

As a qualified therapist, albeit having now hung up my therapeutic ballet shoes to become a Business and Personal Development Coach, I am not surprised that there was a trend of suicides in the last decade, most documented, those in Wales amongst young adults. What did they believe they had to look forward too, if they believed everything they read or heard!

When watching the news, I can hear Frazer from Dads Army saying in his wonderful Scottish accent… “We’re all dooooomed Captain Mannering”!

You really have got to laugh, it is a crazy world we are living in!

So, what are we as business class individuals going to do about this decade then?

The Evolutionary Process

Darwin was indeed a genius and provided us with the knowledge that change is inevitable and in order to survive, like nature, we must learn to adapt! Change is happening all around us, this country and indeed the world is changing and developing. Any business needs to ensure it can adapt to the current trends and ensure that our services meet the needs of the ever evolving customers and of course their expectations.

Do we choose to continue to believe all we read and hear about recession and business growth or decline, or are we going to be Christopher Columbus’ and board our personal and business ships and set sail toward the horizon and see for ourselves if we drop off the edge of the world! Before Columbus weighed his anchor, he had received endless media style messages that the world was flat. He chose not to believe them and took a risk, without any Prince 2 training or SMART business plans! However, he took a risk to develop his business and in doing so he developed the world.

The world needs more Columbus risk takers who are also able to plan ahead – Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail – so come on all ye brave hearted shipmates, weigh your anchors and let us conquer the Oceans of Negativity and let us unite in assisting this country to adapt in order to help this country to become GREAT Britain once again.  Don’t forget to pack your vitamins, I wouldn’t want you to get scurvy, or rickets now!

Challenge your Limiting Self Beliefs

‘Do not fear risk. All exploration, all growth is calculated. Without challenge people cannot reach their higher selves. Only if we are willing to walk over the edge can we become winners’. Statement from the families of the challenger space shuttle disaster.

We need to challenge and change our beliefs, step out of our comfort zones to evolve and survive. Out dated beliefs are all that are holding us back! We now know the world is not flat and also that money DOES indeed grow on trees; bank notes are made of paper after all!

The common denominator of all successful business entrepreneurs is dogmatic Self Belief who essentially plan and follow their steps to success.

5 Steps to success

1) Have a Goal

2) Take Action

3) Notice what’s working and what isn’t

4) Change direction if it isn’t working

5) Never lose sight of your goal

About Joy Andrews

I am a qualified Freelance Business and Personal Development Coach and my specialisms are Consultancy in Customer Service and  Career and Confidence Coaching. I have many years experience in Business and Personal Development Coaching.

My skills and expertise took me across the country, where I have sat on many Focus Groups and Information Sharing Groups. I have met many MP’s including Gordon Brown and have given presentations to Councils, along with training groups on building better communication and employability techniques.

For your next break why not enjoy a skiing holiday?

Regardless of your answer the more progressive businesses will still have retained a solid commitment to the training and development of their people.  It’s a well know fact that leadership development provides immediate and long term increases to productivity and helps to deal with the impacts of a recession sooner rather than later.

Coaching your team is both time and cost effective and will send a powerful message about your commitment to them.  So, how do you know when it is appropriate to coach an employee or colleague?

In these challenging times employees may need some extra support in keeping motivated; however, they will not always want to ask for support.   So how do you know when to introduce coaching?

For business coaching to be effective it requires time for a good conversation in which you will need to support, challenge or give feedback.  Before you jump in too quickly with an unsuspecting employee it is always worth asking yourself: Is coaching what is needed right now and if so how can I become focused quickly?

Look for the signals; differences between how your employee behaves, e.g. unusual levels of excitement or anxiety might suggest a conversation would be helpful.

Ripples in the pond that seem to originate from one employee might indicate their words or deeds are having perhaps unintended consequences. Request or demands made of you.  Telling your employee what you want might be fine but after the 10th occasion, you may need to consider a different tack!

Over time you will pick-up a feel when to coach, and when to pick the moment, if you are still not sure, ask how you can help your employee.  Whilst it sounds obvious to say, if your leadership style encourages your team to pull together and develop their effectiveness your company is in a much stronger position to improve results.

Carole Davidson is an Executive Business Coach & Mentor
‘Inspiring business people to succeed’

Some business leaders have shown a breathtaking lack of vision, wisdom and integrity.  It is clear that our leaders need to develop new skills and qualities to enable them to move on from their short-sightedness.

I believe business coaching, which supports leaders in developing and refining their own inner strengths can rise to this challenge.

It is said that the purpose of great leadership, and indeed any human endeavour, is to help people to replace disempowering beliefs with empowering ones.  To bring unity where there is division.  To bring harmony where there is turbulence and wisdom where there is fear.

The more you focus on fear, the more afraid you will become.  The more you focus on obstacles, the larger they will loom.  The more you focus on today’s global economic doom and gloom headlines, the less time, energy and faith you’ll have to focus on building the prosperous, successful business you really want.

In the ‘me, me, me’ and the ‘more, more, more ‘ business culture of the past 10 years, executives coaches often found themselves working with ‘high potentials’ and senior leaders to focus on personal career visions and personal leadership skills.  It was all very ‘personal’.

The principle of following the coachee’s agenda in a confidential setting became paramount.  At its best it did create openness, trust and facilitated self awareness.  However, at its worst this environment tempted all parties into self-interest, and sometimes a worrying lack of accountability.

As organisations  ‘delayer’ their structures to give each layer a higher degree of autonomy and responsibility, there is a clear need for managers to develop a management style based on the principles of best coaching practice; namely high awareness and high responsibility.  Despite tireless efforts of a growing army of coaches, human resistance to change has proved difficult.  It takes a crisis to force people to accept the real need for change.

The best responses to crises of any kind are made by people with resilient inner strength, vision and compassion.  These are the very qualities that at least some of our present recently departed leader seem to so conspicuously lack.

Business coaching can help leaders to access this inner strength through adapting and learning quickly.  The nature of these challenging times means we should expect ‘risk’ to be replaced by ‘responsibility’ in leadership values.  We can expect ‘us, us, us’ to replace ‘me, me, me’ as our collective dependence on the wider economic and environmental agendas overtakes our self-interest.

Carole Davidson is a business coach & mentor who supports mangers in achieving their business goals.