Month: June 2014

Goals 2014: What Is Your Work Place #SuccessGoal ?

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Setting A Goal Does Not Take Long

Setting A Goal Does Not Take Long

What are you like when you are not pursuing success at work?  Is the authentic ‘you’ happiest making weekend plans and organising your family life; or does the idea of taking some ‘me’ time away from 9 to 5 problems appeal?

How Does Effective Team Work Produce Results?

I learned yesterday* that for Netball players, team working is a key part of their time together.  Players develop their individual skills and learn how to complement other’s skills successfully, when they work together.  Everyone gets to play a part in the team achieving its goals (it sounds like a low ego sport).  That principle feeds back into their successful professional lives too, by all accounts.

What Is The Key To Improving Workplace Success?

Effective team work lies at the heart of workplace success.  The UK Government is making policy decisions to draw on positive behaviours and improve the range of enterprises which are successful.

In their 2013 report ‘Management Matters’, The UK Commission for Employment and Skills found that 166,000 managers are deemed to be not fully proficient in their job… The skills most lacking are:

  • strategic management
  • planning and organisation
  • team working
  • problem solving
  • oral communication

You can visit UKCES website here and learn more about that issue and new proposals to address those development areas.

How Will You Set A Goal To Tackle Your Needs?

Whether you are in the UK, the US, the EU or further afield did you recognise a development area in your own leadership or management practice in the bullet point list?  If so you can relax.  These are common issues that crop up in coaching conversations.  A discussion with a coach will be a worthwhile first step, if you are ready to improve your performance.  If so, I’m happy to discuss your development needs with you and support your actions as you move forward.

Who Will You Share Your Progress With?

Feel free to have a conversation about this topic with your colleagues.  I’d be interested to know what you think.  You can contact me regarding your own needs via the Contact form and more generally on Twitter @RogerD_said

There are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Thank You

*I am grateful to Kat – whom I met at an Enterprise Nation event – for the inspiration to discuss teamworking beyond the workplace.  Kat is an avid Netballer and in charge of Toursprite  – a startup offering fancy dress services to groups.  Enterprise Nation helps people turn their passions into great businesses.

Goals 2014: What #Changes Will You Deal With Tomorrow?

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What Does Change Mean To You?

What Does Change Mean To You?

What is your work goal tomorrow?  Is it to stay the same and hope that doing so produces adequate results (assuming your performance exceeds or meets organisational expectations)?  Or are you authentically open to change (especially if you know you must improve to meet those expectations)?

Whether you are a leader, follower, manager, or employee what would it feel like to move towards something different and better in the week ahead?

What Lessons Can You Take From The UK Civil Service?

Large organisations, like the UK Civil Service are undertaking change processes, so that its 420,000 plus employees can produce more results with less resources (click on the link to find out more about their leaderships vision; communication; change delivery; and staff engagement).  If yours is a smaller organisation, what lessons could you take from the civil service example?

How Immune To Change Are You?

Individuals, just like organisations have different responses to change.  Even the mention of change can cause some people to become resistant.  Their immunity to change (ITC) depends on the big assumptions they hold.  Will colleagues still like me if I change?  What will I feel like if I become a more authentic version of myself?

I’m really excited to have learned a lot about the world of change by completing recently a MOOC (massive open online course) on ITC, courtesy of Harvard University.  You can listen here to a 15 minute podcast with Robert Kegan who led the course with Lisa Lahey and sample some of the course materials if you register to do so.

Will You Rise To The Change Challenge?

When you set goals for yourself at the start of the year you will have known circumstances might crop up that pushed you off course.  As you undertake your mid -year review, what areas do you need to adjust to stay on track?

Perhaps your circumstances have changed so much since January that major adjustments are necessary: in January no one would have foreseen that retail challenges would affect managers at Morrisons for instance; or that in the banking sector, Barclay’s job losses would be followed by those at Natwest

So, whether you are in the UK, US, EU or the world beyond what will you do tomorrow to meet the small or large challenges flagged up by the word ‘change’?

What Else Will You Do To Embrace Change?

Feel free to have a conversation about this topic with your colleagues.  I’m always interested to know what you think.  You can find me on Twitter @RogerD_said

There are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: Who Do You Thank When You Are Being #Mindful?

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Saying Thank You

Mindfulness And The Value Of Saying Thank You

It is a busy world and you are bombarded by emails, texts, meeting requests and dozens of people claiming your time. It can be hard to make time to stop and think about the people who make your day a bit easier.  In fact when someone goes out of their way to make your goals easier to accomplish, their efforts can slip by unrecognised.

However, being mindful* and celebrating that assistance can trigger leadership action on your part, which helps to establish a virtuous cycle: good team work leads to positive client feedback; your leadership is shown to reflect an authentic understanding of what good work by colleagues looks like; your clients keep getting more examples of that good work.

(*Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s practical guide to ‘Mindfulness’, published in 2011, might be one for you to look at, if you want to learn more).

What Are Your Options For Showing Your Appreciation?

If you do recognise others’ contribution to your success there are so many options available to you, to show your appreciation, that choosing the right one can be a challenge.

  • In the world beyond work I’m sure that a Father’s Day gift, or call, would go down well today.
  • If you know someone who has made a contribution to civil society in the UK you can recommend them for an award in the Queen’s Birthday, or New Year’s Honours List.
  • Simply remembering someone’s birthday or anniversary can make their day too. So can an unexpected card showing your appreciation for something they did (like the one in the illustration above, which I just got from a client. It definitely put a smile on my face).

Here Are Some Questions For Your Consideration

If making time for reflection, and being more mindful, is one of your health goals here are some questions you might want to consider:

  • How often in your busy schedule do you pause, and think of ways to show your appreciation of others’ efforts?
  • How far do you go beyond saying ‘thank you’ when you do so?
  • How will you show your appreciation for outstanding service to a colleague, friend or family member in the next 7 days?

Good luck with the week ahead of you. Let me know how you get on (and do respond today or tomorrow to my recent post on equality and diversity).

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: Are You Making The Progress You Want To On Your #GoalsInLife?

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How Are You Feeling About Your 2014 Goals?

How Are You Feeling About Your 2014 Goals?

Your anticipation has been building for months.  Your heart beat a little faster as each week zipped by.  Now, finally, it is time for you to focus on goals (your own personal goals that is).

How Practical Did Your Goals Seem In January?

Obviously your team will measure how successful it is being during the FIFA World Cup.  Isn’t this a good time to measure your own success?

Perhaps back in early January everything looked straight forward.  You had 12 months in which to make progress on your goals relating to your: authentic leadership skills; management style; career path; work-life balance; health priorities.  Everything seemed possible.  Maybe you agreed specific goals with yourself, to make 2014 the year you:

  • pursued your next career milestone to get you into a more fulfilling job this autumn
  • created the ideal balance between your work and life, in line with your core values
  • actively competed at a sport to raise your confidence and energy levels

Well, here you are at the half way line.  Are you ready to kick off a discussion about your progress?

What Is The One Key Question You Can Ask Yourself About Your Progress?

There is probably only one key question to ask yourself, about the actions you have taken to further your aspirations to change.  Take a moment and answer honestly:

  • How happy are you with the outcomes of your actions and your rate of progress toward your goals?

What Is Your Next Action?

Hopefully you can say you are happy with your progress across the range of goals you selected six months ago.  In that case keep doing what you are doing, since it is obviously working for you.

What if you need coaching support to refocus your strategy for taking action to tackle your goals?  Then use the Contact form above, or connect with me on Twitter @RogerD_said

If you need to try a fresh approach I look forward to hearing from you.  Don’t forget, you should feel free to look at the other ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile too.

Goals 2014: What Does Equality And Diversity Mean To You?

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What Is Your First Thought When Equality And Diversity Is Discussed?

What Is Your First Thought When Equality And Diversity Is Discussed?

Does one of your goals involve adding your voice to discussions on life in the modern workplace?  If so, do you want to contribute to the important conversation on improving equality and diversity outcomes?

I’ve good news, if your answer is ‘Yes’, as I have designed a whole-day leadership workshop on that topic and I could use your help in refining delegate materials.  I want to ensure delegates have some topical quotes to look at relevant to the experiences of teams, clients and organisations in a variety of sectors in the UK, US, EU and territories beyond.

Your Chance To Offer Some Feedback

Do take a moment to look at the bullet point questions below and offer some feedback by replying to this post, or comment through the Contact form (or via Twitter @RogerD_said ) before 19:00 BST on Monday 16 June.

If I use one of your quotes in the workshop materials you and your organisation will be credited (please say if you prefer to be anonymous).  Many thanks in advance for your help.

  • What does authentic leadership in equality and diversity look like?
  • What are the benefits of getting equality and diversity strategies right?
  • What are the challenges on the horizon for equality and diversity stakeholders?

Want To Take The Conversation Further?

If these questions have whetted your appetite and you want to take the workshop conversation further please feel free to get in touch (there’s a further chance to continue this conversation in September, so feel free to contribute your Comments below this post or across social media).

Additionally, there are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a LinkedIn user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile