Category: Uncategorized

At Your (Civil) Service

Leave a comment
English: Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary ...

English: Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the United Kingdom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UK public servants come in for some real stick.  Unfairly in my view.

Pay freezes, head count reduction and the relentless pressure of producing more results with less resources take their toll.  At least one civil service representative body, the Public and Commercial Services union – www.pcs.org.uk – seems set to ballot for strike action.

At least one central government permanent secretary (chief executive equivalent) has a job plan which includes doing something about that.

 

Martin Donnelly at the department for Business, Innovation and Skills has a job objective which includes improving outcomes amongst his middle managers and generally rewarding good performance in the organisation.

It must also be good for morale therefore to learn that David Cameron enjoys good relations with civil servants  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21009377 .

Armed with that reassurance it should be possible for organisational leaders to work with staff to identify some goals, including:

– their main goal for 2013 and how it benefits them individually + their stakeholders (including senior colleagues and, crucially, the politicians they answer to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21040142

– how to positively motivate stakeholders to pursue those gaols (Cabinet Office has some ideas though  http://blogs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/behavioural-insights-team/2013/01/07/sticking-to-our-new-years-resolutions/

– gainging clarity on what ‘success’ looks like, will acquiring skills such as project planning and contract management be important across government, as the Public Accounts Committee chair, Margaret Hodge, suggested in December 2012? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20604173

Related articles

Where Are We Now?

Leave a comment
English: Duncan Jones with his father David Bo...

English: Duncan Jones with his father David Bowie at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival for the exhibition of Jones’s film Moon. Photographer’s blog post about this event. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have always admired artists.  To my mind there is something liberating about starting with a blank piece of paper, or canvas, or roll of film and then making a unique impression on it

 

If you can be that creative, to your own and perhaps others’ satisfaction, then you can probably do anything you set your mind to.  Who knows, you might even inspire your off-spring to do something equally artistic too.

 

David Bowie has always seemed to understand that proposition.  His music, his art and the way he presents himself have all carried the signature of someone who is open to the idea of experimentation and inspiration.

 

I like the fact that the video for his latest single, directed by Tony Oursler, is set in an artist’s studio and captures an atmosphere full of possibilities.

 

http://www.davidbowie.com/the-next-day

 

I also like the canniness of Bowie quietly announcing his return to creativity on his 66th birthday and letting the media build the momentum for his upcoming album and retrospective exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, both of which arrive in late March.

 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

 

All this happening at a quiet time of the year, is icing on the cake.  A way of capitalising on a point in the calendar when many people are already in reflective mode, creating To Do lists for themselves.

 

Significantly many people are contemplating major change now,  I’m sure I read over the festive season that December can be a pressure cooker for many people, holed up for an extended period with friends or family and their own thoughts.  Unsurprising that January is a peak period for trial separations, and divorce petitions, as well as diets.

So, if people are already in the frame of mind to be asking questions, like:

–       When will I start living the life I should be living?

–       How do I change my occupation in favour of something fulfilling?

–       What can I do to create more happiness in my life?

 

Hopefully they will have support at hand to start working on the answers.  I expect supportive family, friends, faith groups and coaches will be in demand over the coming weeks.

This Year I Am Going To…

Leave a comment
motivation

motivation (Photo credit: I am marlon)

I suspect any day is as good as another to change one’s life.  The start of January is popular since the year ahead is a clean slate.  Change seems more possible with 12 months to play with.

 

I wonder how many people pledging to make a change in their lives in 2013 know exactly what they are going to achieve by taking action ?

 

It seems to me there are complex psychological processes at work behind the scenes as change is mulled over.  It doesn’t matter whether that change entails learning a foreign language; eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day; or doing something about the extra weight gained before Christmas, by the time this year’s summer holiday begins.

 

Thankfully someone has already done the thinking about the motivation for change in one area, health, which may have a wider application.

 

Dr Tony Westbury, a sports psychologist from Edinburgh Napier University, and ultra-distance runner Dr Andrew Murray are advocates for an active lifestyle.  They make the case for abandoning a life spent chiefly sitting down, in favour of one involving regular exercise.  They told BBC Scotland that:

 

‘The most important aspect of this [shift to an active life] is your motivation for changing. Psychologists refer to motivation as the ‘why’ of behaviour – why we do what we do… motivationally the person who changes their behaviour out of sense of guilt or duty is different to the person who changes their behaviour because they love the activity’.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20811369

 

If it is possible to generalise about change from that specific example, success in a new goal is more likely to come from a positive desire to benefit from a situation, rather than a negative wish to get away from something else.

 

So that focus on motivation could turn the initial example I mentioned that ‘I don’t like the extra weight I am carrying and I should do something about it’ into a more positive, commitment to ‘feel good about being a proportionate weight for my height and age by time the family goes on holiday in August’.

 

A clear motivating force provides one strong element which improves the likelihood of success.  The next steps in the example probably involve a calendar, some new trainers and – let’s be honest – a fair bit of will power.

 

At least with a positive end point in mind the journey from here to there is a bit more manageable.

 

Related articles

Here Is An Inspiring Way To Spend 7 Minutes in 2013

Leave a comment
English: New Orleans, LA., 11/16/2005 -- FEMA ...

English: New Orleans, LA., 11/16/2005 — FEMA Deputy Federal Coordinating Officer, Ted Monette talks to an Upper 9th Ward resident that has returned to his home to clean up following Hurricane Katrina. Andrea Booher/FEMA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve been neglectful and failed to visit the TED Talks website for a while.  My mistake.  There are always little gems to be found there which intrigue, inspire or uplift.

 

Here is a case in point.

 

Candy Chang, an advocate for reclaiming public spaces and an artist, asked a simple question of the people of New Orleans: what do you want before you die?

 

She got a whole bunch of thought provoking answers.

 

She also started people much further afield thinking about the main thing that they actually wanted.

 

If you have a few minutes you might want to look at the talk, answer the question and then figure out what is the first step you are going to take to attain what you want.

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.html

Related articles

Don’t Call It A Comeback

Leave a comment
Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)

Some sports stars earn a place on the winners’ podium.  A handful make a fortune from commercial endorsements.  A few transition into politics, or the media, after hanging up their boots.

What happens to the others when the achievements, adulation, and kudos, disappear?

Unsurprisingly, according to a recent BBC article, sports professionals without a post-retirement plan can come to grief.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/20646102

 

The article focuses on boxers, but other stars like football players George Best and Paul Gascoigne have had a tough time of it too.

 

Reading the article I am struck by the physical dependency on success Sugar Ray Leonard describes.  He says:

 

“There is nothing in life that can compare to becoming a world champion, having your hand raised in that moment of glory, with thousands, millions of people cheering you on”

 

It must have felt like a yawning chasm had opened up after he left the ring ‘for good’, as he imagined.  No wonder he needed to stage a comeback.

 

Like Ricky Hatton it might not have been about completing some unfinished business in the ring, more an absence of a concrete idea of what else to do outside of it.

 

The absence in the sports professionals’ plan A of a plan B strategy must make them extra vulnerable to post career blues.

 

I wonder how many of them know what benefit they get from their sporting performance (beyond the obvious)?  If they had an answer to that question they might be better able to find a new all-consuming career to follow.

 

Perhaps the classic coaching question should be part of their future planning approach: you know what you want from your current career, well one day that career will end.  You know how you benefit currently, so ask yourself the hardest thing of all – what else do you want to do with your life?

Related articles

Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea

Leave a comment

As this is the season of gifts and thoughtful reflection I wondered what is the ideal gift you would give yourself in 12 months’ time?

Coaching present
Could your gift to yourself involve switching jobs?

Perhaps you were thinking of finding an occupation which reflects your values & beliefs more closely?

Maybe it relates to having a satisfying balance between time spent with supportive colleagues, trading in ethical products and enjoying a good quality of life?

Does achieving a fraction of that change sound like hard work?

Well, apparently a step or two along the road toward those outcomes is possible.  BBC Business coverage of Henrietta Lovell’s Rare Tea Company records such a journey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20761886

Henrietta realised that there was scope to meet the needs of rare tea enthusiasts and became a kind trader into the bargain.

I love the positive energy she brings to the enterprise she founded.  Instead of constantly eyeing the bottom-line, in a competitive scramble, she asked:

“Why can’t businesses be run with a generosity of spirit and a lot of goodwill”?

http://www.rareteacompany.com/

She is making generosity and goodwill part of her business offer.  She is also making the business work.

According to the article, that is an approach which other, less nichey traders are adopting too.  The article is well worth a few minutes of your time.

I wonder how many business leaders are inclined to think about working with a coach to improve their performance outcomes in terms of their ethical reputation, or social impact?

Perhaps that was part of Google’s initial philosophy when their informal motto was ‘don’t be evil’.

Either way it would be incredibly positive to coach organisations who were professional about the goods / services they provided but also mindful of their stake in society.

As far as I can see those organisations, their staff, customers and stakeholders would all benefit from sharing an ethically- based value system.

That thinking has to be good for business.  Even though, obviously, it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Related articles

It Is Good To Meet You, Mr President

Leave a comment

Luckily the Mayans were wrong.  Or maybe our interpretation of their calendar was wrong.  Either way the world didn’t end today.  This is a good thing, as I have plans for Christmas.

#christmas

#christmas (Photo credit: Isselmuden)

 

Fortunately this year there isn’t a nerve wracking social event to get past before Christmas arrives.  You perhaps know the sort of situation, social drinks with the head of department / director / chief executive.

 

Yes, socialising might just be a relaxed time-out from work.  Maybe though the senior colleague’s company makes you sweaty palmed.  If so, what can you do about it?

 

There’s an interesting parallel discussed on the BBC’s website today.  What do you say at a social gathering with the chief executive when he is also the commander-in-chief, Barack Obama?

 

I suppose it depends on a number of factors:

–       how much preparation do you want to put in, beforehand?

–       How do you want to benefit from the situation?

–       Will you remember the thing you want to say when the moment of truth arrives?

 

The article is an interesting read, so I have attached it below.  Perhaps it is a useful think- piece for anyone trying to make the most of a major opportunity to make a good, first, impression – or to win friends and influence people.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20686066

So This Is Christmas?

Leave a comment
English: Coaching process model (GROW model) P...

English: Coaching process model (GROW model) Polski: Model procesu coachingowego (GROW model) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although it is the week before Christmas, seasonal goodwill seems thin on the ground.

Obvious tragedy and strife aside, it is the personal stresses which can make the world seem especially grim.

For instance, the Guardian’s ‘Work’ section features the case study of a senior manager whose skills and successes cut no ice with his senior colleague.

Top management are blaming the woes of the larger business on the senior manager.  His previous good leadership of his business unit goes unrecognised.

Above the line, the article describes the chilling effect of the blame game.  The senior manager is left feeling his confidence ebbing away.  He feels trapped, and is facing a six month count-down to termination (he is suddenly performing ‘unacceptably’ in the larger organisational context).

That is a bleak way to end 2012.

It is an eye-opener to read some of the reader feedback, offered to the senior manager, below the line.  Some of it seems defensive.  Some of it aggressive.  My take on what he could do next is, inevitably, coaching themed.

You can read the article and comments (mine are included as RogerAD) here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/dec/17/should-i-leave-my-job

Basically, I am saying he should find himself a coach and allow himself to be supported through the GROW model:

Identifying a goal – determining what is the positive benefit he wants to head toward, in the time he has available?

Reflecting on his reality – questioning what does the relationship between his values and those of his organisation feel like?

Listing his options – working out what are the steps that take him forward, toward his ultimate goal?

Using his will – relying on the reserve of positive energy he holds – that his caused him to seek a solution to his dilemma – to identify the first step he can immediately take.  That is the step which will move him one step closer to what he wants.

It will be interesting to see what type of feedback he chooses to follow.  Whatever he decides to do, you have to hope his 2013 turns out better than 2012 has.

Related articles

Space: The Final (Coaching) Frontier

Leave a comment
English: The International Space Station is fe...

English: The International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-134 crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 11:55 p.m. (EDT) on May 29, 2011. Endeavour spent 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes attached to the orbiting laboratory. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even high flying organisations can reach their peak.

 

Case in point, perhaps, is the United States’ space administration, NASA.  In my lifetime their visionaries put a man on the moon and a fleet of space shuttles into service.

 

Those were the past glories.  At the moment manned space exploration is on hold (although the International Space Station is doing interesting work).  The shuttle fleet is on permanent museum display, having reached its expiry date.  The vision seems to have dimmed.

 

Sadly, according to a BBC report, NASA’s current mission statement is a clunky amalgam of five elements, which add up to a less than inspiring whole.

 

As Marcia Smith, president of Space and Technology Policy Group, observes ‘If it takes you [five] phrases to explain [your goal], then you do not have a crisp, clear strategic vision.”

 

Come to think of it, that’s a coaching point.  To get where you are going you need to be clear about where that is.  You, or your organisation, also need to be able to set out the small steps that get you there.

 

For instance, to safely accomplish a moon landing you need to have done many things, including surveying the landing site.  (As a footnote I didn’t realise that the late astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, contributed lunar data which helped the Apollo space programme progress).

 

So, as they contemplate their organisation’s future, NASA’s leaderships needs to hire some new talent.  Perhaps in addition to the astronauts, engineers and project planners the administration needs a few coaches.  Equipped, of course, with the right stuff.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10560956

Related articles