Tag: Business

Goals 2014: How Does Coffee Psychology Reflect Your Personality?

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Did you know there may be a relationship between your personality type and your favourite style of posh coffee?  There’s a flow chart at the foot of this post which illustrates the idea.

I came across this intriguing bit of knowledge two days ago, courtesy of Filter(ed) magazine, London’s latest urban lifestyle publication.  You can find the magazine online here or follow them on Twitter @filtered_mag.

Are you someone who has more than one flavour preference in coffee?  Does what you order from your friendly barista depend on the time you have available to savour your purchase?  Perhaps the deciding factor is your need to perk up, do a bit of work away from your desk, or chill out before catching your train? 

Although I missed hearing him speak at the Work & Family Show, I know Chris Ward has an interesting take on coffee shop culture and the wider context of flexible working.  His book ‘Out of Office’ makes the case for modern, Wi-Fi equipped, coffee shops as venues for productivity, creativity, entrepreneurship, as well as fun.  Could your local coffee shop become your informal office?  Chris’s website may give you more insight into his philosophy.

As the weekend is here why not sit down with a hot drink of your choice and try the ‘coffee psychology’ flow chart yourself.  The results may give you a fresh perspective on yourself and your goals for spring 2014 (in a different way to your Myers-Briggs profile). 

Feel free to share your results too, I’d be interested to see how closely the categories reflect your reality.  I usually order a Cappuccino or a Latte, in case you are wondering!

Check out the Archive section for more thoughts relating to your work and life goals.  There are further ideas on Facebook and Google+ too

Coffee Psychology Graphic

What Does Your Coffee Choice Say About You?

Goals 2014: 3 key questions to help you get more from your networks

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How is your job treating you at the moment?

Do you ever feel like your job skills are not being fully engaged?  Perhaps you are stuck in a dead-end post which does not help you meet your career development goals?  Or maybe your manager is not sufficiently interested in allowing your career to flourish?  Stressful isn’t it?

You probably want to do more to have your needs met.  The good news is that there are actions you can take, if the situations I described ring bells with you.

It doesn’t matter if you are in the US, the UK, the EU or further afield.  Your situation will improve if you are able to network effectively with peers, mentors, friends who can support your growth and whose growth you can also nurture.

Your three key questions

My experience suggests the basis of your action plan will flow from the following questions:

  • What precise outcome do you want from the professional people who will help you achieve your career goals?
  • In what way do you want your social network to provide you with more support?
  • As you take action on your own behalf what contribution will you make to the development of the people around you?

Your next step is to write down your responses, refine them, and fix a time to start your programme of action on the most important area on your list.

If you would like to see these principles at work, take a look at the link contained in the tweet below.  It sets out advice to an underemployed jobholder who wants their job satisfaction goal to be fulfilled.   Remember, taking action increases the likelihood your goals will be achieved; coaching support makes that outcome even more likely.

What’s your self-development goal this spring?  Check out the Archive at www.experienceyourlife.me for some inspiration.  There are more ideas On Facebook and Google+ too

Goals 2014: Goal Setting In Three Steps

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Workshop Paperwork

Goal Setting Starts Here

 

Congratulations on surviving January.  The first of February is a great time to concentrate on goal setting, action planning and clarifying values.  Here are three key questions to aid in that process:

  • What significant outcome do you want to have achieved by Easter?
  • How you will get there?
  • How does that effort fit with your core values?

Spending even thirty minutes today writing down your response to these questions is worthwhile.  Narrow your focus by expressing your goal in terms that are:

  • positive
  • present-tense
  • realistic

Writing down your first, significant, step to make progress toward your goal helps to underscore that you are confident that you can pursue and attain the outcome you that you want.  So does making an absolute commitment to taking prompt action.  An end date in your diary, with action milestones preceding it are powerful triggers to progress.

This process isn’t the preserve of the business world.  It applies in the public sector or the world of volunteering too.

It was great therefore to meet the volunteer team at The Asian Centre, Waltham Forest – @tacwf on Twitter – and support their work on #GoalSetting yesterday.  An evening in their company showed that goal setting helps volunteer mentors on a community programme, just like it does paid professionals working on costly projects.  Clients benefit too, whether they are young mentees, or high net worth customers.

If you would like to find out more about mentoring you can contact the Asian Centre via their website www.theasiancentrewf.org.uk for more information on their successful #YouthMentoring programme.

So, when will you make time to set your next significant goal?  How can effective coaching help you deliver on your commitment to self-development?

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Work In Progress

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British Library Business & IP Centre

Good Resources At The British Library (c) R Dennison November 2013

Kudos to the British Library’s Business & IP (Intellectual Property) Centre, for one particular area of work.  They definitely lay on some great business-themed learning and networking opportunities.  Over recent weeks I’ve enjoyed finding out more about:

If one of your goals is to learn more about entrepreneurship the British Library is a good resource to tap into.

Here’s another work related thought, this one courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.  Apparently research from insurance firm LV suggests there are 1.7m home-based sole traders in the UK at present.

Some 11% of those traders – 180,000 – do not have insurance for their business activity.  They may believe that their domestic policies protect them, when in fact they do not.

It sounds like there is a need to signpost some top ten ‘how to’ materials to new entrepreneurs.  In that way the 11% figure may gradually come down and fewer start-ups will miss out on a basic element that helps their businesses get going.

 

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Remembrance

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A Chance to Remember (c) R Dennison November 2013

A Chance to Remember (c) R Dennison November 2013

I worked alongside a couple of ex military people during my time in the civil service.

I think I understood their approach to getting their office jobs done.  It was a combination of pride and dedication that they brought to work.

With Remembrance Sunday behind us now I know I won’t be alone in taking two minutes out of my day at 11am tomorrow.

That will be my time to think about the professionalism of the military and the sacrifices they make for the rest of society.  On the eleventh day of the eleventh month it is the least I can do, to say ‘thank you’.

Lighting Up The Future

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A match flame

A bit of illumination (c) R Dennison October 2013

It almost goes without saying, that work plays a huge part in most people’s lives – and according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figure there are 29.87 million people in work in the UK.

However the days are long gone in which employees started work with an organisation in their 20s and stayed there until retirement four decades later.

Even a thorough PEST analysis of the political, economic, social and technological climate now could not identify the sort of jobs that will be the backbone of the economy in 2053 .

If only there was some way of being able to light up the period 40 years ahead, and know what make a future career meaningful and exciting.

I would argue (based on the people I have coached) that self-knowledge can help light up that darkness.  If you are supported in developing an understanding of: the qualities you value; the skills you offer; and the work you find stimulating you are closer to where the next few steps in your career might take you.   Having some light shed on the future makes it seem less uncertain.

The Guardian’s Work Blog sets out the quandary quite neatly.  The discussion below the line is useful too.  My comments are shown under the name RogerAD.

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Steady progress

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Pursuing goals can be challenging (c) R Dennison October 2013

Pursuing goals can be challenging (c) R Dennison October 2013

Last week I was waiting for a train across London just after a heavy rain shower.  Although the rain wasn’t falling the platform was alive with thirsty slugs and snails.  I was struck by the determination those molluscs were showing, as they headed to where ever they were going.  Despite the obstacles in their way they kept moving toward their goals.  They covered a fair bit of ground too, in the short space of time I spent watching them.

I think there is an analogue between that image and the coaching process.  I can think of a couple of clients whom I coached over a year where progress was steady, and purposeful rather than explosive.  Their sense of accomplishment resulted in taking actions which gave them a buzz of achievement.  Depending on the client sometimes significant coaching outcomes are most noticeable by standing back and looking at the bigger picture.

So, for one person their valuable outcome was an insight: changing their working pattern was actually their way of opening the door to a significant career change.  For the other client their major learning involved a point of clarity: structuring their time effectively – rather than going off in different directions at once – meant that there would be more time to take small, but significant, steps.  Those steps led them to make inroads on their key milestones.

Bottom line: the terrain may be difficult; the distance to travel may be great;  life planning or time management maybe challenging, but gradual progress is possible.  However close to the ground you are.

The Magic Management Pill (Doesn’t Exist)

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Magic Management Pills (c) R Dennison July 2013

Magic Management Pills (c) R Dennison July 2013

I wonder how many people managers have wished for a daily pill they could take to make leading their teams easier or at least painless?

 

Sadly there is no substitute for the confidence that comes from practising regular and effective people management.  Leaders ‘To Do’ lists can include a mixture of practical, stretching and contradictory objectives, such as: delivering high quality outputs; exceeding customer expectations; satisfying formal obligations to staff.  The trouble comes if people management is too low on the list of priorities.  Quality outputs only come from motivated people who are supported by their leaders.

 

The complication is that members of staff come to work with their personal and family situations in tow.  Sometimes those factors can get in the way of team performance.  An advice piece in The Guardian newspaper’s work blog explores that complicated relationship.  See what you think of the options available to the manager.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2013/jun/28/how-manage-colleague-personal-traumas

WiFi Connection Not Detected

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How Did People Manage Before WiFi? (c) R Dennison June 2013

How Did People Manage Before WiFi? (c) R Dennison June 2013

I enjoy the energy of city life, and being connected to others via the web, however I learned something about mindfulness by spending last weekend without web access while on a training course in Cumbria.

Without emails popping up on my phone, a laptop to access, or a watch to tell the time I was more tuned into the:

– Passage of the sun through the sky

 

– Gathering clouds in a darkening sky before it rained

 

– Natural sounds of birdsong, sheep bleating and the river flowing nearby.

 

– The hidden gems in the dialogue with other attendees

 

My takeaways from the formal content of the training event were many and various.  My personal bonus, from being unplugged for two days, was twofold.

First, a reminder to self, to respect work life balance by decompressing on a regular basis.

Second, focusing quietly and intently on what others are saying connects you to them in profound way, when you strike up a conversation with them – and who knows where that connection might lead.

‘Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?’

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John Lewis DAF LF

John Lewis DAF LF (Photo credit: kenjonbro)

Nothing is certain in the world of work these days.  Staff are hanging on to their jobs to see whether the economy picks up over the next couple of years.  They certainly aren’t chopping and changing jobwise (to try something new), as they might do in less harsh times.

The Guardian reports that in the commercial sector at least one bouyant employer, the John Lewis Partnership, is able to award 17% bonuses, reflecting the good year they have just enjoyed.  I wonder how many staff there are likely to have itchy feet and to be looking for other jobs?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/07/john-lewis-bonus-17-percent-2012

Equally, in the legal field at least one employee is looking to spread their wings, the Guardian’s work-blog confirms.  The employee has been head hunted through a recruitment firm.  Admittedly there have been redundancies in their existing firm, so they may be motivated to move away from an uncertain atmosphere, even though it features a good salary, flexibility and enjoyment too.

The advice offered to the would-be escapee below the article is varied.  Some comments basically say ‘stay’, some suggest the employee ‘go’.

My contribution is near the foot of the page (see comment from RogerAD).  It is based on:

–  the coaching adage that people are more motivated to move toward what they want, rather than away from what they don’t want.

– An element of Brian Tracy thinking too (the idea that successful people plan their lives and attain the goals they focus on).

– A bit of personal curiousity, as I also wondered to what extent the job-change  reflected the escapee’s key work values (salary, flexibility, enjoyment).

What advice would you have offered?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2013/mar/08/take-new-job-or-stay-safe-role