Tag: Work

Goals 2014: Three Strategies To Help Get Back To Work After 50

Leave a comment

 

The Journey To Work
The Journey To Work

 

How happy are you with your commute to work?  The Office for National Statistics reportedly says that 30 minute plus commuter journeys make people unhappy and anxious, especially if they travel by bus.  ONS Guardian Article

People between jobs – following redundancy – may not have the commute to contend with, but they have to face other stressors, like getting another job.

If you are in that situation your immediate goal may involve taking action to secure another job before the summer.  If so you probably know what steps you are going to take to get you there.

How would you feel if your actions didn’t produce results this summer?

What would you feel like if you didn’t secure work over the next two summers either?

How much more of a challenge would you face if you were now in your early 50s?

That is the situation highlighted in an enquiry to the Guardian newspaper from a fifty something former academic.  He describes his situation in negative terms.  Luckily he has options, if he feels positive about pursuing them.  Your positive attitude would be crucial too.

Take a few moments and follow the link in the tweet below to find out more.  There is a lot of positivity in the three valuable strategies of

  • Networking with former peers
  • Maintaining a Professional Online Presence
  • Publishing Material That Enhances Your Reputation

Your circumstances as a fifty something between jobs may be different.  Nonetheless there are some questions the scenario may raise for you:

  • What would your first step be to return to work after redundancy?
  • What would your Plan B look like if you needed one?
  • Where would you get support from whilst your plans came together?

If these are hard questions to answer you may want to spend 30 minutes, this week, writing down your responses.  That investment of time is worth it.

Keep your responses in a safe place.  Hopefully you won’t need to use them.  However if your circumstances unexpectedly change you and your coach may need to work through that material, as you plan your journey back to work.

(To find out more about coaching you can follow me On Facebook and Google+ too)

 

Goals 2014: Six Actions To Help You Manage Your Stress Levels This Week

Leave a comment

Life is full of coincidences.  Fresh from posting about the impact of workplace stress, caused by poor management, I read a really useful article* by Lucy Dimbylow – @lucywriter on Twitter.

Lucy is responding to the question posed by the half a million UK workers whose stress and anxiety levels are too high: What actions can I can take to manage my levels of work stress?

The key actions I took away from Lucy’s article are:

  • Taking regular Exercise reduces stress
  • Following a healthy Diet aids positive mental health
  • Taking the Rest periods you are entitled to is beneficial
  • Making time to have Fun with family is important
  • Adopting a positive approach to Mindfulness helps you manage the aspects of pressure you can change
  • Seeking Support from those in a position to affect workloads, and job objectives, also helps

Having read that list here’s a final question for you:

  • What key action will you take, this week, to more effectively manage your workplace stress?

*The article appears in the spring edition of Benenden Healthcare Society’s subscription-only magazine ‘benhealth’.  Information on the society’s work can be found online at www.benenden.co.uk

Goals 2014: What Kind Of Management Do You Want To Receive?

Leave a comment

Here’s a question to ponder as the end of the reporting and financial year draws near:  How much does your progress at work depend on the effectiveness of your manager, or supervisor?

Some people want a line manager who is closely involved in the day to day aspects of their career.  This can reassure the job holder that their performance and development needs are at the front of their manager’s mind.  That could be crucial if progression, development or bonuses depend on the supervisor’s feedback.

Other job holders are content with a different approach.  They prefer being set realistic tasks, whose delivery is discussed at quarterly reviews.  This approach gives them breathing room.  They get on with delivering tasks that are within their capability.

The Guardian’s Work blog has just highlighted a worst case scenario.  In this situation a line manager is so ineffective that their job holder is becoming ill through over work.  The customers needs are not being effectively met and team morale is suffering.  The manager is an obstacle to the job holder achieving their goal, of being productive and happy at work.

See what you think of the feedback offered in the Tweet (then have a go at the bullet point questions)

  • How do you influence your manager to give you the support you deserve?
  • What do you say when their input isn’t quite right?
  • When do you know it is time to take action to change your situation?

Goals 2014: Three Key Posting Tips

Leave a comment

Happy 10th birthday Facebook!  It is a long way from an audience of Harvard students in February 2004 to a global audience of 1.23 billion in 2014.

All those users face a dilemma: how do I achieve my goal of representing myself well online?  I’ve blogged (in the related tweet above) about the challenges of managing a credible personal brand on social media before, most recently after 2013’s Business Show.

How will you manage your brand this year?

When it comes to your 2014 posts, how will you manage your personal brand?  From what I can see it helps to keep posts:

  • Professional – bearing in mind regularly posts about getting wasted the night before might not impress a future employer
  • Succinct – staying on point, in fewer than 500 words, helps your reader focus on your message
  • Visual – readers appreciate eye-catching elements

How do your posts reflect your values?

It also helps to be mindful of your key values when posting.  What story are you telling about yourself?

If you are looking to make an impact on a wider community from a position of knowledge your advice and commentary could attract a strong following.  Posting on a regular schedule would make you an important presence in others’ lives.

How are you managing your data?

How mindful are you about data protection when you are online?  A bit of thought probably helps, as more and more of us contribute to the pool of Big Data being waded through by large organisations.

The goal of the European Data Protection Day (on 28 January) – branded as Data Privacy Day in the US – is simple: to inform the public about how their online data is collected and processed; helping to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint.

So, taking all of this into account, would today be a good day to start managing your digital self more thoughtfully?

Click to Visit me on Facebook

Goals 2014: Goal Setting In Three Steps

Leave a comment
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?

Click to Visit me on Facebook 

Goals 2014: How’s Your Job Treating You?

Leave a comment

If your workplace, or career, goal is linked to the health of the economy then there is good news today from the Office for National Statistics. The UK economy grew by 1.9% in 2013, its strongest rate since 2007.

That should make promotion, professional development, or job change easier, provided you are in the right part of the UK.

Actually, according to the Centre for Cities’ research published yesterday, London continues to be critical to the UK economy. That city is creating almost 10 times more private sector jobs than the second fastest growing city, Edinburgh.

Some of these factors feature in a recent job change query in the Guardian. Follow the link in my tweet to learn more.

Two final questions for you:

  • What sort of progress are you making on your work or career goals?
  • How much more progress could you make with coaching support?

Goals 2014: How Happy Are You In Your Work?

1 Comment

These are some thoughts of mine in response to an idea from Miya Tokumitsu, revisited in the Guardian newspaper after originally appearing in Jacobin magazine.  Needless to say I don’t share the view that only the privileged are equipped to enjoy their work.

Having looked at the discussion how would you answer these questions:

  • How important is your work compared to your family or social life?
  • How happy does it make you feel?
  • Do you have a clear goal about what you want to happen within your life this year?
  • What will you feel like when you accomplish your goal?

Asking yourself these, hard, questions will help you decide what steps you will take to enjoy your work and social life in 2014.  Get in touch to discuss how I can help with that strategy.

Goals 2014: What Does Success Look Like?

Leave a comment

Here is a Tweet relating to Jordan Belfort, he’s the subject of the biopic ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’.  I haven’t seen the film, although it sounds an interesting look at 1990s concepts of success.   I’ll have to write another post once I have seen the movie.

Meanwhile I am sharing the Tweet as it contains a link to the Huffington Post.  Have a look at the link and see what you think of Mr Belfort’s ten thoughts about achieving goals.  Feel free to share this post with family, colleagues and friends.

How many of your 2014 goals relate to: Your workplace?  Your well-being?  Managing your wealth?  Let me know if you have goals that are more attainable with coaching support.

Goals 2014: Your Key To The Three Main Benefits Of Being Coached

Leave a comment

Here, in case you missed it, is another chance to hear more about the three key benefits of being coached.

Feel free to share the information with family, colleagues and friends.  Get in touch when you are ready to arrange your own coaching programme and to start living your best life.

Goals At Work: Managing Relationships

Leave a comment

I hope 2014 is going well so far.  That’s especially true if you are back at work already, or about to return on Monday.

In the ideal world the work place is full of confident and competent managers and staff.   They all work well as individuals and in teams to keep their customers satisfied.  Sometimes though that isn’t the case.

The Guardian newspaper has presented another exceptional scenario in its Work blog.  Follow the link in my Tweet to see the discussion.  You will probably want to take action if the situation rings bells with you.  A coaching programme would help you take action if so.  I would be happy to help with that.

Is there any room for improvement in your working life?  What goals have you set for yourself this year to help bring that change about?