Developing Your Future Leaders

Succession planning.  Not something leaders are always hot on.  Often because it depends upon their relationship with HR.  Yet having hired talented staff how can you keep them motivated, get the most from them and develop your next set of leaders?

The answer doesn’t have to be formal training.  One often overlooked approach to developing your high potentials is mentoring.  Clearly it helps if you have a structured mentoring approach, but even the adhoc variety can get some results.   However mentoring allows for the transfer of knowledge and experience that is relevant right now.  As a leader you get the chance to see how some one is being about a problem or challenge just as much as finding out what they’d do about it.  Formal training programmes don’t usually allow for that distinction, plus the fact they’re often an intense burst of knowledge and the application and retention can be low.

If you decide to mentor and work on developing leadership qualities in some of your current staff, look for those that are naturally taking on the extra, perhaps leading their coworkers outside their standard daily duties. harnessing this self driven enthusiasm and helping them hone and develop their skills and traits is simpler and more rewarding for all involved.

Are you resisting the hero’s journey?

Our life is one huge journey, made up of a series of smaller journeys.  The choice for all of us is whether we see ourselves as the hero or the observer.  The role we choose to take determines our success in life, and by success I mean our ability to handle life and come out on top.

The hero’s journey is a map that can guide us as we negotiate our way through life and all it’s challenges and opportunities for growth.  It is the universal story of human development and if it didn’t work so well, we wouldn’t have a film industry, tv or best selling books.  What’s more for many of us that’s the only medium through which we learn about the hero’s journey, as a passive construct, rather than understanding it in a practical and personal context.

I’ve been working with and teaching the hero’s journey for many years now and I’ve been persuaded (ok it didn’t take much), by Chris Cooper of Be More Achieve More to share more of what I know with his clients on a teleseminar on the 27th July.  So you’re also invited too.  

During the call I’ll be answering questions like:-

- What is the Heroes Journey?

- How can it help us in a personal and a business context?

- What are the signs we’re resisting taking the journey and what are the implications?

 - What resources do we have access to that can help us through our journey?

 Plus there will be time for you to ask me your questions.

I’m currently teaching several coaches to use this in their work, here’s what one of them recently sent to me after her last coaching session “Just wanted to say a huge thank you , you are simply amazing and I can’t thank you enough for the insight you have given me.” 

 I do know what a difference understanding the hero’s journey has on life and so I hope you’ll join Chris and I on the 27th July at 8pm.  To register fill in the form below

Professional Passion

No one likes robots. Sure they may be efficient and they don’t talk back or chuck a duvet day to watch the world cup, but they are just machines. All a machine can do is what it programmed for and once a better machine comes along, it will be replaced. Machines cannot improve themselves (at least not yet). Every leader needs to look at himself once in while and see if he has become a machine – one that does a great job and stops there; with no ability to develop and grow. If you, on objective analysis, find that is happening to you, something is missing in your life. And that is passion.

Let’s not confuse doing well with success. Doing well is meeting expectations. Success is growth. To grow you need a passion to go beyond what is expected of you. An executive without a passion for his job comes across as dull, no matter how efficient he may be. And this concept of being dull is reflected back to you and feeds upon itself until the dullness becomes part of your personality. This personality will impact how well you perform. And worse, it will become part of how others treat you. You do not work in isolation. How you are perceived by others is an important of how successful you are. Not only will you not receive the respect you are due from your peers, you will become an uninspiring leader. The words boring and leader cannot coexist. A manager needs to inspire others to follow and work with him. If you are not inspired yourself, how do you expect to inspire others? No matter how boring and uninspiring your work is, your passion can turn that around, and the way you do it will be an example to others, allowing them to enable their passion. And that will earn you their respect.

Every job has it boring and frustrating moments – its when these get to be a major part of the job that passion dies. Do not accept boredom. Focus on the big picture. If you know where you are going, the boredom and frustration become only hurdles to be overcome, and not the race itself. If your target is not something that inspires you, your target is too easy and you are lazy. Just like a muscle, if your ambition is not exercised and pushed to do more, it will become weak. In fact, it may become so weak that you become incapable of even doing today’s job. If you are 40 today, you will not have the energy you had when you were 20. But that’s not important if your passion for your job pushes you to keep doing better. The passion in the mind and heart will more than compensate for the slowing of the body. If you allow your passion to carry your forward, you will be respected. And once you have respect, you will have opportunities to do more. And as you do and contribute more, you so will your need to continue on this path. And that need is passion.

What do you want in life? Once you know that, focus on how you will achieve your goal. Not if, but how. The “if” will be taken care of by your passion.

Are you fed up, disillusioned and ready to take your career to the next level?

Pretty much everyone we know has at some point, if not several, becomes disillusioned with their career or job. This dissatisfaction can get you down, especially if others around you are feeling the same. This can feel even worse now, as we have the news of layoff’s and redundancies on TV and in the Newspaper.
If you’re looking for some practical advice that you can implement straight away to rejuvenate your career then we’ve got just the ticket.
Our eBook, sensibly titled Career Rejuvenation Action Plan, covers things like

• What your current behaviour might be saying to your colleagues
• What to do if you’re in a downward spiral
• The common questions most people ask themselves to improve their performance – and why they don’t work.
• The 3 questions you should ask yourself to improve your performance
• What your strengths are, beyond your skills
• How to focus on getting the job you want

What’s more it’s yours with our compliments – get your copy here.

If you’re looking for even more help and advice, then check out our August offer.  Yes the lack of sun in the UK must have gone to our head.

The Benefits Of Career Assessment

How often to you take time to evaluate the progress of your career?

Here’s the outcome for someone who did.

“By evaluating my life and going through career coaching, I was able to find a position that was more suited to my needs.  Plus, since I am happier in my job, I have been advancing faster.   I never thought that a career change at my age would be easy, but through my career coaching, I found skills that make me more adept at my job which helps me to excel more as well as to have more self fulfillment.”

“After I found a career coaching, things started to look up.  Sure, my life still follows that same lather, rinse, repeat pattern, but at least now I feel motivated at work.  For the first time, I feel at home at my job.  That comfort, plus the new challenges keep me happy and interested in what I am doing.  Now that I have a vested interest, I find getting ahead easier and my day no longer drags by.  I’m so glad that I sought out and invested in career coaching.”

You might not even need coaching.  Perhaps just giving yourself a little one on one time and asking yourself questions about your career will give you new impetus.  If you’re disillusioned, seeking a career change or just feel like you’ve plateaued or are about to stagnate, then treat yourself to our free 5 part course and a little one on one time.