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Posts tagged ‘career’

Aug 7

Why You Need A Coach On Your Career Team

First, the good news. It is now commonplace for C-Suite residents to be provided an executive coach to help them navigate the high altitude world they inhabit.

Now, the not-so-good news. If you do not have a ‘C’ in front of your title, you are probably on your own when it comes to career development. This is not good business, but it is reality for most mid- to upper-level managers.

Finally, the best news. You can make a modest investment and rediscover your strengths, passions, areas of opportunity, and action plans to develop new skills that can give your career the boost it needs.

What Is Coaching?

Leadership and other coaches combine many of the best concepts from management theory, psychology, philosophy, sports and spirituality to facilitate positive life changes. Although there is some similarity, coaching is not therapy, mentoring or consulting. It is a strengths-based approach that empowers you to use your energy and insights to propel your life to new heights.

What A Coach Can Help You With

Leadership, career transition and life coaching are three popular types of coaching, although there are many others. Many people come into leadership coaching to address issues such as how to:

Becoming a leader is synonymous with

  • Clarify your career goals
  • Manage difficult relationships
  • Manage conflict
  • Become a better leader
  • Enhance work/life balance
  • Decide whether to change careers

What to Expect

Coaching sessions are values-based, goal-oriented, and focus on today and the future. Coaches realize that everyone has the ability to increase professional effectiveness and personal happiness. To find the right path for your success, a good coach:

  • Listens without judgment
  • Asks powerful questions
  • Investigates your underlying beliefs
  • Helps you clarify your values
  • Partners to help you develop action plans
  • Provides support and encouragement

It’s your career. Adding a coach to your career team can help you discover what is holding you back and how to move forward. You can gain insight into how others see you, how you see yourself and discover how to unlock your unique strengths to become a better leader.

If you would like to schedule a free 50-minute one-to-one phone call to discuss whether you would benefit from having a coach on your career development team, please call me at 815.985.4229 or fill out the contact for below.

Gregory Alford, MS. Psy., is founder of Accelerated Coaching & Consulting, LLC, and specializes in business, leadership and life coaching and consulting.

 

Aug 4

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5 Ways To Stay Sane in A Crazy Company

It is an incredible fail that only one-third of us are engaged in our work.

The cost of lost productivity, performance and innovation due to disengagement, detachment and distrust is staggering. Disengaged workers cost their organizations $3,400 a year for every $10,000 in annual salary. As a result, American businesses squander almost $400 billion of productivity every year.

An engaged workforce literally pays dividends. Studies find productivity is 15 to 20 percent higher than rival organizations (think Costco vs. Wal-Mart), profits are at least 10 percent greater, and these companies return 22 percent more to shareholders (a great data set is available here).

Why ‘Sustainable Engagement’ Is So Rare

 

So much of what we call management

A 2012 Towers Watson survey and report refers to “sustainable engagement,” which it breaks into three stages: engagement, enablement, and energy. The report defines engagement as belief in the company mission, an emotional connection to work roles, and a desire to take on discretionary tasks. Enablement occurs when leaders eliminate barriers and provide the resources their employees need to be successful. Workers surveyed defined good energy as “a workplace that promotes well-being,” which is a nice way to say “treat me with respect instead of an expense.”

None of this information is new or earthshaking. So, why do most organizations fail to create sustainable engagement at the macro level? Based on decades of work experience, and coaching leaders stuck in low performing companies, several patterns emerge:

  • Lack of awareness (or measurement) of employee sentiment in the C-suite
  • Denial and blame shifting (often directed downward at mid-level managers) after employees are surveyed
  • The executive leadership team does not trust employees (paternalism)
  • Leaders’ behavior reflects poorly on the organization’s mission (walking the talk)
  • Lack of transparency regarding how and why decisions are made

How To Protect Your Sanity

When you feel trapped in a demotivating work environment, do not sink into the mire with your co-workers. This never results in a better work environment. What it causes is stress, frustration, and additional disengagement. Instead of losing sleep, gaining weight and boring your friends and loved ones with tales of woe about the office, take positive action to reduce stress and stay productive.

  • Remember this is not about you, it is about company culture, do not take dysfunction personally
  • Spend as little time as possible with negative people (especially at work)
  • Take care of yourself. Exercise, eat well, meditate, have family time or whatever brings you happiness
  • When you leave work – take your brain with you. Ruminating on your dysfunctional workplace at home will only make you feel worse
  • Vote with your feet. Make plans to leave and follow through when the time is right

Jul 27

Debbie Downer: Career Killer?

Debbie Downer was an SNL character and shining example of people who bleed the life out of a break room, cubicle farm, meeting, and even Walt Disney World (click here to set the SNL skit).

Unfortunately, it takes only one Downer to ruin the culture of a work group.  Downers are not just cynical, they seem to take satisfaction in spreading their unhappiness. However, they are a great example of what coaches call “structure.”

Structures are people and things that help or hinder our ability to reach our goals. Structures can be physical, such as an uncluttered office, a short or long commute, organizational structure, or adequate sleep. Our thoughts and beliefs form mental structures that shape our attitude, self-perception, responses to others, self-confidence, and more.

Other examples of structures include:debbie-downer

  • A morning routine prior to work
  • Family and friends
  • To-do lists
  • An annual performance review
  • The belief you are a strong leader
  • An exercise class

Getting back to Ms. Downer for a moment. A bad (or good) attitude is highly contagious so avoid the Downers as much as possible to avoid contamination. If you can’t stay away, either do your best to ignore their negativity, or challenge their viewpoint.

In the coaching process, clients might be asked to write a list of the structures that impact their work and life objectives. When appropriate, we may start with questions such as:

  • Which structures in my life are helpful?
  • What new structures can I put into place to be more productive?
  • Which structures are obstacles to success?
  • What obstacles have I created for myself?
  • How can I remove or reduce unproductive or counterproductive structures?

This exercise shines a light on what works for, and against your success. The most powerful answers to these questions require the ability to set aside rationalizations, truly understand your goals, and what is most important to you.

Once a list is completed, the next steps are to create a specific action plan to maximize supportive structures, weed out unhelpful structures, such as Debbie Downer, and hold yourself accountable to a timeline to make changes.

By taking positive actions that add good structures to your life, you move yourself further up the path toward career and life success.

Gregory Alford, MS. Psy., is founder of Accelerated Coaching & Consulting, LLC, and specializes in business, leadership and life coaching and consulting.

Jul 25

Does Your Job Support Your Values? (It Should)

One of the most powerful questions you can ask is: does my job support my values?

Being tuned into your values and making conscious choices that support your values often goes overlooked and unexamined. We intuitively know our values are within us, but too few of us actually stop and take time to define them.

The list of values seems almost endless (http://bit.ly/1jWmeee), but most of us live our lives according to our top five to eight values.

Find Your Value Gaps   

Being aware of your values provides opportunities build on those strengths to accelerate you leadership skills and reach your personal and professional goals.

Being aware of your values provides opportunities build on those strengths to accelerate you leadership skills and reach your personal and professional goals.

  • Take five minutes to reflect and write down your values. It is okay if it is a long list
  • Notice which values are similar, and pick the one that best represents you
  • Choose your top eight values
  • Ask yourself whether your work, important relationships, and lifestyle are aligned with those eight values

This exercise brings many of my clients into greater self-awareness. Clients often discover many of the problem areas of their life are connected  to what I call a Values Gap. This is a  misalignment between what you experienced day-to-day versus how you want to live your life. The larger the gap (or gaps), the less connected you feel to those parts of your life, and the more discomfort you feel when the gap is exposed.

If your highest value is compassion, and you work for a company that treats its customers or workers poorly, the gap often manifests itself as stress, frustration, disengagement or straight forward disdain for your job or boss.

For example, I served as a mid-level leader in an organization where the boorish (and illegal) behavior of the CEO stood in direct opposition to its internal brand and mission. Instead of addressing poor behaviors and decisions, other members of the senior executive team dedicated significant energy and time doing damage control and workarounds.

Over time, I grew increasingly uncomfortable working for an erratic and unprofessional leader. I voted with my feet and found a new position in an organization with leaders who demonstrated values much closer to my own. In fact, one of the primary reasons I later became a coach was to be true to my values.

Once you know your key values, you can take actions that increase authenticity, physical and emotional well-being, and happiness. Being true to your values is being true to yourself, and is a necessary step on your journey to your personal and professional success.

Jul 23

The Introvert’s Workplace Superpower

The difference between hearing and listening is profound. Several comments from readers about Monday’s blog, “Introverts And The Corner Office,” support the results of research into key differences in how introverts and extroverts listen and participate in workplace discussions.

Reacting Is Not Listening

When extroverts hear others talk or present in a business meeting, their brains are more likely to ramp up and make assumptions, quickly form opinions or questions, and pontificate before they pause to listen and observe participants’ vocal tone and body language. In addition, they may be unaware of the larger context of the discussion or the power dynamics in play.

One of the most sincere forms of respectThis is not listening – it is reacting.

In workplace meetings when political, personal or business stakes are high, this reveals itself when people talk over each other, carry on private conversations, or repeatedly interrupt others. Worse, situations can escalate into snide passive aggressive comments (or its companion behavior, disengaging with smart phone, tablet or laptop use), or heated arguments. I have witnessed fallout after these episodes that stalled or even ended careers.

The ability to listen rather than react comes down to impulse control (also called “attention” in psychology literature). Extroverts, such as myself, must take the time and make the effort to train our minds to be quiet to create a state of mind open to new information. It is tough, but worth the rewards.

The Power Of Listening

Introverts are more likely to be powerful listeners. Deep listening means you notice changes in vocal tone, body language and energy, as well as what is not being said. Instead of assumptions, you ask exploratory questions. Instead of comparing your perceptions of the current situation to past experience, you seek clarity with questions such as:

  • “What I hear you saying is…”
  • “Tell me more about…”
  • “What do you think can be done to improve our situation?”

These responses encourage additional exploration of the issues at hand and encourage problem solving rather than appearing to judge, be overly critical or uninformed. These questions allow others to feel heard and understood, which creates trust and builds powerful relationships. It also shows you to be a thoughtful, intelligent person who asks good questions and makes informed decisions.

However, for many introverts, saying anything in a business meeting can be nerve-wracking. My challenge to introverts is to listen, observe and ask at least one question or make one comment in every meeting. This will elevate your profile and build confidence, as well as build a helpful habit for your career.

Gregory Alford, MS. Psy., is founder of Accelerated Coaching & Consulting, LLC., and specializes in business, leadership and life coaching. 

 

Jul 18

Want A Promotion?

For decades psychology and sociology researchers have used the Five Factor Model (FFM, also called The Big 5) to study what dimensions of personality positively correlate with workplace success.

The Big 5 are (you can take a free Big 5 test here):Some people regard discipline as a

  • Openness (or intellect)
  • Conscientiousness
  • Extroversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Neuroticism (or emotional stability)

Why Conscientiousness Often = Success

The two dimensions proven to have the strongest connection to success at work are conscientiousness and extroversion. In Monday’s blog, I will cover extroversion, so the focus for the moment falls squarely on the broad shoulders of conscientiousness.

Conscientiousness is the predisposition to be disciplined, organized, goal directed, thorough, efficient, deliberative, and able to delay gratification. In the office, these are the people who have spotless desks, are reliable, and get desired results. Over time, they gain the trust of both leaders and followers. This allows them to keep stretching the goals of teams or organizations to reach goals that would have initially seemed far fetched.

Conscientious leaders excel at juggling multiple projects and priorities. The best keep team members focused on shared goals. Given the rapid pace of change and high expectations, it makes sense that people who create value and trust through goal attainment are picked for promotions or remain in executive positions.

How To Develop Conscientiousness Behaviors

If your desk is a mess and you struggle at times with projects hitting your inbox in rapid succession, there are behaviors related to conscientiousness that you can adopt to increase your effectiveness.

Find and consistently use a system to stay organized. This can be a white board, checklists, sticky notes, electronic calendar, spreadsheets, color coded filing system, or whatever keeps your mind uncluttered and tracks progress

  1. Understand the goal
  2. Understand why the goal is important to the organization
  3. Explain numbers two and three with everyone who needs to know, repeat often
  4. Communicate expectations and progress regularly

By keeping you and your team in front of projects, you are much less likely to be derailed or run over by new projects or competing priorities.

Caveats

Without emotional intelligence, conscientiousness may not move the needle of personal or organizational performance. And, when work is artistic or social (such as sales), creativity and spontaneity are often called for rather than a by-the-book approach.

Still, for most of us, behaviors associated with conscientiousness will take you a long way toward reaching your goals.

Gregory Alford, MS. Psy., is founder of Accelerated Coaching & Consulting, LLC., and specializes in business, leadership and life coaching.

Jul 16

How Driving 140 MPH Can Improve Your Career

The car fought back as I wrestled with the wheel to push the screaming NASCAR down into lane one before taking the second turn at Chicagoland Motor Speedway in Joliet, IL., at 140 mph.

NASCARs do not come equipped with power steering (or brakes) and I was still getting used to the bubbly rumble of its engine, the sticky heat trapped in my helmet, and the energy it took to aim the car.

Civilians can pay for the privilege of driving solo in actual NASCAR vehicles at the speedways  throughout the country. And for a few minutes (five to eight) get to feel for what it is like to drive at speeds of up to 155 mph.

I Am Going To Die

“Why would anyone allow me, a middle age man with questionable reflexes who drives a Prius,  behind the wheel of a race20140711_163446 car and drive about 150 mph?” kept racing through my mind during  training and waiting for my turn to drive.

Those thoughts melted into a mix of terror, exhilaration and extreme focus as I shifted into fourth gear and transitioned from the pit to the apron of the track. After that, I don’t recall breathing – just my mind spewing a string of expletives broken up only by the voice of a spotter giving me instructions through my earpiece.

After making it off the track and out of the car alive, I was elated that one more item on my personal to-do list could now be crossed off.

The Power Of Experience

I have rock climbed, rappelled, played with dolphins, whitewater river rafted, sat with people as they died, kayaked to a bioluminescent bay, hunted poisonous snakes, eaten meals from street carts in developing countries, and stumbled upon a mamma bear and her two cubs while hiking alone in Wyoming.

These and other stretch experiences provide context for the more mundane days and activities of daily life. Benefits of pushing your boundaries include:

  • Confidence to handle adversity and unexpected situations (i.e., “If I can climb a 150-foot vertical cliff without soiling myself, I can make a presentation on short notice without soiling myself”)
  • Understanding there is much more to life than your daily work routine
  • Inspire and educate yourself
  • Positive reinforcement to learn and do new things
  • New experiences add to our creativity

Not that you have to risk life or limb to push your boundaries. Your list could include a camping trip, finally read Moby Dick or relearning how to ride a bicycle. Put your list together and start making it happen and see the difference it makes in you and your work life.

Gregory Alford, MS. Psy., is founder of Accelerated Coaching & Consulting, LLC. 

 

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