Mad Coaches is born

A group of coaches meeting at the end of their week got to talking about the boundaries of their work which is normally quite corporate. And Mad Coaches was born. Watch this space for more details. Initial conversations are around:
Contemplative Photography – Using photography as a tool to explore issues, encourage reflection and discover and capture metaphors in our environment.

Combining fishing and coaching, taking people to outdoor spaces where different coaching conversations take place, people reconnect with their environment and perhaps learn some new skills.

Metasaga – Where people discover new ways of exploring their context using metaphors found in the physical environment.

Mad Coaches – pushing boundaries to extend yours, encouraging different thinking, exploring the corporate world at the edges where all the change happens

Who will Bell the Cat?

An ancient story tells the tale of a group of mice tormented by a marauding cat. The mice meet and after much discussion agree that they need to find a way of getting warning of the cat’s approach. Putting a bell on the cat is the brilliant suggestion from one mouse. Then everyone can hear of the cat’s approach.

Things become trickier when a volunteer is asked for. Mice look down, avert their gaze. Everyone agrees it’s a great idea but none is brave enough to “bell the cat”.

How does this fit with what we do in organisations? Well we need to evaluate our plans for practicality. A great idea that we can’t make happen is much less valuable. And we need to support and appreciate those who take on the impossibly difficult role of belling the cat.

(With thanks to PY for the reminder on this)
Take care
Have a good week
Steve

Negotiate your way out of recession

I’ve been reminded recently thro some client work of the power of smart negotiation in difficult times. Getting commercial advantage thro effectively negotiating better deals has never been more important. The economy is a train wreck and resources are getting ever tighter.

What is often shocking is how scared people are to negotiate, perhaps thro not knowing how to do it. I had a great example recently when agreeing a contract for some coaching work. The company rep asked me if I would negotiate on price and I asked him what he meant. His response was to say that his boss had asked if they could get a discount. Now as a negotiator I don’t offer discounts but I am prepared to discuss price and other things – perhaps a commitment to additional work, increased volumes, or better payment terms. This conversation didn’t go very far as I just bounced the discount request but it set me thinking.

Are your people best prepared to do the best deals for you right now? Are you?

Food for thought and perhaps for another ebook?

Another thing happened around the same time. I came across Thor Holt who runs an Aberdeen business called Present & Personal. They specialise in helping people to get prepared for Pitching, often the stage before a negotiation takes place. Interesting duo – getting prepared for both!

New ebook on having great meetings

Do you attend too many boring or unproductive meetings? Yes, I thought so. Watch out for a new ebook that’s coming this way on having “Great Meetings”. It should be available here or on our website from this time next week. Have a good bank holiday meantime.

Stay well
Steve

Preparation, preparation….

Hi All
Had some thoughts recently about the value of preparation, triggered by some home decorating (I know, not a good thought and during my hols too). We have some outside railings at home, exposed to the worst of Scottish weather, and they needed a lick of paint, or so I thought. But when I started the preparation I discovered several layers of rust and old paint much of it disguising earlier shoddy work. Wire brushing and sanding and lots of rust proofing later I had a set of railings ready for the final coat and that stage was so easy because all the preparation was properly done. And I have to say the finish was a tactile pleasure.

All of that set me thinking about work and other areas where preparation is key. In our work with negotiators we stress the value of good preparation – it’s one of our two big takeaway ideas – and we help people to do that prep in a productive and efficient way.

In running projects we again emphasise the value of sound preparation and the time it saves. Ditto when coaching, we encourage clients to think in advance about what they want to get from a coaching session and likewise we don’t just wander in and ask some facile questions. Presentations too

I wonder where in your work you find examples of preparation adding real value to what you do? Please share if you have some experiences to offer. (Or in the garden perhaps?)

Be good over what’s left of our summer.

Steve

Do words matter? Is it “hone” or “home in”

By Steve Quinn
Bear with me. Once this is done I can let it go!

I’m curious about the dynamics of language and how it changes over time so that in some cases words come to have new meanings. So, I’m ok with that aspect of language and yet I’m sometimes irked by apostrophes in the wrong place or words that get misused.

Here’s an example. Is it “home in” or “hone in”. Amidst all the political debate here in Scotland last week I heard a couple of commentators use “hone in” when they meant to focus or zoom in on something. Of course they really ought to have used “home in” and that’s the area of confusion.

I’m an engineer so for me honing has a particular meaning. Essentially it’s about producing a highly polished precision surface using abrasive material. It can also be applied to sharpening a knife or tool. Nothing here about homing devices, or focus or GPS…

There, it’s done. My irkedness (is that a word?) is satisfied.

Enjoy Spring.

Steve

Far out thinking

I’m working with a number of clients currently who are taking stock of career. It’s important work for them and their organisations and I’m struck by the difficulty many of us have in taking that far out view of our career things.

It seems we can do it more easily for the organisation than we can for ourselves. In the business context we know we need to have direction, a sense of where we are going. Just anywhere won’t do. And when we have that focus it’s amazing how things fall into place.

And yet when it comes to career….

For some it’s about discovering what is important for them, then using that to guide action. For others it’s about finding balance, and isn’t that hard when life is busy. Time for me? That’ll be last in line! And yet unless you take some protected time to think far out you leave yourself like the little cork at the mercy of the wind, taken this way and that.

Magic solutions? Now you don’t really expect that did you? Some fruitful areas to explore are:
Strengths – discovering these can be fun, and playing to them can be especially fruitful. It seems that it is only in organisations we get to focus on our weaknesses, rather than exploiting our areas of greatest talent. In any other context that would be just daft.

Competencies seem to offer others a way of thinking about what they have and how they might grow their repertoire in order to do other/greater things. I’m fine with that.

Broadening the type of conversations you are having with colleagues, mentors or your coach can be beneficial too. Had a lovely example recently where a finance guy discovered a strength with people that had lain unrecognised for some time. He felt that he wasn’t quite the same as colleagues, he stood out as different, got great results but was a bit of a sore thumb compared to others. His differentiator is that he is great with people, unlike many of his colleagues and discovering that was quite special.

I have a feeling that we might well return to this topic…

Meantime, be well, keep thinking far out as well as looking after the close in stuff.

Steve

Looking for Cool

A friend and colleague, John McCann, has just started a new blog about his experience of losing his cool. It’s a brave and inspiring first chapter in a story that seems likely to run for a bit. You can access it at http://www.lookingforcool.wordpress.com

New ebook on Building Great Teams

Hi All

Hope everyone is well and surviving this continued wintry weather.  Family illness has delayed publishing my latest ebook on how to build a great team, but the great news both are much better and the book is published today.  You can download a complimentary copy at
Great Teams ebook

Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce Workshops

Business Performance Break-out Workshops

We are running a series of short workshops in partnership with Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce, beginning in January 2010.

These will focus on improving business performance thro working with individuals, teams and with business improvement processes,

Details can be found at: http://www.renfrewshirechamber.com/SteveQuinn1.asp