Coaches help staff set exciting goals – do you?

As managers and parents its so easy to forget the power we have to motivate others if we can only help THEM to set an exciting goal for THEMSELVES that motivates them.

Instead, we tend to suggest a goal WE think is a good idea.They agree to please us and then we spend the rest of the time pushing and cajoling and wondering why they are not motivated.

In Module 4 of our coach training, managers learn the questions to ask to help their chosen coachee take something that interests them and rework it into a stretch goal that they really want to achieve.

The reason this is so important is that the coachee is then the one who gets excited and motivated into action.

There are many goal setting tools you can use. For simplicity, we introduce managers to the SMART goal setting technique which they use on themselves first. That’s the easy part!

Where the magic occurs is when you the manager discover that you have the goal setting, questioning and listening techniques you need and your staff begin to unfold, ponder, consider new options and imagine a new possibility for themselves.

A smile creeps over their face. They raise their eyebrows “What I’d really like to do is…” “is that really possible?” “Do you think I could achieve that?”

This is an important module because managers also learn the skill and importance of “enthusing” their staff, and how to be a supportive, enthusiastic coach who encourages their coachee to step to the edge of their comfort zone and beyond.

We have to give them a safe place to fall when they begin to stretch their wings if we want to set them up for success.

I’d love to know what you think and what techniques you have found useful when setting goals with staff. Let em know below.

Click here for details of our Do-It-Yourself Online or GOLD:Fully Guided Online courses.

Coaching? Be clear what’s in it for you!

If you want to coach staff, you MUST get rid of any feelings that THEY need to improve to help YOU.

Instead, think about how YOU will feel when you begin to see and receive great feedback that I know you have received in the past when you have taken the time to get involved. Create for yourself, the sense of satisfaction you know you will feel when someone with low confidence, tells you that because of something YOU said, they had the courage to try something new.

You have the potential to have a profound positive impact on your team and a coaching leadership style can release that power so that you leave a positive legacy.

ACTION: Write a leadership vision statement for yourself about the type of impact you want to make with your team – the legacy YOU want to leave. Then you are ready to learn some Executive Coaching techniques

Ask Permission Before Offering Staff Your Ideas

If you want staff to listen, then ask them if they are interested BEFORE you dive in and offer your advice.
This is a technique that all coaches use to show respect and build rapport and trust.

In your own words, try saying something like:

I’ve got some experience with that. Would you like me to share some insights I’ve discovered?

You’ll find that 99% of the time they will say “Yes” and then you know they are really listening. Asking permission builds respect. Just make sure you then put the focus back onto them.!

Coach Training for Marketers: How to win over colleagues with just a few words.

As a former Marketing Manager, I really feel for marketers in their 20’s today. They have a lot of technical know-how but are often ill equipped to meet the challenges of a position that often comes with little or no positional power.

To be a service provider we have to build trust, respect and win confidence. It all takes time and are skills not easily taught.

Marketers have to influence everyone from front line sales staff to online technicians, legal personnel, design departments, outsourced advertising, PR, direct mail and signage agencies, and sponsored organizations …the list goes on.

How well marketers present themselves goes far beyond the quality of their suit. Those first words, the questions they ask, the level of interest they show. Hollywood film sets crash and burn quickly – you know the type: they look good at first but there is very little substance behind it.

Retaining Gen Y in your Financial Services Business

With the Australian market place picking up and more jobs on the horizon, the predicted 60% churn rate for Gen Y over the next 12 months, coupled to an ongoing skill shortage means that Financial Planning Offices, Financial Services Departments and Accounting firms are in for a rough time. They run the high risk of losing some of their best and brightest Gen Y talent unless senior managers start to address their motivators and are are open to learning new retention and attraction strategies.

Those strategies are not difficult to learn. What is difficult and is more challenging is coming to terms with what drives the “churn” and Boomers CAN do something about it.

Here are some insights, followed by some simple strategies. Companies serious about identifying and retaining their key Gen Y staff need to understand what the research is telling us and be open to adapting their leadership styles:

What Your Personal Brand Says about You as a Manager/Coach

Our Coach Training is designed to help managers see themselves in a new light. To see the awesome power they have to positively impact the lives of those in their care.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with several exceptional leaders. They all have a number of things in common. Their word is their bond. People are important to them. They espouse certain values and live up to them.
They don’t make The BIG Mistake that many up and coming managers make.
What these exceptional leaders do right is realize they are continuously building their reputation and evolving their personal brand.

The importance of setting a good example is paramount. People are watching. They’re listening. They’re judging. YOUR people are watching you, they’re listening and they are judging you, just as you are judging me and what you can get from this training.

You see exceptional leaders understand that if their words and actions don’t line up, they will have little credibility. There will be distrust. And who will follow someone they distrust?

How to build Personal Accountability in your staff

Module 5 of our Online Coach Training for Managers teaches many practical but simple ways to hold staff more accountable for their results. Here is a SIMPLE model to get you started.

Often when I coach managers they express a lot of frustration at the lack of personal accountability shown by their staff and their own inability to do anything about it.

When I ask them what they expected their staff to do, they tell me. When I asked them if they discussed that with their staff at the beginning of the project, I usually get a sheepish response and they admit that not much was really agreed up front – their staff should know what to do.

How to Coach Passive/Aggressive staff

Our MP3 Expert Interview on
“How to Use Coaching to Effectively Manage the Passive-Aggressive Team Member is now available.
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If you have staff on your team who aren’t responding to you it may be because they are getting some benefit from it. They aren’t saying something; they aren’t doing something, because they are actually getting a benefit from it.

These types of staff are often called Passive Aggressive staff. They may seem quiet perhaps sullen but they can be quite manipulative and quietly aggressive in getting their own way.

Perhaps a staff member just isn’t responding because they are intentionally trying to hide the fact that they have done something wrong. In stead of being honest and upfront, they remain intentionally quiet while everyone tries to get to the bottom of the problem. Their unresponsiveness is a passive way of dealing with something that they feel really uncomfortable about.

Are your Supervisors benefiting from the rising e-learning wave?

The latest 2010 Employer E-learning Benchmarking Survey for the Australian Government shows that 50% of Australian organisations now use e-learning as part of the structured or unstructured training they provide to their employees (up from 40% in 2009).

85% of employers said that they would encourage their employees to use e-learning if it was available (vs 81% in 2009).

I’ve attached the Summary below. It begs the question:

Are your Supervisors, New Managers and Team Leaders benefiting by using e-learning – particularly if they are dispersed around the country and find it difficult to attend live training??

Effective and Easy Feedback to staff

The objective of Feedback is to give someone another perspective on what has occurred so that they can choose to act differently or not. Feedback is different from telling someone you want them to do something differently. If you specifically want them to do something differently – then tell them what it is. That’s not giving feedback – its giving direction. Similarly “Here’s your performance review. Call me if you have any questions” does not qualify as feedback either. Because it does not meet the common components for giving feedback which I’m about to outline with you.

But before we go into that, it’s important to give feedback with a clear intention in mind. What do you hope to achieve? Are you speaking for their benefit or so that your ego feels good?