Executive Coaching and Business Development UK | workshop facilitation

  • About
  • Executive Coaching
    • My approach
  • Business Development
  • Workshop Facilitation
  • Testimonials
    • Credentials
  • Contact Me

July 30, 2019 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus…

Inspiring places  Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus... IMG 1566
Inspiring Places

How do you build ‘brain-stretch time’ into your life?

I strongly believe in the quest for a lifetime of learning. To me ‘learning’ in a work context means taking in other people’s views on things, in the form of books, podcasts or audio-books. It requires focus for extended periods of time. But I also love the buzz of life, being busy, ticking things off my list, getting things done. I relish the feeling of being productive,  particularly when accomplishments happen with speed and pace. While these are positive attributes that mean I can be hugely efficient, they have their downside when it comes to making time to learn.

I am good at managing my time, so it’s not that I procrastinate with the thinking, planning or writing activities. I Iike the idea of being able to be focus for a long time, but over the years I noticed that I’d always start with good intentions but then feel an ‘itch’ and allow myself to get distracted. I’d block out a morning, sit (or stand) at my desk and start to focus on whatever it was I needed to work on. I’d enjoy about 20 – 30 minutes of focus, then I would open outlook, check my emails and invariably end up in some rabbit hole of exploration on a completely unrelated topic. I’d then get annoyed with myself and find it hard to settle back into the focussed work.

The awareness of this behaviour has been with me for over ten years. However, it’s only during the last two years that I realised it had the potential to become a limiting factor in what I wanted to achieve. I had a plan for a business book. I was motivated, excited and energised about what I had to offer people in that book. I was going to need to focus on writing the book itself and also, once the manuscript was submitted, focus on planning the pre and post launch activity (within which there would be more writing; content to share on social media etc).

So, in the process of writing that book over the last two years, I finally discovered what I needed to create the right conditions to focus. I took 3 five-day retreats to focus on writing. During those retreats I switched off from everything for the majority of the day – blended writing with moving (walking, yoga, swimming, hiking), reading and listening to e-books while I walked (Brené Brown is a favourite).

Once the book was finished, I found myself craving ‘brain-stretch time’ in a way I never have before. So I am now away on my first retreat with the pure focus of reading, listening and writing. Here are my inputs for the week, which will be supplemented by some online webinars (this time from the Association for Coaching).

No alt text provided for this image  Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus... 0 e 1570060800 v beta t 1NawqqnLOj zt4lZ tg8UJSQw02CUA0Jz3c8mhzDimQ

It feels like a revolution for me to have discovered what I need to focus.

Here are my top-tips for you to find the secret to making ‘brain-stretch time’ work for you.

1.   How strong is your need for that busy buzz?

Consider this question:

 When you are taking time to do something important, something that requires deeper thinking, does it feel like ‘real’ work?

If your answer is ‘no’ read on…

A number of years ago now I became aware of the concept of urgency addiction (ref Stephen Covey, “The 7 habits of highly effective people”). Covey discusses how urgency addiction means your driving force in prioritising time is to respond to the sense of urgency. Your intention is to be über efficient. Paradoxically, that intention actually stops you being effective; you lose sight of your key strategic goals and get lost in what needs doing right now.

When you accomplish something, endorphins trigger a moment of euphoria. That physiological chemical release in your body is what creates the buzz. It feels great. It’s the reason it is so easy to develop a chemical dependency on the rush. This in turn is why the ‘slower-burn’, focussed work can have a sense of not feeling ‘real’ . There’s no immediate endorphin release as the accomplishment can take longer. If you notice yourself feeling ‘twitchy’ when you try to concentrate, the chances are you have some level of urgency addiction.

Top tips:

  • Pay attention to how you relate to work and your priorities to help you identify if you have some level of urgency addiction.
  • With your awareness, you can then challenge your need for the immediate buzz.
  • To help you focus on the one thing for longer – allow yourself breaks BUT make those breaks proper breaks NOT dipping into tasks you can ‘knock off the list’… as those are feeding your urgency addiction.
  • Use short breaks to make a cup of tea, go for walk around the office or outside, or just get up to stretch and move.
  • As you wean yourself away from the need for that buzz you’ll notice you can focus for longer periods of time.

2.   Know what conditions help you focus

What do you need to help you step into your most focussed, creative, thinking mode? This is likely to be different for different types of activity. When you are struggling to get into a slow-burn task think about the following.

Top tips: make choices on the following

Environment: Some people need quiet to focus, some need background noise but no other people around, others need to feel the energy of people. I find it productive to work on deep focus activities in a café (that’s where I’m writing this – I get energy from the buzz of chatter around me). If I’m wanting to read, or listen to an audio book, I focus best if I’m in nature… walking or sitting. For this time I don’t want other people around me.

Energy levels: do you feel more creative sitting or standing, or walking and pacing? If you need to walk and pace do just that!

Talking: Do you need to speak things out loud to remember them? When I’m planning workshops I find it helpful to talk out loud the structure I have in my mind then capture it on a flip chart. In speaking it I can feel where things work or not. I don’t do that in a café – obviously!

Capture medium: thinking straight into a keyboard won’t allow you to use your brain’s full capacity for creative thinking. If it needs to be digital, a tablet that you can freeform write and draw onto may work. Alternatively use whiteboards/ flip charts or old fashioned paper! I like to use an A3 pad to start broad thinking around subjects I need to structure and plan.

Harnessing neuroscience: Research shows that using colour and pen on paper supports our creative thinking processes. So gather some different pens, paper and pencils to help you. Who doesn’t love an excuse to get more stationery!

Minimise distractions: For example; shut down outlook (or at least silence any alerts that will pop up and interrupt you) and put your phone on ‘do not disturb’. If people are used to you responding immediately to things put an out of office message on saying you are focussing on some planning work and provide an alternative contact if necessary. I

I hope you have found this article useful. I’d love to hear any additional ideas that you have to help you create the time you need for brain-stretch, and to hear which of the ideas above work for you.

Janine Woodcock

Leadership, Executive and Team coach, Author, Speaker, NED

JanineWoodcock

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: focus, Leadership, Learning, motivation, Nourish, success, thinking

June 20, 2018 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day

Wildfitness, an inspired retreat

working from home Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day 9e345986 4b6c 4111 9f48 dec37bc600cfI have just returned from my second retreat with a superb company called Wildfitness. Their philosophy is to live, eat and move in ways that our ancestors would have done. I’m feeling so invigorated after the Wildfitness experience, that I’m inspired to share with you some of the ideas I have used over the last few years which help to keep me fit and healthy for work, at work.

Working from home and keeping fit

Today’s blog post is aimed at all of you who work from home. Incorporating exercise into your working day doesn’t have to be difficult. But it is essential. I am passionate about health and fitness and, other than the five year ‘blip’ outlined below, have always prioritised building movement into my day.

My ‘blip’ in prioritising exercise in my day was from 2000 – 2005. Back then, I had a driving commute of 1hr 15 mins each way and had clients in London. I was driving over 35,000 miles a year and working long hours. In those five years I gained 12kg and developed terrible back and neck problems. In 2005 I changed jobs to work locally. I swapped the miles in the car for a 40-minute walking commute (uphill on the way home). I lost all the weight I’d gained and recovered my health and fitness.

When I set up my own business three years ago, I no longer had my 40-minute walk to and from work each day. I also cancelled my gym membership as it had been on my old route home.  Given my past experience, I knew it would be vital for me to find ways to build movement and exercise into my new routine.

Here’s what’s worked for me over the years. I hope it gives you some ideas…

 A routine to start your day on the right foot

We’ve all met people at some point who have ‘gotten out of the wrong side of the bed’. No one wants to be that person and a good way to set yourself up to start your day on the right foot is by laying a yoga mat on your bedroom floor before going to bed. This way you can do some sun salutation or simple stretches first thing in the morning to get your body moving after laying flat, in bed, all night.

After my morning routine, I get ready and leave the house to go to work, just as I have done for years. No, I don’t show up at my old place of work, I take myself for a 30 – 60 minute round trip walk and arrive back at my house ready to start work. The time that I allow for this does vary depending on the day I have planned, but instead of walking the same route each morning, as I would have when I was actually walking to a workplace, I now vary it as often as possible.  I not only vary the route, but also the pace and any other things I build into the walk (e.g. alternating jogging and walking, some press ups or tricep dips on a bench). This keeps the experience, sights and interactions different and therefore stimulating. I also set out with the intention of being as mindful as possible during that walk so that I am present with my surroundings, and really noticing and appreciating them, rather than thinking ahead to the workload that awaits me when I get home.

Awareness and time management

In addition to being mindful when I go for my walk, it’s very important to be aware of how you’re spending your time while working from home. This is important not just for the sake of productivity but also for your health. It’s very easy to spend three or four hours at your desk without moving. You get absorbed in your work and suddenly a considerable chunk of time has elapsed, and you haven’t moved out of your chair at all. You may heard Tim Cook of Apple coin the phrase ‘sitting is the new cancer’. The dangers of being sedentary are now well reported. So how do we build our awareness of how long we are sitting? A good way to help keep us aware is to set an alarm for intervals that remind us to get up and stretch our bodies.

The Pomodoro Technique, a time management technique, suggests that you take a short break every twenty-five minutes. While this may seem too frequent, research suggests that our optimal concentration span is about twenty minutes, after which the quality of our attention and therefore our work, decreases. It has been suggested that the length of our concentration span is our age, where each year equates to one minute, plus two minutes extra. This holds up to the age of 18 after which it remains constant at 20 minutes. I, personally, feel that I have a longer concentration span when I’m really engrossed in, and enjoying, working on something. However, long periods of inactivity will have a negative effect on quality of thinking and output. For this reason, I began setting a timer for hourly intervals to remind me to move about throughout the day.

I used to work with an alarm to remind me to get up from the desk, however, I now have a fitness tracker, a Bellabeat. This tracker is geared towards women, but there is a whole range of fitness trackers available. The one that I chose, like many others, allows you to set the tracker to vibrate when you have been inactive for a certain amount of time. I find it great, because I don’t need to remember to set the alarm, it just picks up on my movements, or lack of, and gives me a nudge when I need it.

Making the right Choices

Choices play a huge part in how we nourish ourselves and sustain our success. Once you are aware of what you are doing, you can then make decisions about how to respond. Now that I have my fitness tracker reminding me of my activity levels, I am empowered to make the right choices for myself about how to improve my own activity levels on a daily basis.

 Stand Up

As I am conscious of the need to move my body throughout the day, I decided to get a sit/stand desk. This simple sit/stand solution sits on top of my existing desk and can be raised up so that I can work in a standing position and then brought back down again to continue while sitting. I have been using this desk for the last year and it has been incredible! I would say I stand 80% of the time now, which is a huge improvement in the space of a year. In deciding to make the change, I researched all the options on the market and found one that was ideal for me. The Yo-Yo Desk has a smooth lift/drop action, so your glass of water doesn’t spill as you adjust it. I would highly recommend it, although it is not cheap. Whatever model you choose, a sit/stand desk is a worthwhile investment in your wellbeing.

Get the Blood Pumping

In addition to standing while I work, I also build some cardio exercise into my working day. Cardiovascular exercise is important for your health, it gets your heart rate going and is a good way to maintain fitness levels. As well as the walk to work, build in other short bursts of activity. You can go for a short run or speed walk around the block, get a skipping rope and do a few minutes skipping in your garden or back yard. It is more important that this cardio exercise is easy to fit into your day and can, therefore, be maintained over time, it’s not about the achievement of the exercise itself. It’s about building exercise into your day to help you be more productive in your work.

I take about three short cardio-breaks if I’m working at home all day. Each takes about 10 minutes and I then come home and get straight back into work. Now, that does mean that I spend most of the day sitting at my desk in lycra so that I am ready to go out. If you don’t have client meetings, then getting into your lycra first thing in the morning is a good way to eliminate those excuses you may create to avoid taking your cardio exercise!

Get creative, work with What You’ve Got

Doing something is better than doing nothing. If it’s really miserable outside, and you just don’t feel like going out you can still move indoors. Star jumps, running on the spot and other HIIT inspired exercises (have a look at TheBodyCoach for some ideas) can all be done at home. But they can feel a bit ‘serious’ and for me, movement needs to be fun and enjoyable. Here’s a little secret, I often run up and down the stairs five or six times waving my arms around like crazy. Why? Well, the arm movement is great, it gets your heart-rate up and releases any tension that may have built up in your shoulders and back, but it also makes me laugh. A lot. Exercise doesn’t have to be serious and boring, the more you enjoy yourself, the more you will be motivated to want to do it. If you are struggling to get motivated. Then take a look at my top four tried and tested tips for getting motivated. Remember, no-one will see you in the privacy of your own home, so you can let go. And if you do start to laugh when you do this, it’s even better! It makes you feel good which releases endorphins and gets you pumped to get back into your work when you’re finished.

Try New Things

My twworking from home Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day Picture1o outdoor retreats with Wildfitness this year gave me new insights about how I’m using my body. I do a lot of yoga and pilates as a way to keep fit and relax. There are quite a lot of pushing movements involved in both of those activities (downward dog, press-ups etc). However, during the retreats I realised that I don’t do any activities which involve the opposite action; pulling or hanging. To address this imbalance, I bought a pull-up bar which I have installed in the doorway of my home office. Although it will take time before I can do even one full pull-up, I plan to use it every time I pass through the doorway. I’ll swing into my work, like a monkey, enjoying the sense of fun and freedom it gives – and over time my upper body strength will develop in pulling, as well as pushing. I’m excited to try this new activity out and see what difference it makes over time.

Of course, you have to be aware of how you’re using your body before you realise where the imbalances lie, so spend some time observing the movements andactions you do on a regular basis. If there is an imbalance why not come up with a new, fun way to rectify it.

Have Fun with It

Working from home gives you lots of freedom to work in a way that suits you. You may be able to choose your hours or take breaks at different times, pop out to pick up the kids, and many other things that those who work in a more formal office environment cannot do. Why not use this freedom to your best advantage?

Inject some exercise and activity into your daily routine to keep you happy, healthy and full of energy. It doesn’t need to be dull, choose short activities that make you laugh, that you enjoy, or that get you out where you can see something different so that you come back to your work with a fresh perspective.

Have you got any tips for incorporating exercise into your work day? I’d love to hear them and we all learn from each other’s experience, so please leave a comment below and share your tips.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Goal focus, motivation, success

February 13, 2018 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success

I read in the newspaper recently that this winter Europe has seen the lowest levels of sunlight in an age. We all love our sunlight and this report got me thinking about the seasonal choices we make for ourselves at this time of the year. Do we help or hinder ourselves given that during winter there is less sunlight to lift us up and get us motivated?

 

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success Picture1
Seasonal winter day

Conscious Decision Making

I’m writing this on a miserable Sunday in February. The rain is pouring down and it is the sort of day that could put even the most optimistic person in a bit of a funk. I’m an early riser, as many people who like to be productive are. However, when I realised what the weather was like I fought the desire to follow my natural instinct and decided to have a lie-in instead. Using my fledgling mindfulness skills, I was able to lay in bed until eleven thirty, reading the Sunday paper…without beating myself up for not being productive. I know there was a time not too long ago when I couldn’t have dreamed of doing that. This morning, by making one conscious seasonal choice, I had the opportunity to remember just how lovely it is to be tucked up warm listening to the rain fall against the window panes – and I really enjoyed it.

Tweak rather than Dismiss

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success Picture2
puddle splashing

When I did get up, I knew that I didn’t want to go for my usual run in the downpour. A perfectly normal response to a rotten British winter’s day, you might say. However, I’ve noticed that people who are driven to succeed often ignore the advice to ‘listen to their body’, and see the phrase ‘I don’t feel like it’ as an excuse not to do something. Listening to our body is definitely important, as it can help us to make the right choices for long term success and health. Being aware of this, instead of dismissing the thought of going out altogether, I tuned into my body, and reasoned ‘ok, I don’t want to go for a run, what would nourish me instead?’ I felt a walk would be the thing to nourish me today. So, I layered on my waterproofs and headed off to the Downs.

Unexpected Benefits

What I found when I got there was peace and quiet. The Downs in Bristol is a popular running route and is normally a busy spot. Today, my reward for getting out and about was some wonderfully meditative time in nature. And, would you believe it, I surprised myself by feeling the desire to run for a bit? I interspersed my walking with some running as I went. Before, when I was all about the drive, I couldn’t tune in and listen to my body the way I do now. Before, I would have pushed myself to get up early and go for run – which, at this time of year would have probably made me feel worse by the evening. So the decision to walk/run was perfect. My seasonal choice gave me some of the hibernation time I needed, but also gave me a lovely experience that lifted my mood. Even in the complete absence of any glimpses of sunshine.

What are your choices?

Making good seasonal choices is not a black and white matter. It’s not a case of either do it or don’t. If you are not feeling up to what you might normally do, perhaps there is another option that would suit you better at this time of the year. We are human – and winter has unavoidable physiological effects on us. If winter is a time where you feel that your energy and drive take a hit, that you just can’t seem to get motivated, then perhaps you need to look at the seasonal choices you are making. And remember, they are all choices. We have the freedom to choose how we spend our time and what food and activities we nourish our bodies with.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

For many, Seasonal Affective Disorder, otherwise known as SAD syndrome is a troublesome part of life at this time of the year. When we don’t get enough sunlight, it can affect our bodies and our mood in real ways. No matter how successful we are, we must accept that we are human and are sensitive to changes in the environment around us. Again, we have a choice around what we do about that. We can put plans in place that ensure we get extra sunlight or find substitutes for it during the winter, no matter how weak that sunshine. Getting out for a walk on the gloomiest of days will help. Maybe a vitamin D supplement over the winter months, or a sunrise alarm clock to wake you up with daylight? There are lots of little seasonal choices we can make in our daily lives to nourish our bodies and minds during the dark winter months. These small changes can help keep us feeling and performing at our best throughout the year.

Take Action

What one small seasonal choice could you make today that will nourish your body or mind? Try entering into it in the spirit of exploration. Say ‘I wonder what it would be like to try x’. Note your experience and how you feel afterward, you feel much more motivated.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: choices, Mindfulness, positivity, success

April 4, 2017 by j9wood 6 Comments

How to find some balance in a crazy world

How to find some balance in a crazy world zingg  11I’ve touched on the topic of mindfulness on my blog before. Today I want to share my own experience with you in the hope that it can help you find some balance in your own life.

We live in a great, big hurly-burly VUCA world. And it’s exhausting. What is VUCA you ask? It’s a term borrowed from the US Army. It stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. The business community has borrowed it from the army, and applied it to leadership development, for us to think about how we need to lead (ourselves and others) in a VUCA world.

Are you creating your own in-balance?

If you reach for your device on waking, the chances are that you are met with an onslaught of demands before you’ve even started your day. But does it have to be this way? We are creators of our own fate. You can choose to start your day in a different way. In a way that gives you a bit of time to yourself – at least for a short time each day. One tool that has proven successful for me is mindfulness.

Choose to create balance

Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism. It’s come a long way from ‘hippydom’ to being a legitimate cognitive tool to help us deal with the frenetic pace of today’s world. While mindfulness is not an activity as such, it is often arrived at by practicing mindfulness meditation, yoga or other mindfulness inducing activities.

Mindfulness itself is a state of awareness of your experience in the present moment – a state of awareness that carries no judgement on what that experience is.

In the past mindfulness was often viewed with scepticism by the business community; something that was more appropriate for holistic enthusiasts and hippy types. But today the medical field stand behind it as a well-researched and successful tool to deliver significant psychological and physiological benefits. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS Choices and the Mental Health Foundation have all acknowledged the benefits of mindfulness in leading a healthy, stress-managed life.

Some of the most common benefits associated with the regular practice of mindfulness are

  • a reduction in stress and anxiety
  • improved sleep quality
  • increased focus
  • better memory
  • an improvement in cognitive flexibility

And with this researched evidence, the business community is finally catching up and catching on.

Choosing how to practice mindfulness

With the explosion of interest in mindfulness, there has been a proliferation in the ways we can access it. Choosing the right option to help you practice can be stressful in itself! So here’s an overview of your options:

The two main categories of help are

  • in-person mindfulness activities (e.g. courses, retreats, workshops)
  • digital mindfulness activities (easily accessible digital version of mindfulness which you can carry around in your pocket and access as and when you need).

I’ve tried many options over last five years. My personal interest was piqued by the emerging research, and I wondered how mindfulness could help my clients in the leadership development and resilience optimisation work I do. And of course, as I’ve explored and tested various options, the benefits for my own health and wellbeing have become more and more evident.

During my experimentation, I found it difficult to find a way of practicing that worked for me. Id’ find myself starting with and online app, and then getting bored. I’d get the giggles during ‘in-person’ activities. Or I’d find the voices used in the various digital activities I tried deeply irritating. But then…

…finally, some Headspace

I saw Andy Puddicombe’s TED talk , Ten Mindful Minutes, back in 2012. But it wasn’t until last year that I discovered Headspace.com. Headspace is an App designed to bring mindfulness to people in a simple way. Andy Puddicome is one of its co-founders, and the voice of all the guided meditations.

I am a Headspace convert. I love it for many many reasons:

  • it has a superb structure built with the aim of learning a new practice
  • it’s not patronising
  • you can choose the duration of your sessions and vary it each day if you like
  • there are hundreds of different options depending on where you want to focus your practice (sport, creativity, focus, anxiety, sleep etc etc). There are even options children.
  • Andy’s voice is very listenable, calm and encouraging.

I also like Andy’s story and the ethics surrounding the business he and his business partner have set up. After all, it is important that the businesses we support are ones that align with our own principles.

My Headspace experience so far…

Practicing mindfulness is neither hard nor easy, but it is different. For that reason, you need to approach it as you would learning a new sport. Lots of practice!

I am now five months into my Headspace journey. I have completed 131 sessions, averaging 14 minutes at a time. (Though I have challenged myself and managed 40 minutes on one occasion!) In that short space of time, it has become an essential part of my morning routine. Gone is my grab for Facebook and emails. Gone is listening to the news first thing. I have learned that these things can wait. In return, I enjoy a more peaceful entry to the day and it doesn’t just make me feel good. It makes me much more able to deal with whatever the VUCA world throws at me. Bring it on!

I invite you to try mindfulness practice for yourself. It can be hard to get into the practice of doing it every day, but stick with it. When you do you will see an improvement in how you deal with everyday stressors and an improvement in the quality of your relationships and encounters.

If you do one thing after reading this blog – watch this short animation on how Headspace works.

If you do decide to give it a go, I’d love to hear how you get on.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Leadership, Mindfulness, stress

March 2, 2016 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Get better at being challenged – 7 top tips

 

Lion fight  Get better at being challenged - 7 top tips lion fight

How open are you to being challenged?

  • If your answer is ‘not very open’, then read on.
  • If your answer is ‘yes of course I am, I’m always open to challenge’ think about the last time you were challenged. How did you receive and react to that. Be honest in your reflection. Then read on.

In my work with executives and teams of all levels, a recurring theme is the attachment to being right. The belief that your solution is the right one.  If you start from this point of belief, you are

  • potentially missing a different way of looking at things, and opportunities to try something new.
  • listening to any challenge or comment from a perspective of how to take that challenge and still prove your idea is right.
  • putting a lot of pressure on yourself as the owner of the right solution.

To increase your openness to challenge and release the new possibilities created by challenge here are a few ideas.

  1. Seek to understand. What’s the reason behind the challenge? What stakeholder needs are being represented in that challenge? Is there something you missed in defining your answer?
  2. Switch your listening. Listen for potential and ideas that could add to your position. Stop yourself listening for flaws in the challenge and reasons why it is wrong.
  3. Direct your questioning with good intent. Avoid questioning to find fault or undermine the challenge. Ask questions to build the idea and remain open to the outcome as you do this.
  4. Align on a bigger purpose. All to often we end up debating tactical points and go round in circles. Re-confirm the overall vision you’re all working towards. If that’s not there, find it before carrying on a tactical debate/challenge.
  5. Be generous. Offering up a challenge can take courage. Acknowledge the value of the challenge and the effort taken to think about it.
  6. Be flexible. Be genuine in considering the value in the challenge and whether the current chosen course needs to flex.
  7. Move forward from whatever decision is made. Don’t harp back to your original idea. If something ‘new’ is tried and doesn’t work, identify what you all learnt as a team (and the answer isn’t ‘we should have stuck with my idea’!)

Do feedback any comments, experience or observations on this blog. There are are few links below you might find useful too.

Further reading:

Invisible skills of exceptional leaders points 5-8 from this blog by Jeff Haden reference the importance of allowing ideas to come from different areas.

The four people you need to build a successful business a useful summary by Sonia Thompson of the types of people and challenge to ensure you have around you.

Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman: this award winning book delineates cognitive biases associated with the two types of thinking Kahneman identified through his research. It looks at different biases, including confirmation bias which impacts on points 2 and 3 above.

Image: Gerrie van Vuuren

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

  • Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus…
  • Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day
  • Make better seasonal choices for year-round success
  • How to find some balance in a crazy world
  • Get better at being challenged – 7 top tips
  • Who can we really trust? 5 tips and 3 insights for untruths in the workplace
  • When your motivation fails: 4 tips…
  • Spring clean your attitude: 11 simple questions to ask yourself
  • The pow(d)er of now: mindful lessons from the slopes
  • 7 ways to create the environment for success

Zingg

Your time is precious. So make sure you’re not just working IN your business. Devote time to working ON your business. What needs to happen to unlock the potential needed to take the next step? I will help you focus, and challenge assumptions that are holding you back. I’ll support you in uniting individuals and teams towards bold business goals.

Zingg on the web

© Copyright 2018 Zingg · All Rights Reserved

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok