Best Year
The best way to appreciate a programme is to hear what people have to say about it. I have done the Best Year Yet programme with friends for the last 7 years now. It is a planning process for your personal goals for the coming year.
I do it at the beginning of the year and it helps me get going. I enter the year with direction and conviction. This is what I will do and what I will become. Watch this space!!
If you want to do this programme with Mariane’s guidance, jon us on 30 January 2010. See events for details.
Here are some comments from friends who have been on the programme with me.
The course was a unique opportunity to “make conscious” all those noble thoughts about doing better, stretching upwards and finding oneself in a new way in new territory. It heightened accountability, sharing one on one and more publicly in the group – and the energy and enthusiasm (and empathy) generated provided much needed impetus for the goal setting process.(Goals ranged from lofty to small …and people were very “real” in terms of what they were aiming for). For me the experience was also bonding and motivating with valued colleagues who attended with me. The follow up is great – Mariane is clearly not going to let us off the hook! Romy Rycroft
The Best Year Yet was a revelation, once I had completed the task, as a new business woman my values have changed significantly from that of previous years…….success, this value signifies work, family, relationships and life……YOU, live it!! Theda Davies
I have done the Best Year Yet workshop with Mariane for the past several years. It has been so successful in my life, that I have recommended it to all of my friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and anyone else who would listen! The workshop makes the most amazing and visible difference in my life and to my year that lies ahead. It gives me direction and I achieve goals with focus and determination that was lacking before. I would liken it to placing a rudder in a ship – it’s amazing how it helps you get where you want to go! Hope to see you there next year. Charmaine Schwenn, director and partner Tate, Nolan & Knight Attorneys.
The best year yet “ as facilitated by Mariane has already had an significant impact on my life, the process is carefully orchestrated by Mariane to culminate in a programme designed specifically for you to improve your life in the areas that you believe need improving. I discovered that I had drifted away from a solid work-life balance and it was causing stress on my family and on my health. The one day programme has enabled me to identify my drift and to lay the foundations through practical objectives and goals to achieve a more fulfilling and personally successful life. The programme becomes part and parcel of your life and provides a tool to manage all aspects of my life. I would strongly recommend everyone from all walks of life to embark on this programme. Michael Davies
Written down Goals are better
There’s a saying; “You don’t know what you are thinking until you see what you say”. Your mind is a busy place and so it should be. It’s function is to constantly observe, learn, adjust. In such a busy place ideas shift and change and it is difficult to recall where you started. Unless we write down goals, we achieve things on the fly and often by accident. To live a purposeful life, it helps to write down our goals. The process crystallises what we really want.
Write down all your aspirations, your dreams, your wishes. Prioritise them and decide what you want to do this year, or this month. Then create the steps to success.
But before you do: consider each goal in light of your values. Does this goal align with the greater priorities in my life? One women tells the story of having studying on her list year after year. However when she considered her ‘failure’ it turns out that she valued time with her growing family more. A man had to choose between his family being well settled in one city and his career in another city. He choose his career. These examples do not indicate right or wrong, and moral judgments are not required. The point is that unless your goals tie into who you are, you will find them difficult to achieve.
Emotion in Business
I have often heard the comment “emotion has no place in business”. This has come from bosses where the general rule is to check in with the boss’s secretary what mood he is in before approaching him on difficult issues. As far as I am aware, the business world ia occupied by warm blooded, emotional creatures called human beings.
So what? Why should I be paying any attention to emotional intelligence in the workplace?
…because being clever isn’t enough
Research has shown that up to two thirds of success factors can be attributed to EI rather IQ. (The Business Case for EI) It makes sense to spend effort on developing something that makes a difference. In the first article on emotional intelligence (EI) I read, “you are born with your IQ and you cannot increase it, however, EI could be developed”. I remember the delight with which I greeted this news. There was hope for me!! I wasn’t the smartest kid on the block, but here was something I could do that would make a difference.
As a coach there are many ways of working with EI. The client can identify the gaps in the elements of EI that make a difference and set targets for improvements. If you want to be more scientific, the Hay Group offer an on-line 360° assessment. This provides anonymous feedback on how others rate your EI and more importantly how your own rating compares to theirs.
They say that the higher you rise in organisations, the more delusional you become as staff are afraid to give honest feedback. If you are not sure about your EI, why not get a coach and do the 360° assessment.
The Hay Group have a long-standing partnership with EI pioneers Dr Daniel Goleman and Dr Richard Boyatzis. Research originally included up to 50 elements of EI, but extensive research has shown the elements below to be the ones that make the most difference.
- Self awareness
- Achievement orientation
- Adaptability
- Emotional self-control
- Positive outlook
- Empathy
- Organisational awareness
- Conflict management
- Coach and Mentor
- Influence
- Inspirational Leadership
- Teamwork
Mariane Vorster is a business coach providing EI assessment among her solution offerings. To find out more visit her website: http://www.mybusinesscoach.co.za
For more on assessments go to the Hay Group Website http://www.haygroup.com/leadershipandtalentondemand/Products/Emotional_inteligence.aspx
You can also download the following PDF file: The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence
Growth is spoiling my business
My business is growing and turnover has increased but it looks like an adolescent boy getting dressed for the first day of high school. Lots of energy, clumsy and poorly directed. Somehow you were making more money when the business was smaller and you are frustrated with the additional responsibility of finances and staff.
According to Greiner (Harvard Business Review May-Jun 1998) you are suffering from normal symptoms of growth. He says that businesses go through stages of evolutionary growth and suddenly what worked for that age and size of business no longer works. Then it is time for a revolutionary change to have continued growth or a contraction of the business.
Phase 1 : Creativity
Originally the founders of businesses are technically or entrepreneurially orientated. They dislike management activities. Communication is informal. The market dictates and management reacts to customer needs.
Over time “the way we do things here” develop from trial and error. These ways become entrenched and are difficult to change. As the business grows, the number of employees and activity increases, and problems of coordination and communication emerge. The management style that worked for a smaller size no longer work and top level managers/owners experience frustration and lower level supervisors become disillusioned.
The challenges at this stage include:
- Founders find themselves burdened with unwanted management responsibilities
- Everyone longs for the good old days and they try and act as they did in the past
- Additional financing is needed
- Business systems for control becomes important
- Manufacturing efficiency is needed to return to profitability
The Crisis is of leadership and the solutions include a strong manager who has the necessary knowledge and skill to introduce new business techniques and controls. It is likely that the founders will resist stepping aside so the business manager must be acceptable to the founders.
Phase 2: Direction
Organisations that install capable business managers then move onto a sustained stage of evolutionary growth. The characteristic in this stage are:
There is a functional organisational structure. Job assignments become increasingly specialised
- Control systems for inventory and purchasing are introduced
- Accounting systems become more sophisticated
- Incentives, budgets and work standards are adopted
- Communication becomes more formal and impersonal
- The new manager and his/her key supervisors assume most of the responsibility for implementing strategic direction and lower level supervisors are treated as functional specialists with little autonomy
The solution at each stage, over time, creates the next crisis of management. It is at the points of crisis that coaches can assist founders with a space where they can experiment with possible solutions, including how they see their own role in a business that will look and function very differently in the future.
I have only covered the first section of Greiner’s article. For more on the Greiner theory, or to find out how a business coach can assist you through these revolutionary phases, please send a request to mariane@mybusinesscoach.co.za.
ROI for Coaching
“What can I expect in return when I invest in coaching?” Unlike engineering or production, the figures are not that easy to predict or measure with instruments. It depends on how much unrealised potential you believe exists and how committed you are to releasing it. If you want a crystal ball of the future and guarantees of returns, you close down the possibilities of what could emerge.
This is best illustrated with a case study. In a recent coaching assignment, 8 branch managers were selected for coaching. During the coaching process one branch manager, let’s call him Jeff, asked a sales manager where a certain sales representative, Zodwa, was. His only reply was that she had absconded. Jeff was uncomfortable about the reply and visited the Zodwa at home, only to find her severely beaten and abused by her husband. Jeff arranged a meeting with the husband to explain the whole process the job entails. The husband was worried that his wife would have an affair and leave him. Jeff asked for some time to work with the representative and to give it one more chance. Jeff mentored and paid special attention to the Zodwa and within a month she was earning R16000.00 in commission. The business this one representative generated paid for the whole coaching assignment.
This case illustrates that there was no way we could have predicted that scenario in our ROI discussions up front. Coaching creates the space for solutions to evolve but we are awake and aware enough to respond in a new way. ROI with coaching depends on you. Coaches provide the stimulus for extraordinary things to happen.
