management development Archives - BrightBird Coaching and Training

5 Tips to Help You Switch Off From Work

By Karen Amos

I see a lot of posts on social media about people who find they can't switch off during the holidays. Is this you? Whether you're going away somewhere or having a break at home, the feeling that your long awaited holiday is finally here, but your mind's whirring like a machine and all you can think about is how many jobs there are to do when you get back - if not before!

As a note of reassurance here, you're not alone. The pace of the working week can seem relentless. For some the 'end of the (working) day' never really comes, particularly with the advent of home-working. This means we're living in an 'Always On' state of high arousal levels and stress.

In simple terms, this means rather than your adrenaline response shutting off, allowing your stress to ebb and flow naturally, your brain has its foot on the gas pedal and keeps it there. This response is supposed to be fleeting - just long enough for you to get yourself out of imminent danger. In the case of workplace stress, it can remain in place. For months sometimes. This leaves your body and brain unable to simply flick the switch to turn off the response, even though it's not needed any more.

So what to do? Here are a few tips and coaching questions to help train your brain to lift its foot off your stress gas pedal, so you can work and rest productively. Remember, the aim isn't to solve all of these in one go. No point ending up more stressed out by trying to fix your stress levels! Instead, pick one area and take one small action at a time...

Tip #1:

See time off as an investment - Explore and clarify to yourself how you will be more productive if you take time off to rest, whether that's for an evening, a weekend or a holiday. Set out clearly what you would gain - naming it makes all the difference, then you know what you're aiming for.

Tip #2:

Make a list of everything that needs to be done - Include everything, big or small. This allows you to stop worrying that you’ve forgotten something and allows you to stop spinning those mental plates. Remind yourself you can add any jobs, when they come into your head as you go along.

Tip #3:

Prioritise what needs to be done – Do a reality check and ask yourself - Is this thing possible? – is it essential? – Also ask yourself what would happen if this wasn’t completed before the end of the month, or if you were off sick? Chances are most of these tasks will be less 'urgent' and 'important' than you feel they are right now. Where you can, block out things into a basic timescale or planner.

Tip #4:

Switch off your media – This means no checking in on emails and social media. Give yourself a digital detox and if you find this makes you anxious or you have such strong ingrained habits to pick up your phone, put your phone or laptop out of reach at least for a short while.

Tip #5:

Find something practical to do – If you engage in a practical activity, you're more likely to be distracted from the anxious feelings, at least for a while. Get outdoors for some exercise. Not only is this a great stress-buster, it will also help you to sleep. Whether it's indoors or outdoors, book activities in that you enjoy and revel in that restorative distraction. Why not catch up with friends and family too? Having a laugh and talking with others is a great distraction. Just stick to those positive people in your life and avoid the 'joy stealers'!

Hopefully, these will help you set some positive habits and ensure you have some quality time off so you're well-rested and on top of your game when you return to work. In the meantime, here's wishing everyone a positive and productive month, no matter what you have planned!

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Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports business owners and managers who are feeling the pressure, to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and working relationships.

by karena

3 reasons your team may be resistant to change – and what you can do about it!

By Karen Amos

I’ve been busy delivering the ‘Managing Change’ session from my Effective People Management programmes these last few weeks. This is definitely one of those subjects that at first glance seems easy, but is a veritable Russian doll when you start to unpack it.

I recall times throughout my career where change has been well implemented and accepted, indeed embraced by teams and many more times when I’ve just emitted an inward (and sometimes outward) groan when informed of yet another new strategy/change/initiative [delete as appropriate]. On that note, isn’t it strange what a word so positive as ‘initiative’ can invoke such an energy dump in a different context?

Whilst the vast majority of change is instigated with positive intentions – i.e. to make things better – it can so quickly invoke a negative response and be the cause of low staff morale and even increase staff turnover if handled badly.

Here are 3 reasons you may be experiencing resistance to change from your team (or even personally) and a coaching perspective on how to address this…

1. Your team doesn’t understand why the change is necessary

This is about supporting your team to understand the reason behind the change. There’s an understandable filter that takes place where information is cascaded down an organisation and people in less senior roles are, often rightly, given less detail than people who are more senior. I do think we need to treat people as the adults they are though. To paraphrase Nietzsche, the person with a ‘why’ can tolerate almost any ‘how’.

Solution:

Consider the perspectives and experience of your team. It’s easy to forget as a leader that we have much more information and control than those we manage. An honest appraisal, including the benefits of the changes and the consequences of not taking this course of action will always be appreciated. Over time, your teams will accept you’re trustworthy and there’s no game playing going on. Remember, if there is sensitive information you can’t share, be honest about that too.

2. People don’t feel involved or listened to

In the midst of all the activity in implementing a new change, time to discuss, consult and more importantly, listen can come a poor second. Remember that as manager and leader, you naturally have much more control and usually knowledge, about the change. It’s easy to forget that your team don’t share this.

Solution:

Hold regular check-ins with your team and allow people to voice their concerns. It’s understandable that you may not want to seek this out, lest it turn into another ‘moan-fest’, but hearing people out and giving information where needed will prevent people from lagging behind, or at worst being so engaged they decide to leave the organisation altogether.

3. Your people have ‘change fatigue’

Have you ever stopped to consider that change just seems to be a permanent fixture of working life? Lots of my clients comment that there’s never a pause to take a breath and reflect and let the changes embed. It’s either one change, then straight into another, or what’s more usual, multiple changes going on at the same time. It can be hard for teams and indeed ourselves as leaders, to truly evaluate what the impact of the change is. With this comes a sense of never quite achieving an end result, leading to frustration and low motivation.

Solution:

Ensure you consult with your team to build in mini-goals and celebrate progress and ‘wins’ throughout the change process. Where possible, give people a project, or part of a project to own and champion, in a way that plays to their strengths and things they enjoy if possible. That way, they can have more autonomy and also see they’ve played a clear part in achieving the overall goal. Whilst it’s not always possible, be conscious of implementing multiple changes and reduce these where possible to allow new ways of working to embed themselves, even for a short time. This will then be assimilated into your organisation’s culture and people will be more enthused for the next change.

I hope that helps with a little food for thought regarding change in your setting or organisation.

If you’d like to know more about how we can support your leaders and teams with 1-to-1 or team coaching, or would like to discuss our in-house live, online leadership programmes, you can:

Email us at: [email protected]

Or call us: 07714 855757

or click HERE to book in a short, no-obligation chat

Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports leaders and managers to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a down-to-earth, practical approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and working relationships.

by Rachel Priestley

Feeling overloaded? The solution might not be less work...

By Karen Amos

I’ve just had a couple of interesting sessions with clients, exploring how to create capacity within their organisation and their life in general. Many of us know the feeling of being up to, if not over capacity and the stress, pressure and often anxiety this brings. It’s almost a fact of modern working life - that feeling there’s just no wriggle room and that you daren’t even think about what happens if one more thing goes wrong, or there’s a bout of sickness or a resignation.

I’m a coach not a magician, so I can’t manifest time that doesn’t exist – although it wouldn’t be a bad superpower would it? What I can do often feels a little magical though in the turn-around it brings people, but there’s no woo-woo involved – I simply help my clients find clarity.

Often when I start working with clients, particularly around any ‘Time Management’ type issues, they expect me to do the usual, ‘Prioritise your tasks… delegate…, etc., etc.’ There's very much a time and a place for these tools and I frequently use these along with other time management techniques, this usually isn’t my starting point.

The fact is that most time management issues stem from a mindset issue. This is a kind of good news/bad news situation though.

The bad news is that this means the root of the problem lies with how you view it, so no blaming other people for your problems. You know, the whole, 'My boss is so mean to me' routine. A bit harder to do when you're self-employed mind.

The good news is that simply changing how we think, can completely transform our situation.

When I work with my clients, we look at what’s going on… then look at what’s REALLY going on! That’s the key to coaching – getting right down to the root cause of the problem. We often find this too difficult to do on our own, as we’re viewing the world through a filter of our emotions, values, experiences and expectations. A good coach will help you work out exactly what your pressure points are and also your priority outcomes. (Hint – we often confuse activity with outcomes and these really, really are not the same thing!)

One of the questions I often ask my clients is:

What would change if you accept the fact there will always be too much to do in any given day/ week/ month/ year?

Along with:

What would you do differently if you believed your wellbeing and happiness was just as important as everyone else’s?

By asking these types of questions, I can bring a fresh pair of eyes for my clients, helping them make decisions and create the space they need to work on the stuff that really counts. So to paraphrase that paragon of Stoic philosophy, Marcus Aurelius, the difficulty is often not what's going on around us, but our response to this.

If you'd like to find out how our 1-to-1 coaching programmes can help you get 'unstuck' and move forward this year...

Call us: 07714 855757

or click HERE to book in a short, no-obligation chat

by Rachel Priestley

Tired of playing the bad guy? Why not play yourself instead....?

By Karen Amos

‘I’m not scared of playing the bad guy’.

I hear this phrase so many times on my travels as a coach and I have to confess, I’ve said it myself in the past.

But let’s just unpick this for a moment. Why when we need to give negative feedback, or have a difficult conversation with someone, do we feel we’ve no option but to be the ‘Bad Guy’? Shouldn’t we just be doing what’s right? I know from my own experience that there are many reasons for saying this phrase.

Here are a couple:
1. Fear – Of what the other person might do or say, or of things getting out of control. Sometimes it’s the fear of not being liked.
2. Lack of options – Often I felt low on resources – either of potential solutions to the problem, or lack of interpersonal skills to deal with this.

The worst part of this was for me, I know I’m not a ‘Bad Guy’. I now recognise I’m a good, kind person, who likes to be fair to others and always tries to do the right thing. This is most of us right?

This situation is a good example of where Authenticity pays dividends. What if you didn’t need to be the ‘Bad Guy’ and could instead, get the right result just by being yourself? Sounds good? Just think, less anxiety, sleeping well, knowing you did your best, increased personal responsibility for the other person and less of the ‘blame game’…. The list goes on…..

The secret is to take a coaching approach to giving feedback and difficult conversations. This approach means you’re not there to ‘fix’ the person, but to work collaboratively with them to find a workable solution. The first step is to be clear what you and they want out of the situation and to work together to find the solution.

Yes, I acknowledge there may be occasions where the person concerned refuses to accept their personal responsibility and you’ll have to deal with this accordingly, but from experience these people are in the minority.

By implementing this Authentic Leadership/coaching approach, I've found that raising issues with people more often than not, results in a positive, constructive outcome. I frequently hear examples from my clients where they've been dreading a conversation, but by implementing this approach have had surprisingly positive outcomes. For example, people who have been placed on performance management have still thanked their manager for their support and as a result have addressed and resolved the issues raised.

No-one likes giving negative feedback and certainly no-one likes to receive it, but to know you’ve truly done your best to work with the person to find a positive solution to the problem must surely rest better with you than having had to play the ‘Bad Guy’ again.

If you'd like to find out more about our value for money in-house Managing Difficult Conversations training courses, click here:

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Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports business owners and managers to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a down-to-earth, practical approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and working relationships.

by Rachel Priestley

Does your wellbeing strategy add to your stress?

By Karen Amos

Are you working in education? Are you feeling under pressure, stressed, or that your general wellbeing just isn't that great? You probably already know this, but I'll say it anyway - you're not alone. BUT WAIT! Whatever happened to the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter? After all, it was only launched in Autumn 2021 and who doesn't love a new initiative...?

Thinking back to my time in leadership roles in the public sector, the NHS in particular, I can remember that sinking feeling when yet another ‘initiative’ landed on my desk. Not that they were always bad (although to be fair, some were shockers), but I recall that feeling of overwhelm, wondering where and how I could find the resources and time to actually implement this, without dropping another plate.

I’m not going to tell anyone working in education that they have a tough job. That’s like telling a sheep it’s woolly. There’s a degree of acceptance of an education professional's lot in working life – and by this I’m meaning everyone working in education, not just teachers - and to corrupt a song, 'a teacher's lot is not a happy one'. The fact is the statistics make grim reading.

I don’t believe there’s anything to gain in playing misery ‘top trumps’ with other jobs and sectors. This doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Many sectors have huge issues with stress and burnout, each with its own particular issues and education is no exception. The fact is however, that education does rank in the top 4 most stressful occupations in the UK. ¹

So here are some numbers:

72% of education professionals described themselves as being ‘stressed’ in 2021 (84% of senior leaders)²
Unsurprisingly, this was up from an already high 64% in June 2020²
70% of Education staff (80% of senior leaders) who considered leaving the profession did so due to workload²
54% considered leaving due to personal mental health and wellbeing²

I believe this is the tip of the iceberg and that the issue is significantly under-reported for many reasons. If you have time, do check out the links below for more information. (Short pause for you to laugh derisively at the word ‘time’…)

From a leadership view, I see there are two issues with wellbeing in the workplace.

Firstly, there’s an ethical issue. No-one should come to work and be made ill or unhappy. That’s my mantra. I have personal (negative) experience in this area. We can all have a rubbish day from time to time, but if we’re accepting this as the norm, then something’s seriously broken.

Secondly, there’s the financial issue - and let’s face it, this is often the deal-breaker. Few would argue against the ethics of having a healthier workplace and workforce. The difficulty lies in implementing this – either though lack of time and resources, or simply the financial pressures of balancing already stretched budgets.

NB: Whilst there’s also a legal/compliance issue with wellbeing, I’d suggest this comes from a combination of ethical and financial (i.e. costs to the state) issues.

So, if the finances are the clincher, here are a few more stats:

50% of all working days lost in the UK in 2020/21 were due to work-related ill health¹
Education is one of the top 3 most stressful sectors in the UK ¹
Poor mental health amongst employees costs £42–45 bn in the UK each year - This includes the costs of absence/presenteeism and turnover³
The cost of poor mental health to the UK education sector (and public purse) is estimated to be £1.1 – 1.5 bn per year³
This equates to £1203 - £1585 per education employee per year³

So what to do?

Whilst there’s lots everyone can do to improve wellbeing in education, it’s obvious there is no quick fix and I’ll be writing more extensively on this in future articles. In the meantime however, we should take note of the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter⁴ , where it states that there are no expectations that ‘managers [will] provide professional wellbeing support for which they have no professional training.' In short - you can't be all things to all people.

Instead, I suggest we should take a holistic view, rather than the traditional sticking-plaster approach. This will take time and starts with building a wellbeing culture. To do that we need to throw away any badges of honour that go with working ridiculous, impossible hours and begin meaningful conversations with those around us. This means we have to be prepared to hear uncomfortable truths. Additionally, it’s now time to check our own personal story - from one that talks about ‘overworked education professionals', to one that says ‘This is not acceptable’ and ‘I deserve more’.

If you would like to find out more about BrightBird's online Positive & Productive Wellbeing Programme, click HERE.

Down-to-earth, straight-talking support for you and your team to manage stress, build resilience and time management skills and develop a positive mindset. Delivered at a time and pace to suit you.

For an informal, no-obligation chat about how we can help you, call us on 07714 855757, or email [email protected].

Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports education leaders and managers who are feeling the pressure, to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and wellbeing.

by karena

Team Coaching - What is it and how does it help?

Team Coaching - What Is It And How Does It Help?

By Karen Amos

Whilst one-to-one coaching is becoming increasingly popular, team coaching has been slower to catch on. The term itself sparks interest, but there's little information out there about what it actually entails. Reason for this is that team coaching is an evolving concept.

Here are some Q&A's around Team Coaching:

What is Team Coaching?

Team Coaching is a way to implement the approaches and benefits of coaching within a group and organisational context.

Working with groups of people - rather than 1:1 - teams work together to overcome issues that they and/or their organisation are facing. This enables them to build a positive, problem-solving approach to their work.

When would you use Team Coaching?

Team Coaching can be used for:

Supporting teams to work through times of change or crisis
Implementing projects
Building new teams
Developing and supporting leadership and management teams
Supporting individuals with professional development within peer groups

How does it work?

Groups or teams of between 4 and 10 people are identified
These groups meet on a regular basis – e.g. weekly/fortnightly/monthly
Can be online via video meeting, or in-person
Sessions last between 1 ½ and 2 hours
A programme of sessions is agreed – we recommend at least 4 sessions
Team Coaching – a coach/facilitator supports the group to identify the issue they wish to work on, with clear outcomes

Peer Coaching – Individuals within the group set out their own issue they would like to work on that week
The group are supported to use incisive questioning and coaching tools to seek solutions to the identified issues
The group or individual then decide actions they will take by the next session
These actions are reviewed at the beginning of each session

What are the benefits?

An effective tool in change and crisis management
Builds personal and collective responsibility
Brings accountability
Helps with team-building
Helps team to develop coaching skills
Develops a positive, solution-focused mindset with clear outcomes
Excellent for leadership development – builds confidence and reflective skills
Builds a cohesive team approach to issues
Allows individuals and teams to feel supported within the organisation
Helps to manage stress and build resilience
Builds more agile teams and ways of working

Who is it for?

Leadership and management teams of all levels
Project teams
Peer groups within organisations
Function teams
Work groups

Why do we need a facilitator?

An experienced and qualified coach facilitator is essential to get the best out of team coaching. They are able to clarify objectives, manage expectations and behaviour and most importantly, ensure the session remains coaching focussed, rather than just an advice-giving session, or a talking shop.

We find that without a facilitator who is experienced in coaching, most team coaching quickly deteriorates into a ‘moan-fest’ or ‘catch up’ session, losing the desired positive, results-focused approach that was intended.

Initially, many members of teams will naturally veer towards advice-giving, rather than coaching. An experienced coach facilitator is able to recognise this and help develop the team’s coaching and incisive questioning skills and thus, effectiveness.

What’s the difference between Team Coaching and a staff team meeting?

Rightly or wrongly, staff team meetings often centre around updates and procedure. They’re inevitably facilitated by a senior member of the team, or manager and as a result have an imbalance of power and issues around accountability and responsibility.

Team Coaching creates a more equitable environment, where everyone is expected to contribute and take responsibility for finding the solution to an issue. It focuses very specifically on one, or a small number of issues, with the intention of seeking and implementing tangible solutions to this.

If you would like to book team coaching for your business, organisation or school, or would like an informal, no-obligation chat about how this can work for you, call us on 07714 855757, or email [email protected].

Check out our latest training offers at https://brightbird.wordifysites.com/services/training-courses/

Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports business owners and managers to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and working relationships.

by karena

Feeling Overwhelmed? Try Chunking...

By Karen Amos

I recently returned from holiday feeling very rested. I was raring to get stuck back into work – I’ve loads of exciting work, opportunities and projects going on right now. The thing is I didn’t – get stuck into work I mean. I just couldn’t find the concentration required to knuckle down to the work, with the inevitable self-recrimination that brings. That just brought me more stress.

The thing was I couldn’t understand why. I love my work and all the jobs I had lined up were things I enjoy (well, apart from my book-keeping, but let’s not talk about that right now!).

So what was going on?

I’ve finally realised after a few days it was good old overwhelm. I was simply trying to hold too much in my head at once. Now those of you that already know me will know I’m a huge fan of lists, so I don’t have to hold loads of info in my head, so why didn’t they work? The answer was that the tasks felt too diverse – they were like confetti being scattered all over the place and I was spending way too much mental energy keeping it all swept into a pile.

So here’s when I decided to chunk my work.

Chunking is simply the art of pulling together similar pieces of work or information to allow our brain some space to actually work on things. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but here’s how it worked for me…

Step 1 – I wrote down the main functions of my business – e.g. financial, marketing, clients, etc.

Step 2 – Under each of these I listed the main things I need to achieve over the next month – e.g. follow up clients, arrange meetings with contacts, write blogs…

Step 3 – I created a ‘Drop List’ on my One Note app where I can check in with these mini ‘chunks’ and ‘drop’ any new items in there as they arise, or that I may have missed.

Step 4 – Check in at the beginning of each week to plan in time to address each of these issues.

But isn’t this just adding another layer to an already significant workload?

In fact, this is just the opposite. Now I’ve captured everything I need to do and organised it into meaningful ‘chunks’, I have freed up brain space to actually work on the tasks. This also gives me opportunity to schedule work into my planner, helping me to estimate how much time I’ll actually need to complete the things I’ve identified.

Along with this, as a person with strong visual preferences, I've colour coded each chunk too. This helps my brain to separate these out.

The result? A clear focus, less anxiety and more productivity. Give it a try if you’re feeling that you’re just not making a dent into your tasks.

If you would like to find out more about how you and your teams can improve their time management and productivity, whilst minimising stress and overwhelm, check out our new Positive and Productive online programme.

For schools

For Business and VCSE organisations

For an informal, no-obligation chat about how we can help you, call us on 07714 855757, or email [email protected].

by karena

Professional Fatigue – Taking steps to recovery…

By Karen Amos

‘Fatigue’ and 'Exhaustion' seem to be the word of the moment for many, with an inevitable impact on productivity and mental wellbeing. Of course, some sectors are suffering more than others, education and health care to name but two, but there are increasing signs of strain everywhere.

Whilst there's no magic wand (I wish!), here are some tips and coaching questions to help you on the road to recovery...

Prioritise:

I’m not going to suggest you just down tools. OK, if that’s possible with no consequence, go ahead, but for most people that just isn’t the case. There will definitely be some activities that are ‘must do’s’ at the moment however, and some that will have lesser consequences if not done immediately.

'Where am I feeling the pressure right now?'

Ask yourself, ‘Where am I most feeling the pressure right now?’, then list all the things you can do to minimise or eliminate this, however improbable these may seem. Talking this over with a colleague or someone else you trust can help you out of the ‘stuck-ness’. It may, for example, feel impossible that you can hand some tasks over or re-schedule, but an outside perspective often helps bring a new reality. Many more things are possible than we first perceive.

Another useful question to help challenge is, ‘What will happen if I don’t do this activity right now?’ and if it’s unavoidable, ‘How long can I postpone it for to give me more space and time to restore my energy levels?’

Rest:

This is so obvious to be insulting right? But, even in the best of times, most people don't get enough proper rest. Again, it’s easier said than done, but many of us are experiencing a state of underlying anxiety and in some cases, possibly hypervigilance. This leads us to constantly scan our horizon for threats and reassurance that all’s ok. Signs of this include sleeplessness and constant checking in, or compulsion to check in on the latest news and social media updates.

The paradox is that the more we check and strive to stay on top of things, the more tired and less productive/more anxious we become.

Here are some ways you can give yourself permission to rest:

Take time off work – This is the obvious one, but many of us haven't had a 'proper' break for months now and have nothing booked in for the near future. It seemed a bit pointless to take time off when we couldn’t really go anywhere during lockdown and for many people a 'proper holiday' means abroad. No matter what your plans, it can help to plan some activities in beforehand though, so you feel your time has been well spent – even if that means catching up on some reading or taking a day-trip from home. Taking time off means a complete break however – no checking in on calls, or emails. Just a couple of days can make all the difference. To do this consistently, engage and discuss this with your team beforehand to ensure you’re not disturbed. Remember to plan ahead and book the time off in your diary. It's unlikely to happen if you don't.

Cut out the media – Give yourself a social media break. You can do this by:
- Allocating a specific window of time you’ll check in each day
- Blocking or unfollowing accounts that you find stressful or negative
- Asking yourself, ‘Will reading this help me right now?’ if you’re tempted to click on something contentious that’d send your blood pressure soaring
- Having a social media ‘holiday’. Switch off or even uninstall the apps on your phone
- Make social media unavailable. If you find yourself getting caught in a ‘scroll hole’, put your phone out of reach. I charge my phone on the landing each night, so I don’t take it into the bedroom

Ration the news – Things are changing fast at the moment, so it’s natural to want to be on top of developments, but again, this can feed anxiety. One way to solve this can be to set a daily check in on the news. Choose your preferred news ‘channel’, be that on TV, the radio, or the internet and set a time each day where you’ll have a proper catch up.

Set manageable working hours – Even in the best of times, there’s always more to do than there is time to do it in. Accepting that is the first step to taking back control. Remember that the longer we work, the less productive we become, so long working weeks quickly become counterproductive.
- Planning a start and finish time for your day in advance.
- Set out what you wish to achieve that day – remembering to keep this realistic and finish as soon as you've completed your tasks.
- Plan in what you will do when you finish work. That way you’ve something to aim for.
- Packing away your laptop/work equipment when you’ve reached your finish time. This is particularly important when working from home.
- Asking someone to give you a nudge when you reach your prearranged finishing time.
- Telling work colleagues when you will/won’t be available and asking them to help you with this by not contacting you outside these times.

Looking at the tips above, try this coaching question:

Remember to enlist others to help you to succeed. Your colleagues, friends and family can make great accountability buddies. Good luck with your next steps...

For further support for you or your team, check out our training page HERE.

For an informal, no-obligation chat about how we can help you, call us on 07714 855757, or email [email protected].

by karena

Coaching's fine - but I don't have the time...

Coaching's Fine - but I don't have the time...

By Karen Amos

I was asked in a webinar this week what I would say to the viewpoint that managers are too busy to coach. This is something I hear often - and as someone with years of management experience, I completely get it. You want to develop your team. You can see there are issues and want to find solutions, but the issues are pressing, there are a hundred other items on your to-do list and everyone is demanding your attention. And that's on a good week!

It's hard to find a sustainable way out of this. I recall when I was most under pressure, the first thing to slip would be staff one-to-ones, with the inevitable conflicts and crises because I'd taken my eye off the ball from what really made the difference - the day to day support and performance of the team.

Stephen Covey succinctly captured the importance of ongoing team support and development in his Time Management Matrix. (1)

Quadrant 2 is where the real performance happens. The times you and your team have been in a 'flow state', or 'in the zone', where everyone is fully engaged, energised, focused and committed to the task in hand, that's Quadrant 2.

Unfortunately, these periods rarely last in practice and we find quadrant 1 and 3 activities impinging and taking over, leading to more firefighting and round it all goes again.

Rather than leading us to Quadrant 2, the current circumstances with the pandemic have dumped us right in the centre of Quadrant 1, whether we like it or not - with a huge heap of Quadrant 3's calls, meetings and emails for good measure. And with this comes overwhelm.

'I don't have time to coach...'

This is where I would suggest you don't have time to NOT coach your team. Don't get me wrong - I've been there with the 12 hour days and 6/7 day weeks and know how hard it is to see daylight.

By taking a coaching approach with your team - asking incisive questions, understanding what the problem is and giving back personal and collective responsibility - you free yourself up and stop trying to be a one person solution to everything.

Coaching is an investment...

See time spent coaching as an investment. A small investment of time and effort for exponential gain. The investment that will move you out of your current situation. The one where your team don't look to you for every answer and you can finally begin to concentrate on the things that really count.

One-to-one coaching, particularly from an external coach brings amazing results to the workplace, but it does come at a cost. If this is outside your budget there are other options. You can introduce Team Coaching, where with facilitation, the team coach themselves to find solutions to issues.

Additionally, you can introduce 'Coaching Conversations' as part of your organisational culture. Culture being 'the way we do things around here'. This means any conversation in the workplace can be a coaching opportunity, whether that's an informal catch up over zoom, whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil, or in a one-to-one meeting. All of these can be based on the coaching principles of 'ask not tell'. A powerful way to generate positive action and buy-in from your team.

So before you tell yourself you don't have time - why not have a coaching conversation with yourself and ask what you'll gain from a relatively small investment of your time to introduce coaching to your team.

Covey S.R., (2020). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon & Schuster. UK

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If you would like to discuss coaching for your business, organisation or school, or would like an informal, no-obligation chat about how this can work for you, call us on 07714 855757, or email [email protected].

Karen Amos is an executive coach and founder of BrightBird Coaching & Training. She supports business owners and managers to get the best out of themselves and their teams. She brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to improving working lives through better leadership, communication and working relationships.

by karena