7 Opportunities To Be The Talent Your Organization Is Looking For!

We never stop being an individual contributor. Being a leader of others or leaders of leaders, we will still have peers. And, as member of a management team, we need to collaborate with them so our teams can deliver results which will support the overall business strategy. Yes, leaders are individual contributors.

We very often see and publish articles about leadership and what is expected from us in such roles. Less common are the articles about individual contributors and what is expected from them (us) in general. Do you consider yourself being a good Individual contributor?

Being an individual contributor doesn’t mean that we should act individually. It is empirically proved that we achieve greater results when we peer up and collaborate. Basis on that, we never stop being an individual contributor. Being a leader of others or leaders of leaders, we will still have peers. And, as member of a management team, we need to collaborate with them so our teams can deliver results which will support the overall business strategy. Yes, leaders are individual contributors.

So, what is expected from an outstanding ‘individual contributor’?

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Audi Alteram Partem (Listen to the other side).

The ability to ‘listen’ to the part of the brain he needs to use first (even if it is not the ‘preferred’ one) in different situations as well as when it is time to listen to both. This is what (I believe to be) some leaders may call as Contextual intelligence – the proficiency at adapting knowledge and skills (QI and EQ) to different situations and environments to make informed decisions.

In common law, Audi Alteram Partem is a Latin phrase meaning “listen to the other side”, or “let the other side be heard as well”. It is the principle that no person should be judged without a fair hearing in which each party is given the opportunity to respond to the evidence against them. It is a fundamental principle of English common law that a decision-maker should listen to, and take into account, both sides of an argument. This principle is encapsulated in the Latin phrase Audi Alteram Partem, or ‘Let the other side be heard as well’.

Audi Alteram Partem in leadership & project management.

The context I want to bring here is our ability to listen to the two sides of our brain. I am not a specialist on the topic (or any topic) and will share my personal views based on both, readings and work life experience.

As it relates to me, listening to both sides of our brain all the time is not something natural to everyone. We need to practice it. In my case, it took while before I started thinking of it. All of us born with different aptitudes, abilities, and talents. Some people use more the right side of the brain and others the left. If you are not familiar with this at all, i found this short definition about the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Continue reading “Audi Alteram Partem (Listen to the other side).”

Leadership Interview: Cynthia Li ‘My Coaching Journey’

We follow the fortunes of a senior leader in the shipping industry in China over a five year period as she learns and applies her coaching skills in progressively more senior job roles. She changes companies and ends up Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong.

I started working with the Top Team at Maersk Line East China Cluster (PRE) in Shanghai when I visited them in April 2011 to kick off the Coaching Master Class program. Cynthia Li was Customer Service General Manager and starting out on her coaching journey.

Here she reflects on that five year journey. In 2013 Cynthia was promoted and moved from Customer Service to sales as Key Client General Sales Manager. In 2016 Cynthia jumped ship (pun intended) and joined Swire Shipping in Shanghai as Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong. What has Cynthia learned from her broad experience as a senior leader in the shipping industry? What can we learn from her coaching journey?

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RADA in Business and The Apprentice Final 2016

Charlie Walker-Wise of RADA in Business lifts the lid on their role in coaching Courtney Wood, a finalist on The Apprentice 2016.

Calling all Apprentice fans. I’ve decided to lift the lid on that ‘exercise’ and explain how it helped finalist Courtney Wood shine in his final pitch.

We were asked to be part of ‘The Apprentice’ final but ended up with more airtime on the ‘You’re Hired’ programme following it. If you saw it you’ll know that one exercise in particular became a running theme with Rhod Gilbert, the ‘You’re Hired’ presenter, who even made it part of his opening segment.

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Preparing Yourself Mentally for Coaching – Part 1

What are the concepts of ‘good’ coaching? I ask leaders to read about the concepts of good coaching before they attend my Coaching Master Class training.

Preparing yourself mentally for coaching is about coming to a shared understanding with your boss and your peers on what ‘good’ coaching looks like. This is the first of two short articles on the concepts of good coaching. It is based on the pre-reading assignment I set for leaders attending my Coaching Master Class training.

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Dare to dream…

Most people don’t fail because they want or laziness, they fail because they don’t know how to win. In many stages of our lives, we need someone who can help us to articulate our dreams, set priorities and devise a plan for the attainment of such dreams. I consider myself very fortunate to have encountered great people who not only believed but coached, guided and helped me pursuing my dreams.

In my last post I wrote that ‘Belief’ is about believing in oneself and that he/she can become a better version of itself. For the coach, believing that can and will make a difference in the lives of others through coaching. Believing in the potential of others to grow and succeed with his/her help. Today’s post is the second of four related to coaching elements (“Belief-Dream-Plan-Execute”).

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Belief

Belief is about believing in oneself and that he/she can become a better version of itself. For the coach, believing that can and will make a difference in the lives of others through coaching. Believing in the potential of others to grow and succeed with his/her help.

In my post “Acreditar–Sonhar–Planejar–Executar”, I wrote about my presentation to sophomores of two renowned universities in Brazil and briefly covered the four elements of coaching “Belief-Dream-Plan-Execute”. To give a better perspective of each element, I decided to post four articles covering each of them and today it is about
BELIEF”.

When I published the article in Portuguese back in August, a friend of mine wrote to me asking “Domingos, shouldn’t “dream” come prior to ‘belief’?” and my answer in form of question was can someone dream about achieving something without believing he/she can accomplish that?well, some people may possibly can but I personally trust that everything starts with BELIEF… Could Neil Armstrong have kicked up the dust on the moon if he didn’t believe he could get there? Before dreaming about that accomplishment and to plan the steps he first believed. (For those of us who believe that he was there J)

I recently started the mentoring session with one of the talents as Continue reading “Belief”

Leadership Interview: Hans Augusteijn ‘My Coaching Journey’

We follow the fortunes of a senior leader in Northern Europe over a three year period as he learns and applies his newly acquired coaching skills and ends up a senior director spreading the coaching gospel to his direct report leaders.

I first started working with the Top Team at Maersk Northern Europe Liner Operations Cluster (NEULOC) in Rotterdam when I visited them to kick off the Coaching Master Class program in December 2012. At that time Hans Augusteijn was a Senior General Manager, a member of the senior management team and starting out on his coaching journey. Here he reflects on that journey three years on. What has he learned along the way? What can we learn from his experiences?

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