5 Steps Closer to your Goal.

These five steps are simple, and very rewarding. Put them into action and you will achieve your goals, guaranteed!

These 5 steps will help you:

  • Unroll the steps to your goal
  • know when are you moving closer to your goal
  • know if you are on the right path

I often listen people saying that they have tried over and over again to reach their goals and when they feel certain that “this time I will make it”, something happens and they go right back to point cero, leaving them with disappointment and with the “final” decision of never trying ever again.

As Einstein said: “Crazy is doing the same things the same way, yet expecting a different outcome”, so I guess there are a lot of craziness going on resulting in sad and frustrated people. Allow me to share with you what I believe will be the steps to end all madness and bring serenity, structure and most importantly, meeting your goal once and for all.

Before we get started, just please keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how many strategies, list, steps, etc. comes your way if you don’t make the serious and conscious decision to get stick to it and really do it!

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Viva la revolution!

How we work, where we work and when we work are all about to change. Are you ready for the revolution?

The last time I blogged, I introduced you to “The 100 Year Life” a fantastic book, introducing a brave new world of longevity. Its theme being, that today’s youth can expect to live beyond 100 years of age – the key word there being expect – which in turn means our current three stage model of education, work, retire, is outdated.

The aim of my last missive was to ask how this impacts on our current leaders and what they need to do in order to flex their style and fit this new world order, focusing on an increase in empathy, the introduction of “strategic altruism” and the application of “beginners mind” to their thinking – if you missed it here’s a link.

But what about those who find themselves at the beginning of this journey? Can you imagine being an 18 year old faced with the prospect of living for another 80+ years? How do you even begin to think about planning to prepare for that?

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Change, not chaos…in five steps

We’re all on a change journey, and that journey will call upon us to develop different things at different times. Your chance of success and avoiding chaos is greatly enhanced by the amount of time you spend on preparation.

I was listening to a podcast recently in which a prominent CHRO commented that “the world has changed, it’s chaotic and unruly and our leaders need to be able to operate effectively in chaos”. Surely we want change not chaos.

Now I don’t know about you but that’s not a sales pitch I’m warming to. I’d agree that things certainly seem to be heading that way; I’m not sure we’re enjoying it…is anyone getting a kick out of Brexit? Somebody else once told me “never hire anyone who tells you they’re good in a crisis – you’ll always be in one”.

And yet it seems to me that all we need to escape the chaos is a little process, and some structure, to help us find our way out of the darkness. What’s frustrating is how bad we are at doing just that.  I work for an engineering business and we love a process – we just love following them less!

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Leadership Interview: Jennifer Yao ‘My Experience as a Coachee’

What does the coachee’s experience look like? We see how a Key Account Sales Manager responds to being coached by her experienced Leader and raises her sales performance within a very short period of time.

The voice of the Coachee. This article is another chapter in an ongoing story about how coaching is Blooming in Shanghai. One year ago I published the article about Key Account Sales Manager Tracy Zhi’s experience as a Coachee. Staying with the same team in Shanghai, in February and March of this year I featured articles about Jerry Chen’s ‘Best’ and ‘Most Challenging’ coaching sessions with his direct report is an account manager Jennifer Yao.

Now it’s Jennifer Yao’s turn to tell her story. We hear from the person being coached. So listen up again Leadership Coaches; see what you can learn from Jennifer’s experience as a Coachee.

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Leadership Learning Log Case Study 2 ‘Best’ Session: Jerry Chen & Jennifer Yao, Shanghai

The Leadership Learning Log is a great tool to help Coaches critically and objectively reflect on recent coaching sessions.

The Leadership Learning Log is a journal which evidences learning and skills development. It is not just a diary or record of ‘what you have done’, but more to the point it is a record of what you have learnt, tried and critically reflected upon.

I use the Leadership Learning Log in my Coaching Master Class (CMC) programme as a tool to follow up the training. I call this ‘Activity 1: Looking Back’. At the end the training I challenge participants to run up to five substantial pre-planned coaching sessions over the following six week period. I ask them to select two of these sessions for self-assessment – the ‘Best’ and the ‘Most Challenging’ – and answer the questions in the Leadership Learning Log for each session. This is their preparation for our first on-to-one coach-the-coach session.

For this article we go back to my friend Allen Tu in Shanghai. Allen is KCGFF Sales Team Leader for Maersk (China) Shipping Co and he attended my Coaching Master Class (CMC) programme in 2011. Using my material he kicked off his ‘Buddy’ Coaching programme in 2016 for his direct report sales managers. One of those managers is Jerry Chen who is the senior manager focussing on Electronic key clients. And Jennifer Yao is an account manager reporting in to Jerry.

In this second article about their coaching experience, we look at how Jerry used the Leadership Learning Log self-assessment questions to reflect on his ‘Best’ case coaching session with Jennifer.

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Leadership Learning Log Case Study 1 ‘Most Challenging’ Session: Jerry Chen & Jennifer Yao, Shanghai

The Leadership Learning Log is a great tool to help Coaches critically and objectively reflect on recent coaching sessions.

The Leadership Learning Log is a journal which evidences learning and skills development. It is not just a diary or record of ‘what you have done’, but more to the point it is a record of what you have learnt, tried and critically reflected upon.

I use the Leadership Learning Log in my Coaching Master Class (CMC) programme as a tool to follow up the training. I call this ‘Activity 1: Looking Back’. At the end the training I challenge participants to run up to five substantial pre-planned coaching sessions over the following six week period. I ask them to select two of these sessions for self-assessment – the ‘Best’ and the ‘Most Challenging’ – and answer the questions in the Leadership Learning Log for each session. This is their preparation for our first on-to-one coach-the-coach session.

For this article we go back to my friend Allen Tu in Shanghai. Allen is KCGFF Sales Team Leader for Maersk (China) Shipping Co and he attended my Coaching Master Class (CMMC) programme in 2011. Using my material he kicked off his ‘Buddy’ Coaching programme in 2016 for his direct report sales managers. One of those managers is Jerry Chen who is the senior manager focussing on Electronic key clients. And Jennifer Yao is an account manager reporting in to Jerry.

In this first article about their coaching experience, we look at how Jerry used the Leadership Learning Log self-assessment questions to reflect on his ‘Most Challenging’ coaching session with Jennifer.

Continue reading “Leadership Learning Log Case Study 1 ‘Most Challenging’ Session: Jerry Chen & Jennifer Yao, Shanghai”

Leadership Interview & Coaching Case Study 2: Samson Zhou, Sales Manager Shanghai

A success story about coaching for sales performance: rapidly adapting to a new business sector; managing internal stakeholders; influencing customer decision makers; collaborating with the customer service team; and driving more volume to meet and exceed sales targets.

Exactly one years ago today I published the article ‘Leadership Interview & Coaching Case Study: Samson Zhou, Sales Manager Shanghai’ in which sales manager Samson Zhou was coaching his direct report Tracy Zhi. Here is the latest interview with Samson by his manager Allen Tu about his coaching for sales performance success with another direct report – Eileen Sun.

Allen Tu is KCGFF Sales Team Leader for Maersk (China) Shipping Co. Allen attended my Coaching Master Class programme in Shanghai in 2011. Using my material he kicked off his ‘Buddy’ coaching programme in 2016 for his direct report sales managers. He regularly keeps me in touch with their progress. Allen gave Samson feedback how pleased he was to see Eileen’s business performance improvement in Quarter 4 2017, which he believes relates to Samson’s participation in the ‘Buddy’ programme. He asked Samson to share his recent coaching story as an inspiration for others. Samson is showing really professional attention to detail and thoughtfulness as a coach. And as you will see from the end of the interview below, the story has a very happy ending. Congratulations to both Samson and to Eileen.

 

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Preparing & Planning for Coaching 3 – Creating Coaching Opportunities

Need some inspiration on creating opportunities for coaching sessions? Coaching doesn’t just happen. You need to decide how you will invest your discretionary leadership time to carry out the coaching.

Back in the summer of 2016 I wrote two articles about Preparing & Planning for Coaching. One of the delights of Blogging is to see which articles stand the test of time and are regularly being read by visitors to the website. Such is the case for ‘Preparing & Planning for Coaching’. Here is the next article in the series: ‘Creating Coaching Opportunities’.

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Leadership Interview: Tracy Zhi ‘My Experience as a Coachee’

What does the coachee’s experience look like? We see how a Key Account Sales Manager responds to being coached by her experienced Leader and raises her sales performance within a very short period of time.

This article is a first for me and for the Leadership Coach Blog. It’s also another chapter in an ongoing story about how coaching is Blooming in Shanghai. Exactly one month ago I published the article about Sales Manager Samson Zhou and the coaching he had been completing with his direct report Tracy Zhi. Now it’s Tracy’s turn to tell her story. For the first time we hear from the person being coached. So listen up Leadership Coaches; see what you can learn from Tracy’s experience as a Coachee.

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Leadership Interview: ‘My Coaching Journey’ Richi Mock, Cape Town

Prioritization, patience, listening and accountability – these are the key skills Richi Mock believes he needs as a successful coach.

I usually start off these ‘Leadership Interview’ articles by explaining how and when I met the subject of my interview, and how we have worked together on leadership coaching projects. Not so with Richi Mock. So far I have not met him face-to-face. Yes, we have spoken by phone and had an extensive exchange of emails. Someday I hope our paths cross. As a Guest Author  he has contributed eight rich and varied articles to this Blog since last summer. Richi describes himself as: “An experienced problem solver with a pragmatic approach who continuously evolves by facing new and interesting challenges. A passionate coach who leads a successful team and fills his heart with this wonderful experience”. I can’t disagree with that. Let’s find out more about his coaching journey.

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