Blog
You Don’t Have To Point It Out (WT715)
This week I observed something that triggered me. I was watching a recording of a training video and I noticed that the presenter had spelled one of the words incorrectly on the flipchart. I couldn’t see the message that he received, however he stopped his presentation to address the person who had pointed out the spelling error. Whilst he said “thank you” for pointing it out, he also mentioned that he was dyslexic and didn’t learn to read until he was in his mid twenties. As a result, he spells differently to the rest of us. (A bit of humour.) This triggered me because I didn’t think it was...
That’s Not What I Value (WT714)
Have you ever been shopping and had your mind set on buying a particular thing and the sales assistant appeared to be doing everything they could to talk you out of it? It’s a curious thing. It comes down to what we value. For example, if you’re a salesperson and you want the cheapest price when you buy something, it’s highly likely that you will expect that your clients have the same value. Often they do not. Here’s an example from one of my colleagues. My colleague values his time and efficiency. He went to the hairdresser to get his haircut. The hairdresser thought that the longer she...
Time to F.O.C.U.S (WT713)
Do you struggle to focus at times? I do. I have a plan for the day and often it goes by the wayside. I intend for a task to take 30 minutes and hours later, I find I’m still doing the task. What does it mean to focus? According to Dictionary.com, the meaning of “focus” is “a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity.” According to Cham Tang, co-founder of Authentic Education, F.O.C.U.S. means to “follow one course until successful”. I love this definition because we can use it to help ourselves defeat overwhelm and procrastination. When we have too many things to do and feel...
It’s Boring (WT712)
I was talking with a friend this week. She asked how I was going at the gym. “OK”, I said. “Only just OK?” she asked. “It’s boring”, I blurted out. “Boring?” “Yes, I do the same exercises every time and I find it boring. It’s the same with some yoga classes I’ve attended as well. The same thing week after week after week.” “Hmmm. Do you think that some people might like that? They might like the security of knowing what they will be doing each time and also improving as they practise and repeat?” she enquired. “I suppose so, but that’s not me. I need variety. In one way, that’s why I...
Strengths-Based Selection (WT711)
This week we’re back on the topic of recruitment. It seems that recruitment and retention is the biggest challenge for businesses at the moment so I thought I would share a couple of tips with you. REACH profiling Skills assessment I use the REACH profiling system because it is a comprehensive ecosystem. Not only does it provide a number of different reports such as Personal, Communication and Leadership, we can also generate an Interview Companion. The Interview Companion is gold. It is based on “strengths-based selection”. In other words, we want to hire people in roles that are suited to...
Should I Smile? (WT710)
You might think that’s a bit of a silly question. Should I smile? You might be thinking, “Yes, of course, you should smile”. And I agree. It’s nice when people smile at us first or return a smile. What do you do at the gym and other similar places where people are doing their own thing and sometimes your eyes happen to meet? Do you smile? I’m usually the first one to smile or wave. In fact, years ago, Ross and I were driving home one afternoon, and as we came around a corner, I waved at some of the neighbours on their veranda. “Do you know them?” he asked. “No.” “Then why are you waving?”...
Let’s Talk About Systems (WT709)
The past few Weekly Thoughts have focused on mindset and leadership. This week we need to talk about systems. I’ve been working with a couple of clients the past few weeks, helping with recruitment and creating new finance systems. It’s been a big reminder to me of the value of having systems and processes that others can follow when key people are absent. Let me give you some examples. Client #1 – a key support team member resigned after having worked with the company for 3 years. A team of sales professionals relied on the support and whilst they are actively recruiting for a replacement,...
The Trick Is Not To Resist (WT708)
OMG! I’m SUPER excited. I got up early this week to join a webinar training with David and Carol Bayer talking about Imagination, Visualisation and Actualisation (IVA). I want to share the most important point I took away from the training, “the trick is not to resist”. What this means, is that when we are imagining and visualising the things we want, in what David and Carol refer to as the 4th dimension, we often start comparing that to our current 3rd dimension reality of the 5-senses and therefore we start “resisting” what we want to manifest. Resistance can take the form of...
The Inspiration Call (WT707)
I was coaching with one of my fabulous clients this week. We’ll call her Paris. Paris had booked in for a coaching session around November last year but rescheduled until early January. She had a lot going on with work, kids, extended family and Christmas. As it turns out, there was a bit more going on and Paris admitted that she had decided she wanted to take action from our previous coaching session and then update me with the progress she had made. An Advisor personality, Paris likes to research and analyse all the data. It can sometimes take her (and most Advisors) a while before she...
The Rider and The Elephant (WT706)
It’s the start of a new year and most of us find ourselves looking forward to a bright sunny year ahead. Consciously we set intentions or goals for the year ahead and for many of us, soon become disappointed as the year progresses and we have not achieved what we wanted and we give up. For some, they know this is going to happen so they go straight past the disappointment stage and refuse to set goals, a.k.a. “new year’s resolutions”. So what does “the rider and the elephant” have to do with setting goals? As it turns out, everything. The rider and the elephant is a metaphor used in the...