In the January 1st edition of our newsletter The Full Nelson, I asked the question of:

What is going to be your approach to 2008?

And I based this question around the age-old fable of the Hare and the Tortoise.

A hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing, “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.”

The Hare, believing his assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal.

On the day appointed for the race, the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course.

The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after his fatigue.

The moral of the story?

Slow and steady wins the race.

From that story I then asked the following:

Are you going to come out of the blocks at a thousand miles an hour as you pursue your goals and New Year’s resolutions with a whole heap of excitement and motivation?

If you are, please make sure you don’t fall asleep half way through the year because of either fatigue or boredom.

Or …

Are you going to begin and end the journey of the next 366 (Leap Year) days following the philosophy of the tortoise — Slow and steady wins the race?

As a follow up to that article, I want to share with you the following insight to the ongoing relationship of the Hare and the Tortoise.

The Journey Continues!

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 2:
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realised that he’d lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless, and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there’s no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So, he challenged the tortoise to another race.

The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It’s good to be slow and steady; but it’s better to be fast and reliable.

However the journey still continues:

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 3:
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realised that there’s no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route.

The hare agreed.

The tortoise and hare started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime, the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking, and finished the race.

The moral of the story?

First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

However, the story still has not ended and the journey continues.

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 4
The tortoise and hare, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realised that the last race could have been run much better. So the tortoise and hare decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. Both the tortoise and hare felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they’d felt earlier.

The moral of the story?

It’s good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you’re able to work in a team and harness each other’s core competencies, you’ll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you’ll do poorly and someone else does well.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question is:

Are there a series of steps I can take to improve my levels of personal success?

This is one question that I get asked quite often? And to be honest, it is a question that can be answered in a variety of ways, all of which would be probably correct in their teachings.

What I am going to outline is series of steps and considerations that I believe will go a long way in helping you develop your success, but developing it from a solid base and in a specific order of advancement.

We will start with the foundation and work our way up:

1. Personal

Our foundation for your success is based on the key elements that make you who you are or who you want to be.

Areas such as:
• Values
• Morals
• Ethics
• Standards
• Principles
• Character

All of these have significant role to play in either helping you identify who you are and what you are about, or they become a guidance mechanism towards what you should do and how you should do it.

These elements help identify who you are, what you stand for and what you are prepared to stand up against. Without them your success or future will have no significant foundation from which to grow.

2. Technical

With each and every aspect of life there is a certain skill set that will be necessary to see your success eventuate. Obviously the element of experience will have significant impact. Both general life experience and specific experience related to what you are pursuing. The great thing about experience, is that it is work in motion and that motion can either be slowed or accelerated, depending on the person involved and their desire to increase their levels of experience.

Other technical factors could include:
• Skills
• Knowledge
• Ability
• Aptitude

3. Knowledge

Knowledge is a very broad subject as like experience, there is both specific and general knowledge. But for the perspective of developing success, your knowledge should be based around the areas of:
• Direction
• Goals
• Understanding
• Expectation
• Resource

4. Vision

The elements of vision once again can be diverse, with each having a significant role in the development of your success. And although similar in some respects, there are also some differences that make each area equally important.

Aspects such as:
• Visualisation
• Imagery
• Insight
• Awareness

Should all be considered when looking at the development of this stage of your ladder of success?

5. Psychology

When the subject of psychology comes up in discussion, about its place in performance, more often than not, the discussion soon moves to the subject of motivation and although motivation is a critical component, there are other components that are equally important.

Areas such as:
• Attitude
• Mindset
• Belief

6. Resolve

I believe it would be a safe bet to say that your success or the pursuit of it is not going to be smooth and consistent journey. There will be times when you question the goals you have set yourself, you will question your ability, you will ponder the price, you have to pay to see your success realised and it is at these times, you will need a set of qualities that highlight your level of personal resolve.

Qualities such as:
• Focus
• Attention
• Concentration
• Application

7. Obedience

The next step in the ladder of success that I see as being important is the skill of obedience.

And when I say obedience I say it in the context of:
• Discipline
• Commitment
• Dedication
• Perseverance

8. Emotional Control

The last rung on the ladder of success is the skill of emotional control. The ability to deal with external factors that if you allow them, can and will have a huge negative impact on you and therefore, your ability to reach the levels of success you are pursuing.

When you think about the areas of emotional control you should consider start with these:
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Conflict
• Obstacles

Obviously, there are many more considerations you should contemplate as you go about developing your levels of success. What I have outlined in the Ladder of Success is a set of factors that I believe are paramount in the pursuit of success, no matter what the definition of success is. They are outline in an order that will build your success in the right chronological order.

But regardless of whether you choose to build your success on the principles I have outlined, or you choose a completely different method remember:

The Journey Continues!

I am quite sure that we all recognise that the element of change is a regular part of everyday life.

Therefore through answering this month’s question of:

Something around change management - and breaking through resistance to change.

I hopefully will be able to provide some information that will be able to be used in a diversity ways.

So to be begin with I would imagine that you have heard the saying ‘change only comes out of necessity’? The foundation to this statement is based on the fact that necessity is either externally demanded or internally generated. Change either comes from drastic actions or an evolutionary adjustment or adaptation.

The one thing to remember as you go about dealing with change, is that it is happening around you in more areas than you probably care to imagine and in many facets of life. What was the norm yesterday will no longer be relevant tomorrow. (Think about that computer you bought last year?)

Therefore your ability to deal with change has a huge bearing on how change will be addressed and handled within all aspects of your organisation.

Studies have shown that it is not necessarily bad ideas or technology that are to blame for the failure of change but more often than not, it is the human element that is the cause of failure associated with the concept of change.

The first aspect to know and understand is; will those around you be masters of change or slaves of change? Those that decide to be masters of change will work hard to make sure that the implementation of change is a positive experience for all who are touched by it.

Where as on the other hand, those that fight the process of change usually end up becoming a slave to change. By this I mean, that they are constantly held back because they continue to fight change, and in most cases for all the wrong reasons.

In many instances the acceptance of the process of change is dependant upon those affected by the change having trust in those that are introducing and are responsible for leading the team or the organisation through the element of change.

The steps of change:

6. Ownership
5. Commitment
4. Desire
3. Understanding
2. Reluctance
1. Fear

The six steps above represent the evolutionary process associated with the acceptance of change.

1. Fear

In many cases change has an ability to promote the emotion of fear. That fear is usually generated because of the fact that:

a. Those involved do not understand the reason for change or the benefits of the change.

b. Those associated with the change do not believe in the leaders ability to deal with the element of change.

c. Those affected by the element of change don’t have a great deal of confidence in themselves to be able to operate under the direction or conditions that come about because of the change.

2. Reluctance

After the initial emotion of fear has been removed by a better understanding of the impending change. Those affected by change begin to look at how they will be affected. Regardless of wether the level of affect is small or large the reaction is usually the same.

Most people do not like change or what it brings and therefore the initial, almost non-conscious response is one of reluctance. However once the questions of:

WIFM – What’s in it for me?
WTA- What’s their agenda?
AIGS – Am I getting screwed?

Have been answered to a positive conclusion then the reluctance will correspondingly begin to dissipate.

3. Understanding

By the time the third stage has been reached, those affected by the change will have overcome their initial fears, they will have realised there is no need to be reluctant to the process of change.

The reason being is that they have a greater and more extensive understanding of the theory, rationale and benefit associated with the change.

Sometimes this elevated understanding will come from a communication and follow up from those driving the change. But more likely the acceptance will come about because for numerous self-generated reasons they have brought about an increased understanding of the change.

4. Desire

Because those affected by the change can now see the benefits of the change and hopefully, not just as it benefits them. Although in many cases the level of acceptance will be dependant upon the level of individual benefit.

They will have an increased desire to see the change implemented and the benefits generated.

5. Commitment

Once the desire is there to see the process of change implemented there is a corresponding commitment to both the process associated to that implementation and also a huge commitment to the outcomes that hopefully the change will deliver.

6. Ownership

Because of many reasons, overall benefit being the main one, by the time those affected by the element of change have worked their way through the evolutionary process and have reached stage six, they have an ownership to both the process of the change, but more importantly an ownership towards the results the change will bring.

It is ironic that the most influential step (ownership) in the ability for change to be successful and to generate success is the last one.

But the important thing to remember here is that there is no specific timeline associated with this evolutionary process. As a leader the quicker you can take those you lead, without missing any steps of the evolutionary process, the quicker the benefits of the change will be realised.

Ultimately though the acceptance of change is dependant upon the mindset of the individual.

As I said earlier there are two different forms of change:

1. Change that is communicated to you
2. Change that is communicated by you

Change other than self generated change usually brings with it it’s own set of stress. Change is one of the major causes of stress. Stress is not from the change itself but from our reaction to it.

Many times that stress is caused because most people react to change as though the change is directed at them personally. We are habitual by nature and therefore any change that is put to us affects our habits that in turn, create in us a negative mindset that the change is personal.

However the much needed positive mindset can and will be influenced at times by external forces that allow you to see certain benefits, therefore allowing you to more easily adapt to the practicalities of the change.

There is a series of Peaks and Troughs that you go through in regard to the acceptance of change:

The most important position for the mindset of the individual in the acceptance of the need to change is that you do not know it all and you do not have it all. Get this part right and the process of change might not be easy but it will be easier.

Here are some of my observations in how people deal with change:

• Most people change just enough to get away from their problems, but not enough to solve them.

• Most people want to change their circumstance to improve their life, rather than changing themselves to improve their circumstances.

• Most people change because they feel the pain and not because they see the benefit.

• Most people do not like having to pay the price associated with change. They are not that thrilled with what the change might bring, but they absolutely detest the price required to bring the change about.

• Most people look upon change as an uncomfortable thing that has to be done rather than a beneficial thing that can be done.

• For most, how they view change and everything associated with it will determine how successful that change will be.

The Journey Continues!

There is distinct difference between being nervous about a performance, presentation, meeting or a situation and being anxious to a point of uncontrollable fear based emotion.

Nervousness prior to an event is just a sign that what you are about to encounter is something that is meaningful for you, nothing more nothing less.

However the feeling of significance is a benefit only to the point where it does not force you to change your focus or beliefs. By this I mean, the level of nervousness is such that is still allows you to maintain a clarity of focus on what needs to be done and to maintain a level of belief in yourself or in others who are involved.

However this month’s question of:

How do I deal with the anxiety I get?

Is one where there are any number of factors that need to be considered to provide a true and accurate strategy to go forward with.

You can deal with anxiety in two different ways:

1. Preparation
You do what you can well before so that the chances of anxiety being created are minimized.

2. Coping
If anxiety does come about, you have a set of strategies that allow you to deal with it then and there.

And as important it is to have the coping strategies, I would suggest that you prepare in a way that removes almost any chance of anxiety being witnessed as you go about doing what you have to do.

But as neither way of dealing with anxiety should be ruled out, we will break this up into two parts. Today we will work on the preparation side of things.

I will attempt to give you five areas to consider in regard to dealing with anxiety prior to it happening.

1. What is the cause of the angst

In essence the initial focus should be to discover what is the cause of the anxiety.

• Fear of success
• Fear of failure
• Fear of change
• Fear of getting out of your comfort zone
• Fear of non acceptance

In my experiences high levels of anxiety are usually formed because of the desire for the attainment of a particular outcome e.g. Can we really with this game? Can I fulfill my role? Am I better than my opposition? Am I going to perform well today?

You see the problem is that we focus on something, that in reality, we have little or no control over, the outcome, e.g. Winning. Beating the opposition. But this does not mean that getting what we want is out of our control, it just means we are focusing on the wrong thing.

It is very important to understand this point. We may not have absolute control over an outcome, but we do have control over the process or what it will take to get the job done.

So my first pieces of advice would be to first understand what is causing the anxiety and second, to start focusing on the process or what it will take for you to succeed rather than the outcome itself.

2. Know where your confidence comes from

In my opinion confidence is very personal emotion. That is that confidence can be stimulated and stifled by any number of particular means. However, one of the key drivers of confidence is demonstrated ability.

Generally speaking for most people knowing what you have done in the past will help you have confidence in what you have to do in the future.

And when I say that, I don’t mean just because you have beaten a team last time you played that you should be overly confidence to beat them again.

However if you have practised and prepared well in each and every area that can and will have an affect on the outcome, then you should have a certain confidence to do well. Remember your levels of success will be a direct reflection of your levels of preparation.

The other thing to identify with, is that you don’t always have to have confidence in doing something you have never done before. Like achieving an outcome you have never achieved before.

But because of your levels of preparation, you should have confidence in yourself and those around you, that you can do the things that you have identified as the key drivers of optimal performance. That is, that you can successfully implement and complete certain strategies, plays and options that when completed successfully, will have you well on your way to achieving your overall outcome.

3. Practise dealing with fear

The reason the levels of anxiety continue to rise is because you become fearful of what the result might be. And rather than learning how to deal with that feeling, most people do what they can to avoid it or not to have the fear in the first place, by not putting themselves in the position where that fear can be aroused.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of themselves and the situation most continue to find the fear coming at them in a number of different ways and never really learn how to operate when they are fearful.

My advice, well an idea from a great friend of mine (Graeme Alford) is practise being fearful, practise being out of your comfort zone.

By this, I mean think about some things that make you feel a bit uncomfortable and start putting yourself in those positions. This is what we call comfort zone exercises. And I would suggest you have and have one short term and one long-term comfort zone exercises going at once. I don’t know what you might feel uneasy about doing so, it is hard to make suggestions but bear with me and we will see how we go.

Short Term:

• No coffee for a week
• No desert after dinner
• No chocolate
• Give up alcohol and cigarettes for a period
• Have lunch with work colleagues you don’t particularly get on with
• Take a toastmaster’s course and MC the annual work Christmas party
• Take singing lessons and start practising the national anthem
• Take a high speed driving course
• Don’t eat until you are hungry. No I mean really hungry
• Wear clothes for a short period that are not really you
• Take diving, caving or learn to fly classes

Long Term

• Take public transport to work for one year
• Exercise three times per week 30 mins each time for a year
• Sit on the committee of you local sporting club for a season
• Be a volunteer at a local homeless shelter
• Get out of bed 1 hour earlier each day
• Walk to work for a year
• Drink nothing but water for a year
• Enrol in an education course that you know you are not strong in
• 1 hour each week for one year, do something you do not like to do

You see it doesn’t really matter what you do, just as long as you become a bit fearful when you think about doing it, or you become fearful of what others might think about you doing it.

The key to overcoming your fear or anguish is to put yourself in this position where you learn the skill of being able to do what you need to, when you are fearful.

The other great benefit in doing this little exercise is that as you do these different activities, you will soon realise that you are a lot better than what you give yourself credit for and the reality is that you really have nothing to be fearful of.

4. Stop worrying about what others might think

I would imagine that some of the anxiety might come form the situation where you become concerned about what others might think about, what you do and how you do it.

Now the first thing to contemplate here is that this scenario should only come into play when you think about particular individuals you know that have the experience and understanding to make relevant and insightful judgment calls on you, what you do and how you do it. e.g. team mates, coaches, leaders etc.

The rest that want to pass judgment you should work hard to not worry about.

But you shouldn’t get anxious about filling the expectations of those that you know have the experience, the skill and the awareness to make judgment call in regard to you.

The reality should be that your expectation about you and your levels of performance should be higher than anyone else’s expectations.

Your expectations on you should be based on what you know to be true, through how you have prepared, through the skill you possess, through the commitment, desire and discipline you continue to show.

If you have prepared properly, your expectations will be in most cases a lot higher than what anyone else’s will be, therefore the level of expectations from others no longer become a problem.

The other thing here is to make sure you utilise the observations and awareness of others. Bring together a small group of people that you respect and have experience to be able to give you open and honest feedback on you, your preparation and ultimately your performance.

I know it is not always easy to take feedback, especially when it is not really what you want to hear. But know that you are never going to get better with everyone telling you that you did a great job and everything you did was on the money.

So don’t be fearful of someone telling you that was ordinary look at that information as great insight and something that is going to allow you to be better next time.

5. Understand failure is part of the journey of success

Think about anyone you deem to be successful. Not everything they have done was successful. They sometimes throw a bad pass, missed a goal dropped the ball, made a wrong decision, hired the wrong person etc.

Most successful people realise that failure is somewhere, sometime and somehow going to happen. They do what they can to make sure it doesn’t, but they know that chances are that in some way failure will raise its ugly head. But they also understand this critical point; that failure is allowing them to be one step closer to success.

They don’t necessarily want failure to happen but when it does, it is no big deal. Why? Because they demand a lot of themselves and they know sometime they might push a bit hard and therefore they will fail. However, they don’t see this a failing. They view this as a learning experience.

Failure only becomes a negative if we don’t learn from it.

So as you can see, dealing with anxiety is about dealing with issues well and truly before you are in the situation from where the anxiety can be created.

Like most things in life anxiety is a work in progress and different people, situations, results and expectations will have a different affect on different people all for different reasons.

Hopefully though by working through what we have outlined, when you find yourself in these types of situations, you maybe become a little nervous and hopefully not much else.

The Journey Continues!

Inspiration is an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes you are aware of either the opportunity and/or your ability to inspire someone, whereas in other areas you are an inspiration for people you have never met.

Some people choose to be an inspiration or at least are thrown into a circumstance where they need to be an inspiration and through either one of these situations attempt to exhibit certain traits; behaviours and attitudes that they anticipate will be inspirational for others.

On the other hand others will just get on with life and through what they do and how they do it will inspire others to greater levels of personal and professional success, satisfaction and pride.

Therefore this month’s question of:

How do I inspire others?

Is one where the answer can involve any number of different facets, attitudes, circumstances and situations? I will attempt to give you a brief insight to a number of my key considerations.

1. Don’t over rely on external means

I don’t know how many times I have been asked to present to a group, with the expectation being that through a 45 min talk inspire them to greatness for the next 12 months or so. Now I like to think I am reasonably good at what I do, but the reality is that me or anyone else for that matter will not through one 45min presentation be able to inspire anyone over a prolonged period of time.

The other area that I continue to see teams, organisations and leaders over rely on is Mission/Vision statements. Like most things other individuals, presentations, situations and writings will to a certain degree inspire people. However if you develop a Mission/Vision statement to put it in a nice frame and hang it in the meeting room or displaying it on everyone’s coffee mug and in the process expect it to be powerful enough to inspire greatness then you will in most cases be bitterly disappointed.

Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t do these things but what I am saying is don’t over rely on these or similar situations to be the main source of inspiration for those around you. At best they will be reminders or triggers to certain aspects that could have an ability to inspire.

2. Use your greatest resources

There are three resources that you have right now that can play a very significant role in aiding the inspiration of others.

a. You
Once again never underestimate the affect you have on those around you. But remember this applies both positively and negatively. What you do, how you do it. And how often you do it will determine to what degree and in what ways you inspire others.

Validation of feelings is the greatest accolade we can afford another person. Spend time with others and in doing so show them their true worth, simply by highlighting how good they are and how they are good. Through this interaction you will provide them with a key source of inspiration.

b. Team
The team of individuals around the person seeking inspiration will have an opportunity to play a considerable role in the level and significance of that inspiration. Once again simply by being themselves, doing what they are required to do and looking after those around them will inspire other individuals to do the same.

When we see greatness, success and unselfish behaviour in others it does have an ability to inspire the pursuit of greatness and success for ourselves.
To help inspire others understand and utilise the circle of influence that sits around them. That is know the people that inspire them and why and where appropriate utilise that resource to help inspire the individual you are looking to help.

c. Environment/Culture
If the environment is right inspiration will flow and flow at a great rate. If there is a sense of purpose, a preparedness to get on with the job, a feeling of camaraderie, and sense of pride in what they do and how you they it, chances are most will be inspired to bring their A game to the arena every day.

The environment/culture around the individual will either help or hinder the process of inspiration. Create and culture and an environment that will provide inspiration to all who are associated with it.

3. Inspiration can come from within

In the August edition of The Full Nelson I wrote:

Where do you draw inspiration?

What is it that, when you see it or hear it, gets the adrenalin flowing?

What aspect of human endeavour causes you to be motivated?

What aspects of life cause your skin to tingle?

I want you to think about the answers to these questions and think about them carefully. It is important that you know the answers to these and other similar questions.

But as we have some time while you think about the answers to those questions, if I may, let me ask you another:

Do you ever recognise that things that you have done also inspire, motivate and fire up others who witness them?

Chances are that the humility within you will stop you from being honest here; but I really think it is important that you recognise these aspects of self, that you sometimes look for from others.

Now from my perspective, the two main reasons that you do not always recognise the significant achievements in your life are:

(1) Because they’re about you and perhaps you don’t see what you do or how you do it as anything special; and

(2) As a first time witness, you don’t usually get the exhilaration of seeing the finished product or end result.

It is great that you can find aspects of life from which you draw inspiration motivation and purpose. But as you do, never discount the things you do and how you do them. Don’t ever miss the opportunity to be true to your standards and self, but at the same time never sell yourself short.

If it is OK for others to draw the inspiration and motivation from you, but it is also OK for you to draw inspiration and motivation from the same source.

Now this is not about ego or being full of your own self-importance, or thinking you are better than you are. It is about taking the time and, in the right way, recognising the things that you have done and how well you have done them.

Recognise the things that you have done and done well — the things that have made a difference to your life and no doubt a difference to the lives of those around you. As you do take that step back to recognise all things good that have your footprint on them.

4. Create clarity of purpose

Not as in why they need to be inspired. But more along the lines of how they will be inspired.

As a coach one of my main ambitions and focus was to work with the people I was around to identify a sense of purpose, a set of goals and a set of achievements that they would take great pride in pursuing and achieving.

However I don’t think inspiration will come from the intricacy of a plan, or the identification of a goal. But I do think that the significance of achievement of goals or prospect of reaching the heights to which one aspires will create some level of inspiration, but not necessarily prolonged inspiration.

Outcome, goals achievements. What you get from them, what you become by the pursuit of them will all lead to a certain level of inspiration?

Purpose if identified properly. Purpose if understood correctly. Purpose with true significance will provide inspiration each and everyday simply because that purpose provides the gravity behind what is done, the standard to which it is done, the respect gained through what is achieved, and what will be accomplished each and everyday.

So as I said earlier there are a thousand and one ways you can help inspire others, however before any of it has a chance of working the person must be positioned the be an active participant in the process of going forward. But through some of the things we have outlined and through some of the ideas you have you will soon have those around you moving forward in the excursion of life.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question of:

What are the critical aspects in developing leaders?

Is like answering how long is a piece of string. Everyone will have an opinion and idea or an answer and chances are all of them would be right. I am going to outline four areas that I feel are important.

These are in no particular order.

1. Get them to see the value and benefit of them being themselves

The skills and attributes needed for effective leadership will be constantly in demand. These skills and attributes can be learned from many different sources.

The advantage to most leaders is that the area of leadership has a great many role models from which leadership can learned. These role models, although from many different facets of leadership, whether it be life, sport, education or business, all have a diversity of attributes that would be beneficial to anyone, to know and understand.

As you are developing your leadership, you will no doubt have numerous leadership influences around you. People you know personally that you think highly of and respect and also people you revere and admire from afar.

These people have particular traits either personally and/or professionally that you believe, if added to your leadership toolbox, will help you become a better leader.

And chances are they probably will.

However, with that being said, one of the greatest mistakes I see in people as they try to develop and improve their leadership is they, not always through desire, almost become a mirror image of the person they are learning the leadership skills from.

Their actions, terminology, thinking, philosophy, all begin to become a direct copy of the person from which they are learning these skills. Big mistake.

One of the key areas of your focus and their leadership development should be to not become a mirrored image of the person you are using as leadership role model. Not to become a mini me by using the same vocab, the same body language, same action strategies and positions that they do.

The challenge is to understand what these leadership icons do and why, how and when that works and to then rebuild it in a way that suits your leadership style and that fits in with your own personal philosophy of leadership, the situation you are involved with and most importantly, suits the needs of the people you lead.

See the bottom line in all of this is that as a leader you will be at your best when you are being themselves.

Why?

Well let’s put it this way?

Why would anyone feel confident in following the lead of someone that is not even confident enough to be themselves? If you don’t have the courage to be yourself, then how could others have the courage to follow someone they don’t know? Or for that matter, why should they?

Make sure as you are working on becoming the best that they can be, you are also developing the confidence in being yourself. You see, one of the most important things about leadership is being yourself.

Although your leadership may not be up to scratch on a few areas, you will be far more effective leader by being yourself, and then working at improving you, than what you will ever be trying to be someone else.

2. Developing a philosophy of leadership

Philosophy of leadership is a set of rules, guidelines, positions or beliefs that have been identified or created that provides the foundations of the leadership style.

This is all about you and who you are as a leader. What you are about, what you stand for, what you are prepared to stand up against.

These are insights of you that need to be defined, outlined, understood and evaluated.

Defined in as far as what are the qualities, values and standards that make up your style and philosophy as a leader?

Outlined so that you know each area and what is the rationale behind each aspect. Understood so that you truly know them front to back and all points in between.

Evaluated in that you look at what you have. How it works for the situation you are involved with? Then from that evaluation what you go forward with. What needs to be changed? What needs to be removed and what needs to be added?

All of this allows you to know you as a leader and through this how you will do what you do and in doing so, allow those you lead to know and understand you as a leader.

It is not important that these ideas are not original, but is it is important that they are seen as a reflection of you and that you do have a strong belief in them and an ownership of the values they represent.

Because without doubt the single biggest mistake that people in a position of influence make is that they are not being themselves. People can see that this is not truly them. Then automatically your ability to influence and lead is reduced

So in creating this personal philosophy of leadership, it is important to create your own, but you can use a variety of influences from other people etc to help you develop and refine your philosophy.

However, it is imperative though that you really think through each and every aspect of your leadership philosophy. As your philosophy should be a reflection of you, what you stand for, and where you are heading.

Once your philosophy of leadership has been determined and you start through your communication, your actions and your expectations to put it out in the public domain, it is imperative that you do not do anything that compromises that philosophy or causes confusion to the people you are leading.

Your philosophy will bring a consistency of approach to those you lead.

Your philosophy of leadership can and should overview a variety of areas and standards. But they should represent key areas of relevance to your particular leadership style and situation.

Here is just a small sample of aspects to consider in your Philosophy of Leadership:

• Leadership by commitment or coercion
• Standards
• Behaviour
• Ethics
• Values
• Flexibility
• Compromise
• Discipline
• Teaching
• Communication
• Recognition and rewards
• Responsibility and accountability

3. Observation, Awareness and understanding

One of the great insights I received into effective coaching/leadership came from one of my mentors, Bill Sweetenham, the then (1988) Head Coach of Swimming at the Australian Institute of Sport.

It was one of those days where I was getting taught a number of very valuable lessons and insight and as part of the conversation that I asked Bill “What are some of the attributes of a great coach”

His reply was:

“Everybody sees but very few observe”

It is something that I have never forgotten and after doing what I have for the past twenty-five years, I can truly vouch for the significance of this statement.

In my experiences, the truly effective leaders that I have come across have the desire and ability to be an observer of life. Not just as it relates to their profession, but to all things that are going on.

I suppose the second step of this skill is that through this heightened levels of observation, awareness and understanding, the effective leader knows what is relevant, what to act on, what to leave alone and what to store for safe keeping.

Take a minute if you will and think about the truly great leaders you recognise and acknowledge.

Now that you have that image in your mind start to think about their powers of observation, understanding and awareness.

Now as you start to see these attributes, it is almost like these leaders are super human:
• They can hear better
• They can see better
• They are always one step ahead of where they need to be
• And two steps ahead of everyone else

These things don’t just happen by chance though, the effective leader works hard at going about their day to day routines but at the same time, they are observing all that is going on around them. They practice the skill of increased observation everyday.

Let’s look at some of the areas you should be having an awareness of:

• Where you are heading and why?
• What needs to be done to get you there?
• Where you are at any given time in relation to those goals?
• What changes need to be addressed and why?
• What is the best way v easiest way to implement change?
• Awareness of when things should or should not be done.
• What are the levels of competition?
• What are the opposition doing and why?
• Is what the opposition doing, working?

And of course some the most important observations are related to the people that you lead:

• What do the team members want from the leader, the business, the opportunity and also from life?
• Where is the team at any given time, both individually and collectively?
• Where is each team member in regard to their goals and the process required to achieve them?

I often get asked “How far should I go in getting to know and understanding the people I lead?” My answer is always the same “How successful do you want them to be?”.

The more you know about them, the better position you will be in to be able to help them get to where they need to be.

It is not just a case of being aware, but being able to effectively act upon the information that you have.

Otherwise, awareness becomes a leadership weakness as opposed to a strength.

Really knowing and understanding the people you lead is a significant aspect of effective leadership.

• Knowing their wants and needs
• Knowing their goals and aspirations
• Knowing their circles of influence
• Knowing their motivators
• Knowing their de-motivators
• Knowing their likes and dislikes
• Knowing their energy cycles

All of this and so much more, can come about without asking them one single question. It can all be gained from your observations and levels of awareness.

A lot of this is at the micro-level, but what about at the macro level? What differences exist within the people you lead that can and will influence who they are, what they do, and how they do it?

This macro level of observation and understanding is another level that you as a leader need to know, and know well.

What are the differences between?

• Male and Female
• Young and Old
• Experienced and Inexperienced
• Front Office and Back Office
• Baby Boomers v Generation X v Generation Y
• Morning people v Evening people
• Leaders v Followers
• Doers v Thinkers
• Talkers v Listeners
• Individuals v Team Players
• Strategic v Unstructured

On one side you are The Teacher, you are The Leader, you are The Coach: You help people see opportunity; you teach people skill; you provide them with experience; you increase their ability and their confidence.

But on the other side, you are The Student: The Student of the people you lead.

They teach you about how they think, what they believe, why they do the things they do, and where their levels of confidence and belief are at.

They will show you what they are going to do in the future, by what they have done in the past.
You will take them forward and do a great job simply by what you know. However, you will take them a lot further and a lot higher when you know them, what they know, what they believe and what they want.

Observation and understanding is one thing. But where appropriate take action on what you observe and see.

“They know what’s going on but they don’t do anything about it”-Sound familiar?

4. Communication

Effective communication is one of the keys to quality leadership.

Effective communication takes on various forms depending upon the individual, circumstance, timeline, venue, mindset etc

One of its most important aspects is to say what you mean and mean what you say, while at the same time, not offending anyone or leaving things open to individual interpretation.

As a leader and, therefore, a communicator, you need to think about what you say and how you say it, and then how that communication is therefore being received and interpreted.

Ideally, you want your communication to be understood in the way you believe it should. Anything less than this, can lead to confusion and in some cases, hardship for all concerned.

The reality is that there is no advantage in saying one thing and having it heard, thought about and acted upon in a totally different way.

The other aspect to consider is how your previous communication and/or actions are going to influence the way people interpret your current communication.

Has what you have said and done in the past, positioned people to read or interpret in a certain way a difference between what you have said and what they think you are really saying?

Leadership communication is not just about telling someone what he or she should do or how he or she should do it. The true art of effective communication is an integral aspect towards and part of effective leadership.

The desire to find and execute the best form of communication as opposed to the easiest is a challenge that sits before all leaders. Yes, communication these days with the advent of e-mails, voice mail, text messages etc can be done very easily, but this is a long way from necessarily being effective.

Great Leaders want to embrace and engage those that they lead through effective, insightful and relevant communication.

But to be honest with you, everyone that I have ever seen become successful in any aspect of life, has been an excellent communicator.

Excellent communicators become involved in the process. They make sure that the message they are trying to convey is well understood by the person to whom they are directing their communication.

Likewise though, they want to understand what the person they are communicating with is trying to say. They listen, they question, they comment, and they make sure they understand.

There is no covert communication. The people they communicate with find the experience easy and, depending on the situation, enjoyable and enlightening.

The excellent communicators body language and facial expressions show the people around them that they are listening to what they have to say.

They are careful not to interrupt. They listen to understand as opposed to listening so they can make their next statement of support or rebuttal.

They engage the people they are with, both through their sincerity and through their commitment to the process of communication.

It is this type of skill, commitment and preparedness that will go a long way to helping you in everyday leadership situations.

Improving your ability to effectively communicate will help you in so many ways, on so many days that I could not even begin to highlight them all for you. Without doubt, working to improve your ability to effectively communicate is a required discipline.

However, the beauty of this discipline is that the outcomes it delivers, not only benefit you, but will benefit everyone you come into contact with.

From a personal perspective, I almost always try to use face to face communication and this probably comes from my experiences as a swimming coach where each and everyday you would have somewhere between 4 -7 hours face to face contact with the swimmers.

You had the opportunity to watch them in many different ways and in many different environments. These opportunities were vital in developing an understanding of each and every one of the people I was working with. However, it was also this experience that made me realise at times there were more effective ways of communicating.

The advantages of face-to-face communication are that you get a chance to see how the recipient takes in the information. You have the opportunity to witness first hand their reaction. If you are on the receiving end of the interaction, face-to-face communication allows you to see the emotion that is associated with the information that you are receiving. You will be able to read the signs. Is what I am being told the truth? Is the person really positive about this situation? Have they got a passion and commitment to what it is they are telling me?

As said earlier, I have also seen that at times face-to-face communication can stifle the communication process. Some people are completely uneasy about discussing certain issues face to face. They are far more at ease and more likely to open up and participate fully when the communication process is done in another manner.

Sometimes a phone call will alleviate some of this apprehension and the communication process can be beneficial to both parties. However, there will be situations where a phone conversation is too personal and one party still feels totally uneasy in this type of situation.

When this type of situation occurs, you will need to resort to another method of communication. The use of mail, fax e-mail etc all come into play here as well as your understanding of what you require from the communication process, answers, expediency, information, relationship-building opportunities.

The success of your communication is not entirely based on what it is you have to say. It is based on the information being presented, the manner in which it is presented, the opportunity for the recipient to receive it in the correct manner, the strength of the communication, so that the recipient understands the significance of the communication.

As you can see the art of effective communication is all about how the recipient reacts to the information presented. Therefore, the manner in which it is presented is vital for the success of the information being fully digested and acted upon.

So before you continue to be frustrated by the fact that you never get a reply or response to some of your communication, ask yourself: “Am I using the best form of communication with this person?”

“Are they comfortable in receiving it in this form? Is it convenient for them to receive this type of communication? Does this type of communication fit in with their day-to-day activity or lifestyle?”

Although these questions seem to make the communication more arduous than it probably needs to be, it is all about discovering the best form of communication for each and every opportunity that you create.

Therefore your focus and priority as an effective communicator is not going to be the most convenient method of communication. It is going to be about the best method of communication.

As a leader, your communication focus should be all about effective communication. That is; developing rapport with the people you lead, understanding them and where they are coming from and when appropriate acting upon the information you receive and if you do this for them, I am quite sure the will respond in exactly the same manner.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question:

What is the right balance of head, heart and guts as a decision maker?

I know what I am about to run through will look like I am not prepared to give a definitive answer to a great question. I don’t want it to look that way, but too some it might. The reason being; that in my opinion there is no set standard of balance between Head, Heart and Guts when it comes to decision making or anything else for that matter.

However, I do believe it is important that all three become part of any decision making process. Ultimately though, the right balance will depend upon many different considerations.

Considerations such:
The situation
The outcome
The influences
Available information
Level of risk

On the other side of the ledger you would need to consider:
Your personality
Your leadership style
Your vision and focus
Your experience
Your levels of understanding
Your past decision making process

As you can see there are numerous factors that would need to be considered in the process or structure of your decision-making. However, there is also an opportunity, and in many cases, a real and relevant need to include the aspects of Head, Heart and Guts.

Now with that stated, I would also suggest the idea of a weighted scale that allows you to use all three elements of Head, Heart and Guts, but to what amount of each would depend upon the appropriateness of each area, as their relevance, significance and appropriateness will vary from decision to decision.

The reality is that you will operate from a different perspective in your decision making depending on a wide a variety of considerations, not to mention pressures, levels of clarity, understanding and information processing. One cannot use the same style of decision making every day. The need for diversity of approach changes moment-to-moment, situation-to-situation, and decision-to-decision.

We can always do better as decision makers, whether it is professionally or personally. But as you continue to develop yourself, your thinking, your understanding, and therefore your decision-making, it is vitally important to stay true to yourself.

Each and every decision you make must have your DNA attached. It should be easy for anyone influenced by the decisions you make to see you in how the decision has been reached and why.

They may not always agree with your decision, but their level of unease is somewhat reduced, simply because they can see your consistency of approach in the decision that has been made and through the process that led you to the decision.

As a leader of people, each and everyday you will be placed in the position of chief decision maker and those decisions need to be made based on some type of criteria.

Many times that criteria is developed through your past experiences, it is aided by a system or structure, or it can be helped by the information you have available.

I would also suggest emotion to some degree will be involved in your decision-making procedure.

The skill is not to remove or ignore the emotion, but to truly understand the level of emotion involved and its ability to influence you.

You should have a sense of understanding about you and your tendencies towards the emotional aspects of decision-making. That understanding at the very least is to guard against your own worst tendencies.

Let’s look at it this way. If you’re over optimistic, you’re likely to gloss over the threat of things going wrong. If you’re pessimistic, you might have a tendency to dwell on the negatives. And if you’re greedy, you might be so tempted by potential rewards, that you overlook risk altogether.

Probe the basis of your belief. We often make decisions based upon our assumptions, be prepared to test those assumptions against the reality of the situation. Test your opinions by looking for information that challenges your beliefs, rather than looking for information that supports your opinions.

Be prepared to look at your areas of expertise, your beliefs and your philosophies, and honestly assess the restrictions. Search for examples. Identify situations or individuals that have faced a similar decision. Evaluate their experiences to better prepare for your own decision. Watch for over confidence in yourself and others when you venture outside your individual perspective.

If at all possible, do a partial test-run. By this I mean, create a scenario in line with your overall objective, but only do part of the overall decision just to see how it might unfold.

Within the process of making decisions, it is vitally important to look further than one step ahead and to also take into consideration all future options.

Continually and consistently search for new information or insight which may help you in the decision making process. As long as you know where to search for the relevant information - and can verify the accuracy of what you learn - you will be well positioned to see all sides of an issue and make a sensible judgment.

The most effective decisions flow from your ability to surmise the right information, to read the situation correctly and to ask the right person the right question at the right time.

You should also consider: What are the costs associated with this decision and are the benefits worth the cost?

We’ve all heard stories of leaders or we know someone that has for whatever reason, decided to take a rather large risk and from that action, have been able to deliver some outstanding results. Basically, they were willing to make bold decisions with no real understanding, if the outcome they were pursuing would ever be attained.

However, the reality is that most successful leaders take a balanced approach to risk. That is; they accept that risk is inherent, but they make a sharp distinction between calculated risk and careless risk.

They look at a couple of key areas to help them make the distinction, areas such as:

1. Identify the cost
You have to be clear about your viewpoint, theories and assumptions and think through the potential consequences of any decision you make. Ask yourself what could go wrong under any and all circumstances, both internally and externally, and then evaluate the potential effect and magnitude.

Before deciding, picture the expected outcomes of your decision and mentally forecast the ramifications of your chosen course of action.

2. Diversify your approach to reduce the risk
Without turning your back on any element of risk, make sure that you put the context of risk into the bigger picture. That way you can offset risky decisions, ventures, or initiatives with more predictable outcomes.

3. Know when, how and where to read the warning signs
Make a point of understanding, monitoring and analysing the aspects that a favourable outcome of your decision depends upon. Work hard to detect if things aren’t working, as you believe they should be.

Makes sure you have created a network of people that can help you monitor the situation or hold you accountable to the things you should be monitoring.

So hopefully from what we have outlined, you can see that there is a role for Head, Heart and Guts both individually and collectively in your decision making process. To what degree you use any or all of them, is a decision best left to you once you have considered they types of things we have just worked through.

The Journey Continues!

This months questions:

What should I do to prepare for retirement?

Now my answer to this question is one that is applicable to many different transitions of life. Situations such as, when you are preparing to leave high school, when you are looking to change occupations, when you are looking to enter into a new relationship.

I will work my way through a few key points to attempt to give my perspective on what should be considered in these types of situations.

1. Think what before how

We will start with what; in my mind is undoubtedly the single most important point to a successful transitional shift. Most times when people are planning a transition in their life, they start to look at what they are going to do. And when you think about it, this type of thinking does make sense. However the biggest problem to overcome when making a transitional shift is how will the new aspect be able to replace the old. E.G Will what you do in retirement, provide similar things to what you did prior to retirement.

So my suggestion is when you begin the process associated with making a transitional shift in life, to start by looking at what is it you want to get from the experience as opposed to what are you going to do to gain that experience?

When I say what is it you want to get from the experience, I say that so you look at the question from a number of different angles.

Financially
Spiritually
Physically
Emotionally
Holistically

The reality is that regardless of what the things you are looking to gain from the experience end up being, there will be numerous methods by how that can be delivered.

For instance if you were wanting to get the following from the experience of retirement.

Fun
Challenges
Freedom
Relaxation
Personal growth
Unstructured
Sense of purpose

There are probably numerous pursuits that you could do that would provide these types of benefits. Some would suit you, your personality, your circumstance, your budget, and your wants and needs, where as others would not.

Work your way through the ones that will do it the best and all of a sudden, you have a transition that has you doing the things you want to be doing and providing you with the things you want to gain from doing it.

2. Where you end up

You have probably heard it said a few times but for me whenever we are looking to make transitional changes in our life, it is not that important where you start but it is important where you end up.

Retirement (like the other situations outlined) is an evolutionary process it will continue to provide great excitement, achievement frustration, happiness challenges no matter what. And that and so much more is what is going to make it a wonderful and enjoyable experience.

As time goes on you will continually see yourself going to different places both geographically, spiritually and personal growth wise. You will see yourself at times being a long way from where you started and that is OK.

3. Be an active participant

Life and what comes with it will be to some degree a master and servant relationship. In good times chances are you will be the master, in less than good times the reverse is usually the norm. You need to be an active participant before, during and after any aspect of transition within your life.

Don’t sit around waiting and hoping that good things will come your way, that your retirement (or anything else for that matter) is going to be all that you want and more. If you want great things to happen in your retirement years then do what needs to be done to see it happen.

4. Have a great circle of influence

When we are going to make a transition, any transition in life for that matter, there are usually a group of people we go to for insight, advice and to gain information and perspective and in doing so, allowing us greater clarity about the situation and how we feel about it.

Make sure your selection of go to people is based on experience, relevance, honesty and perspective. The last thing you want when you are making a serious decision in relation to life is a YES person or group. You need quality information and perspective, not just friends giving you heartfelt pity.

In regard to the specifics of the transition of retirement, you will need a group of professionals (usually financial) to help you with some of the decisions that you will need to make, once again choose carefully.

5. Don’t limit yourself

I would imagine that somewhere though our interactions you have heard me say that the only limitations we have in life are the ones we put on ourselves. Be prepared to push away the barriers, to go to new places and to enjoy the experience.

Don’t sit back and use the type of thinking that life, as you know it ends when you walk away from the work force. Rubbish, absolute rubbish. Life goes to new and exciting places when you decide it does.

The day you begin any new transitional shift an entirely new chapter begins for you. A chapter that can be whatever you want it to be, as long as you know what you want, and you are prepared to go do what it takes to deliver it.

Don’t ever limit yourself to what any aspect of life can provide because as soon as your thinking becomes limited, there is a corresponding limit to what you will get.

Life and what you want from it will always be provided. That is; if you are prepared to make it happen.

And as you do remember:

The Journey Continues!

This months questions:

Bill, does it get easier?

Fundamentally my answer is hopefully, no it doesn’t.

Now hang on a second before you start having a major meltdown because of what I just outlined, please allow me a chance to explain myself.

The reality is it does get easier however I hope as ‘it’ (and ‘it’ can be whatever you want it to be) is getting easier you are continuing to push the limits, to explore new situations, taking the most of every opportunity and an ongoing commitment to seeing your potential realised, so that it probably doesn’t get that much easier.

It should never be easy. However it should to some degree and at certain times to some slight degree, get easier.

I say that based on the fact that as we face the challenges of life weather they be personal, professional, educational, or spiritual, we become better educated, better skilled, more knowledgeable, with greater insight, competence and efficiency.

No doubt there are times when we probably don’t see that we are making progress or that we are getting better and that things will never get easier. It is at these times when we must look at our situation and ourselves and change our perspective.

We can at these times either see a hole or a donut, the glass is either half full or half empty.

It all depends on how we, at these times, view the world, ourselves and the situation that stands in front of us.

Now I am not going to get into the law of attraction, or the concept of positive thinking (not that I have anything against either), but I in times, like these, always remember the words of one of my mentors Bill Sweetenham when he would tell me “You are getting experience that no-one else is.”

I must admit at the time due to the challenges, the trials and tribulations he had organised for me, I did find it hard to see the positive side of it, however he kept throwing me these situations and the line about experience and I somehow managed to get through each one. And in doing so, became further skilled, knowledgeable and increasingly better in dealing with my perspective and in the process how to handle the situations he presented to me.

In the early days of learning, it is sometimes hard to see that we will ever become truly competent to handle certain situations of life, however in my experience, we tend to travel through four (4) cycles of learning, development and competence.

Let me explain it to you like this:

4×1-2 Year Development Plan

Years 1-2/3
Usually many problems and situations. Usually you have 1-2 methods to fix the problem or overcome the situation, which allows you something like a 50-50 success rate.

Years 2/3-4/5
During this period you will have fewer problems and difficult situations to deal with. This is brought about by the skills and learning from your first cycle of development. However, this second stage of development is not totally devoid of testing times, difficult situations and stressful circumstances.

At these times you now have an expanded arsenal of problem solving, situation rectifying and difficulty resolving skills. Basically you will have 4-5 methods to fix or overcome the situations that sit before you. Therefore your rate of success begins to increase.

Years 4/5-6/7
This is probably one of those periods where things do get easier. The reasons being that you have very few if any problems. Why? Because you are now skilled enough to cut off the problems, circumvent the difficult situations before they even happen. Your success rate during this stage is very high.

Years 6/7 and onwards
Now we come to the interesting parts of the journey of self-development. Things kind of become easier in some ways, but not really. Once again let me explain.

There are problems, situations and pressure filled situations. The difference being this time you create them!

What I hear you say, ‘Bill have you lost your mind?’

I spend all my time becoming skilled enough to remove these situations and now I am creating them myself.

Why would I do that?

Easy.

You have become that skilled at your leadership, your problem solving skills, your situation rectifying abilities that you now create problems, situations and stress so you can use them to teach others how to deal with them.

So I know it is a long answer to a quick question, but my real answer is this. I would hope that it doesn’t get easier for you. Why? Because I would like you to continue to push the limits, to explore new situations, taking the most of every opportunity and in the process, you have an ongoing commitment to see your true potential realised.

The Journey Continues!

In a recent post on his Blog marketing guru Seth Godin talks about the concept of ‘coachability’.

Seth’s article leads to the point that for someone to get the best out of a coaching experience they have to want to be coached and therefore, emotionally involved in the coaching process.

The subject of coachability is very close to me. In fact, it is an element of what I do everyday in one form or another.

In recent times I have had two instances where I have had to pursue the question of coachability.

One directly where I was being asked to coach a particular group of Managers. Due to a number of reasons I decided that they were not, at least from my perspective, coachable.

When I informed the potential clients of my decision, they were shocked to say the least and within a very short period of time, raised the point of how much money I would make from the opportunity.

I thanked them for the kind offer and went on to reiterate that although I am in business and truly appreciated the level of remuneration involved, what I believed would be required to be done just to get them involved in the coaching process, would not make it a worthwhile experience.

I then attempted to outline that there is a level of participation and commitment that I deem necessary (e.g. the level of coachability) for the coaching process to have any chance of succeeding.

I went on to further explain that from what I had seen so far, the money, no matter how much, probably would not make me feel any better about what would be required just to get them to where they needed to be, just so we could then begin the real purpose for us getting together.

This may sound arrogant, rude and/or dumb. But after coaching for nearly thirty years, I find it a waste of my time explaining to someone over and over again why they have to work hard or why they need to be totally involved, or why success comes at a price and you have to pay the price in advance.

To be totally honest, I would rather spend my time working out how it is I can make someone better. Or how can I help them achieve that goal they desire so much. What are the strategies required to see the outcomes we are pursuing achieved?

This is where I want to be spending my time and theirs.

The second situation involved my role as a coach to another very successful coach. As we were reviewing his past season I asked him to consider six questions.

One of those questions was ‘Did he believe his team was coachable’?

Now please don’t get me wrong. This was not a question about talent, skill or desire and it was not a put down of his team or anyone within it.

But it was a question based on the fact that for any individual/team to get better, the coach needs to be able to coach and the individual/team need to want to be coached.