When you are working to your own beat and looking to develop your own destiny, I have found you hit a whole load of interesting obstacles some good which will make you stronger and some some bad which will try and trip you up so badly, so you will stop.
I believe in perseverance it's how I got to everything I have achieved to date from sports selections to business awards.
It is however not always easy when people you care about, don't see the point in what you do and try to persuade you of their way of thinking. It creates doubt within you and often a bit of a sounding board, that is where you truly need someone to be in your corner with you from an objective point of view trying to tease out the reality, the criticism and the support that you require to keep moving forward.
Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroads and the way forward is not all that clear, yet you have an intuitive idea of which way you should go and then just in case you end up asking a few people for advice and low and behold you end up in a worse situation and a bigger dilemma. I often wonder whether it would have been better if I had moved forward without the advice and adjusted course afterwards.
Playing the mental game of perseverance is like those last couple of miles in the marathon where it is definitely a case of mind over matter for slow runners like me.
How do you play the game, when you are tired and fed up? Just set the goals smaller one more step, one more minute, hour, etc and celebrate the mile markers that you pass on those trips, because they end up the memorable ones.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Leadership - to step up or not?
In the past few days I have been busy organising the Youth Leadership Competition for my Rotary club and last night attended the regional final awards, where the judges select 3 students in the region to go on a leadership trip.
Our club candidate from last year spoke at the award dinner and what it had meant to him. For our own club he had written an e-mail account of his time on the leadership trip and what he felt Euroscola did for him as an experience. But it all started with having the confidence to fill in an application form and put yourself forward as a leader. He was chosen by our club because we believed in him and then he proved to himself in various leadership tasks relating to the trip that in fact he actually had the inner ability. Now he stands up and takes leadership in his stride and wherever he goes they notice him as a potential leader.
In most of my leadership training & coaching in organisations it is exactly the same it starts with applying for that leadership position and then following it up with actions. Most of us however don't have a supportive rotary club or colleagues or family that is with us 24/7 to tell us they believe in us. so how do we generate that inner confidence to keep stepping it up?
In my travels around various corporate organisations, being in management is not always the same as being a leader, just like the business owners are not always the leaders in their business either. A leader in my view has built an inner confidence and an inner belief in themselves, to step up whenever they see fit. They are not necessarily glory hunters, but they do take pride in what they stand for. Typically they will take ownership and responsibility for what needs to be done and they expect an outcome that is better than where things started.
The hardest part in nurturing leaders which I see time and time again in my coaching as well as working with young people, is to build that inner confidence and inner belief.
Here is my thought for today, what have you done in your life to date that classes as leadership, if you were to fill in your own private apllication form to be a leader what evidence of your potential would you put on it and do you believe it, I mean truly undoubtedly believe it.
Our club candidate from last year spoke at the award dinner and what it had meant to him. For our own club he had written an e-mail account of his time on the leadership trip and what he felt Euroscola did for him as an experience. But it all started with having the confidence to fill in an application form and put yourself forward as a leader. He was chosen by our club because we believed in him and then he proved to himself in various leadership tasks relating to the trip that in fact he actually had the inner ability. Now he stands up and takes leadership in his stride and wherever he goes they notice him as a potential leader.
In most of my leadership training & coaching in organisations it is exactly the same it starts with applying for that leadership position and then following it up with actions. Most of us however don't have a supportive rotary club or colleagues or family that is with us 24/7 to tell us they believe in us. so how do we generate that inner confidence to keep stepping it up?
In my travels around various corporate organisations, being in management is not always the same as being a leader, just like the business owners are not always the leaders in their business either. A leader in my view has built an inner confidence and an inner belief in themselves, to step up whenever they see fit. They are not necessarily glory hunters, but they do take pride in what they stand for. Typically they will take ownership and responsibility for what needs to be done and they expect an outcome that is better than where things started.
The hardest part in nurturing leaders which I see time and time again in my coaching as well as working with young people, is to build that inner confidence and inner belief.
Here is my thought for today, what have you done in your life to date that classes as leadership, if you were to fill in your own private apllication form to be a leader what evidence of your potential would you put on it and do you believe it, I mean truly undoubtedly believe it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Paying it forward
In a world where more and more people are feeling the pinch of a tightening economy or even just a decrease in generosity all around us, I am wondering what happened to paying it forward. For those of you that have seen the movie 'Paying it forward', you know what I am talking about and if you haven't seen the movie in my view it's a must see. The whole idea is to help a minimum three people and in return for your assistance ask them to pay it forward to another three people.
This year for me I have been on the receiving end of a few people paying it forward to me, with plenty of business and personal challenges presenting themselves earlier in the year and I am grateful for all those that did extend their hand. Ever since watching the movie I have consiciously made an effort (in a way I probably always did, thanks to the example of my grandmother, who gave soo much to other people, without ever expecting a return from them) to help others.
What fascinates me though that there are people that join organisations such as Rotary or similar charity minded or community assistance oriented groups and then as soon as you ask for their assistance work, family or whatever else is too important and whilst they support your noble effort to launch a project they don't have even time to dedicate, basically saying I only pay lipservice to the aims of the organisation. Maybe I just have different values, because for me the paying it forward is valued in the doing and not necessarily talking about it.
So here is my challenge to you, which 3 people are you going to help before the end of 2008 and freely give of your time or other valuable input, which would mean the world to them. In return for their thank you, just ask them to do the same for 3 other people when they are ready.
In the words of the young actor in the movie 'just make it something huge...!'
This year for me I have been on the receiving end of a few people paying it forward to me, with plenty of business and personal challenges presenting themselves earlier in the year and I am grateful for all those that did extend their hand. Ever since watching the movie I have consiciously made an effort (in a way I probably always did, thanks to the example of my grandmother, who gave soo much to other people, without ever expecting a return from them) to help others.
What fascinates me though that there are people that join organisations such as Rotary or similar charity minded or community assistance oriented groups and then as soon as you ask for their assistance work, family or whatever else is too important and whilst they support your noble effort to launch a project they don't have even time to dedicate, basically saying I only pay lipservice to the aims of the organisation. Maybe I just have different values, because for me the paying it forward is valued in the doing and not necessarily talking about it.
So here is my challenge to you, which 3 people are you going to help before the end of 2008 and freely give of your time or other valuable input, which would mean the world to them. In return for their thank you, just ask them to do the same for 3 other people when they are ready.
In the words of the young actor in the movie 'just make it something huge...!'
Monday, August 18, 2008
Olympic success - it's in the expectation of a nation
One of my favourite sporting events is currently dominating my time schedule and the television, my home office temporarily moved to the living room to keep up-to-date with the Olympics and the various successes of athletes of all nations.
Having grown up in Belgium, a small nation with 11 million people and now living in a country with even less inhabitants Ireland (4.5 million), I have been watching the various responses to Olympians with increasing frustration.
Sports has always been part of my live and with my dad as a sports journalist, this often dominated family life. I played basketball, I now run marathons and sail competitively and if I ever was giving half a chance (and a bucket load of talent), I would cherish the opportunity of representing my country at an Olympic event. For most of the athletes it is their dream come true to perform on such an international scale and to be part of the top of their specific sport, with years of preparation and training leading up to this, which in my view is absolutely admirable and fantastic.
With a selection for an Olympic team, immediately comes a level of media attention and your performances are nokw scrutinised by knowledgeable people in your field, but also by a whole load of sideline critics and this is where some of my frustration stems from. I think nations are often the culprit of setting their athletes up for mediocre results or writing them off before they have even reached the starting line. I believe Olympic selection should come hand in hand with positive mental attitude coaching especially when you come from a nation where success is not the first expectation, so that athletes can manage their own mental game despite the negative support from their home country.
I was watching some of the Olympic coverage on RTE, the Irish national broadcaster and to my astonishment achievements were talked down and if an athlete did reach the next round it was nearly a big surprise as opposed to an expectation. Criticism was actively invited and guess what after half an hour of this carry on, I had to change channels and I have tried every day to give them a second chance, but unfortunately negativity prevails. I spoke to a friend of mine about my frustration and his comments were along the lines of 'we would rather have a surprise medal, than the set expectations so high that they can't be reached and then we don't have to slate the athlete after for not hitting the high scores.' Obviously I am not on the same frequency of what seems to be coming from national media and including some of my Irish friends. I don't get it! These athletes are training to be the best and the country media makes us believe that it's a surprise and they are lucky to get through??? Surely reaching the Olympic standard gives you a chance to compete for a medal, I think mentally the carry on from joe public and the media can be something to look at when your nation doesn't perform at the Games.
I changed to BBC to watch the games and thankfully and very refreshingly the reporters are all in favour of the athletes and setting very clear success expectations. Yes, there is analysis but the tone is positive, supportive, empathic in defeat, unlike slating and negative which I perceived on Irish tv.
More and more we agree that sports is played as much in the mind as it is played out on physical ability and tactics, so why not encourage our athletes and expect success as opposed to selling them short.
Obviously larger countries have bigger budgets and will spend more on their athletes than a small country can ever afford, yet each nation can develop a specialist area and focus on this as a development programme for a nation. How come Jamaica is cleaning up in sprint medals, they are small and yet they are doing it!
Ireland as an island nation is ideally positioned to be excellent at all things watersport: sailing, surfing, canoe etc, because of the virtue of being surrounded by ocean and wind. There is a tradition in boxing and athletics and yet again we are only expecting mediocre results whilst the athletes are potentially capable of way more and if they do set a world record it isn't celebrated or noted in the same fashion as their counterparts in the UK or USA. Why? Are we afraid to be successful? Is there something wrong with going after a life-time goal and actually hitting it?
I truly take my hat off to the likes of Padraig Harrington, who have proven themselves more than once that they can go out and do this once, twice and potentially more when they keep their mind on the game.
The mental game of sports is something that fascinates me and an area that I work with for successful entrepreneurs. I would love the opportunity to be part of the positive mental attitude coaching team for the Olympics, to make sure more talented athletes actually perform to the best of their ability. It will then only be a matter of time before one success story will follow another.
My question to everyone athlete, entrepreneur, business person, are you nurturing your success potential, are you setting yourself up for success or are you letting luck, surprise, mediocrity and chance rule your daily life?
What is it that you really want to achieve in this lifetime? What do you need to do to become the best you that you can be? or even how can you become the best in your field?
Having grown up in Belgium, a small nation with 11 million people and now living in a country with even less inhabitants Ireland (4.5 million), I have been watching the various responses to Olympians with increasing frustration.
Sports has always been part of my live and with my dad as a sports journalist, this often dominated family life. I played basketball, I now run marathons and sail competitively and if I ever was giving half a chance (and a bucket load of talent), I would cherish the opportunity of representing my country at an Olympic event. For most of the athletes it is their dream come true to perform on such an international scale and to be part of the top of their specific sport, with years of preparation and training leading up to this, which in my view is absolutely admirable and fantastic.
With a selection for an Olympic team, immediately comes a level of media attention and your performances are nokw scrutinised by knowledgeable people in your field, but also by a whole load of sideline critics and this is where some of my frustration stems from. I think nations are often the culprit of setting their athletes up for mediocre results or writing them off before they have even reached the starting line. I believe Olympic selection should come hand in hand with positive mental attitude coaching especially when you come from a nation where success is not the first expectation, so that athletes can manage their own mental game despite the negative support from their home country.
I was watching some of the Olympic coverage on RTE, the Irish national broadcaster and to my astonishment achievements were talked down and if an athlete did reach the next round it was nearly a big surprise as opposed to an expectation. Criticism was actively invited and guess what after half an hour of this carry on, I had to change channels and I have tried every day to give them a second chance, but unfortunately negativity prevails. I spoke to a friend of mine about my frustration and his comments were along the lines of 'we would rather have a surprise medal, than the set expectations so high that they can't be reached and then we don't have to slate the athlete after for not hitting the high scores.' Obviously I am not on the same frequency of what seems to be coming from national media and including some of my Irish friends. I don't get it! These athletes are training to be the best and the country media makes us believe that it's a surprise and they are lucky to get through??? Surely reaching the Olympic standard gives you a chance to compete for a medal, I think mentally the carry on from joe public and the media can be something to look at when your nation doesn't perform at the Games.
I changed to BBC to watch the games and thankfully and very refreshingly the reporters are all in favour of the athletes and setting very clear success expectations. Yes, there is analysis but the tone is positive, supportive, empathic in defeat, unlike slating and negative which I perceived on Irish tv.
More and more we agree that sports is played as much in the mind as it is played out on physical ability and tactics, so why not encourage our athletes and expect success as opposed to selling them short.
Obviously larger countries have bigger budgets and will spend more on their athletes than a small country can ever afford, yet each nation can develop a specialist area and focus on this as a development programme for a nation. How come Jamaica is cleaning up in sprint medals, they are small and yet they are doing it!
Ireland as an island nation is ideally positioned to be excellent at all things watersport: sailing, surfing, canoe etc, because of the virtue of being surrounded by ocean and wind. There is a tradition in boxing and athletics and yet again we are only expecting mediocre results whilst the athletes are potentially capable of way more and if they do set a world record it isn't celebrated or noted in the same fashion as their counterparts in the UK or USA. Why? Are we afraid to be successful? Is there something wrong with going after a life-time goal and actually hitting it?
I truly take my hat off to the likes of Padraig Harrington, who have proven themselves more than once that they can go out and do this once, twice and potentially more when they keep their mind on the game.
The mental game of sports is something that fascinates me and an area that I work with for successful entrepreneurs. I would love the opportunity to be part of the positive mental attitude coaching team for the Olympics, to make sure more talented athletes actually perform to the best of their ability. It will then only be a matter of time before one success story will follow another.
My question to everyone athlete, entrepreneur, business person, are you nurturing your success potential, are you setting yourself up for success or are you letting luck, surprise, mediocrity and chance rule your daily life?
What is it that you really want to achieve in this lifetime? What do you need to do to become the best you that you can be? or even how can you become the best in your field?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Are we just money mad?
Why is that some people end up volunteering or being volunteered for a lot of projects and other people just focus on themselves? I have always wondered about that.
Ever since I was a teenager I would volunteer for lots of worthy causes from sports events to charities and community happenings, so this approach comes naturally to me.
At this point in life there are weeks and I suppose especially the last number of weeks that I have had to or better thanks to my involvement in various organisations gave a lot of time free of charge to great causes. For most of my friends it's something they can't understand and for most of my business acquaintances it's well outside their realm of understanding. People just think I was born with surplus energy or time, so I can give freely.
Yet, this is not true, but I do plan for it and because I enjoy the fun that also comes with these projects and overshadows the negatives. To give you a flavour of my involvement in various things and the time reality, here is an outline.
On the May bank holiday weekend the Cork Choral Festival took place and here I am a Failteoir (welcomer) for a foreign choir. It means that for the days that they are in Cork for the Choral competition I make sure they are looked after, arrive at performances on time, schedule buses, etc and generally make sure they have a wonderful time. This typically takes 1 or 2 workings day and the weekend. Last November the choir I hosted 2 years ago from the Rigsbergska High School in Sweden asked whether I would please be their host again and that was lovely. For me it was great fun to meet them again and be their friendly face away from home. As a group of volunteers we also have a great time together and some of the people I would only meet once a year at the Choral Festival. For those 3 or 4 days it is full-time and after hours and party hours etc., yet the feelgood factor more than pays back for it. In terms of time commitment we are only talking 3 to 4 days for a whole year!
I am also the chief liaison officer for the Cork City Sports, which is an athletics event that takes place every year in July and is ranked amongst the top 10 athletics meetings in Europe. This is my first year in this role, so in terms of time -commitment to date I probably have given it about a working of which most of it has been scheduled after hours or during quiet time. My job is to make sure athletes have accommodation, food and transport. I am looking for a team of drivers and welcome staff at the airport and in the accommodation to answer athletes questions. Because of my involvement at committee level I would estimate this role taking a week of preparation work and 4 days around the actual event, which is 2 working days and 2 weekend days. Because of my interest in people and sports, especially athletics I do enjoy the interaction and I have great pride in making something run as smooth as possible.
Again I am not talking months of time, just a few hours here and there and the more intense time-commitment around the actual event.
For the past 3 years I have been a member of my local Rotary club and this year I was asked to become youth officer for the club and hence organised all events to do with young people. Now here the group consists of about 30 members, a lot of them retired or in large organisations, who like the idea of being represented in Rotary. Members join specifically with the intent of giving back to their community and the wider international community, which is very noble, however when I go looking for volunteers it is not that easy to even receive support for minor projects. I organised the Club Youth Leadership Competition, where young people are interviewed about their leadership potential and a team of judges selects a school and club winner for this one I managed to find 3 judges other than myself. Then our club at very short notice took on the idea of organising the Regional Final for the same event, which meant that was all left up to me. Seeing the calibre of students and hearing their stories made it interesting, but whilst I should have had club support for this event I spent about a week all working days on this project, as well as one day at the weekend. This is where I start questioning the noble commitment of other members and wonder why it only up to one person, whilst technically there are a good few others.
In addition to this project we also had a young chef competition at club level, which only took a few hours to organise and unfortunately I couldn't thanks to work commitments go the final, and also couldn't find anyone from the club to go on my behalf.
What was a great idea and is an ongoing saga is the set-up on behalf of my club a schools interact (i.e. Rotary for secondary schools) and a Rotaract club for young people between 18 and 30. Because I couldn't get support at club level I let a lot of this go for some time, however I still have a group of young people in the second age group that would be interested, so what do you do? Do you let it go and hide or do you stick to your original commitment? In my case I am only committing to it when I have some spare time, because it is a little disillusioning that for a club this size you are the most active in getting things done and whilst everyone is full of praise, actual time or support is not available, because they all have work to do (hello, I don't even have a family or partner in this country that I can fall back on when the money runs out and run a business on my own).
I have no problem investing time and effort when I am appreciated and have fun doing it, but when you are taken for granted it becomes a different story. What I really don't understand though is why less and less people are willing to give a little bit of their time to something that can be fun and also helps someone ahead whether it is for charity, music or sports. In this day and age more and more corporations like to be seen to do their bit as a socially responsible entity, yet ask an individual for even a couple of hours a year and they run the other way.
Have we just become so money oriented, hedonistic or selfish that all we can think about is our own pleasures and well-being? How else do large events such as an Olympics get organised if it wasn't for the thousands of volunteers? Am I just one of the few idealistic ones? Donating money is a start, but donating time can give you a lot more, having travelled to Peru and Cambodia on charity projects it's not the money that you remember, but what you can actually achieve with only a small effort.
I hope my rant may inspire you to take some action on behalf of a voluntary cause and do remember to inspire others to follow suit, at worst they may even have fun or a feelgood memory.
Ever since I was a teenager I would volunteer for lots of worthy causes from sports events to charities and community happenings, so this approach comes naturally to me.
At this point in life there are weeks and I suppose especially the last number of weeks that I have had to or better thanks to my involvement in various organisations gave a lot of time free of charge to great causes. For most of my friends it's something they can't understand and for most of my business acquaintances it's well outside their realm of understanding. People just think I was born with surplus energy or time, so I can give freely.
Yet, this is not true, but I do plan for it and because I enjoy the fun that also comes with these projects and overshadows the negatives. To give you a flavour of my involvement in various things and the time reality, here is an outline.
On the May bank holiday weekend the Cork Choral Festival took place and here I am a Failteoir (welcomer) for a foreign choir. It means that for the days that they are in Cork for the Choral competition I make sure they are looked after, arrive at performances on time, schedule buses, etc and generally make sure they have a wonderful time. This typically takes 1 or 2 workings day and the weekend. Last November the choir I hosted 2 years ago from the Rigsbergska High School in Sweden asked whether I would please be their host again and that was lovely. For me it was great fun to meet them again and be their friendly face away from home. As a group of volunteers we also have a great time together and some of the people I would only meet once a year at the Choral Festival. For those 3 or 4 days it is full-time and after hours and party hours etc., yet the feelgood factor more than pays back for it. In terms of time commitment we are only talking 3 to 4 days for a whole year!
I am also the chief liaison officer for the Cork City Sports, which is an athletics event that takes place every year in July and is ranked amongst the top 10 athletics meetings in Europe. This is my first year in this role, so in terms of time -commitment to date I probably have given it about a working of which most of it has been scheduled after hours or during quiet time. My job is to make sure athletes have accommodation, food and transport. I am looking for a team of drivers and welcome staff at the airport and in the accommodation to answer athletes questions. Because of my involvement at committee level I would estimate this role taking a week of preparation work and 4 days around the actual event, which is 2 working days and 2 weekend days. Because of my interest in people and sports, especially athletics I do enjoy the interaction and I have great pride in making something run as smooth as possible.
Again I am not talking months of time, just a few hours here and there and the more intense time-commitment around the actual event.
For the past 3 years I have been a member of my local Rotary club and this year I was asked to become youth officer for the club and hence organised all events to do with young people. Now here the group consists of about 30 members, a lot of them retired or in large organisations, who like the idea of being represented in Rotary. Members join specifically with the intent of giving back to their community and the wider international community, which is very noble, however when I go looking for volunteers it is not that easy to even receive support for minor projects. I organised the Club Youth Leadership Competition, where young people are interviewed about their leadership potential and a team of judges selects a school and club winner for this one I managed to find 3 judges other than myself. Then our club at very short notice took on the idea of organising the Regional Final for the same event, which meant that was all left up to me. Seeing the calibre of students and hearing their stories made it interesting, but whilst I should have had club support for this event I spent about a week all working days on this project, as well as one day at the weekend. This is where I start questioning the noble commitment of other members and wonder why it only up to one person, whilst technically there are a good few others.
In addition to this project we also had a young chef competition at club level, which only took a few hours to organise and unfortunately I couldn't thanks to work commitments go the final, and also couldn't find anyone from the club to go on my behalf.
What was a great idea and is an ongoing saga is the set-up on behalf of my club a schools interact (i.e. Rotary for secondary schools) and a Rotaract club for young people between 18 and 30. Because I couldn't get support at club level I let a lot of this go for some time, however I still have a group of young people in the second age group that would be interested, so what do you do? Do you let it go and hide or do you stick to your original commitment? In my case I am only committing to it when I have some spare time, because it is a little disillusioning that for a club this size you are the most active in getting things done and whilst everyone is full of praise, actual time or support is not available, because they all have work to do (hello, I don't even have a family or partner in this country that I can fall back on when the money runs out and run a business on my own).
I have no problem investing time and effort when I am appreciated and have fun doing it, but when you are taken for granted it becomes a different story. What I really don't understand though is why less and less people are willing to give a little bit of their time to something that can be fun and also helps someone ahead whether it is for charity, music or sports. In this day and age more and more corporations like to be seen to do their bit as a socially responsible entity, yet ask an individual for even a couple of hours a year and they run the other way.
Have we just become so money oriented, hedonistic or selfish that all we can think about is our own pleasures and well-being? How else do large events such as an Olympics get organised if it wasn't for the thousands of volunteers? Am I just one of the few idealistic ones? Donating money is a start, but donating time can give you a lot more, having travelled to Peru and Cambodia on charity projects it's not the money that you remember, but what you can actually achieve with only a small effort.
I hope my rant may inspire you to take some action on behalf of a voluntary cause and do remember to inspire others to follow suit, at worst they may even have fun or a feelgood memory.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Down turn, slow down, general belt tightening
It seems to be topical, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss giving you my thoughts and opinions on the downturn, slow down or whatever other euphemistic way you would like to put it when there is just less cash floating around freely in our economies.
It's funny but I was watching reports on the various stock exchanges around the world for the past week and the trends all looked similar, a big dip on the 22nd of April and then a bit of an upturn. In what could be called the larger economies (just sheer size of land and population) the upturn was a lot higher than in smaller economies, just an interesting but maybe also not so relevant fact and it could have to do with the fact that I was born in a small economy (Belgium: about 11 million of us) and now live in an even smaller economy with more land and bigger ambitions (Ireland: 4.5 million). My immediate thought was that a one week summary really only gives us a snapshot, the monthly or even yearly trend would give us a better indication of where the turn of the economy is heading, but I am sure you can read that in the trusted media, who don't like to hype anything either way or politicians who come up with new 'positive' words every day to avoid saying recession. Interesting developments, don't you think?
Anyway what does it really mean to the man in the street really? I know from my experience that getting paid for your services seems to be like drawing blood from stones lately and that alot of people are holding off on training and coaching because it's a perceived luxury for when there is money in surplus. In my (biased) view, now is 'the' time to invest in coaching and training, because now more than ever you need that focus and advantage over your competition. I deal with start-ups a lot and now is an ideal time to set up a business, why? Because if you manage to grow a business in an economy where the drivers are going the opposite way, you are building a business from the right basics and you will have a close eye on cost controls, effective marketing, operational efficiency, etc. In an up-time anyone can set up a business and gain a part of the money that is floating, in a down-turn those that really have value to offer and do it efficiently will get that slice.
Is it time to panic? I wouldn't think so, my advice to clients is keep up what you are doing, keep an eye costs and look where you are spending without returns, but marketing is really where your message may need to be adapted, finding joint venture partners where you can share skills, looking at other markets. No matter which way the economy goes, there are always large corporations making some serious profit and lots of small ones too. Small companies have the advantage that they can adapt and change and respond to a changing market, so now is a good time to have a look at which parts of your market are making money and then use focus. Also look at what opportunities are out there for you, which if you worked on them now, will create great returns in years to come.
In my case what I am doing is looking at associate partnering with a number of other organisations, I am tweaking my online presence and learning about e-commerce at a rate of knots and I am working on more products, which is something I have been meaning to do and didn't get around to because I was too busy. As for potential work I have a pipeline full of projects, that are supposedly ready to go any minute now (for the last 6 months that is if not even longer). All I am saying is do what you can do to keep your faith in your success and business, even if it is only one small step at a time.
Recession are always full of stories of businesses closing and staff losing jobs and the media does their bit to keep us focussed on this, however the same climate is also where true business success is created because entrepreneurs learn the business basics the hard way from cost control to efective marketing to the importance of the team. If you haven't figurred this out, find the best coach (I know one up close and personal) and work with them on getting the basics right. At this point in economic times putting your head in the sand and doing what you always did, is not a smart move, in my view it's asking for trouble. Remember small business is adaptable and can move quickly, and that's where you for once have an advantage over the big boys.
It's funny but I was watching reports on the various stock exchanges around the world for the past week and the trends all looked similar, a big dip on the 22nd of April and then a bit of an upturn. In what could be called the larger economies (just sheer size of land and population) the upturn was a lot higher than in smaller economies, just an interesting but maybe also not so relevant fact and it could have to do with the fact that I was born in a small economy (Belgium: about 11 million of us) and now live in an even smaller economy with more land and bigger ambitions (Ireland: 4.5 million). My immediate thought was that a one week summary really only gives us a snapshot, the monthly or even yearly trend would give us a better indication of where the turn of the economy is heading, but I am sure you can read that in the trusted media, who don't like to hype anything either way or politicians who come up with new 'positive' words every day to avoid saying recession. Interesting developments, don't you think?
Anyway what does it really mean to the man in the street really? I know from my experience that getting paid for your services seems to be like drawing blood from stones lately and that alot of people are holding off on training and coaching because it's a perceived luxury for when there is money in surplus. In my (biased) view, now is 'the' time to invest in coaching and training, because now more than ever you need that focus and advantage over your competition. I deal with start-ups a lot and now is an ideal time to set up a business, why? Because if you manage to grow a business in an economy where the drivers are going the opposite way, you are building a business from the right basics and you will have a close eye on cost controls, effective marketing, operational efficiency, etc. In an up-time anyone can set up a business and gain a part of the money that is floating, in a down-turn those that really have value to offer and do it efficiently will get that slice.
Is it time to panic? I wouldn't think so, my advice to clients is keep up what you are doing, keep an eye costs and look where you are spending without returns, but marketing is really where your message may need to be adapted, finding joint venture partners where you can share skills, looking at other markets. No matter which way the economy goes, there are always large corporations making some serious profit and lots of small ones too. Small companies have the advantage that they can adapt and change and respond to a changing market, so now is a good time to have a look at which parts of your market are making money and then use focus. Also look at what opportunities are out there for you, which if you worked on them now, will create great returns in years to come.
In my case what I am doing is looking at associate partnering with a number of other organisations, I am tweaking my online presence and learning about e-commerce at a rate of knots and I am working on more products, which is something I have been meaning to do and didn't get around to because I was too busy. As for potential work I have a pipeline full of projects, that are supposedly ready to go any minute now (for the last 6 months that is if not even longer). All I am saying is do what you can do to keep your faith in your success and business, even if it is only one small step at a time.
Recession are always full of stories of businesses closing and staff losing jobs and the media does their bit to keep us focussed on this, however the same climate is also where true business success is created because entrepreneurs learn the business basics the hard way from cost control to efective marketing to the importance of the team. If you haven't figurred this out, find the best coach (I know one up close and personal) and work with them on getting the basics right. At this point in economic times putting your head in the sand and doing what you always did, is not a smart move, in my view it's asking for trouble. Remember small business is adaptable and can move quickly, and that's where you for once have an advantage over the big boys.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Creative writing and research
Since early last year I am part of a local creative writing group attached to the library in my neighbourhood, we meet once a week and I attend whenever I can actually make it there. It always fascinates me though that we are such an eclectic bunch of people interested in writing all sorts of things from stories to poems, to novels and then very factual things for business or about history. Basically anything goes and the discussion around it is quite stimulating.
It's thanks to this group my first e-book actually did come to fruition, which is still for sale on http://www.brightbusinesscoaching.com/main/page_our_shop_ebook_something_has_got_to_give.html.
It's amazing what a bit of discipline and regularity can do. Last night in the group we had received an invite for a writing weekend retreat and the price was around €375 for the 3 days without food and accommodation, which in my view was very reasonable, considering I would have probably charged that or more for the one day. However the general consensus was that the price was outrageous, I suppose when you are not used to dealing with people in business or with people that truly go after what they want no matter what the price is, opinions can differ. And maybe that is also a sign of the times, because I am by far the youngest member of the group and maybe the older generation just grew up with different price structures. Food for thought in any case.
Encouraged by the response of my writing group as a result of publishing my e-book and a number of positive comments from people in the business ,which I respect and look up to, I have now decided to complete a book project that I started earlier this year around decision making in relation to business.
I have mapped out the majority of the work and book outline a number of months ago with the assistance of Mindy Gibbins-Klein, aka The Bookmidwife. With the Irish economy slowing down and my travel schedule easing a little, I once again have a block of time to work on this project and feel like a restart with new energy thanks to the writing group. Although I have to say sometimes I do think I have very little in common with most of them, the love of writing, reading and having an opinion is probably the mutual line between us. As one of my favourite guru's says if you have an opinion become know for it.
Because of this book project I invite and encourage all of you that read to fill me in with how you make decisions when it comes to your business or if you have come across academic or other research regarding decisions, by all means pass it on to me and you never know, it may well be published in the coming months. All contributions will off course be named and recognised appropriately in the final version.
Writing just like everything takes practice and having gotten into the routine of a monthly newsletter and regular blog updates both for this one and the business book blog about what I am reading, my confidence has grown. This book may well put me on the map as an expert in my field or it may just be one of the also-ran, however the joy of writing and researching it and what it does to keep me sane in the quieter times, is something that nobody can take away from an author. So why not follow you passion and start practising the small steps that could potentially lead to the bigger dreams.
I remember in primary school having to draw a picture of what we would be when we grew up and because I already was an avid reader one of the things I drew was being an author. In our house the typewriter if left unattended had me practising my skills, because my dad was a journalist I often tagged along to see how he worked and I worked summer jobs in the newspaper and the odd time I even got a little piece published with his assistance.
As soon as I started coaching youth teams in basketball it became my job to give a short write up for the club magazine, which was always read by the kids and their proud parents. When I got to secondary school, I even managed to have an essay published in the official school magazine, however I still questioned the teacher on why she only gave me 19/20 when there were no obvious mistakes and I will never forget her response either 'nobody is perfect'. Shortly after that I had my own revenge and started the school magazine and in our first issue we published a questionnaire that had circulated the whole school about life of a student, our thoughts and opinions on teachers etc. We even had a caricaturist, who used class time as very fruitful production time. Needless to say the first issue was a hit and sold out more than once.
Then I don't know what happened, because I had a ten or more year gap where I did little or no writing other than necessary things for my degree, masters or work. The recent writing group and dabbling at Internet communications with newsletters and blogs with positive feedback on all of them, seems to have rekindled that dream for me.
If you have a dream, then just go for it, if nothing else the pursuit is enjoyable, at least that's what I am finding!
It's thanks to this group my first e-book actually did come to fruition, which is still for sale on http://www.brightbusinesscoaching.com/main/page_our_shop_ebook_something_has_got_to_give.html.
It's amazing what a bit of discipline and regularity can do. Last night in the group we had received an invite for a writing weekend retreat and the price was around €375 for the 3 days without food and accommodation, which in my view was very reasonable, considering I would have probably charged that or more for the one day. However the general consensus was that the price was outrageous, I suppose when you are not used to dealing with people in business or with people that truly go after what they want no matter what the price is, opinions can differ. And maybe that is also a sign of the times, because I am by far the youngest member of the group and maybe the older generation just grew up with different price structures. Food for thought in any case.
Encouraged by the response of my writing group as a result of publishing my e-book and a number of positive comments from people in the business ,which I respect and look up to, I have now decided to complete a book project that I started earlier this year around decision making in relation to business.
I have mapped out the majority of the work and book outline a number of months ago with the assistance of Mindy Gibbins-Klein, aka The Bookmidwife. With the Irish economy slowing down and my travel schedule easing a little, I once again have a block of time to work on this project and feel like a restart with new energy thanks to the writing group. Although I have to say sometimes I do think I have very little in common with most of them, the love of writing, reading and having an opinion is probably the mutual line between us. As one of my favourite guru's says if you have an opinion become know for it.
Because of this book project I invite and encourage all of you that read to fill me in with how you make decisions when it comes to your business or if you have come across academic or other research regarding decisions, by all means pass it on to me and you never know, it may well be published in the coming months. All contributions will off course be named and recognised appropriately in the final version.
Writing just like everything takes practice and having gotten into the routine of a monthly newsletter and regular blog updates both for this one and the business book blog about what I am reading, my confidence has grown. This book may well put me on the map as an expert in my field or it may just be one of the also-ran, however the joy of writing and researching it and what it does to keep me sane in the quieter times, is something that nobody can take away from an author. So why not follow you passion and start practising the small steps that could potentially lead to the bigger dreams.
I remember in primary school having to draw a picture of what we would be when we grew up and because I already was an avid reader one of the things I drew was being an author. In our house the typewriter if left unattended had me practising my skills, because my dad was a journalist I often tagged along to see how he worked and I worked summer jobs in the newspaper and the odd time I even got a little piece published with his assistance.
As soon as I started coaching youth teams in basketball it became my job to give a short write up for the club magazine, which was always read by the kids and their proud parents. When I got to secondary school, I even managed to have an essay published in the official school magazine, however I still questioned the teacher on why she only gave me 19/20 when there were no obvious mistakes and I will never forget her response either 'nobody is perfect'. Shortly after that I had my own revenge and started the school magazine and in our first issue we published a questionnaire that had circulated the whole school about life of a student, our thoughts and opinions on teachers etc. We even had a caricaturist, who used class time as very fruitful production time. Needless to say the first issue was a hit and sold out more than once.
Then I don't know what happened, because I had a ten or more year gap where I did little or no writing other than necessary things for my degree, masters or work. The recent writing group and dabbling at Internet communications with newsletters and blogs with positive feedback on all of them, seems to have rekindled that dream for me.
If you have a dream, then just go for it, if nothing else the pursuit is enjoyable, at least that's what I am finding!
Friday, March 28, 2008
People are strange
One of my favourite pass times is watching people and their reactions, often just sitting in a public place looking at body language and interactions. Airports always encourage me to do that in actual fact when I first moved to Ireland and felt homesick I used to go and spend some time in the airport, just to watch people come and go and also in the knowledge that if I really wanted to leave there was always a plane to get on to.
It's funny this week I finally set myself free from a networking group which I had outgrown and because this meeting normally takes place on a Friday, today was the first day of networking freedom and it felt great. Because it was my choice to set myself free. As it happens I did bump into some people from the group and they were singing my praises and told me of praise out of unexpected corners publicly stated in the meeting that day. It's actually funny that you are only recognised for what you have done after you have left a group. I suppose that's why obituaries are so popular. Why not give praise when the person is present? What's the point in announcing it when they are not there...
In a business meeting around coaching yesterday I was questioned on the approach I would take in a corporate coaching job and my first instinct would always be to focus on the areas where the most improvement was necessary and building on people's confidence levels. The client company also wanted us to focus on praise, because they felt their managers obviously weren't used to it by their own management and would definitely need it from us outsiders coming in to coach them. We all need a bit of positive reinforcement from time to time.
What does it cost to praise someone for what they have done right? Isn't it great to see someone flourish as a result of this and sometimes it's catching people saying the small things. I would like to think that I praise my staff for doing the right things, I find that positive reinforcement works best when it's done in the moment when it happens, not after the facts.
For years I resisted having any staff, because I felt they were the source of trouble in companies and with a very small team on board at this stage I often find myself receiving feedback when I least expect it about things I wouldn't expect. Today was one of those days and the reaction quite stunned me. I do my best to be open and honest with staff and question them when something arises, which is what happened recently, the individual in question really felt unfairly questioned and yet never mentioned that originally and now weeks later it comes up as an issue. People do surprise me, anyhow as far as I am concerned we cleared the air, but I must say it's the same question as before, why can't we say it when it happens, just like with praise, wouldn't it make life so much easier?
Maybe I am an idealist when it comes to people, we do complicate our own lives by holding back either way... Why not say it like you feel it there and then, at least everyone knows where they stand within a flash and the gossip mill would be made redundant, as long as positive feedback was also given as handily as negative. It's easy to find the horrible stuff, it's not so easy to find the good stuff, but that's the most important stuff to share.
It's funny this week I finally set myself free from a networking group which I had outgrown and because this meeting normally takes place on a Friday, today was the first day of networking freedom and it felt great. Because it was my choice to set myself free. As it happens I did bump into some people from the group and they were singing my praises and told me of praise out of unexpected corners publicly stated in the meeting that day. It's actually funny that you are only recognised for what you have done after you have left a group. I suppose that's why obituaries are so popular. Why not give praise when the person is present? What's the point in announcing it when they are not there...
In a business meeting around coaching yesterday I was questioned on the approach I would take in a corporate coaching job and my first instinct would always be to focus on the areas where the most improvement was necessary and building on people's confidence levels. The client company also wanted us to focus on praise, because they felt their managers obviously weren't used to it by their own management and would definitely need it from us outsiders coming in to coach them. We all need a bit of positive reinforcement from time to time.
What does it cost to praise someone for what they have done right? Isn't it great to see someone flourish as a result of this and sometimes it's catching people saying the small things. I would like to think that I praise my staff for doing the right things, I find that positive reinforcement works best when it's done in the moment when it happens, not after the facts.
For years I resisted having any staff, because I felt they were the source of trouble in companies and with a very small team on board at this stage I often find myself receiving feedback when I least expect it about things I wouldn't expect. Today was one of those days and the reaction quite stunned me. I do my best to be open and honest with staff and question them when something arises, which is what happened recently, the individual in question really felt unfairly questioned and yet never mentioned that originally and now weeks later it comes up as an issue. People do surprise me, anyhow as far as I am concerned we cleared the air, but I must say it's the same question as before, why can't we say it when it happens, just like with praise, wouldn't it make life so much easier?
Maybe I am an idealist when it comes to people, we do complicate our own lives by holding back either way... Why not say it like you feel it there and then, at least everyone knows where they stand within a flash and the gossip mill would be made redundant, as long as positive feedback was also given as handily as negative. It's easy to find the horrible stuff, it's not so easy to find the good stuff, but that's the most important stuff to share.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Blog intentions
As a complete freshman to blogging, but also along-term lurker into other people's blog pages, I finally decided to become opinionated online. Most people that know me already know that I have strong feelings about lots of topics, so I hope to share some of my personal and business thoughts on this blog.
I am an idealist at heart and often wonder how we could make this world a more caring and positive place, well last week as I was travelling with my fellow Billionaire Adventure Club members in Cambodia, I think I just came across an organisation that is attempting just that. Friends International was started by Sebastien Marot to give street children in Phnom Penh a chance to re-integrate in society by first learning life skills, then also learning about stying safe from HIV and Aids and equally training kids to qualified trades people in areas ranging from car mechanics to hairdressers, dressmakers and beauticians. http://www.friends-international.org/
As travellers from mostly well developed countries the need is high here, but on our doorstep some of these programmes will not go astray either. So together with a few of the other travellers we have decided to set up the Irish and UK operations for Friends or at least look at some lucrative ventures to support their activities, so watch that space whilst we do our research.
With my passion for teaching individuals to start their own businesses no matter what age they are, I found this approach to charity totally refreshing and hope to add some value by sharing my knowledge of running small businesses and schools enterprise programmes with children around the globe that are eager to create a future for themselves.
I am an idealist at heart and often wonder how we could make this world a more caring and positive place, well last week as I was travelling with my fellow Billionaire Adventure Club members in Cambodia, I think I just came across an organisation that is attempting just that. Friends International was started by Sebastien Marot to give street children in Phnom Penh a chance to re-integrate in society by first learning life skills, then also learning about stying safe from HIV and Aids and equally training kids to qualified trades people in areas ranging from car mechanics to hairdressers, dressmakers and beauticians. http://www.friends-international.org/
As travellers from mostly well developed countries the need is high here, but on our doorstep some of these programmes will not go astray either. So together with a few of the other travellers we have decided to set up the Irish and UK operations for Friends or at least look at some lucrative ventures to support their activities, so watch that space whilst we do our research.
With my passion for teaching individuals to start their own businesses no matter what age they are, I found this approach to charity totally refreshing and hope to add some value by sharing my knowledge of running small businesses and schools enterprise programmes with children around the globe that are eager to create a future for themselves.
It is amazing what an entrepreneurial mind can achieve, in my work as a coach and mentor and in a previous role of schools enterprise coordinator, it always fascinated me that ideas can be so simple and yet so powerful. I have a friend that has about 10 business ideas per minute, but yet he has only managed to materialise or better monetise one of them. He is not the only one, however put an idea generator with a a strategic brain and an implementer and hey presto you can have something lucrative and potentially profitable on your hand. One of my latest learning is not to be afraid to ask for help.
As an extremely independent and self-reliant individual I often battled it out against the tides on my own, believing that I had to do it this way. Recently I came to a point where I couldn't achieve what I wanted without help and for the first time I asked the people I knew could and had offered before and guess what...what seemed like an impossible task before all of a sudden became easy. Once again looking at the projects of Friends in Cambodia, asking for specific help can get you places, so my nugget of wisdom for today is 'Don't be afraid to ask for help'.
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