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.

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.

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'.