I'm Dreaming of a..... by Paul Cook

You can time travel; with me or in fact any such qualified coach!  (There is only one other as good as me of course).

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/business_coaching_consultant_profiles.php

In essence we can take you forward or back in your own time.  This calm coaching technique takes place in a comfortable environment and facilitates your ability to ‘future focus’.  We will venture back in your personal history and uncover the time from which you may have developed your ‘limiting beliefs’ then repair the stuff that stops you achieving, that prevents you, that doubts ability, that even attaches fear.  This is generally referred to as ‘timeline therapy’.

http://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/hypnotherapist-articles/what-is-time-line-therapy

Our clients’ feedback indicates empowerment, focus and confidence to overcome that future barrier in whatever challenge they face.

Look into my eyes……..

It is the year 1977, 1978, 1979 or other such prehistoric technological period.  You are toiling at your formica specially designed office, symmetrical flying ducks or white horse sea pictures on the wall, huge metal filing cabinets neatly hiding all your treasured business files, Ford Escort company car in the car park, beige office telephone clipped to the wall and rolodex at the ready (please feel at ease to admit to flairs and tank top).  Business is modern!  You are of course blissfully unaware that out there in your future will be an A4 sized casing which will allow you to network across the globe, store information at a capacity beyond your imagination, scan opportunities, visually link to your partners in the U.S and most importantly watch videos of small dogs performing acrobatics.

Thus was the dream and plan of Bill Gates - ‘A computer on every desk, in every home’.  Back in your past your 1970’s personal or business past, sit there for a while and imagine what you would have given for the MS/Apple/IBM magic then?  What would you do with it, where would you be now?

You’re back in the room.

So, technological breakthrough and technological benefits are all wonderful and essential, but I can’t find the app that gives you these:

o   Increased productivity
o   Increased diversity
o   Retention of leadership talent
o   Increased team member satisfaction
o   Accelerated senior leader promotions
o   Increased client satisfaction
o   Improved teamwork
o   Increased quality of consulting services
o   Confidence
o   Support
o   Understanding
o   Life satisfaction

Oh found it  http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/executive_business_coaching.php

Our dream, ‘A coach for every person’.

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - Real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first.  Then, life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

ALFRED D SOUZA

I did indicate there is only one other coach of such stellar ‘timeline therapy’ skill base, however for you purists, Dr Who is also quite good but his consultancy rates are astronomical!

Sex, drugs, terrorism, controversy, wealth and talent management by Paul Cook

Newsflash; epic, heroic, classic, transformational leadership. Oh and some important stuff about supermarkets in Oldham.

 

Now here is an oxymoron for you to consider; strong talented leadership is exactly what you need for your business. Straightforward, but in the same context, unlikely. Because it’s all a matter of taste, culture, belief, politics, religion, favour, economics, fear! 

Try our free on line test below. Hypothetically speaking which of the below, if taken in their prime, would you consider for your talent management scheme?  To help you decide, I have quoted recent news articles to support their application. 

 

Nelson Mandela's quiet magnificence has long masked his mortality.  Sunday news SA 

Britain had to change, Margaret Thatcher had the courage to make it happen. In 1979 industrial strife was tearing Britain apart. Then a grocer's daughter entered Downing Street, and began a social revolution. The Guardian UK 

 

David Cameron in Germany: Prime Minister and Angela Merkel call for urgent action to make EU 'competitive and flexible.' The Independent UK  

Jorge Mario Bergoglio Pope Francis new Pope's emphasis on simplicity also showing up elsewhere ABQ Journal US 

History will ultimately define Tiger Woods as the greatest closer that the game has ever seen. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers many faces, many threats. The Washington post US.
 

Also it is possible that these people may all apply for your impeccable, far reaching scheme designed to challenge talent, support growth and build the organisational competitive edge.  So now how do we frame the interview questions? “Tiger, how are you going to keep your focus?”  “Kim, what will you differently if we put you in charge of security?”  After all, these people are going to lift you into this magnificent arena (not the only thing Mr Un would like to lift off). And once employed which projects would you set them loose on; maybe Nelson Mandela change management, Margaret Thatcher conflict resolution, David Cameron/Angela Merkel (they come as a double act) fiscal reliance, Pope Francis everything everywhere.
 

Huge, small, public, private, global or local, the certainty is you will have talented people in your ranks; they will want to be challenged, to achieve, to progress and to compete for you on your behalf.  If you don’t know who they are, then someone else will. 
 

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made, What's a sundial in the shade?”  ― Benjamin Franklin     

    

Oh and if you haven’t got a talent management scheme… 

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/talent_management.php 

Business needs its five a day

In yet another autobiography ( I think he writes one a year), The Fry Chronicles, Penguin Group 2010; the ubiquitous comedian Stephen Fry explains ‘If you are hungry for food you are prepared to hunt high and low for it.  If you are hungry for information it is the same.  Information is all around us, now more than ever before in human history.  You barely have to stir or incommode yourself to find things out.’  He then expounds frustrations of people’s failure to understand this.  ‘Incuriosity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is’.  I suspect if you asked a seasoned homicide detective, a veteran paramedic or serving infantry soldier in a troubled war zone, they may have a different view of what really is the most foolish failing of mankind; but let’s debate that another time.

Back to the Fry theory; is all information really out there?  Yes it is and guess what?  It is free!  We just need to enlist the help of our electronic cousins; Bing, Google, Mozilla, Yahoo, Explorer or my mate Dave Gibbs (if you ever enter a pub quiz or need phone a friend choose Dave above the others).

Some examples:

What is the highest peak of engineering capacity output in the UK this year?  BING, Free

What is the % demand for cruise holidays within the over 50’s age group in Europe?  Yahoo Free

Which car has the most environmentally efficient engine output in China?  Google, Free

Where are the projected data centre market trends for EMEA?  Mozilla, Free

What is the capital of Bolivia?  Dave, Free

FREE, FREE, FREE.

But that is not it; using the Fry comparison, if food was free then you would still need your internal complex bodily functions to convert it to fuel and the ability to grow, see, feel, hear, breath, run, fight and not just survive but compete.  These complex functions; your heart, lungs, liver, intestines, muscle groups, digestive tract.

Business information is free and you still, and will always, need your internal complex business functions to convert it to energy and the ability to grow, operate, sell, market, lead, integrate, change, and be highly competitive.  These complex functions; your people.

In case of impending litigation (my lawyers have asked me to state) I must qualify that not all information is free; Dave generally works for a pint of lager and a packet of twiglets.

Oh, and a final question I randomly placed into any of the virus free accredited search engines; How can I improve absolutely any part of my business beyond the dreams of Araby?  The unswerving response every time as below.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/index.php

Try it out, it is an amazing solution.

Coaching Tip

“Let the path be open to talent.”
Napoleon Bonaparte

The most critical challenge facing HR professionals currently is ‘managing talent’.  A People Management article this week explores the admission that HR professionals having identified talent, don’t know how to use it to improve the bottom line.

That’s where we come in….

http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2013/02/overwhelmed-hr-fails-to-harness-power-of-talent-data-says-study.htm

 

Leadership is for Shrimps by Paul Cook

This week marked the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year 2013, the Year of the Snake.  One of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the snake signifies cleverness and tenacity and is associated with the element of fire.  I strongly recommend that in these essential times for leaders it should have been the year of the Mantis shrimp.

I may have to explain further.

Biological reasons as follows.

Do you cut the grass or mow the lawn, eat scones or sconns, visit the cinema to watch a movie or go up the pictures to see a film?  There is of course the possibility that you do none of these things or the higher percentage bet is that you do and describe them differently.  The mathematical possibilities of differing descriptive behaviour are slightly more than the number of atoms in the known universe and that’s a lot because Brian Cox told me.  Through BBC’s edifying ‘Star Gazing’ and ‘The wonders of life’, Professor Brian Cox has recently transported the viewing public into an awareness and photographically dazzling aspect of, well, everything; from the smallest nucleus within an atom core to the furthest most planets in our vast galaxies.  In last week’s episode (Wonders of Life) Professor Cox described eyesight and the Mantis Shrimp.  Said crustacean is a remarkable creature in many ways, one of which is its eyesight; us Homo Sapiens have what is known as binocular vision which means two separate eyes with one view cross referenced to each other to give depth, colour, light, distance and height; all in all quite useful (particularly when mowing the lawn) .  The Mantis shrimp has trinocular vision in each eye which gives a hundredfold perception on our own.  It can see ahead of its competition, anticipate risk at lightning speed, comprehend muti dimensions and ultimately command its environment.  What must that creature really see of the world and how on earth did they find that out?

In business it is fortunate that we only have to build rapport with humans and not spiny, bottom feeding, dangerous predators… I think I may know what some of you may be thinking at this point.  So with our binocular perception of the world it is incredible that we all have completely diverse perceptions of our own universe; this then inevitably leads to unalike experiences, dissimilar ideas, values, beliefs and of course ways, of expressing it all.  How do we understand everyone all the time?

As a highly effective leader in business it is essential to understand as many variants as possible, to have situational perception, to connect, to build rapport, to communicate at all levels, to understand, to have our own trinocular vision.  It then also follows that your successful talented leaders need these skills.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/leadership_and_development_programmes.php

I did notice that most of the thalassic creatures that came a little too close to the shrimp tended to get eaten by it.  So how would you build rapport with such a highly tuned organism?  Take it to the pictures of course.