Caoching

So what i was looking to find in this particular masters was a real integral change to my ways and views. I dont know how to explain this but i just wanted to enrich and enlighten myself in the way i work and perceive work. And i have not been disappointed yet.

I really have been learning and growing so very much, its gotta be the most growing i have done in the space of a couple of months through my life so far. And i cannot put a value on it.

So i am telling you this because 'Caoching' by Graeme Knowles really reminded me of what inspired me about this course. I have been growing and reflecting throughout all of it and almost forgot that its so awesome because thats why i am here!

I have always been told im a good friend and i am blessed to be seen that why however personally i have always known that i could listen more and maybe figure out a better why to help my friends than give them advice. I never realised that advice is the worst thing i could give, and honestly now that i look back at it, I was so wrong to do so.

I couldve helped myself and learnt so much more and even help others by just listening and letting them get there themselves. because most of the time lets face it no one takes advice and you end up just thinking "i told you so". and then there are times where people are so much more capable than what you advised them.

I guess its alot to do with humbling yourself too, which really is HUGE underlying essential to success in anything.

Well coaching really does make me very very excited for how i will handle things in the future an dhow much more i will learn fro people about life lessons and also about how much more i will learn from my employees and colleagues. because the human mind and emotions really are pretty incredible and powerful. I have missed out on learning so many amazing lessons so far by not tapping into that potential and intelligence of others. i seriously cannot wait to see it now.

When i say learning from others i mean when you coach others your kinda taking a back seat and watching their journey to discover something new, however small or big that discovery may be that is a little more wise than you were yesterday.

Ultimately i could learn so much from this course by just listening, but like the example of this Coaching session has taught me, if i actively choose to let something impact me and i hold on to it and ingrain it into my mind then that is the only way I can really let it have that powerful impact on the rest of my life whether its professional or personal

and taht oes for anything you learn from anyone or anywhere. its all upto you if you are gonna let yourself absorb tha information and live by it.

: 22 Feb 2015 14:49 |  Tags: Advice Best Coaching Employees Ever Family Friends Helping Leadership Mbe Relaity Session |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Inner change

So Paul presented the Hierarchy of Change to us he other day and it was about how we must aim to try and influence our followers values & beliefs or even go as far as their identity or purpose. And this was a really strong concept.

So if we can try and give people a sense of purpose with the tasks or vision of the company and really have their belief and values tapped into it then we can inspire so much of their potential and effort. They will go above and beyond their daily responsibilities and want to do so.

So this made me think about our inner hierarchy of change, how we in our own being drive ourselves. You inner drive and motivation can be your culture. If you can tap into what drives you and give yourself purpose with any given task or project then that may start showing externally in what you do, and there is nothing more inspiring than a leader with charisma and drive.

Paul said the phrase "by having a sense of our identity we can get a jump start on the hierarchy of change" If we can do this with ourselves then i am certain that it will show on the outside aswell and people will also see that drive and maybe even feed off of it.

It reminds me of a friend I have who has such an amazing drive when it comes to work, she just sits down and gets on with it and any assignment is done within the allocated 40 hours. I could never do this but whenever i think about this it always without a doubt inspires me and i feed off of her drive a little each time and it sort of makes me think that 'YES! maybe i can do this better too'

However i havent given myself that sense of purpose or direction like my friend has and im not gonna see any changes in things unless i can tap int that.

Relating it to the future, i guess if i can tap into the purpose of why i am going to do what i will do and how i am going to drive myself to get there and conquer that mountain then i dont think that i will find the journey there as difficult or daunting.

Well I think all i have to do now is develop that inner culture of change!

: 22 Feb 2015 14:32 |  Tags: Change Creating Culture Innerself Leaderhsip |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Coaching– receiving it

This is the time to explore my boundaries and exercise my potential.

yes being a good leader, friend or colleague comes not only with being patient for mistakes and shortcomings but also with caring enough for someone to help them grow. I guess there are ways to do this that may have better outcomes for the individual than others.

You've gotta ask yourself if you are saying this with genuine support and belief in your friends future and socioemotional well being, or if your just trying to prove that you can critically analyse their behaviour with some sense of superiority.

where the above is leading to is pretty obvious. But what may be interesting to think about is how we ourselves perceive negative comments, whether it be from friends, our boss our, our partner, our parents or our teachers.

yes you may have pissed someone off with your behaviour and their a little mad when theyre giving you this feedback, however there is some underlying factor, maybe a mistake or maybe its actually something you never realised you did. nevertheless this is feedback and honestly if we knew how valuable the angry words coming out of a persons mouth sometimes can be we would avoid alot of mistakes.

ok so I am thinking, next time im in a group and someone is giving me negative feedback- what if I actively make the choice to let negative emotions go and to get that underlying wisdom or piece of advice out of this person. Yes maybe you think reacting negatively would give you satisfaction, it wont help anyone certainly not you in the future.

If we can overcome this short term negativity maybe we can really take on these fee therapeutic sessions and try and see what we are doing to make someone feel that way and to see if yes there really is a very important underlying factor here that i need to change about myself.

how many bad choices would i avoid in the future this way. maybe by fixing a shortcoming in my team working style now i can earn a promotion for my level headed approach to so and so in the future! you never know what you may sow from just keeping your cap on now! not to mention the respect you would gain form your colleague for being so proactive about what they have said.

: 10 Feb 2015 21:06 |  Tags: Advice Coaching Criticism Following Leadership Learning Lessons Life |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

what is leadership and can we achieve it?

Is leadership a skill? is it a character? an inbuilt trait or a practice? Is it something that is taught or something to aspire towards?

if you ask a group of employees what leadership is what would they say? What would a soldier say? or a student, or paramedic? what would a sportsmen or a company director say? they would all have variance leadership definitions. What may constitute exemplary leadership practices to a Marine may not be so valuable to a construction worker.

leadership is a word that is thrown around a lot. What we dont realise is that it is more about the followers than anything. leadership is defined by the above followers. Is it not up to the individuals perception?- what they may need from their respective leader is unique to them.

The problem arises when leaders fail to see this factor. A once brilliant leader cannot maintain that followership and motivation without being continually flexible and adaptable to the groups needs and perceptions. ever aware of the changes in temperature

now its all well and good to see this, but how are we to keep this going. This is what i am wondering, in any case i have found that having one to one interactions with people builds a brilliant rapport personally but in a positions of leadership how do you keep that healthy distance where people can still value your guidance as a leader. or is that even a power aspect in itself. should there be atleast some element of distance between leaders or is does it just come down to how inspiring your own actions are to make others follow suite.

this is a reflection in action, maybe ill find the answer this week or maybe its just a matter of adaptability when things arise. maybe taking the coaching approach may help build a better response....

: 10 Feb 2015 20:47 |  Tags: Awareness Define Direction Excellence Growth Le Leadership Learning Lessons Life Wonder |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Leadership and excellence first account

This is the module I have been waiting for! I can not wait to see how i will learn and grow and reflect from this.

I couldnt agree more with Paul on the point that this is the place for us to trial and error, and make mistakes. There is no apocalyptic disaster that can come from it. In the real world we wi never get the chance to explore leadership and followership style this way.

So my plan is to try and exercise different approaches to team work and lleadership to see if i can correct my shortcomings. From this is mean i hope i can take different steps and actions than usually would and to reflect on how they went, how i have benefited, how the group benefited and how i can try and improve and imprint it in myself for the future.

The problem here however lies in me actually being able to reign myself in! As i saw today i am way too loud and i ge to excited about things and it has too many antiproductive effects on my growth aswell as the growth of my lovely collegues and our goal as a team.

So i have got to be actively reflective, quick on my feet and try and take a step back at that moment and correct it. Active reflection in itself wold be an invaluable practise to exercise here. And i hope that during this week i can really look at myself and my styles, and my colleagues- i have already sen so many qualities that have inspired me. I cannot wait to learn more and to be influenced by these traits that people have.

Bring on the learning!

: 10 Feb 2015 20:13 |  Tags: Beginning Guide Leadership Learning Self Awareness |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PIUSS combinations for change

I really enjoyed reading a paper by Rajamanoharan & Collier yesterday. They provided me with an insight on how we can combine different methodologies to make a stronger change process.

I found t to be a really well written piece on how DMAIC and DFSS compliment eachother to lead to a radical change in a company! similar to the idea that an ocean is just made of lots of drops lots of incremental changes (egDMAIC project level) can build to a radical change company wide. So by combining these two methodologiesyou can strengthen your organizational change strategy.

This reminded me of the Venn diagrams and how we can find the areas where change management and six sigma overlap in order to create a six sigma improvement programme. WIthin this overlap however we can further strengthen this by finding where things like organisational learning or transformational change overlap, to name st a few examples.

by doing this we may be able to reinforce teh change programme in orde rot avoid the common pitfalls that companies face when implementing six sigma.

Similarly we can take this further wit many other aspects in our careers or work. You dont always have to look into the same box for idea, sometimes a completely random box may shed so much more light on your problem.

SO think outside of the box whenevr it comes to change- and try and strengthen your strategy as much as you can, looking at all angles as well!

: 01 Jan 2015 19:03 |  Tags: Change Tranformational |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PIUSS Six sigma overall is different than project

So As i mentioned it took me a while to realise i was basing my answers on the wrong question. Which was looking at the success of 6σoverall and not on project basis.

In many aspects we sometimes look at the bigger picture instead of the incremental details that make up that picture. In terms of 6σ, although there were similarities in looking at the use of 6σas a business revolutionising concept or in terms of a specific project- there were pretty important differences.

The overall 6σ showed us that culture, management, and employee perceptions were vital, which also applied to specific projects- the specific projects needed a more in-depth look at the aspects that build it and guide it such as having a really well constructed and realistic project charter that all members could understand, follow and achieve. 6σ projects also needed a very well thought out team, and a manager who could facilitate them well (change management). All of these aspects were critical to creating the right base for the project- there wasnt as much weighting on the things that happen during or after. which shows the value of how important is that the message/task/role is understood, and how the best personnel are selected according to all the requirements of this.

This reinforces the point that you must understand and analyse before you begin. Analysing here would be to see exactly what your ask would need, who it would need, and what they would need to do, and how best to facilitate their own requirements.

Im not sure how best to phrase what ive learnt from this, but it is a practical business approach. Where I should consider all aspects of what would go into making a change or a project when i am strategizing. I cant concentrate on the whole picture i have got to start with the problem, what makes up this problem, who would understand it best, what tasks need to be done, who would do these tasks and so on. And i know its a weakness of mine that i get to carried away in the bigger picture and i overlook the little things. So my goal is to hone in on this learning this year and maintain this mindset.

I ave to admit here that it really does apply to my project too and not just my module work or business. I need to find the problem not the solution!

: 22 Nov 2014 11:55 |  Tags: Business Management Piuss Projects Six Sigma Teams |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PIUSS– seeing the real question

Our team put together the presentation on what makes a successful six sigma project. And i am proud to say that we successfully overcame the essential problem that i always have of 'answering the question'. I was quiet worried about this after my PMA, infact I actually started answering the question wrong at first, but after a little advice from Greame i saw that. So I learnt how e must look at a question properly, not find interpretations of it according to what the literature says. because as soon as we find something good in the reading we think 'ah yes thats a brilliant way of looking at it lets expand on it further'. Whereas that is not gonna hep you or the people you are presenting to either.

So we asked Greame after the next class, on what we may be doing wrong and got the best direction we could(again its as simple as just asking). And we went back and reviewed our work in light of this.

How might I use these skills in the future ? well for one, I am definitely going to be looking at my PMA more closely now and my project. BUt at work i think its crucial to understand these sort of tasks. sometimes you can cause a huge loss to your team or your career by not understanding the task, so you should ask for confirmation or guidance dont be shy and you shouldn't linger on little details or let to many opinions distract you. You are part of a team and you should take an active part in the success of that team.

: 22 Nov 2014 11:26 |  Tags: Learning Pma Six Sigma Writing Skills |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PIUSS projects– becoming a listener

I was pretty happy with the way things panned out with group projects. I found that once you start listening to others you can learn a lot more than what they are saying. For example in the brain storming process it dawned on me that when you have a difference opinion than someone else it may just be that you perceive the question in a different light than them. In my case this was because the question was worded a little different than what we are used to, and when you are in a class of diverse backgrounds everyone is obviously going to perceive these things differently.

It was something that happened in passing and it wasn't a particularly important matter either, but it was a striking realisation for em anyways. because ive seen many people argue and get worked up about differing approaches or opinions. maybe its simpler to just sit and listen and really try and see what the train of thought is behind the words, to read between the lines.

So on he surface,if there is something your missing that they picked up then you are open to it, or if they have misinterpreted the question then you can go back to the question and discuss this with them.

Or you may think someone isn't working as hard, maybe you need to understand whee they are coming form, what their experiences have been, what their motivations are. and sometimes its as simple as realising you are leading wrong. maybe you could sit an ask them why they dont feel as excited about this project or motivated, it may even be that they do have some brilliant ideas but we are overlooking them.

So i am now working on developing my learning skills, which may improve my communication and thinking skills in the future. I hope that down the line i will be able to work as a more perceptive and supportive team member whether it is at a workplace or not.

As Greame and Paul both say, Bieng a god manager is about listening more

: 22 Nov 2014 11:13 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PMA Chronicles– Research research research

I found that when using online databases, the right connotations and filters havea huge impact on how succesful you are at finding the right stuff. for example just using quoations for your main subject is an absolute gem! And then fitering by date I actually found that the newer the work the easier it was to understand anf follow. some more recent papers were also more applicabe to what i needed. They also helped me see which thoeries and concepts had not been outdated. if i had tried to do that manually i would have had toloo through soo many papers. but since newer papers will be mentioning all the concepts that have not been disproved and hence still apply, it made job so much easier.

I found that research is actually really interesting. im so surprised at myself for saying thisbut i am finding that individually going out and seeking knowledge for your own benefit can be so good ( surprisingly this is exactly what OL tells you to do) so what we are all doing here is actually a perfect example of a good LO! and i think that exactly what Paul wanted- especially since today i found an article mentioning that the Military is the largest Learning organizaton in the world, the key hings they do is train and fight, but mosly train. So alot of there time is spent eviewing and reflecting and giving all memebrs chance to speak and discuss about what they think went right or wrong and how to improve. Im used to the phrase "debrief" from my projects at uni. So it al comes together. i had no idea why debriefing was so important why my mentor kept banging on about reflection! but i guess thats the whole point- how you connect the dots and apply this learning to the future.

What a perfect why to set out this PMA so were essentially seeing a glimpse ino the objectives of the degree!

ACTION LEARNING!!

: 29 Oct 2014 20:01 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem