CorporateCoach eNewsletter
Issue No. 78, 8th November 2004
CONTENTS
- Editorial: Good luck, bad luck
- Coaching notes: Improving Your Organisation's Bottom Line
1. Editorial:
Good luck, bad luck
 I
have just been reminded of a story that I tell.
Tomorrow (today for readers), we have a stand at the UK Confederation
of British Industry conference in Birmingham. It is part of our strategy
to raise our profile amongst corporate clients and to build a foundation
for the consultants that we train.
It has been a hectic time because it has required us to design new publicity
material, including a leaflet that explains Brefi Group's "integrated
approach to releasing human potential"; our concept of integrating
the processes of consultancy, facilitation, coaching and training to ensure
that we can support our clients in the implementation of solutions. The
inside of this leaflet is based on a mind map showing how the four activities
integrate.
Unfortunately the printer printed the inside upside down. On the eve
of a major exhibition we have 1,000 faulty leaflets. Rather frustrating
– but it means that we can test them this time and then have a free
re-print of a revised version for general distribution and use at our
next exhibition, HRD 2005 at Olympia in April. Good luck, bad luck?
My next job is to prepare the presentation for my contribution at the
5th Annual Career Development Conference in Dubai in December.
I have booked my flights so that I spend a few days after the conference
having a rest and investigating the new Knowledge City. I tried to book
my hotel for these extra days on the Internet. I could not complete the
booking for my chosen hotel – I think there was a computer fault.
In my haste I booked another one, near the city centre and the gold souk.
Then I discovered it is in another city 16 miles away. How frustrating
– but it means I will have to concentrate more on a rest, with time
on the beach, free from business concerns. Good luck, bad luck?
Here is the story.
A father and his son owned a farm. They did not have many animals, but
they did own a horse. One day the horse ran away.
“How terrible, what bad luck,” said the neighbours.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows?” replied the farmer.
Several weeks later the horse returned, bringing with him four wild mares.
“What marvellous luck,” said the neighbours.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows?” replied the farmer.
The son began to learn to ride the wild horses, but one day he was thrown
and broke his leg.
“What bad luck,” said the neighbours.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows?” replied the farmer.
The next week the army came to the village to take all the young men
to war. The farmer’s son was still disabled with his broken leg,
so he was spared. “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?”
USEFUL LINKS:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor
I enjoyed today's newsletter since I have also reached a stage with my
coaching clients where they are becoming more and more successful at achieving
the goals that we have jointly set and once I have shared my tools they
can just get on with it.
I am working on expanding their comfort zones now which is closely related
to working through your fears.
regards
Karl George
Managing Director
Andersons KBS Ltd
Dear Editor
Thank you for another excellent Newsletter. The review of The
Skilled Facilitator by Roger Schwarz two weeks ago was especially
interesting and your definitions concerning consulting, coaching, facilitation
and training most useful, especially when we in the Business Link need
to explain to prospective clients that we are teachers and facilitators
and not consultants.
Sincerely,
Stan Parsons
The Business Link
Zimbabwe
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2. Coaching notes: Improving Your Organisation's
Bottom Line
Frank J. Troha PhD
Less than 30 percent of training gets applied, according to a study reported
by the American Society for Training and Development. And it doesn't matter
if the training is delivered in the classroom, online or through a combination
of the two venues. There are two plausible theories offered for this unfortunate
fact:
- poor instructional design and
- a work environment that does little to encourage or support transfer
of learning.
I'd like to offer a third: irrational beliefs that all people unconsciously
hold to one degree or another, and would be far better off without.
By beliefs I mean an individual's deep-seated views about himself
or herself, other people and life in general. By irrational I mean
unscientific, incapable of being proven, baseless. Here are some examples:
- People must treat me fairly
- I should have little discomfort in life
- People must find me likable
- It's awful when I make a mistake
- I must perform well or I'm no good
- People who treat me badly deserve to be punished
- I must get what I want when I want it
- I can't control how I feel
- Such things should never happen
To understand the insidious influence irrational beliefs can have on
an employee's application of learning, take a few moments to reflect on
the potential negative result each irrational belief listed above can
generate. I think you'll soon conclude irrational beliefs represent a
major obstacle to an organization's investment in training paying off
the way it could (and should).
Now consider how each of the above irrational beliefs can affect an employee's
response to change in the workplace, whether it's a merger, a major new
initiative, new leadership, expanded responsibilities, the introduction
of new software or what have you. I think you'll agree that such erroneous,
self-limiting beliefs can have a potentially devastating effect on the
performance of individuals, teams, departments and the viability of the
organization itself.
Recognizing the value of helping employees (and their management) identify
and minimize irrational beliefs, my firm developed – and for the
past several years has offered – a unique program. Known as How
to Sail Through a Sea of Change? or Unstoppable Selling? (the version
for salespeople) our seminar presents a simple but profound way for participants
to identify and minimize their self-imposed obstacles to greater success.
The results have been consistently impressive, according to our clients
whose employees are trained to apply simple, proven techniques.
Here is one such technique based on the work of prominent cognitive psychologists,
including Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck:
Whenever you experience anger, fear or upset at work, respond to these
questions:
- What am I so upset about?
- What am I telling myself about the situation?
- Is it true? (Note: The participant, having an understanding of the
difference between rational and irrational beliefs, scans a comprehensive
list of irrational beliefs, noting any likely to be the root cause of
the upset.)
- What is a more rational, constructive way of interpreting the situation?
(Note: Here the participant vigorously challenges the original self-talk
-- which was rooted in one or more irrational beliefs -- and replaces
it with self-talk that is reality-based.)
- What, if anything, can I do to improve the situation? (Note: If circumstances
are beyond the control or influence of the participant, he or she is
trained to accept this fact and move on.)
Dr. James Fadiman, a well-known psychologist and writer, captured the
necessity of removing internal blockages, i.e., irrational beliefs, when
he wrote:
"When we get stuck while trying to reach a goal, it usually isn't
because we need to learn a new technique. Rather, it's because we've run
up against one or more internal barriers. Until we deal with those inner
obstacles, all the good intentions, plans and motivational strategies
in the world won't be good enough to see us through to our goals."
Unlike motivational or positive thinking programs, our program gets at
the root cause of an individual's thoughts, feelings and actions: his
or her unique belief system. What does this mean to HR professionals?
Simply put: Excellent Training + Excellent Work Environment - Irrational
Beliefs = Maximum R.O.I. in the Human Resource.
Frank J. Troha,
Ph.D. is an instructional design consultant, performance counselor and
adult education professor (Fordham University) located in Port Chester,
New York.
USEFUL LINKS:
We
aim to make the Brefi Group web site the premier developmental site for
teams and individuals in organisations, so do please send us your suggestions
and requests for further development. And let us know what you think
of this newsletter, and comment on the content.
THIS IS A
FREE PUBLICATION! Please SHARE it willingly with a friend or colleague
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Brefi
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We hope you
enjoyed this issue of CorporateCoach. If you would like to learn
more about how we can work together, then please contact me, Richard Winfield:
Telephone:
08450 678 222, or +44 (0) 121 704 2006 (international)
E-mail: editor@brefigroup.co.uk
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