I was one of four analysts working on a client account. My boss was getting annoyed dealing with all of us and our silly just-out-of-grad-school questions. He didn’t like editing our client memos because he had more important things to do.
He liked me and thought my work was solid. I had been there longer than the others and had more personal experience handling clients. So he did the worst possible thing to me he could: he put me in charge of the others, gave me responsibility for everyone’s work with no authority over them at all. I was excited that I finally had minions, but I fell victim to the Peter Principle right away, promoted for my technical skills with no grounding in how to handle my minions as people.
Our small office became a shark tank overnight. I was the bait. (more…)
Here’s a quick social experiment I’d like you to try at your next cocktail party or networking event. Instead of asking the ubiquitous “So, what do you do?” question of the first person you meet, ask this instead: “So, who are you?”
The first question can get you a lot of content. The second one can get you a story. Which approach tells you more about the person standing in front of you?
We spend a lot of time on content in our working worlds—what we’ll do and how we’ll do it—which requires us to focus on our strengths and capacities. Questions about who we really are and why we matter—built around our values and beliefs—often get reserved for the annual retreat or team- building session. Then we all go back to work and focus mostly on content again. Eventually, leadership starts to wonder why employee engagement scores aren’t up to par.
I’ve found that leaders can inadvertently create a lot of disengagement when they forget that it’s the dynamic combination of strengths and values that fuels motivation and contribution.(more…)
Listening to a panel discussion on career advice, I asked the speaker, “So, how did you find your job?” Boom came the answer, “Networking! That’s the way to go.” I have heard this same advice from mentors and friends ever since then.
As a computer science major, to me “network” means the linkage of machines to operate interactively. Curious to know what it exactly meant, I looked it up in the Oxford dictionary, which states Networking means “to interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career”. My Asian upbringing made me feel uncomfortable with the concept of seeking help, which is perceived as a sign of weakness. In addition to the cultural barrier, as a technologist who spends most of her time behind a computer screen, honing social skills was a challenge I had to overcome.
I vividly remember my first networking event; I had signed up for the event but didn’t think I’d have the courage to attend because I had never gone to one all my life and had no idea what to do and talk about. No amount of online research on “How to Network Effectively” could help me overcome my cultural shackles and social ineptness as it is easier said than done. The saving grace for me was the philosophy that I have always believed in, which is to leverage every single opportunity that comes my way. I resolved to show up because I knew I couldn’t let go of the opportunity knowingly and ruminate later. With my best intentions forward, I took a deep breath when I reached the venue. The experience of walking into a room of strangers felt like walking into a dark tunnel with no light in sight. I felt out of place and kept questioning myself about why was I even there. I secretly wished a false fire alarm would ring somewhere so I had an excuse to get out. Showing up would have sufficed to assuage my guilt.
What does it mean to be a Working Mom? What’s Working Mom Culture?
Liz McGrory is a certified professional coach, speaker, author and Working Mom Expert on About.com. She’s changing the working mom culture one working mom at a time by guiding them to be audacious bosses of their habits and personal energy.
We will be discussing:
What does it mean to be a working mom?
How can a working mom change to be the boss of their habits and personal energy?
How can that change benefit moms, dads, and families?
Happy National Mental Health Month! Since this is a month we’re all given the opportunity to consider our mental health, and its role in our wellness and the wellness of those around us, I thought I’d explore the questions that often comes up when I’m speaking with new clients.
What’s the difference between coaching and therapy?
How can I work with a coach or a therapist most effectively?
NOTE: I’m not a therapist so this article only reflects my experience as a coach. If you have questions about therapy, please ask a therapist!
In the end, most of my clients seem to sort these questions out for themselves, but I’m always amazed at how–when my clients are seeing me for coaching and simultaneously seeing a therapist for deeper, more personal and/or physical issues–they make amazing progress extremely quickly. (more…)
The world is changing by the minute. It’s exciting to see the constant changes with mobile, the Internet of Things, Agile, Lean, social media, bots, video. We are rethinking our world – how we live in it, how we play in it, and how we work in it.
And then there is the work environment we have to complete every day. It’s easy to get bored at work, doing the same type of work with the same types of tools day in and day out. There’s not a lot of change happening in the day-to-day corporate world. If there is change, it seems to happens at a glacial pace.
How do you stay inspired at your daily job with the exciting changes happening in the larger world?
We will be having a conversation with Lynn Borton, a facilitator—of conversations and transformation—with more than two decades of experience in governance and change management in the non-profit sector. For nearly 25 years she worked with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness – the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization), capped by a dozen years as chief operating officer. In the summer of 2014 a confluence of events reminded her that life is short and in 2015 she left NAMI to write and consult. Lynn is producer and host of “Choose to be Curious” a newly-launched biweekly radio show on WERA-LP 96.7 FM in Arlington, Va. Follow Lynn on Facebook.
We will be learning about curiosity, how it can enhance leadership and make you a generally better leader in your organization.
May is National Mental Health Awareness month! Here at InPower Coaching, we view “health” very holistically, to include your sense of well-being. People often ask the difference between therapy and coaching. There’s a big difference! In fact they often work well side-by-side. Therapy takes you deep while coaching gives you survival skills. This post provides some insight into these differences and what life coaching can help you accomplish. Executive coaching takes these same skills to bear to help you achieve the career success you want in the workplace. – InPower Editors
By: Tom Casano Founder, Life Coach Spotter
I’ve always known that I wanted to live a better life. To be happier, smarter, more fulfilled, and reach my goals — that’s the direction my heart has always pulled me in. And why can’t I live a better life? And why can’t you?
When I hit my mid-20’s I was deeply unhappy, maybe even bordering on depression. My life was in shambles. I had few friends, little drive, no fulfillment, and a negative view on life. Those were the darkest days of my life. It was only after seeing a therapist that I was able to start changing my mindset, accept myself, and build my self-confidence. Soon after, I discovered the field of “self-improvement” and the law of attraction and that’s when things really began to change for me.
We learned that employers who had pro-human work environments had a better bottom line. And not just slightly better – significantly better than their peers.
She read this quote last time:
Studies show that organizations that display empathy, among other human-related attributes, are more successful. In the book Firms of Endearment author Raj Sisodia et al. state the “firms of endearment” that are publicly held returned 1,026 percent for investors over the 10 years ending June 30, 2006. Compare that with 122 percent for the S&P 500.
How do companies do this? That’s what we’ll learn on Tuesday, May 3.
I recently had one of those moments that caused me to take myself down a notch. I took one of the personality assessments I’ve used with clients (one designed especially for women on the leadership track) and didn’t like some of the results. When Valerie was coaching me on my results I got grumpy on her about the fact that the assessment said I needed to be more inquisitive.
Not inquisitive enough? Me?!?!?! I’m the queen of curiosity! Learning is how I motivate myself through every moment of my day! I learn to teach and I’m teaching about 5 hours a day. How is it possible that I needed to be more “inquisitive?”
Lucky for me Valerie is a truly professional coach and ignored my harrumphing fit with professional grace.
“Have you recently taken on any new professional roles or responsibilities?”
“Erm… well, yeah. I’m running a business now.”
“Are you as inquisitive as you need to be in order to be effective in this new role?”
