Wednesday 31 December 2014

Setting your Goals and Objectives for 2015

Do you want to achieve certain things in 2015? If so this post is for you.

We are by our nature goal oriented so your setting goals to achieve certain things is natural and normal.

Research shows that if we set balanced goals and achieve them this helps to raise our confidence and self-esteem.

What are balanced goals?

For a start, balanced goals aim to achieve something for work, you personally and you socially.

Goals are broad statements of intent e.g. 'I will change my career in 2015 or I will lose weight in 2015 or I will join a new social group'.

Objectives will move you to the next level of detail. To help you to achieve your objectives you will do well to follow the SMART acronym:

Specific
Measurable
Achieveable
Realistic
Timebound

Also writing down and referring to your goals and objectives regularly will help you to achieve them.

For example, from 'I will change my career in 2015' your objective could be 'I will work with a career coach from January to March 2015 to determine what career/s would suit me best and then tailor my CV to apply to x, y, z organisations in Bristol. I aim to be in my new career by 1.9.15.'

Or, from 'I will lose weight in 2015' your objective could be 'I will join weight watchers in January 2015 and do 3 workouts at the gym for an hour a time from 1.2.15. My target weight is 10 stone.'

Or from 'I will join a new social group' your objective could be 'I will trial Bristol social solos, my local skittles group and the rowing club before deciding which to join and attend once a week from March 2015 to meet new people'.

We hope that you enjoy setting and achieving your 2015 goals and objectives.

For help and support please contact us at enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk or on 01761 237400

Tuesday 23 December 2014

The 6 Wise Men Approach to Self Coaching

Are you looking for a tool or technique to help you to achieve a happier more balanced life?

As it's Christmas and with a bit of a twist on the traditional 3 wise men Christmas theme, I am reminding you of some other wise men, 6 of them.

  1. What do you love doing such that when you are doing it you feel good? This may be particular skills such as helping another person to learn something or playing a team sport or tending your garden and watching it grow or spending time with a loved one. The idea is to do more of what you love in your day
  2. Who are you doing it with?
  3. Where are you doing it?
  4. How are you doing it? is there a particular approach that you enjoy taking or making?
  5. When are you doing it?
  6. Why are you doing it? What is fulfilling/important/meaningful to you about this activity?
That's our Christmas gift to you, an exercise that we hope will be useful. Let us know how you get on and tell us if you would like help and support in achieving the changes that you want to make in 2015, through enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk or 01761 237400


Tuesday 16 December 2014

Manage your Wellbeing at Work

Do you often find yourself blaming work for your lack of well being, whether that be stress or maybe a lack of control on aspects of your life such as your weight?

This can leave you feeling that life is a constant fight or battle that you are reacting to.

The most authoritative review of scientific research about wellbeing tells us that we will experience greater wellbeing if we do 5 actions: connect, give, learn, move and notice.

We also know from research that we are better able to maintain changes if we make those changes in baby steps.

Today, what about focusing on one small action of connecting, giving, learning, moving or noticing, whilst at work?

For example, you might decide to notice using your senses whenever you think of this during your day and respond intuitively to what comes up such as letting go of your breath or stretching your neck.

Perhaps you can focus on one small action from each of the five actions for one working week.

What do you notice at the end of the week? Mentally? Physically? Any small shifts worth building on?

If stress and/or lack of control is something that you would like to address with help please get in touch via enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk

Friday 12 December 2014

Independent Small Business Self-Coaching Approach

Are you an independent small business owner or partner?

Has your business growth plateaued or declined?

We work with you and your team to achieve sales growth whatever the economic situation.

You can start the process off  yourself by considering the following questions. You can then either take action on your own or, if you feel that you would benefit from expert support, commission us to work with you. One area that clients find particularly useful is developing leadership behaviours.

1. What is the direction and focus of my/our business?

2. What strategic actions do I/we need to take to achieve the direction and focus of the business?

3. What is the best environment for this business?

4. What behaviours and skills need to be acquired to grow this business?

5. What values and beliefs do we share for this business?

One tip is to ask your staff for their views on what's good, what needs work and what ideas they have for growing the business.

If this proves a useful exercise let us know. If you would like to meet to see if we can help grow your small business please get in touch via enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk

Thursday 4 December 2014

Do you have ambitious growth plans for your small business?

If you do have ambitious growth plans for your small business then please read on.

The likelihood is that critical success factor to achieve your financial targets is your people. Individual motivation and capability along with team harmony will make or break your ambitions.

Do you know if each individual within your small business is operating at 100% motivation and 100% capability?

Do you know you staff?

Do you know what motivates individuals and what would send their motivation souring up to 100%

Do staff know specifically what you expect from them behaviourally and in terms of results?

Do you know what is stopping your staff from being 100% capable to deliver your expectations?

Do you have plans in place to send staff motivation and capability souring to 100%

Answering these questions will help you to move towards achieving your ambitious growth plans.

We are working with small businesses like yours to assist as independent experts.

The return on investment you can expect to achieve through people development interventions is many times over.

If you would like help to achieve your goals and targets, please get in touch via enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk