Coaching for you
Become a trusted leader, motivate your teams and make your work more meaningful.
Let’s be honest, Leadership is a journey
From team leader up to the c suite, there is a balance in your work between executing tasks, and getting things done by others. As you progress up the chain of leadership, you need to adjust the balance. Plus you need to develop your leadership style.
You have the functional technical skills and expertise (that’s why you got promoted, right?). Now you need to develop the leadership skills.Â
I learned the hard way.
When I was a new manager, (blimey, so long ago now) I was eager to help. But I thought I had all the answers. And that my job was to tell people those answers. I knew I was supposed to “involve” people. Note the quotation marks, they say so much.
So my efforts to engage and collaborate ended up being more micro-managing.Â
I had a nightmare team member – but it turns out that I was the asshole, not him. Â
I didn’t even know that I needed to learn leadership skills. I was promoted because I was excellent at my job.Â
I didn’t know how to lead.Â
It’s good that help is available, or we’d have tons of organisations and teams at the mercy of people who are wonderful and technically brilliant, but who are terrible leaders.
Leadership is a learnable skill. And you are already doing some things really well.Â
Let’s get you to the next level.
Lets make this easier for you.
Let me help you become a trusted leader, who knows how to motivate their team, while making your work more meaningful.
Why do I have a picture of Obama here?Â
Firstly, because I took that! I was that close to the man. And he’s looking right at me, deep into my eyes. That smile is just for me (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
And it’s part of an important lesson in leadership: be clear about what you want, and go for it.
About a year before that photo, I saw an opportunity to go hear him speak. And I didn’t take it. I regretted it big time. So when I saw he was coming to Amsterdam, I dropped a big wad of cash to attend the event. It. was. awesome.
Moral of the story (leadership lessons):
1. It would have cost a lot less if I had taken the first opportunity – and I spent too much time wishing I hadn’t denied myself.
Lesson: Denying yourself, or holding back, sucks.
2. This event was amazing and he wasn’t even the best speaker on the day! Read this post to see what I mean.
Lesson: other opportunities will come. Just make sure to seize them.
3. This opportunity to hear Obama speak didn’t just fall in my lap. I had taken hundreds of decisions over those intervening years to discover what I wanted, to go looking for it, then grab it when I found it.
Lesson: create your own opportunities, then grab them fast.
Schedule your leadership strategy session
ABOUT YOU
You are a manager or executive:Â
- You are an experienced manager and want to become a trusted leader.
- You’ve had some leadership training, and there are some areas where you are not getting the results you want.
- You want to create a high performance team with your peopleÂ
If you are new to managing a team:
- Now you’re responsible for developing other people. How do you develop others?
- You don’t want to become a micromanager (but you’ve got all the great ideas! I mean, you got promoted because you were excellent at your job).
- People expect you to create strategies and vision for your team. You’re great at implementing them, but how do you create vision and mission?
- You want to shift from being a “do-er” to “making sure things get things get done”.
You have a key role within a team:Â
- You want to be listened to in meetings and in projects, because you have a lot to contribute.
- You are part of a team and you want to get people on board with your ideas (influencing and negotiation skills).
- To get promoted you need to show your leadership skills. But how do you show up as a leader when you’re not in charge?
- You don’t want to sit in another meeting that is going nowhere – you want to be able to shape the events around you, even when you aren’t in charge.
- What is your style? What the heck does it mean to be a leader anyway?
- You want to engage people into working together, even when they don’t report to you.
- You want to get notices and considered for promotions, without being one of those “look at me” annoying people.