“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
(Marthe Troly-Curtin)
Apr 22 2013
Coaching Quote of the Day 22nd April 2013
“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”
(H. Jackson Brown Jr.)
Jan 28 2013
Coaching Quote of the Day 28th January 2013
Nov 02 2012
Meeting Outcomes
Business productivity coaches, Laura Waite and Collin Lyons, share their thoughts and expertise in today’s guest post.
Meeting Outcomes:
How to get your meetings where you want them to go
by Laura Waite and Collin Lyons
If you spend any time in meetings, here’s a scenario you may find familiar: an hour is allocated to discuss the issues and what needs to be done about them. The group examines every angle, shares each person’s opinions, and then turns its attention to considering what to do… only to discover the time is up.
Many of us find meetings less productive than they should be. This may be familiar to you, either in your meetings or those of your clients. As coaches, on committees or in teams, we rely on meetings to come together, share ideas and ultimately make decisions. However, research shows that only 50% of meetings get through all the planned content*.
You don’t have to be stuck in that rut, and neither do your clients! There’s a simple tool that can turn meetings into brainstorming powerhouses and, whether you find yourself running group meetings or you have a client whose productivity levels are low, everyone can end the meeting feeling positive and clear about the road ahead.
The tool is called “Meeting Outcomes” and it’s the key to a productive meeting, because it ensures you are engaging the right people on the right problem. Essentially, a Meeting Outcome is a brief description of what you will make, decide or generate during that meeting. It provides a solid goal for attendees to achieve. Here are some tips to make Meeting Outcomes work for you:
Before the Meeting, Decide Your Outcomes
- Write a description of the Outcome – A Meeting Outcome is a description of “what” will be made, decided or generated during the meeting, not “how” we should go about doing so. (By contrast, an agenda provides a path through the meeting – a description of “how” that Meeting Outcome will be achieved.) If you are leading the meeting, write a brief description of what you intend the group to make, decide or generate during that meeting, which you can then include in the invite you send to attendees. Specifically describing the Outcome for the people invited to the meeting allows them to be clearer on their ability and desire to help achieve that Outcome, which in turn ensures that the people in the meeting are interested and eager to actively engage.
- Often, the best Outcome is an expression of a problem that needs to be solved, for example: Do we have action plans for addressing the most important risks? Do we have a basic understanding of how we will be working together? Do we all agree on the new team structure? Thinking of an Outcome as a question gets you to really focus on the problem or situation to be addressed. This is a great tip for ensuring you don’t end up with an agenda (the “how”) instead of an Outcome (the “what”). The second reason, and some may argue the more important reason, is that a question forces everyone to think about the answer: rather than just saying “done”, you’ll need to think about whether the answer is “yes or no”.
- The Meeting Outcome needs to be clear and specific and you’ll want to aim for one that can be realistically completed in a single session. It’s usually best to have just one Meeting Outcome, whenever possible, to encourage focus.
- If necessary, break the Outcome down – If your Meeting Outcome is too large to be completed in a single session, break it down into smaller ones that the group can achieve over multiple sessions.
- Communicate the Outcome and invite participation – Make sure that every potential participant receives the description of the Meeting Outcome. Open up the invitation list widely to ensure you get the right people to solve the problem. You should find that those people who choose to attend are the ones who are most passionate about achieving the meeting’s Outcome. Not everyone will have a vested interest in achieving the Meeting Outcome. It might fall outside their expertise, or relate to a project or goal that person isn’t working on, or is simply something they aren’t interested in. Giving every potential participant the Meeting Outcome beforehand allows them to make a well-informed decision about their participation. If the passion isn’t there, nor should be the participant.
Meeting Outcomes are one of the most valuable tools on our coaching belts – we use them whenever we plan a meeting and our clients are regularly impressed at both the outcome and the ease of application, often remarking that it increases the productivity of the meeting substantially. Ultimately, the energised, focused attitude that Meeting Outcomes encourages not only increases a meeting’s productivity by making sure it goes where you wanted it to go, it also provides you with positive, willing attendees who will be excited about your coaching ideas – and excited to take them away and use them!
Want to enhance your technique? Tips for deciding Meeting Outcomes together as a group, using Meeting Outcomes to decide whether to attend a meeting and helping people focus on Meeting Outcomes once you have them are available on our website 
* CyberMeetings by James L. Creighton and James W. R. Adams
About the Authors
Laura Waite and Collin Lyons are the duo of business productivity coaches behind Flowmotion. For people in the office world who want to feel the buzz, Flowmotion is an enterprise that will awaken your passion for work. To address the all-too-typical experience of unenergetic working lives, our mission is to redesign how people interact with their environment to generate engaging, productive and collaborative atmospheres and organisations. We share several decades of experience providing organisational transformation and executive coaching and have worked with large and global organisations including: British Telecom, British Petroleum, Standard Life Assurance and Investments, British Gas/Centrica, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Allied Irish Bank and the UK Government. You can find us at www.flowmotioncafe.com
Oct 27 2012
Coaching Quote of the Day 27th October 2012
“You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.”
(Ruth E. Renkl)
Do you agree with this quote?
You’re welcome to share below
Sep 25 2012
Coaching Quote of the Day 25th September 2012
“It’s ironic that in our culture everyone’s biggest complaint is about not having enough time; yet nothing terrifies us more than the thought of eternity.”
(Dennis Miller)
Sep 14 2012
Lesson 9: Procrastination
Coach Julia Neiman shares her expertise and knowledge in today’s guest post:
An introduction by today’s guest poster coach Julia Neiman:
The following “Lesson” is an excerpt from my new Ebook, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset. While the majority of my clients over the years have been transitional age youth from 18 to 25 years old, I am now coaching parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, social workers and others who work with this age group. Procrastination is something that I find affects people of all ages and as coaches, I’m sure you’ve seen this in your clients and perhaps even have a touch of it yourself. I know I do.
In this lesson, I present 5 common beliefs and attitudes that lead to procrastination in the hopes that coming to understand why we procrastinate can lead to our breaking this habit. I hope you find it useful.
Lesson 9: Procrastination
by Julia Neiman
Telling ourselves and others that we are going to do something is a far cry from actually doing it. The distance between intention and behavior is often quite large. Statistics show that for every intention 1 in 2 people will end up not following through on their planned action. That’s a lot of nothing getting done.
One of the causes of this is the action of constantly putting things off, known as procrastination. A key attribute of procrastination is a tendency to over think a particular course of action to the point that you spend most your time thinking rather than actually doing. This state is commonly known as paralysis by analysis. I’ve been known to procrastinate once in a while. I try not to allow myself to do that because it leads to feeling overwhelmed then I just want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.
Sometimes by thinking less we are able to achieve more.
Here are five common beliefs and attitudes that lead to the debilitating effects of procrastination:
1. The possibility of failure
Many people talk themselves out of working towards their goals because they are afraid they may fail. To their way of thinking, by not taking action they are able protect themselves from the possibility of failure.
Most procrastinators have a strong idea of what they want, but often the fear of failure and the thoughts that surround this paralyzing emotion are so intense that productivity is slowed down or stops altogether.
2. The perfectionist syndrome
Another common attitude within the mindset of a procrastinator is the need for everything to be perfect before work commences. Often this involves optimizing one’s environment and work space so that maximum comfort and ease is created.
The problem with this mindset is that working environments are never ideal, and never will be, unless you are prepared to invest a significant amount of your own time creating the ultimate work environment.
Understand that there is no substitute for real productive action, so even if your workplace is not ideal it is advisable to forge ahead nevertheless. Thank goodness I’m not a perfectionist because my workspace is far from ideal.
3. The finite resource of time
Arguably a huge bias in the procrastinator’s thinking is the belief that time is an infinite resource. The common excuse “I will do it tomorrow” usually stems from an unconscious belief that there will always be time. Unfortunately this is not true, and for many procrastinators they end up looking back over their lives regretting they didn’t take the opportunities when they were presented to them.
It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking like this, which is why if you are presented with a good idea, it is advisable that you act on it immediately.
4. Stepping into the unknown
Acting on your intentions often requires a leap of faith. Embarking on a worthwhile project always contains elements of the unknown.
The problem with many procrastinators is that they are terrified of taking a leap of faith into the unknown. They want a guarantee that their efforts will not be in vain.
This may result in the procrastinator doing unnecessary research in an attempt to further control the likelihood of their actions becoming a success. Obviously planning is important before beginning any major task, but at the same time excessive planning can inhibit your ability to act at the right times.
5. Action should be easy
Another component of the procrastinator’s limiting mindset is the belief that everything, when taking constructive action towards their long-term goals will be plain sailing. Whenever hard work and long hours is mentioned a procrastinator is likely to put off whatever course of action they need to take.
All worthwhile projects involve overcoming difficulties and obstacles, and the procrastinator is often someone who foolishly believes that getting what you want shouldn’t be anything but easy.
What’s on the other side of procrastination?
If you can get past the mindset of the procrastinator, and you can begin actively working towards your goal, you may find that it becomes increasingly difficult to stop. You will find that over time you begin building up momentum towards your goals, to the point where everything is taken in your stride. There is no doubt about it, starting something is always the hardest part, but once you get in the grove your work flow will become more natural and easy.
“An object at rest tends to stay at rest; an object in motion tends to stay in motion” Sir Isaac Newton
About the Author/Further Resources
Julia Neiman is the Founder of Transform For Life, an online coaching program for teens, and Executive Director of Group Home Consultants, a nonprofit that provides independent living skills training to transition age foster youth.
Julia has 20 years of experience working with troubled teens. She believes that their dreams matter and is passionate about helping them learn to make those dreams come true. To that end, Julia has just written her first book, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset. The book is currently available only at her website as an ebook. Later this year the book will be available both as an audio book and a bound book.
Visit Julia’s website at http://www.julianeiman.com for a free download of a great organizational tool entitled, Get Stuff Done. Then check the Free Downloads Page for more free stuff.
Aug 21 2012
Coaching Quote of the Day 21st August 2012
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