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1.: Coaching for Depression

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:54 pm (PDT)

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Title: Coaching for Depression
Word Count: 406
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=29543

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Coaching for Depression
When I train managers as coaches I always warn them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little insight into the signs of abnormal
psychology. Consider for example, depression: Depression
is a widespread disorder which about 10% of men and 20% of
women can expect to suffer at least once on their lives.

There are many signs and symptoms which even the untrained
could recognize as indicators of depression:

Emotional Signs:

Guilt, misery, despair

Cognitive Signs:

Self-blame, Negative self-talk, Dejection

Motivational Signs:

Loss of energy, sex drive or appetite

Physical Signs:

Headache, Dizziness, Fatigue

There are several psychological theories concerning the
causes of depression:

Psychoanalytical:

Freud (1917) interpreted depression as a reaction to loss.
He suggested that depressed people are more excessively
dependent upon other people for approval and positive
self-esteem and that when this is absent depression results.

Behavioural:

These theories suggest that depression results from a lack
of reinforcement, i.e. the sympathy and attention of
friends and family. Unfortunately this creates a vicious
circle in that depressive behaviour often serves to further
alienate family and friends.

Cognitive:

Beck (1967) concluded that it was how people viewed
themselves and the world that may influence tendencies
towards depression. He suggests that depressed people work
with false logic and that treatment therefore needs to
concentrate on their thought processes.

Physiological:

In the western world much energy and research has gone into
establishing biochemical causes and cures for depression as
our high usage of drugs such as Prozac and tranquillizers
illustrates.

Depression has been termed the common cold of psychology.
It would seem a lasting cure may be just as elusive.
Doesn't it make you fed up?

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers these signs
when coaching around workload management or time keeping?
Best advice would seem to be to keep to good coaching
principles. Ask questions designed to raise awareness,
generate responsibility and build trust then listen
carefully and attentively to the responses. This is highly
unlikely to make things worse and may actually do quite a
lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the
relevant professional. For this reason I recommend that all
coaching managers familiarize themselves with their
organization's welfare procedure.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

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2.: Coaching and schizophrenia

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:24 pm (PDT)

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Title: Coaching and schizophrenia
Word Count: 481
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=29845

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Coaching and schizophrenia
When I train managers as coaches I always ask them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little insight into the signs of abnormal
psychology. Consider for example, that most commonly
diagnosed form of mental disorder; thought to affect about
1% of the population at some point - schizophrenia.

It is a popular misconception that schizophrenia means a
split personality. This is not true. It is actually a
generic term for a group of psychotic disorders
characterized by disturbance of personality, loss of
contact with reality and so on.

Let's look at how the condition might be described and the
symptoms one might expect to be present.

Firstly we'll consider Schneider's first rank symptoms
(1959):

Thought Disturbances:

Typical symptoms under this heading include Word Salad -
bizarre verbal association and Clang Associations - linking
words by sound rather than meaning

Auditory Hallucinations:

This is the classic "I heard voices", where the sufferer
believes some external force is directing them to do
something over which they have no control.

Primary Delusions:

Delusions are misrepresentations of what most people would
regard as the reality of situations. Common schizophrenic
delusions include:

Delusions of influence - the sufferer believes they are
being manipulated by external forces Delusions of grandeur
- e.g. "I am Napoleon" Delusions of persecution - "They're
out to get me", i.e. paranoia

Next let's consider the symptoms outlined by Slater and
Roth (1969):

Disturbance of Affect:

This is characterized by schizophrenics expressing emotions
that are inappropriate to the situation e.g. giggling on
receipt of bad news

Psychomotor Disorders:

Including odd hand gestures, twitching and peculiar facial
expressions

Lack of Volition:

Schizophrenics often have trouble conducting a normal day
to day life. They can find simple activities difficult and
can often become reclusive and withdrawn.

Schizophrenia is a term that has perhaps become cheapened
by misuse at the hands of satirists and thriller writers.
In truth it represents an horrendous burden for sufferers
and their families both of whom deserve our sympathy.

It is unlikely that the coaching manager would be the first
to stumble upon such symptoms, but it is not unheard of.
Sufferers are often able to carry on in their job roles
after perhaps some minor adjustments or be moved to other
duties. A coaching approach to communication amongst the
colleagues of the newly diagnosed schizophrenia sufferer
should also prove a sensitive way to enable everybody to
adjust.

Some studies indicate that schizophrenia - like many
abnormal psychological conditions - can be triggered or
exacerbated by stress, and work is the most common arena
for experiencing stress these days. It seems those of us
with an interest in coaching may be primed to notice the
early signs of stress and what it might lead to.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
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SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
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3.: Viral Strategies for Internet Marketing

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:24 pm (PDT)

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Title: Viral Strategies for Internet Marketing
Word Count: 582
Author: Christian Fea
Email: christian@christianfea.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=34695

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Viral Strategies for Internet Marketing
First of all, I realize that anything with "viral" in the
name doesn't conjure up images of something you want close
by, but there is a new type of Internet marketing known as
"viral marketing" is worth investigating. Despite its
unflattering appellation, it is an effective Internet
collaboration marketing tool, and one that is important to
understand if you want to expand your business.

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is a strategy that encourages your business
to carry a marketing message via e-mail, and to partner
with other businesses, which will attach your marketing
message to their emails. This is ultimately another form
of collaborative marketing for your company, but one that
lends credibility because your message is passed on through
other companies. The name viral marketing was chosen to
indicate the way a virus can rapidly multiply within a
cell, and ultimately taking over the cell, bending the cell
to the whims of the virus. This aggressive expansion and
growth is the target of a viral marketing platform.

The strategy ultimately uses a network of relationships
that you have developed, as well as the relationships and
resources of the companies with whom you are collaborating,
which are attaching your message to their emails. This can
work both for your own business, as well as a collaborative
marketing partnership with other companies.

You can include a marketing message in the emails that your
company sends to its clients and customers, and you can
contract to have your marketing message sent by other
companies, via their emails. By creating collaborative
relationships with secondary companies to pass along your
email advertisement, you will be able to reach out to a
whole new client base that, perhaps otherwise, you would
not have been able to target.

This may sound a little confusing at first: am I sending
marketing messages along with my companies emails, or are
other companies sending my advertisement along with their
emails? The answer is either, or both—both are good
ways to get a marketing message broadcasted. Using an
outside company often involves a fee, but may be a
worthwhile investment due to the sheer volume of people
you'll be able to reach, as well as the range of customers
you'll be able to target, because it differs from your
typical client base.

A Few Examples

You have undoubtedly been exposed to viral marketing, yet
have not realized it or registered the fact. One of the
most classic examples of viral marketing is used by the
free email website, Hotmail.com. If I have a hotmail
account, automatically attached to each email message I
send is an accompanying by a message from Hotmail.com,
encouraging the recipient to sign up for an account. In
this way, Hotmail is advertising its own business through
the emails that each of its existing clients sends.

Another clear example is that of e-greeting cards. Each
greeting card that is sent carries the company's marketing
message, encouraging the recipient to send a card using
this service. If I receive an electronic greeting card
from a friend, I will automatically be prompted to send a
card using the site from which I've just received mail.

Viral marketing is a newer Internet marketing strategy that
was more recently developed and is quickly becoming
popular. It is a strategic way to advertise your business
and services, as well as to partner with other companies to
help you form a broader collaborative marketing platform.

About the Author:

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A strategic
Collaboration Marketing consulting firm. He empowers
business owners to discover and implement Integration,
Alliance, and Joint Venture marketing tactics to solve
specific business challenges. He demonstrates how to create
your own Collaboration Marketing Strategy to increase your
sales, conversation rates, and repeat business.
Contact: christian@christianfea.com
http://www.christianfea.com

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4.: Negative or Unproductive Co-Workers Have Nothing To Do With You

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:54 pm (PDT)

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Title: Negative or Unproductive Co-Workers Have Nothing To Do With You
Word Count: 593
Author: Ruth Klein
Email: rklein@ruthklein.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=34701

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Negative or Unproductive Co-Workers Have Nothing To Do With You
Don't let negative or unproductive co-workers hold you back
from achieving your workplace and career success.

Ceridian LifeWorks, a provider of employee assistance
programs, recently reported dozens of examples of
co-workers who spread tension among other staff members,
increasing workplace stress.

Negative co-workers can abandon their workloads to you,
right before an important deadline. Their hostility can
wreck the personality of a workplace and negatively impact
your productivity.

Bad co-workers can waste your time, or they can withhold
vital information that also hurts your productivity, which
reflects on your career.

According to one recent report from "New Scientist," the
average worker wastes two hours each workday fielding
emails, annoying colleagues and phone calls.

Here are seven practical steps you can take to avoid
letting your co-workers hold you back from your workplace
success

1. Be honest with yourself first. Are you guilty of being
that unproductive or unpleasant to co-workers? Stress is
contagious when you, not just your co-workers, express
stressful behaviors at work. If you're the bad co-worker,
take proactive steps to stop your own bad behavior.

2. Identify and isolate bad co-workers. Identify toxic
co-workers and develop a plan to avoid those areas of the
office housing bad co-workers. Don't give them the
opportunity to ruin your day.

3. Don't ignore the situation. If a co-worker is behaving
badly, immediate address the situation before it becomes a
long-term instigator of stress. Politely ask a co-worker to
stop a behavior, and include a polite explanation. Example:
"I'm very busy between 10 a.m. and noon, so please don't
visit my desk during these hours."

4. Agree to disagree. Respectfully agree to disagree with
colleagues who insist they are right. Example: "I agree
your work is important, but my deadline is my top priority
right now." Example: "I respect your perspective, but I
have to return to my desk to finish a project that is
important to me."

5. Don't lose your temper. Like stress, anger is
contagious, too. Practice anger management exercises such
as deep breathing to calm you when you see a stressful
co-worker approaching your desk. Or excuse yourself to take
a quick, stress-busting walk outside the building or to
another floor and back again. Don't encourage bad behavior
from a co-worker by demonstrating your own bad behavior. If
you do, the bad co-worker wins, and you lose the control
you must assert over your workplace behaviors.

6. Use your emotionally intelligence. This is your power to
respond intelligently to emotional situations. If a member
of your work team is a chronic procrastinator, take steps
to avoid being on that co-workers team or to assign
less-taxing assignments to the slacker. Make and keep a
record of what you accomplished on a project, and, without
resorting to blaming the lazy co-worker, act positively in
positively addressing your achievements in a report to your
superiors.

7. Turn a negative into a positive. If you find yourself in
a workplace that condones or even celebrates bad
co-workers, don't focus on what you cannot change. Change
your future by actively looking for another position at a
positive workplace. Creating weekly reports tracking your
accomplishments in projects involving unproductive
co-workers becomes the basis for creating a great resume.
Yes, you can turn a negative into a positive and leave
negative co-workers or un-productive workers behind as you
sail into your next success.

About the Author:

Ruth Klein is a branding, marketing, publicity and time
management consultant to law firms and business
professionals ranging from solo entrepreneurs to the
Fortune 500. As an award-winning business owner with a
master's degree in clinical psychology, Klein brings her
unique, results-driven insights, expertise and practical
solutions to her law firm clients. For more information,
visit http://www.ruthklein.com .

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5.: Time Saving Tips for Selling Professionals

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:24 pm (PDT)

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Title: Time Saving Tips for Selling Professionals
Word Count: 1097
Author: Drew Stevens
Email: drew@gettingtothefinishline.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=34603

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Time Saving Tips for Selling Professionals
The cliché time is money, is the guidepost for most selling
professionals. Time is the one item you do not get to
reinvent or get back. Once it's gone it's gone. The reward
for managing your time is the enrichment of not only your
professional life, but also your personal life. And, good
time management also gets you closer to your goals. You
must focus on your highest priorities and consistently
place them first. The added benefit of a well-organized
work schedule is the creation of time for family, friends
and the leisure activities that rejuvenate and refresh you.

With only 24 hours in a day, how can all the calls, the
reports and the tasks get completed? Simply put, planning.
Planning is the most vital aspect of every professional
career. Business professionals particularly should plan the
order of their appointments so as not to retrace steps;
they should plan when to respond to e-mail. If possible,
they should plan where and when to visit clients so not to
spend too much time in the car.

Typically, most of us respond to what we believe are urgent
matters and forget to pre- plan and be proactive. They
become Emergency Medical Technicians for all incoming work.
The red light goes on and salespeople immediately scurry to
get that item completed immediately.

Proactive planning makes the day less daunting and helps
you get more accomplished in less time. If you respond to
all that comes to them; you will never accomplish any of
their important items. Here are successful tips:

1. Grouping appointments either in the morning or in the
afternoon. Sporadically making appointments during the day
leaves little room for other things.

2. Replying to telephone calls and emails four to five
times per day rather than right away. Stop being reactive
and create proactive activities to make the day less
intimidating.

3. Prioritizing your tasks using letters, numbers and
color-coding. Creating visuals and lists immediately
connects you with what must be done first. We will address
this late in this booklet.

My program Pump Up Your Productivity™ contains a 12- step
formula for assistance with prioritization and planning.
Created here is the list of the top five.

1. Use a planner – Electronics and technology creates a
vast array of tools and gadgets to enable efficiency in our
day. The issue is that many people do not use them or
cannot utilize them during certain times, i.e. driving an
automobile or while shopping. With over 25 years in
business and several electronic tools at my disposal
(Outlook and an iPhone), I still use a paper planner. It is
always at my disposal and never needs to be rebooted
because it crashed.

2. Work backward – Begin your days with what needs to be
accomplished on completion of the day. Begin the day with
the end in mind. Visualize what you need to do before the
sun runs out.

3. Minimize distractions – Forestall the interruptions.
Refrain from enabling others to distract your day. Stick to
your plan and get more done. Create a healthy selfishness
and learn to use the word NO!

4. Create routines – Regularity creates habit. Structure
the day around specific events or even specific clients and
neighbors. It is not customary to build a day reflecting a
maze.

5. Do not dwell on unpleasant situations – We all castigate
ourselves. When things go awry we create self doubt and
intensify the experience. This throws us off from our tasks
and responsibilities. Learn to compartmentalize and move
forward.

There are numerous things you can do to simply your life
and your practice. A best practice is prioritization. Many
professionals operate haphazardly, rushing from one issue
to another without a plan. Prioritizing your daily events
enables you to maximize your time, minimize the issues and
end the day happily.

I propose one of two options for you dependent on your
personal taste. The first emulates time-honored pundits.
Prioritization is about placing first things first. And the
first step is to obtain a planner or use some electronic
device that enables you to record important To Do items and
appointments. Recent surveys illustrate that over 45% of
individuals miss appointments or fail to accomplish
imperative issues because they fail to record them.

Once your begin to record your day, one of the most
essential elements is to record your lists of To Do's.
There are two steps to this process. In a margin or on the
events portion of the planner list your items using an
alphabetic code. Simply write down or keypunch all the
things you need to do within the next week. Then begin to
code the items using an alphabetical symbol. To exemplify
use an "A" for items that need to be complete in the next
12 to 24 hours; use a "B" for items that need to be
complete in the next 24 to 48 hours and finally use a "C"
for items that need to be complete in the next 48 to 72
hours or personal items.

Now review your list again and be realistic. Not everything
in the list needs to be complete within 24 hours.
Theoretically, you should have no more than three to four
items in each of the respective alpha categories. Here are
some additional points to ponder for prioritization:

1. Get up early. The cliché of early to bed early to rise
is true you get more done when lethargy is not prevalent in
your life.

2. Direct others to maintain your order. You are the master
of your fate and the more you delegate and control
situations the easier the day becomes.

3. Invest in things that assist you. Purchase planners,
cell phones, directories, computer equipment, etc. Being
frugal saves money but does not win you time.

4. Be selfish. Learn to say "No". Be respectful and learn
to say no when possible. Affirming all that comes into your
day only throws you out of focus.

5. Laugh and learn. Life is too short. We are not on this
earth but for a short time; do not sweat the small stuff.

6. Reward yourself. When something goes well, go for a
walk, buy the dress, go out for a nice dinner but do not
wait because no one will take care of us but us.

Creating change alters the comfort zone. However, when you
begin to make changes you begin to see the timesavings you
desire. You also eliminate stress. In the words of Mahatma
Gandhi, "Be the change you want to see."."

About the Author:

Drew Stevens PhD is known as the Sales Strategist. Drew
assists organizations to dramatically accelerate business
growth. He is the author of seven books including Split
Second Selling and Split Second Customer Service and Little
Book of Hope and is frequently called on the media for his
expertise. Get a FREE download Drew's White Paper on
Selling Effectiveness or Business Building e-book at
http://www.gettingtothefinishline.com

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6.: Making Leadership Decisions

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Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:54 pm (PDT)

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Title: Making Leadership Decisions
Word Count: 479
Author: Ann Golden Egle
Email: ann@gvsuccess.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=34693

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Making Leadership Decisions
Leaders make decisions all day long, some major and some
minor. Some are bold moves, other are run-of-the-mill
choices. The key is that they make them.

The two challenges I find with my clients decisions are

a) they often don't have enough information on which to
base the decision and

b) their timing is off.

Think of the best decisions you've made. You were most
likely feeling confident and well-informed.

In "The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader," author
John Maxwell explains: "Effective leaders understand the
peak-to-peak principle. They make major decisions when
they are experiencing a positive swing in their leadership,
not during the dark times. As NFL fullback Bob Christian
says, 'I never decide whether it's time to retire during
training camp.' He knows not to give up when he is in the
valley."

To that I would add that Bob Christian doesn't know how his
team will perform during the actual season during training
camp. The evidence is not yet available.

How does a leader gain the information needed? All good
leaders surround themselves with a team of advisors. Even
if you're a small business owner you have your attorney,
CPA, financial advisor, etc. If you've not yet secured
this team, now's the time.

Oftentimes, it's necessary to go outside of this team to
attain the data. If timing permits, seek out other experts
in your field - clients, customers, anyone involved.
Listen without interrupting or interjecting your opinion.
This is an information-gathering exercise.

Then, select the best timing. The saying 'Let's sleep on
it' contains wisdom. Studies show that pondering a problem
prior to going to sleep allows your subconscious to work on
it, producing the answer in the morning. This worked for
me with college calculus years before I was aware of this
process.

Please note that I said 'ponder' the problem, not 'stress'
over it. Stressing over our problems only provides jagged,
cloudy thinking. Slowing down to contemplate alternative
approaches allows a smoother, more effective process.

Timing also has to do with your own rhythm. Some of us are
more alert and decisive in the morning, others at 10:00 at
night. Know your best time and, when possible, save your
major decisions for that time of day.

Having said all of this, the most effective leaders that I
personally know tell me that they gather the necessary
information, know when the time is right and base their
decision on their 'gut.' "It just came to me and I knew it
was the right direction to proceed."

Each of you is a leader in your world. Making decisions is
important. Why not make it easier by gaining the
information you need, moving forward when the time is right
for you and of course trusting that gut, inkling or
intuitive hit? Enjoy your discoveries and have an
outstanding week!

About the Author:

For the sake of keeping your career fresh and on track,
would you like to enjoy a weekly shot-in-the-arm from
Master Certified Coach Ann Golden Eglé? You can sign
up for her free weekly ezine, The Success Thought of the
Week, at http://www.gvsuccesscoaching.com .

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SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
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7.: Coaching and eating disorders

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:54 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching and eating disorders
Word Count: 532
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=29942

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Coaching and eating disorders
When I train managers as coaches I always warn them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little insight into the signs of abnormal
psychology. Consider for example, eating disorders.

The term eating disorder can apply to a variety of
conditions but here we'll consider two of the better known:
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.

Anorexia Nervosa:

This condition is associated with a 'wrong' perception of
body weight or shape. The sufferer will often perceive
themselves as overweight and be fearful of putting on
weight. Usually however, they would be deemed seriously
underweight. Anorexia Nervosa is a very serious condition
which can prove fatal.

Bulimia Nervosa:

Unlike anorexia the bulimia sufferer is normally within a
normal body range but again will tend to have a distorted
perception of body or size. The condition is characterized
by episodes of binge eating followed by 'remedies' such as
self-induced vomiting or taking laxatives.

A number of possible explanations for these disorders have
been advanced:

Sociocultural Factors:

It is perhaps no surprise that these conditions are most
prevalent in developed western societies that have an
abundance of food and yet attach huge value to the notion
of being slim. One study (Davies & Furnham, 1986) found
that a research sample included significantly more people
who wanted to lose weight than actually saw themselves as
overweight. This suggests cultural pressure to achieve a
certain body.

Psychological Factors:

Eating disorders tend to occur in young women. This may
correlate with declining self-esteem amongst this same
group at this time in their lives. There are, of course,
different perspectives within the psychology field:

Behaviourist - suggesting that slimming becomes a habit
Psychoanalytical - suggesting that anorexia may be an
attempt to suppress sexual impulses
Humanistic - suggesting the conditions are connected to
family relationships

Family Factors:

Eating disorders could be connected to family factors such
as a history of obesity or an obsession with eating and
weight.

Biological Factors:

Recent research focusing on the hypothalamus has suggested
a biochemical explanation for these eating disorders.
However it is difficult to differentiate between cause and
effect.

Whatever the cause, signs of either of these eating
disorders must be taken very seriously as the effect on the
sufferer and their family can be devastating. Consider for
example, the famous case of the Carter family who ended up
launching an historic legal battle to compel their anorexic
daughter Vicki to eat.

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers these signs
when coaching around day to day issues such as workload
management or time keeping? Best advice would seem to be to
keep to good coaching principles. Ask questions designed to
raise awareness, generate responsibility and build trust
then listen carefully and attentively to the responses.
This is highly unlikely to make things worse and may
actually do quite a lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the
relevant professional. For this reason I recommend that all
coaching managers familiarize themselves with their
organization's welfare procedure.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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8.: Coaching and phobias

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:24 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching and phobias
Word Count: 410
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=29978

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Coaching and phobias
When I train managers as coaches I always warn them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little insight into the signs of abnormal
psychology. Consider for example, phobias.

We need to consider phobias and the anxiety response they
can produce in their sufferers. 'Phobia' appears to be one
of those psychological terms that have become rooted in
everyday language. People at work complain of Mondayphobia
and listless teenagers claim to be in the clutches of
Gettingupphobia and so on. In truth, however one is only
phobic if one experiences some of the physical symptoms of
anxiety in situations in which most other people are able
to cope.

We might usefully classify phobias as one of three types:

Simple phobias - fear of a certain object or situation
Social phobias - insecurity in public places Agoraphobia -
fear of being in unfamiliar places

There are two main explanations as to why people develop
phobias:

Learning Theory - which suggests that phobias develop from
an intense experience with certain stimuli, e.g. Watson and
Rayner's experiment with young Albert featuring rats and
loud noises.

Psychoanalytic Theory - which suggests that a phobia is a
conscious manifestation of an unconscious fear, e.g.
Freud's analysis of 'little Hans' in the early 1900s.

Each theory proposes a markedly different treatment:

Learning Theory - suggests systematic desensitization. In
other words the sufferer is exposed to the source of their
anxiety a little at a time.

Psychoanalytic Theory - suggests that treatment involves
revealing the subconscious concern; usually with hypnosis.

One thing is for certain, asking the sufferer why they are
afraid of something so silly or suggesting that they pull
themselves together will probably not help. For people with
phobias the fear is very real.

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers these signs
when coaching around workload management or time keeping?
Best advice would seem to be to keep to good coaching
principles. Ask questions designed to raise awareness,
generate responsibility and build trust then listen
carefully and attentively to the responses. This is highly
unlikely to make things worse and may actually do quite a
lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the
relevant professional. For this reason I recommend that all
coaching managers familiarize themselves with their
organization's welfare procedure.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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9.: Coaching compared

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:54 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching compared
Word Count: 799
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=30198

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Coaching compared
Let's develop our understanding of coaching by considering
how it compares with other ways of developing people.
Specifically, let's consider:

Coaching and Teaching
Coaching and Training
Coaching and Mentoring
Coaching and Counselling

Coaching and Teaching

We know from our own experience at school that teaching
tends to be delivered to groups, to a predetermined lesson
plan, with people of mixed abilities developing their
understanding as best they can.

Of course, teaching can be given on a one to one basis and
there are countless people who have benefited from being
taught or tutored in this way.

However, the dominant party in the teacher-pupil
relationship is the teacher. The teacher will be concerned
with passing on knowledge, facts and wisdom and as pupils,
we usually take a passive role and try to soak it all up.

We have little scope to set or follow our own agenda and we
have to try to interpret what the teacher is saying and
make sense of it against our own experience.

Coaching on the other hand is more often than not delivered
one to one. It is the person being coached - often called
the coachee - who sets the agenda and decides on the issue
to be considered. As coaches, we are not there to provide
input or advice or to tell the coachee how we would do
things. Instead our role is to probe and encourage and help
the coachee make sense of things for him or her self.

This can be a difficult concept to grasp, so let's look at
a comparison. When we get up in the morning we usually pad
across the hallway to the bathroom and begin the mammoth
task of making ourselves look presentable.

For some this will mean dragging a razor across their face
and a comb through their hair, whilst others will
concentrate on applying make up and hair spray etc. All of
this activity would be almost impossible without our trusty
friend - the bathroom mirror.

But does the mirror say "Ooh I wouldn't do it like that" or
"that's not how we usually shave here" or "you've never
done your hair like that before"? Of course not! But the
mirror does help us to make sense of what's going on and to
achieve our aim - in this case, to look presentable.

When we are coaching we are trying to perform the same
function. The best coaches will hold up a 'mirror' so that
people can develop a deep sense of self-awareness. When
people are highly self-aware they have more choices about
how to move issues forward.

Coaching and Training

With this in mind we can see that coaching is different to
training. Training is concerned with helping people to
perform in their roles of course, but again it is centred
on the trainer and the subject matter, not the individual.

Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching and mentoring share many of the same skills and
abilities but are usually delivered by different people. A
mentor is typically a senior person of greater experience
who is invited to take us 'under their wing' and let us
benefit from their wisdom.

If it is coaching we want however, we are probably best
advised not to seek a more experienced person who may be
overly tempted to persuade us to 'do it their way'.

Given that we can now see that coaching is wholly concerned
with drawing out and not putting in, we can also see how it
is possible for anyone with the right skills to coach us -
their position in the organization is irrelevant.

Coaching and Counselling

When we consider how coaching compares with counselling we
need to think about the limitations of coaching. Coaching
in organizations is concerned with helping people with
performing well in their jobs, not in dealing with
deep-rooted problems from the past.

It may be that as we coach we do uncover some painful or
personal issues, but we need to know when to bring in the
appropriate expertise. Many effective coaches have never
trained as counsellors or therapists, but can still deliver
excellent coaching support.

Arguably this exercise in comparison is academic. Do we
really need to worry what method is used to develop people
as long as they are being developed?

The short answer is no, but we do need to understand the
unique qualities of coaching so that we can use it with
choice and with greater care.

In reality good coaches draw on all of these different
approaches as they work with individuals and will not be
concerned with whether they are coaching or teaching at any
one point in time. However, they will be wholly concerned
with using the right approach based on the needs of the
individual and the demands of the situation.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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10.: Introduction to Coaching

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:24 am (PDT)

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Title: Introduction to Coaching
Word Count: 602
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=30337

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Introduction to Coaching
Ask anyone to define the word coach and you will get a wide
variety of responses. Some will say a coach is a sort of
tutor or instructor, but others will say it's a large,
multi-wheeled railway carriage. Unfortunately, the second
definition is about as helpful as the first in deciding
what coaching at work is all about.

To be a 'Coach' and to participate in 'Coaching' are both
currently trendy terms but are both widely misunderstood.
Coaching is ultimately about raising the levels of human
performance and, as such, has connections with teaching,
training, counselling and mentoring. However, there are
subtle but important differences that we need to understand.

In essence, coaching has two main facets. Firstly it is
performance focused which means it is concerned with
helping individuals perform tasks to the best of their
ability. Secondly,it is person centred which means that it
is the individuals being coached who are seen as having the
important insights. Fundamentally then, coaching is about
drawing out, not putting in.

By using coaching we can tap into the huge reserves of
talent and potential which lay dormant in most people. As
managers, we can develop people without having to rely on
passing on our own skills and knowledge, which may already
be out of date. Without an ability to coach we are left to
trust the tired old methods of teaching and instruction
which are proving increasingly ineffective in the world of
constant change to which we are all having to adjust.

When most people think about coaching, they think about a
sports coach shouting and yelling at the players and trying
to help them succeed without being directly involved. In
sport,the role of coach is crucial in helping people
perform at their peak, and even the most accomplished
sportspeople such as Tiger Woods or Roger Federer still
gain huge benefit from a good relationship with their coach.

The role of the coach in organizations is broadly similar.
Whether the coaching is delivered by a manger as a general
part of their duties or by a specific coach, they will
still be trying to achieve results through others. In
thinking about coaching in this way we can see that there
is great benefit to be had from having someone in the
organization who has the skills and abilities to draw the
best out of others. If it were possible to have everyone in
an organization improve their performance by as little as
one or two per cent then the results would be staggering.

Many organizations are now taking the power of coaching
very seriously and appointing people to the specific role
of coach. Whilst managers may have the skills and abilities
to coach well they are often preoccupied with more task
oriented matters and can struggle to find the time to coach
effectively.

Increasingly we are able to tap into coaching outside our
organizations. There are many small consultancies offering
Executive Coaching, where top-level managers in
organizations can have regular weekly or monthly sessions
with a trained coach to help them work through their
current issues. It can often be of great benefit to have a
coach who does not work in the organization and who is,
therefore, not involved in the same issues. Similarly, some
people are now seeking the services of Life Coaches to help
them work through personal problems, achieve goals and
strike an effective work/life balance.

Whatever the context, we can see that coaching is intended
to be a means by which one individual seeks to help another
move forward and develop in some way.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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11.: A philosophy of coaching

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:54 am (PDT)

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Title: A philosophy of coaching
Word Count: 542
Author: Matt Somers
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Category: Business - General
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A philosophy of coaching
We cannot prove human nature; we can only form our own
view. One of the most accessible pieces of theory on this
point was provided by McGregor when he described the idea
that managers view their people in two main categories.
These he labelled Theory X and Theory Y.

Theory X

People are lazy and dislike work People must be coerced or
threatened with punishment People avoid responsibility
People are motivated mainly by money

Theory Y

Work is a natural part of life People will exercise self
direction People accept responsibility under the right
conditions People are motivated by achievement,
recognition, etc.

These two theories are really the extreme ends of the same
spectrum and in truth, most of us would admit to feeling a
mixture of these views about some people some of the time.
It is important to recognize that neither of the views can
be proven as right or wrong in absolute terms; they are
simply beliefs about human nature based on experience. Our
starting point as coaches therefore needs to be which set
of views is more useful. Probably Theory Y. It seems to me
that a coach is likely to be more helpful if his or her
starting point is to believe that the coachee starts with
the potential to achieve his or her aims. It is then the
job of the coach is to play a part in realizing that
potential.

Coaching takes a positive view of human nature and the
capabilities of people and as such it is more closely
aligned with Theory Y. In short, the best coaches have a
simple philosophy:

"The brain with the problem, is the one with the solution"

and they work on this basis in the certain belief that
people have vast reserves of potential which are rarely
used and that the coach's job is to draw it out.

This is important because our thoughts and feelings about
people at work manifest in our behaviour whether we realise
it or not. Approach your people as if Theory X is true and
they'll respond in kind and prove you right. The same holds
true for Theory Y. Putting this into action requires a
philosophy of coaching which recognizes that people are not
empty vessels into which knowledge and skills must be
poured, rather they are seedlings who require careful
nurturing and support.

Only then can we go on to develop an approach to coaching
that is entirely in keeping with these ideas.

Coaching in organizations is broadly similar to say,
coaching in sport in that the primary concern is to perform
better and develop people's abilities. Coaching can be
interpreted in different ways and we need to be aware that
some views of coaching may actually be confusing. Coaching
shares many characteristics with teaching, counselling, and
training etc. but has some subtle yet important
differences. Effective coaching allows people to develop
their sense of awareness so that they begin to see their
problems and concerns with greater clarity.

This presents a platform on which the coaching practitioner
can build in order to develop a deeper understanding and
practical skills. Over time they can become excellent
coaches and achieve great things both for the people whom
they coach and for themselves.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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12.: Coaching Myths

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:24 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching Myths
Word Count: 1122
Author: Matt Somers
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Coaching Myths
Truth or myth? What do you think?

"Everything's fine we don't really have any problems and so
we don't need any coaching."

Many people believe that coaching is about putting wrong
things right. They would argue that things must be pretty
poor in the organization if it needs armies of people going
round solving other peoples' problems. If coaching is
required then it should be a short-term solution and the
coaches should move on when things have been sorted out.

"I'm not a manager or team leader so I don't have anyone to
coach."

We know that coaching is a people development tool so, by
definition that means we must have people to coach. What
then is the point of developing good coaching skills if we
do not currently operate as a manager, supervisor or team
leader and do not have any people reporting to us?

"I haven't time to coach."

If we think for a moment that a typical team will have at
least 6 to 8 people working in it, then we can begin to see
that the team leader's task is almost hopeless. 6 to 8
people, all wanting coaching every six weeks or so, in
sessions lasting up to an hour. How would we do any work?

"I can't coach - I've no expertise in the underlying
subject."

How can we coach somebody to do something we can't do
ourselves? How can we keep up with all the changes in the
way people do their jobs? How can we expect people to take
us seriously as managers if we're not prepared or able to
do what we ask them to do?

"I went on a course about this, but then it was called
feedback. That's all coaching really is."

For many people, coaching is something that happens as part
of the organization's Performance Management or Appraisal
system. In some organizations coaches have been known to
sit behind a colleague whilst they're dealing with a
customer and make notes on the things they did well or
badly. Usually, the individual and the coach would then
retire to a quiet area where the coach could run through
the list and make suggestions for improvement.

"This is just a fancy new name for what I've been doing for
years - training people!"

Can we really see any daylight between coaching and other
methods of developing people? Coaching is ultimately about
making people better at what they do, but then so is
teaching, training, mentoring, counselling etc.

In fact, each of these statements is a myth.

"Everything fine we don't really have any problems and so
we don't need any coaching."

Coaching is a marvellous tool for problem solving and
whilst in most cases people will seek coaching because they
have a problem to solve, it would be a mistake to limit it
to this purpose alone.

Some managers suffer a sort of 'prodigal son' mentality and
spend all of their time and energy addressing the poorest
performers. But let's not assume that people who are
currently performing really well do not have vast reserves
of potential that might be released through coaching.

Even the best performers benefit from coaching. We need
only look at the world of sport to know that this is true.

"I'm not a manager or team leader so I don't have anyone to
coach."

Typically coaching is delivered by managers to staff or by
team leaders to team members and this is usually because
companies and other businesses are organized in a
hierarchy. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Anyone can be a coach. The skills of coaching are not in
anyway connected to age, status, experience or job role.
Similarly, coaching can be delivered in any direction and
should not be limited to a top down approach from team
leader to team member. Why not have nurses coaching
consultants, printers coaching designers or classroom
assistants coaching teachers?

"I haven't time to coach."

We might respond to this by suggesting that there isn't
time not to coach! We must however recognize that coaching
is in many ways an investment that pays back in the medium
to long term. It can be very difficult for managers to
decide whether to take the time and coach an individual
through a problem or to deal with the situation themselves.
This is a matter of choice and taking responsibility.
Effective managers base their decision on an evaluation of
the needs of the situation and the people involved and make
an informed choice. Less effective managers will tend to
see it as part of their role to solve all of the team's
problems themselves, perhaps in the mistaken belief that
this is the essence of strong leadership.

Managers who coach however are constantly generating
responsibility and building trust with the teams and
individuals they manage and as such are able to take on a
more authoritative style when the need arises without
alienating the team or damaging trust.

"I can't coach - I've no expertise in the underlying
subject."

We need expertise to teach but not to coach. In coaching,
expertise can be quite dangerous as it provides a huge
temptation to slip back into telling people what to do,
giving advice and 'rescuing' people rather than letting
them learn.

Where we find ourselves coaching people in matters we have
expertise in, we must work hard to resist this temptation
and remember that coaching is about helping people to lean
and to become independent and resourceful. This is to
everyone's benefit over time.

"I went on a course about this, but then it was called
feedback. That's all coaching really is."

Well-constructed feedback can be extremely valuable to
people as they try to improve performance in any area.
However, it is limited to what we can observe and notice
and this is of no consequence if the performance issue is
to do with how people feel.

Poorly constructed feedback can do lasting damage and
reinforce limiting beliefs. Coaching avoids the pitfalls by
concentrating on the needs and experiences of the person
being coached.

"This is just a fancy new name for what I've been doing for
years - training people!"

Training has its place of course, and when done well, is an
excellent way of arming people with the basic skills and
knowledge they need to perform in their roles. Coaching
comes into its own when we want to develop performance and
allow people to utilise the full extent of the knowledge
and skills they have gained through training.

Unlike training coaching derives its agenda from the needs
of the individual, takes place at work (which is where
learning really happens) and can be more or less be
delivered anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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13.: The manager as coach

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:54 am (PDT)

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Title: The manager as coach
Word Count: 935
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
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The manager as coach
With the appropriate skills, it is possible for any person
to coach another. However we must also recognize that, as
managers we have a host of other responsibilities to attend
to and that some of these might make it difficult to coach
as often or as effectively as we might like. Some
organizations solve this problem by appointing people to a
specific coaching role. However, in many workplaces this is
simply not feasible and it is much more effective to ensure
that managers and team leaders are equipped with good
coaching skills.

The trick is for us to understand some of the tensions
created by acting as coach and manager to the same group of
people. Let's look at some specific issues:

"I also have a range of other tasks to attend to"

In our role as a manager we have many demands on our time.
We probably have to allocate and distribute the team's
work, monitor budgets, keep records and attend to quality
control and so on. For most of us it is impossible to do
everything so we prioritize; trying to attend to the most
important jobs first. Unfortunately this can lead to
short-termism and constant fire fighting and mean that
coaching and training take a back seat. We tell ourselves
that coaching and training are important and that we'll do
some when we've got all these other things done. But
tomorrow never comes and our in-trays get filled with more
urgent or important stuff and the coaching gets left for
another day and so it goes on. The great irony is that this
vicious circle can really only ever be broken by investing
time in training and coaching the team, so that
increasingly they are able to take on more tasks and free
us to do more coaching and thus create a virtuous circle
instead.

"I might sometimes have to discipline the same people"

This is undoubtedly true and does need to be considered in
establishing an effective coaching relationship. As a coach
we are primarily concerned with helping others to learn and
so we need the people we coach to feel completely
comfortable in talking through work related issues with us.
A good coaching relationship is founded on trust. We must
trust in our team members to work towards their potential
and they must trust that we, as their coaches, will keep
confidential anything said during a coaching session.

What we need to do is explain to people that as mangers we
wear 'different hats' and that when we are coaching we are
doing so with the utmost sincerity and that our concern is
to work together to identify improvements in performance.
Other management processes such as appraisal reviews or
disciplinary matters should be handled separately from any
coaching sessions so as not to confuse the roles.
Coaching works best against a background of high trust and,
as this may take time to build, we may have to wait
patiently for the coaching sessions to develop to a point
where people feel really comfortable in talking about
things they'd like to develop. Happily, coaching is a
really effective way of generating trust quickly as people
will soon see that the good coach genuinely wants to help
them reach their potential.

"I might not be able to give them what they want"

Some managers worry that their staff might 'hijack'
coaching sessions and use them as an excuse to ask for all
sorts of expensive or irrelevant training courses or funded
education programmes. These same managers fear that by
turning such requests down they are seen as being insincere
and not really taking their coaching role seriously.

Once again, trust is important here and so is clearly
defining the purpose of coaching at the outset. We need to
make sure that our team members realize that coaching is
about helping them to move forward and exploring ways of
achieving this but that coaching does not take place in a
vacuum. In other words whilst, as a coach, we will wish to
support a person's development, quite obviously we will
need to balance this against a range of other factors such
as other team member's needs, budgets, timescales and so
on. We might not be able to grant every request that
emerges from a coaching session but this is no reason not
to coach in the first place.

"There might be more pressing issues"

In terms of the structure of a coaching session, the most
effective coaching happens when the individual sets the
agenda as this is in keeping with the notion that coaching
should raise awareness and generate responsibility.

However, many mangers are at a loss to know what to do if
their own view of what the current performance issues
differ from those of the team members. Again we must
acknowledge that whilst this is a possibility, it is not a
reason to avoid coaching. We must accept that we cannot
hide behind coaching in the hope that we might avoid having
to confront a difficult performance issue. If there is a
need to 'tell it like it is' or to give someone some
pointed feedback then that is what we must do. Furthermore
we should do so openly and honestly and not pretend that
what we are doing is delivering a coaching session for the
other person's benefit.

It is important that we understand these factors as we
consider the role of the manager as coach. None of the
problems mentioned are insurmountable and provided we are
aware of them, none present any real barrier to effective
coaching.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

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Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
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14.: Coaching and alcoholism

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:24 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching and alcoholism
Word Count: 476
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Coaching and alcoholism
When I train managers as coaches I always warn them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little insight into the signs of abnormal
psychology. Consider for example, alcoholism and drug
addiction.

To begin with, a few definitions:

Addiction

Repeated consumption of a substance on which the user has
become physically or psychologically dependent.

Physical Dependence

A state in which the body has adjusted to the substance.

Tolerance

A process of adjustment where the body needs increasing
doses to achieve the same effect.

Withdrawal

The unpleasant side effects when use of a substance is
discontinued.

Psychological Dependence

A compulsion to use a substance for its pleasant effect.

Griffiths (1995) proposed that addictive behaviour has 6
elements:

Salience

How important the behaviour becomes.

Euphoria

The rush or high produced by the behaviour.

Tolerance

How much is required to produce the desired effect?

Withdrawal

What happens when the addictive behaviour stops?

Conflict

The conflict which can be felt internally or amongst an
addict's social group

Relapse

The propensity to resume the addictive behaviour.

Let's now consider some of the factors surrounding alcohol
abuse:

Who?

Generally anyone although it is often prominent amongst the
higher social classes with well paid jobs and usually
during so called middle-age.

Why?

There are many reasons for alcohol abuse. There are social
factors such as celebration or 'drowning your sorrows',
psychological factors and also particular genetic
predispositions.

We might also consider the similar aspects of drug abuse:

Who?

Again the tendency is for drug abuse to start in
adolescence. Sadly this can often begin with a perfectly
valid prescription from a doctor for tranquillizers or
barbiturates.

Why?

This seems to be a combination of availability and social
learning.

It is interesting to note that of all the conditions within
'abnormal psychology' it is often alcohol and drug abuse
which receive the most sympathy. Our media is awash with
concern for the Robert Downeys and Amy Winehouses yet
screams for the life long incarceration of all
schizophrenics at the same time. Yet which of these two
groups of sufferers is more responsible for their
conditions?

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers these signs
when coaching around workload management or time keeping?
Best advice would seem to be to keep to good coaching
principles. Ask questions designed to raise awareness,
generate responsibility and build trust then listen
carefully and attentively to the responses. This is highly
unlikely to make things worse and may actually do quite a
lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the
relevant professional. For this reason I recommend that all
coaching managers familiarize themselves with their
organization's welfare procedure.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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15.: Coaching and Psychology

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:54 am (PDT)

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Title: Coaching and Psychology
Word Count: 585
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Category: Business - General
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Coaching and Psychology
Two psychologists bump into each other in the street. The
first one says,

"You're fine, how am I?"

How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?
Only one, but the light must really want to change.

All very amusing and useful examples of how psychology has
slipped into everyday life to the point where familiarity
has perhaps bred contempt. Many people express dismay at
the degree to which psychology has become a part of our
everyday lives. Whether this is the launch of latest
two-part psychological thriller on television or the
reports of football managers engaged in 'psychological'
mind-games, the view is that psychology is in some ways
frivolous and certainly not as important as 'proper'
science.

Can we challenge this view? Can we look at the effect
psychology has had on the study of say, personality
disorder and discover a legitimate and meaningful
contribution?

First let's consider what we mean by psychology. Psychology
has been defined as 'the scientific study of behaviour and
experience' (Hardy & Heyes, 1979). The use of the word
scientific in that definition implies that psychologists do
more than simply think about behaviour and its causes.
Psychologists observe behaviour and make hypotheses about
what causes or affects it. They then test those guesses by
undertaking further observation, asking questions or
performing experiments. Where this kind of scientific
rigour is apparent in the field, we might expect some
useful insight into so called abnormal behaviour in others.

Consider firstly the condition known as Multiple
Personality; whose suffers can sometimes develop as many as
17 discrete personalities. Thigpen & Cleckley (1954) were
one of the first to recognise the unique dynamics of this
disorderin their treatment of Eve White; who also
encompassed Eve Black and Eve Grey.Further work by other
psychologists has uncovered that the origins of this
condition seem to lie in the experience of some emotional
trauma at around the age of five. The theory is that
suffers create a kind of fugue state in order to withstand
the trauma and may continue to use this tactic until the
alternative personality actually takes root. Treatment is
slow and difficult,but without the psychological
perspective we can expect that sufferers of this condition
would have been incarcerated, outcast or submitted for
endless exorcisms.

Much work has also been done around the possible causes of
Antisocial Personality; sufferers of which condition are
more commonly known as psychopaths or sociopaths.
Chrisianses (1977) proposes a genetic cause. He looked at
over 400 pairs of twins and found concordance in 69% of the
MZ ones compared with only 33% for the DZ twins. Lykken
(1957) created a mental maze, where subjects learn to press
a correct sequence of levers, receiving shocks when the
wrong one is selected. He found that sociopaths made more
errors leading to shocks than 'normals' suggesting a
Neurochemical cause, i.e. an inability to learn from
painful experience. There are many other examples and many
other possible causes but each presents an opportunity for
treatment. Without these insights there would be no
possibility for treatment and imprisonment would be the
only option.

There is little doubt that we need to be wary of the cult
of pop psychology. But real psychology is different. It is
scientific in approach and rigorous in execution. It seeks
to deal with effect as well as cause and, certainly in the
case of personality disorder, offers genuine hope to
sufferers and their families that their condition might be
treated sympathetically even if not cured.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
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16.: Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 1

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:24 am (PDT)

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Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 1
Most managers I train as coaches are clear (or have been
convinced by their bosses) that they need to take on the
role of coach as part of their people management
responsibilities. Most are less clear about exactly what
this means or how to go about it. There are obvious
difficulties in defining coaching with any precision and of
incorporating coaching into a general management role.

A useful starting point is to consider coaching as one type
of communication and see how it fits with typical
management communication that most of us will recognize.

Here we'll consider six communication styles that differ in
terms of the level of control exercised by manager and team
member respectively.

Tells

When we tell people what to do and how to do it, we assume
total control. This is highly attractive when time is tight
or the consequence of error high.

Sells

Here we loosen our control just slightly and involve team
members to the extent that we realise that they must be
convinced of the merits of an idea before they'll feel
inclined to act upon it with any enthusiasm.

Tests

A further loosening of our control and a greater
involvement for team members because we literally test out
an idea or decision and accept the risk that the team will
not agree.

Consults

I think of this as a meeting halfway, 50/50 kind of style.
The team's input is sought and their ideas considered but
it is still the manager that makes a final decision and
thus retains a high level of control.

Joins

This is an egalitarian communication style aimed at
decision making by consensus. Control has switched. More is
with the team members but not all of it.

Delegates

The manager sets the parameters of the task, success
measures, reporting guidelines, etc. but control over how
to accomplish the task is given to the team member(s). The
risks are high but the rewards and long term gains
substantial.

A common mistake in considering management communication in
this way is to think that one style is necessarily correct.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages and the most
effective managers adapt their style to reflect the needs
of the situation and of the person with whom they are
communicating. For example if, as you are reading this, a
fire alarm sounded it would clearly be absurd to arrange a
meeting to discuss options for evacuating the building.
What would be needed is for someone to take the lead and to
ensure that people were moved to safety quickly and in
accordance with the laid down procedures. Similarly, a new
person on the team will need a period of close monitoring
and some instruction before they have built up the
knowledge and experience required for delegated tasks.

In a future article I'll expand on the relative advantages
and disadvantages of each style and examine where coaching
fits.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
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17.: Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 2

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:54 am (PDT)

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Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 2
In Part 1 we explored six communication styles:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

Let's now consider the relative advantages and
disadvantages of each.

Tells

Managers who use this style prefer to manage by command and
control and they are sometimes referred to as autocrats.
This style means that the manager can exercise great
control as he or she can be sure that work is being carried
out in accordance with their detailed instructions. This
style also has the benefit of ensuring a consistent
approach and is likely to absorb far less time. However,
people who work for managers like this often complain of
feeling put upon and unappreciated. They can feel
frustrated at not being given a chance to have their say
and can end up following instructions to the letter and
exercising little if any initiative. Also, from the
manager's point of view, this style does not really give
access to the creativity and experience within the team and
assumes that the manager has experienced all the problems
and knows all the answers.

Sells

Here the manager is still the one devising the plans and
making the decisions, but does consider the needs of the
team buy trying to sell the benefits of his or her
suggestions. Notice though that it is still his or her
suggestions, without much scope for team contributions.
Furthermore if the team do not initially buy the suggestion
it is likely that the manager will resort to Tell and
insist that the team do as they are asked whether they like
it or not.

Tests

Tests involves approaching the team with an idea and just
seeing what their reaction is. If the initial suggestion is
received with enthusiasm, this style of manager is likely
to relinquish control to a fair degree and allow the team
to undertake the work under his or her guidance.
Alternatively, if the initial suggestion is resisted it may
be that the manager decides to revisit certain decisions
and to see if a more positive way forward can be formulated.

Consults

When we consult, we may prefer to avoid making decisions
until after the team has had a chance to discuss matters.
This can be a problem in that decisions might be delayed
until everyone in the team has had a chance to have their
say, and it's far from certain that decisions made in this
way will be any better than if the manager made them on
their own. It has been said that a camel is only a horse
designed by a committee where everyone insisted on having
their bit included!

Joins

Managers that favour this style like to position themselves
as just one of the group whose opinions and ideas are no
more valid than anyone else's. This can create a dynamic
team atmosphere and leave people feeling highly valued. It
is likely that groups managed in this way will produce a
range of creative ideas and relieve the manager of much of
the burden of control. However, as with Consults, this
style soaks up a lot of time and may not be appropriate
when a speedy, emphatic decision is needed.

Delegates

At the other end of the spectrum then is the management
style of Delegates. This means that the manager explains
the requirements of a task and sets the rules and
deadlines, but then leaves the team or the individual to
achieve the desired results as they see fit. This quite
clearly emphasizes trust and faith in others but must not
be done without some thought. Managers need to know their
team well enough to be able to decide who should do what,
and they must never seek to delegate accountability. In
other words, if it goes wrong the manager carries the can -
its part of being a manager!

In a future article I'll examine how we can use a coaching
approach to work with these different communication styles.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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18.: Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 3

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:24 am (PDT)

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Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 3
In Parts 1 and 2 we explored six communication styles and
the relative advantages and disadvantages of each:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

So how does all this relate to coaching and where would we
place coaching on the spectrum. Some argue that coaching is
all about empowering others and so must sit 'right of
centre' towards delegation. However, we can also see that
perhaps coaching doesn't belong to this range of
alternatives at all as it almost represents a philosophy of
communication rather than a style. In many ways coaching is
a means of adopting the advantages of each of the other
styles whilst minimizing the disadvantages.

Good coaches don't fear loss of control as they know that
the people they coach will have formulated their plans and
ideas in their presence. Thus the coach has the ability to
warn against a certain course of action if it is against
the rules or likely to cause problems. Also, we've seen
that coaching is an effective way for managers to build
trust in their teams and so they can resort to Tell when
the situation demands it without worrying about the team
being uncooperative or becoming disillusioned.

So far we have considered the merits of various
communication styles in a general context. What about when
we need to communicate with another to help them develop?

It seems that Tell is dominant here and perhaps this is
because most of us were conditioned to learn in this way at
school. We would sit in rows of desks while the teacher
would tell us what we needed to do and how to do it and
lessons would consist of being told what we needed to know.
But this doesn't always work. Try explaining to someone how
to do up a tie or lace a training shoe without showing them
- it's almost impossible. To do so requires us firstly to
understand exactly the process that needs to be done and
then to find the language to convey that process to another
person in a way they can understand. The modern world of
work is changing so fast that we can no longer be certain
that the ways and methods we used to become successful will
be valid for the next generation. Solving today's problems
with yesterday's solutions is a big risk. Furthermore,
people don't retain a great deal of learning when they have
only ever been told what to do. How many managers have you
heard yelling, "If I've told you once, I've told you a
thousand times!", or "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Coaching presents a way of dealing with these problems as
it is concerned with drawing our rather than putting in and
thus enables people to learn in their own way and at their
own speed. In this way we get learning and development that
sticks in the same way as learning to swim or to ride a
bicycle.

There's an old Chinese proverb which, roughly translated,
states:

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me
and I understand"

Coaching is the best way to involve people in their own
learning.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------

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19.: How to Not Lose Customers : Tips Every Business Owner Needs to Know

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Title: How to Not Lose Customers : Tips Every Business Owner Needs to Know
Word Count: 1027
Author: Danna Schneider
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How to Not Lose Customers : Tips Every Business Owner Needs to Know
As a business owner, and as a discerning consumer myself,
I've seen my fair share of do's and don'ts in the realm of
customer service, and I know what makes for a bad, average,
above average, and finally stellar customer experience.
It's amazing what you start to notice after you have been a
small business owner yourself for a few years, when you are
on the receiving end of a customer service experience.

You start to really notice the little nuances that you may
not have noticed or even cared about before you went into
business for yourself. It's not like I didn't know what
bad and good customer service was before, it's just that
I've become more intuned to it now since it is the
cornerstone of my bread butter as well.

When I have a really good or a really bad experience as a
client, I tend to mull it over and figure out why it
bothered me, and what the business owner or representative
of the serving business could have done better, or how they
could have handled it differently to make my experience
better.

This line of thinking has led to what I call, in my world
as a customer and a business owner, the foundation of good
customer service. If you can grasp these as a business
owner, and pass them on to anyone who works for you or
ingrain them in your corporate culture, well, you only have
one way to go, and that's up.

The first rule is to always maintain professionalism. This
may seem like common sense to you or the next reader, but
what seems like common sense doesn't always translate into
the right thing being done out there when clients are
involved.

I'll give you an example. I was in a small privately owned
spice shop a few weeks back, in an upscale shopping
development. I like to shop there once in a while for some
hard to find spices and sauces, and am willing to pay the
higher than average price because it is a specialty store
and because it has a nice, calming atmosphere.

I have been to this particular place at least a dozen times
before and consistently had a good experience - nothing I
would categorize as spectacular, but acceptable, and
definitely not "bad".

The last time I went to browse happened to be with my
sister who was in from out of town. The person working at
the counter, and apparently the only employee in the store
at the time, and quite possibly the owner for all I know,
was in a heated discussion with someone who appeared to be
an acquaintance. Not only were we not greeted and made to
feel welcome, but their argument actually made us so
uncomfortable that we had to leave the store.

This is what I call the ultimate in bad customer service
and definitely the ultimate bad experience. Did this
person have any idea that we walked out because of their
heated discussion? Who knows, but the fact is, once we
walked in, the discussion should have stopped, or they
could have carried it on in the back room.

We've all had those experiences when we've felt ignored or
even trivialized at a place of business, and that always
leaves a lasting negative impression that is detrimental to
that business' customer base.

So, rule number one is that consummate professionalism
ALWAYS is, in my opinion a necessary foundation for great
customer relations.

The customer always comes first, and this means their needs
supercede any personal drama, job angst or other issues you
as a business owner or as a representative of a business
may have at the moment.

The second rule is to always make sure a client gets timely
responses to any issues or complaints they may have. In
the online world, this is especially an easy one to
overlook, since it's easier to just not answer or ignore an
email for a while.

I can't tell you how many times I've had bad experiences
with this one. In my line of business, I deal with a lot
of people online and over emails, and many times I will
either never get a response to a question or complaint, or
it will be delayed several days, even weeks.

This always leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a customer,
and has even forced my hand at finding a different service
who values me as a customer and responds to me in a timely
fashion.

On top of a timely response to questions or issues, it is
especially annoying and even angering to clients when they
receive a response that is not relevant to their question,
or only answers part of it or dances around the true
problem.

I know you've all experienced the "form letter" approach to
problem solving, where you get a response that is supposed
to resolve your question or issue that only creates more
questions, or does not directly address your problem at
all. And I also know how frustrating that is as a customer.

Please, as a business owner, make sure you are supplying
on-point and direct resolutions to your customers problems.
They will appreciate it and remember it.

Last but not least is showing, or training your people to
show and actually have, empathy for the customer. We've
also shared that similar experience where we've called
about a question, problem or issue with a product or
service, and are met with a cold, unsympathetic voice on
the other end of the line who doesn't seem to care or want
to really help.

Hire good people. Hire people who have demonstrated at
other jobs a genuine desire to do the best they can for
customers, and treat them as they would like to be treated
if they had called with the same question or issue.

As a business owner, if you are not a one man show, your
business is only as good as your employees, so make sure
you are hiring the right people, and training them to
handle customers in an empathetic, timely, professional and
courteous manner.

About the Author:

Danna Schneider is the founder and primary editorial
contributor of http://www.primeratecredit.com where
information on low interest credit cards, special deals on
low to no interest credit cards, and the best deals
currently going in credit and loans. She also manages an
online financial and credit info and catalogue on the best
deals in credit cards called
http://www.creditcardcatalogue.com .

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20.: Web Designs Deadliest 4 Mistakes

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:13 am (PDT)

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Title: Web Designs Deadliest 4 Mistakes
Author: Moe Tamani
Word Count: 892
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Some web designs are truly so repulsive that they actually
drive people away from the site and prevent them from returning.
Both you and your web design company must avoid these situations
at all costs. Otherwise you run the risk of allowing your
reputation to be diminished or being labeled and avoided by
clients and customers.

Web Design's Scariest Backgrounds

The background of your website is one aspect that you have
control over and you can easily change or alter to suit your
client's needs. You must be aware, however, that some
backgrounds are simply not attractive at all. Some of these
backgrounds that should be avoided at any cost are:

• A completely black background with light or white text
superimposed upon it. Even the best web designers in the world
have difficulty achieving an appealing look with this type of
background. It gives viewers the impression that you are
imperious and condescending and does not do anything to
encourage readers to stay on your site. Also, some browsers,
when used to print a page, also print background color. This
could cause complaints from customers who are not happy about
the amount of ink they used in order to print a single page.

• A completely black background with dark words. This is an
even worse background choice than the previous one because the
words simply cannot be seen without great difficulty. In order
to read the text, visitors to your site will have to first
highlight the text, a task that will quickly irritate them.

• Complicated, tiled images. Fresh web designers often use this
from of background because it is convenient and looks good to
them. They should also bear in mind, however, that this type of
background can dramatically increase the amount of load time for
a website.

Web Design's Scariest Text

The main reason people visit your site is that they are
interested in the content contained within your website. If they
are unable to read your text, then there is nothing for them to
stay for. Your web design company definitely does not want
visitors to find nothing worth reading on your site, so avoid
the following pitfalls:

• Centering all your text. A page with all of its text
completely centred is unattractive and difficult to read.

• Overly emphasized text. Some designers bold every other line
of text and italicize the rest. This is self-defeating because
in attempting to make everything stand out, nothing stands out.

• Flashing text. Although some people find text that constantly
disappears and reappears appealing, it is almost impossible to
read, defeating the purpose of even having text in the first
place. Text is there to be read!

Web Design's Scariest Content

As a web designer, you should never ignore your content. At the
end of the day, the content of your web page is what either
draws visitors to your site, or drives them away. You should
make sure you include interesting and attention-grabbing content
and avoid the following mistakes.

• Pages consisting solely of links. Pages where every word is a
link on its own do not serve any purpose other than to convince
visitors never to return to your site.

• "Funny" content. Including humorous content is risky, at
best. Some people may not understand your humor and will need to
have it explained to them or, more likely, they will simply
leave your site in search of something more interesting that
they can actually understand.

Web Design's Scariest Multimedia

Many designers find themselves in love with multimedia and
attempt to use it in every project that they undertake. The web
design company you work for probably does appreciate your talent
with multimedia and, when the situation calls for it, you can
showcase your talents to your web design company and your
clients. However, designing using multimedia tools is a very
time consuming process. You should not let your desire to show
off your skills with multimedia compromise the work that you
eventually hand in to your clients. You should do your utmost to
avoid the following traps:

• Image overload. Images of all forms, including icons, should
not be present in large numbers. As a general rule-of-thumb,
anything more than two images is overkill.

• Overly large images. The readership of your site will not
suffer if your images are not of print quality. Large, high
quality images take a long time to load and most readers would
not care if you had used a low quality image.

• Embedded audio. Audio streams that play constantly while the
page is open are very annoying for visitors who simply want to
examine the content of your site. Worse, these audio streams are
usually impossible to turn off. If you absolutely must include
some form of sound with your web page, you must give your
visitors the controls required to turn off the sound if they
wish.

A scary web design is most definitely not what your web design
company hopes that you will produce. The web pages you design
should be appealing to readers and help keep them on your site,
and not drive them away.

About The Author: Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization
specialist for SEO 1 Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.Brazenwebdesign.com
http://www.internet-marketing-cafe.com

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21.: Culture and Collusion - Condoning Corporate Anarchy (Part One)

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:54 pm (PDT)

You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated - send to lfb@brashconsulting.com.au.

Title: Culture and Collusion - Condoning Corporate Anarchy (Part One)
Word Count: 522
Author: Leanne Faraday Brash
Email: lfb@brashconsulting.com.au
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=34773

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Culture and Collusion - Condoning Corporate Anarchy (Part One)
© Leanne Faraday-Brash

A client of mine was talking to me about their previous job
as internal legal counsel for a professional services firm.
His first week in his old job was particularly memorable,
he reminisced. A distressed employee had come to him with
a formal complaint alleging sexual harassment against one
of the senior partners. As he dug a bit deeper he found
that this was but one in a string of allegations by
different women in the firm including a couple who'd left
and talked about his sexual intimidation and offensive
behaviour in their exit interviews with Human Resources.
Counsel admitted to me that his first thought was "If this
is true, it's outrageous and must be stopped". He then
admitted his second thought hot on the heels of the first
was "Groan, why me... and why this week?" Notwithstanding,
he took a deep breath, approached the partnership and
readily gave unequivocal advice on what he thought was in
the best interests of the firm if the allegations were
substantiated. However in stark contrast and to his
consternation, he found their equivocation on what to do
with Mr. Million Dollar (annual billings) Man quite
pronounced. Following investigation, the partner was
exited from the business but not without some sweaty palms,
some real chagrin and not a little anger, some of which was
(mis)directed at Counsel aka
bad-news-messenger-on-probation.

In past weeks we have seen careers destroyed, verdicts
handed down and arguments rage on blogs all over Australia
as people consider the issues, the evidence and opinions
before them, and make decisions on who to back and why?
Should the champion footballer have been sacked for drug
use? Should Sthe senior Police manager have been stood
down? Should the Supermarket chain manager have been
dismissed for drinking at lunch? The common denominator in
so many of these cases which have provided such fertile
ground for supposition, critical analysis, newspaper
editorials and good old fashioned water cooler gossip is a
much more serious and fundamental issue and that is one of
organisational culture and the lawlessness that can take
hold of an organisation that either refuses, or in the
context in which it operates, is powerless, to act.

I feel very frustrated and a little betrayed. I have
consulted to some of these companies (no not the Ocean
Grove Football Club, and frankly you can have them). I
have met outstanding, well intentioned, principled
individuals wanting to improve their organisations, serve
their communities, provide value for their shareholders,
drive performance cultures. They commit no crime asking
their people to do an honest day's work for an honest day's
pay and even that endeavour is sabotaged by those who see
that accountability culture as a threat to working life as
they know it.

This is not necessarily the fault of unions or lazy
opportunistic employees but also an IR system (on any side
of politics) that attempts to demand natural justice but in
its application defends the indefensible. But poor
performance doesn't usually bring down organisations.
Scandal does. Scandal borne of corruption, dirty politics,
ruthless game-playing, or cowardice.

About the Author:

Leanne Faraday-Brash is an organisational psychologist,
Principal of Brash Consulting and co-founder of the
Workplace Justice Consortium
Visit her websites at http://www.brashconsulting.com.au
http://www.workplacejustice.com.au

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Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
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22.: Coaching Skills Training: The 3 principles of coaching

Posted by: "articleannounce" articles@submityourarticle.com articleannounce

Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:24 pm (PDT)

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or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated - send to matt@mattsomers.com.

Title: Coaching Skills Training: The 3 principles of coaching
Word Count: 462
Author: Matt Somers
Email: matt@mattsomers.com
Category: Business - General
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=32690

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Coaching Skills Training: The 3 principles of coaching
We know that coaches have a healthy attitude towards other
people and this is demonstrated by the three main things
they do in their coaching sessions.

Firstly they concentrate wholly on the people they coach in
order to raise their levels of awareness. Secondly they use
encouragement and support to make sure that the people they
coach take responsibility for moving their own issues
forward. Thirdly they are open and honest and genuinely
want to see others succeed and in this way they quickly
build strong relationships of trust. Let's now look at each
of these in turn.

Raising awareness

By looking in our bathroom mirror we can raise our
awareness of how we look and use this information to
improve our performance in 'looking good'. Just being aware
of what's going on when we experience certain things is
often all it takes to make improvements - it's a natural
process.

Perhaps you've experienced the sensation of daydreaming
whilst driving to the extent that you can't recall if
you've passed your turning or not. When this happens it's
because we're performing on 'auto- pilot', in other words,
we are not consciously aware of what we are doing. This
situation can be remedied simply by raising awareness
again. The next time you're driving concentrate on how
often this daydreaming happens. Paradoxically, because of
your awareness and concentration it won't happen at all.

Generating responsibility

Coaches also want people to take responsibility for
tackling their own problems and developing their own
abilities. Insecure managers often get a sense of
satisfaction from always rescuing other the people. It
makes them feel good because they've helped someone out and
they believe that the other person will feel good because
they've passed their situation to somebody else. But
these same managers have massive pending trays groaning
under the weight of other people's problems. If we solve a
problem for somebody once, the chances are they'll come
knocking on our door each time they have another one. When
we take responsibility for someone else's situation we have
failed to develop that person and have simply reinforced
their sense of dependence. Over the long term this can lead
to feelings of frustration and resentment.

Building trust

Finally, effective coaches see the virtuous circle of
establishing trust. They realism that by raising awareness
and generating responsibility they are providing people
with a platform to perform at higher levels. As this
happens they will develop a great sense of trust in the
coaching process and in turn answer their coach's questions
with deeper levels of honesty and candidness.

In this way our coaching will help them to become more
aware and responsible and so it goes on.

Raising awareness, generating responsibility and building
trust are the key principles of effective coaching.

About the Author:

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

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