Coaching is facilitating people to reach their unique potential. A coach should consider the effective management of the coaching process to reach session goals as effectively and as focused as possible. Alec McPhedran explains the simple to use but highly effective GENIUS coaching framework for creative talent coaching sessions. In essence, coaching is a simple process. However, we must make sure we do simple well. At its heart lies good questioning, listening and the ability to summarise. The challenges are building trust and maintaining a positive working and open relationship in which the coachee feels they are the focus of attention and that they are being helped to work on their ideas. The additional skill is managing the process of the coaching session. This has to be timely as well as facilitating the individual to move forward. In the creative industries in which I mainly work, it is critical ideas and solutions came from the individual being coached. That’s really hard when you believe you know what the solution is. But surely that’s one of the issues of coaching, “What you believe the solution is.” Great coaching is about working the individual. It’s their imagination and their aspiration. Our job is to help turn these into a reality. Not the coach’s reality or perceived reality. It has to be owned by the coachee. As a coach, your inputs have to be really relevant, valid and appropriate if and when invited to do so. You, the coach, act as the conductor. The individual has the talent. The coach’s role is to get the best out of the talent. Like most coaches, I have come across a number of really useful coaching models, including the simple but highly effective GROW model. The common view is that the GROW model derived from Performance Coaching by John Whitmore. GROW is used to structure the coaching session; Goals, Realities, Options and Will, as in “What will you do?” This is pretty good, particularly for offering line managers a coaching tool but for professional coaches it sometimes might need a bit more. Another useful model is CLEAR, developed by Peter Hawkins. CLEAR concentrates on Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action and Review. Working in the creative industries often has me having to work with additional technique in the coaching session. Creativity, innovation, exciting aspirations and ideas that need turning into a reality. That’s the amazing and exciting challenge in media with creative coaching. For me, a new approach was needed to help inspire and push my clients. GENIUS GENIUS coaching developed following a chat with a pretty cynical script-writing friend. She felt coaching had its place but most definitely not in the world of ‘creative people’. Her previous experience of being coached while working at a leading broadcaster had been helpful but only in career progression and not on her desire to be the best in her field of telling stories. A number of coaches had not been able to really meet her creative aspiration. This made me think about myself, my own ability to go further than I had been before with people and therefore how could I meet her challenge? Yes there are excellent coaches who are very focussed on pushing people but are we held back with the SMART objective format? Are we sometimes held back by our own feelings if moving out of our own comfort level? Her point was do we really push people past their boundaries? Was I really helping by agreeing to a coachees initial objectives or was I really stretching them, taking them to new and exciting places, sometimes scary, in their ambition? Over the following months I revisited my coaching sessions, the processes I was using and depending on subjects, the results we were getting. Goals were being achieved but I was wondering could it have been wider reaching, more challenging – truly daring to be different. The GENIUS model of coaching evolved after testing it out on some knowing victims with mixed success. I was particularly influenced by Jenny Rogers, author of Coaching Skills, a Handbook. Jenny mixes coaching fantastically well with Neuro Linguistic Programming. Thinking of end goals, care with use of language and testing the energy to achieve things. People who were really up for a new adventure opened their mind to great new ideas, concepts and opportunities that truly seemed off the wall. But importantly, motivational for a creative person. With some, it made them feel uncomfortable and my learning was that you had to work with the aspiration and the reality of their ambition in their style. Again, not my ambition or my preferred coaching or creative thinking techniques. Eventually the GENIUS model came out, probably the result of a fire, aim ready strategy. It’s now one of my favourite models, particularly when working with exciting creative talent. GENIUS coaching is simple. GENIUS is a guide to running a coaching session. It’s yet another useful model for coaches for their toolkit. It does draw its inspiration from the likes of GROW, OSKAR and other coaching models. Simple is good but the skills is in doing simple well. Goals The first step of GENIUS is to set the GOALS, a rather obvious starting point. We know the goal, purpose or aim is critical for a number of reasons but primarily it provides us with the reminder of what it is we are working on, what needs to be achieved. It makes sure all future conversation is relevant to achieving the goal. With GENIUS coaching, there are three types of goals to set.
By using this three step approach to goal setting, it provides the coachee with consistency and focus for making things happen and with a clear understanding of why they need to do things. The key skill for the coach is managing and setting the aspirational goal. Energy Once the aspirational goal and the session goal (or goals) has been set, the next part of GENIUS coaching is to look at the ENERGY of the coachee. They may want to achieve something that is far reaching for them but do they really have the energy? The desire to achieve and the energy to do something can sometimes be poles apart. Get the client to rate their energy levels to make this work, perhaps by giving a score out of 10. Without the genuine energy to achieve the goal, is the goal the right one in the first place? Another useful tool to use here, again thanks to Jenny Rogers, is to ask how motivated they are about achieving the goals. A rating of 1 to 10 equally helps give some indication of possible investigation. A useful read on the importance of personal energy is the high performance pyramid by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (2003). The focus of the model is the importance and connectivity in the four energy levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. The theme is not so much about how you manage your time but how you manage (and control) your personal energy. Really helpful in probing commitment to achieving an aspiration. Nurture Once goals have been established and the energy levels checked to achieve them, you then need to NURTURE the range of opportunities and options. This is very much the Options stage of GROW. This again is where the questioning, listening, summarising and creative thinking skills of the coach come into play. Your ability to brainstorm, encourage creative thinking; thinking of things that are really off the wall, never been done before are absolutely critical. When nurturing ideas, this ideally should be treated in the same way as a pure brainstorming session. Pull out the ideas, don’t critique to early, set the parameters linked to the objectives and work through some of the ideas. This is also a great time to use challenging and creative thinking tools such as de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats (data, emotion, negativity, positiveness, feel good, innovative thinking and process). Once you have looked at each idea, work through and prioritise the key actions that came out of the nurturing process. Priority action one is the way forward. Options two, three and four – potential back up ideas. From the Six Thinking Hats model you will then be able to move into the next stage of GENIUS coaching thanks to the identifying emotions and negatives from the red and black hat discussions. Inhibitors That’s because you need to revisit the agreed priority actions from the nurturing stage and identify the INHIBITORS. That is, what is going to stop the ideas from working? This is really powerful as you seek out the negatives. It’s those negatives that you then address with the client to establish how they will be tackled should they arise. I guess the development of the cunning Plan B scenario. We are great at planning the perfect life with Plan A. Unfortunately life’s not perfect. Therefore it makes sense to anticipate inhibitors. Manage them into positives. It’s worthwhile at this point revisiting your nurtured actions to see if they need revising to reflect the points identified in the inhibitors stage of the session. Utopia So, we now know what we want, how much energy the client has to achieve their goal, we’ve generated some great ideas and have identified the potential problems and the likely responses. If all works fantastically well then… UTOPIA; an imagined perfect place or state of things. This is where the coaches Neuro Linguistic Programming knowledge comes more into play. Can you get the individual to visually, auditory and kinaesthetically imagine their Utopia once the goals will be achieved? This is a powerful tool to make the end result of a coaching session feel real. It’s what turns that aspiration into the reality. Visioning, recording or feeling that end goal gives the goal life. It puts Utopia in the mind of the individual. I have even gone so far as to encourage clients to make that picture real – getting or drawing a close or true to life image and then placing it in eye sight at their desk. Weird I know but it definitely works. For the auditory types, a written statement always at hand seems to have the same effect. We’re back to the immense importance of goals. Once they look and feel real, once we are emotionally attached to them, they will become real. Developing, writing down and imagining goals is an essential role of the coach to get the client to understand this. Steps Finally, the coaching session is rounded off by summarising the STEPS to be taken by the coachee. What will they do between now and the next session? These are developed by writing SMART (specific, measurable, realistic, agreed and timed) Action Goals and clarifying the actual steps to take to achieve the Action Goals. I guess in the good old day that was called action planning. So there you have it. Yet another wonderful tool for coaching. The very simple GENIUS coaching model. It’s about pushing ambition and creativity further for creative people, exploring amazing and varied opportunities and imagining the realities of what success will look, feel or sound like. Obviously I know this model may not be perfect for some, that’s the beauty of the business we’re in. If we were all perfect then we wouldn’t have anybody to coach. The GENIUS Coaching Model G – Goals to be achieved E – Energy to achieve the goals N – Nurturing and exploring options to achieve the goals I – Inhibitors that may arise on the way to achieving goals U – Utopia when the goals will be achieved S – Steps to be taken to achieve the goals GENIUS coaching has been developed by Alec McPhedran Chard FCIPD, Chtd Mngr CMI, MAC, MCMI, as a tool for people who coach; to guide them through an inspirational and wide reaching coaching session for talented creative people. Alec is trainer, coach and mentor in the creative sector. For further information visit www.mcphedran.co.uk
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An Overview of the Pareto Principle
Do you know what contributes to your successes or your results? If you do know, how well therefore do you plan and prioritise those as key actions to be completed or areas to focus on? Understanding the Pareto Principle is a great planning tool to help you focus on the important things. Here, creative sector coach and trainer Alec McPhedran shares his thoughts on the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few, states that roughly 80% of the effects or results come from 20% of the causes or inputs. This principle is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1895 that approximately 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population. Since Pareto’s findings, academics have applied Pareto’s 80/20 rule of cause and effect, also known as the Pareto principle, to a variety of situations outside of wealth distribution, including business principles, planning and professional development. It highlights the imbalanced distribution of outcomes, suggesting that a significant majority of the outcomes are driven by a relatively small portion of the inputs. For example, in business, the Pareto Principle implies that roughly 80% of a company's profits come from 20% of its customers, services or products. In project management, it suggests that 80% of the project's results are achieved through 20% of the effort and resources invested. In personal productivity, it implies that 80% of your results come from 20% of activities or tasks. It's important to note that the specific ratio of 80/20 is not always exact and can vary. It serves as a general guideline rather than a rigid rule. The key insight is that a small portion of the causes or inputs have a disproportionately significant impact on the outcomes. Specific highlights are: The 80/20 rule is a statistical rule that states that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes The 80/20 rule can help determine how to best allocate time, money, effort or resources When using the 80/20 rule, people try to prioritise the 20% of activity that give the greatest results Examples of the 80/20 Rule
By recognising and applying the Pareto Principle, individuals and organizations can focus their efforts and resources on the critical few aspects that generate the majority of the desired results. This approach allows for more efficient allocation of time, energy, and resources, leading to increased productivity and effectiveness. How do I use the Pareto Principle? To effectively use the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, in your personal or professional life, you could follow these steps: Identify the key factors: Start by identifying the areas or factors where the Pareto Principle is likely to apply. This could be in terms of tasks, customers, products, time, or any other relevant aspect that influences your outcomes Analyse the data: Collect data or information related to these factors. This could involve examining sales figures, customer data, project metrics, or any other relevant data source. Analyse the data to identify patterns or trends Apply the 80/20 analysis: Apply the Pareto Principle by identifying the vital few. Determine the factors or inputs that contribute the most to the desired outcomes. Look for the 20% of causes that drive 80% of the effects. For example, if you're analysing customer data, identify the top 20% of customers who generate 80% of your revenue Focus on the vital few: Once you have identified the critical factors, concentrate your efforts, resources, and attention on them. Allocate your time, energy, and resources in a way that maximizes the impact of the vital few. This could mean prioritizing your high-value customers, focusing on your most profitable products, or streamlining processes that contribute the most to your goals Streamline or eliminate the trivial many: The Pareto Principle also highlights that a large portion of the causes or inputs may have a minimal impact on the outcomes. Identify the trivial many, the 80% of causes that contribute only 20% of the effects, and evaluate whether they are worth the investment. Streamline or eliminate nonessential tasks, customers, products, or processes that don't significantly contribute to your desired results Regularly review and adapt: The Pareto Principle is not a one-time analysis but an ongoing process. Continuously monitor and review your data, outcomes, and resource allocation to ensure you are still focusing on the vital few. Market conditions, priorities, and other factors may change over time, so regularly reassess and adapt your strategies accordingly By applying the Pareto Principle, you can optimize your efforts, resources, and decision-making to achieve more significant results with less wasted time and resources. Alec McPhedran Chtd Fellow CIPD, Chtd Mngr CMI, MAC, MCMI is a creative coach, mentor and trainer. He specialises in one to one coaching, facilitated learning, media training and career coaching. For further information, contact Alec at www.mcphedran.co.uk. Copyright © Alec McPhedran 2024 Approaches to Conflict Management
Conflict management refers to the process of handling and resolving conflicts or disagreements that arise between individuals, groups, or organizations. It involves a range of strategies and techniques aimed at addressing the underlying issues, reducing tension, and reaching a mutually acceptable resolution. Here, creative sector coach and trainer Alec McPhedran shares his thoughts on conflict management and some approaches. Conflict can arise due to differences in opinions, values, goals, or interests. It can occur in various settings, including personal relationships, workplaces, communities, and international relations. Conflict management is crucial because unresolved conflicts can lead to negative consequences such as strained relationships, decreased productivity, or even aggression. Conflict management refers to the approaches in handling conflicts and disagreements effectively to achieve resolution and maintain positive relationships. There are several approaches and strategies that can be used to manage conflicts. Here are some common approaches to conflict management: Collaboration: This approach focuses on finding a win-win solution by involving all parties in the conflict. It encourages open communication, active listening, and brainstorming to identify common interests and create a solution that satisfies everyone's needs Compromise: In this approach, both parties involved in the conflict make concessions and reach a middle ground. Each party gives up some of their demands to achieve a mutually acceptable outcome. Compromise requires negotiation and finding areas of agreement while acknowledging and accepting differences Accommodation: This approach involves satisfying the needs and interests of one party while disregarding or minimizing the concerns of the other. It may be used when maintaining harmony and preserving relationships is more important than achieving a specific outcome. Accommodation can be effective in situations where one party has more power or when the issue is of low importance Avoidance: Sometimes, conflicts can be managed by avoiding or postponing them. This approach may be used when the conflict is trivial, emotions are high, or when the timing is not right for a productive discussion. However, prolonged avoidance can lead to unresolved issues and may escalate the conflict in the long run Competition: In this approach, each party focuses on their own interests and aims to win the conflict. It can involve assertiveness, the use of power, and a disregard for the needs and concerns of the other party. While competition may be appropriate in certain situations, such as when quick decisions are required or when ethical issues are involved, it can strain relationships and lead to negative outcomes Mediation: Mediation involves the intervention of a neutral third party who facilitates communication and negotiation between the conflicting parties. The mediator helps to identify the underlying issues, improve understanding, and guide the parties towards a mutually agreeable solution. Mediation can be especially useful when emotions are high or when the parties are unable to resolve the conflict on their own Arbitration: Arbitration is a more formal approach where an impartial third party, called an arbitrator, reviews the conflict and makes a binding decision. This approach is often used when the parties are unable to reach an agreement or when the conflict involves legal matters. The arbitrator's decision is final and enforceable The choice of approach depends on the nature of the conflict, the goals of the parties involved, and the relationship dynamics. Effective conflict management involves selecting the most appropriate approach for each situation and ensuring that the process is fair, respectful, and leads to a satisfactory resolution. Alec McPhedran Chtd Fellow CIPD, Chtd Mngr CMI, MAC, MCMI is a creative coach, mentor and trainer. He specialises in one to one coaching, facilitated learning, media training and career coaching. For further information, contact Alec at www.mcphedran.co.uk. Copyright © Alec McPhedran 2024 An Introduction to Unconscious Bias from Alec McPhedran
Sometimes, we are not fully aware of our biases and in working with others, managing unconscious bias is a great skill that does need learning and constant checking in. Here, creative sector coach and trainer Alec McPhedran gives an overview of unconscious bias basis. Unconscious bias refers to the biases and prejudices that we hold at a subconscious level, often without our awareness or intention. These biases are influenced by our upbringing, socialization, cultural norms, and personal experiences. They can shape our attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about individuals or groups, leading to unfair or discriminatory treatment, even if we consciously strive to be unbiased. Unconscious biases can manifest in various forms, such as racial bias, gender bias, age bias, and more. They can affect our perceptions, decision-making, and behaviour, leading to unintended consequences and perpetuating inequalities. Importantly, unconscious biases are not limited to any specific group or individual; they can be present in anyone, regardless of their background or intentions. Understanding unconscious bias is essential because it helps us recognize and challenge our own biases, enabling us to make more fair and informed decisions. By becoming aware of these biases, we can actively work towards reducing their impact and promoting inclusivity and equality. It's important to note that unconscious bias does not make individuals inherently bad or prejudiced. Rather, it is a natural cognitive process that stems from the brain's attempt to simplify complex information and make quick judgments. However, when left unchecked, unconscious bias can perpetuate stereotypes, reinforce systemic inequalities, and hinder diversity and inclusion efforts? Addressing unconscious bias requires ongoing self-reflection, education, and a commitment to fostering an inclusive mindset. Organizations and individuals can implement strategies such as diversity training, diverse hiring practices, creating inclusive environments, and promoting awareness of bias to mitigate the impact of unconscious biases. Recognizing that unconscious biases exist and taking proactive steps to counteract them is crucial for promoting fairness, equality, and creating a more inclusive society where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. Types of Unconscious Bias There are several types of unconscious biases that can influence our perceptions and decision-making. Here are some common types: Implicit Bias: Implicit biases are automatic and unconscious biases that result from associations formed in our minds based on experiences, media, cultural influences, and stereotypes. These biases can affect our judgments and behaviour towards individuals or groups, even when we consciously reject stereotypes Affinity Bias: Affinity bias refers to the tendency to prefer and be more positively disposed towards people who are similar to ourselves in terms of background, interests, or experiences. This bias can lead to favouritism and exclusion of individuals who do not fit our personal "in-group.” Confirmation Bias: Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms our pre-existing beliefs or stereotypes. This bias can lead us to selectively notice or remember information that supports our views while ignoring or dismissing evidence that contradicts them Halo Effect: The halo effect occurs when we form an overall positive impression of a person based on a single positive trait or characteristic. For example, if someone is physically attractive, we may assume they are also intelligent, competent, or trustworthy, without objective evidence to support those assumptions Stereotyping: Stereotyping involves making generalizations or assumptions about individuals based on their membership in a particular group. Stereotypes are often based on societal or cultural beliefs and can lead to unfair judgments and treatment of individuals, perpetuating biases and discrimination In-group Bias: In-group bias is the tendency to favour individuals who belong to the same group as us, whether it's based on race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, or other factors. This bias can lead to exclusion or marginalization of individuals from different groups and hinder diversity and inclusion efforts Availability Bias: Availability bias refers to the tendency to rely on readily available information or examples that come to mind easily when making judgments or decisions. This bias can lead us to overestimate the prevalence or importance of certain events or traits based on their prominence in our personal experiences or the media Attribution Bias: Attribution bias involves making assumptions about the causes of someone's behaviour, often based on stereotypes or preconceived notions. For example, attributing a woman's success to luck or affirmative action rather than recognizing her skills and abilities. It's important to note that these biases are not exhaustive, and individuals can exhibit various combinations of biases. Recognizing and understanding these biases is the first step towards mitigating their impact and promoting fair and unbiased decision-making. Alec McPhedran Chtd Fellow CIPD, Chtd Mngr CMI, MAC, MCMI is a creative coach, mentor and trainer. He specialises in one to one coaching, facilitated learning, media training and career coaching. For further information, contact Alec at www.mcphedran.co.uk. Copyright © Alec McPhedran 2024 |
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