“You see what I have to deal with”? my coaching client would ask throughout our early coaching sessions. Then followed a cascade of complaints about this or that team member – and I say “team” very lightly, as the people who reported to him hardly functioned as a team. How could they, I wondered, if she was so critical of them, and complained so much.
Jerome is a very busy executive at a leading academic institution. In our second coaching call, I asked him to track how he spent his time over 3 days. Here’s what he found: He spends 3 hours PER DAY on emails!
True or False? Women can have it all.
Happy International Women’s Day! Today, we celebrate the innumerable achievements and contributions of women around the world.
Even as we celebrate, I think it’s crucial to address an “elephant in the room”: the pressure placed on women to “have it all.” But what does that really mean? And more importantly, what does it mean for you, personally?
At the end of each of my workshops, be it strategy facilitation, leadership development, culture articulation, or team alignment, I ask participants to make a simple personal commitment:
“Write down one action you commit to make to put into practice what you learned.”
My team and I were excited. A few months before I had made the decision to invest in an automated CRM. I was tired of having to rely on the CRM that took up space in my head, of to-do lists and post-it notes all over my office to remind me to follow up leads so that I can convert to clients, and of falling short in structured follow up and contact after projects.
New Year Resolutions are notorious for being relegated to the dustbin within a few days of the start of the new year. My son, who is a personal fitness trainer is very busy for the first few weeks of the year.
One thing I really miss about living in Jamaica are the Christmas parties! Organizations go all out to have the most fun, exciting and rip-roaring events, literally vying to be the talk of the town!
Where is joy in dark times? It’s difficult to find it when there is, as Bob Marley sang:
“War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War, war
Rumours of war”
“We are having a 2-day retreat next week, at (fancy-schmancy resort hotel). It’s for about 24 people. We need a facilitator, but we don’t have much of a budget. Are you available”?
In my 4 decades of facilitating retreats, I have heard this quite a few times. My simple answer is: “So sorry. I am not available”.
“I thought that when management went on a retreat on the North Coast it was all fun and games. I didn’t realise that you really did some serious, hard work” said one of the young special invitees to the corporate retreat I facilitated a few weeks ago.
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