Journal
Tools- Worklife Balance is 3 Steps Away
“You only find balance; by leaning into and deciding upon the balance you want. Plain and simple.
What follows are the three elements which I see consistently help my coachees to find greater balance between work and homelife; between - work, rest, play and sustenance”.
Work - Do you have a cause?
“A cause swirls like a rising ocean, connecting every action, meeting and strategy session to a longer term ambition. It makes decisions easier. And the most successful clients I work with feel their cause within their bones.
A role that is not attached to a cause larger than a bottom line, Is a number”.
Opinion- Is fear killing leadership?
“We are seeing too many ' at the top', the 'showbiz execs' - parading as leaders - but doing nothing more than 'managing' things.
This is not because they are managing people - if only. No; it's because all they are doing is 'managing the status quo'.
If fear is what stops those with influence from acting, let's change the definition of management, to recognise what we are seeing.
Let the dictionaries and role profiles be amended; I say and let it be writ large, that:
"Management is”
Taper - Stefan’s Week-Notes 15/11/2024
“This week I read a brilliant article on Decision-making in the Broadening perspectives on risk article from the British Psychological Society. What particularly stood out for me within the context of decision making and preventing group bias were the elements of a ‘critical friend’ and ‘reflective practice’. As a coach; thats just the world I believe we should all be operating in”
Sustenance - How Good People Sustain Themselves…
“My client could not have envisaged how much of difference and how revived they could feel after only re-introducing some of the sustained elements, they needed. All it took was ‘Just’ enough for them to get started, see some results, no matter how small and have someone with them to help them keep leaning in - gently at first”.
Absorb - Stefan’s Week-Notes 09/11/2024
“Think, “I want to serve the country” and “I want them to have a service which serves their needs” kinds of good people and “I want to help the NHS be the service we all know and want it to be”.
Play - Good People Play Games too.
“Quite simply, games are being played in work, which effect the delivery of great work by good people. Now, I don’t mean ball games, backgammon or chess or hide and seek as I saw branch teams use as pre opening energisers, in the building society I worked for. No, I mean the political games needed to get ahead, which create the opportunity for good people to lead great things and change”
Activist* - Stefan’s Week-Notes 2/11/2024.
“Societal Focus. What this means for me, is that they can at least unconsciously connect the work they do and the change they want to make to everyone in ‘their’ society i.e. their team and organisation and explain this to those around them. The real growth, through coaching comes in being able to consciously do this across their organisation developing a string foundation for sector wide and cross sector influence”.
Work - Good People Have CAUSE.
"The Good People I see who affect the most change, are clear on and can deliver on their C.A.U.S.E. My role as a coach is to help bring this about”.
Sustenance - What’s that then?
“To understand and be understood is to be free” says Daniel Johnson and in my experience he is free. How do we become understood? We invite questions - from ourselves and others. How do we understand? We honour others by asking them questions too. “
What do you want to be known for? Coaching Examples
"Even more importantly you can use (the question; what do you want to be known for?) 'it' to drag yourself out of a hole, overcome procrastination and even imposter syndrome when you recognise you ARE being that and/or ARE doing what is needed, consistently, to be that (no matter the reason at this stage).
And YOU CAN celebrate deep down to your core when you are being and doing what is needed and known for that which you 'seek'"
Play - What’s that then?
"Part of helping good people lead great things sometimes includes looking at how they introduce play back into their weekly and monthly routines. A number of my client work involves working out their ideal bi-weekly and monthly patterns and mapping activities into their diaries.
That planning might sound like ‘hell', but my oh my, it works."
Rest - What’s that?
"...like the bike races I do, leadership and change are an endurance race and those, like leadership aren’t won in the first pedal strokes, but can be lost by over ‘egging it’ and ‘burning brightly’ too soon".
Work - What do I do and Why?
"Good people implicitly or explicitly believe in the principles of social justice - access to resources, equity, participation, diversity, and human rights - in all the work they do.
If someone is working towards creating these organisationally, sector wide and or nationally and internationally, then I am in; with both feet"