by Doug Gray | May 27, 2013 | Business, change, Coaching, energy industry, safety, talent
At the request of the editors of Professional Safety magazine, I interviewed several site managers to gain their wisdom
Regardless of your industry, or job title, you can apply these 5 Tips to your business.
May2013p1 WhatSite ManagersWant (page 1 of 2)
May2013p2 SiteManagersWant (page 2 of 2)
I love this acronym, developed by a former coaching client:
T= take the time
R= regularly meet
U= understand the situation and facts
S= share solutions and agree on the next actions
T= thank the other person
A coaching question is: How are you demonstrating your competence and skills with your manager or clients?
Please reply at 704.895.6479 and let me know…
by Doug Gray | May 27, 2013 | Business, Coaching, energy industry, Personal Development, safety
You do not need to be a safety professional to appreciate the value of coaching, managing, or leading.
I urge you to apply this article to your clients, or your company:
Coach safety coaches Feb 2013 p.1.rtfd
Coach safety coaches Feb 2013 p.2.rtfd
So, how are you coaching others?
by Doug Gray | Apr 28, 2013 | Business, change, Employment, energy industry, Resources, strengths
In February, 2012, 24 energy industry leaders responded to a short survey.
Here are their responses to item #3: What are the top 3 competencies of the top leaders at your company?
What do you think of these responses?
1. For the complete 21012 Energy Leadership Survey results, reply here
2. To be included in the 2013 Energy Leadership Survey, click here.
by Doug Gray | Dec 9, 2011 | change, exercise, family, Leadership, Managers, Meetings, money, Personal Development, strengths, Success
Recently our high school-aged daughter asked, “Daddy, you talk to people all day long about their success. If you can make it simple, what are the two keys to success?”
If she was quizzing me, then I failed. Perhaps because I did not expect the question, perhaps because I wanted to say something special to her.
I said something trite: Focus on your strengths. Persist. Follow your passions. Build a great team. But sadly, like most of us, perhaps, I just could not find the words. Frankly, I struck out.
Then yesterday someone made it simple. Now I can answer her…
What are the 2 keys to success?
1. Attention, and 2. Support.
Just as we attend to an infant and support their growth, we create gardens of success. Every successful person talks about those who gave them attention. Their mentors. Their elders. Their coaches. Those who listened well, believed in them, supported them. After repeated actions toward a desirable goal, those people thrived and eventually felt successful.
This morning I shared this idea with someone. She doodled a circle, then drew an exclamation point, bold, in the center of the circle, to represent “attention,” then she gave it legs to represent “support,” then gave it an arrow to represent a future success. That image works!
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The same pattern occurs in a coaching engagement. When I first meet someone they may be uncertain of the process, unclear about why they are receiving the attention. A common fear is that coaching is a process of “fixing behavioral gaps or deficiencies.” As if we could dunk people into a “flea and tick bath” and they emerge cleaned, ready for the next challenge. Instead, people decide if they like the attention, if they can use the support, and if they want to develop their strengths. That choice is the key to success.
So, key coaching questions may include, “Who do you need to give more attention to?” Or, “How can you support someone’s strengths?”
Time to go… I now have an answer for my daughter.
What are you going to do?
by Doug Gray | Dec 9, 2011 | Business, Employment, Leadership, Managers, strengths, Success
I hate the phrase “soft skills.”
Yesterday, I was at a project site, working with 10 people in 10 hours, and each person had concerns related to CORE business skills. Nothing ”soft” at all.
Their concerns included: conflict management, communication, delegation, listening, feedback, role clarity, alignment, engagement, motivating others, self-motivation, maximizing productivity of others, career development, managing work and family and health….
These are CORE Skills. Essential to their success. And there is nothing “soft” about developing these skills.
Perhaps it is time to rename skill development into two columns: Core skills (essential to business, hard to quantify) and technical skills (secondary to success, easy to quantify.)
- Consider what is taught in MBA programs? Or your training department?
- Consider what is tied to your employee incentives? Or promotions?
- Consider what has determined your success to date?
- Consider what will likely determine your future success?
My hunch is that your answers to questions 1 and 2 included technical skills. Easy to train, easy to measure, easy to track, yet secondary to your success.
Yesterday, one of my clients talked about his “Success Team.” He listed 4 influential people, and 3 were on site. I urged him to develop at least 6 people on his Success Team. And if he did not know the names of his target Success Team members, I urged him to select “the smartest person in the U.S. who wants this project to succeed.” He wrote down that phrase, and he will find the people soon.
Thankfully, we can each develop our core business skills when we ask for help.
One of my coaches says, “Individuals do not succeed, despite what history books and company records state. Teams succeed.”
So, how are you developing your core business success skills?
Who are you asking for help?
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