HRM Coaching Blog

London Career Coach Hannah McNamara offers some tips if you are facing redundancy.

The British economy isn’t exactly at its strongest level at the moment, which is why so many workers are starting to worry about the prospect of a recession and what that would mean for their job security. Redundancy is something that many people will sadly have to go through in their lives, but with the appropriate career planning you can come through the experience with a better regard for your career and your skills.

If you are facing redundancy this is the best time to make use of every piece of quality career advice you can. Career coaching can make all the difference at a time when your emotions are likely to be running high; you may have been in your job for many years and if this is the case you would be forgiven for feeling as if there is no future for you in the current job market.

But many people end up looking back and realising that their redundancy was a good thing in the long run. That’s not to say that it wasn’t stressful or upsetting at the time, but there is no doubt that if you get the right help and support when you need it you will be able to face your future with more knowledge and confidence.

It’s also a good time to think about whether you want to stay in the same career and progress to a different company, or if you would prefer to opt for a complete career change. Many people find career coaching can help them to assess the possibilities and make an informed decision on whether their current skills could be put to better use elsewhere.

If you do decide to opt for a career change you may find you need to obtain some fresh qualifications or training that will give you a better chance of getting the job you want. Proper career planning can also identify other possibilities such as self employment – perhaps even using the years of experience you have already gained in the job you are about to leave. Many people use some of their redundancy money to set up a business which enables them to be true to themselves as well as bring in an income which comes from creating something that is truly theirs.

Whatever you decide to do, it is vital that you get the help and advice you need as soon as you know that redundancy is on the cards. If you can do this you will be able to move forwards with much more confidence.

The website of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development publishes a quarterly review of the labour market, which gives details of the outlook for redundancy among other factors, and it can be accessed at their website at http://www.cipd.co.uk.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2008

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Hannah McNamara is a Career Coach with a background in Marketing, based in London. She has been providing Career Coaching in London for almost 4 years and has a client base made up of private individuals, large organisations and SME businesses.

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Hannah McNamara from HRM Coaching Ltd in London looks at how career coaching and mentoring can benefit specific groups of employees.

It’s an awkward question, but one that should still be answered by every manager in the UK. While most of us would like to think that we do treat everyone fairly with regards to our leadership skills, if we are honest with ourselves we have probably all been a little harsh on some people in the past. Anyone who holds a position of authority however should recognise that they have a unique opportunity to influence people and enhance the workplace in many different ways.

Of course the workplace demands that we treat everyone the same regardless of their beliefs, orientation, age or any other factor, and a pro-active stance such as the one taken by the investment giant Morgan Stanley just goes to show that we are still taking huge strides forward even in the 21st century.

The company has opened up new opportunities for its lesbian, gay and bi-sexual staff to talk with LGB colleagues who have already made good progress in their careers. You can read the full story, reported on the 28th March 2008, at www.cipd.co.uk.

This is a good example of a company which is making sure that a minority group of employees are able to receive leadership and management advice from people who are aware of what it can be like to be lesbian, gay or bi-sexual in the workplace. Hopefully this will be the start of many such initiatives which appeal to various different core groups of people throughout many types of work across the UK.

This kind of positive instance is a good chance for every manager to think about how they treat all their staff – not just in the respect of thinking about whether they treat everyone fairly or not, but also to encourage a feeling of culture change where necessary. Not only does this benefit the employees - who feel as if they are part of a company that really cares about their welfare - it also benefits the business, since the happier the employees are the more likely it is that the results they achieve will be far better when compared against their performance management plan.

It is clear that while we are all individually responsible for our own attitude and outlook on the people we work with it is also the responsibility of the company as a whole to provide a safe and pro-active environment to work in for everyone. Perhaps we should all take a leaf out of Morgan Stanley’s book?

© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2008

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HRM Coaching, based in London, provides Career Coaching and Executive Coaching to ambitious individuals. They have a very diverse and international team of professional Career Coaches and Executive Coaches. For a free, confidential discussion of your current situation at work, call 020 7939 9910.

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Hannah McNamara from HRM Coaching in London explores whether ambition is really such a good thing and whether career coaching can help.

We all recognise that achieving a work life balance isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Most of us want to do well in our careers, moving up the ladder and taking on more responsibilities as we go. We soon discover that leadership and management skills can take us a long way, and so it is natural to want to develop them and our careers as well, whether they are in the public sector or the private sector.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a bit of ambition – if none of us had any then most of the luxuries we have and developments we have made in the world wouldn’t be here today. But when does ambition turn from being constructive and rear its ugly head as a destructive mechanism? Perhaps more importantly, how can we tell before we get to the tipping point?

Career coaching is still gaining ground in the public and private sectors, and a career coach can certainly help you to take a good look at your career to see whether any changes need to be made. It is quite often the fact that an outsider can tell whether your ambition is going too far, long before you reach that point of recognition yourself. As in so many other situations in life, we are often the last ones to see there is a problem – until it is almost too late to solve it.

Having a well constructed personal development plan is a good way to keep track of how your work performance is shaping up. Your ambitions can help you to identify well targeted work goals to achieve, without creating too many to be able to keep tabs on them all at the same time.

It’s also wise to keep a well rounded view of your lifestyle in place at all times. Destructive ambitions which take over your life are very often more likely to happen when you don’t have many interests in your personal life, and your work life is therefore allowed to spill over and fill the gaps.

While a career coach can certainly discuss your dreams and ambitions with you, they can also help you to maintain a more even keel, concentrating on your personal development plan as well as keeping an eye on how your personal interests are being attended to. If you have a good work life balance in place, then your ambitions will almost always be constructive, since you will have personal interests that you won’t be willing to compromise on.

If you are currently dangerously near to having destructive ambitions, bear in mind that it will take some time to redress the balance back in your favour. Once you have started taking productive steps to do just that, you will find it is very easy to regain it given time.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2008

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Hannah McNamara is the Managing Director of HRM Coaching in London. Find out more about Career Coaching packages and start working on your career path. Call 020 7939 9910 for a free initial consultation to discuss your current situation. HRM Coaching also provides Executive Coaching within organisations.

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The more time goes on the more we learn about each other – and this is especially noticeable in a working environment. But not only do we learn different things, we also learn in different ways.

In a recent article in the People Management magazine (available to read on their website at www.peoplemanagement.co.uk) it is mentioned that learning within a work environment should now be more individually led, rather than constantly attending mass training events. The article provides a fascinating read, not to mention a very convincing argument for why this individual stance should become the norm rather than the exception.

There is every reason to think that with the proper structure, this type of self-propelled learning could actually work rather well. Why? This is simply because not everyone learns in the same manner.

Let’s look at a typical example. Let’s suppose you set up a training session which takes place predominantly using a slide show and talk to get your message across. You may have chosen this method because it’s a method you like yourself.

Now some of the people who attend your training course may take in a lot of what you are saying. Others may study the slideshow carefully and take in a great deal of information in that way. Others may struggle to take in much at all – not because your presentation skills are boring in any way, but simply because they don’t study very well in that way. If you gave them a pamphlet that listed your presentation step by step it might be a different story – it all depends on which way they tend to learn.

That’s where individual learning can really be a winner. Provided there is a supportive framework in which the whole thing works, there is no reason to suppose that better results can’t be obtained, and motivating staff won’t become a lot easier.

It would be wrong to say that each individual employee will be totally alone though. A good move would be to start motivating staff to take on learning opportunities to grow and develop their skills during the coming weeks and months. The idea can also be brought up during discussions about their personal development plan; if you can identify the best ways of learning in their individual case, then you will be able to steer them in the right direction for making the most of every learning opportunity which comes their way.

© Hannah McNamara 2008

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Hannah McNamara is the Managing Director of HRM Coaching Ltd. HRM Coaching provides Career Coaching, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Programmes. Call 020 7939 9910 for more information and a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements.

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Changing jobs?  Small and Medium-sized Enterprises offer many rewards

On Sunday 2nd March The Sunday Times released its annual report on the Top 100 Best Small Companies to Work For.

Ambitious corporate professionals may wonder what working in a small business can offer, but it would be good to remember that the term SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) covers organisations employing up to 249 staff.   In a business of this size, not only can you progress quickly as there is less fierce competition for positions, but many offer real benefits to work within a company where you can make a difference.

This is clearly demonstrated in the survey, which shows that ‘there is not a single question in 66 on which the SMEs score worse than the mid-sized companies.  There remains a gulf between the performance of the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For and the 100 Best Companies to Work For.’  Companies were judged on Leadership, Wellbeing, Belonging, Giving Back and Personal Growth.

The report on larger companies is published in next week’s Sunday Times.