HRM Coaching Blog

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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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.

It seems it’s time to have a serious rethink about the way we work. According to a recent article in People Management Online (http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk) working in an office may actually be severely hampering our productivity and passion for our careers.

While more and more businesses are becoming aware of this, and moving towards allowing more freedom to work from home as a way of getting more work done, not everyone is as forward thinking.

So what should you do if the people in the upper echelons of your business can’t see the way forward and still insist that everyone works nine to five at their desk?

While you may not have the ultimate power to be able to allow employees to work more freely, you can still have an effect on the way time is managed within your department. The best way to do this is to get everyone involved and seek suggestions as to what progress can be made.

It is not unheard of for the powers that be within a business to rethink their approach to flexible working once they see there is a real desire and need for it – so long as it can be proved that the business will not suffer as a result. If you can demonstrate that things may actually improve then so much the better.

There are two methods of asking people to input their own ideas into how the business – and more appropriately your department - can manage its time more effectively. Firstly you may wish to call a meeting with a view to discussing what people would like to change and improve. There may be methods of exchanging information and dealing with issues that are currently long winded, and could be made far simpler if everyone got together and hashed out a new plan.

Secondly, if a face to face meeting doesn’t seem to fit the bill you could put together a questionnaire for your employees to fill in. This can be anonymous if you wish – you may get more honest opinions if this is the case.

Opening up a dialogue with your employees can help in two ways. Not only does it help you to keep in touch with the everyday challenges and issues which arise (not all of which you may be aware of) but it also creates an open, two way method of communication with the people you work with every day.

This will lead to improved methods of working, better time management and better understanding of the roles everyone has in both the short and the long term.

And it may also raise a flag in favour of flexible working – one which the higher powers may see and take note of.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2008

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HRM Coaching specialises in helping organisations to get the best from their staff. For more information please see www.hrmcoaching.com or call 020 7939 9910.

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To find out more about coaching, please listen to the series of short podcasts by Hannah McNamara (originally published on CD):

 

 Introduction [1:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 What is Coaching? [5:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 What is a Coaching Culture? [1:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 How is a Coaching Programme Structured? [6:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Choosing a Coaching Provider [8:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Taking the Plunge! [0:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Accessibility: This podcast is available as a transcript for deaf people.  Please contact us to request a copy.

© Copyright HRM Coaching Ltd 2007-8

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For more information about coaching, contact Hannah McNamara at HRM Coaching on 020 7939 9910 or e-mail info@hrmcoaching.com

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We all know people who are like human dynamos. They seem to make an art form of building their business and still enjoy quality time with friends and family. It isn’t magic, you can do it too.

The world of business ownership or management is inhabited by two main personality types. There are people who never miss deadlines, who can be replied upon to deliver the goods whatever the odds and, who seem to thrive under pressure. Then there are people who achieve very little and yet seem to be permanently in a rush.

The first group actually manage to build their business or practice and do even more, whilst the others often struggle to stay afloat. So how can you learn from those who are able to create success while they still take time out for holidays and quality family time?

Consider your working time. You can spend it in two ways. You can be working in your business or, you can be working on your business.

Working in the business means doing whatever is necessary to provide your products or services to existing clients. Working on your business is the creative time that you spend developing a clear strategy for the future, planning the tactics that will make it happen and, building relationships with clients. You will be well rewarded if you take some regular time away to think clearly about this business building.

There is a wide variety of branded ‘time management systems’, many of them will be used during an initial flush of enthusiasm and then end up as very expensive bookends or doorstops. The reason is obvious. Time management is a false description of self management. There are some very simple techniques that you can start using today to build your business and still enjoy time off. Use them as you consider your ‘in business’ tasks and then your ‘on business’ activity.

Consider the task
Is it necessary to do it at all?
If it is a major task, ‘chunk it down’ into smaller elements or steps
Is each step necessary?
What is the result or outcome of doing it?
How else could this result be achieved?
What is the cost of not doing it?

Even if this step seems too simple to be effective, almost every organisation, large or small, perpetuates time consuming tasks that are no longer needed. There is little point in demanding a log of every photocopy made in an office if nobody ever checks it. Do you spend time on needless meetings, memos and emails when you could deal with a matter in a brief phone call?

Consider the person
Who does it?
Why that person?
Who else could do it?
Why that person?
Who else should do it?

The objective here is to delegate downwards to the lowest level with the ability to perform the task satisfactorily. It is pointless to send a highly paid PA to the Post Office if the office junior can take your outgoing mail there just as easily. Better still, investigate the possibility of having your outgoing mail collected. Remember the old adage that ‘nobody is indispensable’. Examine ways to take time out from your business, secure in the knowledge that it will run just as well when you are not there.

Consider the place
Where is the task done?
Why there?
Where else could it be done?
Why there?
Where should it be done?

Perhaps your printer has just delivered your latest brochure for final proof reading. You need a quiet environment with no distractions. Go home an hour earlier to do it in peace. If your home environment is noisy, find a quiet lay-by or car park.

Out of the dilemma
Of course, it is easy to consider aspects of what, who, why, when, where and how …when you have time for yourself. And that creates a Catch 22 situation. You will not have the time until you do it, and you cannot do it until you have the time.

Fortunately, there is a practical and effective way out of this dilemma. You invite a business coach to help you. All coaches are not equal. Some are specialists in the art and science of self management and developing a sound balance between leisure and work. HRM Coaching Ltd has a wide network of experienced and qualified coaches and can select the specialist who is most appropriate for your situation. An initial discussion is totally free of cost or obligation.

Call Hannah McNamara on 020 7939 9910 for more information. This could be your first significant step towards building your business and still taking time off.