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Extraordinary Leader#16 January2002. Dare to Care.It is not enough for businesses to make a profit. Why are we (the Company) in Business? January 2002: The Extraordinary Leader Newsletter. Issue #16. In working with my many executive clients, often the reason I am hired is to support/teach managers and leaders as they learn to become (or strengthen their existing skills as a) leader coaches. The operative word is be..becoming. It is not so much about what we do as a leader coach, as it is our attitude, beliefs, intention, values, truth and integrity. It is easy to teach someone what to do, to ~do~ coaching. This process is a linear one. The art of being a leader coach is multidimensional/holographic. It reflects in all of our actions, big or small. Becoming a leader coach is a behavioural shift that is permanent and inclusive of all actions. Gandhi challenged us with the statement:~~One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.~~ Training and consulting will change what a person knows, but it doesn't necessarilychange who they are. Coaching changes a person's behaviour, and a leader coach demands change from his/her team because he/she cares enough to tell you the truth about your behaviour and how it is not serving you. A leader coach dares to care enough to hold you to a bigger game. The single biggest distinction between a manager and a coach is that the coach is in the conversation 100% for the person he/she is talking to, while the manager may not be. This requires a shift in how we participate in conversations as a leader coach. We need to play the different roles of manager, leader and coach in our daily work and life, and sometimes we need to switch roles from moment to moment. (For example, there are times that it is critically important to do a task, do it in the assigned way, get it right, and make sure your staff follow through precisely). The role of coach is about people, relationships and caring enough to tell the hard truth, with love. All great coaches in all arena's, do this. Since our lives are built on relationships and the conversations we have, learning how to be a coach is a tool that is becoming essential for all of us. Nothing, but nothing gets done without the relationships and the conversations we have. We are here because of relationships. It is very easy to forget this when we have a deadline. People matter. A leader coach combines caring about the business and the people. A great leader coach puts people before anything else. And his/her people know it. A more global picture of the dare to care attitude is to ask bigger questions of your business. It is not enough for businesses to make a profit. Why are we (the Company) in Business? We all need coaches, and our businesses need leader coaches. The question on the table is, "What are you going to do about it today? Four things you can do:
This is such a great time of year. While the holiday season can be frenetic with activity, shopping and over indulging, it is also the best of the best times to pause and reflect. As a single parent of a wonderful almost 11 year old, I plan to have a week by myself, to be and do whatever takes my fancy. This time allows me the grace to get back in touch with my values and what is really important to me. It has become a ritual for me each year to go on retreat. While I do not leave home, I am essentially not here. I do not answer the phone, or go out, except to exercise in the early morning. During this time I ask the BIG questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I to be doing this next year? What are my values? How did last year go from a financial, spiritual, ethical, and values point of view? What worked? What did not work? What would I like to achieve in 5 years, and based on this, what do I need to do this year? This process has evolved and developed. The outcomes from this time have been personally powerful. Others have asked me to share what I do. It is therefore my intention to write up a program that I will be able to deliver by e-course, and to look at conducting either a retreat next year, or a semi-retreat, where a group of us meet daily by phone and work in between calls on the designated assignments. Please send an email to mailto: info@christinemcdougall.com?subject=BIGquestions if this interests you. During the southern hemisphere summer holidays, Natalie and I have been having a lot of fun together. Natalie and I and a group of her friends have been taking private self-defense classes. We did the same thing last summer, and I would expect we will do it again next year. I get to kick the ****out of the kicking bag, yelling NO at the top of my voice, which is really liberating, and the girls get to learn how to defend themselves from the simplest to the most threatening situations, no matter what their size. We even get to break the board with our elbow, which registers strongly in our ability of what we can do to defend ourselves. The instructor is rigorous in ensuring that we defend to hurt badly, something many girls/women have a hard time doing. Essentially though, this course ensures that we will never have to defend ourselves, because our self-esteem is high enough to not attract offenders. Finally, Natalie and I have been learning about money together, by playing The Cash Flow Game (Robert Kyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cash Flow Quadrant etc). This game is a must play for anyone who wants to learn about money, and how to grow it. In playing the game you will see yourself and how you handle money! (Scary stuff!). Sadly most schools forget this crucial part of education. Natalie loves it, and I am committed to teaching her to be a wise steward to her money. ******************************************************** I would be delighted if you would like to make any comments on clarity, or lack of, ask any questions, or make any suggestions on this. Have a great month, Christine
You have come to the right place. We work in three areas specifically. We put the brakes on all forms of lying. Lying to yourself and to others. Radical honesty results in freedom and simplification. We all want more of both. Your people do as well. Not so easy to do, but very worthwhile. This action will elevate your company to the ranks of the extraordinary, and leave your competitors gasping in your wake. We challenge you to get a life. Not just you, but to build your company around people who are happy and fulfilled, people who do great work and get home in time to enjoy dinner with the family. Wouldn't you like more of that? And have it improve your profits? Why we do this. Because we know that extraordinary things happen when people are doing work that is meaningful, fulfilling and responsible to all stakeholders. How we do this. We have created some great programs that have been tried and tested over the last five years with such companies as A.N.Z bank and Hyatt Hotels. The results? Our programs work. They're field tested. When we show up at your company to work with your team, we know what we are doing. Our most important question is not, "Will you hire us?", but "Can we help you get the results that you want?' This is about coaching, not training and consulting. We believe that training and consulting will change what a person knows, but it doesn't change who they are. Coaching is about changing people's behaviour. When that happens, watch your results explode. And we guarantee our work, 100%. If we cannot guarantee the results you want, we will not take on your work. (Because if we do not get the results we have all agreed on, you do not pay us). Who are we. Christine McDougall, one of the pioneer coaches in Australia, founded our company. We started working with people one on one, and discovered that essentially people want the same things. *A greater quality of life doing less work, earning more/getting better results. Along the way, we developed programs to support these situations. We were asked to work with organizations to train their top leaders in the coach approach to leadership. We created an extraordinary program that challenged managers and leaders to change the way they behaved as a leader coach. The results are outstanding. We passionately believe that businesses today, especially global business, have the opportunity to provide meaningful and fulfilling work to all stakeholders, while maintaining their ecological responsibility. Those businesses that honour people first, win big-- they retain their best people, they have great customer satisfaction, their staff love to come to work, and their bottom line grows. An Example of Our Programs Dare to care: Passionate People, Outrageous Results. Radical Honesty. Program modules can be adapted and crafted specifically to meet the needs of your organization.
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