Like so many others I am following the Football / Soccer World Championship.  I have always enjoyed watching sports, event if I am not a competitive athlete myself.  As a leadership coach I draw inspiration and learning from sports coaching and the athletes themselves. Their life stories, what motivates them to work so hard, who helped them and how character plays a role. 

This episode draws its inspiration from two soccer team captains, a current and a retired one. Tyler Adams, the current US team captain, and Tim Sparv, the former captain of the Finnish national team who became famous not just as an excellent soccer player and captain, but as the captain who led a book club in his team and became a celebrated reading ambassador in Finland.   

Who inspires you? 

This is episode two in my December Coaching Calendar.  This time I share what I've learned from my fearless son as he prepared to audition for a talent show,  about taking risks, and not allowing one's own fears to hold others back.  They are also common topics in my coaching practice.  As leaders we must be brave and let go of our need to control and micro manage, to instead trust our people and allow them to take risks, to fail and grow.  That is when innovation and creativity thrives. 

Here is the link to the Finlandia Hymn I mention in podcast: https://youtu.be/Ns2A5yUMZhU

#leadership #work #success #talent #podcast #parenting #motivation #coaching #risktaking #courage #career #careertransition #leadershipcoaching #finland #finlandia #perfoming

This is the first of  a series of December coaching gifts from me to you as we count down to the Holidays and the New Year.  A few times a week I will give you a brief reflection on a topic that has touched me during the past year.  The purpose is to inspire you to reflect upon your own life and career. To motivate you to pursue your dreams and accomplish your goals, in a broad spectrum of our life. From personal development and relationships, to career, leadership, and management.  I the first episode I talk about creativity and how to add more creativity to our busy lives and how to change our habits and routines. 

#coaching #creativity #podcast #leadership #inspiration #careercoaching #habits #wellness #lifecoaching #authenticity #habits #change

I was a recent immigrant and newly wed when the terror attack on September the 11th happened.  We lived in Manhattan where both I and my husband worked. He was in finance and I at Columbia University. We had been married for a little over a year, I had lived in the US for three years.  We had just returned from an extended work and holiday trip to London. I still remember vividly how I felt that weekend as we returned to NYC. I felt like I was starting to find my footing in my new country.  NYC felt like home. I had reinvented my career and I was happy with my job at Columbia University. Life was pretty good.

The next morning that sense of safety and of being at peace was shattered.

I stepped out of the subway car at 116th Street Columbia University station when the first plane hit WTC. I know this because I checked the station clock, making sure I was not running late. I remember this because as I walked into my south facing office on the 14th floor I heard my office phone ring.  I picked it up. My mother was on the line, calling from Finland and telling me she had heard on the news that a plane had hit WTC and was wondering if we were safe.  I did not believe her. She insisted, so I turned around and opened the window shades.  And I saw the huge plume of smoke from one of the towers down south on the horizon.

We all know what happened next.

The experience of living in Manhattan during these hours, days and months is hard to label. One word can not do it justice.  I remember most vividly the initial feeling of despair, of feeling lost, of having an enormous need to do something, to help, but feeling helpless.  But eventually we found our way, we who were stuck on the island that is the city that never sleeps. The city that now became eerily silent and empty. Once the thousands and thousands of commuters and city dwellers had found their way home. Mostly by foot, or driven by strangers who now became friends.

That, together with the silence,  is the strongest memory I have. The one I will share with my grandchildren when I am an old lady.  The togetherness. The humanity. The generosity. The love and the grief shared. The posters of missing persons filling the sidewalks normally crowded by people. The music in the parks. Spontaneous gatherings where we sang together accompanied by a guitar or two.  Seeking solace. Together. Vowing to overcome and to be resilient. To rebuild and protect our city.

There is enormous power in the human spirit and in community. We say that we should never forget 9/11. True. What we chose to remember is what matters. Let’s remember the togetherness and friendship we shared with strangers in our neighborhood and across the world those days and months, and allow us to be inspired (for lack of a better word) as individuals, as leaders and as a community to live and lead with a purpose, for a greater good beyond our own selfish pursuits.

In the previous episode we talked about how to prepare for difficult conversations, today the topic is how to manage a difficult conversations while you are in the midst of it, to ensure that the outcome is optimal.

We looked at the six steps to take to prepare for the conversation, they included among others, to have a clear goal, to check your assumptions, and to try to understand and anticipate the other party’s goals and needs.

Let’s imagine that you are now having that so called difficult conversation. Perhaps you are connected virtually by video conference. How do you start? First focus on creating trust

Have you ever dreaded a conversation at work, or one of a private nature? Perhaps it was about a job you wanted to be considered for, or a new project you really wanted to shift your focus and company resources to? And you needed to convince your supervisor of why they should agree to it. Or maybe you needed to have a chat with a supervisee over their behavior at work? Someone had complained about their combative and rude communication style? It was your job to bring this to their attention and get their agreement to commit to change. All the situations above fall under the umbrella of – difficult conversations. How can we make difficult conversations easier? Envision the outcome. Ideal outcome. Also envision obstacles and how to overcome them. Clarify your goals Anticipate the reactions of the other person Check your assumptions Understand the needs and goals of the other person Pay attention to communication styles Listen for more thoughts on how to manage difficult conversations...  #Performancemanagement #difficultconversations #management #coaching

Most of us find both receiving and giving feedback stressful.. or at least uncomfortable.

Add to the mix cultural differences and it can become really complicated.

Many of us are familiar with the so called sandwich method of feedback; start by sharing some positive feedback, then move to discuss the areas of improvement, or growth (weaknesses) and then finalize the discussion by committing to goals and actions that will help improve performance or growth.

The sandwich method has been taught for years in business schools, trainings and workshops. But, does it really work in every cultural context and with every person?

No.

Listen to this episode to learn about different sandwiches and how to communicate feedback effectively in global and multicultural contexts 

#feedback #culture #crosscultural #communication #intercultural #globalleadership #leadership #performancemanagment