Lessons for Leaders

This week I share the benefits that can be seen individuals and across an organisation when a coaching culture is embedded.

Listen in for:

My tips on corridor coaching

Explain the coaching continuum and how you can use it easily

Some recent trends in coaching in organisations I’m working with too.

Leadership coaching is often very well recognised as being something that adds value to businesses through higher productivity, better engagement, and improved effectiveness. 

How good would it be to have that kind of support for everyone in the workplace?

That’s what happens when we create a coaching culture.

By creating a coaching culture we are enabling your organisation to function in an environment where employees feel support to provide feedback, ask questions, encourage their own thinking .. for example to figure out problems and come up with solutions.  It creates situations where there is opportunity for shared learning, for people to use their individual skills rather than being a ‘one size fits all’ kind of workplace.

Corridor Coaching

Listen in where I talk about "corridor coaching" and how you can make that work.

Rather wait for specific meetings, 1:1’s and reviews, you can provide opportunities for these conversations literally .. to take place in the corridor or at the desk.

The Coaching Continuum

Listen to my really simple way of looking at coaching with the idea of a continuum of Ask, Suggest, Tell.   Hear my explanation of getting this to work and where you need to be on this continuum to ensure coaching culture works.

Often we prioritise senior leadership coaching.  The areas we forget about are HR and middle managers.  What happens then is that we will struggle to have these coaching conversations running right through the organisation because we don’t have managers coaching the people right through the company.

By shifting coaching to be the most predominant management style you can make it a success.  That also means supporting all managers with coaching and I’m often asked to provide coaching for middle managers.  At the moment, group coaching is working really well for them so that they develop coaching skills and leadership skills as well as build peer support and develop and enhance essential leadership tools.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary

We can often forget to celebrate successes and this can have a negative impact on our teams.

Listen in for 4 key areas that are impacted - in a good way - when we celebrate success.

There's tips and ideas to help you think about how you can quickly and easily and celebrate successes within your workplace or your team.

We often talk about carrot or stick approach to motivation.  I don’t need to explain about how much effort it would take you as a manager or leaders to keep beating a stick at someone.  Compare it to how much effort it will take for you to dangle a carrot and have them do the work to reach the carrot.

Don’t let the different way of working stop you seeing successes.

Apparently the no 1 reason people are unhappy isn’t about their pay it’s about how valued they feel.  When leaders and managers don’t acknowledge a persons’ contribution, effort, progress, help or support, then people get to the why bother attitude.

By celebrating successes you’re uplifting the positivity in the team.  You’re helping them to keep their eye on the things that go well rather than the things that are not done or that didn’t go well.  Instead we’re focussing on achievement.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.

There’s a misunderstanding of what it means to be resilient, and the resulting impact of overworking.

I share information and ideas about how you can recharge your resilience levels in different ways and how you can find ways to get little pockets of holiday like moments so that you bounce back from difficulties or exhaustion as quickly as possible.

Daily recovery from work is crucial to maintain high levels of well-being, performance and resilience.

We learn early on in our lives that we must work hard.  Be dedicated.  Put in the hours etc.

Keep calm under pressure

Manage shifting priorities – all those things we put on our cv.

And yes we can do this, but we also need to have tools in our toolkit to help us keep going for the long term.

I share 

• two key areas that people hardly ever mention in my workshops that are completely relevant to resilience.
• why it's not just about your physical health 
• what to avoid if you want to help your body recover and recharge
• how to tune into what will work specifically for you
• why you need to calm your brain as well as recharge your body

Listen to my other episodes on the theme of resilience too with 

How Self Awareness is Crucial for Resilient Leaders

How to Strengthen Your Support Network

Why You Need to Revisit Your Vision

If you have questions, get in touch.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.

Self awareness will help you to know what you love to do and what you struggle with.

I’m talking more with organisations who have leaders who have risen through the ranks and are great at what they do, but they struggle with leadership skills.  That affects their resilience and their confidence.  They slip back into doing the doing rather than leading effectively – mainly because that’s where their comfort zone is.

Self awareness is about knowing strengths, weaknesses - yes we can all answer these questions in interviews but do you really know about those for you personally and where your strengths and weaknesses are with the way you lead and interact with others?

Listen for key examples that I share in my workshops and webinars.

How you can easily begin to raise your awareness today.

How being more self aware enables you lead with more confidence.

There's a couple of great examples of real life clients who worked with me and raised their awareness and the impact it had on them.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.

Martin Roberts is a Wellbeing Lead in Lloyds Banking Group and recently set up his own company Keep In Mind.

You’re going to love listening to him, I know I do, and we talk about how to get beyond ‘’I’m Fine’’ or ‘’I’m Okay’’.  We both share some personal experiences to give you real life approaches that work.

Martin’s journey has driven him to significantly raise the profile of mental health and wellbeing at every opportunity. Through both his role as an award winning Mental Health Lead within Lloyds Banking Group and as founder of Keep in Mind Ltd, Martin shares talks, presentation and strategy plans on mental health and wellbeing subjects.

Martin shares briefly how he had his own mental health challenges and was frightened to tell anyone he was struggling.

He did the most important thing and said 3 important words.  I need help.

This journey from there led him to be a Mental health Lead at Lloyds Bank Group and start his own business called Keep in Mind.

• Why we don’t need a suit of armour
• Need to be our true selves
• Create an environment for colleagues to be able to have a conversation
• We need to bring the whole person to work.
• Listen differently
• How the rollercoaster of covid is continuing
• Why silence is absolutely golden and how to use it well
• If you can only do one thing, listen for the one thing that Martin thinks we need to do.
• Ask Twice

These are not just for the workplace – it’s for friends, family and anyone else you know too.

Finally, remember Martin’s key phrase – it’s not life changing – it could be life saving.

Martin offers bespoke talks, presentations and strategy design so get in touch if you need that.

Get in touch with me for leadership coaching, wellbeing training and workshops that help you communicate well, support your people, reduce the stressors and increase resilience so that you too can have the potential to create that ripple effect we talked about.

Martin's Website: https://keepin-mind.co.uk/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/keepmind25/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/keepmind25

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martineroberts/

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.

Listen in whilst I share the reasons that listening is so important for leaders.  It doesn’t necessarily come naturally to us.

I share

👂 The benefits of honing your listening skills

👂 Some information that may help you understand why leaders find listening tough

👂 My 8 top tips to help you improve your listening skills

👂 Including the whacky but really effective one I’ve been sharing with my clients and in my workshops for year.

Listening is a skill that can only be learned and refined through social interaction

Pick just one to practice for a week and see if you notice the difference.

Genuine listening is such an important skills for leaders.  It helps build relationships, solve problems, ensure understanding, resolve conflicts, and improve accuracy.

When I trained as a therapist, then later a coach there’s a TON of importance put on listening.

It’s about listening to hear, listening to understand, not just hearing the issue or listening to fix.

Listening is a critical part of building good relationships.

When you take the time to listen to someone, really take the time to listen properly; it shows you value the person, which is the ultimate form of respect. If you look bored or interrupt the person while speaking, you’re showing that you don’t really care what the person has to say.

To become an effective leader, listen to my tough to hear advice about what might be stopping you listening.

Active Listening

I explain what active listening really means

Then I 8 simple but additional ways to help improve your listening skills.

Pick one of these to practice for a week and let me know how you get on.

Listening is the most important skill a leader can have. It is the basis of so many other skills and traits that make up a leader. So be sure to make improving your listening skills a priority.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet  left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.

“Wellbeing” is one of the hottest words in business today as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

As we are in World Wellbeing Week – I’ve been talking to individuals and companies who are looking for further support because their plans are not necessarily having the impact they desire

Today I’m sharing the key themes I’m hearing from companies that I talk to.

• How they are looking at more strategic plans
• The top areas of focus for managers
• The one worry that organisations have coming up.

I don’t need to remind you that the effects of the pandemic has changed people’s lives over the last 15 months. 

The massive shift to home working, exacerbated stress, mental health issues but there’s also been some positives.

There’s no doubt that things have been difficult. 

I’m now seeing that organisations are wanted to get a better approach to what they’re doing.

These are the key themes I’m hearing from companies that I talk to.

These are predominantly in Professional Services, Law, Financial areas, but also Tech, and education are common areas I talk to too.

Dealing with Change

The continuous change we've had over the last 15 months has been hard for people.

Listen to me explain more about that.

Make sure managers are equipped to help people deal with change.

How to Talk to People

This is no joke.  People are saying to me – I don’t know how to respond.  I don’t know what to say when someone does say they’re struggling.

So organisations have done a great piece of work to get their people to come forward and say they’re struggling because there’s been focus on it.

Do your managers feel comfortable having conversations with people about their mental health? Consider training and guidance to increase their confidence.

Support the Supporters

Whether it’senior leaders, HR department, MHFA or whatever, ensure you have support in there to help those who need it. 

Listen to me explain what I mean by this and how you can ensure this is in your organisation.

Be Strategic

We spent time doing sticking plaster workshops and plugging gaps reactively throughout covid – and that’s totally understandable – and was needed.

Now though, organisations are moving away from reactive and being pro-active in looking strategically at their overall wellbeing plan. 

Revisit my 7 steps to wellbeing episode for more detail about how to do this and listen in to this episode for a short recap.

Coaching and Training 

Are your managers equipped to have conversations in an effective way, to go about the management in the right way?  Ensure they are trained to have the right behaviours to nurture trust-based relationships with team members.

Healthy Boundaries in a Hybrid World

The companies I’m working with are investing in support for healthy boundaries because they are seeing that working hours are merging into the evenings and weekends, leaving their employees struggling to switch off or feeling under pressure.

As we bring in hybrid working it's important to ensure you're supporting your people with tools and techniques to maintain healthy work boundaries.

If you'd like to discuss how you can

1. enhance your company wellbeing plan
2. discuss virtual and in person training options
3. ensure your leaders are on board to support the Workplace Wellbeing

Message me directly on [email protected] or visit www.emmalangton.com

“Wellbeing” is one of the hottest words in business today as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

As we are in World Wellbeing Week – I’ve been talking to individuals and companies who are looking for further support because their plans are not necessarily having the impact they desire

Today I’m sharing the key themes I’m hearing from companies that I talk to.

• How they are looking at more strategic plans
• The top areas of focus for managers
• The one worry that organisations have coming up.

I don’t need to remind you that the effects of the pandemic has changed people’s lives over the last 15 months. 

The massive shift to home working, exacerbated stress, mental health issues but there’s also been some positives.

There’s no doubt that things have been difficult. 

I’m now seeing that organisations are wanted to get a better approach to what they’re doing.

These are the key themes I’m hearing from companies that I talk to.

These are predominantly in Professional Services, Law, Financial areas, but also Tech, and education are common areas I talk to too.

Dealing with Change

The continuous change we've had over the last 15 months has been hard for people.

Listen to me explain more about that.

Make sure managers are equipped to help people deal with change.

How to Talk to People

This is no joke.  People are saying to me – I don’t know how to respond.  I don’t know what to say when someone does say they’re struggling.

So organisations have done a great piece of work to get their people to come forward and say they’re struggling because there’s been focus on it.

Do your managers feel comfortable having conversations with people about their mental health? Consider training and guidance to increase their confidence.

Support the Supporters

Whether it’senior leaders, HR department, MHFA or whatever, ensure you have support in there to help those who need it. 

Listen to me explain what I mean by this and how you can ensure this is in your organisation.

Be Strategic

We spent time doing sticking plaster workshops and plugging gaps reactively throughout covid – and that’s totally understandable – and was needed.

Now though, organisations are moving away from reactive and being pro-active in looking strategically at their overall wellbeing plan. 

Revisit my 7 steps to wellbeing episode for more detail about how to do this and listen in to this episode for a short recap.

Coaching and Training 

Are your managers equipped to have conversations in an effective way, to go about the management in the right way?  Ensure they are trained to have the right behaviours to nurture trust-based relationships with team members.

Healthy Boundaries in a Hybrid World

The companies I’m working with are investing in support for healthy boundaries because they are seeing that working hours are merging into the evenings and weekends, leaving their employees struggling to switch off or feeling under pressure.

As we bring in hybrid working it's important to ensure you're supporting your people with tools and techniques to maintain healthy work boundaries.

If you'd like to discuss how you can

1. enhance your company wellbeing plan
2. discuss virtual and in person training options
3. ensure your leaders are on board to support the Workplace Wellbeing

Message me directly on [email protected] or visit www.emmalangton.com

Who do you go to for support?  This is so important now, since we've been moving through lockdown and our support networks have been restricted.  So this week I'm talking about how to strengthen your support network.

When we have people we can talk to and reach out to for support it lessens the load of what we are going through.

It also boosts our mood and feel good chemicals

This week I’m sharing how I get people on all my workshops thinking about support networks differently.
How support has benefitted me personally and
How you can think about gaps in your network

Dictionary definition of support network
“a group of people who provide emotional and practical help to someone in serious difficulty”

I believe they don’t have to be in serious difficult – it’s important to have a support network at all times.

When we were going through the adoption process they asked about our support network. We had to detail it out and it was something I’d never thought about before.

Listen in as I explain the differences I found with my support network during the adoption process and later life.

Find out who has been the most supportive person for me with great supportive qualities such as:

Listening

Not dismissing things

Sharing a story 

Helping me feel it wasn't just me

Listen to the things I did when I realised I needed more support for adoption and later when I retrained too and why I felt compelled to do those things.

I really understand the value of support.

So today I want you to think about who is in your support network.

When I deliver my training on resilience, mental health, challenging conversations all of them have a section about your support network.

When we have people we can talk to and reach out for support it lessons the load of what we are going through – just like I did with the adoption support group. You don't have to explain, they just get it.

These are the common areas I look at with people and you can hear on the podcast more info around these too to help you consider if you need to strengthen the support there.

Family

Friends

Colleagues or Co-workers

Manager or other leader

Mentor or coach? (and listen in for the difference between a mentor and a coach)

Spiritual 

Community

Many studies show that the primary factor in resilience is having caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family. Relationships that create love or trust and provide role models and offer encouragement and reassurance often help boost a person’s resilience.

Loneliness can take a toll on both mental and physical wellbeing. Having meaningful relationships through a support network helps us feel connected and valued as well as being able to learn from each other and feel that we’re not alone – even when surrounded by people we can feel alone if we feel like no-one understands or is not on our wave-length.

Who is in your support network and what types of support could they offer you. If you’re not getting the types of support you need, consider where this could come from.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.  

If you haven’t yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE 

If you want to increase your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] .   Or head over to my website contact page and either send me an email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diaries.

When morale is low it’s really difficult to get people involved and motivated and can feel like pushing boulders up hill. So how do you boost morale in your team without is costing a fortune?

Listen into the episode where I share about

Spotting the signs and circumstances
What you can do about low morale
An example of a client I worked with
Why you need to find out what’s really going on, rather than guessing
Several ways you can boost morale in your teams without it costing a fortune.

Differing schedules could hamper projects and delay work because colleagues may struggle to meet and communicate plans.

Listen to the varied list of things that you might be able to spot or identify in your team or workplace so that you can begin to look at the levels of morale.

"When we listen (and really listen) to what's going on in the workplace we can then get to the route of the problems rather than just guessing."

"You (or whoever is doing this) needs to listen and be like a detective. They’re looking for clues and info that will lead them to the solution."

Let people know that you hear them is the next stage to boosting morale.  All this takes is time and feedback.  I share on the podcast words and phrases you can use that help with this.

Then encourage engagement so that you raise productivity levels.

Listen in for a little exercise you can do that demonstrates how mood can lift us or drag us down.  

"mood is contagious and it can have a ripple effect if people are fed up and miserable"

Celebrate Achievements!

This doesn't have to be a big aware ceremony!  Small regular things like people's birthday, successes, individual efforts go a long way to boost morale.

I talk too about how corridor coaching and building trust by small powerful conversations help boost morale as well as enhancing performance and deepening knowledge.

Many orgs I work with already have a great wellbeing plan but bringing in someone like me to delivery training that is needed, supported, informative and helpful is a great way to help them to help themselves. That way you show you care, they see that you care and as long as you’re walking your talk then there’s a universal message coming across.

No point saying organise this and that, and then sending emails at ridiculous times of night or expecting people to be in on their day off or

No point working all through your holiday and telling them to take time off when you’ve given them massive targets and things to achieve.

That’s where the training for healthy boundaries or resilience is important right now. To help them cope with hybrid working and getting back to whatever the state of play is for now.

Please do make sure you hit ‘subscribe’ so that don’t miss an episode.

If you haven’t yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE
https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people’s diary.