Tag Archive for 'manager'

Continuous improvement as the winning strategy

Coaching to cope with new challenges consists of personalized training, aimed at perfecting personal skills to the highest level and enabling everyone to be the best they can be. Moving along a path of continuous improvement thus makes it possible to meet the needs of organizations to have individuals who are increasingly effective and ready to respond to change.

Coaching is an approach to personal change that starts with a positive appreciation of professional performance. Phrases such as “Don’t rest on your laurels” or “If you stop, you’re lost” express the concept that every leader has always repeated, namely that only continuous renewal will make it possible to continue to repeat the successes achieved.

In this regard, the parallel between the managerial role and that of the high level athlete is very fitting:

  • They have, for the most part, achieved the goals they set themselves and are therefore considered successful people.
  • They are characterized by the energy and commitment that they put into their work.
  • their skills emerge in a decisive way precisely in situations of greater competitive pressure or greater stress.
  • They believe they can deal with most situations or problems effectively.
  • They take responsibility for the results of their performance.
  • they are perceived as reliable and competent.
  • They are seen by younger people as role models.
  • They derive maximum satisfaction from the continuous renewal of the challenges they face.
  • They are solver-problems
  • They look for contributions from people who can help them achieve their goals.

Do not fall into the trap of believing that these skills are easy to achieve or that these individuals do not experience difficult times. On the contrary, these skills are achieved through continuous work, pursued even on those days that are frustrating and seem to never end. The defeats and setbacks are the hardest and most painful moments to digest, but they must be accepted as part of the game in which one has chosen to participate.

To improve we need time

I am often asked by coaches, managers and athletes at the end of their careers to offer them a path to self-development.
Most of the time people have a very general idea of what is meant by self-development. Therefore, the identification and structuring of improvement goals is already a significant part of this work on oneself.

In this initial phase, another equally essential aspect should be clarified, one that is often overlooked and of which there is no full awareness: time.

It means talking about the time it will take to achieve the desired effects, learning to use them and then internalizing the concept of continuous improvement, therefore, of a process of improvement that will never have a conclusion. Awareness of the time required is important because people think that it is enough to understand to immediately put the desired behavior into action. They don’t know or don’t want to recognize that the change required must fit into their daily reality and must take into account the reactions of others, their motivations and expectations. Consequently, providing them with a time dimension helps them to become aware of the difficulties typical of human relationships and how much application is needed to achieve their goals.

Below is a time table that can serve to understand the coaching path within which one should insert oneself and its various phases.

Coaching for sport manager

Il coaching per manager dello sport: un’altra moda o una  naturale esigenza, segno dei tempi? 

La maggior parte delle organizzazioni sportive per sopravvivere e competere efficacemente deve riuscire a fare dei veri e propri salti di cambiamento, delle virate che impattano in modo ben più sostanziale sul modo di funzionare dell’organizzazione rispetto ai cambiamenti incrementali dell’ultima parte del XX secolo.

Sono queste le sfide che determinano una domanda crescente di leadership in grado determinare empowerment, di impegnare e di allineare le persone alle strategie, di ispirare e motivare le persone, in grado di realizzare una rete di rapporti fondati sulla fiducia ancor prima di definire la catena formale del comando.

Sono sfide che hanno modificato la natura stessa del lavoro manageriale, rispetto alle quali i manager sono mediamente impreparati e che possono essere vinte investendo sulla personale efficacia di ruolo, cercando di armonizzare e bilanciare la fase della consapevolezza con quella del cambiamento, del che fare, del come fare, e soprattutto del come monitorare i progressi fatti.

Il Leadership Coaching Program è una  sponda concreta a chi vuole influire nel suo specifico contesto sportivo per guidare, condurre oltre che per gestire, in una parola a chi è chiamato ad essere nella sua organizzazione un manager leader e a sua volta coach per il suo team.

Per informazioni scrivi a: coaching@ceiconsulting.it

Leader’s characteristics when the country is under stress

True leaders become particularly important in times of increased stress. What we are experiencing, with the spread of the coronavirus, is one of these times when those in positions of responsibility acquire greater visibility, must be perceived as authoritative and must make decisions that are useful to the common welfare, showing understanding of the situation in the country.

Leaders are individuals who should be comfortable enough to face difficult days such as those they put at risk:

  • the well-being and health of people for whom they have direct (in the case of companies) or indirect responsibility (in the case of representatives of public institutions, public health and local authorities),
  • the geographical and social environment in which they operate,
  • the sense of social responsibility and the values on which the organization they lead and the interests of all those who support it are based.

Leaders then take decisions in accordance with these three factors, in agreement and sharing them with public institutions and those relevant to him. This requires leaders to have specific knowledge of the present reality, the ability to collaborate with representatives of the other organizations involved, awareness and sense of responsibility of the social value of their work in these moments, to know how to explain the meaning of their decisions and to have knowledge of the results they intend to achieve with these decisions.

Every leader must take decisions, even difficult ones, knowing they must be inspired to keep united the social environment for which they are responsible in their field. These days it is not enough to think before talking. Even before that, it comes: to document and share their ideas with those who have expertise and play a specific role on public health issues.

This is not theory, but enables socially responsible leadership.

 

Coaches: only the experience is not enough

These ideas come form the book by Henry Mintzberg “Managers not MBAs” (2004), and they are true for the coaches too.

“The key ingredient for management education is natural experience, that has been lived in everyday life on the job and off … The most powerful learning comes from reflecting on experiences that have been lived naturally … Every manager must discover for himself … what works and what does work for him in different situations.” (p. 247).

BUT

“Experience is not enough. People may learn little from their experience, unless they have a means for classifying and analyzing it (Sims et al., 1994) … John Maynard Keynes once quipped, ‘Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.’ In other words, we use theory whether we realize or not. So our choice is between theory and practice, so much as between different theories that can inform our practice.” (p.249-250).

 

 

The 3 keys of success

Research conducted by McKinsey&Company on the success factors of women holding management positions showed that at the basis of their success there are features such as resilience, toughness and confidence. It’s not surprising because these are the basic characteristics of those who succeed in any field, including sport. Based on these features you can build great careers in business as in sport or art. Without the road will be short.

Many women’s programs focus on convening, creating, and broadening networks. While these are important investments, they are insufficient. Companies should also instill the capabilities women need to thrive. Some of the most important are resilience, grit, and confidence.

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties—a form of toughness. Grit is resolve, courage, and strength of character. Confidence is a level of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of your own abilities or qualities. In business settings, resilience allows us to get up after making a mistake or encountering a challenge, grit allows us to push through walls and rise above challenges, and confidence helps transform challenging experiences into greater self-assurance, not self-doubt.

In our 2012 interviews with 250 high-ranking women executives, we found that they thought the top attributes of their own success were resilience and grit, which ranked higher than more obvious factors, such as a results orientation.”

The futsal mental coaching

Speaker: Emiliano Bernardi

Date: April 23, h. 6pm-7,15pm (CET + 1)

Abstract: The webinar is open to futsal players, coaches, managers, psychologists and sport psychologists. We will deepen the main psychological implications of this sport following a path in search of better performances adapted from the Emiliano Bernardi’s experiences in clubs and national youth futsal teams.

You will acquire skills of:

  • The main mental futsal skills
  •  The speed of thought
  •  Create a pre-performance routine
  •  Stay focused at critical
  •  The benefits of futsal in the players’ psychophysical growth processes.
  •  The final part of the webinar will be devoted to the question time where you can ask questions to the speaker.

You will receive a confirmation e-mail within 24h from the payment

The continuous improvement as successful strategy

The coaching to cope with the new challenges is an individual training. Its aim is to increase at the maximum level the personal competences, permitting at each one to become the best she can be.

The coaching is a road supporting the personal change, starting from a positive appreciation of the past performances and knowing that it is the continuous renewal that will permit to repeat the successes reached.

At this proposal it seems very specific the comparison between the manager skills and the top athletes skills because they have to perform at their best:

  • they have reached most of the goals expected and planned in advance and they are oriented to achieve their next performance goals
  • they are totally committed and very energetic in their activities
  • they perceive themselves accountable about the results of their/team performances
  • they are considered by the young collaborators/athletes as a model to emulate
  • they like the challenges, compete and win
  • they are solution oriented
  • they search the contribution of the people able to help them to reach their goals

It is obvious that it is not easy to reach all these skills in one person and also in the high potential people these characteristics come from a strong commitment in this direction. For them the frustrating days and/or the unsuccessful performances represent hard situation to cope with, but they know  the mistakes represent  good learning opportunities to approach with confidence.

Sport, role and ball dimensions

The National Science Foundation announced the following study results on corporate America recreation preferences:

  1. Sport of choice for maintenance level employees: bowling.
  2. Sport of choice for front line workers: football.
  3. Sport of choice for supervisors: baseball.
  4. Sport of choice for middle management: tennis.
  5. Sport of choice for corporate officers: golf.

Conclusion: the higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls.

From great to blah

In an unbelievable review The Daily Beast talks about the greatest stars who had failed in the role of coaches and manager. Among them myths like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/06/14/from-great-to-blah-star-athletes-who-failed-as-bosses.html#815027b6-2b8e-4092-9a13-dc2dcb24cde5