Judgements have their uses. Especially when you want polarity, the ‘yes’/'no’ options for an answer. For example, Judgement in logical decision-making or Project Management contribute massively to success. But do they always? No. So why do I celebrate Einstein as a genius of ‘letting go judgement’ in order to find brilliant solutions? Find out here. Yes, judgements are useful to executives. But we also need to look at the ‘con’ side of judgemental habit and how this habit can restrict team-work, lead to poor flexibility and, a lack of creative-solutions.

In teams, a culture of judgement is a recipe for poor performance. So, how could that be right when so many business-models are predicated on systems and judgements? I’ll provide an example. One of our international clients builds multi-billion dollar projects over 5-7 years or more. The careful systems-management within projects was seen as too heavy-handed and the best and most successful senior managers are the ones that are able to work around the system ‘to make things happen’. The art of doing this while still meeting stringent safety and quality criteria is highly evolved. Many of their most impressive talent simply do not have what it takes to lead at this level.

I found myself coaching one Project Manager who in his first coaching session declared that he was headed for a $20 Million progress-default fine, as, in about six weeks time, he and his team would fail a critical milestone. All his talent and experience of managing highly skilled talent could not find a way forward. Naturally, he selected this as an issue to work on, doubting that anything would make a significant-enough difference to make the crital marker on the calendar. He was resigned to losing the £20 Million and had advised the Board of that too.

What happened? In short, his new thinking from our session led him to go away and meet with his team and significant key stakeholders. One month later he was confident that the milestone would be met. It was.

What this taught us and the organization, was that there was too much reliance on yes/no systems and not enough on how to work with the systems (or against them) to get the job done safely and to specification. It also taught us that coaching can provide the most staggering Return on Investment in certain circumstances! Could the system be changed?

Changing the System and Flexible Thinking

A senior collegue of my coachee was charged with looking at the systems. He decided to create a phantom project. This would mean that the organization would design, pilot, test and build a new project without actually making anything. What would it cost to make nothing, but go through the paper formalities of ‘due-process’? This innovative approach led to an astoundingly (high)  figure for chasing paper: From memory, of the order of some $350 Million. He took this figure to the Government and told them that the organisation could reduce this on-cost substantially, save lead-time in development and reduce costs. They listened.

Einstein & Flexible Thinking

There is no doubt that Einstein was a genius of physics and mathematics. His theory of relativity was a mindboggling advance, so far-reaching that the proofs of his genius came many years later. Two atomic clocks sat on a bench. Their accuracy was in-step to 100 millionth of a second in a thousand years or so. One clock was sent on a US mission to fly around the Earth. When it returned, Einstein’s predicted time-shift had occurred. Of course this has been checked and proven many times since. I believe (yes, I am guessing) that Einstein, for all his academic brilliance, was unlikely to reach a solution on the basis of logic and what he knew: in other words by making judgements about whether one idea fitted experience or not. I believe he had to let go of judgement in order to achieve something radical, to go with that radical idea (in spite of academic reservations) and to keep digging deeper until something resolved. Now that is genius!

Judgements in Teams

There are more human aspects of judgements in teams – these worry me too! When we are quick to judge, we can be quick to prejudice.

We can alienate creative thinkers with our closed minds.

The quality of our relating with colleagues and stakeholders becomes inefficient, some of the time.

We close ranks with other similar judges and become siloed. The organisation becomes inefficient.

Worse than that, judgemental mindset closes off what is ‘dynamic and potential’ in ourselves. At worse, we become anachronistic, left behind, odd.

So, in organizations, we need the mix between ‘judgement mode’ and ‘open-minded mode’. Not just a mix of traits by combining people within teams: two judgemental thinkers and one creative person in a team or three for example. But rather the ability of all staff to flex from one state (of judging) to the other (open-mindedness), consciously and flexibly! Here then is the solution to judgement-cultures within organizations and one that leads and contributes towards strategies improved team-working, better communications, improved understanding, better motivational-management skills and raised productivity.

Judgements in the Coaching Manager and Coach

As coaches, judgements are best left to one side nearly all the time. Then we can hear and see what people are saying and read and adapt to them better. When we do have a sense of what is happening, rather then judge, we need to ask a question that will add perspective and self-learning for the coachee. This allows them to make the ‘Einstein Leap’ in thinking. And these coaching skills can (and are) learned by managers to adapt and grow their personal management styles in training. And that is exactly what AMA has been doing in organisations since 2004. We have worked with Surrey County Councils and with Kings College Hospital, and more.

For more information on culture change and isolating the key ‘tipping points’ of organisationa- change, contact us!

Angus McLeod, 2012.

Meet Angus McLeod and Prof. David Clutterbuck in November. This is a wonderful programme called ‘The Coach’s Journey’. More information here.

IQ + Emotional Intelligence = success

Take this EI quiz and find out!

If you want more success, here’s how to do it!

Unless you live and work in compete isolation, it pays to be able to understand and influence other people. The primary key to those two things is Emotional Intelligence. Most people thought that it was a fixed thing that may or may not evolve slowly through life… it turns out they were wrong! Find out why from guru coach, Angus McLeod. Take the 2 minute test, read your result and watch the 6 minute video. You too can boost your EI and your success!

When we look at the four pillars of NLP proposed by McDermott (2006; Rapport, Flexibility, Outcome Thinking & Sensory Acuity), we find interesting learning that maps directly to best-practice in modern coaching.In this available (free) article first published in November 2010 (Acuity, Published by the ANLP, London) we learn about subjects including the following:

• Gaining and losing Trust
• Patterns of thinking
• Insight and intuition
• Leading coaching cultures in organisations
• Deeper-level coaching
• Why coaching tools are of secondary importance in coaching
• How to instantly upgrade our coaching ability

Read the article here

“I listened to the interview with Angus McLeod today. I felt  like Angus’ words sang to my heart: ‘Authenticity’, ‘focus’ and ‘be the music’. There were lots of powerful moments for me in a very profound way. The one that has stuck with me the most is ‘Be the music’!” Dina Cooper, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia. Listen here:

Want more regular news? Sign-up here:

How To Attract and Keep Attracting The Clients You Want

Workshop hosted by The Barbican (City of London) Coaching group.

Date/Time:Tue 13 March at 7 pm-9pm.

Agenda: How To Attract and Keep Attracting The Clients You Want with Amechi Udo & Angus McLeod

• Don’t know how to get paying clients?
• Unsure how to communicate with confidence so people will take up your coaching? services?
• Unable to breakthrough the barriers stopping you being paid regularly to do what you love?

It’s a fact that there are far too many coaches, passionate about coaching but, daunted, confused or just plain frightened of marketing the benefits of what they do.

This interactive workshop is designed with only one aim, to develop your confidence and ability to attract the clients you want consistently.

During this interactive, 90 minute session we’ll introduce you to:

1. Practical, proven client attracting approaches used by successful coaches
2. An easy to use 7 -step process you can learn to apply to regularly secure coaching clients
3. The opportunity to put into practice what you’ll learn with each other before you use it in your coaching practice, and
4. The chance to get your most urgent marketing questions answered by two coaches with a combined 30 years plus of effectively marketing their coaching services to individuals, groups and corporate clients in a variety of areas.

Who is this workshop for?

Coaches like you who love to coach and want to know how to be paid to do it.

You have decided that you need to do something different if you are going to improve your coaching income.

You feel now is the time increase the number clients you coach.

Your Facilitators

Amechi Udo and Angus McLeod are part of the coaching business development team of the AMA Coaching School.
They share a commitment to ensuring that people not only become well trained coaches but also well trained in generating an income from coaching.

Amechi has been coaching in the areas of business and career for over ten years.
His professional background is in human resources, executive search and learning and development.
He holds a Masters in Human Resources, a Diploma in Performance Coaching (Business) and is a certified NLP Practitioner.
Amechi has written several e-books on coaching as well as co-ordinating conferences for coaches.

Angus has been coaching for over 15 years. Angus is an international renowned coach, author, speaker and facilitator.
He has published four books on coaching, leadershi, NLP and management as well as over 50 articles on these topics.
Angus is the founder of the AMA Coaching School and MD of Angus McLeod Associates (Learning and Development Consultancy).

VENUE: Golden Lane Community Centre, Great Arthur House, London, EC1Y 0RD. See contact, below.

Tube: Barbican (on Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith lines).

3 –minute walk from Barbican tube station:

Come out of a single exit, turn left, keep walking straight ahead until you will see the Shakespeare Pub on the opposite side of the road. Behind the pub you will see a tall building with yellow panelled cladding (Great Arthur House). Cross the road (be careful).

Then walk down some steps under archway of the Great Arthur House to a double-door way directly facing you (Golden Lane Community Centre, a one-floor building). The room for our meeting is straight ahead as soon as you go in.

Caring for Your Success!

CONTACT:
Nelia Koroleva, MAC

Leadership / Personal Performance Coach
Owner / VSEI Coaching

M: +44 (0) 789 63 20 900
E: nelia@vsei-coaching.com

Remember too that we have a lot of free video-shorts available for both coaches and managers – see  ‘Coach Smarter‘ and ‘Manage Smarter‘ (links also at the top of the page).

The Coach MasterMind Group is the second one we are running to support coaches who want to grow their business from coaching in 2012. Your mentors are marketing and experts in coaching-businesses including: Angus McLeod, Amechi Udo, Martin Cornes and Beth Sobiloff. Each Mastermind Group is limited to SEVEN coaches so the coach gets real focus marketing and business strategy. There will be FOUR sessions of an hour each.

FREE extras include: a Coaching Tool booklet with 15 coaching tools (written by authors Angus McLeod and Will Thomas)

PLUS a coach’s ‘Business and Marketing Development’ Programme (stipulate life or Executive when you enrol). You get all FOUR sessions and the all the extras as well for less than £25 a session! Go to this page and choose LIFE or EXECUTIVE to catch this fantastic chance quickly or BUY now below!

Buy Life- Development Programme and ALL Mastermind sessions, now £97.00

Buy Executive- Development Programme and ALL Mastermind sessions, now £97.00

N.B. The link page above also includes a video of the recent ‘Market or Die #2 Webinar with FREE information for coaches wanting to boost their coaching business in 2012! Link Page

Now is the time to make 2012 work for you as it already is working for me.

• Get 4 x mastermind group sessions (start 10th January at 18:30 GMT)
• Get support from top coaches: Amechi Udo, Martin Cornes, Beth Sobiloff and Angus McLeod
• Get over 50 page workbook with 15 coaching tools
• Get a seven-step programme to be successful at high rates of income – learn from my success and from my mistakes!

Look here to sign up

We will also let you know how you can get a month-long support group (focussing on a few coaches) to turn your plans into reality for a ridiculously ‘new year spirit’ price! Join us!

http://amacoachingschool.org/mod-webinar-two

Please note that if you are member-subscriber to Angus McLeod Associates (not this aweber list) you will already have an invitation to sign in directly WITHOUT using the above form.