Get Back in Control with SMART Goals

Maxwell SMART Agent 86 from the GET SMART television series and movie has a lot to teach us about aligning our values with our intentions and goals.  His character is crystal clear about his values and priorities. He is on a mission as an agent of CONTROL battling the forces of KAOS and always emerges triumphant at the end of the day – even though his GOALS for success are often fraught with obstacles.

Just as Agent 86 had his heart and mind focused on a specific intention, it is equally crucial that you motivate both your mind (what you think you should do) and your heart (what you value). It is difficult to examine your values, beliefs, and true purpose without a trusted partner such as a coach. Once you have explored with your coach what is really important to you in your life (career, family, community, your values and purpose), it should become clear what you need to do. Setting  goals then becomes a natural extension of your values.

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Goal Setting That Works – Aligning Goals and Values

  “Begin with the end in mind,” encourages Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.₁ When you look at your life, there are so many goals you could pursue. But before you can set meaningful goals for yourself, you need to know where you want to go. If you clearly understand where you want to be, you can make sure your actions bring you closer to that place each and every day.

Corporations spend billions every year on strategic planning. They align their business goals and operations with their mission and values – their core reasons for being in business. Corporations may complete this exercise in-house or engage the services of an external Consultant who has specialized skills in areas like values alignment, cultural and business analysis,  and strategic planning. .

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Think or Sink: The one choice that changes everything

What if you could get anything that you wanted without having to change your circumstances? What if you could master your mind so that it would actually alter your experience? What if you could be happy and stress-free regardless of what was going on around you? What if 2010 could be your greatest year ever because you discovered the ONE choice that changes everything?

Wouldn’t you be even the teeniest bit interested?

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Business Breakthrough for 2010 Coaching Update

Have you ever thought about securing the services of a good coach, but hesitated because you weren’t really sure what coaching could do for you or whether it was worth it?

I asked Paula Jandey of Renaissance Tiles, one of my current small business clients to describe her experience:

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Leadership and Women – Babes In Business Suits the Book Arrives in Australia

Babes In Business Suits

Babes in Business Suits is the first in a remarkable series by Canadian author and publisher Felicia Pizzonia, celebrating the entrepreneurial success stories of women around the world.  

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Restructuring and Redundancy: When is Downsizing not the right strategy?

At first glance, corporate downsizing could appear to be a logical pathway to improved profitability during poor economic conditions. Dr Wayne Casio in his 2002 book, “Responsible Restructuring” cites research which offers some surprising results to the contrary. Drawn from an 18-year study of leading companies, this research indicates that the most  profitable companies were those where employee turnover remained less than 5% in any particular year and those which were on a path of growth. In stark contrast, organisations that were downsizing appeared at the bottom of the profitability bucket. So, downsizing as a strategy in isolation may not yield the profitability outcomes businesses may hope for.

Downsizing may not be the right strategy if, on balance, the negative consequences of employee redundancy outweigh the short term benefits as the following examples illustrate: Read more

Managing Change – What can this koala tell us about resilience in difficult times?

Take a moment to consider the Australian state of Victoria. Over the last few weeks, the temperature was reported to be above 44 degrees with burning wind, out-of-control bushfires and catastrophic power outages. The toll in human life continues to rise, with record mortality rates amongst the elderly due to the heat and hundreds of lives lost in the firestorms.  The hearts of many Australians are heavy as we come to terms with the scale of these losses.

 We’re also reminded of the impact these events are having on domestic pets, livestock and the local wildlife population. Losses which cannot be calculated. But amongst all this, are stories of hope and inspiration – take this wild koala.  

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Beware the pitfalls of downsizing, restructuring and employee redundancy

The last economic downturn to affect Australia saw a widespread cut back in apprentice training. While the effects weren’t experienced immediately,  the absence of new talent entering the workforce on such a large scale meant that it was nearly 10 years before Australia returned to the same level of technical skill it enjoyed prior to the downturn. Arguably, the detrimental impact of the “solution” turned out to be far more serious to the country than the initial problem.  This is just one example of the potentially harmful downstream consequences of downsizing and cutbacks that business is pursuing in the current economic climate.

Being mindful of the pitfalls of large scale downsizing and employee redundancy was the clear message that Heather Ridout, Chairman of the Australian Industry Group gave to business in a recent 7.30 Report Interview. Heather is not a lone voice in the wilderness on this topic. In the wake of weekly announcements that big business is shedding staff in mammoth proportions, other business and political leaders are joining a growing voice around the world warning of the consequences of these knee-jerk reactions to sustain short-term business viability.

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Goal-Setting: Clear the Clutter for Christmas

What better way to get ready for the Christmas/ new year break  than clearing out your cupboards. I’ve decided to motivate myself to clear the clutter with a a garage sale so I can grab some extra Christmas cash at the same time. 

I’ve often read that clearing the physical clutter lying around your house or your office is a really important part of clearing your head in preparation for new plans and goals – like the ones you set for the new year.  You can’t really put new goals on top of old distractions, else the old distractions will keep sabotaging your efforts to focus on the new direction. It’s important to make a space first.

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Change Management – “Yes we can…change starts today” Barack Obama

I exchanged some emails with My US publisher the other day, after the frenzy of Obama’s decisive election win. My publisher was fascinated about the rest of the world’s interest in how the race unfolded over the last few months. I’m reminded of the words of Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman and his recent book – Hot Flat and Crowded, when he describes how the US cannot help but export both its greatest hopes as well as its greatest fears into the world.

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