#1 - You are action-oriented. Now what?

You as an entrepreneur tend to be strongly action oriented. In other words, you are a “doer.” This is a strength because it allows you to handle multiple diverse tasks daily, as well as identify and grasp hidden opportunities. But although it may feel energetic, running solely on this action-orientation 24/7 is not the best way to run your business.

How to find the balance

In the long run your action orientation needs to be balanced by reflection. This will give you the space to make better choices, reorganize and re-prioritize your goals and identify even more possibilities, as well as looking ahead to foresee certain events and prepare for them.

You might realize though, that In the fast-paced entrepreneurial world this time for reflect is scarce, as you get caught up in the daily grind. 

Try some introspection to see to what extent you are used to moving between the reflection and action modes. How balanced are these two for you. 

Are you the type of person who always has a concrete action plan, and who gives answer quickly, on the spot whenever you are quizzed about something? If that is the case, you might benefit from slowing down and taking the time to reflect on the underlying patterns of the recurring events around you.

This can be difficult to do on your own when strongly action oriented. Having a coach builds a habit of working through the perspectives and get a wider view before acting. Your coach will also hold you to your big picture, the over arching goals and values you have set for yourself. Daily small actions can if done without reflection lead you step by step astray and cause confusion in your organisation as you seems to change your mind faster than they can keep up with.

Especially in growth when you often need to make quick decisions and sometimes pivot your plans once or twice to get it right reflection time is necessary to keep you on top of your game and not haunted by it.

Over time, the power of reflection before acting grows. The more you use coaching, the more room for strategy and reflection you will create. This will allow you to expand your perspective, let more information into the process before deciding on one course of action, and last but not least, safeguard your mental health. *

Do you have any questions, would you like to know more, or you would like to simply get in touch? Email us at info@guldkanten.com

Have you missed the previous blog post? You can find it here: 5 Things Entrepreneurs Should Know - Introduction 

Check out the next blog post from this series for entrepreneurs: #2 - Rethinking finances as an entrepreneur 

*Entrepreneurs and Mental Health Study by the Canadian Mental Health Association 

Feeling stressed? 3 things to do this Christmas season to wind down - by guest author Silviu Costea

This blog post is by guest blog author Silviu Costea

Things around you might feel like they are speeding out of control. There are endless to-do lists, dozens of people to meet, and the list goes on. Do you recognize yourself in this?

Many experience feeling the world around them moving at an increasingly higher pace. And they struggle to keep up. One common solution is to try to respond and move faster ourselves. However, in this article, we encourage you to try the opposite!

Here are 3 things you can do to slow down and find the calmness you need.

1. Slow down and savor the world around you



Living a fast paced life can be stressful, especially when you have many appointments to make it to. All this stress can have negative effects on you and your body such as higher cortisol levels (stress hormone), higher blood pressure, poorer immune system, and poorer cognition.

The antidote for this is slowing down! When you are walking to your next meeting or appointment, take a look around you. Listen to the birds or the sounds around you, look at the nature or buildings around you, enjoy the smells of the trees or that of a bakery that you might be passing. Find those enjoyable sensations and focus on them. This will allow your mind to rest, and reduce your stress levels.

2. Clarify your priorities


Take a moment to think about what are the truly important things for you. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to achieve a lot of goals because “one must do so.” Take a few minutes to write down the 5 most important things in your life right now. Then try to see how your current goals relate to the 5 things you wrote. Prioritize them in such a way that you put your energy in the most important things in life. Whatever those might be for you.

3. Find what works for you


Remember that slowing down looks differently for everyone. Try to identify the areas in which you have the opportunity to practice slowing down. Try to be creative. Some ideas to get you going are reading a book in a slower pace, driving your car more slowly, doing breathing exercises (breathing more slowly), eat more slowly, or walk more slowly. 

Have you tried any of these tips? Did they work for you? What other things do you do to cope with stress? Head over to our social media channels and leave your answers in the comments!

Advice inspired by Susan Avery Stewart’s article “Slowing Down as the World Speeds Up” at Psychology Today

The 4 Career Types

Making decisions about and designing your career path can be an intimidating task. One of the most common challenges that people face is not knowing what your options are. In this article we offer you a framework which will help you frame your thinking around your career’s design.

Decision dynamics career model

The Decisions dynamics career model (referred to as DDCM for short in this article) is the name of this framework. It was design jointly by American and Swedish researchers Michael J. Driver, Kenneth R. Brousseau, and Rikard Larsson and Katarina Kling based on over 40 decades of scientific research (research description in Swedish only).

The 4 career types


The main feature of the DDCM is that it distinguishes between 4 career types: expert, linear, extension, and episodic. Each type is described in more detail below.

1. Expert

Description

The expert career view is one of the most common views. It describes those careers in which the person works in one specific area for most of their lives. They accumulate experience and further specialize in that area, slowly becoming an authority in the field.

Success

For the expert, success is often defined as being one of the best in their field and having a high level of expertise. 

2. Linear

Description

The linear career path is often seen in organizations. According to this view, the desired career path is the ascension on the corporate ladder. One tries to advance quickly to higher positions in the hierarchy.

Success

Therefore, success for this career type is usually judged based on the highest level achieved in the corporate hierarchy. Other indicators for success are the responsibility, power, and influence which one has in the organization.. 

3. Extension

Description

The extension career path is a less common and more dynamic career path. Those with this style tend to change occupational fields and industries every 5 to 10 years. They carry their skills, knowledge, and expertise from one position to the other and initiate a voyage of both learning and exploration. They are equally interested in expanding their skillset, as well as in using their existing knowledge to bring fresh and novel perspectives in the area they are exploring. 

Success

Success for the extension career types is seen as securing one’s ability to constantly expand and explore in one’s personal and professional growth.

4. Episodic

Description

The episodic career view is one of the most unconventional views. Many of those fitting in this type do not consider themselves as having a career. This is because they experience a lot of changes in their work life. 

Success

For the episodic types, success is achieved when they are free to choose and explore as they please.

Strengths and weaknesses for each of the 4 career types

Learn more

To find out more about the DDCM check out the Decision Dynamics website on which this article was based. The content is only available in Swedish.

This blog contains elements from this NyTeknik article (Swedish only).

5 Things entrepreneurs should know - Introduction

The entrepreneur’s checklist from an experienced coach

You tend to be action oriented, quick thinking and see opportunities where others miss them. Like to take action on possibilities you see and improve things around you. Do you recognize yourself in this? Then chances are you are an entrepreneur! If that is the case, I prepared 5 short articles for you.

Who am I?

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Lena Gustafsson. I am a professional certified coach (PCC) with 20+ years of experience in working with entrepreneurs, leaders, and driven people who are building the world of tomorrow. 

In my work I often see coaching acting as a catalyst for the entrepreneurs’ traits. Coaching channels all your energy into a structured, coherent framework. For example, it clarifies your desires and motivation, it brings in new perspectives, and it creates a space where you can experiment and test ideas. All this coaching process was proven to bring a sizable return on investment both on the balance sheet, and in your quality of life.* 

What do you get from reading these posts?

I have been coaching entrepreneurs for years. I often meet individualists with unmatchable willpower and open minds, who face uncertainty and take calculated risks with a lot of courage and wit. But I saw the other side of them as well - the regular person with strengths and weaknesses, fears and dreams.

The main theme that surfaced over and over again was that the strengths and weaknesses of the entrepreneur later became the strengths and weaknesses of the business. And all entrepreneurs face a set of similar challenges in this process of personal and professional growth. 

In this series of posts you will learn about the most common challenges the entrepreneur faces. And I will some ideas on how to address them based on what I have learned from the entrepreneurs I have been coaching.

Many of my clients spent a lot of time and resources identifying and addressing these challenges. You don’t have to. Learning from other peoples experience is a smart way to get head start. Follow my series of articles and pick your cherries.

Do you have any questions, would you like to know more, or you would like to simply get in touch? Email us at info@guldkanten.com

Day Three - ICF Converge, Thursday 28th October

And so the final day of Converge 2021 rolls in. A final day filled with new thoughts, tools, and knowledge to add to my coaching development.

Converge consists of several parallel presentations going on sorted in themes to address different parts of coach development. As I was waiting for the first session to start I took an overview of which themes my chosen presentations are in and noticed I obviously have a bias towards science, discovery, and practice. For those of you who, from my notes, find Converge a bit one-sided it is then good to know that this is my bias, not an actual display of the program offered. *smiling*

As the conference progressed I realized that the absolute majority of sessions where pre-recorded, giving no room for interaction, breakout rooms, or live Q&A. With interactions restricted to chat box-writing while listening to the presentation, the daily coffee-chats have been golden nuggets of real time interaction with colleagues. Today was no exception.

Coffee chat on ICF’s New core values

As the coaching world is evolving, ICF has recently done several updates on ethical guidelines, core competencies, and now on our community core values. The updated version is:

1. Professionalism
A commitment to a coaching mindset and professional quality that encompass responsibility, respect, integrity, competence and excellence.

2. Collaboration
A commitment to develop social connection and community building.

3. Humanity
A commitment to being humane, kind, compassionate, and respectful towards others.

4. Equity
A commitment to use a coaching mindset to explore and understand the needs of others so we can practice equitable processes at all times that create equality for all.

 

In this morning’s chat we discussed what these updated core values mean to us as coaches and how we contribute to embodying them in our community. In my group we had some really interesting exchanges of thoughts around the shift towards social impact that can be seen embedded in the updated core values. ICF is a professional body with ideas on how we want to show up in the world and what we could bring to the table.

 

Feedback: not something I usually do as a coach, but something clients often struggle with

As a coach I am not having the role of expert/colleague/manager or any other capacity to give feedback. But feedback from time to time shows up in conversations as something clients need to work on. The struggle can be both when on the giving and receiving end. Pete Burridge and Jen Ostricht gave a thorough walk through why feedback so often causes these struggles, founding it in design flaws as well as delivery flaws. When feedback is at it’s best, it is a lot easier to give and receive but how often does that happen?

Pete and Jen suggested a simple yet powerful way of leveraging the way we give feedback. Shift from focusing on what you want less of into a focus on desired outcome. They then beautifully demonstrated in a role play how hard that shift is to do. It is not enough to simply turn the negative to a positive phrasing. The key is to really get to the core of how that new desired behaviour actually looks like. Unless the stakeholders giving feedback do that work and are able to give constructive feedback on what success would look like, the receiver will have to guess, try out and stakeholders may not even recognize the attempt to improve.

In the cases where you as a leader really have to give important feedback it is thus well spent time to have as a topic in a coaching session to figure out what the change you want to see actually and truly is. That gives you a chance to phrase it right and be able to give examples of success and the receiver to actually understand what you are trying to say. I’ve got a brand-new tool for the next client bringing difficulties in giving feedback to a coaching session. *smiling*

Creating intentional shifts

Several of today’s sessions, for me, circled around how I as a coach can support my clients in moving their thinking forward towards their desired outcomes. Often, impacts in coaching show up as shifts in the way the client thinks/interprets/perceives the world. Today I have been listening for what I do or could do to enhance these shifts and what I should avoid doing, not to stand in the way of the client’s work.

From Janet Sernack’s presentation on creative inquiry I picked three essential skills to create intentional shifts in ourselves or others:

1.       Observe
2.       Retreat and reflect
3.       Be agile in action

I really like the way she so elegantly clarifies it: “Be present to what is and what could be simultaneously.” This sounds easy but give it a go, I still from time to time struggle with not being caught in what is at hand and the story the client is telling. Helpful to me is the perspective of listening for what is not there, a perspective that Janet also pinpointed: Ask yourself - What am I not seeing? – What am I not feeling. Especially the not feeling I believe will be my thought partner for a while, that’s a new perspective to me.

In Clare Norman’s session on unlearning from life to be a great coach, she highlighted some of the behaviours that a good coach does different at work. For example we interrupt storytelling unless it has a use in bringing the client’s thinking forward. We don’t need to understand - the client needs to. We don’t necessarily finish what we started. If a track is wrong for the client, why pursue it? Any progress is progress, and the client knows what brings them forward. Our job is to get to new thinking.

In an extensive study at Concordia University, 45 coaches has been thoroughly studied in transcripts of 3 sessions each to find the patterns of what it is coaches actually do when they coach and what works for the clients. This research I will have to dive into more deeply but a few nuggets I picked to carry with me right away are:

  • 12% of what coaches said during the session was content reflection, only 1,5 % was emotion related. Too bad since the same study also revealed that clients felt better about all three rated post session measures, goal, task and bond, when coaching included emotional reflection.

  • 0,3 %, the most uncommon inquiry, was inquiring nonverbal behaviours. (I do hope that is not true for my coaching given that so many keys are in there, but I really will have to do some new recordings to listen for it)

One of the researchers in this study had no previous connection to coaching but was studying it from a social science point of view and from that non biased perspective, the advice to coaches would be:

  • Quality of presence is the most powerful tool

  • Really great coaches go deeper. They are able to hear undercurrents, emotions, values, and bring them into play in the conversation

  • Taking whatever time is needed to clarify the topic has a big impact on the session and the client

  • Masterful coaches create reflective space using process check-ins

  • Giving advice generally has a disruptive effect

Not that this is news to us but it was really interesting to see how an objective approach highlights the skills captured in our core competencies and yes, the mentor coach ego did get a boost when my most common feedback given correlates completely with her findings. I agree and I am glad to see that what I know out of experience hammer into the coaches I do mentor coaching with is now also scientifically encouraged.

As usual, I leave the ICF Converge conference with my head misty with new thoughts, some of them at a aha-stage, others of the kind I need to carry for a while. My notebook is filled with quotes, exercises, ideas and facts. Inspiration level up, bring on the coaching. I do miss the conversations around trends and techniques among coaches around the world, the virtual format here had not much room for that. The short chat format doesn’t really invite to thought deepening conversations. Well, there will be room for that another time, another place. I’ll have enough to ponder from the take away I do have to keep me busy for a while. And yes, the next Converge will be meeting up IRL, in Florida August 2023. See you there.

Day Two - ICF Converge, Wednesday 27th October

Second day at converge is a full day of programs with 15 minutes breaks in between. Gosh I do miss the opportunity to meet up and chat with other participants in between session, walk by an exhibitor or two checking out their stuff, getting some inspiration. It is of course an option to open up and look at sponsor contributions and I do use it but miss the hands on experience. To keep me on my toes today my small herd of sheep decided to help out. Looking out the window while getting my cup of tea I realized they were all strolling around outside my house and not at all in the meadow they were supposed to be. No chatting, no exhibitions, no tea – that break pumped up my energy levels by having me rush out, grab a bucket of sheep food and lure them in behind fence again. Well it works but it sure is a different conference experience. *laughing*


First session today was a lovely coffee chat with interaction in breakout rooms discussing in which scenarios coaching adds value to change management. Basically all it turns out, we swayed the question a bit and pinpointed the importance of identifying the context in which you as a coach are working. Organisational change happens on 3 levels, individual, team and organisation.  In all stages of a change management project within an organisation coaches are useful (as we learned yesterday most effective in early stages but way to often “called in to mop up the mess” when process is not working according to plan. Anyway – in whatever stage or scenario we are called in as coaches, it is crucial to sort out and keep in mind what level we are working. People and organisations in change tend to mix them up, in example making individual fears appear as organisational business risk or attributing team issues as individual unalignment. As coaches we are the non-biased observers who can help sort out what is what and have a responsibility to keep clear and aware of the levels and coach at the appropriate one in each situation.

 

The S-curve of learning

The keynote I chose today was on Coaching smart growth. A session in which Whitney Johnson delivered really useful tools and models to challenge my mind and bring clarity to the work I do with my entrepreneurs. Love these aha-moments when experience connects to theory and both begin to glow a bit extra.

At early stages learning is slow, growth happens but it is hard and uncomfortable. As we move towards the sweet spot in the middle we pick up speed, it gets fun and we feel things happening and as we then reach next level growth slows down again and it starts to feel boring. As one who myself loves climbing this curve over and over again I can easily relate to the need to find the next curve to jump to to keep things happening. A trait I share with the entrepreneurs I am coaching. Growth comes fast when we find the smoothest transition between curves and don’t spend too much time on the satisfied mastery level. Bring on the challenges we shout, and then wonder as it gets hard again “why do I keep doing this, why can’t choose the easy path?” Gosh are awe lucky there are coaches around. And gosh do I love being one of those coaches supporting the journey.

Interesting learning was that it actually doesn’t matter at all where we objectively could be considered placed on the cure. Everything that matters is where you think you are. That sparked some thoughts around the absolute necessity to meet and work where clients are and why that seems to be one of the specific parts of coaching that attracts the entrepreneurial personality. Quickly moving from curve to curve I guess working in a method that quickly figure out where we are today and adapts to that rather than building on premade steps is of course most helpful on a fast moving entrepreneurs learning curve.

 

Exploring the executive coaching triangle

Ana Pilopas shared in her session research made on the triangle of executive coaching where coach, client and organization relationships interact. In a study including 16 clients, 14 HR professionals and 15 coaches the factors nourishing and hindering each relation was explored.

In summary:

Coach -client relationship is nourished by the working alliance, trust and confidentiality

Client – organization relationship is nourished by client manager holding the organization view and HR professionals giving structure to the process. Strong hinders here are when managers try to hire a coach instead of addressing an issue they as managers are avoiding or get too close into the coaching, in example trying to get information about results without client presence.

Coach – organization relationship is nourished by clear roles, expectations and responsibilities and by embraching ambiguities and being ready to recontract as changes may occur. Important here to differ between the basic commercial contract which is pretty once and for all and the learning and psychological contracts that are more volatile.

My main take away here is that as an executive coach I am wise in protecting trust between client and coach and to embrace the complexity of it all by clarifying expectations when needed.

 

Neuroplasticity in the brain

As it happens several of the sessions I chose today where around the brain, neuroplasticity (beautifully explained by Ann Betz as walking to the mailbox to get your paycheck through a thick layer of snow. Heavy at first but the more times you have walked that way, the easier it gets but sometimes changes in life makes it necessary to start walking towards another mailbox. It is heavy at first but quite possible and the kore often you do it the easier it gets again. That’s how your brain rewires as you change your pattern of thought.)

Anyway – I love brain science and I wish we had moved deeper down into it. We are still skating a bit on the surface at these conferences, explaining the basics of how he brain works but with several good presenters I found good nuggets to keep digging around.

Specifically interesting was Christian Vermuelens accessible way of explaining how the brain cocktail of chemicals affects our transmittors and stress releasing cortisol actually hinders the connections from fully functioning and as a result we don’t have full access to our brains in stress and negative thinking whereas relaxing and positive thinking supports brain function. And no, that doesn’t mean happy thoughts solve everything. Realism is a thing.  But in the space between stimulus and response we can choose what to spray our brain with and the choice we make has an impact. The absolute majority of what we see we see through our mind’s eye.



Coaching and the human spirit

A thought provoking session around instinct vs the human spirit was not what I thought it would be but turned out to be the food for thought I needed to advance my own thoughts around what it is I actually see happen in coaching. There is this part of brain chemicals and neuro-science and there is this other part that I find harder to put in words and still don’t really want to simply call the “magic of coaching”. There is something going on in coaching that shifts something within the client and the way I see it often results in clients seeing that fabulous person I see in front of me. As that happens and clients are starting to act on their inner wisdom and true self rather than their habits, fears and non-supportive thoughts patterns everything just takes off.

Donna King and Flame Schoeder calls it the human spirit and maybe that is what it is, our true genious. I don’t know but definitely get what it they are talking about and I like the keys thy work with where generous assumptions is a big part.

Assuming when you meet people that they have inner resources above and beyond mere instincts and brain functions. That every behaviour has a positive intention of some kind and I can be curious as to what that is. That all behaviours are a form of communication from which I can learn if I listen. That if they are in touch with it, people align with and act on that inner force we can call spirit.

Meeting people from these assumptions, clearing myself from negativity and prejudice, definitely makes the world a better place for me and it makes a difference to people around me, clients or not.


And then some business facts

Going to a Converge conference is a way to build knowledge and get inspiration as a coach. But it is also a business development opportunity. Some useful facts extracted from Kevin Campbells energetic presentations (Way more in my notebook but come on, I can’t give away all my business secrets. Or actually I could, these statistics are all out there and as I picked up in Whitney Johnsons presentation earlier on: amateurs compete, professionals create. But then these notes would be far too long, I’ll stick to some nuggets.)

Taking off rom a point of the role of performance evaluations and their role in company development here are some things worth thinking of:

Employee engagement is a state of being consisting of emotional commitment, choosing to go that extra mile and psychological connection.

Performance management is a process: clarifying expectations, fostering growth, measuring and reviewing results.

O get these two to interact powerfully the coaching conversation is a powerful key. There is a bi-directional relationship between engagement and performance.

Companies know that and they want that effect. Actually 81 % of companies in a recent Gallup plans to invest and focus more on employee satisfaction from 2021 and onwards.

89% of companies already measure employee engagement but only 7 % of employees say that their companies act on their feedback. Most companies are good at setting programs but fail at clarifying goals, improve performance and having powerful communications. And Tada! – here comes the coaches!




Bringing in external coaches to work coach on the results of performance measurements make things happen. In Kevins words it is easy as ABC 123.

A: Action oriented

B: Business relevant (when connecting business goals and survey results)

C: Conversations based

1.       One focus are

2.       Two relevant actions

3.       3x3 communications. We don’t listen as carefully as we believe when we are sending out a message. Any action taken on feedback should be communicated three times in three different channels to ensure actually being heard and noticed

 

One of the things forward thinking organisations do is to both promote a coaching culture internally and bring in external coaches to close the measurement to improvement gap, moving from knowing to taking action on what data surveys and performance evaluations bring.





 

And that’s it folks. Day 2 of Converge must come to an end. I have not been able to persuade my animals to move with me into US time zone for a couple of days. I will need to get up early Swedish time tomorrow to as Fia the beagle demands her breakfast, the horses want out of the stable and god knows where the sheep will be.

See you tomorrow!

 

Day One - ICF Converge 2021, Tuesday 26th October

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICF Converge is a fully online event this time. I must admit I had mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, given that I work online most of the time, I am fully aware of how good it can be. The online format ensures us that we gather coaches from all over the world even though the pandemic still haunts us. On the other hand, an online conference makes it more difficult to spontaneously mingle while walking between sessions, lining up for a cup of tea or going for a walk in the surroundings.

But as it turns out I, ended up truly happy that it is online. Caught by a persistent autumn flu, the online format is the only way that allows me to be here. Phu! Don’t even want to think that I could have missed it due to sneezing, fever, and a sore throat. Nonetheless, here I am now, spiking from my cup of tea with honey and ginger, happily taking in new thoughts and meeting old and new friends.

To boost my own learning I summarize my reflections at the end of the day and for those of you who did not have the opportunity to attend or are simply curious about what coaches talk about when we dive into our development sphere, I’ll share it in my blog.

Feel free to follow here or on social media during the week and do remember – this is my choice of presentations from a parallel section of four themes, and my short take-aways as of today. I am afraid I will neither do the full event, nor the full presentations justice. Please consider this as simply a taste of a vibrant event.

Coaching & Change Management – Why we shouldn’t try to wear both hats at the same time

I kicked off Converge with a presentation on how coaches and change managers complement each other in supporting organisations through implementing a major change. ICF Global and The Association of Change Management Professionals discussed a shared study that they conducted.

It was inspiring to see how two organisations gather dedicated professionals through cross research to enhance our understanding of these two competencies.

To simplify their findings, one could say that the change managers work with the what and the how of change, while the coach works with the who, of the change (the people involved). Combine these two perspectives and you get a strong team for the times when you aspire to create organisational changes.

Often we see that coaches are called in during the final stages, when the change is formed, implemented, and not taking off. What the shared study shows is that adding coaching in the early to support in defining the changed wanted, identifying the goals and success criteria, assess the impact of the potential change, assess culture readiness, and formulate strategies is way more powerful.  

Actually, coaches and change managers working together on a change process in an organisation increases the success rate with 78 %. That is an impressive rate of investment and a number that makes me think I should be looking up the change managers around me to see how we can offer our services as a team. *smiling*

Graphic by Lauren Green at Dancing with Markers

Trust – Why we give it and how we earn it

As we all came together for our opening keynote, Rachel Botsman challenged us to rethink trust in through clear language, models, and stories. Most of us base our trust on a gut feeling. But guided by Rachel’s models we can get a grip on how to combine gut wisdom with intellectual wisdom. Failing to do so can often get us mislead by the symbols we have learned to associate with trust and may miss the signals that otherwise would have raised questions.

What are the real trust issues? The core that decides whether we give our trust or earn it from others? Rachel defines it as two categories with two components each:

To earn trust, adopting one trait in particular can be helpful: confident humility. That is the ability to own up to what we know and also to what we don’t know, with confidence. Being able to say “I don’t know,” without the need to cover up or feeling like we are losing ground will open us up to more honest relationships.

It is ok to not know. The question is what do you choose to do with it? Your choices are to hide this truth or face it. And this choice will be seen and have an impact on the trust you gain. As Rachel was speaking of this, an interesting discussion emerged in the live chat. Is this true in all cultures or is it culture specific? Some pointed out that there are cultures which are not as accepting of being wrong as others. In this case would it still earn a leader trust as they say “I don’t know, let me explore it,” or would it cost them trust?

Oh my!, how I missed the chatting in the hallway after that session. I would have loved to hear the thoughts of coaches from different cultures on that since it connects so closely to one of the components of leadership for innovation we are finding at Centre for Leadership in Småland; we call it celebrating failure. Basically introducing and withholding a culture of failure as a welcomed part of the journey, proof that we are moving outside the already known territory and experimenting with what we are still learning.

Wrap-up

Day 1 was then rounded off by an award ceremony recognizing organisations and coaches who have had a powerful impact on the development of coaching in their context. This year, The Prism Awards for both 2020 and 2021 were announced since last year it was withheld due to the pandemic:

Prism award winner of 2020, International Trade Administration

Prism award winner of 2022, TD bank group North America Contact Center

By implementing coaching programs these two organisations have noticeably increased not only their employees’ satisfaction, but also their results. In fact the 2020’s winner has counted in 225% return on investment on their coaching program. A pretty good payoff, I would say.

The honourable Circle of Distinctions collects coaches who have set a mark in the coaching community through years of dedicated work. This yea, the Circle was expanded by two dedicated coaches: Svetlana Chumakova MCC, who brought coaching to Russia and Marilyn O’Hearne MCC, from USA, who has contributed to the development of our industry in several capacities.

The 2021 ICF Young Leader Awards went to:

Joanna Alvarado, PCC from Costa Rica
Ester Landa, MCC from Russia (now living in USA)
Tomas Pesek, ACC from Slovakia
Lenka Zelingrova, PCC from Czech Republic

Congratulations to these inspiring role models!

Now it is time for me to finish my cup of tea and go to bed. I am fine with shifting to US time for a couple of days, but I am not able to convince my animals to do the same and so tomorrow is an early Swedish time rise as usual. I guess this week is a good week for taking daytime naps to stay energized for the next chunk of Converge learning and inspiration.

See you tomorrow!

- Lena

What we learned from you about the pandemic - by guest author Silviu Costea

This blog post is by guest blog author Silviu Costea

A few weeks ago we sent out invitations for a survey looking at people’s experiences with the Coronavirus pandemic. Speaking of which, many thanks to all those who took the time to fill it in! We were curious to hear from as many people as possible about how the pandemic changed their work life, how it challenged them, and how it made them grow. In this short post we would like to share some of the interesting things which we learned about the pandemic from this survey.

But before we begin, there is one caveat to be mentioned. Our survey contains a limited amount of responses, and most of our respondents were based in Sweden. With these being said, although the insights we gained cannot be generalized to the whole Swedish or European population, they are nonetheless valuable. Now let’s take a look at exactly what these insights are.

In the first section of the survey we were curious about the challenges that people faced in their work life due to the COVID-19 crisis. When reading the answers, we saw multiple themes emerging. Most of our respondents, who managed a business or had one of their own, indicated that it has become increasingly challenging to keep clients interested. The second theme that we identified was that of experiencing more pressure than before. We heard that many of people experience more stress, anxiety, and fatigue. And that they see the same in their employees. The third theme was related to working from home. A significant proportion of our respondents found it challenging to structure their work while being stuck at home, as well as compensating for the lack of social interaction.

The second question we were interested in was about the opportunities which emerged in the last year. Here, most of our respondents appreciated the incentive that the pandemic offered them to digitalize their business or work. Similarly, a lot of them were pleased with the decreased travel time, as many meetings moved online. This, paired with working from home, also offered a few of them more free time, which they likewise appreciated. One particularly insightful finding was that a considerable proportion of people felt like they got more new ideas and perspectives, both in their personal and professional life. The pandemic seemed to have taught a lot of us how to think in new ways.

On a similar note, we were also curious about the ways in which people experienced personal growth during this time. Most of those taking the survey answered that they became more digitally skilled. Some of them also took more time to reflect, spent more time with their families, and became more flexible.

Another question that we asked in the survey was about which skills people would like to develop. Here, the main themes were: getting better at managing online meeting platforms, honing one’s digital skills in general, and becoming even more flexible.

Lastly, we wanted to hear about people’s predictions about the future of the work environment in the next 5 years. Here too, multiple similar answers emerged. For example, many of our respondents agreed that remote work is here to stay, at least to a certain degree. Some of them thought that remote meetings will become more common, and the others thought that we will see a mix of online-offline work. Different people hold slightly different views on this topic. This highlights that now is the moment for companies to work out a strategy for where their staff will be working a year from now.

We hope that these results bring everyone closer. It has been quite a journey over the last year. We find it inspiring that so many of us share similar experiences. This allows more room for a community to be built, where we can support each other and help each other make the most out of the challenges that we are faced with. Keep an eye out on our social media, as we are preparing new workshops and programs built around this idea. We want to bring people together (safely, online) and help each other grow.

Silviu Costea

Silviu is a social psychologist in formation, completing his master’s degree from Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Using the insights he gained and the skills he developed through his education and extracurricular projects, he is dedicated to helping individuals, teams, and companies succeed.

When and how to ‘re-contract’- knowing what’s right in a conversation - by guest author Kathryn Pope

Guest blogger and coaching colleague Kathryn Pope on contracting:
In coaching contracting is a essential to build and clarify agreement. In a few questions contract is created, an approach you can also use in your own life per se. What “contracts” have you founded your life on so far? What re-contracting do you need to be doing right now in your life and your business? What is no longer serving you? What can you no longer tolerate? What needs to change for you? For your business? For your customers or clients? What are the new possibilities and goals that you are not working on?

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