Is it time to reconsider what’s on your bucket list? Watch this video and find out for sure!
Do you have the question all wrong?
As a personal development and leadership coach I’ve leaned that all it takes is one powerful question to transform a conversation…and powerful conversations transform lives.
This is one of those powerful questions. Click on the link and check out this video.
What’s the best that can happen?
If after watching the video you are interested in learning more about how to transform any aspect of your career, your life or your world, you can take advantage of a complimentary coaching session to see if coaching is right for you. What’s the best that could happen? Contact us today and find out!
Are you looking for ways to dramatically improve your success as a leader?
Being an effective leader means making a personal commitment to continual learning in an effort to keep your skills honed. One of the ways I do this is by following blogs, tweets and checking out websites of some of the great leaders whom I admire and respect. When an article catches my eye, often times it’s because of an experience I’ve had during my career, whether as a team leader, manager, or as an executive and generally there was a lesson I learned along with it.
Success is often driven by first steps. When you take on a new leadership role, getting off to a good start is critical. I came across an article on the Entrepreneur site that outlines an effective approach on how to do this. Clicking on the link below will open a new browser page.
Your First 5 Days as a New Manager
From a leadership perspective, I think what you do next is equally important.
Leaders create and build trust by applying a consistent approach. An experience that comes to mind which demonstrates this perfectly goes back a few years when I was first starting out as a manager. I adopted an approach from Ken Blanchard’s book The One Minute Manager. Each morning I would make my rounds to touch base with each of my employees and perform an adaptation of the 12 Minute Meeting with them. This provided my employees with some daily one-on-one time with me to discuss their current projects, any challenges they might be encountering or simply an opportunity to say good morning.
The practice from a management perspective really paid off for me. It was an excellent way to stay abreast of what was going on at the working level within my team. What I hadn’t realized was how much my staff valued the approach. At least not until the day when I missed making my rounds. An urgency kept me in my office that morning. What followed was very interesting. Over the course of the morning each of my employees made their way to my office door to check in with me. They wanted to know if everything was alright.
The experience demonstrated three things. First, my employees valued our time together and looked forward to the opportunity to meet with me as their manager. Secondly, although this example is small scale, time was spent by each of my staff wondering about what had gone wrong that morning. On a larger scale this could result in significant downtime and lost productivity within an organization. Lastly, it was evident that consistency is important. Unpredictability creates uncertainty and given the ever changing world that we work in, employees value having a sense of what to expect from their manager.
Your leadership approach is one of the things within your control. Putting one small positive change into place today and staying with it can result in significant returns in the longer term. It will increase your credibility and the level of trust with your employees, create stability within your organization and provide an environment that supports increased productivity.
Make that positive change today and put your leadership to work for you!
If you want to increase your leadership muscle by working with a coach give me a call. I’m here to help!
Do you have a dream that you have given up on? Then this is for you!
As a leadership and personal development coach I am always inspired by stories such as the one in the following video. As I watched it I was reminded of the importance of keeping our dreams alive regardless of how remote achieving them may seem. Click on the link below to view the video:
Do you have a dream you’ve put on the shelf? Maybe it’s to further your education, change your line of work to one that sets your heart on fire, or perhaps it’s publishing the book that you’ve always dreamt of writing, then perhaps it’s time to dust off that dream and breathe life back into it?
When you think about your dream is there a little voice inside of you saying “I can’t possibly do this” or “that’s for other people, that’s not for me” then professional coaching might be for you!
As an accredited experienced leadership and personal development coach I work closely with individuals like yourself to determine what’s really important to you. I’ll help you develop a concrete and realistic plan and then I’ll help you create the momentum you need to take the important steps necessary to realize your dream. What’s even more important, with your permission, I’ll hold you accountable to deliver on what you’ve agreed to do.
If taking the first steps towards achieving your dreams seems daunting, working with a supportive and well trained coach may be just what you need.
Please give me a call if you are ready to make some positive and meaningful changes to your life!
How do you kick start your day?
What would the day look like if we all started it like this?
A word of caution: You may or may not be able to stand on the counter…watch your step 🙂
Live it or lose it
The Big Ride – Living the Dream in Real Time (New York)
Today I experienced what living life is really about. As a personal development and leadership coach I am blessed with being able to help individuals realize their potential and most importantly to live life to its fullest. Being on this trip is allowing me to do just that. Today I experienced it through someone I met along the way.
While riding from Lake Placid towards Lake Scanadaga I took Highway 8 which hugged the curves of a series of lakes. I stopped in Hague, NY to take advantage of one of the beautiful lakes that was nestled in behind a park filled with ornamental fruit trees that were in full bloom. 
When I pulled into the parking lot there was another motorcycle…a red Daucati sport bike. When I walked down to the lake I met Guenther, an older gentleman who was enjoying his lunch by the water. What was of particular interest was that he had a motorcycle jacket on the bench next to him. He and I introduced ourselves and I learned that he was 79 years young and had ridden his bike from Vermont to NY State for lunch…about a 250 mile round trip. Gunther told me that he’s been riding since he was 18 years old and that this was his seventh Dacauti sports bike. He said he just can’t stop 🙂
What an inspiration to meet a person who is living his life out loud and continues to enjoy his passion of riding motorcycles at 79 years of age. As I rode away I was filled with a knowing that this is what life is really about. It’s about following our dreams and doing the things that we love most.
Thank you Gunther for reaffirming what my heart has been telling me all along. Ride on!!
The Power of Thought
What’s on your mind?
Which door would you choose?
This evening as I surfed through Facebook I was struck by the following video. I was surprised by the choices made by so many young women, and in particular the one who simply walked away.
I’m curious to know which door would you choose?
If you hesitated or questioned which door was for you then working with a personal development coach might be right for you. Having a professional coach in your corner encouraging and supporting you, while helping you to build your confidence and realize your highest potential can make a world of difference in achieving your long term goals!
Is Your Oganization Looking to Improve its Effectiveness?
Yesterday St Julien Performance Group delivered an Effective Communications workshop at Strandz Hair Design – Il Paradiso Spa and Tanning. We used Target Training International’s #TTI_SI TriMetrics DNA Behaviours and Motivators assessment to understand the team member’s Natural and Adapted styles, as well as learned how to identify the styles of others.
The intent to gaining these insights is to increase communication effectiveness within the team and with their clients by appreciating and adapting to the Natural styles of others.
It’s a dynamic way to improve effectiveness and the workshop can be adapted and scaled to address the specific needs of your organization. If you are serious about improving organizational and client outcomes, give us a call to learn more about the services we offer.
In a rut? Are you following the same routine day after day and not sure how to change it?
Investing in a personal development coach might be all that’s needed for you to create the life that moves you!
Book a complementary session today and see if working with a coach is the next right step for you.
As the New Year unfolds before us I wish you the gift of heartfelt desire along with the vision, courage and determination to achieve your greatest dreams. Resolve to be all that you can be!
Happy New Year and all of the best to you and yours in 2015.
What’s holding you back?
Are you interested in advancing your personal leadership? Be sure to check this out!
I just finished a three day Boot Camp session on behavioural assessments in Scottsdale Arizona, with Target Training International, a leader in this field.
The assessments, such as DISC along with others that I’ll be using in my coaching practice, are excellent tools for improving self-awareness, increasing emotional intelligence, discovering hidden talents and skills, along with perfecting communications.
Keep an eye on my blog in the coming weeks to learn more about how you can improve your personal leadership. Stay tuned!
Are you looking to make a meaningful shift in your life? Here’s a simple but powerful practice that you’ll want to incorporate into your daily living!
It’s Thanksgiving weekend and I have a lot to be grateful for. Today I went for a motorcycle ride with a couple of fellow riders and I was struck by the magnificence of my surroundings. The leaves were in full autumn colour. As I rode my senses were filled with the smell of leaves and from time to time fresh pine, along with the occasional smell of wood smoke from a stove warming a home somewhere off in the distance.
When I ride in the fall it always stirs up memories of my dad. He left us a little over four years a go after a battle with cancer. He loved the outdoors. I remember him taking my sister on weekend camping expositions where we were young. Today as I rode, those memories danced through my head and in my heart.
As I move through life it seems that it’s the simple things that I feel most thankful for…time spent with family and friends…a motorcycle ride in the country after a busy week…being able to laugh at myself over the silly things that used to up set me. These are some of the simple things that warm my heart and leave me feeling grateful.
Experience has taught me that gratitude changes my response to life. There was a time when I was unaware of this. I saw things differently than I do today. I thought that my happiness was contingent on those around me. It wasn’t until I started practicing gratitude that I became aware that it was an inside job. When I’m grateful for what I have and what’s going on around me, my attitude changes. I get an “attitude of gratitude”. Life seems better and I’m happier.
You might be wondering how to practice gratitude. It’s easy. Each day take time to think about what you’re grateful for. There are a few simple tools you can incorporate into your day, such as keeping a “gratitude journal” where each evening you record 5 things you were grateful for over the course of your day. If that’s not your thing, how about thinking about what you’re grateful for. For example, when you’re on your way to work, regardless of your mode of transportation, list off the things you are grateful for. Challenge yourself to come up with 25 things and then how about 50. Start with the little things that bring you pleasure, like a good cup of coffee, the warmth of the sun on your face or the comfortable shoes you have on your feet. I think you are likely getting the picture.
The benefit of course is that while you are feeling grateful a shift happens. Whatever feelings you may have been experiencing disappear. You start feeling better about what’s going on around you. You’ll start experiencing an “attitude of grat.itude” and when you build the practice into your daily living a major shift occurs. Your life begins to change.
On this Thanksgiving weekend what can you do to springboard into an “attitude of gratitude”? Take the gratitude challenge and transform your life today!
St Julien Performance Group - Coaching for Results 