New Horizons

Life Coaching & Mentoring Services

Month: December 2014

Employee Assistance

December 22, 2014 /

Support The Wellbeing of Your Staff

Personal Problems Can Affect  / Professional Performance   

STRESS, ANXIETY and  DEPRESSION are the main reasons why staff, workers maybe absent and need lengthy time off work.

This in turn can put the remaining staff team, workers under more pressure and stress as they maybe required to take on extra work during staff shortage.

While management may endeavour to replace the voids with temporary agency staff, for one reason or another this may not happen.

One suggestion that could support the staff team and organisation is to have in place a life coach or mentor to assist with staff, workers to overcome any personal or professional problems that may intrude and or affect work performance.

As early intervention can prevent the problem/s escalating and in turn reduce time off.

So, by referring a worker for coaching, mentoring support as / when needed may prevent staff from having long term absence and will certainly reduce time off and will help with their general health and well-being.

Does your organisation offer this service to your employees?

Is this a service that can benefit your employees and organisation?

I can provide coaching & mentoring sessions and or a tailor-made programme to help employees to overcome personal barriers or issues that maybe holding them back.

To promote “self” to implement strategies and to re-establish confidence and raise wellbeing and to have the feeling of being successful. “The best you can be.”

Call to Action

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*Building Confidence & Self Esteem   

*Anger Management    

*Stress Management

*Motivation

*Relationships & Personal Issues

*Dealing  With Difficult People or Situations

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Quality Coaching & Mentoring Service Assured              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 Wise saying/quote!”

“You only fail when you give up.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staff Skills Coaching

December 18, 2014 /

Organisation In-House Support

My mission is to provide impeccable standards of service delivery to enable your organisation to thrive and to achieve its aspirations and goals.

Do you need as a workforce to evaluate in-house work undertaken?

Do you need to upgrade current operational systems?

Perhaps you are interested or ready to introduce a new working set-up and would benefit from further assistance?

Perhaps you wish to review performance and to evaluate client needs, support methods and service delivery?

You may wish to consider a team building session, this will increase team skills, communication, morale and productivity?

I can provide supervision sessions, a tool that will benefit individual performance, appraisals and team growth?

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Over many years I have worked for organisations where as you would expect, the paper work is the bulk of the workload.

I have heard managers say to staff, if you haven’t done the paper work, then how do I know what you are achieving. 

This highlights the need for completing the paper work [record-keeping] and as soon as you can. Write ups are very important, recording client contact and with information on assessments, support plans and working towards achieving chosen goals and other areas as applicable.

The paper work implementation is very much an integral part of everyday work while supporting clients in any setting or project.

The purpose of recording is to identify with the work undertaken, in progress, being achieved, outcomes and on completion. To measure success, “to evidence”  the support or programme and service we deliver to clients.

Also, we need to continue to review and to update with any known changes to ensure we continue to meet expected standards.

Furthermore, we have a duty and responsibility to ensure the high standards are maintained and of course we can expect the work to be continually inspected.

With all this in mind, I have spent time looking at ways to reduce paper work [time], while still reaching the high levels expected and recording what is essential and required

Recordings need to be accurate but structured so we can spend more practical time providing support to clients, as I believe we need to be available to provide more face-to-face contact for establishing better working relationships, trust and for communication  purposes.

Less paper work will free more time to attend to other important issues that can already take up much of our working day, such as: phone calls, emails, interviews, meetings and sometimes other unexpected duties or tasks. 

The format I would implement is designed to reduce paper work, while still reaching the high levels expected of us as individual workers and as a staff team.

I can provide support with in-house working documents, best practice and to meet quality assessment criteria.

To help sharpen skills and motivate.

Do you have training modules in place?

Are they achieving desired outcomes and meeting your goals?

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*Assessments

*Risk Assessments

*Support Planning

*Setting Goals & Actions

*Recordings & Record Keeping

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Quality Coaching & Mentoring Service Assured.

                                                                       

                                                                         Wise saying/quote!     

“Do it now. Sometimes later becomes never.”

 

Team Management

December 16, 2014 /

A personal look at the role of a team manger

Organisational Expectations & Aspirations

What is a team manager?

A team manager is responsible for managing a number of workers or staff. He or she is basically described as a controller, monitor and trouble shooter.

This covers  3  prime areas, namely:

1. Task – the identification and meeting of the organisational goals.

2. Team – the interaction of the workers, staff or a group.

3. Individual – the personal and professional situation of the individual people in the team.

The quality of work in any organisation or setting is directly related to two discrete areas.

The first area concerns the philosophy and theory developed to attain the explicit goals of the establishment.

The second area, the subject of this write up, concerns the managers system adopted to attain these goals.

The team manager should be deeply aware of the interpersonal relationships and conflicts of the workers or group in which  he or she is involved.

The team manager requires to have a broad professional base which enables them to mobilise the skills of workers from different backgrounds. This of course is vitally important if the team, organisation is to carry out the work effectively.

The team manager should primarily get to know all individual members of his or her team and have a good knowledge of their strengths, needs and perhaps weaknesses before the team manager can endeavour to mould individuals to operate as a team.

[This should be backed up with regular on-going  supervision sessions, another write up I have discussed  under – supervision support or team leader].

It must be remembered that good practice and service delivery is all about good team work, pooling information together, working for one another, in this way developing and hopefully to unite as a staff team or group.

[Again, another write up I have discussed under – team building & development].

How effective the team or group operates can greatly depend on the kind of influence the team manager has on others. In whatever way the team manger operates, he or she is the one responsible for the final decisions.

The effectiveness of the team is the seal of his or her personality, the method and total approach.

To the organisation the team manager or head of operations must bring administrative skills and managerial competence.

The complexity of the work can demand planning, the codifying of procedure, the development of clear, systematic rules which allow the establishment to function smoothly.

Only then can it pursue it’s true goals without hindrance. When these qualities are absent, the result is often a drab confusion.

Why have a team manager?

A team manager is necessary to supervise staff and team members. To control and stabilise a staff team, to organise and plan a working system suitable to meet the needs of the establishment.

The team manager also has an instructional role to teach skills, personally and professionally, to increase team growth, to review and plan further work and to support the workers through the problems encountered.

Again, the team manager has a monitoring role to ensure the tasks of the establishment are carried out effectively. To see that the needs and service delivery is carried out properly and met.

It is primarily the responsibility of the team manager to ensure that people in subordinate positions are properly informed of decisions and have the reasons for those decisions on policies, practice, procedures, plans and progress explained to them.

The team manager is needed to pass management information down to the team or group members, but as a spokesperson he or she also has a responsibility for communicating upwards to higher management the feelings the suggestions and the reactions of the team or workers

Also the team manager has to delegate the workload to the team or group. For effective working and good professional relationships, the team managers role  as communicator is vitally important.

Communication can be handled in several ways, such as: phone calls, noticeboard, letters, emails etc, all important, but the most effective way is face-to-face communication.

Without this it is extremely difficult to perform and be successful as a team.

It is the duty and responsibility of a team manager to help develop and encourage good working professional relationships and trust within the team and organisation.

By honest polite and regular communication we should develop better working relationships.

A team manager attentively showing an interest, motivating, encouraging and being supportive towards the worker can go a long way towards achieving good working relationships and trust and that we hope may spread throughout the team and establishment.

One outcome from good team management which has improved staff relationships should be higher team and group morale.

It is important for a team manager to have contented staff. Hopefully with improved relationships, morale will be higher without the fear of underhand negotiations going on.

This should relax the staff team, workers and get away from feared pressures and ease any tension to boost egos and allow staff to concentrate on the task and of service delivery.

Another positive result of good team management should be increased staff motivation.

It is important for a team manager to inspire the staff or group. To involve the workers with the  philosophy and theory developed to attain the explicit goals of the establishment and of the system adopted to attain these goals.

Good management will encourage new ideas and methods, lift self esteem and ensure that confidence is higher, this helped by shared responsibility and delegations.

The good team manager recognises that the strongest motivators come from giving responsibility which achieves successful results and by recognising and giving due praise to such success.

It is the duty of every team manager to ensure that the team is able to explore ideas and to develop professionally, especially if the member of staff is taking on training, perhaps studying and working towards a qualification or is new to the team.

To aid the staff team personally and professionally it is important that adequate time is given to subordinates to air their ideas and to discuss them.

Time should be found to encourage their active involvement in the organisation of the work and to develop strategies to improve the efficiency of the team.

By such means, a good team manager will endeavour to develop personal and professional skills of the team and promote team spirit.

It is the role of the team manager to help develop and maintain the high efficient standards.

The team manager must develop a team to become more and more competent through being regularly and effectively supervised.

The team manager should develop staff potential and ensure that everyone is working well individually and for each other.

The team manager must ensure that all staff feel responsible for keeping up good working systems to help the smooth running of the establishment and that all workers continually feel valued as individuals and as part of a successful team.

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Hopefully we can identify that good team management will lead to a sequence of benefits.

Such as: improved communication and to successfully inspire the team, building upon better working relationships, trust and morale, developing individual and team skills, that can raise professional standards and promote team and service delivery.                                                                                                          

A TEAM IS A REFLECTION OF IT’S LEADERSHIP

Here, I have discussed some of my own personal thoughts and views on a team manager role, and in general management skills.

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Team management support tailored to meet your organisation aspirations.                                    

 

Wise saying/quote!

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”   

  

Team Building part 1 of 2

December 10, 2014 /
Achieve Greater Team Work,
 Performance & Service Delivery

Team building can  be a useful tool in prospering as a team, while individual skills are very important, so too is performing together by bringing all the staff team skills, experiences and knowledge to share as one, with the old saying two heads are better than one and so on.

This is about discussing the work, sharing identified problems or issues, to look at what is going well and praising such success or achievements, while perhaps identifying what could be improved.

To explore together new ideas and to put into practice the decisions made. The session/s allow for group discussions and to discover improved ways, possible changes that can benefit the team and in turn the organisation.

The Benefits
  • A feeling of identity!
  • Your not alone!
  • Brainstorming ideas as a team!                                                                 
  • Pooling information together!
  • Things can improve through team effort!
  • Goals can make sense!
  • Goals achieved!
  • The team can address many issues and fix together!
  • Increased confidence!
  • Making the workplace a better place to be!

Team building can improve communication, build upon better professional working relationships, trust and morale. This can raise professional standards and promote team and service delivery.

 Now ask yourself the following questions?

Would your team, organisation benefit from a team building session?

Do you have a balanced team?

Are there things that are going well, but could be improved upon?

Are there issues or areas that are holding the team back?

Perhaps you are in the process of in-house operational  changes or review and seeking an unbiased perception through  coaching support?

TEAM BUILDING can be hindered just by denial that a constructive change is needed.

In times of change, coaching serves as a solid background of support. Receiving an unbiased viewpoint serves not only as a strong sounding board to bounce ideas off, but also as a reality check to ensure those ideas are not just the calm before the storm.

Do you have training modules in place?

Are they achieving desired outcomes and meeting your goals?

 

Wise sayings/quotes!

“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand, we listen to reply.”

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” 

 

 

Team Building part 2 of 2

December 10, 2014 /

Understanding Groups

In order to become effective each team generally needs to pass through a number of development phases.

  • Phase 1 – The undeveloped team
  • Phase 2 – The experimenting team
  • Phase 3 – The consolidating team
  • Phase 4 – The mature team

The Undeveloped Team – Is present where people have come together to complete a common task, but have devoted little or no time to thinking about themselves as individuals who have now joined a group.

One of the main characteristics of this stage is that feelings are neither acknowledged nor discussed openly.

Problems or mistakes are used as “evidence” to help convict people of incompetence rather than used as opportunities for everyone to learn.

The result of this is that mistakes are often covered up by individuals, which in turn can lead to a lack of communication and ultimately isolation. Often outside threats to the team can be met by defensiveness.

The Experimenting Team – The distinguished characteristics of this team is that it has made a decision to review it’s operating methods and wishes to improve it’s performance.

This phase of development is characterised by listening and thinking and less talking.

Things in the team come to life, people who have said little suddenly begin to have quite strong feelings and views about things. This can become an uncomfortable time for the team as inter-personal issues begin to emerge.

The Consolidating Team – Now there are better relationships, the basic foundations and frameworks within which the team operates must be regularly serviced and maintained.

*Clarifying the purpose of the task or activity.

*Establishing the objectives which need to be  met.

*Collecting the information needed to make an appropriate decision.

*Considering the options open to the team.

*Produce a mutually agreed plan of what needs to be done.

*Reviewing the outcome and use it as a basis for improving future operations.

It is the improving channels of communication which allow for such active and constructive discussion to take place.

The Mature Team – Flexibility is the main characteristic of this phase of development.

All team members energies are utilized for the teams benefit and individual commitment to the team exists. Individual initiative is encouraged by the team as a whole. Trust, openness, honesty, co-operation, confrontation and a continued review of results becomes part of a way of life.

How often do we see a team operating in phase 4 the mature team.

Due to the high levels of staff turnover within organisations it can become difficult for the mature team to operate for any sustained length of time. Frequently large parts of the teams are lost at the same time, leaving gaps and needing time to rebuild again.

However, the importance of stage 4 of development is something to be aimed for, even if the experience is short.

Here, I have just provided a summary of my views.

This may demonstrate in theory a model of a balanced team. 8 types of team members.

1. Chair  2. Shaper  3. Plant  4. Monitor  Evaluator  5. Team Worker  6. Company Worker  7.  Resource Worker  8. Complete finisher 

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[Should you require a team building session, then this would be explained and become clearer].

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Team work is a vital component whether this is in sport, business or other if you wish to succeed at high levels. Therefore team building should be an active part to develop and sustain. It can be seen that team work is the mechanism of the workplace.

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TEAM BUILDING tailored to meet your needs.

Wise saying/quote!

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supervision

December 1, 2014 /

Working Towards  “The Healthy Package”

On several occasions I have been asked about my views on supervision within the workplace. So I will take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts. There are different types of supervision arrangements but I will focus on the one-to-one format.

As I endeavour to look at good supervision, I recognise that there are 3  main components which I can refer to when thinking about the content of overall function. These are:

1. Accountability or Managerial Function

One main part of the supervision content should acknowledge that the worker is accountable to their senior and the organisation for their tasks and the service delivery.

This means part of the supervision process is feeding back to the worker whether their work fulfills that which is required and making clear demands about what is expected of them.

2. Teaching or Educational Function

Supervision can be recognised as checking whether the worker has the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out the task and offering ways forward for them to carry out new tasks and enable them to take on challenges.

The worker may need certain information and help to enable them to do this. Furthermore, to be given the opportunity to discuss and explore various issues. Supervision must be seen to be concerned with the development of the worker over a period of time.

3. Emotional and Supportive Function

It can be recognised that the nature of our work within a residential or other setting can become very stressful to the worker. Therefore, it is important that time is given to deal with the emotional side of themselves and acknowledge this fact.

The worker may need some support and encouragement to carry out the task.

Therefore, time should be given which encourages the worker to express how they may feel about certain issues. For example, how they are coping [this may include areas of stress] or how they are getting on with other members of the team.

Staff may sometimes wish to raise certain personal concerns or pressures from their private lives which are currently affecting their performance at work.

Having summarised these three important components, it can be seen how important it is for the supervisors to try to get the balance right when it comes to the content of supervision.

It maybe that supervisors may find themselves concentrating more on one area depending on the individual worker.

This may depend on the issues the worker wishes to bring to the supervision and areas they feel are currently important to them.

Formal supervision sessions should be an integral part of working within an organisation. Furthermore, time should be found on a regular basis for informal discussions and support as needed.

The purpose of supervision will be to:

1. To have regular two way communication.

2. To enable all workers to maximise their contributions to the overall function and running of the unit.

3. To benefit individual and team growth.

4. It is agreed that the “healthy package” of supervision will address: *Management / accountability of individual. *Training, educational and development issues.*Offering emotional support relevant to the overall function and  effective running of the unit.

5. It should not be assumed that information shared in supervision is confidential. However, information should be only passed on a “need to know basis.”

6. Unresolved disagreement should be resolved  through line management structure.

7. Time and frequency of formal supervision sessions should be negotiated, but one hour over a four to six week period should be absolute minimum contact time.

It maybe that some organisations have other systems and requirements, but I have discussed my views and thoughts around supervision.

*Supervision allows the “machinery” to operate smoothly.

 

Good communication is an essential tool for any individual, group or team to progress and to achieve.

Do you need support to provide supervision sessions to your staff team? Independent views and coaching integral. 

This will build and benefit individual & team growth.

I provide inspirational quality coaching & mentoring to meet with personal development and support requirements and for any team needs or programme.

Short or Long Term Coaching & Mentoring.

Call to Action

“ I agree to coach / mentor you to the very best of my ability, to believe in you, to encourage you and to give you 100 %  of my energy and commitment.

Wise saying/quote!

“Two heads are better than one.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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