by Gopal Ramasammy-Cook (Career-Creative Coach, ZestWare)
I am looking forward to a full day workshop with Nick Williams on November 1st, and decided to add his excellent videos based on his book, The Work You Were Born To Do to my growing list of resources.
by Gopal Ramasammy-Cook (Career-Creative Coach, ZestWare)
In this video, Teresa Halleck, CEO of Golden 1 Credit Union, is interviewed about her career in banking. Golden 1 is the largest credit union in the state of California. Note how her first job was as a cashier in a drugstore at the age of 16, the lessons she learned about customer/client care, and the diversity of the work she did before she settled on the banking industry and rose to "the top of the ranks".
by Gopal Ramasammy-Cook (Career-Creative Coach, ZestWare)
The following are some of the actual or perceived difficulties people experience in their work and careers, and for which they seek career coaching. Do any of these apply to you?
Inability to create a good CV/Resume
Inability to prepare for interviews
Career Transition
Too much responsibility
Lack of self-knowledge
Unsettling changes at work
Inability to deal with change
Inappropriate micro-management
Unclear reporting lines (More than one boss)
Aggressive boss
Poor relationship with colleagues
Inability to manage problem subordinates
Poor understanding of different personality/social types
A job for which the client is unsuited
Lack of control over the job
Barriers to doing the job well (no support, delays to get access to computer data)
Excess competitiveness
Ambiguity in work requirements
Inability to plan
Poor time management
Inability to prioritize
Excessive work load
Quality failure due to constant fire fighting
Inability to create a good CV/Resume
Inability to prepare for interviews
Career Transition
Too much responsibility
Unsettling changes at work
Inability to deal with change
Inability to say NO
Inappropriate micro-management
Unclear reporting lines (More than one boss)
Hostile boss
Poor relationship with colleagues
Inability to manage problem subordinates
Poor understanding of different personality/social types
A job for which the client is unsuited
Lack of control over the job
Barriers to doing the job well (no support, delays to get access to computer data)
Excess competitiveness
Ambiguity in work requirements
Inability to plan
Poor time management
Inability to prioritize
Barriers to expressing creativity at work
Excessive work load
Constant fire fighting and quality failure
Bullying or sexual harassment
Inability to research career possibilities
Responsibility without authority
Lack of training
Inability to delegate
Work not stimulating or challenging enough
Threat of redundancy
Mismatch of organizational and personal values
Inability to ask for help
Inability to communicate well
If you've experienced any of these difficulties or any others which are not mentioned here, please post a comment and let me know.
by Gopal Ramasammy-Cook (Career-Creative Coach, ZestWare)
These are some useful and perhaps counter-intuitive insights I gained from watching Marcus Buckingham's class on Oprah. Buckingham is author of Go Put Your strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance and co-author of First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. He also used to be a senior researcher with The Gallup Organization, and co-created the Strengths-based approach to management that is now gaining wider acceptance.
We grow and learn MOST in our areas of greatest STRENGTH.
Your strengths are not necessarily all those things that you are very good at. They are those activities that STRENGTHEN you - i.e. make you feel STRONG rather than draining your energy.
Each one of us is the BEST judge of what our own strengths are. To find out, focus on how the activity makes you FEEL. Drawn to it before. Absorbed during. Energized afterwards.
Focus on GROWING your STRENGTHS and manage around your weaknesses. As parents, managers, and workers, most of us do the opposite. We spend most of our time and energy trying to remedy weaknesses in ourselves or others, and take the strengths for granted.
The following video fragment provides a very insightful perspective:
by Gopal Ramasammy-Cook (Career-Creative Coach, ZestWare)
The word flow was first used to describe the state of energized immersion in the process of one's work by the positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. People who are metaphoricallyin the flow feel as if they are being carried along by a current of water. The following are some of the attributes of such a flow experience:
self-consciousness disappears
hours seem to pass like minutes
clear understanding of goals at every step
good balance between challenge and skill
sense of presence and being absorbed in the activity
sense of control over the activity
distractions are filtered out
no self-consciousness
intrinsic reward
deep concentration and focus
no concern about failure
immediate feedback from the activity itself
In the following video clip, James Lillis tells us how to achieve flow in three easy steps (challenge, clarity, and feedback), as well as demonstrating a pretty nifty percussion game.
