What is worse than not being in the league of the best? It is not knowing that you are not.
He wasn't in that league, if he was he would have known he wasn't. It takes knowledge to realise how ignorant you are.
You have to be smart to know how dumb you are.
You have to accept your limitations and work within your performance envelope.
Knowing that you are not one of the best is no big deal. But the gracious acceptance is a gift, not everybody is happily reconciled with that fact. There is a certain grandeur in innocent mediocrity like someone who is gullible but charming.
The problem is not knowing that you are not one of the best but thinking that you are. Luckily for most people in the latter category, part of what makes them not being one of the best is that they are not pro-active and forward looking.
This simply means that their false belief won't result in too much damage for them (or their organisations). They don't do much anyway at least anything that is creative, alive, valid, unrehearsed or ad hoc.
What is worse than not being in the league of the best? It is not knowing that you are not. It is thinking that you are when you're not. Nirvana is knowing that you are not and accepting it graciously (to yourself). Hell is knowing that you are not and not accepting it and continually fighting against it. Hence the false state of mind that you are (even though that you are not) is a safe ego friendly approach to greatness. The problem is that you might rely on it to deliver you riches when it won't, for obvious reasons.
You need intellect of a high order to be able to make sense of what is going on quickly and to get involved and make a valid contribution to what is going on. If you don't have it you can't make a difference.
It actually takes someone of a high intellect to realise that they're not one of the best and do it in a way that doesn't damage their ego or distract them with anger and frustration. The very best know their limitations and know what they are best at and focus on the possible and ignore the impossible. Life coaching can help you tell the difference between the two.
Expectations management is also a function of high intellect and people skills. It takes great perception to know yourself and even greater gifts to know others especially when all you have is a face, an inscrutable expression on a face. Most people try to hide what they feel behind a wall of silence. For the perceptive that wall provides all the clues necessary to see behind it.
In a corporate environment you will often hear the expression 'there is light at the end of tunnel'. In my view light at the end of a tunnel is a false dawn, perhaps a a reason for complacency. When you see a light, the best of the best quickly build more tunnel especially whilst people aren't looking.
About Gilbert Labour
Mr Labour is a strategist, consultant, adviser, speaker and presenter on corporate restructuring, psychopathy in the workplace, life and executive coaching, project and program management, Six Sigma and Lean process improvement.
He combines all these skills in a unique combination, utilising Six Sigma and project management, to provide modern enlightened companies with truly innovative advice that will create a sustainable competitive advantage. Mr Labour exercises his skills and influence with compassion and deep understanding of the human condition especially where restructures result in overwhelming change and job loss.
He specialises in the following industries: legal and accountancy, telecommunications, transportation and aviation, banking and finance, insurance, government, IT and outsourcing and believes that his experience in these verticals is applicable across all industries, countries, languages, cultures and businesses generally. He has 30 years corporate experience in these industries.
Every single industry he specialises in (telcos, aviation, retail banking, insurance, outsourcing) faces fundamental challenges to continued survival and prosperity in the 21st Century and Mr Labour is well placed to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to uncovering insights for competitive advantage.
He sees the management of strategic, compliance and operational risk as one of the key issues facing executive managers on a daily basis. But not all companies can take advantage of formal Basel II and Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX) governance models.
For those companies that are not in the financial industry but still require strong governance around the management of operational risk, Mr Labour is an expert on creating strategies for managing operational risk supported by strong programme management structures to ensure compliance.
He has been extensively involved in process improvement initiatives within project and production environments. He has delivered Six Sigma Green and Black Belt process improvement programs that provide bottom line improvement whilst maintaining and enhancing employee morale.
He also owns and runs one of the world's most comprehensive web resources on the topic of life and executive coaching containing over 1500 pages of advice and more than 250 articles on life and executive coaching. He has also been quoted in learned papers, newspaper and magazine articles.
He has written a book on life coaching which provides an introduction to life coaching for the general public. He has also written a book on executive coaching, Executive Coaching for Process Improvement Excellence, that provides daily insights for top managers looking to succeed in today's fast paced environment.
He is also a pioneer in the field of coaching and project management having presented a landmark paper on this topic at PMISA 2004 (World Conference on Project Management) in South Africa in May, 04. His paper entitled Sane Project Management, a Life and Executive Coaching Approach has created both a new field in project management and a new area of interest and research for coaching and coaches around the world.
For PMISA 2006 (World Conference on Project Management) he has written a paper entitled Project Management and Six Sigma - a convergent and divergent model for solving business problems. He seeks to develop a theoretical and practical model to extract readily applicable business approaches from both divergence and convergence of these two disciplines.
He will explore whether coaching can facilitate the extraction of some of the benefits of this convergence? This will be continuing an exploration of the connection between coaching and project management that he first developed and presented at PMISA 2004.
Mr Labour acknowledges that in today's highly competitive and rapidly changing business environment, a busy consultant, life coach or executive coach must evince a compelling value proposition, as much for himself as for his product and service.
His unique value proposition is bringing to bear, on difficult even intractable business problems, a brilliant mix of both quantitative and qualitative approaches, embracing Six Sigma, Lean, project management, executive coaching, operational and line management.
He has a refreshing engaging and vibrant perspective on life and business in the corporate world. He is able to engage with any company in the world, within his industry expertise and beyond, and provide an assessment of the issues and problems that management suspects exists. He does this on a pro-active basis and confidentially.
He is also able to execute or be involved in the execution of any recommendations resulting from these engagements. He has previously managed large programs of work involving major restructuring, outsourcing and downsizing.
He forecasts a greater demand for people with his unique blend of skills in the future especially where established, staid inefficient companies in otherwise dynamic industries face head-on competition from more efficient home grown companies and those companies thriving in the tiger economies of China and India with their vast pool of cheap, educated and trained local talent.
Mr Labour will be holding an Executive Coaching Retreat in Mauritius between 26 September 2006 and 15 October 2006. Please contact Mr Labour for further details of the retreat. There are places for only 5 executives at this retreat which will focus on the growing opportunities in China and India.
Executive Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 72
Weakly to the city
If you are suffering working in a corporate environment and earning less than $150k a year you're wasting your time, your life, your minutes, your talent.
There is nothing more tragic than someone earning $60k and thinking the organisation depends on you and you're indispensable.
If you are going to suffer from Executive Stress at least make it worth your while.
What happens to you when you work for a large busy corporate but you have lost your verve, your energy, your prescience, your brilliance and all that is left is dull and tarnished?
If you're normally an exceptional performer or executive, a knowing corporate would engage the services of an executive coach to put you back on the right track. No one can sustain brilliant performance all the time, that is an impossibility. If you're trying, then you're trying too hard. You're trying in vain.
If you toss and turn on Sunday night in anticipation of going to the office on Monday morning, then you are the subject of this article. A corporate is no place for a weakling, for a poor performer, for a non performer, for an also ran. It is a place for winners but the distance between a winner and a loser is not huge. There are similarities: they all come to work but not all want to work once they get there. Not all know how to work when they get there. How to work the environment not work the work.
I find a lot of people visit my web site on Sunday with search terms like 'workplace stress, executive stress, burnout'. The problem is real and it is out there in all corporates. They all harbor sick people who in reality shouldn't be there but cannot be sacked or removed for one reason or another. Besides the rare case of a corporate engaging an executive coach for a formerly brilliant performer, what are some things that most people can do to alleviate a difficult, stressful situation, position or event.
If you can't afford to pay an executive coach, then become your own executive coach. But that takes very specialised knowledge and experience. It is very difficult being your own coach and do it successfully without the coach having a fool for a client. There must be some distance enabling perspective between coach and client.
When on the comeback trail, aim low (but always slightly higher than your previous position) getting back to your former heights will take time, probably lots of time. In all reality do you want to go back there and risk incurring your burn-out stage again?
There are smarter ways of going back without ever risking everything you now have. Double your performance envelope and cut by half the demands you make upon it. Of course the only way to do that is by creating the platform. This is covered fully in previous articles.
There are some things in life that just take the amount of time they do. Don't try and hurry those, they will come in their own time. If you try and force the pace you may get off track and land where you were before.
Working in a corporate environment for the best of the best is lucrative. For the just average the recompense is well average. Is that worth the heartache, mental anguish and psychiatric bills? Probably not. If you are suffering working in a corporate environment and earning less than $150k a year you're wasting your time, your life and talent.
Success in a corporate environment requires a high degree of personal leadership but I find leadership in general is very poor in corporate environments. Leadership is not about decision making it about taking risk and being rewarded for it when it comes off and taking full accountability when it doesn't.
What are the secrets to great leadership?
I return to this subject quite regularly. Why? Because there are so many facets to it, there are almost as many reasons for great leadership as there are leaders. It is such an individual thing attached to each great leader. They all great leaders in their own way.
Some use personal charisma, some use great intellect allied with great sensitivity and perception, others use their position of power to lead whilst others lead almost by accident. But what they all have in common is that they are respected and followed by men and women.
A great leader of men is someone born not made but not everybody born a leader becomes a leader. Therefore what you have been given innately needs work, needs polishing, needs practice, needs experience. It is the combination of the two that creates the potential for great leadership.
A great leader has the common touch but the common touch is not forced, it is natural and becoming but to get to the point where it is that way there is a long journey. In other ways to appear natural and unaffected takes great conscious, unnatural even effort.
That journey begins with the realisation that you have leadership potential. That realisation is the start of something good great even (perhaps).
But there needs to be a bridge, a transition from potential greatness to the reality. That bridge is mostly made from an iron will, a self belief that greatness is possible.
This bridge is formed during childhood, it is a function of the love and reinforcement received from your parents. From the nurturing that takes place (or should) during the first 10-15 years or so of life.
It is that reinforcement that provides the seed that will one day lead to greatness. But if that seed is not there, there is no self belief and there is no will to try much less to succeed. An important component of the seed is watching your parents work hard, try hard even if they do not succeed.
My father was a schoolteacher yet still had his own newspaper and printing press. He worked extraordinarily hard and that background to my life planted the seed to be the best life coach I can be in addition to being a full time project manager and a leader of men.
As a PM I use power to get things done and as a Life Coach I use influence to do the same thing. The end product is the same in either case but in reality the means are very similar too. Power and influence are the same coin just different sides.
Characteristics of great leaders
They know how to handle (retrieve/make good) the situation when things go wrong especially when things go wrong. They manage brilliantly without alienating their people.
Most poor leaders lose it when things go wrong and start blaming their people. A fatal mistake. A great leader sees a mistake as a godsend and a golden opportunity for leadership, it is what can make or break relationships with your people. You can use it as an opportunity to cement a relationship or shatter it forever.
Great leaders will not shirk their responsibilities of taking difficult decisions on the basis that they may imperil the organisation by risky projects or ventures.
Great leaders are not afraid of extending their people and their organisation by giving them difficult to achieve goals or projects. In fact that is precisely what they should do. I don't mean 'death march' projects but projects that will identify, challenge and make the best. The motto of this web site is The Best Getting Better. This is the motto in action.
About Gilbert Labour
Mr Labour is a strategist, consultant, adviser, speaker and presenter on corporate restructuring, psychopathy in the workplace, life and executive coaching, project and program management, Six Sigma and Lean process improvement.
He combines all these skills in a unique combination, utilising Six Sigma and project management, to provide modern enlightened companies with truly innovative advice that will create a sustainable competitive advantage. Mr Labour exercises his skills and influence with compassion and deep understanding of the human condition especially where restructures result in overwhelming change and job loss.
He specialises in the following industries: legal and accountancy, telecommunications, transportation and aviation, banking and finance, insurance, government, IT and outsourcing and believes that his experience in these verticals is applicable across all industries, countries, languages, cultures and businesses generally. He has 30 years corporate experience in these industries.
Every single industry he specialises in (telcos, aviation, retail banking, insurance, outsourcing) faces fundamental challenges to continued survival and prosperity in the 21st Century and Mr Labour is well placed to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to uncovering insights for competitive advantage.
He sees the management of strategic, compliance and operational risk as one of the key issues facing executive managers on a daily basis. But not all companies can take advantage of formal Basel II and Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX) governance models.
For those companies that are not in the financial industry but still require strong governance around the management of operational risk, Mr Labour is an expert on creating strategies for managing operational risk supported by strong programme management structures to ensure compliance.
He has been extensively involved in process improvement initiatives within project and production environments. He has delivered Six Sigma Green and Black Belt process improvement programs that provide bottom line improvement whilst maintaining and enhancing employee morale.
He also owns and runs one of the world's most comprehensive web resources on the topic of life and executive coaching containing over 1500 pages of advice and more than 250 articles on life and executive coaching. He has also been quoted in learned papers, newspaper and magazine articles.
He has written a book on life coaching which provides an introduction to life coaching for the general public. He has also written a book on executive coaching, Executive Coaching for Process Improvement Excellence, that provides daily insights for top managers looking to succeed in today's fast paced environment.
He is also a pioneer in the field of coaching and project management having presented a landmark paper on this topic at PMISA 2004 (World Conference on Project Management) in South Africa in May, 04. His paper entitled Sane Project Management, a Life and Executive Coaching Approach has created both a new field in project management and a new area of interest and research for coaching and coaches around the world.
For PMISA 2006 (World Conference on Project Management) he is presenting a paper entitled Project Management and Six Sigma - a convergent and divergent model for solving business problems. He seeks to develop a theoretical and practical model to extract readily applicable business approaches from both divergence and convergence of these two disciplines.
He will explore whether coaching can facilitate the extraction of some of the benefits of this convergence? This will be continuing an exploration of the connection between coaching and project management that he first developed and presented at PMISA 2004.
Mr Labour acknowledges that in today's highly competitive and rapidly changing business environment, a busy consultant, life coach or executive coach must evince a compelling value proposition, as much for himself as for his product and service.
His unique value proposition is bringing to bear, on difficult even intractable business problems, a brilliant mix of both quantitative and qualitative approaches, embracing Six Sigma, Lean, project management, executive coaching, operational and line management.
He has a refreshing engaging and vibrant perspective on life and business in the corporate world. He is able to engage with any company in the world, within his industry expertise and beyond, and provide an assessment of the issues and problems that management suspects exists. He does this on a pro-active basis and confidentially.
He is also able to execute or be involved in the execution of any recommendations resulting from these engagements. He has previously managed large programs of work involving major restructuring, outsourcing and downsizing.
He forecasts a greater demand for people with his unique blend of skills in the future especially where established, staid inefficient companies in otherwise dynamic industries face head-on competition from more efficient home grown companies and those companies thriving in the tiger economies of China and India with their vast pool of cheap, educated and trained local talent.
Mr Labour will be holding an Executive Coaching Retreat in Mauritius between 26 September 2006 and 15 October 2006. Please contact Mr Labour for further details of the retreat. There are places for only 5 executives at this retreat which will focus on the growing opportunities in China and India.
Executive Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 9
Process Improvement (PI)
The management consultants can show the way but it is the people on the ground who relish and welcome change who have to create the change it and there are too few of these already
An organisation with say 20-25 brilliant middle managers who are exceptional change agents can do well in the new world of 2010
Nothing causes more argument and angst in an organisation than this subject. It is perceived (perhaps rightly) as a distraction from the day to day business of the business and beside the purpose for the existence of the business. Wrong. PI is the business or one day soon there will be no business. People don't want to
do it and those that do hate it mostly.
In an organisation there are the EXECs (and senior managers) who champion and sponsor the change they want change but won't do the bottom up changes required to make it happen but they will take the credit and the reward when (if) it does. There are the middle managers where the ranks of the change agents need to come from
but there are vast vested interests at work putting a brake on change at that level, the people who are middle managers and making change happen are too few. Finally there are your day workers, your drones they have absolutely no interest in making any change happen so there is no point in looking in their ranks for the change agents.
Working in these constipated spaces are the management consultants, the laxative of the corporate world. They work at the EXEC level putting in place the program and the governance for change but they cannot make the change happen which must come from the too few middle managers who are the only ones who can make change happen by changing things
on the shop floor. An organisation with say 20-25 brilliant middle managers who are change agents can do well in the new world of 2010.
Executive Coaching contributes to and makes possible PI and PI improves the P&L, cost centre bottom line and operational KPIs. That's it sweet and simple. There is no other truer connection in the corporate world. But the problem is that the real world needs to change (operationally) for the numbers to work.
For example if you reduce your household spending budget by 10% you need to cut your consumption and costs by 10% meaning less soft drink or restaurant meals.
Process improvement must connect with and be directed by (and directs) the P&L. There is no other way to ensure PI sticks. It is not enough to improve processes and systems in a vacuum. This vacuum must be filled by the financial aspects of each process improvement effort. Having said that, a PI effort cannot be directed by a management or cost accountant at heart. They have
no imagination, no vision, no innovation in their bones. They are as dry as dessicated coconuts. For PI you need creative and innovative geniuses in the work context. These are few and far between.
It must be directed by a PI professional trained in the Six Sigma methodology. Why? Because at the heart of process improvement is the reduction of defects to an infinitesimal figure and removing waste within the process which is underlying to and underneath the financials associated with the process. The process is fuelled by finance but it is the people involved at the technical, operational
and project management level of the process that can change it.
Can it rightly be said that after PI the same business exists as it did before? No I would say, what now exists is probably a more efficient organisation needing new management and senior staff. The former managers and senior staff simply won't cut it in the new organisation. That much is crystal clear. They will oversee the carnage but will not be there to pick up the 'pieces'. A new management
team needs to be brought in, fresh and without the scars of the cuts made to the former organisation and the associated residual pain and ill feeling that lingers after any major re-structure.
PI will cause fear (of the unknown) and pain (when the unknown becomes known) and it affects someone deeply on a personal level.
About Gilbert Labour. Mr Labour is founding President of the Life Coaching Association of Australia (LCAA). In pursuit of his worldwide life and executive coaching activities he is hosting an Executive Coaching Retreat (ECR) and Workshop in Mauritius in June, 05. This has not been affected by the recent events in South-East Asia.
Life Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 10
Obesity and the roller coaster ride from nadir to zenith and back
There are five journeys in obesity, which one are you on now?
Why are there obese people when there are people starving in the world? Is obesity a medical problem rather than
one of lack of self-control or perhaps even one using food for sexual/sensual gratification for masking (?) the real problems?
How successful is someone who is 250 kilos at 'masking' or hiding the problem?
The five journeys is obesity are -
Getting there becoming obese, this is the easiest journey of all and happens almost without you knowing. This journey is on the road to death.
Staying there at a steady weight, this is a hard journey because the tendency is to put on more weight not less. This journey is a slow death.
The next journey is one into hell and that is on the road to putting on more and more weight. This is the last journey these people even embark on.
This journey ends in death.
The penultimate journey and the one with the most difficulty starting is the road back away from obesity. The enormous journey back is not the problem
but the first step back, the first gram lost. This journey is not a journey of weight loss but a journey to lose the fears and problems that the weight gain had
temporarily put on the back burner. This second last journey is the life coaching journey and has much less to do with weight loss, exercise and fitness and more to do with
facing problems in their real intensity and fury perhaps for the first time since the decision taken to embark on the first journey.
The last journey and that is to keep the weight at the target weight after the massive task of weight loss because again the tendency is to put the weight back on
even faster than before and much much faster than it was lost. For every gram lost a kilo is put on.
Work with a life coach who understands your weight problem is not a weight problem but a personal problem posing, impersonating a weight problem. Someone who knows which
journey you are on and can make sure you either move to the next healthy journey or stay at the healthy journey you're on.
New Life Coaching Service Model - All Inclusive Platinum Service
Product Features
One new low totally all inclusive monthly fee ($400 AUS) - currently this is $500 AUS. Saving $100 AUS per month.
No contracts whatsoever, pay as you go month by month. Start when you want, stop when you want. No questions asked.
No need to furnish more than your first name. No notes taken during any sessions and no personal identifying details asked for, required or noted down.
Coaching can take place exclusively by phone and/or internet but it is preferred that an initial one on one session take place but this is not essential.
All inclusive, no exclusions, all services available (as per below).
Paid once a month at the beginning of the month (non refundable if cancelled during month).
Entitled to the full range of services (one on one, SMS, Mobile, Phone, ICQ, MSN Messenger, MS Netmeeting) on an as required basis. But does not
include CD and video conferencing products.
Use as much of the service as you require but please note as coaching is a relationship which requires and places responsibility on you to complete
agreed upon tasks, there will be regular scheduled feedback and catchup sessions. These are usually by phone or ICQ.
Clearly articulated and set goals such as embarking on a new career, changing careers, developing new small business, creating small business growth,
preparation for retirement, developing additional income in/for retirement.
These services include small business development coaching, product development and promotion, and press release preparation.
Payment and services commences in the calendar month of first payment and lasts till the end of the next month, then regular monthy payments commence on the 1st of each month thereafter (for example) ---
Paid 1 month on 15th of July - $400
Payment due on 1st August - Nil
Payment due on 1st September - $400
Payment and services terminates at the end of the calendar month of the last payment as follows (for example) ---
Payment made on 1st October - $400
Decision to cancel made 4th October and notice to do so received on that day or any day within the month
No refund policy but services available until 31st October if required
No further payments then required due to cancellation
The Platinum Life Coaching Product is now the only life coaching product available aside from
tailored programs and the featured programs.
50% Discount for bona fide students. The fee for students is $200 per month.
You will receive an exceptional level of service and care from one of the best life coaches practicing today.
Coaching Programs
555 Program
The 555 Program is complementary to the 333 Program and is part of a family of programs called The Numbered Series, a simplification of a plethora of products, services and programs into
a number of specifically targeted set of programs that target a very specific audience with a limited amount of time and resources to devote to a life and executive coaching program. The programs
covers a set of goals over a set period for a specific (one time only) fee.
The key goals of the 555 Program is to be able to run 5k in 5 months, to solve 5 life coaching issues or problems in 5 months and to investigate and resolve 5 executive coaching problems
in 5 months.
Life Coaching Portal Programs
Beyond the existing Diamond program being run on the portal, a series of additional programs are being developed to be run for specific audiences and which have very clear targets and goals.
These include the following.
The 555 Program
Gilbert Labour, will personally run this program. It will probably take in the region of 10 suitable people and run for 5 months. The program is multi-faceted and covers three main streams a fitness stream, a life coaching stream
dealing with personal issues and an executive stream to supercharge your work, business and corporate environment.
The first stream is a fitness element. The goal is to be able to run 5k (non stop) in five months and be able to lose 5 kilos in the process. This is a modest achievement and is considered a healthy approach to fitness generally.
I am a former fitness instructor and dance teacher and can provide guidance in this area. You will need a clearance from your doctor if you're over 45.
The second stream is a life coaching element. The goal of the life coaching is to investigate a number of current personal issues and focus on 5 for resolution in 5 months. One to be resolved or at least worked on each month.
The third stream is an executive coaching element. The goal of this element is to come up with five goals or issues to be dealt with in the 5 months of the program. These could involve working towards a promotion, changing jobs, changing careers,
leaving the corporate environment and developing a small business. For the hard core executives and other corporate thrivers and survivors there will be a number of areas that include executive interview training and executive decision making that can be covered.
There are many others and these can be chosen based on your current goals. The aim of this stream is canvass all the possibilities and focus on only 5 and work through each one.
The cost of the program varies. To take part on a one-on-one basis with Gilbert Labour will cost $5000. To take part in a group setting will cost $2000. Individual programs can start at anytime considered suitable.
To provide this program on a company wide basis (more than 10 people), please call Gilbert Labour for a quote.
Please call Gilbert Labour on 0409 223 436 if you would like to take part. Further information on the 555 Program is available from the portal.
General Information
I also do a small amount of pro-bono work in the area of life coaching. I belong to the Life Coaching Pro Bono Group (LCPBG), a group of life coaches I am putting together to do this type of work for people in need but who may not be able to afford the services of a full fee life coach. We make allowances for your circumstances and also on the understanding that once you're back on your
feet, your capacity to contribute to your life coaching will also improve.
Generally speaking, we will set clear goals, we will put in place plans to attain those goals, we will execute the plan effectively. We will monitor and survey the results and ensure our goals are met. In most cases, we will envelope what we are trying to achieve into a coaching programme.
I operate flexibly taking into account the needs of the client as we progress with the programme.
Please call me on my mobile (0409 223 436) for a confidential discussion to begin the journey of self discovery.
Linking to My Site - send me details of your URL. Please note I will only link to your site if your site appears on the search engines already. When you send details of your site, please advise
which search engines the site appears on. If you do not follow this rule, I will delete your request immediately. Please also no "home business" or no content web sites or those that use those robotised
link lists.
