Gilbert Labour's Life Coaching New Year Message for 2007
Don't make New Year Resolutions you will break in the first week of 2007. If it matters to you, make resolutions you will keep for the rest of your life.
2006 has been a tumultuous year for the world. The life coaching movement can only but mimic what else is going on in the world. After all it can't be any more real than real life. Everywhere people are in crisis and not just in Africa or the Middle East.
In many western countries job conditions are under attack partially as a result of the competition from the mega economies of China and India but also because home economies and companies are being run inefficiently.
One way forward is to cut worker's conditions and wages but that does not necessarily solve the problem for inefficient companies. They still need to compete with India/China whose wages and conditions and cost structure generally are even lower.
Conservative governments are acquiescent in this complicity to deprive workers of their rights fully understanding that lowering worker's conditions, if it ever was a solution, was only going to be a part of the solution.
It may be even compounding the problem by allowing inefficient companies to pick low hanging fruit and not forcing them to focus on fundamental industry wide reform.
With this as background, what is the life coaching outlook for 2007?
Life coaching is and still remains elitist. Generally speaking it is a movement driven by and consumed by professionals with IT professionals at the forefront of industry development and consumption. This is necessarily so because it is a movement directed via the internet so IT skills to setup web sites is key and the people who surf these sites are professionals in the main.
Secondly it is a service almost exclusively consumed by professionals because the fees charged, typically $130-180 per hour, are very high and out of reach of normal workers on average wages/salaries. But this needs to change. Lower paid workers are in crisis and need professional help and support beyond their families and immediate support group. High achievement should be your aim but you can't achieve in the face of punishing and difficult work places.
The solution is to use the methods and techniques of life coaching to overcome existing obstacles and put in place a plan for success in 2007. These include putting in place a platform for performance, controlling mental and physical health issues and using your creativity to provide you with more choices in your personal, business and work life. These strategies are outlined in my new book Corporate Psychopathy - Death in the Workplace.
About Gilbert Labour
Gilbert Labour is a life and executive coach practicing in Australia. He has had, for a number of years, a leading web site dedicated to these subjects. So far his web site has experienced over 16,000 hits so he can claim to be influential on a worldwide basis in this area.
His hits come mainly from the US, UK, Europe and Australia/NZ where life and executive coaching is at its zenith. That is no accident. It is the developed countries who have put effort into developing this once nascent movement into the global powerhouse it is today.
Mr Labour has been extremely influential in this growth by assuming a leadership role in a number of areas including corporate psychopathy and in the 'power v influence' debate. He has written, published and presented papers on such wide ranging but related subjects as project management, six sigma, executive coaching and corporate psychopathy.
He has provided input to newspaper articles, learned papers, novels and generally participated in the debate raging on the net about the destructive power of corporate psychopathy on the well being of organisations. This book is based primarily around on a series of executive coaching tips and techniques from his web site.
Mr Labour is available to consult with organisations worldwide on the subjects canvassed in this book including corporate psychopathy, corporate culture, creating high performance organisations, and changing organisations using innovation & creativity.
He is also available to life coach employees or groups of employees on strategies to overcome obstacles and to put in place a successful plan for achieving independence in 2007.
Life and Executive Coaching Ideas and Thoughts Part II
If you enter the words life coaching in the google search engine you will receive something like 32, 900, 000 hits (32.9 million hits). This web site is ranked no. 10 in that ranking. That is an amazing achievement. What is great about this web site is it is about life coaching not a brochure advertising services. You can get value from this web site just be reading it. The best companies, investment banks, universities and business schools in the world can't be wrong. Psychology departments of leading universities visit this web site. It is a unique presence on the web of my invention but it is a concoction that is soulful and nutritious.
Handling the silence at work when your best friend is gone. How do you survive the emptiness? What can stop you drifting aimlessly? Wandering aimlessly? This is about how to get your focus and (low) intensity back. But remember there is always a price to pay for high intensity if that was your former state.
Always expecting perfection from yourself, 24 x 7 x 365. Living your life problem free, guilt free and substance abuse free. When all the ducks are lined up all the time. What is wrong with this picture? It is simply unsustainable no matter how good you are, no matter how fit you are, no matter how good a performer you have been previously in your life.
Do you get the feeling sometimes that you're wasting your time and even when you're not you're still wasting your time? How do you confront and challenge that perception in such a way that you either demolish it or acknowledge it?
When an organisation is reduced to 'jobs for the boys' then you know it has reached the end of its current growth lifecycle and it is entering the decaying period. This can go on to its inevitable conclusion or as soon as it is realised, the next phase can begin. That is to break the organisation and rebuild from scratch.
The secret to being good great at anything is longevity and health. Longevity so you can experience the highs and lows many times over. Win and lose many times maybe even the same scenario each time. Health so that you can impart your knowledge to others after your nth recovery.
Human beings do not really learn from their mistakes until they have made the same mistake 5 times.
When caught in a rut, innovate, use networking, write and present papers, attend conferences. Develop story and business ideas above all don't stop working. Overnight success is just around the corner (after 5 years hard slog).
There are people who are born to be great at everything they do and superlative at one or two things they really concentrate on. That is not the majority. For most, to be successful, hard work and guidance is the key especially the latter.
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 29 May 06 and June 11 06. Further details on the retreat will be made available as they are finalised.
Life Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 117
Life and Executive Coaching Ideas and Thoughts Part I
Never bad mouth anyone in an email (personal or business) no matter how much they deserve it. Email is not a tool of vengeance. Email is essentially a useless tool, good for not much at all.
If you have a reached a stage where you have a developed a strong discipline and a good physical platform even though that is a good end in itself, it is what you do with it that will decide how successful you are. Once this is in place what is important is not the 'how' but the 'what' as you have already fine tuned the how.
If you have been flagging something with management for several months and every time you ask they say 'out of scope' or 'no work involved' or not part of your job/work, what do you do when they belatedly come to you and say 'ah we've now discovered there is something for you to do after all'. Say nothing, do nothing. Wait. The power is on your side. You decide the shape of the solution and the intensity and strength of your response (if any).
Living your corporate life via email. I used to know a manager who would not start a conversation, a coffee break, a lunch or anything really without first checking his email for 'zingers'. Emails that could damage, hurt or humiliate him. Loser.
This is not what corporate life is about. Running, hiding, ducking and weaving and presenting sideon whilst wearing a coat of armour. If email is life and death, then the corporate life is not worth living. It's not as if you can be born or die by email. Does it? In corporates forget emails and start living, conversing, communicating.
What is so good about creating a head of stream and going for it? Even when you start to run out of steam, others helping you will pick up the pace and carry you along with it. But always noting that what you are being carried along is your own set pace, direction and energy in the first place. What comes around goes around.
What is corporate culture? Is it something ephemeral something outside people's consciousness that just is, whatever the 'is' is. Is it a spirit, a corp d'esprit. Is it something physical like another building not the one we're currently in.
Is it something created by one person and shared with others? Or created by many and shared with others? Is it created by many and only experienced by one person? Is it an external or internal reputation? What we're 'famous' for? Who owns the truth in the corporate culture stakes? Is there a single truth? Does the CEO decide what the corporate culture is? Or is it decided subconsciously by the employees themselves without even knowing.
Why risk analysis is not a good basis for decision making by project managers. Fools and cowards hide behind risk analysis. Analysis paralysis. Real project managers make decisions, risk analysis is a methodology for those too afraid, too frightened to make wrong decisions, to make mistakes. Risk analysis is about what can go wrong but it should be about what can go right?
People who are cranky and upset coming to work and who wreak havoc at every turn. Who are short-tempered and fly off the handle. Welcome to any typical corporate anywhere in the world (perhaps Japan excepted but then this is sublimated into subservience and still needs to find an outlet).
What the best way of managing a career transition? I mean the logistics of a career transition once you have a new position to go to? Some people really stuff this up and end up being asked to leave early and missing out on pay. What are the key drivers for a successful transition strategy? Keep it quiet till the last possible moment.
I have found over the years staying longer for an extended handover period is pure useless for you. It has absolutely no return. So go when you want to go. Forget the old employer, they are history. You'll only ever remember it in the last 60 seconds of your life when your life flashes before you.
I have also found starting early for your new employer (especially at no pay) is also absolutely useless. All it does is show that you are desperate to make a good impression (and you're a pushover) and your gesture won't be appreciated by your new 'slack' colleagues.
Working with people who are so brilliant that none can keep up with them either with the quality of their work or with their amazing productivity. This is not about gaining high performance or sustaining it but about how to integrate such a performer within a team environment? Corporates are about working within teams and teams are held back by their strongest link not by their weakest. The weak just get brushed aside.
What is the value of loyalty in a corporate environment? Put simply loyalty is the fulcrum by which all great relationships within a corporate environment are based. Around loyalty gathers trust, ease and affection creating the strongest of bonds.
A great idea whose time has come but what if the company is not ready? What if to all intents and purposes the technology is an easy fit but the people, the hierarchies, the power blocks, the silos see this as a threat to their power bases perhaps because this product requires cross border support thereby diluting their monopoly?
brilliance@work. There is no point being so brilliant that nobody can work with you, keep up with you or even understand you. There is a place for brilliance in a corporate environment if it is sublimated into a corporate goal, if it is understated, if it is well hidden, if it is not on show all the time, if it is used to power the internal engine only.
Taking exception to someone's flippant remarks. Between customer and client?
Why is it a distraction? Because the customer is paying for a serious dedication to the job at hand. But really deep down it is a crock.
Managers who work their staff to death. Those managers who deliberately overwork their subordinates, who give them far more than they are able to do in the allotted amount of time. Why do they do it?
It is illegal (as against Occupational Health and Safety regulations) in some countries for managers to knowingly/intentionally give their staff too much to do, extraordinarily too much and expect them to complete in a ordinary allocation of time.
What happens inside a company when everybody around you is plain useless and don't have your high energy level and when you try to get things moving and prod people your manager is told to pull you into line. Are you caught between a rock and a hard place? It is easy to reduce your energy level to the status quo but why should you?
When a much loved colleague leaves, it is a sad time. Work relationships are really the same as personal relationships some with the same intensity perhaps even more. So there is a period of grieving and feeling of loss. Especially if this person is a natural performer and coach and a beacon for his colleagues. Someone who is the light and the way.
Managers who skip the detail. Where something may appear logically right but factually wrong. There are people who think they can work out the detail just from a few snippets of the top level. There are people who can work out the top level just from a few snippets of the detail. The key is knowing which one are you? The former are minuscule in number. Are you one of those geniuses?
About Gilbert Labour
Mr Labour is a strategist, consultant, adviser, speaker and presenter on psychopathy in the workplace, life coaching, executive coaching, project and program management, Six Sigma process improvement and people management.
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 29 May 06 and June 11 06. Further details on the retreat will be made available as they are finalised.
Life Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 116
That warm glow Part II
You know sometimes you wake in the morning and you instantly feel you're n the right track, something reminds you that everything is well and working out for you.
Where does this belief come from? Where does this reassurance come from? More importantly, how do you know if this belief is validly held? That is, it is something that will provide you with medium to long term benefit beside just short term gratification.
What is the secret of getting that feeling and most importantly how can you be sure that at the bottom of this feeling is something rock solid, stable, long lasting and sustainable?
You get this feeling if you are doing something you have planned for a long time to do. But that is not enough. How do you know if this feeling is a harbinger of continuing/future success or just a chimera?
The connection between the albeit temporary feeling and something more rock solid is one that most people don't make. If they just have the first one, they are perceived as erratic. If they have just the other, they are perceived as staid, conservative and boring.
How can you be pro-active and enthused yet still with your feet firmly planted on the ground. This is a very difficult balancing act. This comes about when there is an understanding that for you to fly you need to have on board 4 big solid reliable boring engines. There is no other path to sustained flight.
About Gilbert Labour
Mr Labour is a strategist, consultant, adviser, speaker and presenter on psychopathy in the workplace, life coaching, executive coaching, project and program management, Six Sigma process improvement and people management.
He combines all these skills in a brilliant 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 140 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, Life Coaching for DODOs, 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 he is presenting a paper entitled
Project Management and Six Sigma - a convergent and divergent model. 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 a world's first life coaching retreat in Mauritius in November, 06. This will be a gathering of coaches and their clients from around the world in the first gathering of its type.
Its purpose will be for coaches to network with other coaches and for clients to share their general coaching experience with other clients and coaches. All in the world's most beautiful holiday destination.
Further details will be made available as they are finalised. This conference as yet untitled will be hosted by the Life Coaching Association of Australia (LCAA).
Life Coaching Tips and Techniques No. 115
To CG: A Study in Malice and Malevolence
Some people are born evil but they hide it behind their beauty
Beautiful but evil
To trust this person, to allow this person into your life is to introduce a cancer, a slow decay that will ruin all peace and quiet.
How do you recognise this person? Their modus operandi is to use their beauty/attractiveness to lure unsuspecting people into their web.
To entangle them emotionally. When the binds have well and truly bitten into the flesh and got a firm hold, the trap is sprung.
That trap could be a number of things, all destined to lacerate and destroy you.
Why do they do this? The reasons why they do this is probably not intimately known to themselves just a compunction a compulsion to hurt others, especially those who love them.
Why this desire to destroy, to self-destruct as it is behavior that is destined to smash everything around them? Self-loathing has a lot to do with it.
I think key to understanding (and avoiding this person and the consequences) is to realise that their behavior is not understandable from normal human interactions and behavioral mores. They are emotional psychopaths unable to comprehend
the depths of suffering they thrust people into.
About Gilbert Labour
Mr Labour is a strategist, consultant, adviser, speaker and presenter on psychopathy in the workplace, life coaching, executive coaching, project and program management, Six Sigma process improvement and people management.
He combines all these skills in a brilliant 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 140 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, Life Coaching for DODOs, 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 he is presenting a paper entitled
Project Management and Six Sigma - a convergent and divergent model. 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 a world's first life coaching retreat in Mauritius in November, 06. This will be a gathering of coaches and their clients from around the world in the first gathering of its type.
Its purpose will be for coaches to network with other coaches and for clients to share their general coaching experience with other clients and coaches. All in the world's most beautiful holiday destination.
Further details will be made available as they are finalised. This conference as yet untitled will be hosted by the Life Coaching Association of Australia (LCAA).
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.
