It’s an overcast wintery Auckland Saturday when we walk into this car yard with some pretty impressive looking wheels.  My car is way past its use by date and sorely in need of an upgrade.  With some hesitancy – not sure quite what to expect, I began my car search.   But what happened next and thereafter totally surprised me.   The customer service was nothing short of exceptional.  The net result – I ended up with something just right and had a truly delightful customer experience along the way. 

So what made this such a great experience?   Here are 7 things that we valued: Read more »

Tension, stress and relationship challenges are all part and parcel of life – work and home included. The key is not so much that these exist but how one deals with it. 

 The thing to not do is  “blow up” or wish that the issue will just go away because problems rarely  “just disappear.”  They typically fester and get bigger with time.

Here are a few tips that could help:

• Get to know yourself better. How do you typically react to relationship challenges? We all have our default way of being and reacting.  People can also be either too passive or aggressive neither of which helps.  Learn to be assertive and appropriate.  Read more »

Whether you are in a job that you enjoy or are feeling a bit stale or stuck in, adopting some of the following career management strategies will help you gain momentum:

Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. Robert Kiyosaki

1) Take a pro-active stance in being your own career manager.  If you are waiting for someone else to spot your talents and capabilities, you could be waiting forever. Become your own career manager and take action.

2) Do a realistic talent audit.  Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Get feedback from those close to you at work and home about your strengths and weaknesses.  A 360-degree feedback exercise can be very helpful here. Building on your strengths,  especially ones you enjoy,  is vital but take in  areas for development as well. If 5 out of 6 people are stating that you need to pay attention to your listening skills, they can’t all be wrong and this clearly points to the need for developmental action on your part.

3) Have your own vision and goals of what you want out of this job.  Have a few goals that will happen as part of the job rather than having to do something extra. For example, “ I want to increase my network of people who may be good mentors for me in the future. I will do this by …..(action) …..developing and maintaining good relations with my manager, workmates and customers.” Read more »

The business world is now more connected than ever before. And companies with global operations have executives who are doing business with new emerging markets – different countries with diverse cultural groups of locals and other international executives.  While the opportunities for business growth and success are immense, challenges also abound.   At a human level, no matter what the culture is and or what advancements have been made technologically, business at its heart is still about people, relationships and connectivity.

If you are doing business with people from a different culture, how do you minimize misunderstanding and faux pas and maximize good will,  co-operation and success?  How do you not only survive but thrive in a culture vastly different from yours?  In such a potentially challenging context, skills involving a keen sense of observation, attunement, genuine interest and emotional intelligence (EQ) become more poignant.  Cultural intelligence is just as important as any other technical skills relevant to your job. The good news is that this  need not be a minefield of unknowns but a journey of learning, discovery and success.  Read more »

Blindspots are those aspects of us such as our behaviour, attitude, values and beliefs that we are not even aware that we are operating or “acting out” of.  Blindspots are what others can often so clearly see in us and yet we remain oblivious to.  And blindspots can also be what gets us in trouble including career derailment. As Sir John Whitmore, author of the best selling “Coaching for Performance” and the mulitiple title holder of the British and European Motor Racing Champion puts it,  “we have a measure of choice and control over what we are aware of, but what we are unaware of controls us.” 
Read more »