What is a Coach (and Why Would I Want One?)

 While many people have heard of coaching, few have a clear understanding of exactly what a coach is and does. This prevents people from getting appropriate support for life changes. As a coach the most common thing I hear from people is, “I’m not really sure what a coach does or how they could help me.” 

What is coaching?

Coaching is not the same as consulting nor the same as therapy, but it takes elements from each discipline to create its own unique method. A coach works with individuals who are focused on making changes in their lives. While a therapist may seek to diagnose and treat a client, coaches work under the assumption that their clients are whole, healthy individuals. Coaches ask thought-provoking questions that challenge clients. They create collaborative and individualized strategies, set goals, and keep the client focused on the future.

What happens when someone hires a coach?

While each coach has a unique style and approach, most expect clients to commit to working with them for a set period. This can vary from anywhere between 4-18 months – depending on the changes that the client intends to make. Some coaches meet with clients in person, but many hold coaching sessions over Zoom or the phone. During those sessions the coach will ask probing questions, serve as a sounding board, offer an outside perspective, help maintain motivation, provide strategies, set goals, and ensure accountability. 

What can a coach help with?

Coaches help individuals move forward. They guide business owners as they strategize for growth. They partner with professionals seeking to develop their career path, manage a workplace environment, launch a new business, or find work-life balance. They help students discover career aspirations and plan educational paths. Coaches offer support to individuals seeking to improve relationships, focus on their health and well-being, change their mindset, or alter habits. Essentially, coaches help people create change – even if they don’t quite know what that change is yet.

Is coaching right for me?

Not everyone is a great fit for coaching. Coaches typically like to partner with individuals who have a desire to learn and grow. Ideal clients make a commitment to changing and arrive with some level of motivation to make that change. Since it’s a collaborative process, it’s also important that the coach and the client have good chemistry and feel like the partnership is a good fit. 

At Bauman Consulting Group, we provide both individual and group coaching to help people achieve their personal and professional goals. Find out more at www.baumanconsultinggroup.com.

3 Tips for Attracting Your Boss’s Attention While Working Remotely

There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has changed many things about the way we live and work. Many of us have been relegated to working remotely, which comes with a variety of challenges. Among those, being physically absent from your office makes it harder to be “seen” by your boss.  This lack of visibility may make it more difficult to stay on track for key assignments and promotions or to stand out in performance reviews. 

When bosses can’t see and monitor you, they may think you’re not being productive or less motivated than usual. Remote workers can easily fall off the radar of supervisors, themselves dealing with the challenges managing during a pandemic brings. 

The following tips are good practices in general, but especially important when working from home. 

Take initiative. 

Don’t wait to be asked to contribute. Be proactive when it comes to problem solving and idea pitching. Volunteer to take on projects others may pass up or that keep ending up on the trash heap of forgotten ideas. Bosses love it when employees do things before being asked. Consistently deliver quality results that get noticed. 

Communicate. 

Make sure your physical absence doesn’t equate to a communication absence. If anything, over-communicate. Speak up and proactively participate in calls and online meetings rather than fading into the background. Make regular calls and emails to your supervisor. Initiating regular check-ins with your boss can open an ongoing dialogue that gives you the opportunity to highlight your work and successes. 

Stretch yourself. 

Just because you’re working remotely doesn’t mean you can’t pursue professional development. Whether it’s undertaking an industry certification or attending an online conference, there are ample opportunities to participate in virtual career training, networking and professional growth. 

Take this time to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Learn a new skill – like a technology or process - that normally would fall outside of your area of interest of expertise. Volunteer to take on a difficult task such as leading a project or chairing a committee. 

 Demonstrate your ability to be a team player. Seek the opportunity to collaborate with others either in your department or across disciplines to meet a challenge or create an out-of-the box solution. Those who can successfully drive cooperative problem-solving tend to get recognized by organization leadership.

 At Bauman Consulting Group, we provide both individual and group coaching to help people achieve their personal and professional goals. Find out more at www.baumanconsultinggroup.com.

Choose to Make the Pandemic a Growth Opportunity for Yourself

This COVID-19 crisis has radically changed our lives. Just a few months ago, we had no idea our 'world' would be confined to our homes!

This crisis is a powerful reminder of how much we need human connection! 

Remember you are not alone. Because what is DIFFERENT here is that everyone is impacted! Your neighbor, mom, boss and friends as well as your counterparts around the world are all going through something similar.

So, it's important to remember:

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor E. Frankl

This is the challenge each of us must rise to! If we're going to be stuck at home, we may as well make the most of it.

Here Are 15 Things You Can do to Make Your Life Better while Physically Isolated:

1) Create a Healthy, Supportive Routine

When we feel powerless or helpless (as so many of us do at the moment), one EXTREMELY easy thing to do is to create a routine or schedule.

While we're all stuck in anxiously waiting at home, it's easy to lose our sense of time. Days can begin to blend into each other. A routine can give us an anchor and greater sense of control over our lives. And if you have children, creating a routine is especially important to give them a sense of normality.

This routine or schedule can be as simple as:

• 7am - Wake-up

• 8am - Breakfast

• 10am - Exercise

• 11am - Talk to friends

• 12.00pm - Lunch

• 1-4pm - Learning or a home project

• 5pm - Make & Eat Dinner

• 7pm - Talk to close family

• 8pm - Reading, Journaling

• 10pm - Bed

Be sure to include food preparation, social time, exercise and outdoor time and some learning or creativity so you get some benefit from this challenging time.

It's also important to recognize weekends because it's too easy for weeks to blur together. So, make a looser schedule for your weekends. For example, you could include:

• Sleeping in/later bedtime

• Brunch

• "Treats"

• Movie night with popcorn

• A virtual happy hour with friends or colleagues

• A larger project, perhaps some art, craft, gardening or home redecoration.

So, create a routine for a sense of control and mastery over your environment and life circumstances. Reclaim what power you can over your own life, because with all this uncertainty it's important for you - and especially important for children - to have predictability.

2) Build Your Physical Strength, Fitness Levels or Flexibility!

Building your physical strength is powerful and health-boosting! Not only is physical strength and flexibility life-affirming and good for our health, but feeling more physically powerful actually helps us feel more empowered and less helpless in life too!

So add some physical activity into your schedule - as little as 15 minutes daily. Maybe by the end of this you'll be fitter or even be able to do 10 (or 100!) press-ups!

There are many options to boost your physical strength and health. Here are some ideas:

• Take up a yoga practice - excellent for strength-building, flexibility - and calm! There are lots of online options. Here is one with everything from 10 minutes for beginners to an advanced practice. Sarah Beth Yoga on YouTube has more (free) yoga videos than I can count

• Learn do a press-up or push-up. Then see if you can get to 10 (or more - depending on where you start)!

• There are so many online fitness classes on YouTube - for beginners, experts - with equipment and also with no equipment whatsoever. PopSugar Fitness has many options to choose from.

• Walk at Home is a great option for in home walking – no matter what your fitness level is! 

REMEMBER: BEing stronger = FEELING stronger and more in control! And building your PHYSICAL strength or fitness = REDUCED feelings of helplessness!

3) Learn with Non-Fiction Books:

Use this time at home to educate yourself with non-fiction books. There is so much to be gained - like self-confidence, negotiation skills, health (sleep, nutrition), how to have difficult conversations and much more.

What keeps you up at night? There's probably a book about that! What do you wish you were better at? There's probably a book about that too!

Here are some book ideas to get you thinking:

• Be more productive or creative with "The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore or "A Whack on the Side of the Head (How You Can Be More Creative)" by Roger Von Oech and "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink.

• Think (or rethink?) how you live with books like "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan (also available in a young reader's version), "Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures" by Carlo Petrini, "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich, "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth.

• Get personally inspired with "Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts" and "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown, or "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl.

• Up-skill yourself with "Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most" by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen.

• Learn about the human mind with "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell or "The Whole Brain Child" by Daniel J. Siegel MD and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD.

• Get healthier with "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams" by Matthew Walker PhD. or “Health at Every Size” by Linda Bacon. 

• Be more confident and discover your strengths with "The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance - What Women Should Know" by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman" or "Now, Discover Your Strengths (How to Develop Your Talents and Those of the People You Manage)" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton.

• Finally, read memoir! Choose someone you admire, get inspired and learn how other people think - and live their lives.

Reading one book will expand your mind, reading several of these books is going to make you more interesting, help you learn new skills - and maybe even make you more employable too!

4) Gain a New Skill with Online Learning:

There are so many opportunities online to gain a new skill and they're growing by the day!

Grow your personal or creative skills or choose a new skill to learn and take back to work with online training providers like Coursera or Udemy.

There are many other providers.

If there's a skill you always wanted to learn, search for it. But be sure to read the course descriptions thoroughly, check reviews if there are any - and check money-back guarantees as you need to!

And with so many learning options ranging from FREE to tens of dollars to the low hundreds of dollars, there will be something out there just perfect for you.

5) Explore your Life Vision:

Rather than watching endless news streams, you can choose to focus on a bigger picture - your future. What do you want from the rest of your life? What would you be disappointed you did NOT do? Where do you envision yourself in 10 years?

Having a clear vision of how you want your life to be is a powerful motivator. A vision helps us work towards our goals, take action and make change. Soon, we'll all be super-busy again - and a vision might be just what you need stay focused!

Here are 5 questions to ponder or journal around to go deeper:

• What do you desire or yearn for in your life?

• How do you want to feel?

• What do you really, really want to be different in your life?

• What would have happened in 3 years time such that your life is spectacular, and you feel magnificent about yourself?

• What's your dream for this lifetime? Imagine you're 90 years old and looking back over your life; what did you do that made you proud and happy?

TIP: Remember to think possibility not probability! Don't limit yourself and your ideas because you don't believe something is likely. Instead believe it's possible - and even if you don't get all the way there, you may get close - or even find something better along the way!

And if you'd like some help with creating a vision for your life, I'm offering a free Life Visioning Session here!

6) Be in the moment:

In THIS moment you are OK. You are safe. Take one day at a time. One hour or even one breath at a time if you need to.

This tip is about being super-present, not thinking ahead or remembering the past, but practicing BEING.

This is a PRACTICE - meaning you will have to do it over and over again - bringing yourself back to the NOW. Over time it gets easier, and it's a great skill to have to take back to "normal" life.

So when you notice you're worrying, feeling twitchy and want to pick up your device and find out what the "latest" is about the COVID situation, say to yourself, "It's OK. In this moment, I am safe. In this moment I am OK."  You can also add or say, "In this moment, my children/husband/family are safe."

EXTRA TIP: Reduce or minimise how often you watch and read the news! And DON'T read or watch the news (or articles about COVID-19 or similar) just before bed!

7) Laugh

Distracting ourselves from our fears is a valid technique for feeling better!

Laughter releases helpful chemicals in our bloodstream - Endorphins (our natural "happy" drug) and Dopamine (part of our bodily "reward" system).

• What are your favorite comedy shows?

• Is there a comedian you like?

• Netflix and similar have so many watching options, so find something that makes you laugh!

• Have you tried a book (or audiobook) written by your favorite comedian?

IMPORTANT: We should NOT use over-use laughter as a distraction technique. And it shouldn't be used for ongoing and persistent fears in regular life. But for a situation like this, where this isn't much that any of us can do other than sit and wait - distraction can be a great coping mechanism.

8) Start a Journal!

If you've always wanted to journal, now is a good time to start. More than just keeping a record of your day, a journal can help you explore and sift through your feelings and experiences and learn from them. It's a great way to get to know you.

It's great to choose a beautiful notebook, but the most important thing is to just get started. Here are some prompts to get started with:

• Today I am feeling _________. I think this is because __________.

• One big thing I have learned during this crisis is _________.

• I remember the last time I was stuck in the house _________.

• One thing that's surprised me recently is _________.

• What matters most to me in life is _________.

• Describe your ideal day _________.

"A journal is expressive by nature and it contains feelings, emotions, problems, ponderings and it is more reflective on the meaning of life being lived." Lynda Monk

You may find this How to Journal article from the IAJW (International Association for Journal Writing) helpful to get you started.

9) Be Kind!

Kindness and compassion are one of the most powerful tools any of us have in our toolbox right now. Many of us are largely housebound, never mind the fear that you or a loved on might actually catch the COVID virus! So, of course we're going to feel unpleasant and weird.

• Use kindness to comfort yourself when afraid or feeling anxious or fidgety. Be gentle. Imagine you're soothing a friend, small child or animal who is afraid - what would you say to them? Then say that to yourself!

• Use kindness to give yourself - and others - the benefit or the doubt. Instead of getting upset when you see other people behaving badly, remember that we all do silly things when we're scared.

• Imagine you have a kind, wise self. A part of you that is unflappable, intelligent and unconditionally loves ALL of you. Now, when you need it, imagine that kind, wise self is with you, supporting you, maybe giving you a hug - and saying exactly what you need to hear (not just the sugary stuff, but also the tough love and common sense).

10) Help Others

Helping others is empowering and makes us feel better. Here are a few ways you could help others.

• Check in on a neighbour or friend and see if they need anything. You can do this by phone, or in person, remembering to maintain a 6 feet distance.

• Offer to get someone groceries if you're going.

• Help someone less technically savvy learn how to use Zoom or WhatsApp or whatever they need to get online.

• Host a virtual get-together with your regular friends.

• Reconnect more deeply with friends or relatives who have moved away.

11) Live Your Values

When we know your values, we understand what motivates and drives us. When we build our lives around our values, we create a life that is meaningful. Finally, when we align our actions with our values - we're being truly authentic. It's a very satisfying and fulfilling way to live.

And living your values could be the single most important thing any of us can do right now.

Here's an exercise you can do:

• List your values on a piece of paper or in your journal.

• Give each value a score ___ / 10 as to how well you are living that value in your life now (where 0 is not at all and 10 is full-out).

• For the scores that are 8 or more - great!

• For the scores that are 7 or less out of 10, ask yourself, "How could I express this value more in my life right now?" "What could I do differently or approach differently, so that I feel good about how I live this value in my life?"

For example: You have a value of creativity, but you're only managing to 'go through the motions' right now and your score is 4/10. Ask yourself how you could be more creative during this time - whether it's cooking, gardening, art or writing or helping your kids do something creative, or even watching a documentary about someone creative you admire...

If you don't know your values, now is a great time to learn. I'm offering a free Values Kickstart Session or Values Review Session here.

12) De-Clutter

I bet you have some organizational things on your to-do list (like going through winter clothes, sorting out toys to donate or tidying the laundry closet, garage or shed) that have been on there for a while. Use this isolation period to get them done!

Getting organized and de-cluttering allows us to exert some control over our lives - and therefore feel less helpless! Plus, it'll feel amazing just to have it done.

Organize your closets, your garage, your books, your photos, office, kitchen equipment. Whatever needs organizing. Or perhaps you need to go through your receipts or file your taxes!

• If you need some inspiration (and great clothes-folding tips) you could watch the Marie Kondo series on Netflix!

A simple 3 Step Method to go through your stuff:

1. If you're keeping it, be sure to DECIDE where it will "live" from now on.

2. If you're not keeping it, create two piles:

   • Things to DUMP

   • Things to DONATE (and if relevant to pass on to specific people).

3. When you're done, put each pile into bags or boxes, and then once this crisis is over you can get rid of what you no longer need.

• TIP: You don't need to do any of this 'in one sitting', do an hour a day - you'll be surprised how much you get done if you keep it up for a week!

13) Grow Something - Or Get an Indoor Flowering Plant!

There is nothing quite like growing something - whether it's flowers, fruits or vegetables that makes us feel good! Even if you live in an apartment and you could grow fresh herbs on your windowsill or balcony to cook with!

• Get some seeds, (a pot and some soil if needed) and get started.

• Many plant nurseries are still open, or you could order seeds etc. online.

• Follow the instructions - and remember to water it!

If growing something is just too much work, get yourself a spring bulb or succulent (cacti) planter, or you could get an indoor plant like a Spathiphyllum* (Peace Lily) is good for cleaning the air of pollutants (and easy to take care of).

* Be aware that some plants are poisonous to pets - so please check.

14) Send "Real" Snail Mail Letters or Cards

Go old-fashioned. Who doesn't love to receive a lovely card or handwritten letter in the post box! Rediscover the lost art of letter-writing and make someone's day.

Yes, you could send an email appreciating someone, and that's great. But imagine your recipient's face as they pick up that hand-written card in the mailbox.

Wondering what to say? Write from the heart! Here are some ideas to get started:

• I really appreciate having you in my life because ________.

• I love hanging out with you when we ________.

• I've realised that you bring ________ to my life.

15) Begin a Meditation Practice

Meditation is a practice that has been proven scientifically to calm us, help us be more creative and be happier (for starters). It's extremely beneficial.

There is a lot to learn about meditation - and it's called a Meditation Practice for a reason. But it's also not as hard as it sounds. You can start with as little as 5 minutes a day - and it's good to build a routine, so you meditate at the same time every day. Get a book on "Meditation for Beginners" or go to YouTube or Google and search for "How to Meditate". Another good place to start is "Metta" or "Loving Kindness" meditation. Again, search online and you'll have lots of options to choose from.

It helps to have a quiet space without interruptions - which many of us don't have at the moment. And for some people, trying to meditate when anxious can be stressful. If this is the case, listen to a relaxing guided meditation instead.

Another idea is to listen to a sleep meditation or "Body Scan Meditation" before going to sleep.

Wrap-up

So, which of the above ideas resonated with you? The areas I am focusing on are getting in some daily exercise and expressing myself in a journal. I’d love to hear what you’ve chosen.

Believe you have the skills and power to tackle this situation and you will! Choose to make the best of a difficult situation and no matter what - you'll find a way.

This current and strange COVID-19 situation will end. And when it does, you'll be proud you made the effort to learn something - whether it's about yourself, fresh knowledge, a new skill - and who knows what else!

Fifteen Fun Healthy Workplace Competitions

Many organizations incorporate competitions into their workplace wellbeing programs. These competitions can be a way to engage employees, build teamwork, and bring a bit of fun into the workplace. In fact, research demonstrates that workplace wellbeing competitions can result in decreased absenteeism, reduced stress, and lower health care costs. These competitions can also increase job satisfaction, increase brain power and performance, improve employee sleep, increase employee retention, and foster team building. And these benefits can be found regardless of whether your employees are in the office or working from home.

Workplace challenges can be done on an individual basis, a department level, or even an overall team goal for the company. It’s always nice for there to be some sort of a prize associated with the challenge, but you can be creative and find inexpensive options. Have fun with it! For example, one company we work with bought an incredibly ugly blazer from a thrift shop. This blazer is passed from champion to champion after each wellness challenge. The employees love the honor of having the championship blazer hanging in their cubicle. Another company created a homemade trophy that is displayed in the winning department. Others provide gift cards, bonuses, gym memberships, and self-care rewards to winning participants. Just remember to find a reward that is meaningful to your organization. 

There are a great number of well-being challenges that you can create for your workplace. Many require very little in the way of cost to the organization to run too. Here are fifteen different workplace challenges you can start at your organization to build the well-being of your colleagues.

 Physical Fitness Challenges

1.     Step to It – Challenge employees to get the most steps into their day. Many people now wear fitness tracking devices or can monitor their steps using their smart phone. Pedometers can be obtained inexpensively as well – and can be customized with your company logo! Set up the challenge to encourage the most steps in a given month by individual and/or department. You might consider a special reward for everyone if the entire company hits a certain number of steps. Partner this activity with encouragement for workers to walk on their breaks.

2.     Plank You Very Much – Planking is an exercise that is great for the core and can be done quickly and without any equipment at all. Employees can track the amount of time spent holding planks and compete for amount of time total over a given month as well as the longest time spent planking. This is a great one to use as a team building activity. Employees can earn bonus points for sharing photos of their planking in unique locations.

3.     Work it Out – Encourage employees to engage in any exercise activities that they enjoy and track the minutes spent doing those activities. This can be a great activity because it encourages individuals of any fitness level to participate at what they are most comfortable doing from simple stretching to running marathons. It’s also great opportunity to give out water bottles or other fitness items with the company logo on them.

Nutrition Challenges

4.     Drink Up – Encourage employees to drink the daily recommended 64 oz of water each day. They can track individual ounces or they can record the number of days that they hit the goal. Set up special water stations around the office with infused water (try water with citrus slices in it) or sparkling water to keep it interesting. It’s another great opportunity to get out those company water bottles!

5.     See Ya Later Soda – Help your employees say goodbye to their soda pop addiction by holding a challenge to give up their daily fix. Employees can record each day their abstained from drinking soda pop. Of course, this works best in offices where the soda drinking is common place. Other offices may find that their daily coffee run or morning doughnuts are where the employees wish to cut back. 

6.     Eat your Fruits and Veggies – Americans rarely get the recommended number of fruits and veggies in their diet, so challenge your employees to make it happen. Have them track the number of servings of fruits and veggies that they eat each day. Consider challenging for the greatest number possible or meeting the 5-a-day goal. Offering healthy snacks in the office like a veggie tray or a salad bar during this time can be a great way to encourage success. Employees may decide to go out to lunch at a local salad bar for some off-site bonding too!

Mindfulness Challenges

7.     Unplug and Unwind – Encourage employees to turn off their screens and spend time relaxing in other healthy ways. Employees can record the number of hours that they shut down electronics and read books, worked puzzles, gardened, etc. 

8.     Gratitude Goals – Have employees create a daily challenge to list three things that they are grateful for each day. Employees can earn points for each day that they complete the challenge. Consider a reward for a certain level of points earned for the company. Consider sending employee submitted thank you shout outs in a monthly email. 

9.     Meditation Minutes – Foster a more focused environment by encouraging employees to meditate daily. There are free apps like Insight Timer or Calm that can be used for those new to meditation (and those with experience too!). Consider a daily challenge of meditating for at least five minutes.

Giving Back Challenges

10.  Simple Acts of Kindness – Challenge employees to engage in simple act of kindness. Purchase a stranger’s coffee order. Carry an elderly person’s groceries for them. Cut your neighbor’s lawn. Small acts have a big effect on both the recipient and the giver.

11.  Community Cares – Volunteering is good for the community and for the heart. Set up a volunteer challenge for the departments at your workplace. Can each department engage in a monthly volunteer opportunity? These can include opportunities such as a departmental jog/walk in a charity 5K, visiting at a nursing home, beautifying the community, or serving at a soup kitchen. This is a great way to involve employees families as well!

Financial Challenges

12.  Feed the Piggy – Encourage employees to set aside a dollar a day to build their emergency savings account. While we know the importance of having six months of our salary set aside, most Americans aren’t even close to accomplishing that. See how creative your company can be at developing ideas for saving that extra money. Set a company-wide goal for the amount of total dollars saved.

13.  Home Chef – It’s not a surprise that it costs significantly more to eat dinner out than preparing a meal at home. And cooking at home can offer healthier options too! Challenge employees to cook at home and not dine out – offering incentives based on the number of days in a month they cook at home and avoid dining out. Send out weekly recipes to encourage and keep employees motivated. They’re waistline and their wallet with thank you!

General Well-Being Challenges

14.  Break a Bad Habit – Have employees identify a bad habit they have that they’d like to break or cut down on. Some may wish to stop smoking. Others may consider cutting back on alcohol. Others may decide that now is the time to stop procrastinating! Have the employee identify the habit that they’d like to change – and track their weekly progress. Form teams of those who are interested in changing similar bad habits to support and encourage one another.

15.  Get Some Shut Eye – Most of us fail to get the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Whether that’s due to late night hours working or too much time spent in front of a screen, it’s causing major health problems. Challenge employees to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep each night. This can be a great one for fun prizes and incentives such as sleep masks, slippers, pillows, and throw blankets.

There are so many options for workplace wellbeing challenges. Consider trying a challenge in your workplace each month or two and rotate between the different categories of wellness challenges. Let us know how it works in your organization! 

We at Bauman Consulting Group just kicked off our May workplace wellbeing challenge. We’re teaming up with the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash to compete for the greatest number of steps taken in the month of May. This is part of a larger effort by the college to raise money for scholarships. We’ll be posting our weekly numbers online each week. It’s not too late for you to join us! You can register online at https://foundation.uc.edu/UCBAStepsChallenge. Let’s get moving!

Successful Strategies for Working from Home

With much of the globe shifting work strategies to account for social distancing measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, many individuals are turning to working from home. While this may sound wonderful to those who have not had the work-from-home experience in the past (and it is!), it is not without its challenges. At Bauman Consulting Group, the majority of our employees work remotely. As such, we’ve developed some tried and true tips for this over the years which we thought we would share with you in case you’re in the process of shifting to remote work as well.

1)    Set up a dedicated workspace. This doesn’t need to be anything particularly fancy, but you want to have a designated space that is your “workplace”. At a minimum, you’ll want a location (such as a dining room table) where you can set up your computer and office supplies. If you can find a location that affords you some natural light, near a window perhaps, you’ll find that to be a wonderful bonus. Take some time to organize this space and set it up as similarly to your office workspace as possible. Make sure that the other members of your household understand that this is your workspace now and should be off limits. This is particularly true if you have small children! 

2)    Set your work hours. Your company may do this for you, but if they do not, it is imperative that you set boundaries around your time. This means identifying what hours you are “at work.” This is important for both you and for others in your life. One of the challenges of working remotely is that others (your boss, your family, your friends) and you can find it easy to blur your times. You may find yourself working more frequently because work is always right there waiting for you. Or you may find yourself struggling to put in enough hours because it is easy to get distracted by household responsibilities (I can throw in another load of laundry!) or others (I can call during the day now, because she works from home!) Setting and maintaining those boundaries are important to your success and productivity. You may find it helpful to even post those hours near your workspace as a reminder to yourself and your housemates that you are working during that time.

3)    Set up a routine. It can be difficult to switch into work mode when you are working from home. As such, routine is critical. Adapt your office routine to your new home-work life. There may be some tasks that you can no longer complete from home. Other tasks may be easier. Your employer may have different expectations for your at-home work. Have the appropriate conversations with those your work with and then map out your daily schedule. This will help you to stay on task and will help you to maintain a sense of normalcy in this time of upheaval. 

4)    Dress for work. One of the things that we hear the most from people when they hear that BCG employees work from home is that we must all work in our pajamas. While that certainly sounds appealing, there is much to be gained by continuing to dress for work. Part of the work routine is the getting up and getting ready part! It is what helps us prepare for the shift from our home lives to our work lives. Research has also demonstrated that we tend to be more productive and more professional when we are dressed more formally. Now, we are not suggesting that you put on a suit while you’re working from home. That may be a bit over the top! But what we are suggesting is that you put the same amount of time and attention into your appearance that you would if you were going to the office. This may involve wearing business casual, or at least stepping it up beyond workout apparel. Trust us – this makes a difference in how you feel when you’re working. If you’re dressed for work, you feel more ready to work.

5)    Prepare to use remote technology. You likely already utilize many of these resources in your daily work in the office, but now you’ll be using them more frequently. And if you haven’t been using these regularly, now is the time to experiment and learn. 

a.     Even though you work from home, you’ll find that meetings are still a part of your work week. There are several free options that you can utilize (if your company doesn’t have paid resources for you). Resources such as Zoom or Skype can allow you to have video face-to-face meetings. If your company uses Microsoft Office, the Teams platform is also a nice option for video meetings. 

b.     Conference calls are another way to manage remote meetings. If your office does not have a conference line for you to use, there are several free sources available such as Free Conference. 

c.     Instant messaging apps make it helpful for you to have quick conversations with office mates – and still maintain the friendly relationships that you had in the office. There are many great apps available. Those using Microsoft Office can utilize Yammer or can chat within Teams. Others may wish to consider apps like Slack or WhatsApp. 

d.     Email will be your best friend. This is a great way to stay in contact and to share information. You’ve likely relied on this heavily in your in-office work – you’ll be even more dependent on it now!

e.     Do not hesitate to pick up the phone. Working from home can get isolating. While using digital technology can seem efficient, it can also result in misunderstandings. When a phone call would be a more efficient method of communication – call someone directly.

f.      If you find yourself in need of office equipment that you don’t have at home there are many apps that give you the ability to transform your cellphone into these tools. For example, Genius Scan and Adobe Scan affords you the ability to create pdfs through your phone camera. Doodle is a great site to find compare availability for conference calls or meetings or to gather opinions through polls. 

6)    Engage in professional development. With some extra time on your hands, it’s a great opportunity to engage in some professional development activities. There are so many great online options – many of which are free of charge. 

a.     Utilize Lynda or LinkedIn Learning. There are great online courses that you can stream on these sites. And many public libraries offer a free way to access these online. Check out your local library’s website to see if they offer remote log-in.

b.     Read books or articles related to your work. Now is the time to spend some hours reading that book on productivity that you’ve been putting off for years. Read up on leadership strategies. There are so many great books and articles out there that you’ll have no problem filling in your extra hours – and benefitting from it! If you need recommendations – send us an email and we’d be happy to provide you with some!

c.     Listen to podcasts. There are some truly wonderful work-oriented podcasts out there. Recently we shared a list of our top podcasts for women in the workplace. We’ll be posting another soon that lists our top podcasts in general for working individuals. In the meantime, put google to work for you and test run some of the podcasts out there!

d.     Enroll in online trainings. What better way to spend your remote time? Many organizations offer online learning (BCG being one of them!). If you’re going to have some down time, you might as well catch up on your training time. Check out your usual provider to see if they offer online options. (Or check out our list of online trainings if you’d like to register for one of those!)

Working remotely can be a great experience – if you plan for it and approach it with the right mindset. Set boundaries and enjoy the change of office scenery. If you’re like our team, you won’t want to head back to office life when the time comes!

Extinguishing Energy Drainers

Since it is such a prevalent issue for many of our clients, in our last post we started a series about our top tips for managing overwhelm in your life (whether it’s at work or outside of work). In our previous post we talked about using a strategy called the “Daily Three”. If you haven’t read about this strategy – go back and take a read. But for those of you ready to move forward into our next strategy, we’re going to discuss how to extinguish energy drainers.

First, it will be helpful to define the energy drainers in your life.  These are things that deplete you and cause a noticeable difference in your mindset when you encounter them. Take some time to create a list of all the things in your life which are energy drainers for you. Is there a coworker in your office, a family member, or a friend that just zaps the energy from you? Or maybe there are certain tasks that bog you down like checking endless numbers of emails? Are you exhausted looking at your disorganized space or clutter? Are you surrounded by distractions or multitasking? Have you been putting off unfinished business that just needs to be resolved? Do you find yourself taking things personally and getting wrapped up in your head? Or maybe your energy is all going towards perfectionistic tendencies? Don’t edit your list – just write it all down. And be honest. Maybe you love and adore that friend who is an energy drainer. That’s ok! This is a list of things that deplete your energy, not things that you hate!

Our goal is now to help remove some of those energy drainers to help you get through this overwhelm. We’re not banishing them forever, just putting out the fire for the moment so you can get back to balance. Let’s get started!

Begin by eliminating anything you can easily say “no” to now. Can you cancel lunch with that friend? Can emails wait until tomorrow? Can you find a quiet space to work or locate some noise cancelling headphones? Once you’ve eliminated these items, mark them off of your list.

 What should be left behind are those items that are a bit more complicated to navigate. For example, is your office a cluttered mess? Or maybe you have so much laundry to catch up on you’re not sure how you’ll ever accomplish it? Are you spending so much time multitasking that you never seem to fully accomplish anything? Or do you have some unfinished projects that are just weighing you down? It’s time to make a plan.

Begin by categorizing these items if you can. Sometimes it helps to see how things are related. Many of our clients put them into five categories: relationships, work, home, finances, and well-being. You may find it helpful to further break these categories down depending on your overwhelm experience. For example, if your overwhelm is happening only at work (a rare occurrence as most overwhelm hits all parts of our lives) you may create categories based upon your work environment such as co-workers, projects, environment, organization, etc. Categorizing gives order and control to the situation – so categorize your energy drainers in any way that is meaningful to you. 

 Next, create a plan. What you can do to gain control over some of these energy drainers? Here are a few suggestions:

• Alert family, friends, or co-workers to your feeling of overwhelm. Explain that you need time alone to focus so you can come out of these feelings smoothly. Ask for support in your dedication to this effort and understanding in your need to step away temporarily.

• Set boundaries. Rather than stress over your finances, set clear parameters and stick to them. For example, tell your co-workers that you’ll go out to lunch with them on Fridays, but that you can’t go every day. 

• Set a timer for 30 minutes and devote uninterrupted time to organizing your space. While taking time away from your tasks may seem counterintuitive, you’ll likely work much more effectively in a tidier environment.

• Rather than multitasking on competing projects, time block your schedule. Set aside dedicated periods of time to tackle each task. During that time, you must focus on only the task you are scheduled to work on. No exceptions!

• Recognize self-defeating thoughts such as concerns about perfectionism. One of the best ways to do this is to write those thoughts down as they occur (“Sally’s report is always flawless, so I need to be sure mine is perfect too.”). Cross them out and replace them with less extreme thoughts (“Sally writes great reports. I do too. Reports are important, but no one really cares if they are perfect.”). 

Once you have decided how you’ll address each energy drainer on your list – it’s time to put it into action. Take one item at a time and progress through your plan until your energy has returned to equilibrium. Certainly you won’t be able to eliminate every energy drainer. That’s not the goal! The goal is to simply remove enough of them that you can regain your momentum and calm that overwhelm monster that is vying for your attention. Say goodbye to overwhelm, and remember this technique for the next time it rears its ugly head.

Eliminating Overwhelm with the Daily Three

Overwhelm is a constant for many of our clients. There are so many tasks that need to be accomplished – at work and away from work. Many of our clients report the sense of running on a treadmill. They’re running at top speed, but they never get anywhere. Overwhelm is common and normal, but it doesn’t have to continue. In the next several posts, we’re going to share some of the top tips for managing overwhelm in your life (whether it’s at work or outside of work). The first tip we’re going to share is how to eliminate overwhelm with the Daily Three.

The first step in tackling overwhelm is to prioritize your demands. That sounds relatively simple, but many of our clients will say, “It’s all important!” Maybe that’s true. But it’s likely not all important today. Let’s walk through how to prioritize your tasks.

First, get out a piece of paper, a pen, and a timer. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes (no less than 10, no more than 15). You choose your number. Then, during that time, you’re going to do a brain dump. Write down everything you have to do – all those things that are giving you a sense of overwhelm. No editing. No categorizing. Just dump it all out of your brain. Keep writing until the timer goes off.

Now, take a critical look at this list. Often, what we find is that individuals who are motivated, visionary types, will often take on other’s problems. These are things that you truly have no control over. So, go through your list from your journaling activity. Cross off anything that you truly can’t control. We can only control things that are internal to us. In other words, I can control my thoughts, feelings, and actions. But outside of that – I can’t control anything else! So, if these items are outside of your control, mark them off your list.

Next, consider if you have the ability to delegate any of these tasks to others. It’s ok to ask for help! If there is someone who can do something on your list for you - ask them to do it! And then mark it off your list. If there is anything else on the list that you can mark off (perhaps you don’t really need to do it or it’s just not that important), cross it off now.

Now your list is paired down to the items that you can control and that you want to accomplish. This is your overall list. Looking at that list may still be overwhelming. That’s ok. We’re not done!

Each day, you will select three items that take top priority for that day. Only three. Your Daily Three. These are three non-negotiables in your day. You must accomplish these three. Why only three? Because the reality is that things will come up during your day – phone calls, emails, sick kids, traffic, headaches, etc. Three is manageable. Three is memorable. And three is often not overwhelming.

After you’ve selected these three, order them based on priority. We recommend that you list the item you dread the most as your first item – this way you tackle it first, when you have the most amount of willpower in your day. Pick the easier task – or the one you enjoy the most – for the last item. Once you’ve ordered these three items, write these on a white board in your office, on a post-it note on your fridge, or in a note on your phone. We like to use the “Stickies” app on our computer to post our Daily Three to our desktop. Whatever method you choose is up to you. Just make sure that you can see these three items.

Now, get to work on those three items for today! And tomorrow, you’ll tackle another three items from your list. Each day you’ll be focusing on and prioritizing only three items – your Daily Three. 

It’s recommended that you engage in this brain dump to Daily Three practice at the start of each week (either Sunday evening or Monday morning – before you get started on your work!). You may find that doing this on Sunday evening even helps you sleep a little better that night. Give the Daily Three a try and come back to future blog posts to see some more tips on how to manage overwhelm in our lives.

The 7 Essential Podcasts for Women at Work

Podcasts have become a favorite medium for business professionals to enjoy insightful content while on the go. The portable, on-demand format allows you to listen on your commute, while you exercise, as you work, or while completing household tasks. There are so many excellent podcasts available on a wide variety of topics – but if you are a woman in the workplace, we’d like to recommend 7 essential podcasts to add to your listening queue. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, serving at a not-for-profit, engaged in public sector work, or working in a for-profit business, these podcasts all offer fantastic advice and insights to help you grow professionally (and in some cases personally as well!). 

1. Courage and Clarity – hosted by Steph Crowder. In each episode, Steph interviews successful female entrepreneurs who took the leap to chase their own dreams and start their own businesses. Each interview is broken into two components. The first focuses on courage or the bravery that led the individual to make the leap. The second focuses on clarity the actual how behind the leap. Listen as each outstanding woman offers words of encouragement and tips for success that can guide us all moving forward.

2. Girlboss Radio with Sophia Amoruso – hosted by Sophia Amoruso (CEO and founder of Girlboss) and Neha Gandhi (editor in chief and COO of Girlboss). In this podcast, you’ll find honest conversations with women at the top – those who have achieved success in their given field. They share insights on how they built their career, the challenges they have navigated, and lessons they have learned along the way. Prepare to be inspired and energized!

3. She Did It Her Way – hosted by Amanda Boleyn. Each week Amanda offers business tips and interviews with women who have successfully left their 9-5 and launched their own businesses. But you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to benefit from these conversations – you can apply many of these ideas to your work no matter the structure.

4. Studio 78: Branding, Productivity, & Business Tips for Creative Women – hosted by Nache Snow. This podcast is geared towards women who work in the creative fields and provides guidance for those looking to launch their own business or create a side hustle. Again, much of these tips can be applied within the organization that you work in, so don’t hesitate to listen if you’re not an entrepreneur! 

5. Support is Sexy – hosted by Elayne Fluker. Elayne uses her journalistic skills to offer business insights, inspiration, and practical tips for women seeking to build their professional lives to their fullest. She focuses her approach on building a network of supportive individuals to create a community of encouragement and knowledge. Elayne assures her listeners that you can have it all, but you don’t have to do it alone.

6. Women at Work – hosted by Harvard Business Review Editors Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Nicole Torres. This podcast is devoted to the struggles that women face in the workplace around gender discrimination and how to navigate these challenges. They tackle some of the toughest issues that women encounter in the workplace in a positive and pragmatic way. They interview experts, share stories from their own career experiences, and offer practical advice for overcoming these difficulties. It’s a must listen for all women in the workplace.

7. Women on the Rise – hosted by Lara Dalch. In this business podcast, Lara offers listeners a holistic view of success. She focuses on the idea that women succeed and thrive when they approach success through a more balanced approach focusing on health, stress, time management, happiness, productivity, and more. She busts myths around perfection and encourages listeners to create their own vision of success – both personally and professionally.

Take some time to download and subscribe to these fantastic podcasts. And, while you’re at it, head over to the websites for each of these to find great articles, downloads, and content. Invest in yourself today so you can create your own success.

Top Secrets of Success from a Professional Coach

When we began our company 8 years ago, our goal was simply to help other people live better lives. We had some tools available to guide us, but it has really been the relationships we’ve had with clients over the years that have given us the most valuable insight into how people live fulfilling lives – lives where they are healthy and full of energy, feel a sense of purpose and happiness, achieve success at work while maintaining a full life at home, and develop meaningful relationships with others in their life. 

Most of our clients had heard of coaching before, but they were skeptical. They weren’t really sure what a coach would do. But what they all agreed upon, was that they needed a partner in this – someone to be a sounding board and to be their accountability partner. Many were wrestling with a single issue that they decided to get help with: a desired promotion, a desire to make a career change, a lack of work-life balance, or a desire to spend more time away from the office. They were surprised to learn that we didn’t believe in one definition of success. Instead, we spent time learning about what success was going to mean for them. They were also surprised to find that what they believed to be one single issue was actually connected with other issues in their lives. In fact, it became clear that there were 4 main areas that were impossible to disentangle as they all impacted one another. We call these the Four Core Components of Success: 1) Health, 2) Personal Fulfillment, 3) Business/Career, and 4) Relationships. 

This is why our coaching is focused on a blended approach – both life and business coaching. It’s all connected! If you’re not taking care of your health, you can bet you won’t feel very fulfilled, your career is likely going to suffer, and your relationships can take a hit. Not nurturing relationships in your life? Anticipate problems in the other areas. It’s a delicate, deliberate balancing act. 

In fact, every client we work with evaluates their life through the Four Core Components of Success. It’s through this analysis that they can identify the big picture or themes that are the root of the problem. And when we address big picture themes, we create success in multiple areas – not just the one that first brought them in.

But what is it about these four areas that makes them so powerful? They each play a key role in your well-being. When they are out of balance, they can leave you feeling unhappy or overstressed. Regardless of your definition of success, these four components are integral to accomplishing it.

Health: Successful individuals dedicate time to their health. This encompasses both your physical and mental health. They exercise in a way that they enjoy. They eat nutritious foods that fuel their bodies. They practice mindfulness and stress reduction techniques like meditation. They make time to play and have fun.

Personal Fulfillment: Successful individuals focus on their inner self. They can clearly articulate their purpose in life is and what they value – and they intentionally live their lives according to those. They spend time on self-improvement and development (both personally and professionally). They nurture their soul. They read books or take classes. They spend time in nature.

Business/Career: Successful people engage in meaningful work. Depending on your stage of life, this can mean going to work every day, writing the novel you’ve been dreaming about, or volunteering for an organization that is important to you. For some this may mean climbing the corporate ladder and landing that c-suite job of their dreams. For others, it means finding a job you enjoy that can support a flexible schedule which allows you to pursue other dreams. The key is that successful people find value and meaning in their work – it’s not simply a job or a paycheck. 

Relationships: Successful people nurture the relationships in their lives – family, friends, co-workers. They regularly spend quality time with these important people in their life and they foster deep connections. They nurture friendships and have a deep sense of community. They have love in their life and companionship.  

Take a moment to reflect on your own life now. What do the Four Core Components of Success look like for you? Could you stand to make some changes? If you would like to learn about how having a coach could benefit you on your path to success, be sure to reach out to us here. We’re ready to help you put your Four Core Components of Success in balance.

Leading Growth with an Assessment

Agency leaders are often tasked with working to develop staff throughout the organization. Often times leaders tend to focus on two types of staff – the shining stars that we see headed for success within the organization or the struggling supernova who need to drastically improve or move on to another company. As a result of the time and attention placed on this task, leaders are often quite skilled at identifying the strengths and areas for improvement in our own staff. However, when we have achieved leadership status within an organization a fatal flaw often presents itself. Leaders tend to believe that they don’t need to improve any more. They view themselves as having arrived or achieved what they set out to do. What’s the point of more personal and professional development when you’re at the top? 

The truth is that we can all continue to improve and develop. The better our leaders become, the better the staff can become, and the better the agency can be. When we partner with clients, we often hear leaders say, “I’ve worked on so much over the years, I’m not sure what to work on now.” Our response is always simple – “You need to take an assessment.” It’s impossible to make a good plan without data to drive it. Taking an assessment will give you the data you need to draft an improvement plan.

Leaders have often taken a great number of assessments over the years and are apprehensive to return to that route. They feel as though they’ve already gained all the information they can from that process, but assessments remain a valuable tool. Assessments are great at giving us information about a person at a particular point in time. Yes, you may have taken an assessment as part of an employee development protocol several years ago – but you’ve likely changed a lot over the years. You’ve probably completed a great deal of development work. Perhaps you’re not even in the same position anymore. You may have a completely different work environment. All of these (and there are many more!) are reasons why you should go back to step one and complete an assessment.

There are many different assessments on the market that you can consider to inform your developmental path. Each serve different purposes and provide different types of information – and some are definitely better than others. There are four assessments that we recommend to our clients who are looking to start this process: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Everything DiSC, the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0), and the CliftonStrengths. These assessments provide a diverse array of information – which is why we suggest that our clients take any and all of these assessments. The more data you have the better – so invest in as many of these as you can in order to develop your growth plan. If you have taken one of these in the past, but it’s been more than 2 years since you’ve completed it, it’s worth investing in another assessment. If nothing else, it can confirm your earlier results and provide you with more confidence in the outcomes.

 ·      Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – The MBTI is perhaps the world’s most well-known personality assessment. The tool can be completed online or in-person and provides a typing which places you into one of 16 different personality types. The results of the tool provide insights into the way that you interact with others, increased self-awareness of each personality type’s strengths and challenges, and ideas for adapting your behavior in response to other personalities in the room that can assist you with achieving greater success. 

·      Everything DiSC – The Everything DiSC is another personality assessment designed to help individuals better understand themselves and better learn to adapt their behaviors with others. This online questionnaire classifies individuals into four quadrants: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. The information is then utilized to explore strengths and areas of growth. 

·      Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) – The EQ-i 2.0 is the world’s leading assessment tool for evaluating emotional and social intelligence. The assessment contains 133 items which converge to provide insight into 15 competencies and 5 composite areas. The EQ-i 2.0 provides you with a picture of how you operate emotionally – something that research now demonstrates is a greater predictor of success than traditional intelligence.  

·      CliftonStrengths – CliftonStrengths (formally the Clifton StrengthsFinder) is an online talent assessment. This assessment evaluates your natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving and categorizes them into 34 CliftonStrengths themes. The results are utilized to identify what you naturally do best, how to develop and leverage your greatest talents into strengths, and how to maximize your potential. 

Don’t stop at just completing the assessments. Once you are armed with this data, it’s time to put this information to work for you. You can incorporate these findings in a detailed personal or professional development plan for yourself. Partnering with a coach through this process can assist you in your growth development journey. A coach can assist you in interpreting your results, shed light on blind spots that you may not be conscious to you, guide you in setting goals related to your development, and act as an accountability partner as you take the action steps towards your goal. 

Start Your Year Off Right - Plan the Strategies (Part 6)

In our last post we discussed how to develop SMART goals - goals which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Now we have to break those goals down into actionable steps. We call these strategies. 

A strategy is just like a goal in that the strategy must meet the SMART criteria, but there are a couple of clear differences. First, a goal is a big picture idea. Something that may take a lot of work to accomplish. A strategy on the other hand is a small step towards accomplishing that goal.  These are the baby steps that we take. The things that we do each day or each week to chip away at that big goal. These are the items on our "To Do" list. Second, a goal is something that you want to accomplish. It's the what. But a strategy tells you what's involved in accomplishing that goal. It's the how. 

Let's return to the example we used in the post about goals: "I will pay off my credit card debt so that the total of my credit card balance at the end of year does not equal more than $7,500." That's a pretty commendable goal. As you can see, paying down the credit card is a big goal - something that we'd like to accomplish over the course of the year. It tells us what we want to do. But it doesn't tell us anything about how that credit card debt will be paid off. Time for the strategies to come into play.

I like to begin strategy development by simply brainstorming. You can do this in a variety of ways such as:

• Make a list

• Write ideas on post-it notes and cover your wall

• Write ideas on index cards and put them in a large stack

• Draw a mind map

• Locate ways others have accomplished this goal

• Solicit ideas from friends, family, or advisors

Don't limit yourself as you brainstorm. Any idea you have or come across - write it down. Even if you think it's a bad idea. Why would you write down a bad idea? Because it may be the idea that inspires the right idea. Keep generating strategies until you can't come up with anymore options.

Now it's time to prioritize the strategies. Sort through them all. You may want to rank order them, sort them into categories, or evaluate their practicality. Create a discard pile. These are the strategies that you've decided aren't right for you. Before discarding a strategy, first evaluate to decide if you could alter the strategy to make it a better fit. If not, send it packing.

Once you've narrowed down the strategies, it's time to ask yourself the key question. If I implement these strategies, will I accomplish my goal? If the answer is yes, it's time to add these strategies to your plan. Repeat this process for each goal that you've set for yourself. 

Before you hit "print" on your document, take a moment to review the entire plan carefully. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does my plan help me to fulfill my mission statement?

2. Are my values reflected in this plan?

3. Did I utilize the assessment results (if I have them) in my plan?

4. Are my priorities reflected here?

5. Will my goals help me accomplish my priorities and my mission?

6. Do the strategies I identified lead me to accomplish my goals?

7. How do I feel when I read this plan? Am I energized? Excited? Overwhelmed? Sad?

Always keep in mind that this plan is a living document. You can make modifications! Maybe you get laid off, find out you are having a baby, or you get a promotion! Life isn't a streamlined document. It twists and turns and has ups and downs. You can adapt the plan to fit you and your life along the way.

Periodically you'll want to evaluate your progress. I like to sit down with my plan quarterly and take stock through a focusing session with myself. That's the time where I determine if I've made as much progress as I'd like to, if I need to change any strategies, or if I need to speed up or slow down the pace. I find that it helps me to refocus and recommit to my goals over the next three months. It also helps keep me engaged so I don't pick up my plan in September and try to knock out the whole thing in a couple of months! It can be very helpful to have a coach help you through those sessions. A coach can be your accountability partner - someone to keep you on track and follow up on all the things you wanted to accomplish. A coach can problem solve with you, encourage you, and motivate you to stay on track. 

Congratulations! Your plan is complete. Now it's time to get out there and put it in action. Best of luck as you have the most productive "resolution" ever. 

This post is the sixth and last in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Start Your Year Off Right - Setting Goals (Part 5)

You've done so much work setting the foundation for your personal strategic plan! While it may seem like you've done quite a bit of work, it's all about to pay off. Now is the time to get to the heart of the work.

Take a look at the priorities that you've set. In each area that you've prioritized, you want to create at least one goal for the year. What is it that you want to be able to accomplish in this area? 

You've probably heard of the concept of SMART goals at some point in your life. It's used in so many different fields that it's hard not to have heard this acronym used somewhere. But if you haven't heard of it, don't worry - I'll give you a quick primer!

As you can see in the graphic above, SMART goals refer to those which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. As you look through the priorities that you've identified, you'll want to create a goal (or goals) that is specific - you'll know what you meant when you look at this goal in 6 months. It's so clear that there is no question what you are supposed to do. And it will be very apparent whether you've accomplished this goal or not because the terms are so well defined. Perhaps one of your focus areas is around improving your personal finances. That's pretty vague. So as you think about setting a goal, you'll want to get specific. Perhaps your goal could be, "I will get out of debt." What kind of debt are you talking about? All debt? Student loan debt? Paying off your mortgage? After thinking it through, you've decided that you really just want to have your credit card debt paid off, so you revise your goal to say, "I will pay off all my credit card debt."

You'll also want the goal to be measurable. In other words, how will you know that you've accomplished your goal? Returning to our example of credit card debt, you may decide to change the goal to say, "I will pay off my credit card debt so that all of my credit cards have a zero balance." That gives you a very clear finishing point. When your credit card statements all read "0" you've accomplished your goal.

Goals must also be attainable. You don't want to set yourself up for failure. Is it feasible for you to pay off all your credit card debt this year? After evaluating this a bit, you might decide that it's something that will take more than a year to accomplish. Perhaps you'll decide to make your goal something less ambitious - but still something to strive for: I will pay off my credit card debt so that the total of my credit card balances does not equal more than $7,500. 

Surprisingly one of the common things that we see with strategic planning are goals that aren't relevant. How could this be possible, you ask? Often it's the result of not connecting goals to overall priorities - not doing the early work that we did first. Sometimes people will list a goal that is easy to accomplish. Or they will list a goal that sounds good, rather than what they really should be prioritizing. If financial status is a problem for you, then paying off credit card debt may be a perfect way to help with that problem. It's an incredibly relevant goal! However, if you're goal to address your financial status was about reducing stress at the office, that may not be the most relevant goal. Accomplishing that goal won't help your financial status.

The final piece of the puzzle is to make sure that your goals are time-based. Simply put, you need a deadline. Otherwise, you could be working on that goal for a long-time to come. By using an annual personal strategic plan, you've already essentially committed to accomplishing this goal in a year. But you may want this goal to be something you'll accomplish in 6 months. Or maybe this goal will take a year, but your next goal (to address something like the amount of time you spend with friends and family) is something you could accomplish much sooner. The key is to have a time stamp on it. This way you won't put things off too long and you'll have some motivation to work towards that goal. To bring our example full circle, let's see where our goal ended up: "I will pay off my credit card debt so that the total of my credit card balance at the end of year does not equal more than $7,500."

That's a solid goal. It meets all of the SMART criteria and sets you on a path towards success. Keep in mind that you may have multiple goals toward improving your financial status. Or you may decide that is sufficient for this year, and you'd rather focus on other areas more intensively. 

Return now to the priorities that you've established. Determine what you want to do to focus on each of these areas. Write out a goal or two for each area, keeping in mind the SMART criteria. Once you've written out the goals, take a look at them as a whole. Can you accomplish ALL of these goals? Or should you pare the list down a bit? Write out a list of goals that you feel comfortable with. You may wish to challenge yourself a bit, but don't overwhelm yourself with so many goals that you can't possibly keep up. 

Next time we'll explore how you can put those goals into action!

This post is the fifth in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Start Your Year Off Right - Setting Priorities (Part 4)

Now is the time in the personal strategic planning process to take all the individual pieces and begin to put them together. Schedule some time to review your mission statement, your values, and your assessment results. Evaluate those items. What are your strengths? Where can you grow and improve? What would you like to change? What would you like to accomplish? What areas of your life need the most attention (i.e., finances, friends/family, intimate relationships, career, health, social/fun, personal development, home/work environment)? Be sure not to limit yourself as you answer these questions. Write your thoughts down in your notebook. Spend as much time as you need to flesh out each of these areas. We'll pare these ideas down soon enough, but you want to start by tapping into your ambition and creativity. There's no bad idea here.

Take your time and don't rush yourself. You may want to pick this task up multiple times over the course of a week. Try looking at it in the morning. Again in another afternoon. Try again in the evening and before you go to sleep. Give yourself as many opportunities to change your perspective and mood as possible. Give yourself the freedom to dream and stretch outside of your comfort zone. Work on it until you have exhausted yourself. 

Now, go back through your notebook. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Which ideas are in line with my mission statement? (Highlight those ideas in your notebook!)

• Which of these are in conflict with the key values I identified? (Cross these ideas out!)

• Which of these utilize strengths that I have? (Underline these ideas!)

• Which ideas do you feel excited about pursuing? (Star those ideas!)

You may find that there are certain ideas that generate energy in you. For instance, you might be interested in obtaining additional schooling or training. Just thinking about learning something new may ignite something in you. You find yourself imagining the fun you'll have expanding your knowledge base. You might be catching yourself browsing programs online or exploring ways you'll be able to incorporate this new skill in your work. This is your energy building. It's an energizer.

Other ideas may have the opposite effect. For instance, you may recognize that you've outgrown your existing office space. You need to move, but the idea of moving just overwhelms you. The thought of finding another place, packing everything up, changing your address with all of your clients, etc. makes you want to run away - or at least push it to the back of the list. This idea is an energy drainer.

Evaluate your ideas in terms of how they impact your energy. This doesn't mean that you can't add an item to your plan that is an energy drainer - it just means that you'll have to figure out how to make that a task you will actually accomplish. For some clients, that means they will put that item at the top of their priority list. For others, it means they will need to build a good reward in it for them or find a way to reframe the idea so it is more appealing.

Now that you've studied your ideas through all of these different lenses, it's time to pick your priorities. What do you want to accomplish this year? Make a list. Ensure that whatever you put on your list is able to be accomplished within this year. If it's on your list, it should fit with your values and your mission statement. Pick things that are important to you. Things you are motivated to accomplish. Things that will give you joy. When you've finished this list, review your list as a whole. Could you accomplish all of this in a year? If not, pare it down a bit. You may need to only tackle parts of a task. Or you may want to wait and put something on your list for the following year. Try to be as specific and detailed as you can be in your list. Make it very clear what you want to accomplish. We'll be using this list to write your strategic plan. 

You're only two steps away! And the great news is that the hard work is already done. Now you just have to organize the information and get to work on it. Reward yourself for being more than halfway through the personal strategic planning process. The investment you are putting into yourself is priceless.

This post is the fourth in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Start Your Year Off Right - Knowing Yourself (Part 3)

Whether your personal strategic plan is focused on helping you grow personally, professionally, or both, it's important to take a good look at yourself before proceeding further. Taking some time to be introspective can help you to determine the what, why, and how of the changes you want to make. 

For instance, one woman I know felt like she was always struggling to balance work and home. Work seemed to always dominate her life. She was convinced there was nothing she could do about this situation. She just had to work and meet her deadlines. When she took some time to examine herself she realized that her assumptions weren't true. Rather, she found that she was driven by accomplishment and recognition. At work, it was easy for her to feel successful. She could complete projects, sign contracts, and acquire new clients. She received bonuses, promotions, and praise frequently. At home, these sort of accolades were harder to come by, and she found that this part of her personality was being swept aside. She rarely felt as if she accomplished anything at home and often didn't feel appreciated or valued. It's no wonder she found herself "stuck" at the office so often. If she wasn't working so hard at the office, no one would appreciate her!

Imagine if we'd just tried to work on strategies to help her balance work and home without that critical insight. Knowing this information gave us the much needed information to develop meaningful strategies that would really work for her. Balancing her time wasn't really the problem at all. Learning how to recreate her home environment made all the difference. We focused not on ways to spend more time at home, but on how to gain a sense of accomplishment and reward in her home life.

But how do you gain that insight? There are many ways to take a look at the inner workings of yourself, but my favorite method is through the use of assessments. There are two that I rely on the most that translate powerfully into personal strategic plans: the Myers Briggs Typology Indicator (MBTI) and the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0). 

The MBTI is a personality inventory based upon the work of Carl Jung. The tool examines the ways that you utilize perception and judgement to assign you to one of 16 personality types. It's important to know that no type is better than the other - they are all equal. Knowing your personality type helps bring to light your innate preferences and allows you to learn about yourself. Once you understand yourself through this lens, you can grow and develop in ways that help you accomplish your larger goals. 

The second tool, the EQ-i 2.0, measures your emotional intelligence. Essentially, emotional intelligence is a person's ability to recognize and manage her own emotions and the emotions of others through successful interactions. In other words, how well do you understand, empathize, and connect with the people around you? The EQ-i 2.0 evaluates your abilities on five composite scales and fifteen subscales to give you an in-depth look at yourself across a variety of situations. While you may have little control over your level of traditional intelligence, you can work to develop your emotional intelligence. And research has demonstrated that emotional intelligence is a better indicator of success in the workplace than traditional intelligence. All the more reason to work on it!

So which test should you take? It depends. With clients who haven't done a lot of introspection, I like to begin with the MBTI. With the MBTI results the client can focus on how to stretch and balance their personality. EQ is a bit more complex, so I use that with clients who have already spent a good deal of time working on self improvement. For the clients that really want to make growth and change in their lives, I use both. While that may seem like a lot to some individuals, I like as much information to go on as possible. You may try the MBTI now, and the EQ-i 2.0 a little later in the coaching process. Clients rarely find that they didn't gain anything from the assessment process. 

You can take these assessments online, but working with a coach to interpret and apply these results gives you a whole other level of value from those tools. A coach can help you to apply this information to your personal strategic plan to help you live your life with purpose. With introspective work, it's helpful to have someone "outside" to process the results with.

BCG offers these assessments in the context of coaching or just for your own informational purposes. Visit our marketplace to set up your personal assessment today: http://baumanconsultinggroup.com/marketplace.

This post is the third in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Start Your Year Off Right - Living Your Values (Part 2)

Once you've developed your personal mission statement, it's time to move on to identifying your core values.

First, let's talk about why identifying your core values is so important. Many of us have a general sense of what we value in life - what we think is most important to us. But how many of us have made decisions that are in conflict with their values?

One of my clients was a busy professional with a husband and two children. She was adamant that she valued family more than anything, but when she began looking at the decisions she was making in the context of her values, she found she that she didn't seem to really "walk the walk." She was working 60+ hours a week, never took vacation time, missed most of her children's activities, and rarely spoke to her husband for more than a few moments each day. It seemed to me that her primary value was actually work. Now does that mean she didn't love her family? Not at all! It meant that she was pushing her values aside and wasn't being intentional about how she was living her life. She wasn't living a life in accordance with her personal mission and values. You may be in that trap too. So let's get looking at your values.

There are a lot of great ways to identify your values. Coaches have a number of ways they can do this with clients - and they can really help you to flesh out those values. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply create a list. It can be difficult to list your values off the top of your head, so I like to begin with a list of common values and select ones that resonate with you. You can add to this list, search the internet for other common value lists, and brainstorm with others to complete your list. Take out your trusty notebook. Begin with the list below and write down any value that speaks to you. Remember to only write down values that truly are important to you, not values that you think should be important to you. It's important to be honest with yourself. (Click on the list to enlarge it!)

Adapted from W.R. Miller, J. C'de Baca, D.B. Matthews, and P.I. Wilbourne (2001) Personal Values Card Sort.

Are there other values that are important to you that are missing? Search the web. Talk to a trusted friend or family member. Examine your life. If there are missing values, add them to your list! Once you are finished, begin paring the list down until you've identified your top 10 values. You may even try to rank order those values. How do you feel about that list? How does it feel to see those values in writing? Does it reflect who you are? Adjust the list until you're really satisfied with it.

Now return to your personal mission statement. Does your personal mission statement fit with the values you identified? Is it in conflict with those values? Do you need to revise the mission statement or the values in order to have them align with each other? Spend some time reflecting on those questions and make sure that the two work together in a clear way. You may continue to revise and refine these as we work through the personal strategic planning process. That's ok! Completing your plan is a process, and the end product is going to be so helpful to you. You'll never go back to resolutions again!

This post is the second in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Start Your Year Off Right - Don't Make Resolutions! (Part 1)

As 2019 comes to a close, many of us will engage in the time honored tradition of making New Year's resolutions. We'll promise that this is the year to stop smoking, lose weight, exercise more, spend more time with family and friends, find a new job, get a promotion, tackle a new hobby, or finally engage in all those home improvement projects. Sadly, only 8% of us (according to Statistics Brain) will be successful in those resolutions.

Don't be a statistic. Don't make resolutions.

Wait. Did I just tell you to give up? Did I just say that you should live an unfulfilled life? No! I said don't make resolutions. This year, make a plan that will work - a personal strategic plan.

Most people want to change something in their lives, but they don't often think through how to go about making those changes. Making a life change as big as a career move or a lifestyle adjustment requires a thoughtful approach. It's a time consuming endeavor, but you'll get lasting results. And there is no better investment than investing in yourself and your happiness.

The first thing you have to do is identify what is most important to you - not the changes that you want to make, but what you hold most dear. This is your life's purpose, your hopes and dreams. It's about what you value most. You can't make a plan to go forward until you know where you want to be. 

Just as a company has a mission statement to guide its short- and long-term plans, creating a personal mission statement can help you to provide direction in your life. So grab a notebook, take out a pencil, and write down your answers to the following questions:

• Where do you want to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?

• What does that look like personally? Professionally? Spiritually?

• What do you want to accomplish? How do you want to make a difference?

• What do you need to be happy - truly happy?

Spend some time wrestling with these questions. Really mull them over. Sleep on it, and then mull them over some more. When you feel happy with your answers, try to take your answers and put them into a single statement. One sentence that sums it all up clearly and concisely. You want it to be simple enough that it can be flexible to grow with you and that it can be applied to all areas of your life.

You may find the template below useful to get you started.

"My purpose is to utilize ________ to accomplish/contribute to ________ in order to achieve _________."

You may also wish to see how some women leaders have crafted their own personal mission statements.

• Denise Morrison, CEO of the Campbell Soup Company - "To serve as a leader, live a balanced life, and apply ethical principles to make a significant difference."

• Katie Arnold, CEO of Talk Less, Say More - "To constantly be striving to be the best version of myself - in my job, with my health and fitness, with my relationships with family and friends, and with my emotional well-being."

• Amy Ziari, CEO of Pasta - "To live life with integrity and empathy, and be a positive force in the lives of others."

Take some time to reflect on the statement that you've written. Does it inspire you? Can you envision yourself leading a life that reflects your mission? Revise it until you are truly happy with it. It's going to be very important to you this year. This is the year you begin living your mission!

This post is the first in a series of posts about personal strategic plans.

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

Team Development

Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, prefer working alone vs in a large group, or consider yourself a follower and not a leader, the chances are that you have been part of a team at some point. Between school, family, sports, and now work which can even include being on a global remote team at times. 

With all the various types of teams we end up on in life, the question isn’t whether or not we want to be on the team but rather how to be on the team. Enter: team building. Team building isn’t just trust falls and introducing yourself with 2 truths and a lie. Team building is taking time to really understand your own individual role and how the team operates as a whole with everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. 

 Let’s start by looking at the individual. Do you know how you are on a team? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are you comfortable performing for the team? Identifying these things in yourself, through self-reflection and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, can help gain an understanding of everyone that makes up the team. 

 Next, it is important to take a look at the team as a whole. What are the team dynamics? How does the team communicate and handle conflict? These are important things to know when trying to build a team or examine a team. The Team Emotional and Social Intelligence Survey 2.0can help with this. 

Third, examine the functioning of the team as a group. Perhaps your team is falling into some of the common traps that teams can fall into - also known as the Five Dysfunctions. You can take proactive steps to address these dysfunctions and create a more effective team.

 Finally, get the team together for a retreat! Taking a day, a weekend, or a week to go away with your team and focus on one another can help build team morale and work through conflict. While you might initially be frustrated with having to spend even more time with those you work with, the long-term benefits of connecting with the team outside the office quickly outweigh the annoyance. 

Interested in focusing on your team? At Bauman Consulting Group, LLC we offer workshops to help your company with their team development. Please contact us with any questions and for further details!

Team Development with the MBTI

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to discuss effective team dynamics; explore their Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) results; identify the ways each Type relates to the six core team issues (communication, culture, leadership, change, conflict resolution, and stress); and practice ways to make their multi-type teams function more effectively. This workshop is held over 2 days for a total of 15 hours and can accommodate 6 to 24 participants.

Team Development with the TESI 2.0

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to discuss effective team dynamics; explore 360 team feedback on the seven critical competencies for emotionally effective teamwork using the Team Emotional and Social Intelligence Survey 2.0 (TESI 2.0); and practice ways to make their teams function more effectively through stress management, conflict resolution, communication enhancement, and beyond! This workshop is held over 2 days for a total of 15 hours and can accommodate 6 to 24 participants.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Workshop for Teams

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to discuss effective team dynamics; explore Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and practice ways to make their teams function more effectively. This workshop is held over 2 days for a total of 16 hours and can accommodate 6 to 12 participants.

Team Retreats

Taking time to connect as a team is an often-overlooked element of success. These occasions can be organized for workgroups, clubs, networks - any group wishing to build a greater sense of community and purpose. At a carefully planned retreat, groups have the opportunity to reconnect, celebrate successes, plan for the future, and build powerful relationships with one another. Onsite at your home base or away in a stress-free environment, investing in your success will leave your team energized, motivated, and refreshed.

Workplace Mentors

One of the most beneficial professional relationships someone can have is that of being a mentor or being mentored. Whether you are a C-level employee, starting to get your business off the ground, or considering going back into the workforce after a break, there is so much to learn from others with more experience.  It’s as equally important to help those that are coming up behind you. Research on mentoring shows that those with a mentor have improved career outcomes, are more engaged employees, have less turnover, and feel more included in the workplace.  But it’s not just the mentee that benefits – the mentor receives several benefits as well: greater job satisfaction, more commitment to the organization, greater career success, and more fulfillment in their careers. 

If you are considering being a mentor or are considering asking for a mentor, here are some things to consider:

For those looking to mentor:

·      Do you have the time for this? Being a mentor can be time consuming, and often you do not know how much time it will take at the beginning. If you do decide that you have time in your schedule to become a mentor, it is important to be upfront about how available you are to whoever you mentor. Setting time limitations at the very beginning is critical to make sure boundaries aren’t pushed and no one is overextended.

·      What can you offer and who do you want to offer it to? It is important to know WHAT you can mentor on before you even start to look at who you would like to mentor. What are your strengths and weaknesses, what advice would you like to pass along, and can you identify who you would best pass these things along to? 

·      It is important to remember that cross-cultural mentoring is possible and can be incredibly beneficial to both parties but educating oneself on how to do cross-cultural mentoring is critical. Some helpful articles on mentoring those from backgrounds different from your own can be found here, here, and here. 

For those looking to be mentored:

·      Why do you want a mentor? Having a mentor means putting in work and applying many lessons that are being taught to you. If you are having a hard time in your current role because of being uncomfortable or feeling unprepared, your boss or someone in HR might be able to help you settle that before looking for a mentor. If you are unsure of what you want to be doing in your career a mentor might be the right answer to help you find a path to follow but there are also career coaches, which we offer, available to make sure that you are even in a career that is the right fit. 

·      What type of leaders and people do you look up to? A mentor doesn’t have to be the most successful person that you know but rather someone that you admire and want to learn from. Also, it is important to be able to identify who you are comfortable learning from. Some people prefer male leaders while others prefer females. Some people prefer those that they have previous connections with (similar school, have worked for same company, similar career advancements up to a point) and some want more diversity in who they learn from. All of these are personal preferences and important to identify before asking someone to be a mentor.

·      You can have more than one mentor. Asking one person to teach you everything and lead you into your desired position is a lot to ask! Instead, consider having multiple mentors that address various needs and interests. 

At the end of your day or career it is important to be able to look back and think of those that helped you move along your path just as it’s important to be able to identify those you helped behind you. 

Personal Branding

Personal branding has become a topic that many individuals in business have come to dread. It’s one additional topic to put someone on the spot and require them to have a flawless answer. It’s the 21stCentury’s “elevator pitch”. But personal branding is nothing to be feared, and spending some time developing and finessing your personal brand can pay dividends in the long run.

For those new to the concept of personal branding, it can be helpful to begin by thinking about corporate brands. What do you think of when you hear Starbucks? What about Nationwide? Target? You might think of colors, of jingles, or of experiences you have had there. Maybe you have an emotional reaction. Whatever it is that comes to mind – your view of the company – is the brand of the company. It’s what you think and feel when that company comes to mind. Company’s work hard to build their brands and to maintain their brand – they want you to feel a certain way and think certain things when their name comes to mind.

Personal branding is no different. Jeff Bezos gave a great definition of personal branding that really put it into perspective. He said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” The reality is that we all have a brand. Everyone that you interact with has an opinion about you. You may as well take the opportunity to control that brand so that it works for (rather than against) you. 

There are many misconceptions about controlling your brand. It’s not about being narcissistic. It is not all about being on social media. And it’s not something that’s just for millennials or Gen Z. Personal branding can be the key to your career success.

Take a moment to think about your coworkers or a boss you’ve had in your career. What adjectives you would use to describe them? Smart? Lazy? Ambitious? Competent? Imagine you were in the position of selecting a new boss for your office out of your co-workers. Who would you pick and why? Typically, we select people because of their brand (how we feel about them) rather than their paper credentials. When you identified the co-worker that you would select as the new boss, you likely weren’t thinking, “Well, Bill has the highest education level among us, so he’s the perfect fit.” You likely thought something more along the lines of, “Ruby is really fair. She’s a hard worker and gets along with everyone here in the office. We can count on her to be reliable and not play favorites. She’s the best option.” And this is why your personal brand is so important. These are the views that shape your promotions, your opportunities, and your experience in your career. How you are viewed matters.

Now that you’ve agreed that personal branding is important, let’s talk about how to develop your own personal brand. Our five-step process to creating your personal brand will set you on the path to the career that you want. 

1. Define:The first step to crafting your personal brand is to define what it is you want your brand to be. What do you want others to say about you when you are not in the room? Be specific. Start with a list. You likely have manythings that you would like people to say, but it’s unlikely that all of that will come to mind. Narrow the list down to the key items. What are the 4-5 things you’d like to be the priorities? I.0f you are struggling to meet your core list, you can always try assessment tools like the MBTI or the EQ-i 2 to get the ball rolling on seeing what traits you possess. 

2. Gap Analysis:You know what you’d like people to say, but are you really demonstrating these traits? You’d like to be viewed as hard working, but are you really a hard worker all the time? Maybe you’d like to be seen as a great public speaker, but how often do you actually find yourself engaging in public speaking opportunities? Evaluate the key items you’ve listed and determine how you currently measure up. Then think about whether or not people would actually say these items about you. You may find it helpful to ask a friend or trusted colleague to list five things they think of when they think of you. See how closely their list matches with yours.

3.  Vision:Now you have a good sense of where you currently are and where you’d like your brand to go in the future. It’s time to craft a vision. How will you create this personal brand? If you want to be seen as outgoing, what opportunities do you have to demonstrate that to others? You’d like to be seen as an expert, how do you put yourself in that position? People will only describe you in ways that they see you acting. So if you want to be viewed as hard working, people need to seeyou working hard! If you’d like to be viewed as a leader, you’d better be leading where people can see it! This isn’t about being a bragger or boasting about yourself. It’s about ensuring that the traits you want identified can actually be seen. If you are only funny when relaxing with your close friends, no one else but your close friends will know that you are funny! If you don’t speak up in meetings, no one but you knows that you have great ideas! Develop your plan so that you know how you will show others the great traits you have to demonstrate.

4.  Create:It is time to put your plan in action. View your work and personal life through the lens of your brand. Is your plan making a difference? Are people beginning to describe you in the ways that you could like them to? Maybe you need to adjust your plan. Or maybe the plan you created is working perfectly. The key is to make sure you are monitoring the results and adjusting as needed. This is where you may find that your social media presence, your daily work tasks, and your interactions with others begin to pay dividends. Figure out what works in your situation, and go with it!

5.  Evolve:Our brands change over time. This depends on the stage of life that you are in as well as the stage of career you are in. The brand you needed to develop as a 22-year old trying to get your first job out of college is different from the brand you need as a 55-year old hoping to become the boss of the company. You need to be seen in different lights for different jobs, different roles, and at different stages in your career. Trying to define yourself as an expert when you are a rookie in the field is not likely to work well for you. But that may be more attainable for you after you’ve worked in the field for a decade or two. You’ll want to check in with your brand every 3-5 years and decide if it’s time for your brand to evolve to a new stage or if you’re still on track with your current brand. Don’t be afraid to take the next step. That’s how you move up!

A career coach often helps clients to figure out what they’d like their brand to be to best serve their career goals. Together a coach can work with you to formulate a plan to put that brand in place, and ensure that the strategies you develop work for you. Partner with a career coach at Bauman Consulting Group and begin your personal branding journey today!

-

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides training, consulting, and coaching to criminal justice and social service professionals.

What is it Like to Have a ProfessionalCoach?

This article was originally posted on The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/whats-it-like-to-have-a-professional-coach_us_596e5916e4b05561da5a5b2f

You may have heard about coaching. Perhaps you’ve seen someone in a TV sitcom with a coach. Or maybe you’ve heard coaches are some sort of therapist. But what is a coach, really? What’s it like to have a coach, and why would you want one? Throw out that mental image. I’m going to tell you all about the coaching process and what it’s really like.

Before you hire a coach, you need to be clear on what exactly a coach is. A coach is not a therapist, counselor, or mental health professional; a coach is not there to provide mental health care of any kind. Coaches are there to support adults as they work to improve their lives - personally or professionally. A coach does not view you as needing to be “fixed.” A coach views you as a fully capable, competent, and whole individual who would like some support. A coach is trained to be an expert in coaching. This means they have received education in how to support you; this doesn’t mean that they have all the answers. Coaching facilitates collaborative growth - both the coach and the client improve!

[Related: he Difference Between A Coach And A Mentor: Which Is Right For You?]

So why would you want to hire a coach? There are so many reasons why you may want support from a coach, such as:

• Strategic thinking

• Decision making

• Problem solving

• Building/improving relationships

• Work-life balance

• Managing life transitions

• Developing self-confidence

• Increasing self-awareness

• Stress management

• Career navigation

• Personal branding

• Time management

• Networking

• Building and maintaining motivation

• Intentional living

• Uncovering strengths and weaknesses

• Authentic leadership

The first step in hiring a coach is finding one that is a good fit for you. Most coaches will do a free consultation with you so you can see if you like their style and have a connection. You want a good relationship with your coach, so you should shop around until you find the right one for you. Some coaches meet with you in person while others utilize technology for communication such as telephone, video conferencing, or email. You’ll also decide how frequently you want to meet with your coach. Some meet weekly, every other week, or even monthly. And the price of a coach can vary just as much as their approach. A good coach will set up an arrangement specially for you - rather than offering a single option.

After you decide on the coach that you want to hire, the coach will give you a welcome packet which serves two functions. First, it gives you the run down on the costs, boundaries, and procedures for coaching. Second, it collects information about you. For instance, it will ask you questions about why you want a coach, what things you’d like to improve in your life, and what you’d like to accomplish. This gives the coach a starting point to work from.

Next, your coach may have you complete some assessments. These are often optional and vary based upon what your interests/needs are. For example,  I often have my clients take the Myers Briggs Typology Indicator (MBTI) or the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) in order to help them to learn more about themselves. By taking these assessments that stimulate their introspection, they have the opportunity to really stretch themselves. They grow and achieve more than they thought possible. Assessments are also really helpful when clients come to coaching with dilemma’s such as “I know I hate my job, but I have no idea what else I want to do,” or “I’m in college and need to make a career plan, but I don’t know where to begin.”

Once your coach feels that she has sufficient information to guide the process, you’ll spend some time talking about your goals. They may have changed a bit now that you have more information about yourself. You and your coach will examine these goals from many angles and fully explore why you want to accomplish this goal, how it will impact your life, and what you’ll need to be successful.

When you’re ready to take the next step, your coach will work with you on developing strategies or action plans to accomplish your goals. Expect to have fieldwork. You’ll never be told to do anything. A coach may ask you to do something, but you always have the ability to say no. Often, clients generate their own action steps.

Along the way you’ll have regular check ins with your coach to problem solve, celebrate accomplishments, and continue to create action. Overtime, you may reevaluate your process with your coach. New goals may emerge. Old goals may be accomplished. It’s a flexible process that permits you the opportunity to evolve as a person in your own way and at your own pace.

[Related: Want to Get Ahead in Your Career? Consider Hiring a Professional Coach]

Often times, clients will gradually reduce the number of sessions with their coach. Some clients like to continue to have quarterly or biannual sessions with the coach to just check in and make sure they are staying on track.

Coaching is a process that is customized to you and your needs. It consistently provides a partner that delivers an outside perspective on your unique situation, connections to valuable resources, someone to hold you accountable to your commitments, a person to challenge you to go further, and a support system to count on.

—

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C. is the president of Bauman Consulting Group in Loveland, Ohio. She provides leadership and management consulting and coaching with a focus on women in business.

Ellevate Network is a global women’s network: the essential resource for professional women who create, inspire and lead. Together, we #InvestInWomen.