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Waiting for the train I notice two still-smoking cigarette butts on the grass bank, the previous mid-fourties owners nearby chatting away. I found myself with an internal disconnect - how hard is it to join the dots between personal actions and the bigger picture.

Emotional bank account withdrawals and lost opportunities… a common event in many business settings resulting in loss to the individuals and the company. I know this is a common occurrence, and yet it doesn’t need to happen this way.

What do Paul Henry, David Garrett, Tony Veitch, and ex New York Governor Eliot Spitzer have in common?

We all aspire to be great leaders. When we look at leaders, we admire one quality. That quality is the ability to inspire people. How do they do this? Is it a skill that can be learned, or is it just natural charisma? The good news is that the ability to inspire people is the same as any other aspect of leadership, a skill, a skill that can be learned. This article contains some top tips that will help you develop this rare and invaluable skill

There are now many coaches out there to choose from, some specialising and some offering a range of services, but even though coaching has earnt it's place as an effective way for people to improve themselves and their world, the skills of a coach, plus experience and competence can vary. Use this guide to help you choose the right coach for you!

You've been working hard, you are a business expert and everyone knows how good you are at your job and now that special day has come that the boss invites you into his/her office and gives you the promotion you have been working for. Great news - right? You are now a boss, you now have people reporting to you and your whole working life is now about to change forever. Here’s a few tips to avoid those common first time manager mistakes

One of three major presures on a human being - along side ambiguity and over-busyness - is being-seen; those times when everyone is focused on you and assessing every word you say and move you make.

I get a bit concerned sometimes when I hear managers decide it’s time to send staff off to courses, workshops or seminars and then adopt a ‘pick a course, ship ‘em off, forget about it’ approach.

Coaching is not just an investment of time and energy, it costs money too! So what's the real value of coaching? How can you measure the return on your investment? A fair question deserves a fair answer!

In this article, we turn our focus to the subject of de-energisers, which represent a great opportunity to free yourself of mental clutter and improve your energy and motivation levels.

What a lemon has to say about what’s listening to the thoughts in your head, why it matters and how you can best make use of them.

What is a TRIGGER? A TRIGGER is some kind of cue that ‘TRIGGERS’ a certain thought – it’s essentially building an association between an object and a specific thought or feeling – In setting up a TRIGGER, YOU CHOOSE the thought or feeling to be associated with it.

It seems, getting enough sleep is now a hot topic and is being studied in relation to learning, remembering, maintaining information context and even managing your preferred weight!

Setting and getting goals is exciting, inspiring and challenging - well at least I hope they are for you. And the 'journey to the goals' so often is such a rich experience on it's own. That is great - but what about when you finally achieve that big big goal? You're on a real high, buzzing for maybe a few days, maybe weeks.....and then, you get that sinking feeling, that little voice in your head ( or is it your heart?) says 'So what!?"

The facts about Switchtasking in business. Has this ever happened to you? You are deep in conversation with a friend or business associate. Suddenly a distraction; the mobile rings, a waitress serves your latte … The distraction ends, you both look up at each other and say, ”What were we talking about?”

I’ve heard many of my coaching clients tell me how they work well under pressure or how they’re good in a crisis, and they are. But it’s not just them, you can scale-up this adaptability and see how ‘stepping-up’ in a crisis is a very human trait. As the Christchurch earthquake hit and then unfolded on our TV screens, in pictures and footage you see everywhere people stepping up, not just managing the crisis, but leading through it.

In my previous article I described the challenge that faced me during my coaching training with Debbie Ford once I came to the realisation that no one was coming to my rescue and that if I wanted to live the life of my dreams, I must take full responsibility for all aspects of my life and for making that dream become a reality.

In my work as a coach, often with leaders in corporations or private companies, I see in my clients eyes a look of panic - of being trapped - of waiting for the rescue vehicle to arrive and 'fix' their lives.....to get them out of their extremley busy, and highly successful lives and career. Why is this?

When I was a young schoolgirl there was a girl in my class who hated me with a vengeance. Jean Owen. She used to bully me; push me around and hit me whenever she felt like it. She was much bigger than me and I felt powerless to do anything about it. Jean was also the class clown and everyone else thought she was great. But I detested her with a passion. Then one day something serious happened …

I am sure we all sit back at times and reflect how deeply the Internet has irreversibly changed the way we do the ‘normal’ things in our lives these days. “The Wisdom of Crowds” and “Crowd-Sourcing” provide us with a glimpse of where that trend is heading and how we can maximise the benefits to our business in an ethical manner by both knowing about them and how to make the best make use of them in improving both quality & bottom-line performances.

"Key traits written all over PM's speech notes" - Dominon Post 21 May 2011. The photo of John Key in the Dom Post speaking at the announcement of the 2011 Budget is a great example of how our every move can be caught on camera and that even our own scrawled comments or speech notes can become the centre of publicity. As a seasoned Toastmaster I was contacted by Kiren Chug of the Dominion Post and asked to comment on Prime Minister John Key's use of notes when speaking. Read the article...

When you take on a Coach there are a few essential ingredients you need in place to make the most of it ... Yep, the right goals for a start and a solid game plan. But also, it's how you engage with the coaching and the little things you can do to maintain the focus you need to nail your goals!

As a leader, if you want people to follow you, inspire them with a compelling vision, affirm the importance of their roles in achieving success, and then give them the resources they need to innovate and make the vision a reality ... they will find the way! By David Savage with extracts from the the book The New Leaders by Daniel Goleman

We didn't exit the Stone Age because we ran out of stones, we progressed because someone saw room for improvement, had a great idea, chose to lead the change and took action .... and so came the Bronze Age!

I learnt another valuable lesson this week and would like to share.

You've had a BIG idea but if only other people could see it's brilliance too! We've all had our ideas knocked flat at some stage or other, so why is this and what can you do about it?

1. Be truthful – if you overstate your achievements then it’s likely that you’ll find yourself doing work you’re not capable of doing...or the reference checking process will expose anything you’ve misrepresented.

How do we encourage a baby when they are learning to walk? We celebrate their successes – well actually we celebrate them just trying!

If you don't know what you're aiming for, you're sure as heck not going to hit it!

Last year I had the privilege of hearing Meg Poutasi the CEO of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation speak of her experience as a young female leader who transitioned from law into a role supporting her cultural heritage. She shared her feelings of isolation at the top, being perceived as too young to know anything and the personal burden she carries of not failing her people. To follow are her key tips for anyone wanting to succeed in their workplace.

Organisations in Christchurch have now moved out of their initial crisis response mode into business recovery and a ‘new’ normal. This typically includes temporary accommodation, disrupted workplaces, cramped working conditions and longer commutes; extra or different demands, loss of staff and/or clients or records.

"Absolutely, it can". Here's how...

There is one common workplace issue that has the most potential to lower employee morale, lower workplace productivity, waste hundreds of hours of person hours and drive managers and workmates to distraction. The issue is poorly performing staff that fail to meet the required work standards and they may be widely known as being this way, for years.

Motivation is one of the most powerful forces in the world; it gets us up in the morning, it takes us to work and gives us the desire to achieve our dreams that is when it is working. When we are lacking motivation then minutes feel like hours and our dreams stay just that, dreams. This article explores the power of motivation and the formula that can help you unlock it

Transitional management (moving someone into a new role) can be incredibly challenging. When people move into a new role, particularly when promoted, they often need a great deal of support. One frequent mistake is assuming that they know what they're getting into. So often we believe that because someone is great at their job, and get along so well with their colleagues, that they will be natural leaders or managers.

There’s nothing like being in a major earthquake to focus the mind and sharpen the senses. The most basic instinct to kick in is personal survival and following that, concern for the wellbeing of family, friends, neighbours and the safety of homes. Business owners and managers within organisations had additional concerns - their business premises, operating equipment, stock, staff, loss of revenue and possible livelihoods.

What is it that people who lead by inspiration do so differently to those who lead through position? It might just be that those who inspire do so by 'being' who they are - that is their message and beliefs create a connection between humans.

The emotional waking up process for me was very slow, hindered by the fact that I believed that I was already awake. I could see that others had a way to go, but me? No way! I was one of the lucky people who just managed to have it all together; but I was very excited about the idea of working, in some capacity, with those who didn't, to try and bring them to my advanced state! Oh, how the arrogant fall and oh, how very hard.

Some people have a great ability to keep the head under pressure in front of others. They steer their focus away from a feeling of risk and doom, to one of being in the moment - performing in the same way as they had mentally rehearsed their performance. And of course, with more experience, the easier it is to (in the words of Adam Ant) stand and deliver!

Today leaders need to know how to ‘lead’ themselves through their own life and their daily responsbilities as leader at work. We have a frighteningly fast pace of change and innovation, changing expectations, demands and concerns for staff and their well being and development – not to mention new ways of communicating, selling, distributing to make a difference…..and thriving in a global financial ‘crisis’ The leader who understands a couple of things will fare better than those who don’t.

As a Leadership Coach I meet many people who not only want to not only be succesful but want to make their dreams come true. Yet nearly all of them in the end fall short and fail. This article explains the number one reason why people fail and what you can do about it so it doesn't happen to you.

Myth 3: How I think about my audience doesn't matter. Truth: How you view your listeners is more important than the words you say.

"So what do you want to achieve?" I asked a recent client. "Well, really I just want to achieve a work/life balance," she responded. "Hmm, and what exactly is a work/life balance?" Like many others, she seemed confused. She mumbled something about, "having more time for herself" and then confessed she didn't really know. I told her I thought that the concept of work/life balance was a load of nonsense and, in trying to achieve it, we’re faced with yet another source of stress and angst.

It’s ‘that’ time of year again when we dig out our ‘to do’ list for the last twelve months, enjoy a smug 5 seconds of celebrating what we accomplished and then feel guilty at the remaining actions that we never even got close to achieving. So how are you going to make certain that January 2012 is different? What can you do to make sure that you're likely to ACHIEVE the career goals that you set yourself? What will it take to motivate you to keep going...even if the going gets tough?

From the 26th of September 2011, a ban on bullfighting in Barcelona ends a tradition that is hundreds of years old and etched into the DNA of Spanish culture. Whilst for some it’s a loss of identity and for others it’s an evolutionary step forward, one thing is for sure …. it demonstrates that leaders need to sometimes play a long-game to create change.

Some people have a great ability to keep the head under pressure in front of others. They steer their focus away from a feeling of risk and doom, to one of being in the moment - performing in the same way as they had mentally rehearsed their performance. And of course, with more experience, the easier it is to (in the words of Adam Ant) stand and deliver!