3D Juggling 430: Market Trader

Claire writes: 'We move into our new office next week. It's in a Business Centre. We're looking forward to getting to know the neighbours and I'm wondering what will be different about my working style on office days which are spent in the hub of a business centre and not the home office.

When are we doing a job? And when are we running a business? Is your approach to work like the team member in Tesco - it's a job? Or like the market trader - it's a business? Most organisations that we work in have an internal market now where work is commissioned and supplied almost on a tendering basis. If you don't put in the best bid, someone else gets the work. If you don't have a clear offering with clear returns on investment, someone else will get the work. This is a huge shift from the working style which you may be comfortable with. And it also has benefits for the business - people are clearer about what they do and how they will do it.

In an internal market, you also need to begin to sell yourself in a different way. In Creating you and Co, William Bridges recommends that we stop simply looking for jobs and start seeing ourselves as Me PLC by noticing the markets where our skills can be used in our workplace, creating that into a product that the business wants and then selling that internally in our organisation. If your job is under threat you can choose to sit and wait to discover whether the hatchet hits your post. Or you can start seeing what Me PLC brings to the market.

And if you hate your job, Me PLC has another benefit. Imagine that today is the first day of a new contract between Me PLC and your current employer. What else do you need to be doing now to develop Me PLC?'

Love this? Do us a favour and send it to five people. Who thinks like you? You could send it to someone who works in an organisation with internal markets!

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© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

3D Juggling 429: 1930s Austin

It's been quite a week with the Redundancy Makeover in Letchworth on Saturday after two days away for ten of the 3D Coaching team. We have updated our resources on Writing a CV and creating a skills matrix. Take a look on the website. Lynn is further developing her supervision skills and looking for five more coaches who would like supervision. This will be at a much reduced rate. Contact sue@3dcoaching.com to find out more. And we introduce Jane Sandwith who will be joining 3D from 1st July.

Jane writes: "I was sorting through a box of papers left by my father when I found a garage chart for Austin 16 & 20 hp six cylinder models, circa 1930. It’s a beautiful chart and I’ve had it framed and display it in my kitchen. It has become a metaphor that helps me to understand the approach I often find myself taking when working in organisations. In the centre of the chart is a detailed diagram of an Austin car, showing all the components and how they intersect. At critical points there are symbols. The key to these symbols describes whether these points should be oiled or greased, and whether weekly or monthly. Some of them just need to be given ‘attention’.

Organisations are complex systems, with teams and individuals whose responsibilities and activities intersect. Sometimes they rub against each other and experience friction. It can be difficult to find the right kind of oil or grease, the type that will release tension and conflict to allow the system to work effectively and efficiently. Often the lubrication needed is a simple but brave conversation, maybe the result of finding a different way of presenting a point of view, or stating a need.

How many different types of oil or grease can you draw on?"

Love this? Do us a favour and send it to five people. Who thinks like you? You could send it to someone who likes engines!

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/

© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: http://www.3dcoaching.com/ and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

3D Juggling 428: Show the working out

There are still a few places left on July's Coaching For Excellence if you'd like to develop your coaching skills in a simple way that will totally transform the way you manage staff. We have also received a delivery of Laurie Beth Jones book 'The Four Elements of Success' which are now in our bookshop £10.50 inc P&P.

Claire writes: "One of the few things I remember from my first career as a Maths teacher is the importance of showing the working out. When the girls ask me to look at a piece of homework and it only has the answer, I have no idea how they got there. It's hard to help them work out what to do next, and they won't get any marks for getting the method right either. Showing the working out is equally important in one to one conversations. Especially if it's an encounter where there is one conversation going on out loud and a second in your head.

Showing the working out only works when it is done without judgement! 'I notice that there's some anger around this', 'I wonder whether that might get in the way when you go for that interview...'. Or, as one of our readers emailed the other day - get the person you are talking with to show their working out as well: 'I try more and more to close conversations with questions trying to sensitively ask someone to explain what message they think I have been trying to convey to them - the results are sometimes quite astonishing'.

Try it!"

Love this? Do us a favour and send it to five people. Who thinks like you? You could send it to someone who thinks the answer is 42!

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/

© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com