Executive Coaching can be a substantial, and incredibly impactful, investment in your people, particularly your current and emerging leaders. Research points to 5 distinct factors that impact the efficiency of coaching, these are:

Are you frustrated by investing in professional development (PD) initiatives only to witness vital knowledge and skills vanish quicker than a MAFs marriage? As custodians of PD budgets, we're acutely aware of the challenge posed by the forgetting curve—the swift decline in retention of training information over time. But there are work-arounds! In this article, we'll unveil strategies to combat the forgetting curve and redefine how you optimise your PD budget.

After having my first child, my firm offered me a flexible working arrangement when I returned to work. I left the office at 4pm, hung out with my son until 7pm and then worked from home in the evening after his bedtime. I also worked from home one day a week.

It was amazing – over the next six years, I continued to work this way. During this time I had two more children and was promoted to partner. I was making it all work! Or was I?

“I don’t need a cry baby, I need a f***ing lawyer!” I was in my first year as an articled clerk when a partner shouted those words at me. I’d let some tears fall after copping a tirade of insults from him when he’d found a typo in a document. While this encounter took place almost 20 years ago, similar interactions are still taking place in firms and corporations today, along with many other less blatant examples of poor leadership. In fact, a recent article in The Times reported that one in five lawyers have been bullied or harassed while at work.

To celebrate International Coaching Week I have decided to do something really uncomfortable and provide some deeper detail into why I quit my career as a law firm partner to become a coach. This is not easy for someone who spent many years hiding behind a big irm name and a “respectable” career choice, so please bear with me…

I cringe when I recall all the emails I sent over my time spent in private practice asking to postpone a commitment because things are “super hectic,” “crazy busy” or “manic.” No doubt the image that formed in the mind of the recipient was of me in a state of frenzy, hair on end, blouse untucked, shoes off and kicked under the desk, lurching around the office in stockinged feet. Probably not far from the truth, but hardly an image that portrays dignity and leadership.

I was putting together a workshop on “How to Lead Your Team during COVID-19” and I was off to a fairly good start. I had been following the situation in Singapore for a number of months (having only moved to Auckland from Singapore 8 months ago) and I felt it would be a good time to launch some training around this topic here in New Zealand.

Then it was March 23 and the lockdown was announced. I felt a number of different emotions hit me, one after the other

The ‘C word’ was present in practically every performance review I received from my early days as an articled clerk and trainee lawyer, later as a junior lawyer, a senior associate and eventually as a partner in a law firm.

You have probably guessed that the “C” word I am referring to has more than four letters and has nothing to do with a virus. I am talking about Confidence.

Everyone is talking about resilience. Managers want resilient teams, ambitious individuals are actively trying to develop their resilience and our children are being ‘taught’ it at school. The pandemic has made the concept even more popular but I’m not sure many people know what it really means.

The danger of a term becoming a buzzword or mainstreamed is that it can become generalised and lose nuance of meaning. For some people, I suspect ‘resilience’ has become code for toughen up, push down or ignore your emotions and carry on, or forge ahead, at any cost!

A number of people have said I’ve demonstrated considerable resilience both in my personal and professional life. When I was delving into resilience as part of my work I was bemused by how fundamental optimism is to having and developing resilience. This baffled me because I’d never considered myself an optimist (in fact a close friend called me a catastrophist and some have referred to me as a pessimist).

Then I realised I’d been limiting the scope of optimism to “being positive about the present”, which brought back memories of well-intentioned comments like, “stay positive” “chin-up” “smile” and my favourite, “just don’t think about it, think about something else”. None of these sat well with me.

What does innovation mean in the context of improving law practice? Is it merely a cost-effective technological solution or inspired action born out of a genuine desire to drive change for lawyers and their clients?

Leadership is top of mind in the global arena. This year we have yearned for effective and inspiring leaders and in many cases, we were left wanting.

Most of us desire leaders who inspire but when does that inspiration start to look more like adulation or hero worship? And if it does, is this something we should be concerned about?

While a lot has been said about how working from home during the pandemic has provided greater work/life balance, the topic of burnout has featured in many conversations I’ve had with professionals this year.

What is becoming clear is managing workplace stress is not something an individual can do alone. The perceived benefits of working from home (no daily commute and having easier access to loved ones and creature comforts during the day) may be cancelled out if leaders are not communicating effectively, pushing back on unreasonable deadlines, treating staff fairly or allowing their staff to take time away from work to recharge. Individuals must come together to support one another in prioritising the wellbeing of every member of the team.

When people tell me they are seeking to develop gravitas I immediately wonder what this quality actually means to them.

Is gravitas a vague notion of someone who is solemn and dignified or could it mean being poised and confident? Does it look the same when a man has it as when a woman possesses it? Do cultural considerations or vocation come into play? Would a Russian businessman display gravitas differently from a female Brazilian academic?

I love Christmas but the lead up to it used to be my least favourite time of year. As a finance lawyer my workload would start to ramp up around September and be completely out of control by December. The holidays were threatened as everyone pushed to complete their deals before the end of the year. There was so much to do, it was overwhelming.

Psychologist Marla W. Deibler describes overwhelm as the feeling that you are completely overcome in mind or emotion, when you feel as though the stressor is too great for you to manage. The dictionary definition “to bury or drown beneath of huge mass of something” is also illustrative.

As we near the end of a year that has challenged us all, deep contemplation on the direction of our lives and careers is taking place for many. Are you doing what you really love? Would you rather be doing something more purposeful? What is it that you’re waiting for?

As the silly season approaches, have you wondered about the amounts you have been drinking? Do you ever feel like your body needs a rest?

While this year’s social events might not have a decadent flavour because of the pandemic, alcohol is still playing a significant role. Over lockdown, alcohol retailers have been declared an essential service and mental health professionals have noted how the added strain of a pandemic has led to more frequent and problematic drinking at home.

For many legal professionals, alcohol is part of the everyday experience, whether through entertaining clients, signalling the transition of working from the office to continuing that work from home, or simply relaxing after a hard and stressful day.

Did you know 98 per cent of New Year’s resolutions fail? I just invented that statistic (so don’t quote me on it), but it sounds about right, doesn’t it?

Let’s face it, our vows and promises on January 1 to eat healthier, drink less, move more and get more sleep probably went by the wayside by February, and in fact (a real statistic this time) a Scranton University study found that only 19 percent of individuals keep their resolutions and most are abandoned by mid-January!

As Auckland re-entered level 3 lockdown many of us filled our shopping trolleys with comfort food like crisps, flour for baking, chocolate and enough alcohol to see us through a week at home. It is fitting that I’ve collaborated with Simone Barclay, founder of Think Straight to explore how to change your relationship with alcohol, if this is something you’ve been thinking about.

How do you come across as authentic when you are trying to adapt your leadership presence?

I have coached people who are progressing into formal leadership roles or struggling in existing ones. They are conflicted between holding true to the beliefs and principles they feel define who they are, while noticing the behaviour resulting from those beliefs is holding them back from being the leader they want (or are expected) to be.