JENNIFER BETH BLAKE

MBTI

The MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is great for management and leadership development and so I use it in my work with clients.

Here’s why:

The tool adds value for my clients to achieve more of those “ah-ha”moments; which come from improved self awareness during coaching sessions.

As an MBTI practitioner my clients can gain an improved understanding of others and improved awareness of the diversity of personality.

They have a better understanding of how to approach managing and leading others who have different preferences for thinking, communicating and taking action.

They ultimately understand how members of their team gain energy, gather information, make decisions and organise.

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came across these questions recently. In truth I have come across them before and I attempted to answer them too. Somehow though with the activities of life and other priorities (for 'priorities' read 'distractions') they had been relegated to the recesses of my mind. Until a week ago. They are described by their poser, Myles Monroe, as '5 vital life questions'.

Who am I?
Where am I from?
Why am I here?
What can I do - what are my true abilities?
Where am I going?

They are very challenging questions to answer don't you think?!. So hard in fact that I am still considering which of my responses are my best answers for my life. I will share my responses when I have concluded my deliberations lol. It may take a while tbh and I am not proud or even ashamed to say that. It is what it is - they are deep!

A superb quote - again by Myles Monroe.

The greatest enemy of progress is your last success.

Jennifer

Leadership is active. It is alive. It's about what you do on a daily basis. It evolves and develops, over time all by it self through experience; doesn't it? Perhaps, but ask yourself: how is your leadership evolving? Delve deeper by asking yourself these questions:

Is my leadership progressing or has it remained unchanged for a long period of time?

Am I actively aware of my current leadership skills or am I just doing what I've always done?

Reflection just for yourself is a good thing. You don't have to share your responses with others. However, if you chose to, I am here to lend a listening ear if needed?

Jennifer

Here's a random thought for a Friday morning!
Firstly, I reckon that we all have management and leadership behaviours that should be consigned to Room 101. My thinking goes like this.
By subjecting a person to his or her greatest and most essential fears about their management and leadership practice, the torturer can tap into the terror of that person's thinking, and so break the behaviour that no longer serves them, more easily.
Go with me on this just for a minute. Room 101 will be different for everyone. It could be that you don't quite hit the mark when you are speaking in public. Maybe you don't deliver those presentations with the aplomb that you could do, or are capable of. Or, perhaps you want to create the kind of working environment that really motivates your team to higher performance. Yet, you are not quite able to pull it off.
In this scenario, the point of going into Room 101 on this, is to absolutely ensure the final stage of acceptance of your management and leadership potential and to reach this under the pressure of your greatest fear!
The good news is Room 101 is the last resort - the final place - the breaking point.
You don't have to take such drastic action though.
Another option is to attend some sort of learning or development event.
Perhaps a 101 fundamentals of management and leadership type workshop, course or conference. Or to undergo some management and leadership coaching sessions.
There are many 101's of management and leadership fundamentals type opportunities out there; so take a look at what's available and step up your management and leadership game with new ways of working, new ways of leading and new ways of showing up.

0 Comments I love, love, love this by Rumi 2/12/2016

In winter the bare boughs that seem to sleep
work covertly preparing for their spring

Wake up - to who you really are and arouse the positive possibilities for your life
Get up - from where you are and take that first step
Look up - aim high, keep focused on your goal
Move up - to positive thinking, and embrace physical exercise for health and to release positive endorphins
Fuel up - eat healthy food
Fix up - dress to feel good about yourself
Mix up - change your routine and do something different, achieve different outcomes
Give up - your self limiting beliefs or on what no longer serves you
Step up - and play your biggest game

Jennifer Beth Blake
July 2016

True leaders make more leaders. That's just how it is!

Consider whether or not you're approach is enabling other leaders to develop and emerge?

I have for a while now been attending a number of expos, conferences, workshops and other self development and/or business related events. Many of them are in the evenings or during the most potentially productive time of my working week. They also happen during the evenings when I could, alternatively, be spending time catching up on all things domestic or social and relaxation time with family and friends.

I've loved attending them though. I have been able to take something away from every event. i've met some great people who are doing amazing things in business, charity and other areas of life.

I have been able to scan the horizon of possibility and check out some of the movers and shakers in areas that interest me and/or which touch on areas in which I too do business to see what excellence looks like for others. This has given me great insights.

People really are inspiring! The people I've met are seeking more and better for themselves and for others too. They are stepping up to play their biggest game.

As a result of what I have learned, most of all I hope that I am evidencing (especially as a previous public sector employee) through behaviour, or attitude or through my actions that I am transferring my public sector honed skills to a commerical environment and demonstrating increased business savvy!

Going with the flow is freeing!! I'm enjoying it and it has positively reduced my stress levels as It has freed me from a behaviour pattern I was caught up in of being pro-active much of the time in order for my life to work out.

and from the feeling that I am responsible for stuff in my life that I am clearly not responsible for.

Being proactive was something I used to feel was a great thing because it meant that I was known for getting things done! It has freed me from trying to make things happen. Making things happen. I used to think that that this was one of my positive traits. Maybe it still is but now I know I can switch this drive off! Then back on again when and if I choose to.

0 Comments Today is a good day............11/8/2016

Today is a good to...................? Please. Feel free to share what you consider to be a good day? I would love to hear from you.

0 Comments Forging meaning 1/8/2016

'Forging meaning from your life' to me is more powerful than taking the approach that 'everything happens for a reason'. It's the flip side of the same coin really... but the power dynamic changes with a 'forging' attitude as it speaks to pro-active seeking meaning rather than an approach where meaning
can either be bestowed, or not by another as a result of your life experiences.

0 CommentsAuthor

There’s a lot of discussion about change out there. People are either talking about introducing a change, asking themselves whether they are leading change correctly, or thinking of ways to get the people in their organisation to change. It’s understandably a hot topic in so many organisations.
Unsurprisingly in my work in change management, my role is to help people and organisations to change, particularly to change to new ways of working, new ways of leading or to new ways of just showing up in life.
In conversation with some of my clients, the subject is focused on how critical transformational change is to their organisational success. Either to keep their service current in response to changing technological opportunities, or to respond to changing customer expectations, or to be more modern and efficient, (which are often the reasons for change with my public sector clients).
Alongside this, I’ve noticed a trend in thinking that transformational change is not only very difficult to achieve, but it is also more desirable than either say, transactional or developmental type change initiatives.
Is transformational change the best kind of change? Can the same change management approaches be used for all change initiatives?
Interestingly, whilst all change is amazing to me - I must admit that I too love working with transformational change because it is challenging, complicated, unpredictable and it enables me to use my creativity in finding solutions to the challenges to help my clients. The future state is less prescribed and must be revealed or emerge through experimentation and for the employees impacted by the change to be open to 'just having a go'. Transformational change involves dealing with the sticky issues of behavioural and cultural change and needs higher levels of employee engagement and buy-in. All exciting stuff.
For me though, it’s really not about what is more exciting but about knowing which type of change an organisation needs to undergo and what outcomes are being sought and only then, choosing the right description of the change and, thus, the right change approach. Change initiatives can fail, or be less successful, if managers and leaders unknowingly use descriptions or approaches that do not quite fit the type of change they wish to achieve.
So, are you clear about whether your change initiative is really transformational? Perhaps to you and/or to your organisation it is, indeed, truly significant. However, could the change be transactional or perhaps developmental and also a game-changer? Could you be introducing developmental change where you need to improve existing skills levels, performance standards, or to change processes or operating methods within your organisation or service? Or, are you introducing transactional change with a predictable or predetermined outcome such as the introduction of a new operating system (from the old system to the new)? Are you clear about which change management methods of project management approaches will work best for the type of change you are introducing? Will organisational culture have to change or are you introducing something completely new where teams will need to operate in the unknown? If so, then it could be transformational change!
Whether your change is developmental, transactional or transformational - I can help.
Jennifer Blake - Change Partnership Limited - [email protected] - www.changepartnershipuk.com - 07988891072 - twitter: partnerwithjen

0 Comments No, not this type of change... but neophobia. 6/9/2016

I'm talking about the terrifying fear of change! - neophobia - the persistent or out side of the normal range of fear of anything new.

came across this story recently. It really resonates with me. Does it make you think?

One of my favorite stories is a lesson about taking responsibility for our own lives. It is about learning to respond rather than react when we are confronted by “life”. I heard this simple Buddhist story many years ago, and it goes like this:
A young farmer paddled his boat vigorously up river. He was covered with sweat as he paddled his boat upstream to deliver his produce to the village. It was a hot day, and he wanted to make his delivery and get home before dark. As he looked ahead, he spied another vessel, heading rapidly downstream toward his boat. He rowed furiously to get out of the way, but it didn’t seem to help.
He shouted, “Change direction! You are going to hit me!” The boat came straight towards him anyway. It hit his boat with a violent thud. The young man cried out, “You idiot! How could you manage to hit my boat in the middle of this wide river?”
As he glared into the boat, seeking out the individual responsible for the accident, he realized that there was no one. He had been screaming at an empty boat that had broken free of its moorings and was floating downstream with the current.
The interesting thing is that we behave one way when we believe that there is another person at the helm. We blame that stupid, uncaring person for our misfortune. We get angry, act out, assign fault, and play the victim. In other words, we are not engaged in a positive way for ourselves, but in a negative and defensive way that makes nothing better!
We behave more calmly when we know that what is coming towards us is an empty boat. With no available scapegoat, we don’t get upset. We make peace with the fact that our misfortune was the result of fate or bad luck and we do our best to rectify the situation. We may even laugh at the absurdity of a random unmanned boat finding a way to collide with us in a vast body of water.
The challenge for all of us is to recognize that there’s never really anyone in the other boat. We are always screaming at an empty vessel. An empty boat isn’t targeting us. And neither are all the people creating the sour notes in the soundtrack of our day. If we start treating all boats as empty, we will have no other choice but to 1) accept what is and 2) change what we can change.
It is up to us to choose how we react to the empty boats in our lives. We can either yell and scream at the empty boats and endure the collision or choose to get out of the way the best we can, accepting what happens, and do our best to continue on our way along the river.
Triggers is a #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller! Order it at Amazon. See The Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Video Blog for more of this video series.

0 Comments
This quote never get old ......
26/11/2016
God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.

Reinbold Niebubr - 1892 -1971

0 Comments
Can you really be a leader if you lack integrity?
26/11/2016
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Many organisational mission statements and/or organisational value statements will feature the word "integrity" in there somewhere.

Clearly many senior managers and organisations know that integrity is important to people.

The Oxford Dictionary defines integrity this way:
"The quality of being honest and of having strong moral principles".

This is a very short kick off article for some product development work I'm currently doing. My question is:

Can you really be a leader if you lack integrity? Please share your thoughts with me?

0 Comments
Who cares what you think!
16/11/2016
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Feedback matters to people.
The people in your team care what you think.

Feedback is a very powerful way to let people know that they matter and that what they do matters.
The thing about giving feedback is that there is so much room for things to go wrong. If things don’t
go well, the consequences can negatively affect:
working relationships
self esteem and belief
happiness levels
commitment
performance
So. many managers avoid giving feedback at all! The thing is that not giving feedback (or only at
the annual performance review), as a way of avoiding mistakes, can make things worse as
improvement, change and development stalls for people and for the organisation or business.
When managers and leaders give great feedback, it lets people know that:
I see you - it confirms to people that they are on your radar - they are valued
I recognise you- It lets people know that you see what they bring to the table and that they and their work matters to you
I want you to grow - it recognises potential and provides the basis for growth and development
I have a positive impact on you - it increases confidence in you as a manager/leader and inspires others to increase performance and it provides guidance for success

Some important lessons I’ve learned about feedback is that I can’t ‘force” feedback onto people and
that readiness to receive and timeliness when giving feedback matters. A lot.

Here’s an example for my own experience. I believed in the above reasons about why feedback
really matters. I had a team member - I’ll call him Tom. to whom I wanted to give feedback. I thought
I knew all the do’s and don’ts for giving him great feedback. I even trained managers and leaders to
give feedback to their team members so I thought I knew my stuff! I truly believed that feedback on
a specific thing would really help Tom to develop his potential and improve his performance. It was
really important to me that my intentions for giving the feedback were positive - and they were. I
met with and gave Tom the feedback. It did not go well!

So what went wrong here? I believe that Tom’s “readiness to receive feedback” didn’t match
my “readiness to give feedback”. So although I had all the skills boxes ticked for giving great
feedback, Tom and I were out of sync in terms of our power dynamic, our differing perspectives
and assumptions about the focus/topic of the feedback. Importantly, my timing was off. In short,
I hadn’t created the right environment for harmonious feedback to take place.

I learned a lot from this experience. In my work with clients, I have found that it is often in the space
that is described in the feedback to Tom example above, is where disharmony is most often
experienced by managers and leaders when giving and receiving feedback This is especially true
in scenarios involving senior leaders feeding back to their own managers i think.
So it is often not in the skills of giving feedback where things are the most challenging.but in
the leadership style, culture, values, assumptions perspectives and readiness levels of the
people involved.

If any of this resonates with you, and/or you want to explore this topic further and create a
more harmonious environment for the kind of feedback that your people can’t get enough of;
get in touch for a chat.

Coaching for Leading Change - Package - Giving and Receiving Feedback

Jennifer Blake
[email protected] - 07988891072

I believe that Managers and leaders want to become better managers and leaders. The people I come into contact with want:

- to light up with confidence and impact positively on their people.
- want their management and leadership skills to shine through
- but, are light on time

What can stop many from committing to management or leadership development is

The courses on offer don't quite hit the mark
You want something that has the greatest positive impact on your skills and the course subjects on offer don't quite hit the mark in today's work environment. In fact, you may have already done most of them!

Too busy - just too much to do to to take time out
You are just too busy. Work is full on and your workload is crazy. Basically you have too much on to prioritise self development or management/leadership development.

Right now there are loads of courses out there that offer development opportunities which run for a full day, or even longer. There may even be a few half day workshops which cover 'standard" areas of development. Whilst it's important to take time out for learning and reflecting on leadership, taking the time to do that for a full day can be a daunting prospect.

Often when we do decide to make the time, instead of focusing on the course, we are checking emails, wondering what's going on back at the office, or thinking about that report that has to be written. In short, just not fully engaging in the session! We wonder why we are there instead of "working"! The result is that no matter how good the course might have been, we don't get very much from attending , except frustration and, perhaps, the feeling that 'that was a waste of my time".
At the same time, you want to work on areas that give you the most challenges in the management and leadership. of your people.

I think that managers and leaders want to focus on the subjects and challenges that can have the greatest impact on management/leadership behaviours in the shortest time!

That's my experience. What do you think?

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