Put your won oxygen mask on first

… is the title of my contribution to Peter Hawkins most recent book, Leadership Team Coaching in Practice. I focus things I learnt about myself, the hard way, while working with a team. The EMCC Team Coaching Standards have something to say about this topic a well. “Develop and implement an appropriate process to maintain resilience and self-care and the active management of one’s own needs.” Note the words "active management" and "processes to maintain". Although the target audience is Team Coaches, the message here is of course equally applicable to every coach, every leader, every employee, every parent, every family member, every friend, everyone!

I was reminded last week how important self-care is for me too. And, thank you to my friends for reminding me.

Put your won oxygen mask on first – it’s not selfish, its a requirement!

#selfcare#selfcompassion#oxygen

If you or your team would like to talk more about "active management" and a "process to maintain" resilience and self-care, please get in touch.

Trust the team coaching process

I asked a past client recently "What advice would you give others on a team coaching journey that feel stuck, or seem to be going backwards?"

His response "Systems are complex, trust and focus on the process, don't fixate on the outcome. You won’t see the benefit every day as you are living it, and at times it might feel like you are losing not winning, stick with the process. With the benefit of hindsight, you might find the outcomes have actually developed organically to be greater than your original expectations." Thanks for your insight Gary Connolly. As I always say we learnt just as much from our clients as they learn working with us.

If you would like to know more about what the team coaching process might look like for your team, please get in touch.

#teamcoaching#teamdevelopment#insightsdiscovery#trusttheprocess

Keep the team flow flowing

I am still hiding and writing this week, although I have moved to Wyuna Bay (Coromandel Peninsula), where I have my own private beach (see video below), and the added bonus of wifi, phone connection. I extended my stay because I didn't want to break my flow.

Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as “a state of complete immersion in an activity. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one. Our whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost. " And, flow has great mental health benefits, including: improved emotional regulation, motivation, skill development, creativity, and it simply just makes us feel good. (And thanks Dr Sean O'Connor for the passion with which you teach this topic at Sydney Uni)

Flow happens in teams too. Think of sports teams or orchestra's. And collective team flow is immensely powerful. I often see and experience team flow in team coaching sessions, where all are in sync, feeding from one another, highly creative, contributing equally, and the concept of time seems irrelevant.

So, in a team context, when you feel flow, let it flow. Don't stick strictly to the agenda, or rush of to another meeting, instead harness the power being created right there and then.

If you would like to talk more about flow and/or how it plays out in team coaching please get in touch.

#teamcoaching#teamdevelopment#flow