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Circles of Concern and Taking Control

Circles of Concern and Taking Control

Do you ever feel stressed, anxious or overwhelmed? I’ll confess – I do, at times. Sometimes my clients describe their stress or the breadth of their worries with telling metaphors like - “it's like trying to herd cats” or “counting pebbles on the beach”. So, I’d like...

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10 Women’s Leadership Myths Debunked

10 Women’s Leadership Myths Debunked

10 Leadership Myths To Let Go Of! In my women’s leadership coaching practice, I come across a number of self-limiting beliefs about leadership that hold women back from being their best selves. Here are the ten most common myths – debunked by some gentle reminders for...

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From Comfort Zone to Growth

From Comfort Zone to Growth

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” Abraham Maslow Are you sitting comfortably? Maybe that’s the problem! Leaders need to step out of their comfort zone and...

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Design Your Best Year Yet!

Design Your Best Year Yet!

Now that the new year is fast upon us, I invite my coaching clients – and you! – to set your intentions for the coming year. And to help you do that, I’ve produced a valuable download: Design the Year You Want! It gives a step-by-step process to aid you as you begin...

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When to Coach and When to Manage

When to Coach and When to Manage

  Obviously, there are professionals, like myself, who specialize in coaching people; but coaching skills are valuable for everyone – parent or CEO. As a leader, you will find yourself in the position of managing projects and staff – and needing to coach people....

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My 10 Favorite Leadership Quotes

My 10 Favorite Leadership Quotes

Leadership is dynamic and constantly changing. Now, we are living in an era when leadership is becoming more relational, with a stronger focus on people, their diversity and their wellbeing. There are now more and more opportunities for women …

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10 Powerful Coaching Questions To Get You Started

10 Powerful Coaching Questions To Get You Started

"Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen." – Pete Carroll What if I gave you some key coaching...

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10 Tips to Level Up Your Listening

10 Tips to Level Up Your Listening

“To say that a person feels listened to means a lot more than just their ideas get heard. It’s a sign of respect. It makes people feel valued.” – Deborah Tannen, author and professor of Linguistics, Georgetown University. I’ve written a lot about listening, because...

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6 Ways to Leverage the Fresh Start Effect

6 Ways to Leverage the Fresh Start Effect

New year isn’t the only time for a clean slate, making resolutions, changing your behavior or achieving a goal. How many times have you heard people say ‘tomorrow is another day’? There is always time for starting anew. Many people use a specific date to set their...

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5 Things You Can Do To Expand Your Network

5 Things You Can Do To Expand Your Network

Much has been written about the benefits of networking – sharing information and ideas, making connections, influencing people, building relationships and finding support or collaborators. Ultimately, networking is key to your career progress and crucial to your...

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6 Reasons Your Leadership Brand Matters

6 Reasons Your Leadership Brand Matters

  How do you articulate your leadership brand? Does it convey what you contribute so that you have the impact you desire? Having a strong leadership brand allow you to stand out from the crowd. It makes you known to your colleagues and other stakeholders for...

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10 Ways to be Seen AND Heard at Work

10 Ways to be Seen AND Heard at Work

In my previous post, we talked about how to build your personal brand, and the importance of being able to articulate who you are, and your skill-set. This is also a really important tool in pursuing greater visibility. Much has been written on the advantages of...

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How to Develop Your Personal Brand: 101

How to Develop Your Personal Brand: 101

What is your personal brand? And how do you communicate it? Think of a successful, reliable brand – of computer, or supermarket, or training shoe, and certain names will pop straight into your head, because they are ‘trusted’ brands. It’s not just about millions of...

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Women and Networking: Reframing for Results!

Women and Networking: Reframing for Results!

  In my experience of coaching hundreds of women all over the world, there is a potent tension when it comes to women and networking. On the one hand, from an extensive body of research and practice, we know that networking is very important for career...

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Values-based Leadership: Your North Star

Values-based Leadership: Your North Star

“The most important thing about leadership is your character and the values that guide your life.” –Brenda Barnes Our values are the things that we hold as being important to us: the qualities, states, people, systems, and institutions we believe to be literally...

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Cultivating a Growth Mindset

Cultivating a Growth Mindset

Do you have a fixed or growth mindset? Do you believe that ability can be developed, through learning or motivation? If so, you are more likely to believe that the mind is flexible allowing you to learn, growth, and develop as you lead. Read on for some tips on how to...

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Leaders as Learners – the Master Skill

Leaders as Learners – the Master Skill

Leaders are learners. Leadership is a learning journey! How are you learning every day and stepping out of your comfort zone? Leading is your opportunity for continuous learning - for yourself and for others. Here are some tips for being a leaders who learns...

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Making Time for Your Leadership Self-Reflection

Making Time for Your Leadership Self-Reflection

Leadership Reflection   When was the last time you carved out some time and space to think about your leadership? And what do you want do your leadership to look like? Leadership development experts agree that making time to  to engage in self-discovery and...

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5 conseils pour tisser des liens à chaque rencontre

5 conseils pour tisser des liens à chaque rencontre

En tant que jeunes leaders, qui avez un message important à délivrer aux personnes de pouvoir, vous devez être capable de tisser des liens étroits afin de faire passer votre message, de négocier, d’exploiter vos réseaux, d’influencer et de guider les autres. Tisser...

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On Being a Visible Woman

On Being a Visible Woman

Have you heard of invisible women? And how do you become visible? I’ve coached on numerous leadership development programs, when the issue of feeling invisible often occurs – particularly for females, but also for introverts and people from some cultures. Although...

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INFLUENCER : Comment devenir une personne d’influence

INFLUENCER : Comment devenir une personne d’influence

Tout le monde exerce une influence sur les autres. Pas seulement les personnes qui occupent des postes haut placés. Dès lors que les chemins de deux personnes se croisent, un pouvoir d’influence se met en place. Que vous cherchiez à convaincre votre conjoint/e d’aller...

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Radical Candor in Leadership

Radical Candor in Leadership

A leader needs to build and maintain positive working relationships, guide their employees, and give – and receive – feedback. ‘Radical candor’ is a recognised leadership skill that has been achieving a lot of traction since 2017, with the publication of Kim Scott’s...

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Mental Health Wellness Initiatives for Employees

Mental Health Wellness Initiatives for Employees

Source: Unsplash Employee wellness is integral to maintaining a happy and productive workplace. However, in the past, employee wellness programmes were treated as an afterthought. Additionally, according to data in an article on Medium, there's a vast discrepancy...

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How to show up when you are not physically present

How to show up when you are not physically present

Now that most of us are leading our teams from home, let’s talk about ‘the elephant in the Zoom’. You’re having a serious video conference call at the kitchen table, but behind your back, your toddler upstages you by dancing into the room dressed as a unicorn. From...

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Everyday Leadership in Troubled Times

Everyday Leadership in Troubled Times

Are you showing up as a leader during the Covid-19 pandemic? You might be wondering what you can do to practice leaderships skills in the current climate, and in the context you’re in – whether that’s working from home, or socially distanced in the real or virtual...

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Shared Leadership During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Shared Leadership During the Covid-19 Pandemic

There is perhaps no better time to practise shared leadership than during the current Coronavirus pandemic. Many leaders themselves have contracted the virus, from the EU’s Michel Barnier to the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. With so many people affected and...

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A mentoring journey for 6 francophone youth leaders

A mentoring journey for 6 francophone youth leaders

This mentoring program is of great help especially for young people because it helps us find our way on our own. We don't necessarily have the time, energy or someone to talk to about our concerns and help resolve them; which can damage our work; but with this program...

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Networking: Creating A Virtuous Circle

Networking: Creating A Virtuous Circle

As an executive and leadership coach specializing in working with women, I have received some very strong — often negative — reactions to the subject of networking. Or, should I say, some of my clients hold a rather narrow, outmoded view of networking. Fortunately, we...

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Your Goal-setting Framework

Your Goal-setting Framework

It’s that time a year again. A new year is a fresh beginning, and many people take the opportunity for making new year’s resolutions, goal-setting, and developing plans to achieve their desired outcomes. When we’ve made resolutions, we must then think about keeping...

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Celebrate your Whole Self

Celebrate your Whole Self

It’s a great time to celebrate your whole self The end of the year offers us opportunities to celebrate. So, why not celebrate your whole self? That means recognising all your positives and achievements in all areas of your life – work and personal – and making time...

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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

Leading with Emotional Intelligence Do you display emotionally intelligent leadership? Do you know what Emotional Intelligence is – and how to use emotional intelligence in leadership? Are you aware of the benefits of leading with Emotional Intelligence? ‘Leadership’...

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From leadership myths to a leadership mindset

From leadership myths to a leadership mindset

In my experience as a leadership coach for global development professionals and a lecturer, I have discovered that a certain leadership mythology exists. There are so many misunderstandings about leadership, and leadership myths prevalent in society, that this can be...

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Practising self-care – 10 Tips for taking care of yourself

Practising self-care – 10 Tips for taking care of yourself

How do you practice self-care? When was the last time your practised self-care? In our world of perpetual busyness it is critical for us all to take time our to recharge our batteries. Read on for some tips for practising self-care so that you can continue to lead, learn, grow and propser.

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8 Tips for Managing Your Perfectionism

8 Tips for Managing Your Perfectionism

Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life. Research shows that perfectionism hampers success. In fact, it's often the path to depression, anxiety, addiction, and life...

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Leaders as learners – The F-word…

Leaders as learners – The F-word…

Leaders who learn - transforming failure! Remember the F-word? “Which F-word, in particular?” you ask. I’m talking about Failure. Are you a leader who learns from failure? And if so, how? How do you define and respond to failure? And how does this manifest in your...

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Managing Your Inner Critic

Managing Your Inner Critic

Critical voices and managing your inner critic ‘The critical voices in our own heads are far more vicious than what we might hear from the outside. Our "inside critics" have intimate knowledge of us and can zero in on our weakest spots.’  – Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy...

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Leveraging your network: ready, set, grow!

Leveraging your network: ready, set, grow!

“Sometimes, idealistic people are put off the whole business of networking as something tainted by flattery and the pursuit of selfish advantage. But virtue in obscurity is rewarded only in Heaven. To succeed in this world you have to be known to people.” – Sonia...

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Gender balance for women leading in global health

Gender balance for women leading in global health

Hope you enjoy this infographic on women and leadership, with a focus on gender balance for women leading in global health organisations. Have a look at some of the challenges women face in unbalanced environments, and of course, let’s not forget the benefits of...

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8 Leadership Intentions for a Successful 2019

8 Leadership Intentions for a Successful 2019

Leadership intentions - resolutions.... Have you heard this joke? “What exactly is a New Year’s resolution? – It’s a ‘to do’ list for the first week of January.” For those of you leading, how about setting intentions - leadership intentions for the coming year? New...

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Reflect, celebrate and plan for the New Year

Reflect, celebrate and plan for the New Year

A great time to reflect, celebrate and plan It’s been a roller coaster of a year with events echoing around the world – continuing political unrest, natural disasters from wildfires in the USA to earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and the devastating sadness of the...

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Mentoring women in global development

Mentoring women in global development

Mentoring women in global development - It pays off! “There is a ‘glass ceiling’ in the international development sector. It’s not as pronounced as in the Fortune 500 or the tech worlds … but it’s real.” — Fiona Macaulay, founder and CEO, WILD Network Recently I had...

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Happy World Kindness Day: A Kinder Kind of Work

Happy World Kindness Day: A Kinder Kind of Work

Kindness at work   It’s World Kindness Day today. However, wouldn’t it be great if there was kindness every day, in all spheres of life?/! In Harvard Business Review (Jan 02, 2018) Make Civility the Norm on Your Team,  Christine Porath says, “Unfortunately, my...

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Resilience: How to create your own super power

Resilience: How to create your own super power

‘People are like teabags, they don’t know how strong they are until they are put in hot water.’ Eleanor Roosevelt   Are you working in a high stress environment where the demands are overwhelming and/or never ending? Are you working long hours at headquarters, in...

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Imposter Syndrome – Are you faking it?

Imposter Syndrome – Are you faking it?

  “I can’t believe that I am responsible for working with these donors, I have no idea how I got this job?!” “Anyone could have prepared the monitoring and evaluation plan on such short notice …it was nothing.” “All my colleagues are more talented than me, it is...

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Leadership Coaching for Women in Global Development

Leadership Coaching for Women in Global Development

Women Leading in Global Development    Do the technical skills that helped you to rise to where you are, help you to lead? Why has hard work alone not advanced your career? How do you lead as a woman without impersonating a man? These are just a few questions we...

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Getting the best out of your mentoring experience

Getting the best out of your mentoring experience

How to get the best out of your mentoring relationship I’d like to follow up on my previous post Mentoring for a Change – Mentoring Exchanges, and talk about how to get the most out of your mentoring relationship, or to ensure an effective mentoring experience. In...

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7 (+3) Techniques to Effectively Tell Your Story

7 (+3) Techniques to Effectively Tell Your Story

 “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” Robert McKee At a recent conference I attended, I heard numerous emotional stories from speakers, about overcoming their challenges and how they transformed their own lives and their paths,...

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Building Charisma – Yes, it can be done!

Building Charisma – Yes, it can be done!

  I am an introvert, can introverts learn how to be charismatic? Can I build charisma, and if so, how? I am a technical expert, do I really need to worry about charisma?   The short answer – yes, to all! In my experience as a coach specialising in working...

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Goldilocks and the 3 Coaches: Finding the right coach

Goldilocks and the 3 Coaches: Finding the right coach

Once upon a time there lived 3 Coaches: Too Nice Coach, Too Direct Coach and Balanced Coach... There lived Goldilocks, a professional in a newly appointed leadership role at Forest Industries. An international company with expanding reach and rapid business growth....

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Building a Culture of Purpose

Building a Culture of Purpose

In his book, A Culture of Purpose, Christoph Lueneburger states that “the most important challenge for a twenty-first century leader” is to build a ‘culture of purpose’. This goes for the organizational purpose, the leadership’s sense of purpose, and the purpose...

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Planning with purpose for 2018

Planning with purpose for 2018

Happy New Year! You've probably done some stocktaking of your past challenges and achievements in 2017, so this new year is a great opportunity for making a fresh start and moving forward in an even more positive direction – or planning a with purpose. According to...

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World Kindness Day – Celebrating Kindness at Work!

World Kindness Day – Celebrating Kindness at Work!

Celebrating kindness at work They say that money makes the world go around – but how about a kindness revolution, instead? Or what about celebrating kindness at work? At work, kindness could be the key to keeping staff happy and generating more customers – thereby...

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Debunking common coaching myths…

Debunking common coaching myths…

Recently, I was chatting with a friend who is a senior executive, and he mentioned a serious challenge his leadership team was encountering. Suddenly, he said, “There you go! You’re a coach – here’s a problem for you to fix!” When I pointed out that this is not...

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