Author Archives: Vegard Olsen

Toning down your strengths to be more flexible, agile, strategic and smart

By Vegard Olsen

We all know that knowing your strengths and working from them is often a great thing. And it´s something we as coaches often advocate.

But – as much as working from your strengths is a great thing, too much of anything is too much.

A caring parent is a wonderful thing, but an overcaring parent can feel suffocating, even if the intention is the best in the world. A similar dynamic happens within leadership.


Picture: Leio McLaren, unsplash.com

Being an empathetic, open and supporting leader who encourages ownership can be really great, but being it too much of that can get in the way of great leadership and effective work.

Sometimes, as a leader, you do need to instruct, to micromanage, to give people direct and honest feedback, hold them accountable or to train or to guide with a lot of detail. Because, often the leader of a team or an organisation have more experience, sometimes also more motivation and dedication, and therefore taking more charge or sometimes taking decisions on behalf of others would make sense.

And this kind of dynamic happen with more or less all leadership traits.

On the other side of the continuum of open communication is being strategic, protecting information, being tactical and being smart.

On the other side of encouraging participation and ownership is getting shit done your self, taking more responsibility.

On the other side of being strongly purpose driven is being flexible, pragmatic and taking time to think things through before acting. Turning down passion can allow you to calm down, breath, think, and be smart, find the best timing, and increase the chance of your purpose coming to life one step at a time.

It’s not about either or though, it’s about knowing when to do and be what in which situation and with which people.

For myself I can say that I often have overemphasised participation, encouraging ownership and open communication. And that I´ve often focused too much shared decisions-making rather than taking decisions myself, for example in situations when I have been the team leader with the most experience and the strongest commitment. Often I´ve tried to be the perfect coaching leader, which then got in the way of great and effective leadership.

So rather than focusing coaching leadership or great leadership, it´s better to just be.
To analyse the situation objectively. What is the degree of commitment and experience with our staff. How much should decisions be shared and how much should they be done by me in this context and situation?

Realising this I have let myself be more selfish, more self-oriented, more direct and allowing myself to just being me and seeing things for whatever they are, and not trying to be a good or bad leader or anything else.

So now over to you. What are some of the strengths you might overemphasise? And which are some of your leadership traits you are avoiding too much? Giving direct feedback? Taking decisions on behalf of others? Cutting through when people are discussing too much?

As always – we really appreciate hearing your thoughts!

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Mission and purpose driven leaders: 6 questions to ask to grow your business!

By Vegard Olsen

Mission and purpose driven leaders are just that – on a mission. A purpose driven and important mission that can help a lot of people and society.

And to make this mission come to life, you know and understand, that being your best self is crucial to making it happen. You understand that how you feel, think, behave and act will directly affect to which degree you will succeed with making your mission come to life. You  understand that being a leader of the future, an extraordinary leader, is crucial for you to achieve your goals of helping society in new, profound and innovative ways.

Here are 6 questions to help you remind yourself of your uniqueness, move into your core power and take significant leaps towards making your mission come to life:


Picture: Christopher Sardegna, unsplash.com

1) What is one thing I am refusing to be, that if I allowed it, would make a huge difference to my work and my life?

2) If I had no shame or guilt, what would I do differently?

3) If I allowed myself to truly be as unique, brilliant, charismatic and outstanding as I am – what would I do differently?

4) If I had no fears, what would I do?

5) If it was impossible to fail, what would I do?

6) If I allowed myself to be more of the things I hate or dislike about other leaders, how much more would I be able to achieve my goals?

 

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Double your energy, triple your business

By Vegard Olsen

Have you noticed? That those time you feel good, feel a lot of energy, feel confident, happy and excited – a lot of things flow? Work flows. Relationships flow. Dating flows. And business grows without much effort!

So in other words – if we raise our energy, if we double it, is likely our business will at least double, and maybe even triple!

But this energy business is so vague, some people say. So what, I dont know what to do with this, others say.

And I get it. It´s because they´re lacking energy awareness. I experienced this myself recently too. That I lost track of my energy awareness. I lost track of where I was gaining energy and where I was losing energy.

So I spent some hours on my own reflecting on what is present when I have more energy – people, places, type of work, where, when, how. And similarly for when I have less energy or feel drained.

And we really know! We really know when we feel good, with who, doing what and in what way. And we really know when we feel bad too. Or worse than we usually do.
Or feeling drained or like we´re leaking energy.

BUT – we seldom or never stop to reflect. And that´s what I want to help you with. To regain or to raise your energy awareness!

Below are a few great questions to help you – and the key here is to keep going.
Keep adding and make the list long long long. And then when you´ve done that for a couple of hours, see what patterns you see. And then continue again tomorrow or in a couple of days. Adjust and add to the list.

Doing this will significantly raise your energy awareness – your understanding of where you gain, have and feel energy and where you lose, lack and feel a lot less of it.

And when you combine this understanding with designing your business and your life accordingly it will make a huge impact on both!


Picture: Cam Adams, unsplash.com

What have you got to lose testing it out?
Go for it!

Questions to raise your energy awareness:

Energising – when do you feel most alive at work right now?

 

Energising – when have you felt most alive at work in the past?

 

Draining – when do you feel least alive at work now?

 

Draining – when have you felt least alive at work in the past?

 

Energising – when do you feel most alive socially?

 

Energising – when have you felt most alive socially in the past?

 

Energising – which places energises you?

 

Draining – which places drains you?

 

Generally, when do you feel most alive (any other aspects you want to add)?

 

Generally, when do you feel least alive (any other aspects you want to add)?

 

Which positive changes have you seen recently that has raised your energy?

 

What are you truly grateful for in your work and in your life?

 

What gives you the strongest sense of meaning and purpose in your work?

 

What gives you the strongest sense of meaning and purpose in my life?

 

Which adjustments can you make at work to have a lot more energy – clients you work with, colleagues, meetings you go to, networking, parties and dinners you attend etc etc.

 

Which adjustments can you make socially to have a lot more energy?

 

Which adjustments can you make else in your life to have a lot more energy?

 

There is the aspect here of courage and being true to yourself. The more clearly you see what drains you and what energize you, you will only lift your energy significantly when you follow through and let these be great insights and advice on how to do your work and how to live your life.

And of course – sometimes things are out of our control. But many many things are in our control. And even those things outside our control we can impact somehow by how we choose to interact with it. The degrees of engagement, presence, friendliness and etc.

I hope you find this article useful, that you spend some time raise your energy awareness signficantly – and that you implement some of this in your work and life and start to feel the early spring growing on the inside.

 

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5 big problems most teams face and how to fix them

By Vegard Olsen

Having worked with many teams in bigger as well as smaller organisations we see some very clear patterns of problems most teams face and the best ways to fix them.

Here are 5 problems most teams face:


Picture: Sridhar Gupta, unsplash.com

1 – On paper we are a team but in practice it doesn’t feel like we are one
No team unit. A group of individuals working together with limited overview of what´s going on in the team. Little or no synergies created between the team members

2 – There is little or no communication between us
The other team members have little or no overview over what their team members are working on. Because of a lack of communication as a team, there is little or no feeling of connection with the team

3 – There is little or no understanding of each other uniquenesses and contributions
Because we are working mostly as individuals in a group and not communicating, there is little understanding of each team members unique contributions to the team. There is little or no understanding of each others competencies and skills and what each of team member desire short as well as long term

4 – Roles are unclear
Because of the lack of communication and working together, it is also unclear how everyone should contribute for the greater good of the team. People often have titles or positions, but their role in the team is unclear

5 – We lack an overall direction
We know what we are working on this and next month, but there is a lack of overall direction. And because of this it is hard to prioritise, hard to set boundaries and hard to feel that we are on the right track


Solutions part 1: Getting the basics right

Have team meetings regularly
Bring the team together regularly. Have a clear structure for where and when you meet and make sure there is time for catching up as well as for people to bring up whatever is important to them right now

Share what’s going on and why regularly
In the team meetings and outside – make sure you share where the team and the company is at. Everyone wants to know what is going on in the company and in their team. Sharing status updates regularly makes everyone feel part of the team

Ask the team: ´Where are we at´?
As a team leader, and member, ask your colleagues where the team is at. How are we doing?
What´s working well and what´s not working so well. What´s worrying and annoying. What´s exciting and fun. Get to understand each other and get a regular feel of where you are at as a team

Listen to understand
Give space and time for every team member to express themselves. And politely but firmly interrupt those who take up all the airtime.
Stay open and curious – be ready to get to know your team members in completely new ways


Solutions part 2: Creating a shared ownership and commitment


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If you want to create something unique and strong that stands out from the rest, you need talented and committed people who feel part of your mission.

And the only way for them to feel part of that mission – is by actually letting them take part in the creation and development of it. To let everyone have a say and let everyone take part in the shaping of your shared future. And to learn so much about each other that you can work as an effective and well synchronised team.

Solution B is what we will cover in our course ´Building strong teams´
at The Canvas Cafe on September 27th.

If you would like to learn an effective structure for how to create shared ownership and commitment in your team, this is he course for you.

You will learn how to activate and engage your team and learn how to create commitment long term.

We will also share 10 steps for entrepreneurs to build strong teams and answer any questions you may have regarding building strong teams in your organisation.

We hope to see you there and if you have any questions about building strong teams in your organisation, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us!

8 steps to strengthen your confidence

By Vegard Olsen


Picture: Khalid ELBAZ, unsplash.com

“Once my confidence increased everything else fell into place”.

This what we hear from many of our clients.

And that´s why we wanted to share some of the ways we help our clients increase their confidence.

Here are 8 steps to strengthen your confidence:

1 – Self talk
Be careful about what you say to yourself, cause you are the one listening.

Start noticing how you talk to yourself and how you talk about opportunities.
Change language from all the ´don´t want´s and ´don´t like´s to all the things you actually do like and to all the things you can do.

2 – Change your story
Whatever you believe in becomes your reality. Question the story that hinders your confidence and hinders you in achieving what is really important for you.

Ask yourself: Is this really true? What if it was not?
Which evidence do I have that this is actually not true?

3 – Remind yourself of your confidence
Remind yourself of the times you were confident in the past. No matter how small or big and no matter how long ago. Feel it again and think about what made you stay and remain confident. Allow yourself to feel it again!

4 – Think about everything you have achieved recently
Think about all the things you have achieved in the past 1, 2 , 3 or 5 years. You might often think about what you have NOT achieved, but take a minute and remind yourself about all the things you actually HAVE achieved. Maybe you´ve achieved allowing yourself to be honest, sitting with difficult things, facing problems, growing as a person, realized how strong you are, learned things, met people… The list will be A LOT longer than you think is even possible!

5 – Visualise
When you remind yourself of your confidence and everything you have achiveved – visualise it. Use pictures, drawings, quotes you like and put them all together on a digital of physical confidence board. Look at the board regularly. This is your confidence vitamin pill and it will lift your confidence and energy every time!

You can also visualise the things you want. A flat. Travelling. A partner. Money. Happiness. Energy. Anything and everything. Put together a board of pictures, colours and quotes. You will have a lot of fun doing it – and every time you look at it you will feel a little bit more confident.

Give it a go – what have you got to lose?
You´ve got everything to win!

6 – Become aware of and let go of fears
Go into the feeling that hinders your confidence. Maybe you feel insecure, not worthy, not deserving of, not good enough, shameful, or maybe you have a tendency to be strongly self critical. Go into the feeling and ask yourself which thoughts or fears creates this feeling. Write about it. Speak to a good friend. Ventilate. Cry if you need to. Speak to a coach, a therapist or a counsellor.

Speaking about fears, expressing them a lot, crying if you need and any form of ventilating is an integral part of increasing your presence and your confidence

7 – Remind yourself of your inner power
Think about those hard times you went through in the past – what was that inner power, that inner feeling that kept you through the difficult times? Feel that feeling again and allow yourself to be filled up again with your inner power.

You can also think about what you hate or dislike about other people. Think about 3 character traits. THIS is your inner power right now. Think about it. Feel it. How can a good dosage of this right now help you gain balance and lift your confidence. They hold the key, so sit with it, think about it, reflect on it. Can you see how allowing even a tiny bit of these 3 things right now can make a WORLD of difference to you? It´s the chilli and garlic your stew is missing right now.

8 – Be grateful for what you have
Gratitude is eternally powerful and eternally to our access. When you are feeling low or in a misery it´s important to allow yourself to feel that. But there also comes a time when it´s important it is to remind yourself of all the things you are grateful for. Even in tough times.

That you have legs to walk on. That you have arms to use. That you have life. That you have the strength to deal with difficult times. Everything you have learned in life. All the nice people you have met who helped you at the time or you helped them – whether they are in your life right now or not.

A great little exercise is every night to write down every night 3 things you were deeply grateful for today. Keep the notes and read it back from time to time. It´s an amazing confidence pill!

What works best for you?
The best answers to lifting your confidence is in you. Think about it. What made you lift your confidence in the past? What made you feel better and believe more in yourself the last time your confidence was low?

Let´s help each other!
If we all share how we lift our confidence, not only do we help ourselves but also help and inspire so many others.

What helps you to boost your confidence? What tricks, what perspective, feeling or way of thinking makes the biggest difference?

We would love to hear from you!

First energy, motivation and confidence – THEN plans and strategies!

Creating effective, sound and measured plans, strategies and tactics are highly important for anyone wanting to create and build something new.

New work. New business. New house. New family.

But there´s something that comes before that.

To create any of those plans you first need energy, confidence and motivation.
And clarity about what you really want (personally as much as professionally) – and why.

To create those amazing and effective plans and strategies you need to first be able to see, think and feel clearly.

And to do that you first need energy. Calmness. Breathing. Trusting. Focus. A mindset of creation. And deeply understanding yourself.


Picture: Mahkeo, unsplash.com

And no, it doesn´t take for ever. Actually it doesn’t take much time at all.

When you are open and ready to spend some time nurturing yourself and/or your team first, you can do so much in just a few great conversation and/or workshops.

Most people and companies never take the time stop and really think. Deeply. And focused.
But when they do, they gain a lot of clarity in a short space of time!

At Coachingpartner we call it start with understanding your uniqueness. The very foundation or building or creating anything. And particularly when you want to build something for the longer term that is deeply rooted, solid and sustainable.

When you start with your uniqueness there are no limitations to what you can build and create. On your own as well as together with others.

Impossible is nothing.

Yes you can!

 

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