Often I have had clients come to me for coaching as they feel that they have low self-esteem.  So I decided to research this topic as to understand what self esteem really is. Is it that the person has a lack of competence that allows their self esteem to drop, or are they really competent and have a sense of being unworthy.

My research is based on the resources from  Nathaniel Branden, Ph.D., a well known psychotherapist, who  defined self-esteem several years ago as “The disposition to experience oneself as being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of  being worthy of happiness.” The National Association for Self-Esteem modified this to define self-esteem as "The experience of being capable of meeting life's challenges and being worthy of happiness. Below is an extract from this research.

Need help with Staff Development?

High Performance Coaching and Training specialises in running coaching and training programs for the development of people within business or small companies. We have worked with our clients over the past 10 years and one of their major concerns is “how do we retain and develop our people?’

We believe that having a professional development program in place within your business or organisation will create the environment of learning and development; demonstrating that you value your people and you recognize the importance and benefits of having high performers working for you.

Listed below are the topics for the financial year 2010 / 2011 for our public workshops. We also run in-house workshops where we will specifically design the program to meet the needs of the company or business.

These workshops run for ½ a day monthly and the maximum group size is 10 candidates. We hold the workshops in Brisbane and they run on the 3^rd Tuesday of every month; or a date that has been requested by the group. Remember only 10 candidates in each group.

PURCHASE A YEARLY MEMBERSHIP AND RECEIVE THE SECOND TICKET FOR 50% DISCOUNT. – OFFER EXPIRES 30 JUNE 2010

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What sort Business Leader are you?

I was reading an article by Jim Collins an issue in Harvard Business Review. He was speaking about ‘Humility and Results Driven’ are two common character tics for successful leaders. It seems obvious that someone who is arrogant, self-important or condescending can never be a good leader. Nor can someone who doesn’t want to lead. In fact, according to research the desire to lead is the baseline requirement for competent leadership. If you’re a reluctant leader, you’ll never be a good one.

So why is it important to become a Leader? If you are not stepping up and being the leader of your business then who is leading it? Please remember that leadership isn’t a title; it is a package of mindsets, attributes, skills and knowledge.

You know when you are a leader when people:

• Listen to your ideas and follow your suggestions
• Look to you for signals or instructions on what to do
• Seek your opinions and advice
• Look to you so speak the truth

You display your leadership by:

• Learning from your mistakes ( that’s right you will make mistakes)
• During your ‘homework’ and being prepared
• Treating everyone with respect and courtesy
• Sharing the credit, taking the blame
• Communicating and staying focussed on a clear vision and setting energising goals
• Surrounding yourself with competent people
• Staying optimistic, even in challenging situations
• Involving and including others
• Thinking systematically
• Seeking ways to improve things, do things better, easier, faster or more economically
• Clarifying goals
• Helping people reach their potential

Is this the kind of leader you are? If not, what do you need to do to become the leader of your business?

I hope you enjoyed this article and thank you for taking the time to read it.

Lee Stemm PCC – High Performance Coaching + Training – specialising in Leadership and Performance

Brisbane based coach and trainer

www.empoweredleders.com

Leadership – Mutual respect

Have you ever known a leader focussed on the task and inspired people to achieve it? Or one, who continually pushed people to try harder, barked out orders and issued threats? Who would you rather work for? Both leaders are task focused, so what are the differences?

How about a leader who is always friendly and nice to staff but lets them 'get away with murder' and another leader who is a friendly coach who expects, and gets, excellent results? Who would you prefer to work for? Both leaders are people focused, so what's the difference?

It's the way a person does something that matters. Leaders who respect themselves as well as their followers are able to focus on the task when the need arises without getting people off-side. They are also able to focus on people without letting them forget who’s boss and what everyone is there to achieve.

Balance your focus on people and on the task – your career tip

I was working with a Brisbane Leader and he had lost respect from his team members. It takes a lot of work to regain respect once it has been lost. Often I ask my clients what sort of leader are you now and what sort of leader do you want to become? If you put others in front of yourself, you can become a good leader.