February 21, 2009

Positive Psychology

Greetings from Trento. The snow is great and it is also wonderful to enjoy the company of our son.

I found an article from Business Week magazine on Positive Psychology that I would like to share. It's a bit long, but near the end it talks about identifying and working from your strengths - the aspect of Positive Psychology that first attracted my interest and is now a core element of my coaching approach. (See THIS blog post).

Working from your strengths is also an approach for adapting to a new cultural or multicultural environment. Self-knowledge can open up new routes to accessing another culture, while remaining true to who you are -- your core and natural attributes and strengths. As a coach, I help you explore how to put your strengths into action step by step - to experiment, reflect and adjust over and over, until you find your own personal style to best adapt and finally thrive in a new environment.

For the Business Week article, click HERE.

a domani,
E

February 10, 2009

What's working

I like to start a coaching partnership with a first session that focuses on "what's working". People are always happy to talk about their problems and weakness and all the things they think they "should" do. Fine, I say, we can do that later, but for the moment lets package them up and store them under the chair and look at what's working instead. We so easily get sucked into the past (and guilt, remorse or feelings of revenge) or the future (anxiety, worry, tension) and forget that right now we really can't do much about either -- so why not just focus on what we can do now instead.

Anyway, an email arrived today with a 90 page research study full of little jewels on Italians as global managers. Of course, it started by outlining the gaps, with quotes from Italian managers to back them up. But right now I would like to share "what works":

1. The capability to innovate through using different thought systems to understand a problem and creating alternative options.

2. The (even amazing) capability to respond and manage emergency situations.

3. Sensibility to factors that involve context.

4. Capability to manage complexity and expand perspectives.

Wow, I am impressed. This is a great place to be! Ok, so Italians may have some gaps on the administration and communication side and tend to elaborate and discuss while postponing action, but, the things that work are "formidabile"! As the world and its work becomes more complex and interconnected, these natural ways of being and working, could be leveraged to make Italian managers world leaders.


a domani,
E