Whether it is to do with work, or something personal, we at Noggin are utilizing some NLP techniques in a one-day workshop in January to help you make 2009 your most rewarding yet. A workshop that will enable you to set realistic goals and leave you with empowering techniques to make sure you follow through on your dreams for the year.

“New Year, New You” is taking place in Reading, Berkshire, on Monday 12th January 2009 and costs just £115.

The best investment you can make right now is on yourself. Find out more about this NLP Workshop on our website.

I have been an entrepreneur for many years and traded through downturn and recession – but this feels different.

My friend Paul Simpson (a fascinating character who features heavily in my next book) says, “A crisis does not exist in the events themselves, a crisis is created by the reaction to the events…
My experience (for what it’s worth – and take it with ‘a pinch of salt’ because the past tells us little about the future) is that – in adverse market conditions little can be gained from ‘playing it safe’. Do what other people are NOT doing.

If you are feeling the pinch financially you will need to be creative in finding a way to do it on a limited budget (anyone can throw money around and buy creativity – having worked in the creative industry for a decade, I would suggest that true creativity is generating ideas that have value within the commercial parameters of time or money).

Need some inspiration? Give us a call - we can coach you into your most creative mindset and challenge the boundaries of your thinking…

Arton Baleci is taking a different path - have a look at his project on his website The Beautiful Aim to find out how he does it!

I came across a great quote the other day that we now use a lot in our sessions - it goes something like this;

As humans, we tend to judge ourselves by our intentions and other people by their actions

The trouble is our intentions are so obvious to ourselves that we rarely communicate them.

A 1600 word retrospective statement of his intentions seems a little late for Mike Ashley at Newcastle. Shame since his intentions were and are so positive for the club. I wonder how the fans would have reacted throughout his ownership off the club if he had taken time to make them clear earlier…..?

I was putting together an invite to an event we are running at the end of the month, promoting our Challenging Conversations training nugget and was wondering how to show how relevant it is given current market conditions. It got me thinking of the 70 odd times we have run the session and how we start it with a couple of cheeky questions:

“So what’s the overall intention in having a conversation about someone’s performance?”

The unamimous answer from approximately 1000 line managers:

“To improve that individual’s performance for the benefit of the business”

Great answer which I’m sure you might agree with. Then we ask the really cheeky question:

“So is that what always happens, the individual improves?”

The somewhat sheepish answer from approximately 1000 line managers:

“No”

Thankfully we get away with it by then giving people the behavioural skills that makes the difference in these conversations.

Think about it it’s not “what” you say that gets you into trouble but more “how” you put the message across and the impact you have over the person listening to you.

And the main difference with the olympic performance coaches? Well for a start there’s a dynamic that exists between sports coaches and their athletes. I willing to bet that the individual here being coached has no doubt that the feedback they are being given comes from someone they know has a genuine positive intention for them and their performance. There’s lots you can do to make that exist wherever you are looking for improvement.

If you fancy finding out more for your business click or drop Swen a note about the event on 28th August in Reading. swen@mynoggin.co.uk

As a result of this conversation, I have begun to put together a programme for leading and managing in difficult markets. If this is an interesting topic to you right now, please drop me a line, I would love to discuss it further…

Sir Ken Robinson talks about creativity.

A man walks into a barber shop and says, “Can you cut my hair like David Beckham?”
The barber says yes, and then goes on to deliver an appalling haircut - half way between a short-back-and-sides and a mullet.
The man says, “David Beckham’s hair looks nothing like this!”
To which the barber replies, “It would do if he came here.”

It went something like this:

He described his life as having his foot pressed down hard on the accelerator and his gaze fixed firmly in the rear view mirror…

Wow now there’s a scary thought. It got me thinking about what The Human Element is really about.

Will Schutz talks about the outcomes of a healthy self concept and having high self esteem as having appropriate feelings of self-significance, self-competence and self-like which lead respectively to a sense of Aliveness, Spontaneity and Self-Awareness.

When you consider what he meant by those terms, maybe there is an antidote to the situation described in that fantastic quote.

Will originally called Aliveness “Presence” or “being present in the moment”

Spontaneity is about having the freedom to choose any behaviour in any situation or moment

Being Self-Aware is about being aware enough to acknowledge how you are doing in the moment

The Human Element begins the process of finding out what those appropriate feelings of significance, competence and likeability can do for you.

So go on….where are you really?

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