Category Archives: Productivity

(Career) Management Tips And The 1-3-6 Exercise

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I recently discovered the “management wisdom” work of Nick McCormick and am looking forward to reading his book, “Lead Well and Prosper”.

In the meantime I checked out Nick’s interesting 6 minute management tips podcast with Dan Coughlin, intriguingly titled “The 1-3-6-Exercise“.

And although the focus of Nick’s site is on management, after listening I was struck by how relevant this 1-3-6 exercise is to almost any personal or career growth plan.

The kicker to Dan’s exercise is that the “6″ component took me beyond the (often valid) “let’s roll” approach to goal setting and action taking. Much as I love to do that (and encourage my coaching clients in similar endeavours) we remain mortal and timebound creatures of creativity and habit ;-)

I’m going to apply this exercise in a specific business category of my life over at least the next month – and I’ll write a future post on what happens. I also encourage you to test it out and let me know how you get on.

(And I will definitely be adding this one to my coaching toolkit – kudos to Dan, and to Nick for bringing it to my attention).

- Mark McClure

PS – For those who prefer the written word check out an article on “The 1-3-6 Exercise” linked from management consultant Dan Coughlin’s site (see “Use the 1-3-6 Exercise, Association of Home-Based Women Entrepreneurs”)

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Personal Productivity By Doing One Thing At a Time

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Occasionally my coaching clients have a problem with staying on task.

Oh, they have goals, plans and even the best of intentions but alas, there’s always some crazy, unexpected interruption that derails their progress.

And, naturally enough, they want me to help.

(Well, if truth be told, I too have similar problems from time to time – and that’s where having my own coach adds value.)

There are 3 general approaches I recommend clients to work with in such cases:

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Are Mind Maps Effective Coaching Tools?

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I’ve been interested in mind maps since experimenting with them as a teacher in the early 1980s.

Of course it was pencil and paper back then – which made editing colored maps a real pain.

Still, there remains something uniquely creative about the low-tech way and I continue to use it for my own impromptu idea sessions.

Nowadays there are a fair number of free and commercial mind mapping software tools available for use on a PC – with MindGenius as my software of choice for business planning, product creation and some client coaching exercises.

Here’s an example of a very simple MindGenius map I created which outlines a coaching process used by a fantastic business coach, Christian Micklesen:

Your-Career

With face-to-face career coaching, I’ve noticed that a paper or software mind mapping approach can be very effective for those clients who are ‘visual’ and/or ‘kinesthetic’ learners.

For example, we can explore the personal vision and goals the client is most interested in, gather this information in a simple mind map format – and then use that for client fieldwork (fancy name for homework lol!) and follow up.

However, when the client’s on the far end of a telephone is where the laptop or A4 mind mapping approach has a teeny weeny problem…

There are tools available to share mind maps online in real time and the image below is something I created in 5 minutes while checking out http://bubbl.us

Online-Mind-Map-Bubbl-Us

This is not (AFAIK) a collaborative real-time product where client and coach can share and update the same map.

If you know of any online real-time collaborative mind mapping tools, please leave a comment and let me know.

Here’s to exciting times ahead for online collaborative coaching tool!

- Mark McClure

PS – March 2012 Update:
This short video about mind maps and self-coaching may give you some ideas:

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Career Growth Primer – The Malthusian Approach

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“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”
 Professor Albert Bartlett

I came across Prof Bartlett’s work while I was googling how to better explain percentage changes to my sixth grade daughter recently.

Having taught Maths & Physics in the UK many moons ago I was intrigued enough to check out some of the Professor’s ideas on sustainable growth.

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Never Crowded On The Extra Mile

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One unnerving aspect to career change is leaving safe and familiar territory to take a calculated risk in some unexplored field.

Even with years of experience and transferable skills, it can be an exciting but often nerve racking ride – as you find yourself (temporarily) “knowingly incompetent” in new skills others have already mastered.

Rather than being too downcast about that reality, I think you should welcome such feelings of insecurity and actual mistakes on the job, as signs of personal and professional growth.

Remember – it’s never crowded on the extra mile.

Be bold and venture forth towards a “knowingly competent” state of mind.

- Mark McClure

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