accountantscoach

Really effective Time Management

Mark Forster is a writer and life coach, specialising in personal organisation.  He recently gave a lecture on Time Management for the ICAEW's Faculty of Finance & Management.  And I was lucky enough to attend; my very first visit (21 years into membership) to the hallowed rooms of the Chartered Accountants' Hall in Moorgate Place.  It's a great place to meet in London and now I've finally discovered its history-steeped charm, I can see it becoming a regular haunt. Read on for a summary of Mark's guide to Really Effective Time Management.

How to give and receive feedback

Sean McPheat has written this very comprehensive article on 'How to give and receive feedback', jam packed with loads of really practical tips.  Sean is a provider of management training and executive coaching.  Check out his websites at the foot of this post.  His coaching background really shines through, particularly in the latter part of the feature.  When he talks about open questioning, mirroring, reflecting back, maintaining the silence, initiating actions and gaining ownership, these are all golden coaching rules, with a healthy hint of NLP thrown in for good measure.  It got me thinking that my fellow accountants might like to know a bit more about the mechanics of coaching and NLP.  Separately or together,  coaching and NLP provide a valuable skillset which everyone can use in the workplace, with countless practical applications.  What on earth is NLP anyway?  If you want to know more let me know by replying to this post or emailing me at [email protected]

Read and learn, thanks to Sean.

Accountants max ROI from your training budget.

The Sunday Times has recently run an article on the poor ROI of business courses.  Encompassing management and leadership skills as well as other personal development competencies, it refers to Kaisen's research that shows that employers do not get value for money from the £75m pa they pump into these sort of training programmes.

Escape the Yes trap

This article first appeared in Mind Tools in December last year.  Even though we might have one (tax) deadline out of the way by now, many of us are still working very hard and very long to meet lots of other deadlines.  So February is an appropriate month to run this again for accountants. It builds nicely on from my Time Management Top Tip last month called 'Say NO', by providing a new perspective and some more advice.  I have to say that once you are in the 'yes trap' it is pretty hard to get out of it.  When I am coaching on this topic, I often spend a lot of time with my client getting them to physically practise saying no, so they have an inkling of what it feels like (because its been so long since they did it). I really fancy doing a workshop on the art of saying no, any takers?

Soft skills for accountants and auditors

Here is my transferable skills checklist for accountants and auditors.  It will help you identify all the 'soft' skills than you may actually have already developed in fulfilling the requirements of your current role and career aspirations.

Download soft_skills_accountants.doc

Read the full article at CPD - banish the fear