Champions of Freedom and Democracy?

Britain is about to get caught in a trap, and it's one we've been in before; so often, in fact, that we've got scars on our leg to prove it, Our facade, alongside that of America, as champions of freedom and democracy, is about to be shown up for the sham it has always been, as the citizens of countries across the arab world seize those much prized freedoms for themselves, without our help. What have we done that's so heinous? We've supported, done business with, and made money from all manner of regimes which behave in a way which runs contrary to our stated values.

What's worse is, far from condemning many of these states actions, we have in fact sold them the weapons they've then used to repress their own citizens. Whilst enthusiasts of realpolitik will point out that, had we not sold these weapons, somebody else would have, few of them would be happy to extend the same indulgence to, say, the Afghan heroin trade, or Columbian cocaine exports. The truth is that we in the West are self serving and hypocritical in the way our Governments carry out their foreign policy. Our leaders boo loudly at whoever is currently on the “bad boy” list, whilst happily sipping champagne and making money with leaders of equally repressive nations, and we quietly go along with it like sheep. “So what?”, you may say. You may feel that we have to keep the wheels of our economy turning, that every state needs allies who support their strategic aims, and that income is more important than values. People who think that way might be about to count the cost.

For a case study on what can go wrong, you need only look at the mess Britain and America made in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran had its own royal dictator is Shah Pahlavi, and he was by no means a champion of freedom and democracy. He was oppressive in a variety of ways, but top of the list in terms of opposing western “values” was the dissolution of the Majilis, the Iranian parliament, and the imprisonment of the Prime Minister Mossadegh for daring to disagree with him. You might imagine the white knight of Britain and the USA would swing into action at such a crime, but no, because Pahlavi was something more important than a despot; he was a customer. Iran had a great deal of money because of its oil (which, by the way, it had had to act to seize back from Britain, who had wandered in and started drilling it, and giving very little of the profit back to the country), and as long as he kept spending it on Western arms, he was our chum. When the virtually inevitable Iranian revolution occurred, we got Khomeini instead; a leader who, whilst not as self serving and despotic, was just as repressive as Pahlavi, and who hated the West, so our revenues went the same way as our moral credibility.

Not satisfied with that, we then decided that we should arm another one of our good friends in the area to take on this new threat; you guessed it, it's your friend and mine, Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, we were busy training one Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts to do our dirty work in that country, which has also not been an outstanding success in the long run. What I fear here is the whole sorry picture repeating itself again, as nation after nation overthrows dictatorial, bloody regimes with whom we've been on good terms. Are we likely to be top of the Christmas card list for whatever comes after the revolution? I suspect not. This wave of unrest is greater than any in my lifetime, and could easily spread further down Africa, and further up into Eastern Europe, which could leave us with a lot of very dissatisfied former customers. We're rather too late for this round, but for the future, it's time Britain, at least, grew up and starting acting on the principles it claims to stand for. It could be painful and expensive in the short term, but I don't think we'll be sorry in the end, and even if we are, at least we will be able to look at ourselves in the mirror.

Why should I coach my staff? Can't they just figure things out for themselves?

Management is a much misunderstood craft; indeed, it's not treated as a craft at all by many employed to do it. In too many organisations, management is thought of as simply "keeping an eye on the workers", much as a factory foreman might, and perhaps giving them a kick if they're not doing as well as you'd like. In fact, there is much more to being a really good manager, particularly in todays knowledge economy. The success of an organisation often depends on the clear thinking and good ideas of its staff, and their ability to put those ideas into action.

A manager's role in this is twofold; firstly it's to help develop their staff's thinking and problem solving facilities, and secondly, it's to move the obstacles out of the way. It's very common for employees to be promoted to their first management position on the basis of their excellence and expertise in their current job. This requires them to make a major change of worldview; up until now, they have been rewarded for their ability to do things quickly and well themselves, and suddenly, they're responsbible for the productivity and performance of others. When problems arise, their first instinct tends to be either to tell the team member how to deal with it, or just take over and do it themselves. This is all very well in the short term, but it will often create a culture of dependency where staff do not feel able or empowered to think for themselves, and where the manager is very overworked. A better long term solution is for the manager to help the team think for themselves, but how can this be achieved?

The word coaching produces all sorts of images in people's minds; a man in a tracksuit shouting from the sidelines of a sports field being just one of them, but professionally, coaching has a specific meaning. A coach is someone who facilitates the thinking of others, asking them questions and listening as they identify their own solutions to problems or challenges. A coach will spend time with their coachee identifying their goal, working through the possible ways to achieve it, and identifying actions to move towards it. This might sound like a rather time consuming way to do things, when you could simply tell the coachee the answer, but in the long run, it works very well. When you tell someone how to do something, they tend to learn that one isolated thing, but find it very hard to apply that learning to future challenges. When they find the solution for themselves, they gain useful additions to their own toolkit for problem solving, and a sense of empowerment in their ability to deal with things for themselves.

So, what does a coach actually DO?

Listens

In a good session, a coach will spend 80% of their time listening. This might sound rather passive, but in a way, it's the most valuable thing you can do. Simply by having an hour set aside to think about an issue, a coachee gains useful discipline; they are taken away from the regular work environment with its pressures and strains, and given the opportunity to focus on the issue. By listening, you provide them with a central point, a reason to stay on the topic and not simply let their minds wander. Listening provides excellent conditions for thinking, and many people find that, simply by talking through something, their thoughts attain an order they did not previously have, and options to make progress appear.

Ask Questions Which Broaden Thinking

Our education system encourages us at all times to narrow our thinking. In the classroom, we learn that there is one right answer, and we will be rewarded for finding it. When you're up against a problem that you can't solve, it's because the solution you have narrowed down to isn't working, so you need to broaden your thinking to consider other options.

Reflects Back and Clarifies

The coach can help the coachee with their thinking by reflecting back what they have said, perhaps in the same words, or perhaps in different words. This can help the coachee gain overview of the situation in a way which is hard when you are in the middle of a stream of consciousness.

Provides Accountability

When the coachee has identified strategies and actions to try in order to conquer their issue, the coach provides a level of accountability. Many people find that, just like New Year's Resolutions, plans they have made to develop at work are quietly forgotten as soon as things get difficult. Knowing that you will need to discuss progress with your coach again at a later session is a great stimulus to staying focussed and getting on with it!


Coaching is not a dark art; anyone can learn to do it. There are plenty of simple methods, and the book Coaching For Performance, by John Whitmore, will give you an immediate grounding in the GROW model, a popular and straightforward approach. We are so conditioned to giving people answers that it can be very challenging to sit on your hands and listen whilst the other person thinks for themselves, but the results are worth it, a million times over.

Happiness at Work - Where Passion Meets Skills

“If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife.” So sang Jimmy Soul, but as the husband of a rather attractive woman, I take issue with his entire approach. In fact, research suggests that one of the key determinants of overall happiness and satisfaction is enjoyment of your job. This should be obvious, after all, most of us spend at least 35 hours a week at our jobs, and yet to many, the idea that work could be enjoyable and rewarding seems anathemic. Enormous numbers of people slave away for their entire working lives, frustrated and bored, but without any sense of what sort of work would be a more positive experience for them, still less a plan to find work of that sort.

Our culture, the capitalist values system, and our education all focus us unduly on one thing; making money, and yet money is not a significant contributor towards happiness. Richard Easterlin's researchi showed that job satisfaction is not dependent upon salary, and indeed, that it is only for the very poor that more money has a significant impact on happiness. This illustrates effectively Vroom's ideas about the seperation of satisfiers (factors without which we will be unhappy) and motivators (factors which, by their presence, make us enthusiastic and motivated). We need enough money to pay the bills in order to be satisfied, but lots more will not, in itself, make us motivated or happy.

What, then, are the factors that are necessary for work to contribute to our happiness? I suggest there are three. Firstly, the work we do must provide what we most value. Depending on personality type, that might be that it makes a positive contribution to the lives of others, that it gives us status, that it is intellectually challenging, physically demanding, or a host of other features. Secondly, it must be something we are passionate about. That might mean that it involves children, or art, or food, aeroplanes, fashion, travel or any of the myriad things that inspire us. Finally, we must be able to do it well; delivering poor quality and struggling to keep up don't just threaten your employability, they damage your ego.

To identify the first, think about the aspects of the jobs that you've had which you've enjoyed, and would have liked to do more of. Was it highly detailed work, the opportunity to be creative and think freely, interacting with others and building teams? To identify the second, ask yourself this; if you were to stay up until 2 in the morning, talking endlessly about one thing, what would it be? What do you read books about, buy magazines about, think about when your mind is free and you're staring out of the window? To identify the third, ask yourself what you have been recognised and rewarded for; what have people told you that you're good at, where have you felt that your performance was excellent? Sometimes, we can work for many years without utilizing our greatest gifts; I, for instance, was praised throughout my school life for my writing, but was 33 before I found (or even looked for) opportunities to use it in the workplace, never mind to be paid specifically for it! Take time to reflect on all the feedback you've had throughout your life on your strengths, and consider how they could be developed.

Where these three factors meet, you might just find your perfect job; something you enjoy doing, in an area of work you're passionate about, where you can do an excellent job and come home feeling you've contributed. Don't be afraid to develop yourself towards such a job, particularly if you haven't found opportunities to use your strengths in the workplace, or to hone those skills in ways which suit the areas of work you've identified. After all, if you're spending upwards of 35 hours a week doing something you don't care about and actively dislike, why not invest just a little more so that in future, those hours can be spent more enjoyably?