What are you giving this Christmas?

It’s here again…that magical time of the year is here again…oh yes it’s Christmas.

Usually every holiday, especially that time of the year, people start becoming forgiving, forgetting and all about giving, and making others happy.

This Christmas, have you thought about what you want to give? And by this I don’t mean gifts or any materials items, I meant what do you want to give people around you?

This might seem selfish; however, to end up the year with a great achievement, what about giving people at the office something that will help them end their year on a better tone.

In order to do that, you have to practice, in a simple yet a very powerful way, the art of coaching, and more specifically how to make people feel understood.

By coaching people, you will strengthen your relationships, people will feel that you are a source of trust and you will feel like you have made a difference in your workplace.

If you are ready, then you are 5 steps away of becoming a workplace catalyst of change :

1- What’s in it for them: Often in our conversations we end up talking about ourselves and fail to understand or learn what people are truly saying.

In order to do that we have to Actively Listen; doing that requires that you give the full attention to people when you ask them a question, yes it means leaving your computer keyboard or your phone to concentrate on what they are saying.

2- Ask open questions: And that relates to point one, the question will have to be about them, and you will have to resist introducing your personal stories in the conversation unless you are asked to. A sample open question is: “What motivates you?” and if they answer growth or achievement resist the temptation to say “me too” or “yes I also like….. because it makes me….” Remember you want to be helping others so try to learn about them.

3- Encourage them to come up with their own ideas: If you asked them what motivates them or what makes them happy, ask them how would they like to take things forward, and by this I mean what are possible ways for them to reach their goals. Again here, resist the temptation of giving personal advice; instead encourage them to come up with ideas and solutions.

4- Listening to their ideas. Listening is a big part of helping others. When someone is telling you about a certain idea, try to learn what this idea truly represents. Summarize what they have said to make sure you got it correctly, this will also show the speaker that you are truly listening to them,

5- Help them turn their ideas into actions Ideas are useless unless they are executed. In order to make an idea happen, one has to turn it into a plan of action. A good way that will make their ideas happen is to make them fill a table like the one below:

What is the action point that you will execute	By when will that point be achieved	What Support do you need and from whom	How will you track your progress measure your success

Make sure they are specific when they fill the table, and ask them to choose a mentor ( it could be you) to follow up on those action points.

Christmas is a time of giving, and the self satisfaction from giving others new ways to think is priceless. So Merry Christmas, and good luck.

Camil El Khoury is The Author of "Do What you Love, Love What you do" and the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group; the leading experiential learning firm in the AME region (Africa and the Middle East)

Do you really need discipline?

by Hussein Hallak EVP and Facilitator ideas group

Not a day goes by without somebody saying or shouting those three words in our eardrums... You Need DISCIPLINE!

It is usually followed by;

You need to be more organized, on time, lose weight, wake up early, pay the bills, finish you meal, and clean your room…!!

Discipline, don’t you just hate that word....?

It gives way, to the idea of being confined, limited to act in a certain way, and follow specific rules. That is enough to scare the heck out of anyone...

It also means to punish, and to penalize Not particularly something you want!

Still, true discipline is vital in our lives, it is the essence of true success, a must for a purposeful life. So, what do we do?

Let us first clarify a few things:

When you think about being “disciplined”, you probably relate it to being “organized”, “punctual”, “rigid”, “orderly”, “playing by the rules” and “limited”... That’s not necessarily bad; however, try to think, “Knowledgeable”, “active”, “action oriented”, and “prepared”. All are uncommon, but very relevant meanings of the word “Disciplined”.

Let us say you came to your office one day and it was a total mess, it happens to the best of us. The first thing on your mind is to get “organized”. So, you spend many hours, sometimes days, organizing that mess. The reward is an organized office, which is great. However, once you start searching among the “organized” piles for a particular paper you need, well... Pretty soon the office is back to being a mess again! Maybe even worse than before?! Especially when you are in a hurry to get that paper...You’re back to square one... Why? Because you organized the mess...

So, what can you do?

1- Know what are the things you want, and most importantly what are the things you don’t want.

2- take action, throw away what you don’t want, and keep what you want.

3- You know there will be more papers coming through your front door, so be prepared; create a simple process, and allocate certain places for certain things...

In fact if you commit only to the first two steps, you eliminate 80 percent of the mess...

Being organized is reactive. Being disciplined is proactive.

Commitment is tuff. Discipline makes it natural!

We are talking about common sense, universal wisdom, true purpose and unwavering commitment.

We are talking about “true discipline”; the art of living in alignment with your truth;

Be aware of what’s important; your values, your purpose, your truth... Essentially

“You”.

Follow your intuition. It is the inner compass guiding you through your life’s journey. It will align you with who you really are.

Finally; keep it simple... 90% of plans and strategies never get executed because they are too complex. Take your plans and strategies, and cut them down to a maximum of three steps. Choose a life of harmony, joy and peace; A life of discipline.

Ideas group participates in the Leadership Best Practise conference in Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

Ideas group , The Middle East and Africa’s most successful experiential learning consultancy, was again the proud sponsor of Etisalat Academy’s “ Leadership Best Practices conference” in Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi. This event was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and under the auspices of His Highness Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Interior.

The Event welcomed more than 200 delegates, all eager to learn from the best practices on Leadership from four very talented speakers. This panel included Rowan Gibson, a bestselling author and international speaker, Alan Stevens the communication expert, author & managing director of Mediacoach, Prof. Christo Neil who is the head of centre for leadership studies for the University of Stellenbosch and Dr. Ahmed Shalabi a regional consultant on management. The event was chaired by Camil El Khoury, an international speaker, author and the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group.

Ideas group took the chance to introduce once again 4 new experiential learning programs:

· The Psychology of Success a talent development program that includes communications, time management, focus and building extraordinary beliefs.

· Getting down to business Write and present like professionals.

· Social mania getting results out of social networking while keeping your employees focused.

· No excuses only Results A sales and customer service winning approach to get more done.

Moamar Safi, Senior Client Partner at ideas group, said, “Our commitment to develop experiential learning as a substitute for training and development in the region has never been greater, and we are really proud of our partnership with Etisalat Academy”

Media Contact:

For Further information please contact ideas group media team on info@ideasgrp.com www.ideasgrp.com