I have been nominated for a national Arts & Business Award.

Really nice to be considered and great to be a part of something so important. Awards ceremony in London on the 14th May. Fingers crossed… You can find out more about the work of Arts & Business here. 

Arts and Business connect companies, communities and individuals to cultural organisations and provide the delivery, expertise and insight for their relationships to thrive, for their mutual benefit and that of the wider community.

A client bought me flowers a couple of weeks ago – to say thank you and to show how much she appreciated what we have done together.

Not that I expect this kind of thing you understand, but it got me thinking about appreciation in general and how it’s so important in our relationships.

My own appreciation of the power of appreciation really grew a few years ago when I read Nancy Kline‘s work. She believes that there are ten crucial elements/behaviours that must be present to allow people to do their very best thinking. I strive to have these in place when coaching and they are:

Attention, Equality, Ease, Appreciation, Encouragement, Feelings, Information, Diversity, Incisive Questions and Place.

I think appreciation comes in many forms (not just flowers) but it can be; just being there, being attentive, saying thank you, listening, asking how someone is or remembering important details about them. It all adds up to a feeling of being valued. And we all need that.

But it’s just as important to appreciate others explicitly too. Giving appreciative feedback is so valuable, and yet free. So make it count and do it well by being:

Succinct - Sincere - Specific

I’m not talking about being gushy here. I’m talking about being genuine and honest. Here’s an example from my testimonials page:

“Alexis has that rare quality of listening not only to the words you are saying but also the nuances. She is able to analyse and effectively summarise. But she does not force her opinion on you; the conclusions you draw are your own.”

This is why I value my clients feedback through evaluation so much. It’s a form of appreciation that is always concrete, sincere and developmental for me. You can read other feedback on my testimonials page.

Contact me on 0754 0593476 or email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com

The human mind thinks more rigorously and creatively in a context of genuine appreciation.” Nancy Kline

Are women doctors as confident about their abilities as their male colleagues?

I was asked to run a session on Coaching & Mentoring at a conference yesterday. ‘Inspiring Women Doctors in Training’ had an emphasis on leadership and the keynote speakers all addressed why so many women doctors still don’t get to the top of the leadership ladder.

One theme that came out was individual’s ‘mind-set’. Whilst accepting that there will be many exceptions to the rule, all speakers spoke about an underlying lack of self-belief in many women doctors, an unwillingness to promote their achievements and a reluctance to seize opportunities.

So I wanted to share some research on Emotional Intelligence that was undertaken in 2011.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is about intelligent use of our emotions. This requires being aware of our feelings and the feelings of others in order to manage our behaviour and relationships effectively. Underpinning all aspects of EI is our core attitude towards ourselves (Self-Regard) and others (Regard for Others).”Jo Maddocks, Occupational Psychologist with JCA.

JCA have been administering EI tests for over 12 years. They now hold data on over 12,500 people, across many professional sectors and covering 7 continents. What I found interesting about their findings is that there are a significant proportion of people in the healthcare sector who score low in Self Regard. In addition, women typically score low in Self Regard. This double-whammy means that women healthcare workers (including doctors) may be less likely to; rate their achievements, feel confident about putting themselves forward and feel empowered to do things differently.

Being a Doctor is a leadership role in its own right of course. Making decisions, taking action and leading others is a daily part of working life. But when thinking about the possibilities of further leadership in education, management, research, service development or commissioning, do women doctors believe “I could do that”? Or is there a saboteur in their heads saying, “I’m not good enough.”

To see the full JCA paper Click Here

Contact me on 0754 0593476 or email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com

Doctors and our constantly connected culture.

Doctors and medical professionals have always faced interruptions from beepers and phones, and multitasking is simply a fact of life for many medical jobs. What has changed, doctors say, especially younger ones, is that they face increasing pressure to interact with their devices.” Matt Richtel – New York Times (ref below)

It’s this pressure; the urge to react and respond that interests me. Some of my clients, especially the Secondary Care Consultants, explain that it is a huge driving force in their working lives. It can result in people feeling really quite powerless and can compel them to behave in a very reactionary way.

I have no evidence to discuss whether this affects patient care, but I do know it affects working relationships and task management.

I believe that face-to-face human contact, powered by emotional and intellectual attention is the most important form of communication. (See link to Hallowell’s article below). The trouble is, with our over-reliance on electronic communication we miss key components of effective communication such as body language and empathy. My guess is that when seeing patients, most clinicians are still doing this, but it’s our other working relationships that can be dramatically affected.

And staying focused during tasks is also a challenge now. The ever-distracting ping of another email or text disrupts our attention and pulls us away from what we were doing, thus making the task exponentially longer. Having the discipline to stay focused and resist the urge to react is a crucial habit to re-establish.

Perhaps the answer is choice. What would you prioritise as important enough to interrupt what you are doing now or who you are currently paying attention to?

Contact me on 0754 0593476 or email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com

Recommended links to further reading:

Matt Richtel  - As Doctors Use More Devices, Potential for Distraction Grows – New York Times (2011)

Tony Schwartz – The magic of doing one thing at a time (2012 most read Harvard Business Review blog)

Edward M. Hallowell – The human moment at work (1999)

Daniel Goleman – An antidote for workplace ADD (2013)

Ashridge Business School are undertaking some research into the effectiveness of Coaching.

“Ready for revalidation: your revalidation”

Got one of these yet? My husband just did.

I know. It’s another thing to have to do, collect the data, follow the process and tick the boxes.

And there is nothing to do, but to just do it – if you want to keep practising medicine.

So what’s the best way of dealing with it?

By tackling it now. Give yourself one hour. Protect that time with no distractions from the phone, PC and other folk. You will be surprised by how much thinking you can do in 60 uncontaminated minutes. This is your time to think about what you will do to make preparing for revalidation as painless as possible. You must design your own approach that’s right for you.

Ask yourself these questions in your 60 minutes:

• What do I need to do?
• How am I going to do it?
• Who do I need to help me?
• When have I got to do it by?

Remember, this hour is just for thinking and marking out your plan. Don’t use the time to start actioning. By being strategic in your approach now, it will be more bearable.

I know many of my clients are frustrated at the prospect of more admin and some are worried they may not make the grade, but what I’m advising them all to do, is to seize control of it now.

Need some help sorting it out? – Call me on 0754 0593476 or email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com

I am in London on a consulting visit and have time to meet new clients or associates.

If you are interested in discussing how Coaching Doctors might help you, then please contact me ASAP so we can book you a time.

I will be in the Oxford Circus area on the 28th February 2013.

Call me on 0754 0593476

Or email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com

Fully recharged? Or are you running on empty already?

Time is a finite resource. It’s an issue that almost always comes into sessions with my clients. None of us feel like we have enough of it and at the beginning of a New Year, we feel the passage of time more keenly. How we spend this valuable resource and how effective and efficient we are at it, is a common concern.

One-way of repositioning our relationship with time is to think about how energized we are when we are spending time. We cannot change how much time we have, but we can control how much energy we have.

…greater capacity makes it possible to get more done in less time at a higher level of engagement and with more sustainability.” Tony Schwartz.

Schwartz at The Energy Project describes a model of four energy dimensions that should be invested in:

• Physical Energy – sleep, exercise, diet and taking breaks.
• Emotional Energy – defuse negative emotions, fuel positive emotions, and review upsetting situations.
• Mental Energy – reduce interruptions to important thinking tasks, stay goal focussed and switch jobs at healthy intervals.
• Spiritual Energy – identify those task that give you more energy, allocate more time to those tasks that are really important to you and live by your core values.

For some of my Doctors they are aware of Physical Energy but less aware of their need to invest in Emotional Energy. It’s useful to reflect upon how you invest in these four areas as you may discover that only a couple of your ‘batteries’ are fully charged.

OK, so this is not going to ‘buy’ you more time, but it might help you feel more satisfied with how you spend the time you do have and give you some ideas about where you need to invest in yourself at this moment in time.

Links:

Click here to access Tony Schwartz’s Harvard Business Review paper.

You can take an online test to check out your relationship to these four energy dimensions by clicking here.

Click here to see 5 Top Tips for managing your energy not your time.

Call me on 0754 0593476 to talk over your relationship with time.

Email me on alexishutson@yahoo.com