SUMMER PROMOTION TO SAMPLE COACHINGPLUS IN ENGLISH

Dear friends and colleagues:

Following my return to Chile, I am relaunching CoachingPlus and am keen to spread the word about my unique proposition of using collegial coaching for my clients to obtain outstanding results whilst enhancing their ability to express complex issues in English to global audiences.

BENEFITS

From the Coaching...

• Reflect on your vision, your goals and strategies with a seasoned coach who will challenge your thinking.
• Hold yourself accountable to yourself by commiting to the why, what, when, where and how with your coach.
• Explore resources to achieve better self-awareness and cognizance of the psychology of your audience.
• Understand and adopt collegial coaching to permanently improve personal, team and organizational results.

With the Plus of Interacting in a Foreign Language

• Build your confidence and fluency in discussions with an experienced British entrepreneur.
• Receive feedback and correction on key aspects of the language which might be letting you down.
• Benefit from the cognitive, sensory, neural and social advantages of interacting in your second language.
• Have access to Cross-Cultural Theory and Tools to help you better relate to your foreign counterparts.

CLIENTS AND TESTIMONIALS

“….I have had Philip’s ongoing support in all these matters and it has had an incredible impact on my results. I recommend him 100%”. Gonzalo Torrealba- Serial Entrepreneur. Founder of 4Talent.

3 INDIVIDUAL 1-HOUR SESSIONS PROGRAMMED ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS AND CONVENIENCE:

Session One: Explain your short-term business/life vision and define 3 key challenges you need to overcome or goals you need to set to achieve these. Joint evaluation of your current competence in English and aspects you consider need improving to optimize first impressions.

Session Two: Share the project you have chosen to focus on in these sessions with your coach  and be prepared for challenging questions. Understand the premise and application of Collegial Coaching.

Session Three: First Follow Up. Which milestones/goals did you achieve? What still needs to be done? How will you ensure your personal accountability for the next steps. Who will be your collegial coach to continue the process?

INVESTMENT:
Standard Summer* Price (3UF/HR):          $ 248.000 CLP
Discount (40%):                                          $   99.000 CLP
SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL PRICE      $ 149.000 CLP

*Summer price and special promotional price valid from 1^st Jan to 31^st March
* *From April to December Standard Price per Hour of Coaching is 5UF/Hr

If you are interested in this, or any of the other services I offer through www.coachingplus.cl, please do not hestitate to contact me via WhatsApp: +569 58768505), email: philiprayr@gmail.com or www.linkedin.com/in/philipray/             

Sincerely,

Philip Ray

Launching "English and Mining" at Expomin Chile 2016. Come and join us in the British Pub, right next to our stand!!

Meet Bob le Marchant, who I had the good fortune to meet last September thanks to Paul Hawthorne, Principal and General Manager of The Devon School of English on the beautiful British Riviera.

Bob is lead consultant for the English and Mining Programme that was first discussed at the British Embassy in Chile and is being formerly launched at Expomin Chile 2016 next week.

Paul has invited me to join him in the British Pavilion together with our colleagues from Study Tours to understand the learning and development needs of the industry in general and the need of any visitors to our stand who would like our collective advice in improving communication skills.

Check out this video of Bob talking about his mining and tunneling experiences around the world including Canada, Africa and the Welsh Mountains! He even had to learn a special language called Funakalo to communicate with his 11,000 colleagues many of whom only spoke their own local tribal languages.

We shall be offering scholarships to deserving candidates and corporations who are interested in testing the quality of teaching and residential experience at The Devon School of English and its "English and Mining" programme. Do visit our stand 100b in the British Pavilion, Hall 1B or call me on 62297840 to book a meeting during or after Expomin.

Back in Chile with a Fresh Understanding of my Cross Cultural Contradictions

Well, here I am, back in Chile, sad to leave Mum and Dad behind but grateful for the opportunity to have spent 2 months of quality time with them and thrilled to be back with my own family, my own home (overlooking the Andes) and to be able to continue to seek opportunities for contributing, with my training and experience, to the future of this wonderful country.

Happy too, to have taken a week out with my one of my very first bosses, Richard Lewis and his team, at the amazing Riversdown House in the heart of the Hampshire, learning more about Cross Culture and understanding some of my challenges and opportunities in relating with Chileans and how my 35 years out here have affected my interactions with my own countrymen!

Take a look at the attached chart - "Philip Ray Compared with the Typical Chilean Stereotype". As a Brit, you would expect me to be much more Linear Active (blue descriptors) which is where I should be careful in my interactions with the more Multi Active (red descriptor) Chileans. In fact out of a total of 15 potential "clashes" between Linear Active and Multi Active cultures, I have only 7, marked with the yellow asterisk (The 8th shows a more Reactive/Asiatic tendency of mine to hide my feelings (in contrast with the Multi-Active Latins).

It was quite a surprise to see I had exactly the same number of potential "clashes" when dealing with a true UK stereotype but of course in totally different contexts. I need to be aware of my Multi-Linear tendencies to:

• Plan just the general outline
• Multi-task
• Confront situations emotionally
• Interrupt quite often
• Put truth before diplomacy
• Mix my social and professional lives

It is also interesting to note that I seem to have lost the more Reactive/Asiatic tendencies of the English  to be "Polite and Indirect" and to "Put Diplomacy before Truth".

Of course, stereotypes are nothing more than that, and there is no doubt that the lines are beginning to blur, although some parental, educational, professional, geographical conditioning is more difficult to eradicate than others. And of course Wigan-born Richard is the first to point out that there are not only differences between the Scots, Irish, Welsh and English but also between the North and South,  The West and the Home Counties etc. However, looking at my true blue characteristics, which required no thought at all when answering the questionnaire, I do confess to having a lot of British/UK  programming which, indeed, I am quite proud of:

• Talks Half the Time
• Uses Official Channels
• Dislikes Losing Face
• Is Sometimes Impatient
• Limited Body Language
• Uses Mainly Facts.

Another important consideration is that the essence of the Culture Active Profiles is your self-evaluation. However, I must confess that at times, whilst answering the questionnaire, I found myself in a quandry asking myself  "does what I have just answered really reflect me, or how I think I ought to be". I am therefore looking forward to seeing the 360° profile that I shall be receiving shortly with anonymous input from my 3 British and 4 Scandinavian "classmates" about how they perceived me on the basis of the 3.5 days we spent together.

I could go on, and would be delighted to delve deeper into the subject over a coffee with any of my local friends, colleagues and clients and interested parties, to explore what a great complement awareness of this subject can be to other training and development initiatives. 

Check out my website www.coachingplus.cl

To anyone else who is interested, do check out the official website: www.crossculture.com and make sure you make contact with your local partner trainer

To finish - a photo of my delightful group of colleagues with whom I certified to become a trainer of the Lewis Model and to use the Culture Active Data Base.

Michael Gates and Caroline Lewis (foreground) with (left to right) Daniela, Stephanie, Maria, Peter, Pia, Kristiina and Guy

Richard D. Lewis with future trainer/partners

Off to Build Bridges Between Chile and England! Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays to all family, friends and clients around the world!!

As I prepare for my yearly trip back to England to take care of my amazing parents, I once again face the dilemma of where is home!! Where I was born and my parents and environment formed, to a large extent, who I am today? Or here in Chile, my adopted home since getting married to Carmen in 1976, where I have attempted to pass on some of these same beliefs, attitudes, values and habits to my equally amazing children and grandchildren?

In the past it was simple ... my parents were able to escape the cruel winters in England to join us for our warm summer holidays in Chile... and what a privilege that was!!  2 months of intensive sharing, exploring and learning.

This sketch by my mother is a treasured souvenir of one our holidays up North. What wonderful memories. If you add up the total number hours the average English family manages to spend relaxing with their parents, children and grandchildren every year on their monthly weekend trips cross country. I am sure it is less than 20% of the time we spent with Mum and Dad every summer for at least 15 years. My dear sister, Christine, has reason to be jealous!

So now comes the giving back! My independent profession and lifestyle fortunately gives me the opportunity to make these trips, but it ain't free! I am therefore thrilled to have the opportunity this year of representing my new found Canadian friends, Nicole and Leslie Bendaly from Kinect to explore the opportunity to contribute to healthcare in England with their excellent solutions, If this is successful we shall be translating their product shortly into Spanish, providing the bridge I have been looking to build so long between the two continents.

With this note of optimism to close what has undoubtedly been a challenging year for all of us, I would like to wish you all a peaceful and loving close to 2015, a very joyful festive season and a very positive start to the New Year!

Peace, Health and Happiness!

Philip Ray and family!

Back to Beginnings

"Greet and Meet" Cocktail at Riversdown House to a new cohort of international executives brushing up their English

It was a great pleasure to revisit Riversdown House during the summer and renew contact with an old friend and boss - Richard Lewis, Chairman of  Richard Lewis Communications and meet his daughter Caroline who is now coordinating much of the business for both the Residential Language Training Programmes and the Cross Cultural Activities.

Since 1971 over 35,000 international business executives, global professionals, politicians, academics and private individuals from 67 different countries have achieved a remarkable polish to their English Communication Skills at this unique centre.

Richard (or Don as he is known to friends and family) is as sprightly as ever and continues to lecture on Cross Culture around the world and welcome his international guests to Riversdown at the weekly cocktails.

Good news for those of you who have been looking forward to this spectacular learning experience: During the winter months they are offering a 25% discount on the second week of a two week intensive course. I shall be in England from January through to March and would love to meet up with anyone who takes up this offer. (Visit my website for further information)

Time to Celebrate - Seeds of Trust begin to Blossom Again!

I am excited to announce that 19 years after my first meeting with Tom Morell and Walter Santaliz, who had the courage to trust me with the responsibility of taking on  the representation of Covey Leadership Center in Chile, the wheel has turned full circle!

When I first discovered the transformational power of "The Seven Habits", I was almost down on my knees begging for the opportunity to bring the programme to Chile at a time when the country desperately needed to restore trust. Our success in achieving significant cultural change in such diverse organizations as BCI Bank, Minera Disputada de Las Condes, the Hospital Católica de la PUC and Drillco gave me the enormous retribution of having made a significant contribution, not just to the companies but to the 6,000 or more people who did all the work!

Two decades later, with low trust once again back on the agenda as a big "Achilles' heel", Walter and his partner Carlos have just renegotiated the license and it was a great honor to be offered the role of "Ambassador" to Franklin Covey Chile.

Due to my on-going commitments with Coaching Plus, VitalSmarts and HemsleyFraser, I am unable to accept a full time position, but was delighted that my suggestion to take on the role of Chief Brand Officer, responsible for the company's "image, experience and promise" has been accepted.

I am looking forward to meeting up again with so many old and new clients, workshop participants, friends and colleagues with whom we have shared the principles of "Greatness", catching up and sharing "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage".

What's Behind the Logo?

In the process of updating the website for Coaching Plus for Peak Performance, I have suddenly realized how I have come to take the logo for granted. 

Hopefully, most people get the metaphor of mountains having peaks that are not easy to reach and can easily imagine that a good coach, or perhaps better still, a magnificent sherpa might be useful.

Nothing wrong with that I suppose! But it does miss out a whole lot of background thinking, research and experience which explain the blue and gold lines in the logo and the main concept I was trying to drive home. Let's look at the research first.

In 1979, (when I was still a young man!) Jack Rackham wrote an article called "The Coaching Controversy" in which he stated: 

"Knowledge can be taught effectively in the classroom, but skills can best be learned by on-the-job coaching. Coaching is a cost-effective way to reinforce new behaviors and skills until the skill feels more natural and begins to result in better performance".

He used the graph above to demonstrate this. People attend training (or nowadays resort to social media) to pick up new ideas, spark their own creativity and discover quicker and more effective ways to get better results. 

Once they have discovered the "magic pill", they feel inspired to put it all into practice the very next day and discover, to their dismay and frustration, that whilst their behavior apparently improved,  their results went down. Makes sense doesn't it - change takes time and persistence and needs to be systemic. 

However, how many of us have the personal discipline to resist the pressure of work and multiple distractions, and keep up the right behaviors which should produce the wonderful results we are looking for? Rackham's research (verified by Cavanaugh and Leahy in 2000) showed that average productivity from "serious" training programs with no follow-up increased by 22%. Not bad and many companies today would probably be delighted!

But look what they discovered when the training was followed up with the support of a coach with the specific mission of keeping the learner's eye on the ball (to use a golfing metaphor!) and continue putting the new knowledge into practice and developing new skills until they became habits. Productivity increases of 88% and more.

I witnessed this in my first experience as an entrepreneur, offering language training to some of the leading multinationals (English to Chilean executives and Spanish to expatriates), shortly after arriving in Santiago. Those students who had no option but to practice the language on the job with a foreign boss or during an extended trip abroad, readily assimilated the new knowledge, and through trial and error quickly improved their understanding, confidence and fluency with a huge impact on their effectiveness. Many of the others came to classes year after year for the standard 90-hour programme and just stagnated at intermediate level, convinced they were just not gifted for languages.

Likewise, when I took on the representation of Stephen Covey in Chile. Virtually everyone loved the content of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", and many participants claimed it had changed their lives at home, especially when they shared the content with their families and friends and committed to support each other during the follow-up period. 

However, there was an undoubted difference between the ROI of those companies that just contracted the 3-day workshop and went back to the "real world" on Monday against those that contracted a follow-up process. The best results of course, and thinking specifically of BCI, Disputada and Hospital Clínica de la PUC, were those that trained internal facilitators and coaches (including senior managers) to roll-out the program and co-designed a formal process which aligned systems and processes with the new culture.

Many from the first group have confessed to me that they used to hang up the 7H with their coats when they arrived at the office every morning as it was a complete waste of time trying to practice the habits!! (Yes, I know - a complete lack of proactivity - but I'm sure you get the message!). In the second group they didn't only "wear the tee-shirt" but 20 years later tell tales of how the programmed transformed their organization's culture...

Well, that's the story behind the blue and gold lines! I should just like to thank Tom Morell, Walter Santalíz, Marta Sánchez, Barbara Hauser and so many other colleagues at Franklin Covey and Vital Smarts for the opportunity to learn with them, Thomas Crane for sharing his methodology with me on his "Heart of Coaching" certification program, and, most important, the hundreds of executives and professionals I have had the privilege of working with over the past 2 decades. 

Happiness for Peak Performance

Click here to watch Harvard's Happiness 101 Course

I must start by thanking César for sending me the link to Tal Ben-Shahar's Harvard course "Happiness 101". I didn't only listen during my work-out yesterday, but continued totally absorbed all the way home and during my "recovery time"!

I must admit there wasn't a lot that I hadn't heard before, but for me Tal's low key, "self-deprecating" style with a lot of good evidence to drive home simple truths, capped by Peter Drucker's opening words to his weekend executive retreats, really got to me. At least that is my explanation for the discomfort I felt as I reflected on how little of this "stuff" I really practice consistantly.

I won't spoil it by giving away all the "secrets" but will just share a few notes I am jotting down as a public reminder to put into practice: "Give yourself permission to be human"; "Take time to recover"; "Remember the impact of daily meditation on the left brain"; "Take 3 Deep Breaths - all day long... and especially at the red lights"; "How appreciation appreciates... 5 a day"

You all have my permission to ask me - "What are you doing differently, Philip?" - and please do... at least for the next 8 months until my new habits are truly second nature!

Double Work-Out

Finally found a way to keep up my exercise routine at the gym and get back into to the habit of stimulating not just body, but also brain, heart and soul!!!* Simple as logging into You Tube on my smart phone, putting on the earphones, and letting serendipity do the rest as I peddle my 10K on the exercise bike. Miss one... miss the other!

A couple of weeks ago, a trailer for “Mr Turner”, led me digging into the hitherto unknown background of one of my favourite artists. A press conference in Hollywood, with director, Mike Leigh, and cast in Hollywood, including Timothy Spall, who played a brilliant leading role and explained his interpretation of Turner’s grunting as follows: “I think the grunting grew... organically out of this incredible, instinctive and emotional man who had a zillion things to say but never said it. So he captured it all in an imploded grunt...He's got this burning thing inside him, so rather than say it, it's just ghrrm, ghrrm.”

This week, preparation for a class on the "Ladder of Inference" had me up and down the steps to check to whom I should attribute the concept, Peter Senge who popularized it in the Fifth Discipline or Chris Argyris who devoloped the concept with Donald Schon.

In the process, still peddling away at the gym, I enriched myself with a lot of stuff both on and off the subject, but none more exciting for its clarity, simplicity and  brevity than Ed Muzio's Whiteboard Videos. No imploding grunts for Ed, who, in his 4-minute crisply produced video clips, free for all on You Tube, is set to put us all out of business... or who knows, will maybe create a lot more for us all? Highly accessible and digestible and a great complement for my CoachingPlus clients who are keen to continue improving their English.
Check this one out: Perceptual Position Resolves Conflicts and see if you can resist going back for more. As amigo Patricio said "Me encanta el poder de lo simple….breve, claro y concreto……viva el HAIKU!!"
* (Yes Stephen, looking down from on high, I often taught your philosophy and finally got round to practicing it)

"HOW TO EFECTIVELY MERGE COMPANY CULTURES" - David Maxfield - Vital Smarts

For full article click here to access the Vital Smarts blog 

An organization’s unique culture can be a powerful driver of success. At the same time, there are often elements of a culture that hold back the organization. This mix of challenges is especially apparent during mergers and acquisitions. The different cultures have different strengths and weaknesses, and you want to emerge with the best of both.
I’m going to use one of our clients, a healthcare organization, as an example. We’ve worked with this organization as they combined several formerly independent hospitals, each with its own culture.

Culture lies below the waterline. We use an iceberg metaphor to illustrate the relationship between the visible parts of an organization and its more hidden cultural elements.

Above the waterline is the tip of the iceberg you can see. In an organization, this includes explicit goals, strategies, structures, processes, and systems. This is the organization’s not-so-secret sauce. These are the parts that are talked about the most. They are planned, tracked, and evaluated. They are on every leaders’ radar screen.

Our healthcare client had a very explicit above-the-waterline goal and strategy. They wanted to become a “destination” health center—a place that would draw patients from several states. This explicit strategy guided their structure (they built a children’s hospital, cancer and heart centers, and a medical school, and purchased several regional community hospitals); it guided their processes (implementing integrated IT systems); it guided their reward systems (creating incentives that encouraged community hospitals to refer patients to their centers of excellence); and it influenced its people policies (switching from using community physicians to using employed physicians).

Below the waterline lies the bulk of the iceberg you can’t see. In an organization, this includes implicit norms, values, hidden assumptions, unwritten rules, and behaviors. This is the organization’s secret sauce, its culture. An organization’s culture often goes unseen, unrecognized, and undiscussed. It’s like the adage, “fish discover water last.”

An organization’s culture is often derived from local regional norms, professional practices, values the founders held, and the like. It’s a source of great strength and vitality, but can also include contradictory and unproductive elements.

Because culture lies below the waterline, it is often ignored or neglected by leaders—especially during times of change. And this is certainly the case during mergers and acquisitions.

Here is the problem: most leaders focus too exclusively on above-the-waterline strategies for change. Yet, the most typical dangers—the obstacles that sink change efforts—lie below the waterline. Change plans run into cultural norms, and as Peter Drucker is credited with saying: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Our healthcare client also had to deal with many cultural elements. For example, many of the community hospitals they purchased felt as if they’d been “taken over.” Many of these small hospitals had been founded by religious orders (from several different religions), and saw their secret sauce as being a sacred sauce—not something they wanted to lose.

Identify Your Secret Sauce. While culture includes norms, values, hidden assumptions, and unwritten rules, it is expressed through behaviors. Behaviors are the key. The rest—the norms, values, etc.—are the influences that create and maintain the behaviors. When dealing with culture, we begin with ... (Click here to read more)

UPDATE AND INVITE TO "Four Crucial Skills of a High-Performance Cultural Operating System"

Los últimos 3 años han sido muy interesantes para mí profesionalmente, gracias a mi asociación con Patricio Salinas, quien fuera mi interlocutor principal en el Banco BCI, uno de mis clientes más emblemáticos y exitosos en la implementación del modelo de los "7 Hábitos".

Top Execution, la empresa que montamos juntos, ha logrado ganar una excelente reputación entre nuestros clientes, por los trabajos realizados en Alineamiento Organizacional, Engagement y Ejecución. Esta combinación de enfoques “duros” y “blandos” nos ha permitido ofrecer unas soluciones bastante únicas. 

Al mismo tiempo, he continuado colaborando con Vital Smarts en la facilitación tanto en inglés como en español, de una versión nueva y muy superior de Conversaciones Cruciales para clientes globales en todo el continente. 

Con el objeto de darles a conocer el poder de esta metodología, que es clave para construir y ampliar el alcance de confianza en su organización o comunidad, ofrezco a mis lectores la posibilidad de acceder, sin costo alguno, a una serie de los más exitosos webcasts de Vital Smarts. Estos les permitirán conocer los últimos estudios y escuchar directamente de sus clientes los resultados obtenidos por ellos en su búsqueda por lograr la Excelencia Organizacional y Resultados Extraordinarios.

Para ver el primer webcast de la serie pinche aquÍ: “The Four Crucial Skills of a Cultural Operating System”. El proceso de registro es muy fácil y seguro y pueden ver los webcasts cuantas veces quieran y a la hora que deseen, y reenviar la invitación  a colegas y amigos. Es, además, una excelente forma de practicar las capacidades de escucha en Inglés. Las personas que tengan dificultad para entender el inglés hablado, pueden bajar el “position paper” ...

....y esto me lleva a la última parte de mi "update" - la oportunidad de practicar y perfeccionar el inglés a través de conversaciones reales sobre temas vitales para su trabajo o desarrollo profesional con un coach ejecutivo cuya lengua materna es el inglés.

Me ha sorprendido el entusiasmo de los clientes de Coaching Plus por contar con este apoyo, no solamente para practicar el inglés sino también por ser de gran utilidad frente a la necesidad de realizar presentaciones en inglés, escribir propuestas e informes claves y/o prepararse para conferencias telefónicas (y posteriormente escuchar la versión grabada, logrando una retro-alimentación muy efectiva).

No podría terminar este "update" sin mencionar nuestro "nido vacío" y familia más unida que nunca. Algunos de ustedes se acordarán del nacimiento de Philipito, mi primer nieto, hace 15 años atrás mientras que yo facilitaba un taller en el Country Club!! Ya van 4 nietos, y tenemos la tremenda suerte de compartir con ellos, nuestros hijos, yerno, nuera y queridos consuegros y primos de nuestros nietos, casi todos los fines de semana!

Y, a pesar del infarto cerebral de mi padre hace casi 3 años, que ha dejado a mi viejo bastante incapacitado, "Mum and Dad" siguen disfrutando de la vida con mucha alegría y energía gracias al apoyo constante de mi hermana, cuñado y sobrino. Ha sido, para mi una bendición extraordinaria poder viajar a Inglaterra todos los años para compartir con ellos y devolver todo el cuidado y amor que ellos nos han entregado a nosotros desde que ellos tuvieron la edad de Frances, nuestro "bebe"!

Todo esto, gracias al apoyo incondicional de mi compañera de toda una vida. "Carmen, my love, what would I do without you?"

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THINGS COULDNT GET ANY WORSE!

At the risk of being corny, I couldn't resist the temptation to share this clip of Charlotte and Jonathan from Britain's Got Talent.

Just look at the lessons in TRUST - Self-Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational Trust, Market Trust and even Societal Trust. (See SMR Covey - Speed of Trust) and of course in INFLUENCE (both negative, personified by the "vile" SC, and all the positive sources that put him to shame!)

I can't believe this whole act wasn't carefully scripted to create a viral marketing campaign that probably means this clip will have travelled three times round the world by the time you see my version! Much as I hate to fall into the trap of sensationalism and showbiz, I have to give my thanks to J&C's music teacher/coach for recognizing/drawing out the potential, to Charlotte for her vital support to Jonathan and to J for his talent, courage and commitment to his team. Finally to Simon for being such a "nasty" man and allowing us all to reflect on the power of our own talents and attributes if only we can have the courage to believe in ourselves, even when the chips are down!

Thanks to Brian McDermott from Growthworks Inc and Linked in for bringing this to my attention!

A NEW PLUS

In case you were wondering, the weird shadows that appear in the Powerpoint explaining my new venture, Coaching Plus for Peak Performance, are not friends of ET heading for home, but 3 generations of Rays in the Cajón del Maipo Cordillera on our way up to the El Morrado Glacier (taken about 4 years ago). What a memorable bonding experience with Peter and Philipito which had a lot to do with building and maintaining trust.

I am delighted to report that CPPP is going strong and I am excited to see how the brave souls who trusted me to be their coach and have dared to do this in English are demonstrating surprising abilities to express highly complex and frequently delicate matters (difficult enough to express in their mother tongue!) in the very safe environment we have created... and they have already seen the early fruits of using me as a sounding box and point of accountability (for their own decisions and results) as they begin to execute their plans.

30+ (gulp!) years of experience have shown me, however, that the skills acquired by practice in the classroom or coaching space do not automatically transfer to real life and the moment we find ourselves in a a less "safe" environment, the self-doubt, hesitation, stuttering and memory gaps begin to take over.

I am therefore keen to move on to stage 2 of my experiment in building self-confidence/trust for language learners by creating a safe space for groups of like-minded individuals to share their ideas and get used to expressing themselves to groups in English, overcoming their fears and reaping the benefits of the 3 "S"s !! - Synergy, Serendipity and Syncroncity.

I shall start the ball rolling in the first meeting by presenting my preferred coaching model "The Heart of Coaching" by Tom Crane, in a Round Table Meeting which will I hope provoke some interesting discussion on different coaching models and experiences involving all the audience.

In subsequent meetings we will encourage other members to make presentations on some other aspects of Coaching, Leadership, HR, OD or Personal Development intended to generate a similar interactive meeting.

Provisional date for the first meeting is Monday 9th April at 19:00 somewhere in Providencia (Exact location to be confirmed). There will be no cost ...and no coffee or trimmings!!! ;) Let me know if you are interested by adding your comment to this blog or mailing me at: philiprayr@gmail.com

Hope you can make it!!

“BY REASON OR BY MIGHT” OR “BY THE MIGHT OF REASON”?

¿(POR LA “RAZON O LA FUERZA” o “LA FUERZA DE LA RAZON”?

I am not sure what specific recent national or international conflict led me to reflect on the“slogan” on Chile’s national Coat of Arms – “By Reason or By Right”.

If this is supposed to be one of the guiding principles of our democracy, what hope is there for “Win-Win” solutions and the Culture of Trust which, according to so many scholars, is the keystone to peace, effectiveness and high performance?

Confucious: “Good government needs weapons, food and trust. If the ruler cannot hold onto all three, he should give up the weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end, because “without trust, we cannot stand”

Einstein: “Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.”

Pope John XXIII : “The true and solid peace of nations consist not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.”

Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) : “Without trust, there is no open society, because there are not enough police to patrol every opening in an open society. Without trust, there can also be no flat world, because it is trust that allows us to take down walls remove barriers, and eliminate friction at borders. Trust is essential for a flat world.”

Extracted from “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey

I therefore turned to “trusty” Wikipedia to understand the origins of the slogan and was both surprised and delighted to be reminded that Ricardo Lagos (the man with the mighty finger) had started the very same debate and proposed a new less bellicose version “Por la Fuerza de la Razón” (By the Might of Reason) which was presented to Congress as a Bill in 2004 by Nelson Avila and is still biding its time.

As I started a serendiptous jaunt through Google, to learn more, I quickly realized, that the very mention of this subject could be open to a misinterpretation of my motives so I would like to make it clear that I have no political stance on this subject, just a healthy curiosity in hearing what readers of this blog think.

My aim is to relaunch and transform my blog from a sharing of stuff that the author has experienced to a light-hearted forum where readers can share their thoughts and experiences related to trust.

ABRAZOS DE CONFIANZA

A lo mejor algunos me van a tildar de muy ingénuo, pero cuando vi a Michelle y Sebastián darse este abrazo que me parecía tan auténtico al final del Teleton "Chile Ayuda a Chile", mi confianza en ambos incrementó en varios puntos, al igual que mi esperanza que este país va a convertir este catastrofe no solamente en una oportunidad de crecimiento económico y material, sino tambien en una palanca para mejorar el escenario politica, social, cultural y espiritual.

Me siento, además, muy comprometido por los abrazos que recibí este fin de semana en mi recorrido por los pueblos del Río Mataquito y alrededores para entender las necesidades de apoyo, más allá de alimento, abrigo y vivienda. Homero y Francisca, Hector, Wilson, Luis Armando, Leslie, Bernardita, Marcelo y Sandra, María Carmen y tantos otros que tomaron tiempo para hablar conmigo para compartir sus penas pero tambien su agradecmiento por la solidaridad de millones de chilenos y de empresas y organizaciones, gobiernos y ciudanos de todo el mundo que han dejado al lado sus diferencias para apaliar rápidamente el dolor más inmediata - la soledad, el hambre y la falta de abrigo.

"THE BIG ONE" - SELF TRUST

When I took Puki out on his lead this morning to perform his morning duties, I felt the urge to extend our walk down past the supermarket just for the reassuring feel of "back to normal" and sure enough, "back to normal" it was - queues of people to buy their Sunday empanadas from the "Tomás Moro" and outside everyone glancing at the horrific pictures of the destruction in the South and Central zones.


The "Big One" had come and gone. 1960 - 1985 - 2010... every 25 years... this time, almost to the day... but I had a "Bigger One" inside me. How can I be thinking of getting back to normal after the summer break - trim my beard, send my suits to the cleaners and start "peddling" organizational effectiveness and my "trustworthiness" as a consultant/facilitator/coach - with this huge doubt eating a hole inside me... ?

(foto EFE)

... should I be talking about effectiveness - achieving personal "greatness" or should I be doing something about it....

Friends, family, clients and colleagues, forgive me if I don't call you for a couple of months - I'll be around and available if you need me... but right now I am going to start knocking on other doors to see how I can help pull Chile... my home for the last 30 years...out of this huge hole. If this means getting my flaccid body and soul back into shape by shoving rubble or using my large frame to ward off looters, great... if I can use some of the leadership skills I have been teaching for the last 15 years... so much the better...

... by the way, friends of Chile from Franklin Covey from Panama, Mexico, Guatemala and Miami are sending messages of sympathy and asking how they can help (Pepe, José Luis, Gladys, Barbara and Marta).

Any ideas on the doors I should be knocking on to deliver this promise, gratefully received - please use the comments section of this mail to share your ideas and thoughts or mail me on philiprayr@gmail.com .

BUSY MONTH IN EDUCATION

I hope to have more time over the next few weeks to provide more details on our activities in November with the SOFOFA Industrial Liceos, Juventud Emprendedora in Iquique and the ABSCH in Santiago, along with our dear colleagues Marta Sánchez from Venezuela and Gladys González from Guatemala.

In the meantime here's an opportunity to share a moment of "paradigm shifting" with Pablo Vásquez's magnificent team in Iquique with whom Gladys and I enjoyed a whole week, sharing with local teens and their families, and in a very intense certification programme.

I also attach an extract from the Trim Tab video on Change Management in Education, which was a source of considerable discussion at the ABSCH Resource Centre - illustrating how even the most menial of personal contributions can lead to community-wide changes.

Between now and March I shall be available to visit all schools and institutions who would be interested in discussing how to begin implementing leadership programme not just for teachers and/or students but for the whole educational community, taking advantage of visits we have planned for Marta, Gladys and other educational experts who we hope to invite to Chile in 2010.

Mail me on pray@franklincoveyla.com for further information.

Leadership in Education

I am in the process of programming some opportunities in November for educators to meet two experts in leadership in the educational field. They work with one of the international consulting firms with which I have been closely associated for many years.

1) Week of 9th November

Martha Sanchez, the senior educational consultant for Franklin Covey in Latin America, will be coming to Chile to deliver the “Leading at the Speed of Trust” ‘programme with a major coporate clients. We are taking advantage of this opportunity to hold a series of meetings with other clients in the corporate and educational fields.

We have reserved 12th November for the educational sector to allow Marta to present the “Leader in Me” initiatives in Education throughout the world and in particular, the ambitious program with the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, where Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits” has been introduced into the curriculum of the final year of secondary schooling. The Educational Division of SOFOFA, has expressed an interest in hosting this activity in which they will showcase the results of the leadership initiatives in one of their “Liceos Técnicos”.

2) Week of 23rd November

Gladys Gonzalez, from Franklin Covey’s Guatemalan office, who has specialized in education, entrepreneurship and training of facilitators, will be conducting a workshop on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens” to a group of youngsters from Juventud Emprendedora and subsequently carrying out a Train the Trainer programme for this ONG’s internal facilitators. We are currently approaching several of our clients about their interest in participating in a forum on “Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Education” we plan on organizing on 25th or 26th November.

Anyone interested in attending either of these activities or arranging a special meeting on these dates on their premises please advise as soon as possible.

Please note my new cell phone: 6 229 7840

philiprayr@gmail.

Awkward Performance Review

Vital Smarts have just published two amusing new video vignettes to illustrate two of the commonest Crucial Conversations we face - "The Performance Review" and "Confronting Aging Parents".

Two see these, click on the accompanying image and choose the corresponding clip.

Visit also the Vital Smarts Crucial Skills Newlsetter Archive for advice on Performance Reviews by author Joseph Grenny:
www.vitalsmarts.com/crucialskillsarchive.aspx
September 9th 2009, "Out of Synch Performance Review"

TELL ME WHY!

¡MAS PALABRAS SOBRAN!

¿is there any hope for deep trust?