Archive for the ‘Laurel's Blogs’ Category

Happiness At Work?

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Is it too much to ask to have a job and a place to feel at happy during a time when many are just grateful to be employed?

 

NO. Our future depends on it. Simply put, happy workers create productivity, quality and effective organizations which in turn will help us get back on our feet. 

We cannot entirely blame the leaders in Washington or Wall Street or Detroit for the mess we are in. I have a controversial theory that unhappy workers contributed greatly to the collapse of the US economy whether they were in the corner office of a high rise or on the factory floor.  55% of all American workers reported that they hated their jobs in January of 2010. How can we build a great economy while our workers are spending company time surfing monster.com or day dreaming about the weekends?

 

So here is my list of five things you can do to help yourself and the future of our world economy:

 

1.     Do not give up on your dreams and spend some time each week cultivating your interests and planning your best future. 

2.     Be responsible and give your best to whatever you have committed to for work currently. 

3.     If you are currently unemployed, balance the job search with some soul searching around how this may be an opportunity to get to out of your box.   

4.     If you are a boss, create the best atmosphere for your employees you can. Create a healthy work environment and you will be rewarded with loyalty and productivity. 

5.     If a co-worker is down, try to reach out to that person and lift their spirits.  It will help you both. 

 

Laurel Donnellan is the President and Co-Founder of Three Giant Leaps.Laurel has 30 years of experience as a leader, educator and coach: and has degrees from Cornell and Columbia. She is a thought leader in global career development. Her passion is helping people of all ages find their home in the world of work. You can learn more about her and take a free career change assessment at http://www.threegiantleaps.com

 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LaurelDonnellan

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laurel-donnellan/14/263/a84

To buy our new book/audio set click here: www.borntodobook.com

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Career Change Coaching

Friday, August 13th, 2010

 

When I decided to make career change coaching my life’s work, I researched many other approaches before deciding to create my own methodology. I attended classes and programs with many experts in the field of personal growth and career development including Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, Barbara Sher, Richard Bolles, Gregg Levoy, Frederick Hudson, Rick Jarrow, Julia Cameron, Mathew Fox and SARK. In this intensive search for a complete 360 degree approach to career and life planning, I ultimately decided to create a new approach that eventually evolved into The Three Giant Leaps Method. This twelve part patented process that helps people examine their past, assess their present and plan their future through the lens of calling. 

In our approach to career change coaching we take a bold stand in the belief that anyone can find a calling, the best way to express passions and purpose, if they are willing to do the work we provide with the assistance of a coach that has been trained in our process. Our coaches use the following foundational guiding principles when working with clients through the twelve stages of the process: 

· Dream Advocacy - We always maintain faith in the possibility that clients can find and practice their soul work, meet (or more fully meet) their highest potential, and make positive changes in their lives. And, when appropriate, we gently push clients to reach further than they thought possible. Throughout the process we listen for soul work possibilities and help our clients keep an ongoing list. 

· Wisdom - We espouse a “lead from behind” approach: we respect clients’ limits, show gentleness towards their vulnerability, and never impose our own values or hopes on them. We believe that TGL work represents a partnership between coaches and clients and we learn from each other throughout the process. 

· Trust - We understand that the TGL model works on creating lasting change and can take time. We are patient with our clients and the process and help our clients to be patient as well. We believe in the power of trusting relationships and our methodology. 

· Partnership - We acknowledge when a client’s issue or block is beyond our expertise and show savvy in assessing client need, conferring with our colleagues and making referrals to other professionals. 

· Safety - We are able to witness, hold the space for, and appropriately respond to a full range of emotions. We listen deeply and openly. We are tolerant and supportive of differing values. 

· Focus - We appropriately use self disclosure, focusing on the need of the client and knowing that self-disclosure should be used instructionally and prudently. 

· Expertise - We judiciously use and balance strategizing, advising, guiding, questioning, challenging, giving honest feedback, and listening. 

· Awareness - We know our own issues, strengths, biases, projections, fears, and sore spots and we seek out coaching from a TGL Master Guide whenever we have a question or concern that we cannot manage ourselves. 

· Grace – We expect and accept that aspects of our process are spiritual and mystical. We develop our attunement to this and honor our clients’ personal experience of grace. 

· Mastery – We strive to become masterful as speakers, coaches, guides and teachers. 

· Authenticity – We balance our allegiance to the Three Giant Leaps methodology with our own inner knowing and experience. 

As you may suspect, this is not a simple career change coaching process. It takes people with special skills and a unique life story to execute so many layers and help people through career/life transitions. You can learn more about this extraordinary group of people at http://www.threegiantleaps.com/about-us/coaching-team/  

Laurel Donnellan 

://www.threegiantleaps.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LaurelDonnellan

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laurel-donnellan/14/263/a84  

To buy our new book/audio set click here: www.borntodobook.com

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National Treasures

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

The most important resource this country has is its children and these bright lights seem to be dimming during High School. Our national graduation rate is hovering at 70% while cities like LA and New York weigh in at an embarrassing 48% and 45%. Detroit is the lowest in America at an unbelievable 25%. This is a complex problem and I have a simple solution that I believe will help increase on-time graduation rates and ultimately put our economy back on track over the long term. Ready?

If every young person , each semester of his or her high school education was asked the question: What’s your dream? and adults actively listened to the answer without judgment and encouraged that child to go after it, many great things would happen. I have spent the last 14 years of my life perfecting this process for adults who often were not asked that question or were ridiculed for dreams, earlier in life. Now I have pledged the next ten years (or more) of my career to implementing a similar teen-friendly process called Do Your Thing! into schools all over the world which support the development of  visionary educators as well as their teenage students.

In the mean time, please check out this article about a special teacher and his students that got the attention of our President in the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pomona-school13-2009mar13,0,2036324.story 

If have questions about our teen programs or would like to get involved in this movement, please write me.

Laurel

Site: http://www.threegiantleaps.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LaurelDonnellan

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laurel-donnellan/14/263/a84  

To buy our new book/audio set click here: www.borntodobook.com

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Passion Book Report

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

I have read countless books about career and calling but after a while they have become a bit repetitive. I keep reading — looking for that one special piece of inspiration that I can pass on to my clients and coaches and I am happy to report that I found one such evergreen book last year: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson.

The author who is a world renowned education consultant is someone I met through a TED conference video that a friend sent a while back and I must say I felt a kinship with him immediately. You can see this inspiring talk here:

 

 .

In his wonderful book he tells more stories of people who have found their element while he offers concrete advice for how you can do the same. He defines one’s element as the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion. His writing style is fun without being light– as he offers a blend of theory and practical advice. He also offers a hypothesis I resonate with. Schools often squelch a child’s gifts with an outdated and narrow curriculum and we need to help all children and adults recognize their own “element”.

If you are looking for hope for finding your own passions, buy this book!

Laurel Donnellan

President
Three Giant Leaps 

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What Career Is Right For me?

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

What career is right for me? is the hard question that we help people answer.

The process for getting to the best answer for each person involves a personalized and comprehensive three part journey we call The Three Giant Leaps Methodology. All of our programs and products follow this process which is explained below:

 Leap One – Be Connected

In this part of the program, you will become more aware of how your past effects your current and future career satisfaction. This new found awareness will enable you to discover your true potential.

Principles

Courage - Learn to step out of your comfort zone

Faith - Find your own sense of meaning

Awareness - Understand how your past affects your future

Truth - Challenge inaccurate beliefs that are holding you back

Leap Two – Be Yourself

Leap Two will lead you to a deeper understanding of your current state including your attitudes and behaviors concerning health, relationships, money and work. 

Principles

Balance - Understand the importance of emotional, physical and intellectual health.

Love - Learn to maintain strong and healthy relationships

Abundance - Define what’s important to you and create security

Authenticity - Discover your natural talents and abilities

Leap Three- Be Your Best

This part of the process helps you develop clarity plans for your future career and considers all aspects of your life and career.

Principles                                        

Creativity - Play with new ideas for your future

Integrity - Take responsibility for your choices in life and at work.

Vision - See a clear future and move towards it

Commitment - Create a step by step business plan for your new career

The results of the journey include a concrete inventory of your passions, purpose and options for remarkable work in the future. In addition you will have a detailed commitment plan for having  work you love a reality. In as little as eight weeks, you can work through this process with one of our qualified coaches and answer the question “What career is right for me?” and be on your way to making it a reality.

Laurel Donnellan, President, Three Giant Leaps

 

Laurel has 30 years of experience as a leader, educator and coach: and has degrees from Cornell and Columbia. She is a thought leader in global career development. Her passion is helping people of all ages find their home in the world of work. You can learn more about her and take a free career change assessment at http://www.threegiantleaps.com 

 

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Are You On The Right Career Track?

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

My work often introduces me to people who are miserable in their job and my great privilege is to help them forge a new path. I also have had the opportunity to meet and interview many people who love what they do as part of my research and find that although there are many unique elements to their stories, they also have many things in common.

The list below is a summary of those things people who have enjoyed sustainable career satisfaction, have reported. In assessing whether or not you are on the path to career fulfillment, see how many of this list of ten things you can check off:

  1. When you are at work, you often lose track of time instead of watching the clock.
  2. You enjoy reading your trade publications or other information about your field.
  3. You can imagine a positive future in your career.
  4. You have colleagues at your job or in the same field who you respect and admire.
  5. Either you are doing your dream work currently or the work you are doing now is a necessary step in creating dream work.
  6. Your love ones including the young people in your life know what you do and have a sense you love it.
  7. You don’t cringe when people ask you what you do. You enjoy talking about your work.
  8. You know what you love to do.
  9. You are willing to take risks to do what you love.
  10. You have a sense that no matter how long you are on this career track you have more to learn and master and that prospect is exciting to you.

Ideally, you can identify with most of the list but most people will find that there are very few things they resonate with.  If that is the case for you, you may be ready for a change in course.  The good news is that the sooner you work on creating a new path the more likely it is you will have more career satisfaction the future, here are a few suggestions for next steps:

  1. Seek out people who love their work and learn from their experience in how they found “thing”
  2. Begin researching projects, jobs and educational opportunities that will expose you up to new fields.
  3. Watch movies or read books about people who found and followed a calling such as the documentary Sketches of Frank Ghery

Laurel Donnellan, President, Three Giant Leaps

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Review on Life Coaching Experience from Client

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Gerry Mattios was a junior level consultant at an international consulting firm based in London when he engaged me to be his coach. Four years later he has been promoted four times, is living in China and after growing with one firm for years recently moved to work for another  established multinational company in Beijiing.

His story demonstrates how our program can be effective within an organization and how the principle of courage and the practice of being a visionary works within an institution.

Gerry originally did our One2One program beginning in the Spring of 2006 to help him clarify his vision and build confidence and then later did an advanced program which he completed in the Spring of 2008 . This second program supported him in developing his leadership skills while he continued to take actions on his vision. . He paid for his programs out of his own pocket, investing in his own development rather than solely depending on his company’s leadership programs and gives the one-to-one coaching a lot (maybe too much) of the credit for his accomplishments. In addition to developing his career and moving to Asia, Gerry married and had his first child while we worked together. Our collaboration has been extremely rewarding for me and this morning, I interviewed him on skype to hear him reflect on how the experience working with a coach helped him.

Gerry had spent some time contemplating this before today and was able to give me a very succinct and thoughtful response. Here is his report on the 5 ways The Three Giant Leaps Method helped him:

1. Gave him confidence and a better understanding
of the value he brings to an organization.

2. Helped him reconcile his past family and work history in a way that gave him an deeper understanding of what he has accomplished in his life and how.

3. A clear long term career vision that included going to China, being involved with aviation, and having his work have a social service component.

4. A more positive outlook that gave him the courage to aggressively look for opportunities and communicate his aspirations to colleagues and bosses that were in a position to help him manifest his goals.

5. Tools for visualizing a better future state for meditating on this future and making it real.

Laurel Donnellan

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Two Roads to the Same Destination

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Recently, I began receiving acupuncture treatments from a team of two gifted interns named Amy Woods and Beth Mershon who are both completing masters degrees here in Austin at a school called Texas College of Traditional Oriental Medicine.

Both women are extremely happy with their choice to pursue this career at this particular school where most of the teachers are originally from China and their satisfaction is reflected in the careful and thorough way they take care me and all their patients.
When I meet people like Amy and Beth who love their work, I always ask them how they made the decision to pursue what they do and so I asked and am delighted to share their answers which demonstrate how a contrast of approaches to career choice can help you end up at the same place.

Before Amy chose this path, she dabbled in business in her undergraduate work but found herself more fascinated with her anatomy class than her accounting class. In addition, she was exposed to the rewards of acupuncture through watching her cousin who happens to be a navy seal heal from a traumatic back injury with assistance from this healing modality. She was mentored by another cousin’s wife who was at school for acupuncture and then died suddenly before her own graduation. After this blow to her family, Amy was unsure she could pursue her dream but in a way, draws strength from the spirit of the woman who guided her to her calling.

Beth’s story involves trusting her intuition. After attending junior college for a while and getting a degree online in graphic design, Beth worked in a variety of odd jobs and learned that office work was not for her so she made a vow to herself figure out what she really wanted to do. The answer came in the form of a bumper sticker. Beth has a bumper sticker curiosity and one day she saw a red bumper sticker on a van up ahead that when had to read. She sped up to see it and there was her answer in bold letters: ACUPUNTURE WORKS. In addition, she noticed the driver of the van was a Native American woman with long braids and since Beth has some Native American roots, that sealed the deal. Without any experience or exposure to acupuncture, she took a leap of a faith and has never regretted it.

As you can see, Amy’s process is more analytical while Beth’s decision was more spontaneous which I think fit their personalities but both are very much following their hearts and pursing a calling. If you are ready to find your calling, we have webinars each week where you can learn more and our next one is on July 22, 2010 at 10:00 am PDT, 1:00 pm EST. Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/441469146

If you would prefer a private conversation about your circumstances, you may arrange a ½ hour complimentary session with one of us to discuss your challenges and learn about our programs for teens, adults and coaches, Send your request one at laurel@threegiantleaps.com. Learn more about us, our team and take our free career change assessment at: https://www.threegiantleaps.com

Laurel Donnellan

President

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