Balkin Coaching Leadership Insights

“Cause I'm way down in it and I can't breathe so I can't speak I want to be strong and steady, always ready Now I feel so small, I feel so weak Anxiety How do you always get the best of me?" Anxiety Song by Jason Isbell ( click here for the song) It should not take the actions of high profile individuals to remind people to be aware of the need to look after their own mental health and that of their friends and colleagues. Yet the headlines this week of Osaka’s departure fr

“Slip inside the eye of your mind Don't you know you might find A better place to play" Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis ( click here for the song) Personal photo taken by my daughter. A few days ago a client seemed preoccupied at the beginning of the coaching session, after a bit of probing he explained his conundrum. ‘My best direct report put in her resignation this week and I’m devastated. I offered her a pay rise, all sorts of perks but I can’t seem to convince her to

"I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay Ain't it sad? And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me That's too bad In my dreams I have a plan" Money Money Money by ABBA ( click here for the song) Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash This morning I was discussing with a client her frustration over her team’s lack of compliance with simple administrative aspects of their jobs, like leave forms, pretty cash etc. When I probed to ask wh

“We're not gonna take it Oh no, we ain't gonna take it We're not gonna take it anymore" We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister ( click here for the song) Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash “It wasn’t the sentiment, I can handle the truth, it was the tone and the language. I never expected someone in the senior executive of a listed company to swear and be so unkind.” Client. When I hear examples of rudeness in large national organisations, I always feel a sense of disa

“She drives me crazy Like no one else She drives me crazy And I can't help myself” She Drives Me Crazy, by The Fine Young Cannibals ( click here for the song) Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Last week a client said to me “ My head of marketing is doing my head in. She just seems to be going through the motions at work. How can I get her to put in some real effort? ” So bearing this in mind, as the coaching session continued my client generated the following hypotheses to

"We the families remember the fallen every day, yet it is comforting that on ANZAC day the nation commemorates their bravery with us.