Tips from the Big Top

Tips from the Big Top

A newsletter for Mums @ Work

by Kirstin Barton at Alive to Change

Issue 5 - June 2013

Handling your Audience

Our best audience gives us support, feedback and encouragement. They may be clapping us on, laughing along, holding their breath as we take on a bigger challenge or cheering us back to our feet after a fall. We feel sustained by this energy and are motivated to do our very best.

Yet, do you ever feel like you're playing to an empty house?

audience

Feedback is essential for us to learn, grow and continue to develop in all our roles - as well as simply feeling secure, "I'm doing OK". We might not want it all the time - but when we need it and are not getting it, we can lose confidence in what we are doing. Just picture the clown not getting her laughs.

In the workplace, it is easy to see where feedback fits in - over the years, many people are getting better at giving it and, I suspect, we're getting better at using it. At home, however, and the bit inbetween work and home (managing the boundaries which can be another job in itself`) it's less obvious where that feedback comes from and how we can make use of it.

Applause - appreciation, at least - is vital too, for our well-being and our motivation. We don't expect a standing ovation each time we achieve something - but, we all do better when someone notices our best efforts. Even if we notice our best efforts, that's a great start. Think how the artists end their act with a flourish as if they are really proud of what they've just done - not suggesting you do that in real life, but mentally, perhaps it could work!!

And even when we know we're struggling (we've just fallen off our trapeze mid swing), isn't it nice to get people clapping as we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with the show?!

What feedback are you getting at the moment - and how does it help you develop in your roles? What are you not getting - and who could give you this?

What feedback are you giving people around you? Are you noticing your colleague's, family's, children's, friends' best efforts? Are you clapping them up when they fall?

Are you playing to the right audience? There's a lot of hecklers out there who don't make for a comfortable environment. Try to entice enough people into your Big Top so that the cheers drown out the hecklers and they keep quiet!

When and where do you need most support from the people around you? What would be the most helpful way of them showing this support? Do they know this is what you need from them?

And when the audience have all crept away, and you're left in your dressing room - are you giving yourself the credit you deserve for what you're doing?

Welcome to the fifth issue of Tips from the Big Top, my newsletter for Mums who are juggling home and work commitments. My aim each month is to explore a different aspect of our lives and offer some timely reminders about the things we can do for ourselves to make our lives as working mums as fun and fulfilling as possible. I use the Circus Theme because there are so many great images and concepts we can relate to in the Big Top!

A very warm welcome to so many new subscribers - it is great to see the word spreading in this way, and please keep sharing this with other working mums. And do let me know what you'd like to see covered in here.

We recently enjoyed the second Beyond the Juggling Act workshop, it was another fun and inspiring event, and I'm continually delighted by the new ideas and insights that emerge in these sessions. I've set another date for the next workshop - Sunday 19th October, 9.30am-12pm. This is a wonderful occasion for sharing ideas, experiences, challenges, dreams - and to leave feeling motivated to tackle some practical next steps. Spread the word and let me know if you'd like to reserve your place early.

If you want to keep in contact with Alive to Change between newsletters, please check out and like (and share) Facebook Page. This is where I post random ideas and inspiration, as well as details of forthcoming workshops.

In a change from my original plan, I am now organising an informal get together for friends of Alive to Change - on Monday 17th June, 6-8pm at Cafe des Arts, Barfusserplatz. Why not come along, connect with other working mums, and relax a little with us?

If you need help in any aspect of your own personal juggling act, and you'd like to find out whether and how coaching could help, I offer a free exploratory session (face to face or on the phone). I also offer coaching workshops in and out of the workplace, and, skill sharpener sessions in groups or 1-1. I'm developing my Life Audit into a Juggling Act audit, so, from September, I'll be offering this service too.

I welcome any feedback you have on this newsletter - and any ideas for future topics you'd like to see explored. Next issue is for July and August combined and will come out in early July.

All the best
Kirstin
www.alivetochange.com

Alive to Change Coaching Services, 7 rue du Landskron, Leymen 68220 France
www.alivetochange.com