Author Archives: Betska

Hmm… we spend most of our days in our respective offices. It makes sense then to put effort into making our time spent in the office and work environment enjoyable. Look up the best companies and “Google“ will surely figure in the top five. Why is working so much fun there?

A “fun atmosphere” provides employees a release valve, allows them an in-house platform to express themselves and facilitates their personality to flower. It enables employees to better deal with stressful situations and challenges with greater optimism and energy. Fun does not mean work is not taken seriously but by putting in place firm norms and right balance, work places can be more fun than homes.

Celebrating Birthdays,Employee Appreciation Days and having Fundoo Fridays or fun with on the spot games and quizzes can really liven up the atmosphere. However, the choice of humour in the office must not be offensive or gender targeted but plain old fun. In Betska K-Burr’s book, Creating Champions, you will find dozens of ways to bring more fun, humour and lightness to the workplace.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.

As a woman you may have wondered why a man won’t stop and ask for directions while, as a boy, you may have marveled why girls generally have an easier time remembering. Wish to decode the anatomy behind it? Join the Life Coaching Training Program of CLI.

The size of almost every lobe of the human brain is different in males and females. The hippocampus which is crucial to memory storage and the corpus callosum which connects the right and left hemispheres is larger in girls than boys. Females can switch more more easily for bilateral thinking by using both IQ (left hemi) and EQ (right hemi) enabling them to better multitask.

Boys’ brains are structured to compartmentalize learning resulting in better clarity and focus in certain situations. Girls tend to use areas of their brain devoted to EQ activities such as verbal and emotional functioning and nurturing while boys use the areas responsible for IQ activities such as mechanical tasks.

Does it really matter? Yes! It matters when it comes to teamwork at the office and happy households. When we respect how each other is wired and support each other with our individual strengths in the achievement of personal and professional goals, we can help solve some of our global and family issues.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.

Self-Love is what we all strive for, isn’t it? As Executive and Life Coaches, we find that ‘Self-Love’ is one of the top ten Values sought by our Clients. What really bothers us deep down at a heart level in most everyday situations is that we do not really love ourselves, our worth, our unique skills and gifted talents well enough.

That request for ‘Self-Love’ comes disguised as many possible goals unique to each individual. For example:

To a leader, “I want to better engage my employees.”

To myself, “I want to be a better manager of my time” or “Help me acquire a Healthier diet.”

To a wife, “I want my husband to show me that he loves me.”

To a Parent, “I truly wish for my teenage son to connect with me and talk to me. To share his problems with me.”

Under each of these goals is a desire for Self-Love, to be the most loving, most generous and the most caring person. Through the PCMK™ Curriculum for Life Coach Training, we learn to reconnect with ourselves through self-love.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.

Faith is a matter of individual choice. So many feelings get evoked by this one CLI Value in our lives namely, trust, belief, tenets, reliance, religion, doctrine, confidence and dependence. Wow! Let’s simply pick up what Faith CAN DO to our daily life.

From a non-spiritual perspective, having ‘Faith’ means we have made a pledge to ourselves, to believe in ourselves against all odds and in spite of any obstacles, not to be swayed by temptations, easy money or favours. We can move mountains with our faith, courage, and compassion.

In a spiritual context, there is an old saying, “It is not our ‘faith’ in God that moves mountains but our faith in the greatness of God.” Until we are fully enlightened, we often need the hand of a self-realized Teacher who can show us HOW to find that Faith in ourselves. Their work is precious beyond measure.

Leaders who come to CLI’s Executive Coach Certification to learn coaching and mentoring skills in order to better engage their employees, discover (interestingly enough) that before they can be great role models for their employees they must first find their own Faith in themselves.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.

 ‘Respect’ is acknowledging the unique existence of others as gifted by God and honouring the other person’s many strengths by a combination of positive words, thoughts and actions. For example, the Japanese bow deferentially every time they meet.

When positive thoughts, words and actions become our main vehicles for communication, we demonstrate ‘Respect’ for self and others for what we and others are.

Teens often have difficulty respecting elders or accepting wise advice from their parents. As children grow older they start losing connection to their Higher Power (underdeveloped front lobes prevent them from being as logical as we would like them to be). While teens may appear to be rebellious, truly their rebellion is simply a cry for more love, ‘Respect’ and understanding from their parents. Conscious parents learn Life Coach Training skills to help teens self-discover their own solutions. In this way teens will not feel that parents are trying to fix them, control them or arrange their lives without mutual respect and dignity. Sign up today. You’ll be happy you did.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.

How many of us meet the typical Bosses daily in our workplace who have big egos? They show little respect to you, your ideas or your contributions and feel that they are always right. Sound familiar?

Such Bosses, you can be rest assured, may also be like that in their homes as well. You can be also sure that such Bosses will invariably have an extremely high IQ but the EQ or Emotional Quotient would be very low.

Through PCMK™ Methodologies mastered during Business Coaching Certification you learn to identify this key missing value of ‘Respect’ for self and ‘Respect’ for others.

As an Executive Coach, I discovered something quite interesting. An Executive Coaching Client may appear to be obnoxious, arrogant and even forceful. However, once we get down to him/her deeply understanding self, that domineering behaviour is usually a cover-up for a massive lack of self-confidence.

A fat ego is the #1 killer of leaders today. It causes so much pain in the world. A Leader who is both task oriented and people oriented is a Gem. Do you know of one? Show ‘Respect’ to them today by thanking them.

Betska, The Guru Coach™
Sign up for CLI QuickTip™ and Blog Updates at:
Coaching and Leadership International Inc.