McCanna Coaching

I’ve pulled together several approaches and tools from my over 15 years of coaching leaders in a wide variety of companies, charities, government departments. The contexts may be different but human behaviour remains broadly similar!

I’ve put them into a free workbook. Completely free because not only do I have these conversations in my coaching but in my personal life: at weddings, over coffee, whilst waiting for my kids dance class to finish, pitch side at the under 11s footie.

Is it all my approaches? No

Is it just a bunch of journal prompts? Good grief no.

These exercises will shift your thinking AND your emotional state. Because there’s some emotional freedom technique in there too.

Pick and choose, let me know what helps?

Grab it now in the comments 👇

End of term silly season is upon us, so I’ve come up with a campaign - - to remind us to say NO to unreasonable requests.

Then I thought heck, saying no isn’t just for the summer term, let’s do a year of it. So here we go…

You’re joking January - it’s cold, it’s dark, just no.
F*** Off February - clear, easy to remember.
Maybe March - it’s Spring, optimism returns, so maybe I’ll consider your request.
Absolutely not April - I’ve considered your request - it’s a no.
MyRulesMay - let me check what I’m available for and what I’m not.
JogOnJune - life of a working parent really ramps up, lets go up a gear.
Jubilant July - look at this lovely clear (ish) diary full of space, as a result of JogOnJune. Let’s keep it that way. Holidays are coming!
Certainly Not September - it’s alliteration innit?
On your bike October
NO vember. 'nuff said.
Must Dash December - by now you’re tuned into all the clues about when the request will come so you can leave early, and avoid it.

Disclaimer: this list was produced with no help from AI, it’s primarily for working parents and by that I mean mostly mums, the folk who everyone assumes will just absorb what needs to be done without recognition or indeed noticing. But anyone who feels like they get asked more than most to mop up what others aren’t prepared to do, feel free to utilise at will.

In your own head, mind you, as an aide memoire, or HR may be called……

(One thing I often find comes into coaching is how to turn into a boundary, or polite decline that will get heard. Lucy and I talk about this in my podcast episode on how to say no, the link for which I will put in the comments.)

I'll tell you something for free....

I wouldn’t have coped nearly so well with one particular year of work if I hadn’t had some very good people in my office who became friends.

And work friends don’t just arrive in week one fully formed, 100% trust present, do they?

They grow through consistent micro moments of support. It doesn’t happen by magic.

It happens far slower via a screen and Teams chat (it’s a body language / neuroscience thing for a different post)

This means that dealing with tricky work relationships has become a much bigger part of my work in the last few years. I think this is partly as we don’t always have the trusting colleagues in place to share the pain with and make a plan.

I've got something for you whether you have a trusted work buddy to chat about this stuff to or not: it’s my REAL WHEEL and it’s a workbook packed full of approaches not just to plan how to approach a meeting with said person, but ways to help to process the rollercoaster of emotions you feel about it during a working week.

This is what one leader said after working through it, about what they NOW have:

‘Confidence and balance in general. It burst the unpleasant bubble I was in – which I had made all about me (of course)’

It’s absolutely free to download and the link to do so is in the comments!

What are you waiting for? (And do pass on to a colleague who might need it!)

If this sounds familiar - hello! I’m Jen and I support senior folk through this kind of situation all the time.

And you, you are human. And there’s a way through this that doesn’t involve leaving, confronting, or just putting up with it.

Sure, we can do that through coaching but for now why not download my REAL wheel of work relationships workbook which gives you a myriad of ways into feeling better, lighter, more prepared when you next step into work.

What’s the relationship at work that’s taking up too much of your headspace right now?

Drop me a DM and tell me,

And download the workbook by commenting ‘RELATIONSHIPS’ below and I’ll send it to you directly.

These experiences do form our own values don’t they? But they can absolutely floor us at the time, and sadly they are the reason why many many talented leaders leave formal leadership altogether.

Together, just you and me, we cannot dismantle systems, reinvent work cultures, or remove bias, or discrimination. However, together we can give you space to process some of the impact of that so you can move forward feeing calmer and lighter.

You can listen to that episode with Suzie on finding a job after a toxic work experience, by searching for My Emotional Work Life on any podcast player.

Rentaghost will be familiar to anyone who grew up watching british kids tv in the 1980s, and who got an early lesson that unwanted ghosts can really hold a person back.

Clients actual describe this kind of echo of an awful time as a ‘ghost’ so these are not just my words. Thank goodness we have emotional freedom technique (EFT) to help banish them so successfully (whilst holding onto the learning obviously!)

(Image 5 shows three mischievous ghosts from Rentaghost: Hazel MNcwitch (Molly Weir) Miss Popov (Sue Nichols) and Timothy Claypole (Michael Stainforth) and expect this image is copyright BBC.)

This is the unspoken mental and emotional load of being at the top (if anyone is ever at the top?) It’s intangible and can’t be measured in number of meetings, or emails, or papers written. It’s the piece where we feel responsible for everyone in the system, and yet lacking in the spaces to help us process that weight.

If you’re at CEO or senior leader level and feel that load, what supports you to process it?

And if listening in prompts you to think about your own board room of support and who or what it might be missing, then *waves* both Claire Irving and I are folk you might want to have around.

Listen in to the latest episode of My Emotional Work Life now in the comments ⬇️

What’s your relationship to being a bit silly at work? Up for it? Think work is absolutely not the place for fun (and rail against anyone who suggests fun might be had?)

I’m here for the sillies, I think it breaks the tension nicely, it helps people relax and get out of that ‘stress’ or ‘drive’ state we get into.

I had an amazing job in my 20s at Breakthrough Breast Cancer which definitely had lots of moments of silliness, like Claire Irving and Laurie Boult as Bowie and Jagger in Stars In Your Eyes for a staff party, along with several moments of high stress, that come with the territory in a fast paced, creative and growing organisation.

So I was delighted to welcome the totally awesome onto My Emotional Work Life to talk about her experience as a CEO and the myriad of emotions that goes with holding that title.

We didn’t talk about Bowie or Jagger, but we did chat about loneliness, how to combat it, and how the journey from senior leadership into being a CEO feels.

Whether you’re in senior leadership and just want to feel less alone, or you have aspirations to be a CEO and want to hear from someone who has been one, or you’re just curious and like learning from others’ stories I urge you to tune in - it’s a GREAT conversation.

🎧 Listen in now in my bio, or just search My Emotional Work Life on any podcast player.