Stepsero

Learning from experience In this episode of Stepsero, Costas Kalisperas shares with us the best and the worst thing that happened to him in his career. Spoiler alert: they might both come from the same decision. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrumEpisode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset?Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult PeopleEpisode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics?Episode #59: Coaching with Costas: Speaking up at workEpisode #60: Coaching with Costas: Too Kind to Lead?Episode #61: Coaching with Costas: Do values matter?Episode #62: Can tough conversations help?Episode #63: Setting the right expectations for your job Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Setting the right expectations for your job With Costas Kalisperas, on the importance of setting the right expecations about your job, and putting up with mundane, less exciting tasks in exchange for a healthy learning curve over time. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below. References: Costas Kalisperas Likedin profile www.intune-exec.com Episode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas Kalisperas Episode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrum Episode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset? Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult People Episode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics? Episode #59: Coaching with Costas: Speaking up at work Episode #60: Coaching with Costas: Too Kind to Lead? Episode #61: Coaching with Costas: Do values matter? Episode #62: Can tough conversations help? Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Can tough conversations help? Whether we like them or not, tough conversations happen, and it is important to know how to approach them, and when. Costas Kalisperas walks us through preparing tough conversations, focusing on the desired outcome, listening to learn, and much more. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below. References: Costas Kalisperas Likedin profile www.intune-exec.com Episode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas Kalisperas Episode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrum Episode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset? Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult People Episode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics? Episode #59: Coaching with Costas: Speaking up at work Episode #60: Coaching with Costas: Too Kind to Lead? Episode #61: Coaching with Costas: Do values matter? Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Do Values Matter? Do values matter?Broadly speaking, values relate to a sense of justiceThe values that most companies openly pursue may look very similar to one another. What matters however, is whether people practise them or not.Values at work reinforce your sense of purpose, your satisfaction in your own work. They increase motivation, enhance engagement, loyalty, retention, and performance.At the foundation of teamwork is trust building. And you can only build trust by being authentic, transparent and fair.It’s what you stand for and who you are that causes people to follow you.It is important not to be too self-righteous about your values. Leaders may be making decisions that seem unfair or unjust to you, but they are based on information you don’t have access to.Burnout is the result of not being who you are and not being aligned to your own values for too long. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrumEpisode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset?Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult PeopleEpisode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics?Episode #59: Coaching with Costas: Speaking up at workEpisode #60: Coaching with Costas: Too Kind to Lead? Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Too kind to lead? In this episode of our mini-series "Coaching with Costas", we discuss whether one can actually be “too kind to lead”. Below are the main highlights: At the root of effective leadership is kindness. Kind leadership is critically important, particularly today. Leadership is about being inclusive and understanding others’ perspectives and their personal growth agenda, ultimately empowering them to be as successful as they can be. You can be kind and purposeful, transparent, consistent and people centric. Kindness does mean to allow people to underperform and not address difficult topics. If you allow underperformance and don’t help people improve, that is in fact unkind. John Maxwell suggests a framework where there are different layers of leadership. According to the top layer (5th) of leadership, people follow you because of who you are and what you stand for. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below. References: Costas Kalisperas Likedin profile www.intune-exec.com Episode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas Kalisperas Episode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrum Episode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset? Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult People Episode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics? Episode #59: Coaching with Costas: Speaking up at work Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Speaking Up at work Speaking up at work” is the central topic of this fifth episode of "Coaching with Costas". Below are a few main pointers: Speaking up at work is an essential part of one’s career.The fear of how it could be received should not be the reason why you don’t do it.There are two categories of speaking up: sharing an opinion, and wanting to effect change. The former is usually a microcosm of the latter. Trying to effect change is more difficult and requires you to offer a series of solutions.Cognitive diversity results in better outcomes for the organisation.Remind yourself that you were hired to share your opinion.Speaking up needs to be done tactfully and in a constructive way. Most importantly it should be backed with facts.You do not need to have a perfectly formed opinion all the time. It is ok to share a partially constructed idea. This may help put less pressure on yourself.Enlist, Prepare, and Center. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrumEpisode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset?Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult PeopleEpisode #58: Coaching with Costas: What's Wrong with Politics? Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

What's wrong with Politics? In this fourth episode of "Coaching with Costas", we discuss how to deal with office politics.Below are the main highlights of our chat:Office politics often have a negative connotation. However that does not have to be the case. It is not either performance or politics. One does not exclude the other. If anything, politics do affect performance, so withdrawing from it may be naive and counterproductive.Poor leadership is one of the reasons why office politics have acquired a negative connotation over time. Having a great point of view and being right is not enough. You have to persuade people and make sure they feel accountable and committed.Self-awareness is key, and can help you find commonalities with people who share similar values to yours, without feeling that you are engaging in something that is unnatural. At the same time, it makes sense to build relationships with potential adversaries who may otherwise force you to withdraw from what is perceived as politics.  Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrumEpisode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset?Episode #57: Coaching with Costas: Dealing with Difficult People Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Dealing with Difficult People In this third episode of "Coaching with Costas", we discuss how to deal with difficult people.Below are the main highlights of our chat: “Difficult” means different things to different people. “Difficult people” represent challenges or risks to our wellbeing, our career path and our progress. It is natural to feel stress hormones rising when dealing with difficult people or difficult situations. Remember to be kind to yourself in these situations. It is important to separate the behaviour from the person. Labelling people as “difficult” is usually not helpful. All in all, we deal with difficult behaviours rather than difficult people. Try and understand what it is about a certain behaviour that is causing you less than full satisfaction in your work life. Then, try to figure out what it is that drives that behaviour in the first place. Ask yourself: “how can I grow and learn from this experience?” Dealing with difficult behaviour can be the source of your growth as a leader. After all, some of the most trusted relationships are built in difficult situations. Move towards the conflict rather than run from it, and seek common understanding. Communication is always the answer, but “how” and “when” is the key. Figure out whether it is a one-off incident or a consistent pattern, and make a decision as to how and when to do something about it. The most important thing is to change how you describe things. Avoid confrontational terminology. You don't have to beat the other side or beat them.Keep in mind that you are likely to be somebody else’s “difficult person”. You may display behaviour that other people find difficult. Use inclusive language if you are going to communicate to the other person about some of the difficulties (e.g. use “we” instead of “you”)  Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrumEpisode #56: Coaching with Costas: Impostor thoughts or growth mindset? Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Impostor thoughts or growth mindset? In this second episode of "Coaching with Costas", we discuss the “Impostor Phenomenon”.Below are the main highlights of our chat:It is natural to have impostor thoughts if you push yourself towards growth.The impostor phenomenon is a symptom of success. It is often born out of a natural tendency for self-growth and self-improvement.The more you achieve, the more you might fear that those who look up to you will discover that you are not as good as you should be.Some studies suggest that impostor thoughts are born or child roles and family dynamics. Too much or too little praise can be the source of impostor thoughts in adult life.While self-confidence is a large high-level topic, impostor thoughts are driven by specific situations, people or dynamics.It is important to label Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs), in order to come up with strategies to undermine and correct them.The ABC model (Activating event, Belief, Consequence) can be a useful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Coaching model to help deal with ANTs.If you do new things, new neuroconnections can be created, and existing ones can be reinforced (neuroplasticity).It is crucial to have a sense of purpose and a solid network for support to face our challenges. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is the Founder & CEO of In Tune Executive Coaching. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. To know more about Costas, please visit any of the links below.References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.comEpisode #49: Effective Coaching with Costas KalisperasEpisode #55: Coaching with Costas: The work-life conundrum Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

The work-life conundrum In this first episode of the miniseries "Coaching with Costas", Costas addresses the work-life conundrum. Below are a few notable highlights: Try to figure out which times of the day you are most effective at work, and in which times are best for you to carry out mundane tasks instead. Once you have done that, plan your time accordingly by time-blocking. Some techniques are very useful for you to focus and manage your time. One example is the Pomodoro technique, which helps you work in 25-minute blocks. One other example is the 3-3-3 technique. Prioritise what is important and urgent. Understand what is important and urgent for you, as opposed to what is important and urgent for the organisation. A great tool to understand yourself is called the “wheel of life”. It is a way of disaggregating the different areas of life that you care about. The wheel of life helps you visualise which areas you are satisfied with and which areas you may need to focus on. “Ikigai’ is a great concept to work out your purpose and be less distracted as a result. Overall, the key is to be kinder to ourselves.Overall, the key is to be kinder to ourselves. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is a Londoner of Greek Cypriot heritage and has worked as a barrister, solicitor, investment banker, private equity executive, angel investor and board director across a range of industries in a professional services career spanning 30 years. He has lived and worked in the US, UK and the Middle East over that time. Now an executive coach, his clients describe his approach as one that encompasses structure and challenge on the one hand and empathy and support on the other. His focus is on helping leaders to be in tune with themselves and their environment, tap into their inner resourcefulness and manage their interactions with others more effectively. This helps to nurture greater collaboration and collective success, while having some fun along the journey. Costas has been entrusted with leadership responsibility around team cohesion, morale, mentoring and career development in all his prior roles, including as a Head of a team and as Chair of year-end review committees at Barclays investment bank for many years, as well as in senior positions at Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and Bank of America. He has thereby gained valuable insights into the importance of transparency, collaboration, diversity and inclusion in achieving the best results. Costas is a graduate of Meyler Campbell's Mastered Programme, an accredited coach by the EMCC, a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching and a Hogan Certified practitioner. References:Costas Kalisperas Likedin profilewww.intune-exec.com Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes