LATEST LEAPS
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Sharing wisdom
A question that I get frequently asked is how to make Mentoring really work for you.
Mentoring can have a very varied approach and meaning to different people and organisations. This means you need to be very clear about what you want, what’s involved and what to expect.
What you want from Mentoring – The more open a mind you can have on what you want from Mentoring the more you will gain from the experience. That’s because Mentoring can have so many benefits and areas to explore that if you fixate on one outcome you can be missing opportunities to add value to your plans. Having a clear idea of what your goals are though can be very helpful or sometimes the Mentoring helps those goals become clearer.
Why you want Mentoring – It really helps so much to have some clear idea of why you you have sought Mentoring. Why was Mentoring the best solution as opposed to support from friends, family, advisors or line managers for you? How does Mentoring fit with your other sources of support? What was the real trigger for you seeking a Mentoring solution?
Which Mentoring Programme - There is a vast array of Mentoring Programmes out there, all giving different support. From internal organisational programmes to remote Mentoring. It’s important to focus on what feels right to you and then gain clarity on that Mentoring Programme Frameworks.
A framework is important to protect everyone involved. We train Mentoring Programme Leaders and Mentors using the Mentoring Code of Practice which means mentoring is always focussed on the Mentees agenda. This means the mentor gives support and challenge to help the mentee to come to their own solutions.
We feel the total focus needs to be about empowering mentees to become independent and to find their own path forward.
Which Mentor - A lot of people can get very over-focussed on this question. They start creating a detailed checklist of all Mentoring characteristics required. I believe if you have a Mentor who has been trained, who has a passion for supporting others to find their own way and they are someone that you feel you can trust then you have the three core ingredients for Mentoring success.
I’ve been lucky enough to be a Mentor for people from very different walks of life and professions from Finance to Sport and to Art. The same principles apply and add value, it is just about being flexible enough as a Mentor to make it work for different people in the way that means the most to them.
Mentoring has amazing benefits when it’s designed and focussed so everyone understands and recognises what is involved. If you are looking to create or develop an effective mentoring programme in your organisation take a look at our flexible programmes to support you.
If you’re interested in our Career Crossroads or Business Mentoring support programmes with a blend of Training and Mentoring please just contact us.
I’ve explored how to make Mentoring work for you some more in an interview I had with Martin Lucas .
For more insights in this area listen to the interview here.
Happy Mentoring 😊
Mentoring can have a very varied approach and meaning to different people and organisations. This means you need to be very clear about what you want, what’s involved and what to expect.
What you want from Mentoring – The more open a mind you can have on what you want from Mentoring the more you will gain from the experience. That’s because Mentoring can have so many benefits and areas to explore that if you fixate on one outcome you can be missing opportunities to add value to your plans. Having a clear idea of what your goals are though can be very helpful or sometimes the Mentoring helps those goals become clearer.
Why you want Mentoring – It really helps so much to have some clear idea of why you you have sought Mentoring. Why was Mentoring the best solution as opposed to support from friends, family, advisors or line managers for you? How does Mentoring fit with your other sources of support? What was the real trigger for you seeking a Mentoring solution?
Which Mentoring Programme - There is a vast array of Mentoring Programmes out there, all giving different support. From internal organisational programmes to remote Mentoring. It’s important to focus on what feels right to you and then gain clarity on that Mentoring Programme Frameworks.
A framework is important to protect everyone involved. We train Mentoring Programme Leaders and Mentors using the Mentoring Code of Practice which means mentoring is always focussed on the Mentees agenda. This means the mentor gives support and challenge to help the mentee to come to their own solutions.
We feel the total focus needs to be about empowering mentees to become independent and to find their own path forward.
Which Mentor - A lot of people can get very over-focussed on this question. They start creating a detailed checklist of all Mentoring characteristics required. I believe if you have a Mentor who has been trained, who has a passion for supporting others to find their own way and they are someone that you feel you can trust then you have the three core ingredients for Mentoring success.
I’ve been lucky enough to be a Mentor for people from very different walks of life and professions from Finance to Sport and to Art. The same principles apply and add value, it is just about being flexible enough as a Mentor to make it work for different people in the way that means the most to them.
Mentoring has amazing benefits when it’s designed and focussed so everyone understands and recognises what is involved. If you are looking to create or develop an effective mentoring programme in your organisation take a look at our flexible programmes to support you.
If you’re interested in our Career Crossroads or Business Mentoring support programmes with a blend of Training and Mentoring please just contact us.
I’ve explored how to make Mentoring work for you some more in an interview I had with Martin Lucas .
For more insights in this area listen to the interview here.
Happy Mentoring 😊
- Published on
It’s the New Year and an interesting time to think through what you really want from the year ahead.
So we’ve been thinking about all the hot topics our clients have discussed with us recently through our leadership programmes and mentoring programmes and we have narrowed them down to the top three things that really work as tools and the top three sabotages that can hold you back. I really hope you find this useful for your New Year planning.
Focus
When you are clear what you want and why you want it, then you naturally focus on the opportunities to achieve this. If you’re not clear, then this makes it very difficult for you to spot opportunities, spend your time wisely and feel you getting somewhere. Time out and one to one support are often needed here to gain the clarity you want especially if you are at a career crossroads.
Goals
Once your focus is clear then it’s about translating that focus into practical small steps. These can then be carefully considered to make your realistic detailed goals. That way you know when you are on track and you can manage your progress positively. Writing down these goals and discussing them with a trusted someone increases your chance of success dramatically. Mentoring is especially helpful here.
Balance
Ok, your focus is there and you have your goals in place. However, do they however cover a 360 degree focus? When you create balance with relevant goals across all areas of your life you also create great resilience. When we explore resilience in our leadership training. This area is so important as otherwise whatever is achieved can have a high negative cost in other areas.
So, we’ve explored here the three top leadership behaviours that get results and create resilience. Looking at the positives here is very helpful. However, when looking at any path there are always obstacles and unless you consider those too, a fall becomes a nasty surprise which causes serious setbacks. So, from our hot topics here are the top three saboteurs of path progress!
Time management
Once you’ve decided your goals, allocating the right time to achieve them in is something that often doesn’t happen. Things get in the way. In reality, it’s usually because time isn’t being prioritised or managed to focus on what is important. The biggest risk I’ve seen here is with entrepreneurs who need social media to manage their business. Whilst it is an important tool for them, it only usually needs 15 mins a day for a post and to check replies. However, it becomes addictive and when they realise how much time they are losing on this then it is very eye opening!
Stress
If you perceive you haven’t got time, skills or knowledge to achieve something then you are very likely to feel stressed, as you think you haven’t got the resources to cope and an overwhelm can happen. Taking time out to reflect on what you can do rather than just keep going is very valuable here. Resilience training and mentoring programmes are very useful tools to support this.
Perfectionism
This mindset needs managing very carefully to avoid issues. The most common one we see with a perfectionistic mindset is procrastination, as the person thinks where they have got to isn’t good enough or the fear of not being good enough stops them even starting. Unhelpful thought patterns are always worth observing and getting to the bottom of, as they affect productivity and positivity. We cover these in our Leading Self and Others Course as well as our Resilience Training. Making any start on a project and setting yourself limits are practical strategies here.
Using the tools and being aware of the potential setbacks gives you a great opportunity to achieve whatever you want.
All best wishes for your journey success! 😊
So we’ve been thinking about all the hot topics our clients have discussed with us recently through our leadership programmes and mentoring programmes and we have narrowed them down to the top three things that really work as tools and the top three sabotages that can hold you back. I really hope you find this useful for your New Year planning.
Focus
When you are clear what you want and why you want it, then you naturally focus on the opportunities to achieve this. If you’re not clear, then this makes it very difficult for you to spot opportunities, spend your time wisely and feel you getting somewhere. Time out and one to one support are often needed here to gain the clarity you want especially if you are at a career crossroads.
Goals
Once your focus is clear then it’s about translating that focus into practical small steps. These can then be carefully considered to make your realistic detailed goals. That way you know when you are on track and you can manage your progress positively. Writing down these goals and discussing them with a trusted someone increases your chance of success dramatically. Mentoring is especially helpful here.
Balance
Ok, your focus is there and you have your goals in place. However, do they however cover a 360 degree focus? When you create balance with relevant goals across all areas of your life you also create great resilience. When we explore resilience in our leadership training. This area is so important as otherwise whatever is achieved can have a high negative cost in other areas.
So, we’ve explored here the three top leadership behaviours that get results and create resilience. Looking at the positives here is very helpful. However, when looking at any path there are always obstacles and unless you consider those too, a fall becomes a nasty surprise which causes serious setbacks. So, from our hot topics here are the top three saboteurs of path progress!
Time management
Once you’ve decided your goals, allocating the right time to achieve them in is something that often doesn’t happen. Things get in the way. In reality, it’s usually because time isn’t being prioritised or managed to focus on what is important. The biggest risk I’ve seen here is with entrepreneurs who need social media to manage their business. Whilst it is an important tool for them, it only usually needs 15 mins a day for a post and to check replies. However, it becomes addictive and when they realise how much time they are losing on this then it is very eye opening!
Stress
If you perceive you haven’t got time, skills or knowledge to achieve something then you are very likely to feel stressed, as you think you haven’t got the resources to cope and an overwhelm can happen. Taking time out to reflect on what you can do rather than just keep going is very valuable here. Resilience training and mentoring programmes are very useful tools to support this.
Perfectionism
This mindset needs managing very carefully to avoid issues. The most common one we see with a perfectionistic mindset is procrastination, as the person thinks where they have got to isn’t good enough or the fear of not being good enough stops them even starting. Unhelpful thought patterns are always worth observing and getting to the bottom of, as they affect productivity and positivity. We cover these in our Leading Self and Others Course as well as our Resilience Training. Making any start on a project and setting yourself limits are practical strategies here.
Using the tools and being aware of the potential setbacks gives you a great opportunity to achieve whatever you want.
All best wishes for your journey success! 😊
- Published on
Depending on how you are feeling right now, this photo might look like a lovely sunset to celebrate the end of a great day or a vivid picture of the clouds of red mist that are circling within and around your head! 😊
So why does anger matter?
Anger matters as when it is not managed well it causes chaos in its path with both people and outcomes, as well as ‘burning’ the angry person themselves.
Anger leads to conflict, stress and poor results in every way.
The leadership strategy of dealing with anger well works best when it is all about management not control of anger. If you seek to control the anger it will simply ‘burn’ you up from within.
Why is anger there?
A useful start is to explore the root cause of why you are feeling this way. Anger is often called a secondary emotion as it nearly always follows another emotion which is the true root cause. Fear is the most common trigger emotion here. This means the anger follows as a type of protection for your fear even though it’s not a useful one!
Anger whether it be mild frustration/irritation to full on rage is always like any emotion - it’s there for a reason. When we seek to explore and understand it then it loses the power to control us.
Anger in the workplace
Anger in the workplace is often due to conflict. Conflict is an interesting area for both people and organisations as it has such a wide impact in several ways. There are key reasons why conflict is always likely:
Emotions - We as humans are essentially emotional beings and therefore we will (whether we acknowledge it or not) have an emotional response to any given situation. This means conflict can happen as everyone’s emotional response is different.
Logic - You then look at the rational brain and of course everyone’s experience, skills and knowledge are different so they will then have a different perspective and judgements from others which again can lead to conflict.
The common held leadership view is that conflict is a negative thing. Although in fact it is a normal occurrence as we are all individual beings with different perspectives, whether we are at home or in the workplace.
Managing conflict in the workplace
Conflict can often be a positive thing when used to gain better results for everyone. If there is no conflict, then people aren’t dealing with issues that automatically arise from being individuals.
The real issue is when conflict is not acknowledged or managed positively or when it is personally intended to cause hurt. This is when the negative impacts occur. For individuals, this can cause serious health and wellbeing issues and for organisations, it can cost business, relationships and long-term success.
A great awareness of your own leadership style and strengths is the first stage in improving conflict. The next stage of leadership here is being aware of the hot spots and therefore understanding the source. With both those insights choosing the right leadership tools to gain resolution becomes a lot easier.
Conflict hot spots in the workplace
The most common areas we see are:
Personality clashes
We all have very different personality types and these can simply mean people can’t naturally get along well. When further issues are added such as workplace deadlines, this natural barrier can become intense. A survey conducted by Forbes in 2015 demonstrated a nearly unanimous response that personality clashes were the number one reason for workplace disharmony.
An investment in leadership training and awareness in the areas of personality profiling, team design and emotional intelligence will help prevent and manage costly challenges here.
Bringing personal problems to work
Work is only one part of a person’s life. Any challenges outside of this can make work life difficult to virtually impossible for many people. Stress is something that costs millions in lost days and output for business and can cost individuals their health.
An investment in resilience training, awareness and support systems can help protect against this risk. More resilient employees means better performance overall for any business.
Bias
We all have positive or negative bias towards other people whether we recognise it or not. Our bias focus can range from all areas including religion, age, ethnicity, gender, disability, capability, background to education.
Some biases are clearly protected by law whilst others are less obvious. All bias means conflict is possible with this type of conflict being of a very sensitive and difficult nature to resolve.
A zero-tolerance atmosphere to biased behaviour plus bias/unconscious bias training alongside protocols are the best foundation to avoid conflict in this area. An investment in unconscious bias training plus awareness is very helpful here. Assertiveness training can also have value so people feel more confident and less aggressive when sharing different perspectives.
Jealousy
Any action, opportunities or workloads seen as unfair will quickly breed a very toxic atmosphere where conflict is likely to flourish.
Openness especially to feedback, transparency, clear protocols, sensitivity and great communication skills are needed here in all leaders. Mentoring can be a helpful tool here where it is set up as open to all.
Change
All businesses have to change in some way for both factors that are within their control as well as any external influences. This change can leave people feeling disengaged and threatened. Some examples are job security, restructuring and IT changes. The feelings here can trigger conflict very easily.
Openness, engagement, timing, support, training and explanation are all critical here. Leaders will get the best results by focussing on a positive outlook and highlighting the reasons for change, as any change can be stressful which is another trigger for conflict in itself.
Three golden rules for any conflict
1. Set boundaries - Everyone deserves to be treated with respect — even during a conflict and it’s ok for someone to have a different opinion to you.
2. Truly listen – This is to: Find the Real Issue. Typically, arguments happen when one individual’s needs are not being met. These needs are often not clear unless you really listen.
3. Compromise when possible – This looks like considering everything. If you can take a neutral viewpoint then it’s easier to think through all perspectives and possible solutions.
Wishing you a happy and harmonious time ahead! 😊
So why does anger matter?
Anger matters as when it is not managed well it causes chaos in its path with both people and outcomes, as well as ‘burning’ the angry person themselves.
Anger leads to conflict, stress and poor results in every way.
The leadership strategy of dealing with anger well works best when it is all about management not control of anger. If you seek to control the anger it will simply ‘burn’ you up from within.
Why is anger there?
A useful start is to explore the root cause of why you are feeling this way. Anger is often called a secondary emotion as it nearly always follows another emotion which is the true root cause. Fear is the most common trigger emotion here. This means the anger follows as a type of protection for your fear even though it’s not a useful one!
Anger whether it be mild frustration/irritation to full on rage is always like any emotion - it’s there for a reason. When we seek to explore and understand it then it loses the power to control us.
Anger in the workplace
Anger in the workplace is often due to conflict. Conflict is an interesting area for both people and organisations as it has such a wide impact in several ways. There are key reasons why conflict is always likely:
Emotions - We as humans are essentially emotional beings and therefore we will (whether we acknowledge it or not) have an emotional response to any given situation. This means conflict can happen as everyone’s emotional response is different.
Logic - You then look at the rational brain and of course everyone’s experience, skills and knowledge are different so they will then have a different perspective and judgements from others which again can lead to conflict.
The common held leadership view is that conflict is a negative thing. Although in fact it is a normal occurrence as we are all individual beings with different perspectives, whether we are at home or in the workplace.
Managing conflict in the workplace
Conflict can often be a positive thing when used to gain better results for everyone. If there is no conflict, then people aren’t dealing with issues that automatically arise from being individuals.
The real issue is when conflict is not acknowledged or managed positively or when it is personally intended to cause hurt. This is when the negative impacts occur. For individuals, this can cause serious health and wellbeing issues and for organisations, it can cost business, relationships and long-term success.
A great awareness of your own leadership style and strengths is the first stage in improving conflict. The next stage of leadership here is being aware of the hot spots and therefore understanding the source. With both those insights choosing the right leadership tools to gain resolution becomes a lot easier.
Conflict hot spots in the workplace
The most common areas we see are:
Personality clashes
We all have very different personality types and these can simply mean people can’t naturally get along well. When further issues are added such as workplace deadlines, this natural barrier can become intense. A survey conducted by Forbes in 2015 demonstrated a nearly unanimous response that personality clashes were the number one reason for workplace disharmony.
An investment in leadership training and awareness in the areas of personality profiling, team design and emotional intelligence will help prevent and manage costly challenges here.
Bringing personal problems to work
Work is only one part of a person’s life. Any challenges outside of this can make work life difficult to virtually impossible for many people. Stress is something that costs millions in lost days and output for business and can cost individuals their health.
An investment in resilience training, awareness and support systems can help protect against this risk. More resilient employees means better performance overall for any business.
Bias
We all have positive or negative bias towards other people whether we recognise it or not. Our bias focus can range from all areas including religion, age, ethnicity, gender, disability, capability, background to education.
Some biases are clearly protected by law whilst others are less obvious. All bias means conflict is possible with this type of conflict being of a very sensitive and difficult nature to resolve.
A zero-tolerance atmosphere to biased behaviour plus bias/unconscious bias training alongside protocols are the best foundation to avoid conflict in this area. An investment in unconscious bias training plus awareness is very helpful here. Assertiveness training can also have value so people feel more confident and less aggressive when sharing different perspectives.
Jealousy
Any action, opportunities or workloads seen as unfair will quickly breed a very toxic atmosphere where conflict is likely to flourish.
Openness especially to feedback, transparency, clear protocols, sensitivity and great communication skills are needed here in all leaders. Mentoring can be a helpful tool here where it is set up as open to all.
Change
All businesses have to change in some way for both factors that are within their control as well as any external influences. This change can leave people feeling disengaged and threatened. Some examples are job security, restructuring and IT changes. The feelings here can trigger conflict very easily.
Openness, engagement, timing, support, training and explanation are all critical here. Leaders will get the best results by focussing on a positive outlook and highlighting the reasons for change, as any change can be stressful which is another trigger for conflict in itself.
Three golden rules for any conflict
1. Set boundaries - Everyone deserves to be treated with respect — even during a conflict and it’s ok for someone to have a different opinion to you.
2. Truly listen – This is to: Find the Real Issue. Typically, arguments happen when one individual’s needs are not being met. These needs are often not clear unless you really listen.
3. Compromise when possible – This looks like considering everything. If you can take a neutral viewpoint then it’s easier to think through all perspectives and possible solutions.
Wishing you a happy and harmonious time ahead! 😊
- Published on
I always find it interesting when I am delivering our leadership training which we share in very different leadership environments, how the same underlying issues appear. The quickest and easiest journey to high positivity, professionalism and performance is when leaders seek to really understand and lead themselves before leading others.
So often though these leaders realise through the training that they have forgotten who they actually are in the effort to fit into their organisational culture and become a leader within it. They’ve hidden their true colours.
To understand and lead yourself means many things. The top areas I see which have the most practical results for leaders are:
Understanding your own thoughts – Taking the time to really understand your thoughts in areas such as why the role matters to you, what you want to achieve with your role, what’s driving you and equally what might be holding you back.
If there is any conflict between what is actually happening around you and what you truly want then you will feel unsettled. Sometimes we unconsciously hide what we want and avoid thinking about it because deep down we know this means we probably have to make some difficult decisions. Mentoring and training are really valuable tools here.
Managing your own thoughts – When you are being you and authentic that doesn’t mean sharing brutal honest comments the moment they pop into your mind. It’s being authentic in a positive way. So if you feel that something isn’t right then that means making sure that you’ve understood your own emotional response to the situation so you can share the issues in a positive way. If you are feeling in yourself a ‘grey’ day for example, then being authentic doesn’t mean explaining that to everyone in the office and spreading the gloom. It means seeking to understand why you feel the way you do. This takes practice and we cover these skills in detail in our resilience course.
Being assertive – This is about having the confidence to share your needs and to respect your thoughts, ideas and beliefs whilst respecting others too. If you don’t feel you can share your views then that is showing you cannot be yourself. Longer term this block will cause you low mood and the feelings of not being valued. You don’t have to swing your colours from the highest flagpole singing to be assertive 😊 It’s just about giving yourself permission and courage to share your input in a positive way. Leadership training can help here especially if you are lacking in confidence or have team challenges. .
Understanding your values – This is about exploring what is important to you and why is it important. Are your personal values in alignment with your leadership role and your work? If not, how can you shape or influence your work or start planning an exit to a role that is a better fit for how you feel? If you submerge your true colours to fit in then this leads to longer term disengagement and poor results for the organisation and very likely stress related symptoms in yourself. How you feel is just as important as to how you think. If you’ve made a logical decision and overridden how you feel the red mist of annoyance is likely to be firing away! There are always other Career options to explore rather than burning away.
Understand your skills and knowledge – Have you taken time to review what works for you? What are you naturally good at? Where are your colours sparkling? Are your talents visible and recognised by the team? What areas are really hard work for you? What learning goals do you have? How does this all fit with what your role needs? If you have any areas where you feel you have insufficient knowledge, skills or time to achieve them compared to your inner resources then that is very likely to lead to stress. On the opposite side if you have great experience and skills then by using them through a structured mentoring programme you can gain even deeper leadership skills, satisfaction and help others too.
Happy Leadership 😊
So often though these leaders realise through the training that they have forgotten who they actually are in the effort to fit into their organisational culture and become a leader within it. They’ve hidden their true colours.
To understand and lead yourself means many things. The top areas I see which have the most practical results for leaders are:
Understanding your own thoughts – Taking the time to really understand your thoughts in areas such as why the role matters to you, what you want to achieve with your role, what’s driving you and equally what might be holding you back.
If there is any conflict between what is actually happening around you and what you truly want then you will feel unsettled. Sometimes we unconsciously hide what we want and avoid thinking about it because deep down we know this means we probably have to make some difficult decisions. Mentoring and training are really valuable tools here.
Managing your own thoughts – When you are being you and authentic that doesn’t mean sharing brutal honest comments the moment they pop into your mind. It’s being authentic in a positive way. So if you feel that something isn’t right then that means making sure that you’ve understood your own emotional response to the situation so you can share the issues in a positive way. If you are feeling in yourself a ‘grey’ day for example, then being authentic doesn’t mean explaining that to everyone in the office and spreading the gloom. It means seeking to understand why you feel the way you do. This takes practice and we cover these skills in detail in our resilience course.
Being assertive – This is about having the confidence to share your needs and to respect your thoughts, ideas and beliefs whilst respecting others too. If you don’t feel you can share your views then that is showing you cannot be yourself. Longer term this block will cause you low mood and the feelings of not being valued. You don’t have to swing your colours from the highest flagpole singing to be assertive 😊 It’s just about giving yourself permission and courage to share your input in a positive way. Leadership training can help here especially if you are lacking in confidence or have team challenges. .
Understanding your values – This is about exploring what is important to you and why is it important. Are your personal values in alignment with your leadership role and your work? If not, how can you shape or influence your work or start planning an exit to a role that is a better fit for how you feel? If you submerge your true colours to fit in then this leads to longer term disengagement and poor results for the organisation and very likely stress related symptoms in yourself. How you feel is just as important as to how you think. If you’ve made a logical decision and overridden how you feel the red mist of annoyance is likely to be firing away! There are always other Career options to explore rather than burning away.
Understand your skills and knowledge – Have you taken time to review what works for you? What are you naturally good at? Where are your colours sparkling? Are your talents visible and recognised by the team? What areas are really hard work for you? What learning goals do you have? How does this all fit with what your role needs? If you have any areas where you feel you have insufficient knowledge, skills or time to achieve them compared to your inner resources then that is very likely to lead to stress. On the opposite side if you have great experience and skills then by using them through a structured mentoring programme you can gain even deeper leadership skills, satisfaction and help others too.
Happy Leadership 😊
- Published on
We were delighted here when one of our clients, James Turner, heard the news that he had been chosen as a finalist at the Enterprise Excellence Awards. We had nominated James after supporting him with our Enterprise Leadership Training and Mentoring Programmes at different stages of his work and plans. The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) Awards event is a high profile one that is held at the House of Lords. The awards are attended by leading people and organisations in the business world to celebrate and recognise the very best in enterprise learning and skills.
James is a finalist in the Enterprising Learner category along with two other finalists from UK Universities. The Award recognises individuals who have demonstrated a passionate focus on their learning programme with key results in applying their new skills in enterprising activities.
James said, "It is an honour to be nominated as a finalist in the IOEE Annual Awards. I am grateful to Leapfrog Mountain for the invaluable mentoring and training that I have received on my professional journey and I look forward to continuing my learning with this fantastic organisation as I strive to achieve my goals whilst setting a positive example.”
James ‘The Dragon’ Turner is an award-winning martial artist who now supports others in their fitness goals as a personal trainer. He shows the power of a portfolio career as he also works and supports his family business Karrek Financial Planning.
James said, "It is an honour to be nominated as a finalist in the IOEE Annual Awards. I am grateful to Leapfrog Mountain for the invaluable mentoring and training that I have received on my professional journey and I look forward to continuing my learning with this fantastic organisation as I strive to achieve my goals whilst setting a positive example.”
James ‘The Dragon’ Turner is an award-winning martial artist who now supports others in their fitness goals as a personal trainer. He shows the power of a portfolio career as he also works and supports his family business Karrek Financial Planning.
He recently received the Guest of Honour trophy at the Best of the Best 2019 Intercontinental Kick Thai Boxing Association. He has been using his learnt skills to share the culture and passion of martial arts and to encourage people to recognise the value of fitness and sport at all levels.
James has brilliantly combined his martial arts ethos with his leadership and enterprise learning with us. I discussed with him earlier in the year about his mindset issues on setbacks. An extract of that interview is here:
James has brilliantly combined his martial arts ethos with his leadership and enterprise learning with us. I discussed with him earlier in the year about his mindset issues on setbacks. An extract of that interview is here:
JT: I approach every day with a disciplined mindset with regards to what I want to accomplish.
You have to be adaptable to unexpected circumstances but it’s important to keep your mission in mind. I start my day with my 5-mile run and this is my first “victory” of the day; it sets the tone for productivity.
I set long and short-term goals, relating to whatever I’m working on at that time.
My overall mental approach is consistent. In any field, you are going to experience some setbacks. As a fighter, you have setbacks, mistakes, injuries and roadblocks.
With financial services, it’s just the same. I may aim to prepare a certain number of client information packs and I don’t, whether it’s due to circumstances out of my control, or poor planning on my part.
The important thing is that I learn from the experience. I try to learn from any setbacks and aim not to put myself in that position or make the same mistakes again. I then move forward with newly gained knowledge. An “indomitable spirit” is an important characteristic of the martial artist.
JJ: With achievement being so important here, how do you deal with your feelings with any setbacks?”
JT: I initially feel very disappointed because what I do means a lot to me. For example, in kickboxing: losing fights; missing opportunities to compete due to illness or injury; or my opponents being unable to compete for the same reasons.
In these situations, I’ve recognised that my setbacks weren’t through a lack of sincerity or effort, so the positive I could take from the situation was that with my passion and desire, I knew that I would do what it took to bounce back and win my next fight.
I’ve always learnt something from any setback, in any area of my life. Little by little, I’ve learned to get rid of the worry and anxiety and look at situations logically, which is important to be able to do when it’s something you’re passionate about. In those situations, emotions are liable to take too much control if you let them, so awareness is key.
You have to be adaptable to unexpected circumstances but it’s important to keep your mission in mind. I start my day with my 5-mile run and this is my first “victory” of the day; it sets the tone for productivity.
I set long and short-term goals, relating to whatever I’m working on at that time.
My overall mental approach is consistent. In any field, you are going to experience some setbacks. As a fighter, you have setbacks, mistakes, injuries and roadblocks.
With financial services, it’s just the same. I may aim to prepare a certain number of client information packs and I don’t, whether it’s due to circumstances out of my control, or poor planning on my part.
The important thing is that I learn from the experience. I try to learn from any setbacks and aim not to put myself in that position or make the same mistakes again. I then move forward with newly gained knowledge. An “indomitable spirit” is an important characteristic of the martial artist.
JJ: With achievement being so important here, how do you deal with your feelings with any setbacks?”
JT: I initially feel very disappointed because what I do means a lot to me. For example, in kickboxing: losing fights; missing opportunities to compete due to illness or injury; or my opponents being unable to compete for the same reasons.
In these situations, I’ve recognised that my setbacks weren’t through a lack of sincerity or effort, so the positive I could take from the situation was that with my passion and desire, I knew that I would do what it took to bounce back and win my next fight.
I’ve always learnt something from any setback, in any area of my life. Little by little, I’ve learned to get rid of the worry and anxiety and look at situations logically, which is important to be able to do when it’s something you’re passionate about. In those situations, emotions are liable to take too much control if you let them, so awareness is key.
James’ insights really tie in with our training on emotional intelligence and having a positive learning mindset. Using this approach to any setback enables you to develop and move forward with all your results and plans.
Wishing you all every growth success! 😊
- Published on
Walking by this lovely field the other day it reminded me of how the poppy and corn marigold here flower. To achieve this beauty their seeds often lie dormant for many years until the soil around them is disturbed and then they germinate.
So often I see the same thing with us humans too!
With mentoring and leadership training you’re supporting people on their own terms. Yes you can help sow the development seeds, Yes you can share brilliant tools to help them cultivate development but it’s only when their inner disturbance happens that they truly blossom.
That is why setting aside some time in our summer break can be so valuable. It’s a really useful opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learnt, consider what difference that training has made both to us and to our organisation and to focus on what we want to do with that learning insight.
It’s why I often recommend mentoring support after a leadership training programme. It means the mentee is given full support to embed the training back into their workplace in a practical way. The mentor can act as a neutral sounding board for learning ideas and insights that happen after the leadership training has taken place. It means long term learning success happens which benefits everyone.
On looking at three examples of feedback here from recent courses, it shows each time, how much a follow up to the leadership training through mentoring support could add value to further developing the insights and tools gained from the training.
“Excellent trainer, very approachable, open and experienced. The content was very relevant to me personally and the team dynamic with the trainer giving good examples that gave perspective and helped translate it to everyday work and life. It’s given me great insight into myself and others - that needs to continue. Excellent course that I would recommend” – C - Senior Architect – Leadership Course delegate
“Excellent trainer who was attentive and responsive to individuals and used experience and examples to draw parallels. Excellent content which has given me greater insight and food for thought”. M - HR Manager – Leadership Course delegate
“Very knowledgeable trainer, very patient and gave examples from her experience which were very helpful and perfectly placed. I enjoyed the way the trainer made the content specific to our industry and organisation. The course has given me a much better sense of personal and professional development and the case study helped me out all the skills I had learnt on the course into practice. I now need to continue” – N – Senior Manager - Leadership Course delegate
Leadership training that is fully supported with follow on mentoring means those seeds that have been sown will continue to blossom after the event itself 😊
Wishing you all a happy Summer ahead.
So often I see the same thing with us humans too!
With mentoring and leadership training you’re supporting people on their own terms. Yes you can help sow the development seeds, Yes you can share brilliant tools to help them cultivate development but it’s only when their inner disturbance happens that they truly blossom.
That is why setting aside some time in our summer break can be so valuable. It’s a really useful opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learnt, consider what difference that training has made both to us and to our organisation and to focus on what we want to do with that learning insight.
It’s why I often recommend mentoring support after a leadership training programme. It means the mentee is given full support to embed the training back into their workplace in a practical way. The mentor can act as a neutral sounding board for learning ideas and insights that happen after the leadership training has taken place. It means long term learning success happens which benefits everyone.
On looking at three examples of feedback here from recent courses, it shows each time, how much a follow up to the leadership training through mentoring support could add value to further developing the insights and tools gained from the training.
“Excellent trainer, very approachable, open and experienced. The content was very relevant to me personally and the team dynamic with the trainer giving good examples that gave perspective and helped translate it to everyday work and life. It’s given me great insight into myself and others - that needs to continue. Excellent course that I would recommend” – C - Senior Architect – Leadership Course delegate
“Excellent trainer who was attentive and responsive to individuals and used experience and examples to draw parallels. Excellent content which has given me greater insight and food for thought”. M - HR Manager – Leadership Course delegate
“Very knowledgeable trainer, very patient and gave examples from her experience which were very helpful and perfectly placed. I enjoyed the way the trainer made the content specific to our industry and organisation. The course has given me a much better sense of personal and professional development and the case study helped me out all the skills I had learnt on the course into practice. I now need to continue” – N – Senior Manager - Leadership Course delegate
Leadership training that is fully supported with follow on mentoring means those seeds that have been sown will continue to blossom after the event itself 😊
Wishing you all a happy Summer ahead.
- Published on
Planning your steps to your mountain top
June is an interesting month whether you have a career or are running a business. That half year point is always worth a pit stop to see exactly where you are!
It’s the official start of summer soon with the longest day on the 21st June, so how we have spent our time and where we now want to spend our time comes into greater focus.
What we are exploring here is how to make your half year review more useful, practical and meaningful so that you succeed in whatever you have defined as your journey and your mountains.
Size and complexity of mountains don’t matter. What does matter is that you are focussed on and aligned to what is important.
In business this half year stage can easily be missed. In your career, it can be reduced to a paperwork-heavy, balanced scorecard that is not looked at again until the year end.
You’ve got the opportunity to make it something way more valuable for leading yourself and leading others.
Our client, Nelly Attar, took her journey to one of the ultimate peaks: the top of the world Everest. Yes, it was a physical and mental challenge in every way. The intrinsic result and purpose of climbing this mountain was to make a difference whilst championing sport for women and children in her home country, so all Nelly’s focus and time were aligned in every way. Nelly’s inspiring story and charity links are here.
Your mountain journey doesn’t have to be quite this intense! Just recognising what your journey is and which point of it you are on, is a very useful and valuable activity in itself.
June is an interesting month whether you have a career or are running a business. That half year point is always worth a pit stop to see exactly where you are!
It’s the official start of summer soon with the longest day on the 21st June, so how we have spent our time and where we now want to spend our time comes into greater focus.
What we are exploring here is how to make your half year review more useful, practical and meaningful so that you succeed in whatever you have defined as your journey and your mountains.
Size and complexity of mountains don’t matter. What does matter is that you are focussed on and aligned to what is important.
In business this half year stage can easily be missed. In your career, it can be reduced to a paperwork-heavy, balanced scorecard that is not looked at again until the year end.
You’ve got the opportunity to make it something way more valuable for leading yourself and leading others.
Our client, Nelly Attar, took her journey to one of the ultimate peaks: the top of the world Everest. Yes, it was a physical and mental challenge in every way. The intrinsic result and purpose of climbing this mountain was to make a difference whilst championing sport for women and children in her home country, so all Nelly’s focus and time were aligned in every way. Nelly’s inspiring story and charity links are here.
Your mountain journey doesn’t have to be quite this intense! Just recognising what your journey is and which point of it you are on, is a very useful and valuable activity in itself.
Checkpoint 1 – Meaningful Achievements
Start out by taking just two minutes to quickly note what things have meant the most to you so far this year. This can be anything, so it might include events, achievements, a project milestone, time out, new clients, time with your family, solving an issue, training your team, creating something, spending time in certain areas or places. The 2-minute restriction is important as it helps to see what you immediately value.
Checkpoint 2 – Explore Why
Set the clock again for 2 minutes and just explore each achievement and note by each achievement why they were important to you. What did it mean to you? Did it enable you to achieve other things? What was the overall impact? How did it make you feel? What leadership impact did these achievements have on others?
Checkpoint 3 – Written Objectives
As successful leaders of yourself or others, you will of course have brilliantly written and recorded back in January what you wanted to achieve this year, as you know that makes your achievement more likely to be successful. So, looking at these written objectives again, how have you done? It is really helpful here to look at what you have done rather than what you haven’t, so that you look and recognise progress even if your overall goal is yet to be achieved. Make sure you are being really objective and balanced about what you have done.
Checkpoint 4 – Your Learning
On looking at your written objectives, which leadership actions, behaviours and outcomes worked for you? What didn’t work? What insight have you gained from this? What help do you need? Asking for help, insight and feedback from others is a sign of strength in any leader. Learning from setbacks is one of the most important things we can do.
If you have a career, does your line manager agree with your view? If their view differs then seek to understand and explore to agree a way forward for you both. If you use defensiveness to challenge or acceptance without sharing, then your view will not be fully discussed. These responses lead to poor relationships and business outcomes.
If you have a business then it’s incredibly helpful to involve an external party such as a mentor, adviser or trusted business colleague to review with you, as well as engage all your team to gain insights and ideas.
Checkpoint 5 – Your Focus
Now compare your notes in Checkpoints 1 and 2 to Checkpoints 3 and 4. Are all your notes aligned here? Are the most meaningful achievements for you also aligned to your business objectives? One of the most useful questions to explore is if you are you spending your time in areas, results or on people where you really want it to be spent?
What do you really want going forward to make the second part of your year work best for you and your business interests?
Once you’ve done that, then it is a helpful time to consider how you are going to achieve this, what support you might need and what focus do you want for this?
We talked at one of leadership courses recently about different ways of spending our time and focus via Resilience Vitamins.
Which Resilience Vitamins might you want to add into your life?
It might not be the Vitamin Sea here. The common ones we see in our work are Vitamin A - to be more assertive and respectful over your needs, Vitamin P – to spend more time with the people in your life, Vitamin E - to enjoy more physical exercise, Vitamin T - to invest in your team training and support more or Vitamin R - to spend more review and planning time to explore what’s really important to you and your leadership goals. It could even be Vitamin X that you want an exit strategy from what you are currently doing.
Start out by taking just two minutes to quickly note what things have meant the most to you so far this year. This can be anything, so it might include events, achievements, a project milestone, time out, new clients, time with your family, solving an issue, training your team, creating something, spending time in certain areas or places. The 2-minute restriction is important as it helps to see what you immediately value.
Checkpoint 2 – Explore Why
Set the clock again for 2 minutes and just explore each achievement and note by each achievement why they were important to you. What did it mean to you? Did it enable you to achieve other things? What was the overall impact? How did it make you feel? What leadership impact did these achievements have on others?
Checkpoint 3 – Written Objectives
As successful leaders of yourself or others, you will of course have brilliantly written and recorded back in January what you wanted to achieve this year, as you know that makes your achievement more likely to be successful. So, looking at these written objectives again, how have you done? It is really helpful here to look at what you have done rather than what you haven’t, so that you look and recognise progress even if your overall goal is yet to be achieved. Make sure you are being really objective and balanced about what you have done.
Checkpoint 4 – Your Learning
On looking at your written objectives, which leadership actions, behaviours and outcomes worked for you? What didn’t work? What insight have you gained from this? What help do you need? Asking for help, insight and feedback from others is a sign of strength in any leader. Learning from setbacks is one of the most important things we can do.
If you have a career, does your line manager agree with your view? If their view differs then seek to understand and explore to agree a way forward for you both. If you use defensiveness to challenge or acceptance without sharing, then your view will not be fully discussed. These responses lead to poor relationships and business outcomes.
If you have a business then it’s incredibly helpful to involve an external party such as a mentor, adviser or trusted business colleague to review with you, as well as engage all your team to gain insights and ideas.
Checkpoint 5 – Your Focus
Now compare your notes in Checkpoints 1 and 2 to Checkpoints 3 and 4. Are all your notes aligned here? Are the most meaningful achievements for you also aligned to your business objectives? One of the most useful questions to explore is if you are you spending your time in areas, results or on people where you really want it to be spent?
What do you really want going forward to make the second part of your year work best for you and your business interests?
Once you’ve done that, then it is a helpful time to consider how you are going to achieve this, what support you might need and what focus do you want for this?
We talked at one of leadership courses recently about different ways of spending our time and focus via Resilience Vitamins.
Which Resilience Vitamins might you want to add into your life?
It might not be the Vitamin Sea here. The common ones we see in our work are Vitamin A - to be more assertive and respectful over your needs, Vitamin P – to spend more time with the people in your life, Vitamin E - to enjoy more physical exercise, Vitamin T - to invest in your team training and support more or Vitamin R - to spend more review and planning time to explore what’s really important to you and your leadership goals. It could even be Vitamin X that you want an exit strategy from what you are currently doing.
There are lots of options. The important thing here is to be a truly authentic leader and seek to explore, understand and sort the right solutions for your life and for your business/career interests.
Happy reviewing - Wishing you all a lovely Summer ahead! 😊
If you would like any help and support on your journey, please contact us for our flexible leadership and mentoring options for individuals and teams. More information on our leadership training programmes can be found here.
Happy reviewing - Wishing you all a lovely Summer ahead! 😊
If you would like any help and support on your journey, please contact us for our flexible leadership and mentoring options for individuals and teams. More information on our leadership training programmes can be found here.
- Published on
Who is leading the way?
This is the question that I get asked the most so I thought it would be good to explore it here!
Mentoring means many different things to different people and organisations. This leaves a lot of confusion around what’s involved and what to expect.
The real question is who is leading the way?
We adhere to the Mentoring Code of Practice which means mentoring is always focussed on the mentees agenda. This means the mentor is supporting and challenging the mentee to come to their own solutions.
In other words it’s about empowering mentees to become independent and to find their own path forward.
Often I see support named as mentoring when it’s something very different. It’s a support that has immense value - it’s just not mentoring. These include:
Line managers – Skilled leaders will include mentoring behaviours and a mentoring approach in most of what they do. The issue here however is that they cannot be a mentor in these cases as they aren’t fully independent so despite their right intention they will have a bias coupled with specific objectives to achieve.
Colleagues – Experienced colleagues are an invaluable resource to help, advise and signpost. In the right circumstances they can be a great mentor. However if they are responsible in any way for reporting, assessing, performance or giving advice and solutions to the mentee then that isn’t mentoring and it isn’t independent. It is training and guidance.
Training - This works brilliantly alongside mentoring. This is especially when the training is up front and the mentoring is then about how to make the training work in practice. Training often uses mentoring behaviours however its focus is on transferring learning not mentoring.
Counselling - A similar discipline to mentoring in many ways as it uses very similar skills. It’s important to recognise it is however different and often needs a person with many years of professional training and risk awareness to support in the right way. Mentors need to stay focussed on where their expertise lies and know enough to signpost on when the mentee needs this type of expert support in any counselling area.
Advising – Expert knowledge is always useful. In advice though you are telling someone something. This means it’s not mentoring behaviours that are being used.
Family and friends – They can be a brilliant source of knowledge, support and the occasional challenge! Generally too they have your best interests at heart. However their lack of independence plus probable limited breadth of view on all your capabilities in different environments means bias and independence will be an issue.
Mentoring has amazing benefits when it’s set up and structured so everyone understands and recognises what is involved.
I’ve explored this area some more in an interview I had with Martin Lucas. Listen to the podcast below.
If you are looking to create or develop an effective mentoring programme in your organisation, take a look at our flexible 2019 programmes.
Happy Mentoring 😊
Mentoring means many different things to different people and organisations. This leaves a lot of confusion around what’s involved and what to expect.
The real question is who is leading the way?
We adhere to the Mentoring Code of Practice which means mentoring is always focussed on the mentees agenda. This means the mentor is supporting and challenging the mentee to come to their own solutions.
In other words it’s about empowering mentees to become independent and to find their own path forward.
Often I see support named as mentoring when it’s something very different. It’s a support that has immense value - it’s just not mentoring. These include:
Line managers – Skilled leaders will include mentoring behaviours and a mentoring approach in most of what they do. The issue here however is that they cannot be a mentor in these cases as they aren’t fully independent so despite their right intention they will have a bias coupled with specific objectives to achieve.
Colleagues – Experienced colleagues are an invaluable resource to help, advise and signpost. In the right circumstances they can be a great mentor. However if they are responsible in any way for reporting, assessing, performance or giving advice and solutions to the mentee then that isn’t mentoring and it isn’t independent. It is training and guidance.
Training - This works brilliantly alongside mentoring. This is especially when the training is up front and the mentoring is then about how to make the training work in practice. Training often uses mentoring behaviours however its focus is on transferring learning not mentoring.
Counselling - A similar discipline to mentoring in many ways as it uses very similar skills. It’s important to recognise it is however different and often needs a person with many years of professional training and risk awareness to support in the right way. Mentors need to stay focussed on where their expertise lies and know enough to signpost on when the mentee needs this type of expert support in any counselling area.
Advising – Expert knowledge is always useful. In advice though you are telling someone something. This means it’s not mentoring behaviours that are being used.
Family and friends – They can be a brilliant source of knowledge, support and the occasional challenge! Generally too they have your best interests at heart. However their lack of independence plus probable limited breadth of view on all your capabilities in different environments means bias and independence will be an issue.
Mentoring has amazing benefits when it’s set up and structured so everyone understands and recognises what is involved.
I’ve explored this area some more in an interview I had with Martin Lucas. Listen to the podcast below.
If you are looking to create or develop an effective mentoring programme in your organisation, take a look at our flexible 2019 programmes.
Happy Mentoring 😊
00:00
00:00
Podcast: What Is Mentoring?
- Published on
We are delighted to be supporting National Mentoring Day for the third year as one of their official partners.
Mentoring adds value in so many ways and it is great to see the UK recognising that value with the day.
Mentoring adds value in so many ways and it is great to see the UK recognising that value with the day.
- Published on
Spring Forward!
April is a great time to check in with yourself. Holistically, it’s the first few weeks of the Spring which began this year on 20 March. Practically, we have more daylight hours. In business terms, it heralds the start of quarter 2 and the new tax year. So it’s all to go for!
So we have been exploring this month with our members and clients top tips on how best to ‘Spring Forward’ towards your goals.
April is a great time to check in with yourself. Holistically, it’s the first few weeks of the Spring which began this year on 20 March. Practically, we have more daylight hours. In business terms, it heralds the start of quarter 2 and the new tax year. So it’s all to go for!
So we have been exploring this month with our members and clients top tips on how best to ‘Spring Forward’ towards your goals.
It’s interesting to see how often people haven’t thought about their goals. If they have then the next challenge is often that they are not balanced across all areas of their life. We often see people simply focus on one area they ‘feel’ concerned about without realising. With that negative bias they miss opportunities to grow in other areas.
It can be especially powerful to focus on areas you are already good at and bring those on to another level as opposed to the traditional way of focussing on areas you struggle with to improve.
That’s not to dismiss those areas you struggle with, as simply having awareness of this in itself is a great tool. It’s just that building confidence and ability in themselves often act as positive catalysts in other areas.
It’s about focussing on knowing and leading yourself so you can lead others effectively.
So the ways we have been supporting and training these areas this month are:
Sharing Our Meet-Up Events
These are open to our South West members and those interested in finding out more as facilitated networking. We explore key topics through hosted tables and then there is space to spend time with people. Next month, our event is in Bristol and we are exploring managing healthy conflict in the workplace, leadership skills of resilience and personal development with stress management. Find out more here. We would love to see you there.
Supporting Our Members
Our members are entrepreneurs, mentors and business leaders that believe in staying connected and ahead in their plans. It simply means keeping in touch with a positive community, receiving learning updates and insights on best practice to support your personal and professional goals. In other words making your development journey more fun. 😊 Read more about this here.
Delivering Bite-sized Training
We’ve always found one of the best challenges is tailoring training and there’s been a definite demand this month for bite-sized training as part of a longer programme rather than a one day course. So mini workshops have ‘Sprung Up’ on several growth areas for our clients including mind-set on networking in the creative industries, marketing strategy for community, Linked-In profiles for accountants, meditation for many, stress management for finance professionals, leadership in construction and costings for a very maths adverse creative. To find out more about our training programmes click here.
Giving Guidance on Mentoring Programmes
Mentoring is simply an amazing way to create growth as it delivers just that for the people mentored - the mentees, the mentors plus any organisation involved. Further information about our mentor training programmes can be found here.
Our top three criteria for a successful mentoring programme to grow are:
Voluntary - All mentors and mentees need to voluntarily commit their time and energy to the programme. Mandatory or expected mentoring causes numerous issues and disengagement.
Training - The first focus for happy mentoring is mentor training for the mentors to fully prepare them for this important role. In organisations this is critically important as people need to understand the differences between being a senior experienced colleague and being a mentor.
Support - Ongoing guidance, training, support and community for the mentors. Without this, mentoring issues will occur and mentor drop off rates will be significant. With this, the whole mentoring programme will grow in so many positive ways.
Growth comes from all areas of your life and connections and bringing them together in the right way for you = your Spring Forward. 😊
Wishing you a season of amazing growth and lovely Spring weather for us all!
It can be especially powerful to focus on areas you are already good at and bring those on to another level as opposed to the traditional way of focussing on areas you struggle with to improve.
That’s not to dismiss those areas you struggle with, as simply having awareness of this in itself is a great tool. It’s just that building confidence and ability in themselves often act as positive catalysts in other areas.
It’s about focussing on knowing and leading yourself so you can lead others effectively.
So the ways we have been supporting and training these areas this month are:
Sharing Our Meet-Up Events
These are open to our South West members and those interested in finding out more as facilitated networking. We explore key topics through hosted tables and then there is space to spend time with people. Next month, our event is in Bristol and we are exploring managing healthy conflict in the workplace, leadership skills of resilience and personal development with stress management. Find out more here. We would love to see you there.
Supporting Our Members
Our members are entrepreneurs, mentors and business leaders that believe in staying connected and ahead in their plans. It simply means keeping in touch with a positive community, receiving learning updates and insights on best practice to support your personal and professional goals. In other words making your development journey more fun. 😊 Read more about this here.
Delivering Bite-sized Training
We’ve always found one of the best challenges is tailoring training and there’s been a definite demand this month for bite-sized training as part of a longer programme rather than a one day course. So mini workshops have ‘Sprung Up’ on several growth areas for our clients including mind-set on networking in the creative industries, marketing strategy for community, Linked-In profiles for accountants, meditation for many, stress management for finance professionals, leadership in construction and costings for a very maths adverse creative. To find out more about our training programmes click here.
Giving Guidance on Mentoring Programmes
Mentoring is simply an amazing way to create growth as it delivers just that for the people mentored - the mentees, the mentors plus any organisation involved. Further information about our mentor training programmes can be found here.
Our top three criteria for a successful mentoring programme to grow are:
Voluntary - All mentors and mentees need to voluntarily commit their time and energy to the programme. Mandatory or expected mentoring causes numerous issues and disengagement.
Training - The first focus for happy mentoring is mentor training for the mentors to fully prepare them for this important role. In organisations this is critically important as people need to understand the differences between being a senior experienced colleague and being a mentor.
Support - Ongoing guidance, training, support and community for the mentors. Without this, mentoring issues will occur and mentor drop off rates will be significant. With this, the whole mentoring programme will grow in so many positive ways.
Growth comes from all areas of your life and connections and bringing them together in the right way for you = your Spring Forward. 😊
Wishing you a season of amazing growth and lovely Spring weather for us all!
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