Inspirational Business Coaching Manchester & Cheshire

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Self-Inspiration before Inspirational Leadership

It’s impossible to be effective in a sustained way unless we’ve taken the trouble to find out what inspires us as individuals, to do what we do in the first place. A bold statement, maybe, and I’m convinced of its authenticity none-the-less.

I learned early on in my career that getting results through people (I’ve yet to come across a better way!) required me to be on top of my game, both personally and professionally. If I couldn’t inspire myself to focused action then my chances of motivating the team to deliver results for the Company were seriously impacted.

I remember a conversation with a fellow retail manager when I was three years into my career. He said that he hated retail - specifically the hours and the need to work Bank Holidays and weekends amongst other things - and he said it was negatively impacting on his marriage. I asked him why he didn't choose to do something else. He replied that retail was all he knew. He seemed resigned to stay in a position in which he was deeply unhappy.

I made a pact with myself there and then that I would not settle for any position, however lucrative, if it didn't fulfil me and if I lost my enthusiasm for the work I was doing. As a responsible workaholic by nature that was critical to my sense of success in my career!

I think that was also the day I made it my mission to become a source of inspiration for dissatisfied managers like my colleague. I understood how challenging it was operating at that level within a tough environment. So, 15 years on when I designed the Executive Breakthrough, I did so to help individuals in positions of responsibility to discover what they really want from their career and to identify the changes they can make to achieve that now.

I engage individuals in Business Coaching to support Executives to put their mission and purpose into effect. And more recently, I developed Inspirational Leadership Programmes so that business leaders can discover and develop their personal leadership style.

During my career I have become a master at being my own source of inspiration. One of the many outputs of that has been the development and delivery of meaningful services to top professionals who wouldn’t appreciate me telling them how to do their day job, but may be questioning how they ended up there in the first place.

Monday, 6 June 2011

Practicing what I Preach!

I had to laugh at my own inability to notice what was right in front of my eyes. I’ve had two light-bulb moments recently which by rights shouldn’t have been a surprise to me at all but plainly obvious all along. The first relates to coffee which I drank a lot of until recently, well lattes anyway. I’ve always known that I don’t like coffee flavoured food – even chocolate – so I don’t know why it escaped me that I don’t actually like coffee to drink either!

Once I had made that connection, replacing it with a coffee alternative was easy enough to do. However, giving up milk was proving harder as that’s what lattes mostly are. I tried numerous milk substitutes, none of which worked. Determined to continue experiencing ‘a cup of coffee’ I persevered until I had exhausted all the options I could think of except one. If I like the taste of this alternative Chicory root drink then why don’t I try it without any milk or milk substitute at all – genius! It tastes much better than all the previous combinations put together. This is a classic example of not being able to see the wood for the trees when you are stood alone in the middle of a forest!

I experienced the same feeling when running a leadership seminar recently. I kept the content general because the audience was unknown to me and I thought that would be the safest thing to do. Strange really as I’m not one for playing it safe. My specialism is Inspirational Leadership which is one component of effective leadership. To profess to be an expert across the whole breadth of leadership would be nonsense – it is a vast and complex subject after all. I can, however lay claim to being an expert in Inspirational Leadership as I have a proven track record of doing this extremely well. Inspiring individuals is my niche area, my unique contribution – it’s why my Inspirational Leadership Programmes have that name! When I am helping individuals to become an inspiration to themselves and the people they lead, then I know I am doing good work.

A strong niche enables us to easily identify what we should be doing more of, and also less of, in our daily lives. Furthermore, it gives us permission to live our passions and our values in a lucrative, fulfilling way.

Helping success-minded individuals define their Niche is one of the ways I inspire individuals and I can do that well because I have taken the time to define my own. It’s a good job I practice what I preach!

Thursday, 9 September 2010

On the Radio

On Tuesday morning I was delighted to be the guest of RedShift Radio – a newly launched online radio station - along with Amanda Daniels of Koogar who is co-presenter of a new day-to-day business show running for the next 12 weeks. It’s the first time I have been on the radio, ever and I had a ball.

We talked about business coaching and the benefits of engaging a coach to keep you on track and focused on achieving your goals. We discussed the basics of goal setting, what a goal actually is and why it’s important to create meaningful goals rather than empty ones. I also gave listeners some tips on how to keep yourself motivated to follow through on your goals when the going gets tough.

RedShift is based in Crewe, Cheshire and the 30 minute train journey home gave me the perfect opportunity to reflect on the experience and how much I enjoyed it. I had invited our listeners to take a little time each day to acknowledge achievements already made because that appreciation forces us into the present and puts our focus on the positive. My first radio appearance is certainly one I will savour and who knows when an opportunity like that will present itself again. What have you done today to make you feel proud?

In excess of 100 listeners tuned in to hear what we had to say, a statistic we were blissfully unaware of for the majority of the show! If you would like to know what all the fuss is about the show will be aired again on Saturday from Midday to 2pm and for you night owls between 10pm and midnight on Sunday. Tune into RedShift Radio and let me know what you think.

Monday, 14 June 2010

Become your own Source of Inspiration

We make life hard for ourselves in this country. Having worked all over the UK and in Italy before settling in Manchester I know this attitude isn't shared by our European colleagues and neither is it unique to the North West of England.

Somewhere along the line we learned that life has to be difficult; that if we are not striving for things beyond our reach then they are not worth having. We are all so busy making a living that we don’t stop to acknowledge the fact we are not making a life. We do recognise we are not having fun most of the time and we worry constantly about finding that elusive balance; but our response is to peddle harder on that hamster wheel rather than taking the time to define what makes us happy and gives us a sense of satisfaction as well as achievement in our professional and private lives.

On top of all that we then add insult to injury by refusing to let anyone help us. 'Surely I shouldn't need somebody else's help to work things out!' you cry, 'What does that say about me?' In my view it says you don't consider yourself important enough to take time out of the business, to reflect and focus on yourself. It tells me that you value the happiness and well being of others over your own – and that cannot be a good thing, for them or for you.

If you are not yet ready to engage a Business Coach who will inspire you to action, then at least take the time to become your own source of inspiration. I've created a 1-day seminar on Self-Inspiration to help you do just that. Choose a date that suits you (Wednesday 15th September, 13th October and 10th November 2010) and experience a day full of inspiring tips to help you help yourself. I'll also show you how to tap into your own resourcefulness so that you can start taking steps towards defining success on your own terms.

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Current Business Climate Demands more Inspirational Leaders

There's no getting away from it, the demand for inspirational leaders far outweighs supply and that can, in part, be attributed to the fact that top managers are facing sustained challenges and pressures the like of which has never been seen before in this country. In the current economic climate MDs and CEOs now have to make more, harder business decisions than ever before and there is far closer scrutiny of top managers' responsibilities and accountabilities.

So who inspires them? Where do those Executives go to find a source of inspiration which will sustain them through that scrutiny and foster business success? It is impossible for individuals acting on their own to increase their full leadership potential. So what can top executives do to progress?

I take a unique approach to leadership development which traditionally focuses on leadership team coaching, with importance being given to the team dynamics.

My focus is on individual Executives first and importance is then given to individual dynamics. I created Inspirational Leadership programmes to inspire business leaders to achieve clarity about what they want from the organisation and to explore the compatibility between individual agendas.

I last ran Inspirational Leadership 1 at the end of September 2009 and the results I have seen from those delegates has been immensely gratifying. Delegates came to the programme with their own personal objectives and their commitment to develop their self-knowledge was first class. They each left the programme having achieved those objectives and so much more.

There is evidence that many people are already benefiting from a new found authenticity; (not least the people they lead) and these business leaders are being rewarded by willing followers, as they build organisations which enjoy sustained business success. I received some wonderful feedback which included statements like:

"Aspirational and Inspirational, like a breath of fresh air, Robyn's skill and humour creates the perfect environment to succeed." And "A perfect mixture of inspiration, challenge, and motivation, made this a recipe for success."

The next Inspirational Leadership programme is running from 31st January to 3rd February 2010 from a stunning location in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. Do you have a mind to join us?

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