Leadership Grant deadline

The application deadline for the £1000 Leadership and Management Advisory Service grant for businesses and social enterprises that want to grow is fast approaching.

Although the scheme is due to end at the end of March, Skills South East (who oversee the scheme in SW and SE England) have announced an application deadline of this Friday 17th February. This is to give them time to process applications.

You do not need to have worked out exactly what you want to do with the funds in order to apply, so I suggest that you consider applying before the deadline and then chat with the Swindon Coaching Team or with staff from Skills South East to see how you can use this grant to develop the leadership skills of your top team and thus your business.

Find out more here: http://www.skillssoutheast.co.uk/leadership-and-management.html

Seeing Eye to Eye or Seeing Red

I've been asked to do a series of talks as part of NRG networking lunches (12:30-2:30 p.m.)

Details of the talk are below, with upcoming dates. I look forward to seeing you there.
The talk is free, however there is a charge for the excellent lunch!
For venues and pricing, and to book, go to the NRG events page.

Upcoming dates in 2012.
Thursday 16th February, Bristol
Thursday 5th April, North Somerset

Seeing Eye to Eye or Seeing Red
Do you know how other people see you, and what effect this has on your relationships? Have you ever found that you just can’t see eye to eye with a colleague, or been at a meeting where one person seems always determined to contradict what you say? At work and at home, we tend to value the qualities of people with similar personalities to us, and struggle to value those who are opposite to us. How can we quickly recognise these influences and leant to build effective relationships, communication, and team work?

In an insightful and colourful way Richard Hovey will open our eyes to the way our personalities affect the way we see other people and communicate, and show us ways to instantly transform the effectiveness of the way that we relate to other people at work – and even at home. This is fun, and also important: research for the Harvard Business Review in 2002 found that 87% of the issues that business leaders face are to do with inter-personal skills, as distinct from technical competence.

Participants will
See a way to recognise different personalities and how these affect communication, relationships and team work
Discover more about their own personality and how people see them on a “good day” and on a “bad day”
Experience a model which will help them to quickly increase the effectiveness of their rapport-building and communications, which they can apply right away.

Previous participants enjoyed the presentation because it is interactive, relevant, and well-delivered. They have commented that they enjoyed discovering how others see them, about the “good day” and “bad day” behaviour associated with people’s behaviour, and how to use their learning to build teams.

Melissa Neil, Group Leader of an NRG Group in Bristol at which Richard spoke commented: "Richard Hovey delivered a fantastic talk to business group that I lead in November 2011. We have had many speakers, but I have to say Richard’s session on 'seeing eye to eye or seeing red’, was the best we have had.

"Richard gave an interactive session where we played a game to understand our personality types and leadership styles. It was clear that Richard had prepared well and the group were very engaged and animated about the session. In addition to the game he gave some excellent background information about what to do once you have learned of your and colleagues style of behaviour, which everyone found very useful.

"I would highly recommend Richard as a professional coach and also for any talks and training sessions for businesses."

To book, go to the NRG events page.

Swindon Coaching Team: Swindon Coaching Team on the Radio again

Swindon Coaching Team: Swindon Coaching Team on the Radio again

Among the topics we discussed was the differences between customer service in the UAE and UK. I believe a key difference is job security. In the UAE jobs and visas last very little time and it is difficult to change jobs. And its not in job descriptions to 'go the extra mile' and delegation is not encouraged. Customer service is 'following the rules' .

From personal experience it required (non forthcoming) authorisation to give me the additional £50 it had cost me to get a battery replaced, together with three visits to the hire company, the cost of my and their time far outweighed the amounts disputed. This happened time and time again.
When a hotel receptionist mischarged me for my room, her fear for her job was palpable, and I spent most of my time reassuring her that we all make mistakes and that she would be OK.
A good way to judge any organisation is how it rectifies mistakes. With increasing job insecurity in the UK, the same reactions are likely to happen here, unless management takes retains its positive approach to delegation and acknowledges that we all make mistakes. Not in keeping with the 6 sigma brigade I know - so "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone".

Swindon Coaching Team on the Radio again

This evening between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. David and Richard will be chatting with Gerry and Peter on Swindon Radio. They'll be answering questions to help people with business growth, career development, and handling stress.

This is Swindon Radio's show "Mind your own business" - the show that looks at issues of concern to local businesses. You can listen - anywhere - on the internet at Swindon Radio 105.5 (click on Listen Live) or on a real radio in the Swindon area at 105.5 FM

Geography is no barrier

Continuing our theme on international business, Swindon Coaching Team member Richard Hovey's latest assignment was in response to a request for coaching from the Managing Director designate of a multi-national firm who is living in China. Although Richard has found telephone coaching to be effective, he says that using video technology such as Skype allows far richer non-verbal communication and this really does away with ideas that coaching people - for example to develop their business or career - can only be done face-to-face.

Asking for help in the United Arab Emirates

Swindon Coaching Team Member David Rigby recently spent eight months in the desert near Abu Dhabi coaching and advising the government on customer service.

David (you've guessed it on the right of the picture) says:

The Abu Dhabi Municipality offers 400 services to its people. With the opening of one-stop-shops, in the six cities in the Abu Dhabi desert area known as Western Region, the citizens were no longer obliged to travel the 100-200 miles to Abu Dhabi to undertake several transactions. One hundred of these services were, in theory, offered at the one-stop-shops, called TAMM centers. In practice only three of them could be undertaken in one visit. I developed processes to enable all the services to be offered through media including web, phone, call centre, SMS etc. They were all redesigned to international standards and to standard templates. None of which would be of much use unless the frontline staff knew how to use them, so this is where my coaching skills became very important.

My client was Ebrahim Alhosani Director/ Integrated Government Services Western Region Municipality, And on first meeting he said “I am studying for my masters from Harvard, what do you study?” One of my clear learning objectives is about spontaneity, and thinking on my feet responded “I study learning who to ask for help."

The only way I could manage this project was to ask for help and give help in return. The key challenge was always knowing who to ask without losing face.

As a first-time visitor to UAE at the beginning my main challenge was the food – what it was and more importantly how to eat it. I took my training very seriously – first of all asking my Arabic assistant how to eat rice with my right hand without it spilling everywhere. Not to mention how to eat while sitting on the floor on special occasions – including making sure my feet pointed the right way.

One of my team from Jordan asked me why I asked people for help, as it appeared to be a sign of weakness in his culture (at least among the males). I told him that it saved so much time and gave better results. An example I gave him, was that I discussed with his boss how to get a number of documents printed and rapidly delivered to me from 100 miles away. He suggested using a taxi. It worked brilliantly.

My Arabic customer services trainer, Maher Al Nukkary, asked me for help with his life. I coached him to identify and live his vision: he is now in Australia studying for his second degree in translation. I never told him what to do only helped him make a decision.

Some of the work required demonstrating international best practice - EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) and ISO (international Standards Organisation). Not my best subjects, but I knew who to ask for help from my colleagues in the UK, which was based on the relationships I had built in the past.

One of the things we wanted to know was what the citizens thought of the service they were currently getting . So, we asked them!

We were looking to improve the way the customer facing staff worked. Who are the people who are best likely to know? You guessed right! So - we asked the staff!

So how do you ask for help without losing face? It’s about developing a mutual trust with the person you are asking for help, and making yourself available to help people.

This is when your coach can be a very important person. Someone you know and trust, who can help you identify the issues and enable you to decide who and how to approach to resolve them. Someone who you know who’s on your side.

Changes to government £1000 grant scheme for businesses, charities, and social enterprise

Up to £1000 of matched funding is available per organisation to help it's leaders to devleop their skills and grow the business. (That is, to receive £1000 you need to spend £1000 too!)

The current Leadership and Management Advisory Service (LMAS) scheme has been running since April 2011. If you benefitted from the previous scheme you are still allowed to benefit from this one. If you are to qualify, these are the key criteria.

For businesses

• Planned growth of 20% per year over the next 3 years - in turnover or staff numbers.
• More than one person involved in the organisation, ideally two or more full-time equivalent employees. (Technically: "have at least one employee in addition to the senior leader.")
• Not more than 250 staff.

For social enterprises / charities

• As above, however growth requirement is 10% per year over three years.
• Support could be given to unpaid staff such as a trustee

As the scheme progresses, and individual applications are considered, it becomes clearer which businesses qualify. There has also been some "softening" in requirements as we have seen that the criteria for growth are about plans and not a need to show growth from past results.

We can help with coaching, training and other solutions to help you to develop your leadership and thus your business. We can talk through with you this and other grant opportunities for your business.

Contact us now to find out more!

Swindon Networking

Isla and I were at the Swindon Connections networking event this month representing the Swindon Coaching Team. It was a good turn out with many visiting our stand interested to find out more about what Coaching has to offer.
The presentation for the evening was given by Brad Burton managing director of 4 networking. His approach was down to earth and thought provoking, making several interesting points such as:

• It doesn't matter who you speak to when networking, if they do not bring you business they may know someone who will


• Be yourself, because people buy from 'people'


• Accept you will make mistakes in business


• Be committed to your business idea and stick with it, because others,who might be your competition, may drop out during the recession

Finally, we would like to congratulate Kevin Belson photography for winning a coaching session as part of our regular competition at the connections event.

Coaching is the answer for Just in Time Training

Just in Time Training seems to be the "in thing." This is about receiving training in short blocks just when you need it. People recognise that if they go on a training course and do not make use of what they learn immediately, they forget it.

Coaching, including that which we deliver, uses as its raw material the fresh challenges that the client faces. It helps clients to learn from their experience and to grow in the skill of learning from their experience, so coaching is great for embedding training.

It is worth remembering that coaching can also be used to develop other new skills, Just In Time, without taking any further time away from work and in a completely bespoke way. You choose what you want to learn and apply the training to your actual situation, in a way that is not constrained by the content and context of any fixed course materials.

You just need to make sure that your coach has a sufficient skill base in the relevant area, and we'd be happy to talk to you about that!

Presenters impressed by wealth of experience

Thanks to those who listened in to our guest appearance on Swindon Radio 105.5 on Monday evening. Regular presenter Gerry Reilly was joined by Peter Jones from the Federation of Small Businesses to interview Richard, Ann-Marie and Stephen from the Swindon Coaching Team.

I enjoy these conversations, and part of the excitement is never quite knowing what the presenters, or listeners who phone in, will want to ask about. The conversation was wide ranging with a lot of interest in the history of our team, what coaching is all about, and what people might experience from an encounter with us. We emphasised that coaching is personal, and so people usually want to meet us, have an informal chat, and get to know us before deciding on any coaching – and that is the way we work. We mentioned our next event at Swindon Connections, and our current special offer of free coaching taster sessions.

Peter was interested in the range of different kinds of coaching we offer (from business coaching to relationship coaching to coaching young people) and wanted to hear about the background and experience of the coaches in the team. I think I was as surprised as him to realise the diversity of backgrounds we have, which help us to connect with our clients and their issues. Our collective backgrounds include work in sexual health, in Information Technology, as a doctor, in marketing, hypnotherapy, and starting a business... I won’t take up space with the full list!

The last laugh was had by Stephen when he was asked about good techniques for stress-busting. He talked about the benefits of a good belly laugh and how he has been instrumental in setting up a laughter club in Swindon!