Practical tips. Prompts to get you thinking. The odd rant.

When I facilitate Zoomly’s ‘How to build confidence’ bite-sized workshop, one of the tasks we do early on is identify our ‘confidence gremlins’. These insidious little creatures can give us A Really Hard Time, and sabotage our confidence. Confidence Gremlins can show up after we’ve given our confidence a test, and maybe it’s taken a… Read more

“Why should I be a mentor? What’s in it for me?” can be the response when people are approached to lend their support to a mentoring scheme. Fortunately, there are also those who simply want to support others and give a little back when a new mentoring scheme gets announced. As someone who has the… Read more

Recently I’ve been leading Zoomly’s ‘How to develop your leadership style’ workshop quite a lot for different clients. It’s reminded me that this exercise is great for leaders – whether you’re an aspiring leader or already there. One of the first tasks participants work on in is to consider the leaders who’ve inspired them. Time… Read more

  Oh dear…it’s not been the best of days at work. Did that presentation you’d worked so hard on land …er…like a lead balloon? Or maybe that conversation with a colleague didn’t go at all well?  Did you make a major mistake? Was it one of those days? It happens. We’ve all been there, done… Read more

Ever been on a training course of some kind, loved it, learned lots – yet can’t remember it later? You’re not alone. If the emphasis is mostly on the event itself, along with a focus on your immediate reaction to it, identifying the impact afterwards will be a challenge. Ideally, the difference that your sponsors… Read more

When I facilitate workshops, the subject of strengths often comes up – particularly if the topic is leadership development, working in teams and feedback.  In ‘How to build your personal brand’ we take some time to reflect on our strengths, and it never ceases to surprise me how tough some people find it to name… Read more

At different times and in different situations I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the wisdom of mentors – and been privileged to have mentored others. I also help clients get their mentoring programmes working well. For a mentoring relationship to deliver the results required, it’s essential that conversations between mentor and mentee encourage reflection leading… Read more

If you’re looking for a new job, you won’t be alone. According to ONS, the number of redundancies in the UK reached a record high in September to November 2020. You may have other motives for job-hunting: personal reasons or relocation, for example. Whilst I can’t wave a magic wand over the job market, I… Read more

At different times and in different situations I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the wisdom of mentors – and been privileged to have mentored others. I also help clients get their mentoring programmes working well. For a mentoring relationship to flourish and deliver the desired results it needs to be more than ‘just a chat’… Read more

  At this time of year I have many conversations with people about helping them to a) set their goals for the year and b) stay on track for getting them. Often I find that setting the goals is the easier bit – we’re all pretty good at coming up with a list of what… Read more