Invest in yourself – don’t wait for your boss to do it!

The Letter - Judith Holmes Drewry

Once the domain of the CEO or senior manager, I am seeing people at all levels in small, medium and large organisations coming to me for coaching and paying for it themselves.  Why?  Because they recognise that to survive at work they need to invest in themselves!  So what’s going on?

Today’s workplace is fluid.  One day you are a highly valued employee, the next you are fighting to keep your job.  Change is everywhere and we need to continue to refresh our skills and bring new approaches to the work we do – we need to add value, generate new business, innovate and keep the organisation we work for profitable and valued. 

There was a time when an employee may have expected to receive training, professional development and opportunities for growth from their employer, but in today’s competitive workplace there isn’t always the time or the money to support these ambitions.  There are a number of reasons for this:

• A small business may be fighting to survive – investing in their employees at present may be a step too far
• Uncertainty about the future may be making some businesses reluctant to invest in their people
• A small business may feel that investment in skills development simply isn’t a priority
• A large organisation facing reduced profits or funding shortages may not be able to justify investing in developing their people

So it may be time to take the matter into your own hands.  And taking time to step outside the workplace to consider your current position, your own development needs and how they may be met could be a smart move.  Here are a few examples of where coaching and mentoring can help with your own development:

• There has been a change of direction in the leadership of your organisation, which leaves you wondering how you can make an impact and add value
• You are trying to survive in a shrinking organisation where colleagues have less time available to support each other
• You are looking for a role in a different industry or with a different employer and need some help in preparing for this
• You are in a new role and you feel that support from someone outside your organisation would benefit you and improve your performance
• You are facing redundancy and need help to work out your next steps so that you can achieve financial stability in the short term and plan for the longer term
• You have work related problems and don’t know how to manage them
• It may be time to look at your own wellbeing and what you want from life

Having your own coach means you have access to someone who will help you to recognise and build on your own skills and also identify those skills which need developing.  A good coach will listen, ask questions, challenge you and give you time to reflect, draw you own conclusions, set your own goals and help you to achieve them.  Making decisions and facing challenges can be hard and sometimes lonely.  And sometimes dissatisfaction in a role may be because the cultural fit of the place where you work is no longer right - their values and aspirations may not be the same as yours. 

Spending time talking through your options with someone who has no connection with your home or work life can be hugely beneficial and give you time to think and plan how to make those important next steps.

If you’d like more information about how coaching can enable you to take control of your own personal development, then get in touch and let’s talk about how we can help.

Izzy Ixer, Director and Principal Consultant, Blue Pebble Coaching

3-2-1 Bluebells!

One of Spring’s greatest sights will soon be upon us – carpets of brilliantly coloured Bluebells appearing in our woodlands!  Their glory is short-lived, as they must make the most of the sunlight, which falls on the soil before the trees above them burst into leaf and block their source of light.  They seize their moment and come into bloom from mid-April onwards.  And over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend you can go out and find them in local woodlands.

So how well do we prepare ourselves for our opportunity to shine?  Are you setting time aside now to understand yourself better, reflect on your achievements and think about what your next steps may be?  If the opportunity you’ve always dreamed of appeared tomorrow, how well would you present yourself and your skills?  Are you ready to seize your moment?

These Bluebell bulbs have put in plenty of preparation ahead of their grand display.  Seeds, which were produced the previous June, have scattered and germinated and developed into flower bulbs.  Dormant from July onwards, the bulbs have soaked up nutrition from the soil around them for months and began to grow underground in January.  Depending on weather conditions, their first shoots appeared in February and developed leaves in March.

Making time to build up your skills and knowledge is time well spent.  It’s important to step back from your day-to-day commitments and consider what you would like to do next and how you will prepare for your next challenge.  It is common today to find ourselves facing significant challenges, which we may not have foreseen.  It happens in our work life, our home life, as business leaders and as human beings who care about each other.  We need to assess our strengths, and our level of resilience in the face of new circumstances.  We need to look carefully at our skill sets and often develop new ones fast.

Regular coaching sessions will help you to:

• Put time aside to reflect
• Consider your next steps
• Understand yourself better
• Set yourself achievable goals
• Get help and support in achieving your goals

At Blue Pebble Coaching we work with employees of large and small organisations, charities and business leaders and owners, supporting them to understand themselves and what drives them and to become more adaptable and resilient.  

So when you go out and about looking for Bluebells at the weekend, spare a thought for your own personal development and take your first step investing time in yourself.

Izzy Ixer, Blue Pebble Coaching, www.bluepebblecoaching.co.uk

You can discover great places to go Bluebell-hunting on the Wildlife Trust’s website http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/dazzled-by-bluebells

The Bluebell Railway Walks website has detailed information about how Bluebells grow http://www.bluebellrailwaywalks.co.uk/bluebells.php

It's National Mentorng day – think before you jump in!

As today is National Mentoring Day, so it’s a great time to look at what mentoring is and to consider some of the factors, which can make for a great mentoring relationship.

Finding yourself a mentor isn’t always easy.  You need to feel confident that the person you are working with understands you and the challenges you are facing.  You need to know that they can strike the right balance between sharing information, knowledge and opportunities with you and also leaving you the space to absorb what has been shared during the mentoring session.

A skilled mentor recognises the importance of a reflective learning practice.  This means allowing time to assimilate information, making it your own and understanding how new skills and information can be put to good use.  These are the keys to a successful mentoring relationship.  When you find yourself a mentor, then you may find it helpful to keep a diary and to capture ideas and self-observations – this will be a great resource to reflect on your journey.

Demonstration of block printing

There are 6 commonly recognised factors which, when well managed, contribute to the success of the mentoring relationship.  They are well worth bearing in mind before, during and after the mentoring relationship has ended.

Purpose

The purpose of the mentoring arrangement needs to be clarified so that the mentor brings the right skills, experience and opportunities to the relationship.  The purpose may subtly change over time, so checking that both parties are still happy with the relationship is an important step in the process.  One of the purposes of mentoring is to bring to the person being mentored (the mentee) access to contacts, who may be influential in supportingtheir development.   This important aspect of mentoring needs to be discussed early in the relationship.

Communication

The way the mentoring session works will need to be tailored to suit the preferences of the person being mentored.  Some people prefer a face-to-face relationship while others may feel more comfortable in groups.  Some mentoring can take place online or by telephone.  If the purpose of the mentoring exercise is to induct and encourage a new group of recruits into an organisation, for example, group mentoring can be a powerful way of bringing new recruits on board and maintaining their enthusiasm for the organisation after the initial excitement of the new job has started to diminish.  In the early stages of the relationship the mentee will spend much of the time listening and questioning to clearly ascertain needs and support the formulation of goals.

Statue of an elephant

Trust

A good match between the mentor and the menteee will enable the relationship to start well.  The presentation of the mentor, the way they use their voice and their gestures all have an impact.  The mentor must be trustworthy, maintain confidentiality and have integrity if the relationship is to work.  Successful mentoring happens when the relationship between the mentor and the mentee is well founded and a good rapport has been developed.  Unlike coaching, mentors bring their own experience into the relationship, which makes it a more personal contract.  Confidence must be respected on both sides.

Process

The pace and frequency of the sessions need to be agreed and moderated as needed.  Time to explore goals and needs should be set aside at the start of therelationship to allow for the development of goals and for clarification about the way they will be achieved.  Th eperson being mentored may choose to have a number of different mentors and the process of working with other mentors may give rise to complexity in terms of goal setting and achievement of milestones.

Progress

An honest way of discussing progress against goals and providing feedback needs to be in place.  A mentoring plan with regular reviews in place is a good way of setting this up.  Milestones need to be celebrated and a time will come when the mentor has learned as much as they feel they can from their mentor.  The mentoring process needs to allow for this to happen in a planned and non-threatening way.

And finally ...

If you keep these things in mind you will soon discover the benefits of mentoring.  And remember – mentors can get just as much out of the relationship as the people they are supporting.  Reflecting on your own successes and failures and how you faced up to your challenges will reveal much about your own progress through life and can strengthen your own sense of self.

If you are interested in establishing mentoring in your organisation then get in touch with us.  We’re here to help.

Izzy Ixer

Director and Principal Consultant

Blue Pebble Coaching Ltd

www.bluepebblecoaching.co.uk