Friday 1 February 2013

Enthios New Year Newsletter - 2012 Summary


Yet again this was a year of huge change for our clients and we’re very pleased to say we have seen a responsive ‘can do’ attitude to making it happen.  They are all still in business – this is not a flippant claim and many have even reported growth.

As a consequence, the work we have been involved in has been in supporting leaders and staff through this period of change, in how they feel and respond, even when there is limited information available on which to base decisions.  We have been surprised by the continued level of investment in people and processes, when the economy is still fairly unknown and believe that this message communicates is a confidence and readiness to deal with whatever comes along both internally and externally.

High on clients’ lists has been performance management and the ability to give good quality feedback in order to move their internal appraisal process into something more meaningful for the individual and in turn drive standards and results for their organisations.
 

Type of work we’ve been involved in 2012

We’ve continued to work one-to-one with senior people whose organisations are looking to them for direction and instilling confidence in those who follow – a tough task.  Getting back to basics has been a theme by revisiting self-management techniques, gaining much needed space for critical thinking and effective decision-making.

In Higher Education we’ve been involved with developing staff’s ability to be more assertive, and communicate appropriately with their interactions, whether they are through ‘enhancing the student experience’ or through the day to day interactions with their colleagues and academics.  Three leadership programmes have seen us working with Principle Lecturers, Advancement and Library Information Services allowing us a good view across the organisation.

Team building has also been in evidence but not just the ‘feel good’ day out.  Organisations have asked for ‘Purposeful Away Days’ which have been targeting topics such as strategy, communication,, inter departmental relations and managing brand.

What else we’ve done…

Elsewhere we worked in the third sector with a new client to develop their managers’ skills in handling their performance management process, getting the best out of the development conversation and not shying away from some of the issues around behaviour and attitude that needed to be addressed.  This came from a failed pitch for a tendered piece of work, but they loved what they saw in Miles and experienced our values in practice when he delivered a taster session.  Note to self – never say ‘never’ and always be you!

A number of our team have added skills this year with accreditations for Simon K in PPD NLP Practitioner and Shelle Rose Charve’s LAB Profile workshop – both apparently hugely insightful.  Liz has continued volunteering at The Christie - Young Oncology Unit- once a  week and I don’t doubt that in 2013 she will continue to lift the spirits of all those around her.

 
We’ve moved the business premises on the 3rd of January 2013 and hopefully none of you experienced any difficulties even though it was not without its challenges (I think that’s what we’re supposed to call them!)

Playing out? Very important to us!!

Well some time spent in France continually trying to conquer the language, alpine and cross country skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and anything else the country can throw at us, of course allowing a little time for an apero!

 
As ever Liz has been attacking life at full throttle, progressing 2 belts towards her black belt in Kick Boxing (not a woman to mess with!)  She explored Tuscany on holiday and sang the Carmina Burana in the Alhambra in Grenada. This year she’s aiming to complete a programme of Coaching for the business to set minimum goals for 3 & 5 year development plans and progress with 2 further belts for Kick Boxing.

 
Simon K had a fab trip to NYC with the family in April – beautiful weather, great food and the amazement on his son and daughter’s faces when they first saw NYC in the daylight – priceless! His plans for 2013 are to get out on his bike and enjoy it – that means getting significantly fitter first.  Simon’s commitment is to do this on a pogo stick (taken from one of those conversations over the phone - count me in on being the first to watch)!

 
I started running this year and did a 10k run for the Preston Guild and didn’t pass out, so I’m set for more of the same in 2013. Not sure if ‘playing out’ is the right place to capture this but a major house renovation and building project has become known as ‘Kate’s project’ and eBay’s sales growth can be accredited – in some small part - to the constant desire to keep in budget.  We’ll measure the success of this objective once everything is complete!

 
Mileshad an attempt at completing a Deca Ironman, but unfortunately picked the worst summer to try it.  Dropping out after 24 mile swim and 400 miles on the bike was a disappointment but also a motivation for having another go in 2014 and we still managed to raise £2500 for Right to Play.

So what does 2013 have in store………?
As usual our commitment to personal and organisational learning is never over.  Miles and I are becoming accredited in the Hogan Personality Inventory in January. I’m intrigued to find out both his and my ‘dark sides and de-railers’ that’s if I get chance of a peek at his report! Miles is about to become an accredited user of AQR’s mental toughness psychometric inventory (MTQ48), as managerial resilience is a hot topic at the moment.  He also commences his professional doctorate in Elite Performance.

Big chunk..
We’re very excited to be working with a new client in Financial Services on a large change programme.  The main outputs will be to re-energise the staff and lift engagement after a number of disruptive internal restructures.  The focus will start on the impact of the changes on ‘self’ and then move to a ‘team’ involvement to create the future going forward.

We’re lucky enough to be in our 5th year of an internal ‘Executive Development Programme’ which focuses on working with senior leaders in the organisation who are selected as significant contributors within their business area. This is self-directed learning on a one-to-one basis, a combination of coaching, mentoring, sounding board and training – whatever is required by the individual at the time. One of the most successful organisations we have worked with who have great people – game on!

Another new client brings Enthios into a new sector.  Although we have worked extensively in Higher Education we are now entering into the life of the leadership team in a high performing Academy.  Enthios’ involvement will be coaching individuals, with additional facilitation of team action learning sets to complement their existing Leadership Programme.  We have a great deal to learn from this organisation who are already being invited into other schools to drive standards and raise expectations for both staff and pupils to ‘want to’ and ‘be better’.

We’re still involved within a large Council delivering the organisations PRD system, ‘Meaningful & Effective Goal Setting’, ‘Coaching Conversations for Success’ and ‘Meeting the Feedback Challenge’, along with ‘Performance Management’ and hope to widen the work we do with this fantastic organisation in a beautiful part of the world.

In line with one of our strategies for securing additional ‘long term business’ we’re currently awaiting the outcome of a number of tenders which would be 4 year  framework agreements around coaching and facilitation so fingers crossed Enthios’ national reach continues its progress to date.

We still love working one-to-one with individuals whether they are running their own business or part of a wider organisation. These relationships continue to cause us to raise our own professional standards to meet the demands of their ever-changing circumstances and environments. Thank you for the push!

And more thanks…
For those of you who know us well (or have taken a look at our website) you’ll know that one of our values is that we work with people we like. While this may sound ‘twee’, it’s the best way we know how to do the work that needs to be done, in the most honest way possible and have a brilliant time which is enjoyable for everyone involved. It’s how we build our own team and how we target organisations and individuals to work with. So thank you for supporting us through 2012 and let’s have another brilliant year together in 2013.

Kate Peacock