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!
Miles – had 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
