VISION DAYS – COACHING INTENSIVE FOR LEADERS
The Vision Intensive is a 1:1 deep dive “mini coaching programme’ that gives business leaders a unique opportunity to take some high quality, accelerated, thinking and visioning time for themselves. Away from the pressure of work or job search, you will get clear about what is next in your leaders, business, career and/or life and generate breakthrough thinking around the things that really matter to you.
The programme consists of one full-day Vision Day (built around your responses to pre-work, stimulus questions and on line strengths assessment) followed up by a coaching call 6 weeks later. The day combines discussion and reflection with structured exercises to help you figure out what you really want to achieve in your life and develop action plans to make it happen.
We run the Vision Days in beautiful surroundings such as Barnsley House or Combe Manor in Bath, both less than two hours from London. Or we can run it at a similar location closer to you. The Vision Day can be run as a standalone or to kick start one of our other coaching programme.
“Working with Jane is inspirational. I left the day with real insights and an actionable plan to achieve my goals. (Global Marketing Manager, leading global tech company).
COACHING PROGRAMMES
The coaching programme is a structured series of sessions for people who want to take themselves to the next level. It focuses particularly on communication – for example helping leaders to become more present, confident and authentic. But it also provides an opportunity for people to reflect on challenges, untangle problems and take action that moves them towards their goals. Crucially, participants gain energy and confidence to achieve their goals more effectively than before.
The programme is ideal for leaders who have been promoted; want to achieve promotion, or are facing some kind of crossroads in their career. Much of our current work is with pre-Principal consultants who want to build some of the people skills needed for leadership positions in global organisations. As well as with other groups with strong technical expertise, who similarly want to build the presence and confidence needed for promotion or job change.
Sessions are held in or near your offices, or at our consulting rooms in Central London. We offer a free ‘chemistry check’ to make sure we are right for each other. And we build our work based on what you – and your organisation – want to achieve. A central element of the work is the detailed 360 feedback interviews we carry out with senior stakeholders. Coupled with analysis of any recent psychometrics or results of online tools, such as Myers Briggs, VIA strengths or other online tools. Invariably this exercise is energising and inspiring, with clients often commenting that “people have sort of given me that feedback, but now I really understand what they mean”.
You then meet your coach, usually twice a month for the first month, then monthly as diaries allow. The programme includes 8 sessions. We offer unlimited email and telephone support between sessions. You bring “live” issues that arise (such as how to plan for meetings or reflect on a difficult interaction with a colleague). You also work on the priority areas you’ve identified, usually using the CAPE (Communications, Assumptions, Personal Style and Energy) model we developed with clients.
The programme combines great questioning and deep listening with some tools and techniques drawn from a range of sources. We encourage you to try out new approaches; reflect on how they go and make adjustments accordingly. We work with you to achieve your goals – be that going for promotion; making a career change, or simply become more comfortable with who you are. By participating in the programme, you can expect to:
Find out more about your self
Understand more about how you relate to others
Grow your confidence and presence
Communicate more effectively
Become more energised
COACHING AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR COMMUNICATORS
There are some outstanding communicators in organisations. And there are many who can be even better. Increasingly we are being asked to help internal communicators develop as leaders.
Communications coaching and training
We worked with colleagues from Hinton and Harkness Kennett to help a major bank develop their IC function. The project included training for the top 35 of the comms function. Participants then took part in 6 – 8 coaching sessions. Feedback on the project indicated that it contributed to a significant improvement in the way that Internal Comms was perceived in the bank.
Communications gyms
We first developed our comms gyms in association with a client ten years ago. Since then, their popularity has grown. We agree a series of topics. We book a meeting room and order interesting sandwiches. Then we run a 60 – 90 minute session on a topic that is likely to educate, inform and entertain (sneakily doing all we can to make sure they link to the organisation’s core task). Topics have included comms strategy; creative writing; virtual team working; social media and How do I get my skills used.
Team effectiveness
Even the best teams can get stuck. Doing internal comms can be hard; there are a lot of turf issues and communications can get pushed to the bottom of the pile. Plus, working in global teams carries its own complexity. We run team effectiveness training with internal comms (and other) teams, to help them figure out what is really getting in the way of members working together effectively. All of our coaching and training is practical and as relevant to the organisation and participants as possible.