The above photo was taken in New Zealand in 2005; neither a scaredy-cat nor an adrenaline junkie, I took the opportunity to abseil into dark caves and throw myself out of planes. The notion of stepping in and out of one’s comfort zone, seeing ‘the world’ from a range of perspectives and embracing challenges and experiences is part of my personality and informs my work.
Having worked in a variety of ‘people development’ and managerial roles, I am very aware of the operational challenges, personality clashes, hidden agendas, political sensitivities, resource constraints and heavy workloads that exist in colleges and other organisations. These issues can be like quicksand to staff motivation and have an adverse effect on performance if they are not addressed.
The good news is I can help people develop the mind-set and skills to cope with these daily challenges and also make time to focus on innovation, renewal and improvement. My aim is always to help individuals and organisations focus on high impact, low preparation changes that can be implemented soon or straight away. This approach builds momentum, confidence and a desire for further improvements.
In my view, the narrative in the most successful organisations is about performance rather than outcomes. Questions like: “What do we do well?” “How can this be shared with others?” “What can we learn from other organisations?” “What could we do better? “How?” “What is not working and how could we do this differently?” “How can we use peer mentoring and coaching to utilise our higher performers?” Outcomes follow when the focus is on improved performance.
On a personal level, I am also a trained Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist. Originally this began as an interest that I explored further. I have since found that whilst coaching, consultancy and training are very different from psychotherapy, many of the principles of this type of therapy are invaluable in my professional work helping others overcome personal fears, limiting beliefs and insecurities affecting their working life.
In my spare time, I like walking in the countryside, running and playing tennis. I also enjoy reading novels, going to gigs, festivals and ‘proper’ pubs.
