Newsletter No.02 : June 2008

This is the website archive copy of the Newsletter sent to Registered Contacts in June 2008. If you want to receive your own copy in future, click here.

In this issue

REACT : Business should not be all take. We should give a little too. In this issue I'll give you the chance to get one day's FREE consultancy. All you have to do is REACT.
Entrepreneurial SatNav : I was recently asked to describe my leadership style using a metaphor. My answer "SatNav". Read this issue and I'll explain.
Leadership Team Workshops : This month's featured Coach; Lucy Marks explains her work with 'Leadership Coaching' and you get your chance to join her Leadership Team Workshops.

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REACT

Running a successful small business has its rewards. It provides money which allows us to have the things we want, to enjoy life and all its pleasures. But we shouldn't take the good times for granted and it's always worth remembering just how lucky we are. Every now and then we should give a little back, to help society be a better place.

REACT - Rapid Effective Assistance for Children with Potentially Terminal illness is a dynamic small charity working hard to improve the quality of life for financially disadvantaged children with life-limiting illnesses living in the UK. I've known of their work for nearly two decades and have supported them where I could and when I could. It's one way I have of putting something back into society - and I'm asking you to do the same.

You can find out just how lucky you are - and just how worthwhile REACT's work is, by visiting their website. Click on REACT and have a good look around. You'll be touched by the stories of just how effectively REACT brings a little joy to young people with terrible illnesses, helping them and their families in very practical ways. You can be practical too, by making a donation - large or small, it all helps.

At the top of this newsletter I said ... "I'll give you the chance to get one day's FREE consultancy. All you have to do is REACT." Well here's how it works.

Visit the REACT website, make a donation and email details of that donation to me. I'll get verification from the team at REACT and the person or business making the biggest verified donation by 30th June 2008 wins one day's FREE consultancy. It's as simple as that. Make a donation and get my services for a day.

Hopefully a little give and take will go a long way to help some young lives.

Entrepreneurial SatNav

I was recently asked to describe my leadership style using a metaphor. My answer "SatNav".

At first this answer surprised me a little. It was a quick off the cuff suggestion to an unexpected question. However as my young inquisitor probed further, I realised that it was actually a very good representation of what I do in business.

When I get involved with a new business it's a bit like sitting in a different car - a car I'm not used to. Although I know all the usual controls, knobs and switches are there, it takes a little time to get to know exactly where they are. It's a bit like programming a SatNav - you know where you want to go, but it takes a few minutes to enter the destination address, calculate the route, and decide whether to turn right or left out of your driveway.

But when I'm on the road I know exactly where my destination is. I have a clear visual picture of it and the route to it. I know the roads to the left and the right of my chosen route. And if an obstacle appears in front of me blocking the road, I can re-route fairly quickly and be heading towards my destination again, avoiding trouble along the way.

My work with a new business is a bit like this in that I'm usually called in when an obstacle has appeared in the road and they've screeched to a halt with an emergency stop. They're looking to me as their SatNav to identify a new route to their chosen destination. My job involves knowing the destination, identifying the obstacle and calculating a new route from where we are now to where we want to be.

However in Britain we have the added fun of ... the weather. Sometimes a wintry day brings foggy conditions and it's hard to see more than a few yards of the road ahead. We know the destination and the route we're travelling but the foggy conditions mean we have to slow down and drive very carefully, peering ahead in the gloom to make sure we don't run into something unexpected.

The current economic climate is a bit foggy. The credit crunch is gradually having an effect throughout the business world and many are finding that what was once a clear road ahead is now a foggy mist of uncertainty.

My advice in these foggy conditions is to slow down, look carefully at your business through the fog, focus carefully and precisely taking time to ensure that the road ahead is actually there in front of you. Above all don't go too fast expecting the road to be clear, or thinking "I can stop quickly" because in reality your reaction times are slower than you think and before you know it you'll have ploughed into the car in front, wrecking your future in the process. A little caution right now might just ensure a long business life!

This month's featured Executive Coach:

Lucy Marks

Lucy Marks is the ultimate professional coach, in my humble opinion. Her client list is extensive, ranging from executive teams at multi-national mega companies - to individual entrepreneurs like me. You can read her full profile by clicking here.

This month we're featuring her work with Leadership Coaching and at the end of this article there's a special offer just for our newsletter readers.

Individual Leadership Coaching

Lucy works with individuals to achieve change and development within a leadership context. Whether the individual is new into a leadership role or wishing to re-establish their leadership image, Lucy will work towards success for them. To achieve this, Lucy creates a tailored individual coaching programme which incorporates:

Image and presence: reflecting on the individual's perception of themselves and how they are perceived by others.
Personal branding: challenging the individual to create a personal brand that represents their aims, objectives and role within the organisation.
Personal strengths: building on those strengths that have helped the individual reach the position attained and help them to use these strengths to become more successful.
Areas of growth: identify areas of need within an individual, by using areas of strength and focused growth and development to create improved balance and overall capability.

I find it hard to explain on screen that 'light bulb moment' when Lucy gets your brain to unexpectedly click everything into place. All I can say is "it works" and the shift it brings makes mountains move. It's worth every penny!

Coaching Teams

Lucy works with senior teams, using a range of tools and leadership frameworks to reposition and awaken their leadership capabilities. Lucy works with teams to align the team strengths to the organisation through a range of workshop interventions and team meeting follow ups:

Vision, Values Workshop: facilitating senior teams to cascade organisational vision into teams and identify those core values required to achieve the vision.
Culture Workshop: build on organisation and team vision and values to determine required cultural behaviours, communication and leadership style and training needs across a team.
Team Building: helping teams to understand team dynamics and to create balance where personality type, role commitments and individual motivations have historically inhibited team performance.
Team Facilitation: helping teams, especially team leaders, to step away from facilitating and to allow them to participate fully in the workshop process.

The leadership workshops that Lucy runs for Alfred Ivy usually comprise a series of half days at monthly intervals, combined with putting 'theory into practice'. The number of half days and the content of those half days is very much tailored to the individual clients and client companies. So when you ask "how much does it cost and when can we do it?" the answer is always "how long is a piece of string" and "that depends on what you want" ... so, "let's talk".

We're now taking bookings for workshops in August and September - which is only just around the corner in view of the preparation and pre-workshop client discussions that are required. So don't put this off until tomorrow. Contact us now so that we can discuss the length of your piece of string and just what you want to use it for. Newsletter readers who have registered their details on the Alfred Ivy website can claim a 10% discount when booking and quoting LUCY-0806 before 30th June 2008.

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See you next month.

Bernie Wales
Director
ALFRED IVY LTD

Alfred Ivy Ltd, Orche Hill Chambers, 52 Packhorse Road,
Gerrards Cross, SL9 8EF, UK
Tel: +44(0)1753 895 438 | Email: bernie.wales@alfred-ivy.co.uk