3-2-1 Bluebells!

One of Spring’s greatest sights will soon be upon us – carpets of brilliantly coloured Bluebells appearing in our woodlands!  Their glory is short-lived, as they must make the most of the sunlight, which falls on the soil before the trees above them burst into leaf and block their source of light.  They seize their moment and come into bloom from mid-April onwards.  And over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend you can go out and find them in local woodlands.

So how well do we prepare ourselves for our opportunity to shine?  Are you setting time aside now to understand yourself better, reflect on your achievements and think about what your next steps may be?  If the opportunity you’ve always dreamed of appeared tomorrow, how well would you present yourself and your skills?  Are you ready to seize your moment?

These Bluebell bulbs have put in plenty of preparation ahead of their grand display.  Seeds, which were produced the previous June, have scattered and germinated and developed into flower bulbs.  Dormant from July onwards, the bulbs have soaked up nutrition from the soil around them for months and began to grow underground in January.  Depending on weather conditions, their first shoots appeared in February and developed leaves in March.

Making time to build up your skills and knowledge is time well spent.  It’s important to step back from your day-to-day commitments and consider what you would like to do next and how you will prepare for your next challenge.  It is common today to find ourselves facing significant challenges, which we may not have foreseen.  It happens in our work life, our home life, as business leaders and as human beings who care about each other.  We need to assess our strengths, and our level of resilience in the face of new circumstances.  We need to look carefully at our skill sets and often develop new ones fast.

Regular coaching sessions will help you to:

• Put time aside to reflect
• Consider your next steps
• Understand yourself better
• Set yourself achievable goals
• Get help and support in achieving your goals

At Blue Pebble Coaching we work with employees of large and small organisations, charities and business leaders and owners, supporting them to understand themselves and what drives them and to become more adaptable and resilient.  

So when you go out and about looking for Bluebells at the weekend, spare a thought for your own personal development and take your first step investing time in yourself.

Izzy Ixer, Blue Pebble Coaching, www.bluepebblecoaching.co.uk

You can discover great places to go Bluebell-hunting on the Wildlife Trust’s website http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/dazzled-by-bluebells

The Bluebell Railway Walks website has detailed information about how Bluebells grow http://www.bluebellrailwaywalks.co.uk/bluebells.php

5 ways to survive a training course

New year, new you – and maybe you will be going on a training course or attending a workshop?  This could either be for work or for your own interest and whichever it is you may find yourself feeling slightly apprehensive! 

A couple of months ago I overheard two people talking about a training course they were traveling to.  They were clearly both anxious about it and felt concerned about the course and what would be expected of them.  They were worried about being on time and already nervous about introducing themselves at the beginning of the course, which is something many people fear.

If you only attend training courses occasionally, then there are some easy steps you can take to build your confidence by planning ahead. 

Here are a 5 things you can do:

Dress correctly

The way you dress for training courses matters.  We all know that first impressions count, so it’s worth getting it right so that you feel confident from the start.  If the dress code isn’t stated, you can contact the organiser beforehand and find out what’s expected.  Smart/casual dress is popular, but you may feel awkward dressed like this if everyone else arrives in suits or dresses down. 

Plan your travel

Allow plenty of time for traveling.  It’s better to arrive early and go for a short walk or have a coffee than to arrive late.  Information about travel times is available from apps and websites and it’s worth checking if there are any events on which may impact these times.  Allow plenty of time for finding somewhere to park and if you’re traveling by public transport check and re-check your journey times.  Traveling with a friend is a great way to feel more confident.  And if you are really uncertain about where you are going, it’s worth doing a practice run!

Find out more about the course facilitator or presenter

Learning works best when the group shares knowledge and interacts well.  Your joining instructions may provide more information about the course content and the course facilitator.  Go online and see what else you can discover.  This gives you a chance to check on any technical terms or professional “jargon” and work out beforehand what it means.  You can learn something interesting about the subject and maybe even prepare a question, so if you find you are on the spot you have something prepared which you can say or ask.

Decide what you want from the course

We all have different reasons for attending courses.  Apart from learning new skills and gaining knowledge, there are opportunities for networking, friendship, professional development and a host of other benefits.  You may find it helpful to think about what you would like from the course or workshop yourself.  This could be specific information, clarification on something you’d like to understand better, an opportunity to study further or a desire to connect with others in order to gain support.  Thinking about your own aims will help to shape the way you interact in the sessions and will keep you engaged during the course.  And you may be asked at the beginning of the course what your own personal objectives are, so it’s another bit of preparation which will help you to feel in control and confident on the day!

Prepare your introduction

Sometimes known as the “creeping death” the start of most group sessions includes the opportunity to introduce yourself.  Some course facilitators are kind and pair people up then ask them to introduce each other.  But whichever way it goes, you’ll need to have a few things to say by way of introduction.  You may not have too much difficulty with your name, but a job title and role can be a little trickier, especially in a mixed group where your words and descriptions may not help others to understand what you do.  Think about this beforehand and decide how you want to be known and practise a clear way of describing what you do.  And you can always add in something interesting like an unusual hobby to spice things up!

And finally

Confidence can be a fragile thing.  When life is going well and we feel on top of our game, then we achieve the things we want and this builds our confidence for the next challenge.  It’s a good feeling.  However, if a few things start to slip, if we run out of time, if we don’t prepare adequately then we can get caught out and this make a dent in our confidence.  Stay positive!  It happens to us all.  The question is what to do about it? 

My clients tell me that setting aside time to reflect and prioritise what is really important in their lives is one of the most rewarding things that they can do.  Clarity comes from giving yourself space in your busy life.  We believe that “doing” is important.  And it is.  But "not doing" for short periods of time is even more valuable.  So maybe one of the small changes you can  make for 2017 is sometimes to do a little less.   Now there’s something to reflect on.

Izzy Ixer MCMI. Blue Pebble Coaching Ltd

Coaching and Mentoring in Woodbridge, Ipswich, Saxmundham in Suffolk

It's National Mentorng day – think before you jump in!

As today is National Mentoring Day, so it’s a great time to look at what mentoring is and to consider some of the factors, which can make for a great mentoring relationship.

Finding yourself a mentor isn’t always easy.  You need to feel confident that the person you are working with understands you and the challenges you are facing.  You need to know that they can strike the right balance between sharing information, knowledge and opportunities with you and also leaving you the space to absorb what has been shared during the mentoring session.

A skilled mentor recognises the importance of a reflective learning practice.  This means allowing time to assimilate information, making it your own and understanding how new skills and information can be put to good use.  These are the keys to a successful mentoring relationship.  When you find yourself a mentor, then you may find it helpful to keep a diary and to capture ideas and self-observations – this will be a great resource to reflect on your journey.

Demonstration of block printing

There are 6 commonly recognised factors which, when well managed, contribute to the success of the mentoring relationship.  They are well worth bearing in mind before, during and after the mentoring relationship has ended.

Purpose

The purpose of the mentoring arrangement needs to be clarified so that the mentor brings the right skills, experience and opportunities to the relationship.  The purpose may subtly change over time, so checking that both parties are still happy with the relationship is an important step in the process.  One of the purposes of mentoring is to bring to the person being mentored (the mentee) access to contacts, who may be influential in supportingtheir development.   This important aspect of mentoring needs to be discussed early in the relationship.

Communication

The way the mentoring session works will need to be tailored to suit the preferences of the person being mentored.  Some people prefer a face-to-face relationship while others may feel more comfortable in groups.  Some mentoring can take place online or by telephone.  If the purpose of the mentoring exercise is to induct and encourage a new group of recruits into an organisation, for example, group mentoring can be a powerful way of bringing new recruits on board and maintaining their enthusiasm for the organisation after the initial excitement of the new job has started to diminish.  In the early stages of the relationship the mentee will spend much of the time listening and questioning to clearly ascertain needs and support the formulation of goals.

Statue of an elephant

Trust

A good match between the mentor and the menteee will enable the relationship to start well.  The presentation of the mentor, the way they use their voice and their gestures all have an impact.  The mentor must be trustworthy, maintain confidentiality and have integrity if the relationship is to work.  Successful mentoring happens when the relationship between the mentor and the mentee is well founded and a good rapport has been developed.  Unlike coaching, mentors bring their own experience into the relationship, which makes it a more personal contract.  Confidence must be respected on both sides.

Process

The pace and frequency of the sessions need to be agreed and moderated as needed.  Time to explore goals and needs should be set aside at the start of therelationship to allow for the development of goals and for clarification about the way they will be achieved.  Th eperson being mentored may choose to have a number of different mentors and the process of working with other mentors may give rise to complexity in terms of goal setting and achievement of milestones.

Progress

An honest way of discussing progress against goals and providing feedback needs to be in place.  A mentoring plan with regular reviews in place is a good way of setting this up.  Milestones need to be celebrated and a time will come when the mentor has learned as much as they feel they can from their mentor.  The mentoring process needs to allow for this to happen in a planned and non-threatening way.

And finally ...

If you keep these things in mind you will soon discover the benefits of mentoring.  And remember – mentors can get just as much out of the relationship as the people they are supporting.  Reflecting on your own successes and failures and how you faced up to your challenges will reveal much about your own progress through life and can strengthen your own sense of self.

If you are interested in establishing mentoring in your organisation then get in touch with us.  We’re here to help.

Izzy Ixer

Director and Principal Consultant

Blue Pebble Coaching Ltd

www.bluepebblecoaching.co.uk