Many thanks for visiting my website.We may have met at a networking event, or made contact via LinkedIn, and you are now looking to find out a bit more about what I do and how I do it.
I specialise in helping business owners get the best from their biggest investment – their people. How? Using a variety of coaching approaches that identify and release performance blocks, as well as energise and motivate people to perform at their best.
This website outlines several of the methods I use, as well as examples illustrating how I have used them. Inevitably, however, a website can only deliver so much.
If you need help with the performance of one of your people, just call me at the number below.
M: 07789 077 571
Cut to the chase … explore three ways to transform how your people perform
This may be you …
By necessity, most of this website is about me and what I can offer to help you, your people and hence your business. However, the most important person is you, the client.
So, what brings you here?
Perhaps you’ve come to appreciate that one (or more) of your employees needs some focus to support and challenge them to develop and contribute more to your business. You may be planning to give them a more senior role or it might simply be that they have a couple of areas that need improving to increase their contribution.
With so many urgent and conflicting demands on your time, you also appreciate that you cannot devote the structured time that this requires. You also see the advantages of engaging someone experienced in a wide variety of business situations who can bring an outside perspective.
You are looking for someone experienced in helping individuals overcome a huge range of performance challenges to give the best chance of achieving success with your employee.
Getting to the source of the issue
Often the source of the challenge is not obvious and requires some probing to uncover. I pride myself on being able to pinpoint the reason behind any difficulties and supporting the client to overcome them.
I often use the example of driving down the motorway and wanting to increase your speed. You could press the accelerator, but this probably results in more stress on the engine and transmission.
… Or you could release the handbrake.
That’s a great way of thinking about my approach to coaching. We are looking for the equivalent of the handbrake. One simple example of this is when someone has difficulties managing their time. If they believe their time is not valuable, no amount of training on the latest time-management techniques will result in any significant long-term improvement. Pinpointing the source of that belief and letting it go, will.
Just as you bring in your accountant to ensure you keep HMRC happy and your architect to design your new extension, bringing in a specialist to develop your people is a sensible investment, not only improving their contribution to your business but also reducing their stress and ensuring they stay with your business in the long-term.
It is worth remembering that the number one reason for leaving an organisation is an employee feeling they are not developing.
As a business owner, you will also appreciate that the most significant impact on the profitability of your business is not, in fact, a trusted employee leaving, although that is bad enough. More significant than that, is an employee who stays in the business but is no longer engaged/motivated to do his job. That impacts his or her performance and all the people around them.
So, if you’re feeling that it’s time to invest in your greatest asset, read on…
Our coaching formats
I have found that a great place to start is with an initial meeting with the person to be coached, as well as the person they report to. Ideally, this would be face to face. We use this meeting to define the issue(s) to be resolved, as well as the objectives to be reached.
During our meeting, we explore what you want to achieve and how we will know when we have achieved it. This is often trickier than it sounds. As an example, with the increase of working from home, business owners frequently ask how they can be sure their people are doing a full day’s work. Often, we reframe the question to ask “how do we know the person is adding value to the business?” That refocuses our conversation to getting crystal clear on what outputs are required and so what needs to be measured. Then we go on to work out what needs to happen to put a simple system in place to measure key results.
I like to think we are the equivalent of buying a bespoke suit. It takes longer to be measured up by the tailor, but the resulting fit is so much better. Similarly, you could always opt for an “off the peg” coaching solution, but I believe that success is based on thorough preparation. That’s why I spend time gathering information on your current situation, getting to know you and the challenges you want to address.
A typical initial meeting
An interesting example comes to mind. I was meeting with the Director of a division of a large company, who wanted to improve the performance of his senior team. After a great chat for about 45 mins, he said “OK, so what is your programme to sort this”. My reaction was that we hadn’t discovered the fundamental issue affecting the business let alone worked on designing a solution. He then reached down and plonked a large A4 folder on his desk, saying “that’s the programme another supplier left me after 30 minutes conversation”. I did suggest he go with that company as clearly they were psychic as they knew the issue/solution before the first discovery meeting.
I do not have standard “off the shelf” programmes that every client goes through. No pre-determined questionnaires, no automatically generated analysis. No “one size fits all”. Over the years, I have discovered that three formats prove highly effective. The content and process within those formats are always unique to you, the client.
Transforming an individual's performance
This format has proven particularly effective in helping individuals improve their overall performance in a variety of roles. There may be a specific performance issue to tackle or the general desire to improve their overall performance.
Generating a business breakthrough
This format is often used by business owners, where we cover all aspects of the business, decide on the issues that need priority and put together a plan to implement those actions.
Overcoming a specific performance issue
Quite often an individual may have a single area of their performance that they want to address. They are achieving great results in the rest of their role, so an overall coaching programme is not warranted
The process of getting to know your business often leads to other projects and assignments
WHAT our clients (willingly) say about the work that we do.
“I have used Allan in two capacities. As a coach he has helped me to achieve major changes in my career and greater fulfilment in many aspects of my life. As a consultant his work with a large team of managers resulted in significant changes in their approach to their work and the contribution they made to the organisation. He is highly experienced, knowledgeable and skilful and a person of exceptional integrity.”
“Three sessions with Allan were enough to help me re-focus on those areas of greatest value to me professionally, and in turn personally. The structured process and guidance offered by Allan didn’t necessarily tell me anything I didn’t already know, but it did enable me to see the wood from the trees and plan the way forward in achievable, goal-orientated steps.”
You’re welcome to complete the contact form below. Better still, just call me for an informal chat …
“I have worked with Allan on many occasions and on many projects and expect to do so again soon. If I had to describe Allan’s approach in two words I’d say “critical friend” … in every sense of the word. Allan has proved to be vital during difficult times and has never been afraid to constructively challenge me and my team when necessary. High recommended!”
“Allan worked with our sales team right at the start of putting together our proposition and was excellent at ensuring we described our proposition in terms of benefits for our clients and not from our point of view. As with most start-ups, funding was an issue and I appreciated that we were not tied into many sessions-one session of three hours was enough to get us on the right track”
Ready to focus
on your business mindset?
Drop me a message and let’s start a conversation
“We hired Allan to facilitate a team meeting in Bratislava. He worked with our management group and a selection of stakeholders beforehand and got a thorough understanding of the areas we needed to address. Through a mixture of practical light-hearted exercises and discussion about the learning we took from them, he helped us to bring about a permanent change in the way we view ourselves as a team and also significant progress in the effectiveness of our communications.
As well as his professionalism and skills, Allan is a really nice guy to work with. I recommend him wholeheartedly.”
“Working with Allan really allowed me to look at my business from a different angle. He believed in me, when sometimes I doubted myself. Allan has years of experience in business and can point you in the right direction. He will hold you accountable and will provide you with some tough love to get the best out of you and your business. Everything starts with mindset. Allan has not just been my business coach, but has become more like a friend. Thank you Allan for all your support.”