What Can Small Businesses Learn From Visionary Larger Businesses?

Are you running a small business and wanting to find new ways to increase sales?

What are savvy larger businesses doing during these tough economic times which smaller business owners like yourself can learn from?

I think it's an interesting period for businesses generally and the whole concept of increasing organisational effectiveness through innovative means is capturing my own and other's attention right now.

More than ever, intellectual philosophising management gurus are speaking about listening to staff and engaging them through getting them to consider, develop and then help to implement their ideas to improve the businesses and organisations they work for.

Yes - leadership is about having a vision and values that inspire your workers but it is also about interacting with them by listening to their ideas and putting some of their suggestions into practice.

If you don't know how to go about engaging with your staff then you might want to ask yourself the following questions which will help guide you through the process and benefit from their ideas:

• What do you really want from your staff and have you let them know?
• What communication channels exist for you as a leader in your businesses to truly maximise the capabilities and potential of your staff?
• How are you motivating staff and getting them involved in improving your business strategy, its delivery processes and operational action plans?
• When was the last time that you asked your staff what motivates them at work and what can be done to meet their needs for job fulfilment and enjoyment?

A simple way to open up the communications channel necessary to make staff engagement possible would be by introducing a 'Tell the MD' programme encouraging staff to share their ideas for improving the business -  especially focusing on the customer and improving the business to customer relationship.

You could also use this programme to ask staff what motivates them, what would be happening if they were optimally motivated and how they think that might be achieved.

One of our propositions right now is working with small businesses and teams within larger businesses to improve their performance - including building their business through introducing a 'High Performing Team' benchmark to measure themselves against and take steps to address any gaps in performance.

Please let us know how you get on with making positive changes in your business and if you would like to know more about the High Performing Team model we are using please get in touch in the usual way via our website at West of England Coaching and Counselling.

What Does Business Coaching 'Do' For People?

Are you thinking about contacting someone about business coaching and want to know a bit more about what this kind of support will likely do for you?

I was motivated to write this blog by a new client who said that such a blog would have helped him to decide to start working with an executive coach sooner.

The truth is, the kind of support provided by any kind of coaching depends on what you want to achieve from the process.

Every case is different but here are some examples of what business coaching can do for individuals, their businesses and their careers:

Most of my clients who are senior executives - including MDs, directors, business owners, senior clinicians, department heads and senior managers - like to use my business coaching as a confidential sounding board for their ideas.

In fact, they come to rely on me as a confidante who they can debate and discuss things with and be challenged on issues where necessary.

I frequently use my own experience of operating in senior corporate roles to provide 'wise counsel' (a client's words - not my own) and advice when requested.

I also always look to help individuals think through what they specifically want, view their options and assess the plans they have put in place to achieve their goals.

Some clients see me for  career coaching where we work together to help them into the career move they're looking for through a process which involves assessing the skills they enjoy using the most and - in some cases  - directly approaching target organisations.

Many clients also use business coaching to help them to gain in confidence for a particular challenge, reduce their anxiety and alleviate any negative introspection or forecasting which might be holding them back

The feedback I receive from clients can also be used to help answer the original question posed in this post - 'What Does Business Coaching 'Do' For People?' - and here are some examples:

• 'Coaching really helped me to raise my game through raising my confidence levels'
• 'Coaching helps me to learn new and better ways of doing business'
• 'Reflecting with my coach helps me to think about new ways of approaching organisational effectiveness'
• 'My coach helped me to improve all of my key work relationships'
• 'Coaching helped me to achieve my goals quicker and easier than on my own'
• 'As a lone director, my coach provides an essential resource to air and discuss ideas with'
• 'I'm supporting my CEO - I needed a coach to give me support'
• 'Coaching helped me to radically change my thinking - I am now realistic, positive and able to put things into perspective'
• 'Working with a coach is like having a rudder on my boat helping me to navigate the rough waters'

If you're interested in coaching, it's a good idea to talk to people who have or are currently undergoing business coaching and I can put you in touch with these people if you want to take the first step towards taking on a business coach.

So, if you have an appetite for making changes through business coaching, career coaching or executive coaching and have any questions before you embark on this journey then please do get in touch with us via our website at West of England Coaching and Counselling.

What Can Small Businesses Learn From John Lewis?

Are you eager to increase your sales and keep your business alive during these challenging economic times?

I ran a workshop recently with a group of senior managers to think about a new way of doing business.

The group wanted me to help them think about the characteristics of a high-performing team and the starting point for them was their values.

John Lewis came up as a good example of an organisation with strong values that drive the success of the business.


John Lewis’s values include treating staff as ‘Partners’ with co-ownership, ‘Sustainability’ in a changing market and maintaining and building ‘Long-term customer relationships’.


You may or may not be in a position to create co-ownership in your business but one way of introducing this idea is perhaps creating a bonus scheme for your staff.

Essentially, the John Lewis ethos is: ‘Looked after staff creates looked after customers and the profit takes care of itself’.

You can bring these values to your small business by introducing any of the following 6 ideas which are drawn from the John Lewis business approach:

1. Empower team members to seek and provide back to the team feedback on what the customer wants and improve your service in line with those ‘customer priorities’
2. Talk to team members regularly about being exceptional and noticing areas where services could and should improve to serve the customer better
3. Openly share your vision, objectives and expectations with all your team members
4. Train your team members in how to effectively deal with customer complaints with an emphasis on ‘the customer is always right’ ethos
5. Empower team members to make their own decisions
6. Ensure your team members ‘know their stuff’, the services you provide inside out and that they 'bend over backwards' for customers

If you find any of these ideas useful please leave a comment on this blog or to find out about more about business coaching contact us through our website at West of England Coaching and Counselling.

Business Coaching for Senior Women Leaders

Are you a woman in a senior role at work?

Do you want to make your mark in business through a job in which you feel well-respected, well-paid and valued for what you achieve?

Do you care more about the organisation than your own individual needs? Are you a nurturing character?

The likelihood is that you make an excellent 'high-performing team' leader.

High performing teams have a clear vision, clear structures, team aligned and agreed goals and objectives and - where there is role clarity - positive team behaviour and change agility.

How does your team fair?

A starting point would be to assert your needs - what do you need to communicate with your team to achieve the high performing team that you want and what do you need from the Board to perform at your potential?

Is your vision aligned with that of your organisation?

Are your goals and objectives aligned with and contributing towards the organisation's?

Are you achieving results in the areas most important to the business, such as, increasing sales performance and reducing costs?

Are the behaviours of you and your team helping you to achieve in the key result areas?

Are you and your team flexible to the changing requirements of the business?

If you have answered 'Yes' to each of these questions you can develop a good business case to support what you are asking for from the Board.

If there are one or more 'No' answers then you may need to address that area before developing your business case.

If you have found this blog useful please leave a comment.

If you would like support in achieving the next level in your career please contact us through our website at West of England Coaching and Counselling.

All Senior Managers Need A Personal Coach

Are you a Senior Manager in an organisation?

If you are, you may or may not be aware of your significance in terms of organisational performance.

I think, of all the layers within an organisational hierarchy, senior managers impact the business more than any other tier.

Senior managers influence the strategic direction of the business as well as the performance of more junior managers and staff.

Senior managers are being made more and more accountable for results - often in the form of key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics such as, revenue targets, budget targets, people targets and so on.

Being a senior manager in today's high change transformation organisational agenda will feel at times stressful and onerous whilst often satisfying as it can help you achieve your ambitions.

Senior managers supported by an executive coach give good gearing for their organisation in that their performance impacts the performance of many others, including, line managers, staff and more senior directors or partners in the business.

Unless you are perfect - and few people are - the likelihood is that you will have development needs identified through your performance management infrastructure which would benefit from a bespoke individual programme best met by working with an executive coach (as opposed to going on a generic training course).

In particular, the non-technical part of your development - your personal competencies - are best met through a combination of coaching, group support and self-development - such as relevant reading.

Leadership coaching is on the increase and covers a multitude of skills including the following areas:

• Vision and goal setting
• Influencing and negotiating
• Decision-making
• Managing poor performance
• Handling conflict
• Delegation
• Assertiveness
• Confidence
• Presentation skills

If you are an ambitious senior manager, who also recognises your scope for further development, and are keen to explore this we would like to sign up for one of our complimentary 'Better Results Today' coaching sessions.

During these sessions we can discuss and explore your strengths and areas for development and you can sign up by simply filling in the online form on our Complimentary Coaching Sessions page on our website.

Alternatively, you can get in touch with us via email at enquiries@westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.uk or via our website at West of England Coaching and Counselling.