A Half Dozen Things Podcast by Pete Rushmer

Get creative, know your vision, know your customer and know your numbers with Michelle Wilson-Stimson | AHDT S1#15

Michelle Wilson-Stimson is a creative entrepreneur, who is the founder and managing director of 2 limited companies, Eparaplan and Boss Bird.

Eparaplan provides financial services admin, legal, paraplanning, compliant support and coaching to the Financial Advice industry. Boss Bird is a stationery business specialising in desk planners, inspirational to do lists and daily and weekly diary planners which are designed to help business woman or working mums plan and control their lives whilst ensuring wellbeing and good health.

Michelle’s career is split between a creative nature including professional photography and graphic design to that in the financial sector, being a Stockbroker and Financial Adviser. Although these are the 2 domineering industries she now works, she has also worked in hospitality in running public houses with an ex-partner, set up and run a model agency - whilst also modelling herself (something she still dabbles in now and then) and has worked in purchasing control and banking.

Her varied career has given her a huge set of experiences and skills in which she uses in her roles today.

Michelle is an avid reader and has read a number of business and personal development books given her hindsight and a forward thinking approach when working on and in her businesses. Her leadership style is Laissez Faire and Transformational. She allows her eparaplan team of near on 20 people to develop and grow within her business and be proactive members with full autonomy to control their position. She also works with them to grow them both personally and within the business and feels all employees, no matter their background, are capable of taking responsibility for their development with her support and becoming something far greater than the label they may give themselves.

Michelle would describe herself as a lady with her fingers in many pies.... and that she can't quite decide which tastes the best yet and so will keep developing both her current businesses and new ones until she does.

She has a strong sense of family values and prides herself on her honesty and integrity. She states she can challenge some with her honest views but feels it helps prevent any confusion as to where one would stand with both clients and colleagues.

Michelle has been asked to write a number of articles and has been interviewed a great deal in order to pull some of her underlying knowledge and thoughts on certain subject matters.

Outside of work, Michelle enjoys skiing, spending time with her family and taking photographs which, although once was a full time role, is now very much dedicated to capturing her own life events, however - she does have an application form on her photography website for special client requests for weddings and other family photography.

Michelle is an award winning entrepreneur having recently won the femprenuer of the year with the women in Peterborough awards for her inspirational entreprenialship. She is also up for 2 awards with the Peterborough small business awards This year and another award with the national Women in Business awards as the most influential woman. 

As well as these award she has won numerous award for her photography, she is a women of many skills and talents! 

 

This week she discusses her a half dozen things for success in business.......

1. BE present – know your business today
2. Work from the top down – Develop an organisation from the CEO and work down to complete an org chart – detail every role possible and think big.
3. Know your numbers – understand your cash flow and forecast always
4. Know you customer – without these and without understanding your customer you will not appeal to them or be valued by them
5. Be honest – not only with yourself but your customers
6. Be Creative – never stop working on the business – creating new products or diversifying.

Get the very best from your people and your team with Katy Walton | AHDT S1#14

Today I interview Katy Walton, founder of Real Progress.

You may have reached a point in your career, where you want to go for a promotion or think about your next role or challenge.

You may have been identified as “high potential” or be on a succession plan for a more senior role.

You may be an expert in your professional specialism, and need to make some changes to be ready for a more senior leadership role

Maybe you get feedback that you need to:

🚀be more influential
🚀show more leadership
🚀improve your confidence
🚀increase your gravitas
🚀build your reputation and business relationships

Katy has worked in learning, talent and development roles in large organisations for years, helping people just like you to make real progress, achieve your career goals, get your ideal role - and succeed in it!

How? Katy uses a blend of coaching, development and consultancy, depending on what you need help with.

- Coaching. Katy's a post-graduate level qualified coach with years of hands on experience in large corporate organisations.

- Development. Katy's run hundreds of workshops and programmes specialising in exactly these areas. I know what works! And I also know what’s likely to be holding you back.

- Consultancy. Katy's partnered with individuals, business units and whole organisations to understand their challenges and implement highly effective techniques to bridge the gap.

Want to know more about how Katy can help you to make real progress?

www.makerealprogress.co.uk

The Secrets of Success and High Performance Coaching with Greg Baker | AHDT S1#13

Greg is Head Coach to the British Para Table Tennis team. Greg was instrumental in the success of British Para Table Tennis achieving multiple medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and securing record breaking results in Rio 2016, assisting Great Britain to finish in the top 2 of the medals table. He has competed and worked in High Performance Coaching for over 20 years, coaching elite athletes, coaches, support staff and senior leaders. Greg’s Performance Coaching and Head Coach Leadership to date has delivered over 60 major medals, including 2 Paralympic Gold medallists, 2 World Champions and 10 European Gold medallists. A proven ability to increase medal success and creating a gold medal-winning programme together with enhancing and embedding a value based performance culture. Greg believes in leadership responsibility at all levels within an organisation and delivers his coaching/leadership with trust, respect, honesty, intuition and collaboration. Greg's selfless dedication to his role as coach is not only inspiring high performance in his athletes, but he's bringing those same skills into the business arena to help business leaders learn from and benefit from his highly person centred approach to coaching.

 

- Ensure everyone leads

- Learn to adapt (Change is always needed)

- Have a consistent message (Understand what success looks like)

- Influence in all directions

- Start with self

- Culture first (Collaborate/Values/principles/People focused)

- Results will follow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun, cut the BS and keep it real with Jo Bevilacqua | AHDT S1#12

Jo is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown three successful businesses with no prior experience in any of their industries prior to their launch. A flooring business, a hair and beauty salon with a crèche and an online and inperson mentoring community, helping business owners grow their businesses. Jo has made such a success that not only has she and her businesses won multiple national awards she has been invited to the House of Lords and Buckingham Palace for the impact her businesses make on her local community. She always puts people over profits which is why she has grown three strong brands that employees love to work for and clients love to be apart of. Her 'A Half Dozen Things' are; Usp, Keep it fun, team, client experience, relationships and be real

 

 

 

 

 

Control your money and do what you want with Ben Aveling | AHDT S1#11

Ben's Linked In profile headline is 

Owner of the highest rated farm shop in Cambridge (according to google so...) Radmore Farm Shop.

His description is 'I am job'.

 

Ben is owner of Radmore Farm shop est 2006 and is brilliantly funny, emerging stand up comic.  Enjoy his half dozen, will 7 things actually below;

 

1. Decide what you deem successful (money/lifestyle/being your own boss etc) and be realistic. Success is different depending on who you are.

2. Learning good delegation skills and gaining the right staff/help - and deciding when you “don’t” need people.

3. Doing what you want, not what someone else wants

4. Thrive under pressure and preparation for working very hard. You have to prepare to change all the time (almost daily) and according to what’s happening. These could be huge changes- complete “U turns”

5. Don’t take things personally, let things go

6. Control of the money and bills

7. What “to give up”. Being able know and “Getting rid of the dead wood” is a huge part of success.

The 2nd Rushcast; 6 Ways to beat Overwhem | AHDT S1#10

I have been feeling massively overwhelmed recently and here re my 6 tips for getting it beaten in this Rushcast special episode.

1. Accept you anxiety

2. Change the overwhelming thoughts, these are unhelpful.

3. Change you multi-tasking mindset and focus.

4. Focus on RIGHT NOW.

5. Take a deep breath and relax

6. Prioritise and take action

Find your why and develop your leadership with Dyfrig Jenkins | AHDT S1#9

An experienced business coach with a specialist offering across many key industries providing solutions to organisations based on their individual requirements.
Insightful, creative and passionate, Dyfrig partners with organisations, establishes target objectives and creates a roadmap for end to end delivery and evaluation.

Dyfrig has led operational teams and Learning & Development functions, so has first-hand experience of the pressures and rewards of leading in business. He has the ability to work at operational, tactical and strategic levels, influencing stakeholders up to board level.

Dyfrig's half dozen things are;

1. Be clear on WHY you are doing what you are doing

• What do you want to get out of it personally and professionally? Why? What will it give you? Independence, autonomy, more opportunity to make a difference - a comfortable retirement?

 

• When clear on your Why….Business is about technical competence and management - but if you want to be a leader, you have to learn to lead (self-employed or employed) 

 

• Before, we relied on Knowledge and Skills, as a leader its helpful / essential to focus on Behaviours, Judgement and Perception 

 

• 70 businesses an hour are created in the UK  - but 29% go under in Yr1 and 60% go under by Yr3, much due to a lack of managerial competence and understanding what it takes to be an effective leader 

 

• There are hundreds of quotes about leadership and many explanations - leaders today do need to think role modelling the behaviours their want to see developing EQ, learn about accountability, authenticity, humility, confidence, being able to inspire and influence through positivity and 'can do'. 

 

2. Surround yourself with the best people available - at a price you can afford 

• You probably deserve the place you've worked hard to get

 

• Leaders (those who are stepping up, or who have been in role a while) need to draw on all their skills, but we all have areas that we are not so good at. So ask for help and advice (it can often cost nothing) from people you know and trust; or pay for services such as finance, marketing, HR when you need too

 

• This will allow you to focus on doing what you are good at  - your 'Why'

 

• Employ the best people you can, not just the first ones you find. The best companies have the best people, you might not be able to pay a huge salary, but it has to be competitive - and remember great people don't just work for a salary

 

• Remember that you can employ great people on contacts / part time -  too, be creative 

 

3. Be Customer Centric 

• Your business or organisation is nothing without customers - know who your ideal customers are then go out and get them

 

• 2020 survey suggest that 25.9% of customers prefer excellent service, even if it means paying more. 59.9% of customers want a balance of price and service. 14.2% of customers prefer no frills service

 

• Today's customers want a great experience (all touch points) They want you handle complaints well, they want you to care about them, they want you to be  ethical, they want to know they can trust you

 

• Be willing to adapt to changing customer needs and expectations - if you won't they'll just go somewhere else - customers aren't always loyal

 

• You won't get it right all of the time, but it's critical to learn from what you do well and where you are failing.

 

4. Communicate 

• Communication is about receiving information and transmitting it. Listening is a more difficult skill than talking

 

• A 2019 survey suggest that up to 2/3 of 1,000 people would consider leaving their employer based on poor communication alone

 

• Listen to your customers, your people, your suppliers and others. Ask for feedback - even though you might not like what you hear or read

 

• Talk and engage people; tell stories, share your vision, your standards, successes and frustrations. Engage and role model excellence.  

 

• For leaders who spend all day in meetings / in their office, get out more and be present. It can be more important and productive

 

5. Learn to develop yourself and others  

• The book by Marshal Goldsmith ‘What got you here, won't get you there’ talks about unconscious annoying habits

 

• It's easy for leaders to be absorbed in the day to day operation, it's common for leaders to think there isn't time formal or informal learning

 

• Successful leaders have mentors / coaches, critical friends willing to support / challenge

 

• Successful leaders are the ones who are working on their business, not just in it

 

• Learning is often difficult and it often takes time. We spent years in formal education, we might have then gone to College or University, but what has happened since?

 

• “The best investment you can make is in yourself. The more you learn, the more you earn” Warren Buffett (net worth $88 billion)

 

• If we stop learning and improving our knowledge skills and behaviours, we aren't plateauing, we are declining when compared to peers and our competitors

 

• You people need to be constantly development too. How robust are your induction processes? How to you measure performance? How do you help your people succeed (not fail)?

 

• As your business grows, you will need to delegate work to others, if they are not capable of doing the work, you won't   ever be able to let anything go - a major failing of leaders and you'll end up doing it all. And  there aren't enough hours in the day for that.

 

6. Be flexible 

• A recent survey stated that up to 62% of employees were willing to leave their employer based on its flexibility

 

• Some people might think this may be influenced by Millennials and their need for a more progressive workplace, however in this report; of the people willing to leave their employer, 21% were Millennials and 31% were Baby Boomers

 

• Our experience in 2020 has shown us is that Flexibility can happen in many businesses and organisations. Some people can't wait to go back to the traditional way of working, some will want to date and home and in between there will be many variations. This could work better for you as a leader and for your people too

 

• Flexibility isn't just about working processes and practices, it's a mindset - be open to change, being open to changing your mind

Following your instincts and ’How to be like Barbie’ with Bev Thorogood | AHDT S1#8

Bev Thorogood is the founder of Floresco Training and Coaching, a L&D provider specialising in building skills to help develop women in the workplace.

 

Following a 32 year career in the Ministry of Defence, she spent the last 10 years in Learning and Development and has years of experience training military and civilian personnel in the science of Human Factors–the discipline of optimising human performance in the workplace. As well as helping to build high performing teams using The Strength Deployment Inventory to help understand what motivates people and how that impacts their behaviour. 

 

She particularly specialises in helping businesses and organisations to support their female workforce through workshops and seminars to raise awareness and break down the taboo of menopause and get the conversation started about this natural phase in a woman’s life-cycle.

 

Her 'A Half Dozen Things' are;

 

Follow the Evidence

Be like Barbie

The gut knows best 

Join forces

Keep showing up

Assume good intent

Pride in the Workplace, SPECIAL episode with Teddi the Drag Queen | AHDT S1#7

In this A Half Dozen Things Pete and Teddi the Drag Queen have a no holds barred discussion about Pride and all things LGBTQIA+.

 

The aim of this podcast episode is to challenge thinking, challenge stereotypes and breakdown preconceptions.

Tune in to learn more;

1. Lgbtqia+ understanding the letters
2. Lgbtqia+ and the workplace
3. Lgbtqia+ language
4. Ignorance 
5. Acceptance 
6. Supporting Lgbtqia+ people as an ally

 

 

Discussing Safety Differently and Human Operational Performance (HOP) with Colin Nottage | AHDT S1#6

Colin is the director of IMG, Influential Management Group (IMG) provides an established and reputable Health and Safety consultancy; who don’t just tick boxes ‘so you’re covered’, they work with you and your workforce to create and implement proven systems that keep working and improving your business year after year.

Colin is also the host of 'The Interesting Health and Safety Podcast.'  His 6 focus areas for success are;

1) Understanding your people and having empathy

2) Clear Objectives

3) Creating an Environment of Openness and Trust

4) Being adaptable

5) Marketing effectively

6) Credibility