Tag: confidence

  • How to speak in public – even if you hate it

    How to speak in public – even if you hate it

    So, you’ve known about your speaking engagement for ages. You accepted it months ago, not quite believing the day would ever come. But the weeks are whizzing by and you’re beginning to have sleepless nights over standing up there in the spotlight. You know you need to get preparing but each time you even think…

  • What if they find me out?

    What if they find me out?

    I’m starting with a new coaching client this week. In our recent Discovery Session to explore if we wanted to work together, she shared her nervousness about her new leadership role. “What if I’m not up to it?” she confided. “What if I should have stayed where I was?”. “What if they find me out?” Ah,…

  • Big, audacious plans for 2017? How to stay positive

    Big, audacious plans for 2017? How to stay positive

    So, it’s a brand new year. Your plans for 2017 are all drawn up and they’re exciting and ambitious. Wow! There’s a lot to do if you’re to grow income so dramatically. And you want to get those new campaigns up and running, too… Yes, you’re ambitious for the organisation. Audacious even. But you know…

  • What I learned about resilience from five days on a bike

    What I learned about resilience from five days on a bike

      Setting off on my very first cycling holiday this summer I knew that I was going to have to dig deep into my resilience reserves. And I wasn’t at all sure I had any. But I was heading off for five days of physical activity (something I’d never done before) and if I was…

  • Why you absolutely must trust your team

    Why you absolutely must trust your team

    It’s hard to put total trust in your people sometimes, isn’t it? A big project is about to go live and you find yourself awake at night, worrying. All those disastrous worst case scenarios go round and round.  You wonder whether the staff member in charge really is on top of everything. What if? What…

  • Is a difficult colleague getting to you?

    Is a difficult colleague getting to you?

    One of my coaching clients is having a really hard time at his job with a third sector organisation. A difficult colleague is making his life very tough. She’s blocking his ideas. Blanking him in the corridor. Undermining him in meetings. And it’s really beginning to take its toll. He’s stressed and anxious most of…

  • Speak up, Shut up – how to influence in a meeting

    Speak up, Shut up – how to influence in a meeting

    So, your manager would like you to have more influence in meetings. She says you need more ‘presence’. She wants you to make more of yourself and make more of an impact. She wants more ‘oomph’. Well, that’s easier said that done, isn’t it? You do your best. You’re always prepared. You think you know…

  • Feel like a fraud at work? Here’s the #1 solution

    Feel like a fraud at work? Here’s the #1 solution

      So, you’ve had a bad day You’re feeling overwhelmed, full of doubt and, quite frankly, pissed off. How come your colleagues are just getting on after that horrendous meeting? How can they do that? They look so together and professional. How do they manage to say exactly what they want and it all comes…

  • My top five coaching questions

    Part five of my ‘Listen more, talk less’ guide to fabulous questions to use in a third sector one-to-one. Here are my top five favourite questions for helping your team member take responsibility for their own learning and move forward with confidence: I know you don’t know, but if you did, what would you do?…

  • What makes a great third sector leader?

    I began coaching a new client this week, the Chief Executive of a youth charity, and it’s got me thinking about what makes for a great third sector leader. Here are five qualities that, in my opinion, make a leader stand out from the crowd: 1. Agility – great leaders are able to adapt to…