- Complaints handling: some tips for complaints handlers
- February Already! What is your Reality?
- New dimensions on New Year Resolutions for 2012
- Presentation skills: help for first time presenters
- Dental Complaints:Fitness to Practise changes coming
- Coaching Focus: Individual & Team Success. A Virtuous Cycle
- Presentation skills: Opening with impact – as easy as ABCD
- It’s a dog’s life, so get a fresh perspective
- Why more complaints can be good news
- Improving internal communication
Archive for the ‘Mentoring’ Category
Business Owners – Are you going to be earning what you are worth this year?
January 2nd, 2011 | Author: Alison Miles-Jenkins
2nd January 2011 seems a great time to ask yourself if you are likely to be earning what you are worth this year. But how do you start answering this? You could start with checking your frame of mind. If you firmly believe ‘opportunity is now here’ that will give you a fantastic advantage. It will put you in the starting blocks way ahead of the pessimists who persist in seeing ‘opportunity is nowhere’, allowing themselves to be dragged down into the waves of negativity that washed the shores of 2010.
More than just positive thinking?
But of course a positive mindset and an array of mantras will only get you so far. Top of the agenda for many of the business owners and professionals that I work with and coach is ultimately that of profitability. We can dress it up under other guises as much as we want, but at the end of the day, that’s what most of my clients are striving to increase. And that takes more than just positive thinking.
Are you working in the business or on it?
One of the challenges for the professional turned business owner – dentist, veterinarian, doctor, architect, surveyor for example – is to be able to balance working ‘in’ the business with working ‘on’ the business. And those are two different things entirely. What is very clear is that going into 2011 business owners need to do everything in their power to get the right balance.
How does the problem start?
The problem starts something like this: Many professionals have been expert in their field. They have great technical skills and their success at ‘operating’ has often got them to a position where they can take that ‘entrepreneurial leap of faith’. Getting the business up and running is stressful enough, but it’s exciting. Sustaining the business, expanding horizons, taking on and managing staff, attracting and keeping more satisfied customers, and increasing profit – now that’s another matter again. Exciting?…possibly. Challenging?… yes. Stressful ?…yes. Risky?….. – definitely.
Are you self-sabotaging?
What compounds the problem is that many of these business owners go on to ‘self-sabotage’. Compared to other entrepreneurs, these ‘professional cum business owners’ may have a more negative belief towards commercialism, marketing and self promotion. They may be more motivated by some great and higher values and ideals and they don’t have money as the number 1 goal on the list. Unfortunately it can lead them into business activities that don’t add up financially and lead them away from success. They become ‘under-earners’ and the business and staff may suffer too.
So start changing the dynamic
There’s so much help, advice, training and tools out there to help any business flourish. But for the ‘professional turned business owner’ in particular, if this article resonates with you, here’s some thoughts on starting to change the dynamic:
- Be open minded about revenue streams that increase financial stability
- Avoid gravitating into your ‘operating’ comfort zone. It could become your ‘danger zone’.
- Stop doing everything yourself - delegate, outsource, automate
- Learn to say ‘No’, but with respect and care
- Reconsider work or clients that don’t pay enough
- Listen to your internal ‘chatterbox’. Are you telling yourself negative beliefs about money or self-promotion?
- Do you realise that you ARE in the sales business?
- Do you see yourself as a manager? Look in the mirror. Have you got what it takes to manage a business and people? What extra skills and support do you need?
- Are you recognising the power that comes from the free marketing given by the happy, satisfied customer?
- Look at your financial goals. Double them. With the right mindset, skills, and techniques, you won’t need to double your effort to reach them!
Wishing you all the very best for a prosperous New Year
Alison Miles-Jenkins
Author of “Help! I’m a Professional not a Manager “ and Managing Director of the award-winning consultancy Training To Achieve UK
Contact Alison for your FREE copy of her guide. You can also join her Privilege Club….for FREE!
Posted in Coaching, Management Development, Mentoring, Motivation, People Management, Performance Management, Personal Effectiveness, Privilege Club, Time Management | 
Tags: Alison Miles-Jenkins, architects, business owners, Coaching and mentoring training, dentists, doctors, Management training, Motivation, professionals, short courses, surveyors, vets | 
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Do you need to achieve more with less?
April 27th, 2010 | Author: Alison Miles-Jenkins
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A guide to getting the most from your training suppliers and consultants Dear Subscriber Are you finding you have to make your budgets stretch further this year? Do you have more training needs than you can cater for? How well are you able to support and develop staff in this current challenging environment? Are there lots of changes and ideas but minimal resources to drive them forwards? Are you ensuring that the training you do provide has an impact, adds value and a demonstrable return on investment? Most importantly, how much are you making of the varied and often free services that are out there?
If you are not asking for or considering some or all of the following, you could be missing out:
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Alison Miles-Jenkins Managing Director Estd 1990 |
Needs analysisTick box training gets everyone a bad name. Make sure your supplier is willing and able to take your corporate training needs analysis that bit further. What exactly are the goals you need to achieve? What are the key objectives – improvement, development or maintenance for example? How does your supplier know? What about asking prospective learners to secure their buy-in? Make sure there is at least a pre-course questionnaire, circulated and reviewed by the supplier before the event. What about an on-site meeting to discuss options? Tailored training is goodHow bespoke is it really? How do you know? Has the supplier done sufficient research and taken the time and effort to get to know you, your people, your culture, your language, your priorities? This is all part of the tailored service – you should not need to pay extra for it. And what exactly are you paying for? Are the fees representing quality of service and expertise or something else? |
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Innovative approaches to training deliveryShorter courses – expert delivery Budgets are not just the problem. How difficult do you now find it to release staff for even a day? Experts should be willing and able to package their delivery into shorter, intensive yet participative sessions, run at times to suit operational pressures. This should not cost you extra. To have to pay a premium for lunchtime, evenings or weekends hardly seems appropriate these days when everyone is working together to survive and prosper. Powerful methods to supplement workshops and courses Look for the variety of methods suggested. Action learning sets, training of internal facilitators to cascade or provide continuity, guided projects and business challenges are often more powerful than stand-alone courses. They should be work-related and are more likely to deliver sustainable results. These methods should actually cost less than traditional training delivery. |
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Coaching and MentoringTargeted support for individuals and teams, particularly powerful for senior staff, could well be a more cost-effective and results-orientated solution. You may have issues around change management, career development, conflict, team building or effective leadership. Ensure your provider is qualified, identifies key stakeholders, clarifies expectations and boundaries – oh, and understands the difference between coaching and mentoring! |
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Does the intervention end with an evaluation form?What are you doing to monitor impact and value? What about the transfer of learning to the workplace? Consider what post-training support is on offer. At the very least there should be free on-line and/or telephone support and email updates for learners for a period, to support their action planning. ‘Virtual at desk coaching’ goes one step further. How willing is the provider to get involved in medium and longer term evaluation and support if you need this? Your supplier should be designing your solutions around needs and critical incidents. These can be measured afterwards. You need to know if you are getting ROI, and this is feasible for soft skills training, too. Don’t let your supplier tell you otherwise! |
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FreebiesThese days we all appreciate a ‘significant free’. Check what else is included in the fees. Will your delegates receive free journals to encourage reflective practice? What about refreshments provided on workshops – or are you having to organise these? Would you benefit from free advice, articles, checklists and even a complimentary training event now and again? |
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So… the good news is….As a client you are in a great place at the moment to ensure you get everything …and more that you want and need from your suppliers. Choose one that makes you and your organisation feel individual, special and valued. Make sure they have a ‘guarantee’ policy, just in case. You should get a great, long-term productive partnership that saves you time and money and gets the results you need. Things change. Our free training and development review meeting is for anyone wanting to get the most from their training resources. Just give us a call on 0845 165 6269 or email: Kind regards Alison Miles-Jenkins |
To save you time and money, our first newsletter, launched to celebrate our 20th anniversary, focuses on just some of the options that you should expect from your training suppliers. These should help you guarantee the best possible returns from any investment you make in training and development.
Posted in Coaching, Corporate training, Management Development, Mentoring, Newsletter |
Tags: action learning sets, Coaching and mentoring training, evaluation of training, Expert delivery, free training, freebies, guarantee policy, Making training budgets go further, Pre-course work, projects, ROI in training, save time and money, short courses, Shorter courses, training internal facilitator, Training Needs analysis, virtual at desk coaching |
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Launch of our NHS dental mentoring programme
March 7th, 2010 | Author: admin
Alison Miles-Jenkins with Karen Elley MCDH, DDPH, FDS RCS, BDS Post Graduate Dental Dean, NHS West Midlands
We are delighted to announce the successful launch of the mentoring training events we are running for the NHS West Midlands Dental Deanery. Offered to all dental educators, VT Advisors, VT Trainers and Dental Practice advisors, the training equips delegates with the knowledge, skills and competences to be highly effective mentors. Delegates come away with a clear understanding of the benefits of using mentoring and the techniques and confidence to assist others in their performance and achievement of goals. The workshops are supported by one hour’s telephone support per delegate to help the transfer of learning and to deal with any real-time issues.
We will be running further sessions throughout March.
This programme was designed specifically for the West Midlands Dental Deanery. We can work with other dental professionals and clinicians to devise similar targeted support to help with clinical and pastoral responsibilities.
Free Coaching Sessions Available
December 18th, 2009 | Author: admin
Have a look at our Corporate and Executive Coaching page. To help our clients during challenging times we are offering a restricted number of free coaching sessions. This offer applies to those interested in seeing if a coaching programme is for them. Contact us for more details.
