10 January 2009
Last month’s newsletter mentioned the new “Masterminding” programme I was going to launch in January. Here are the details of a very exciting programme, which is going to be hugely beneficial and will really help many company owners and directors generate more independence in their businesses and lives.
First of all some background information… I first came across the Masterminding idea about ten years ago when I read Napoleon Hill’s classic book “Think and Grow Rich”. The basic concept is that one is as successful as the peer group you belong to and the circles you mix with. Obvious but when you are firefighting and dealing with floods of emails, cashfow and messages, it isn’t something that one remembers. After interviewing many successful business people in the US, Napoleon Hill developed this into what he called the “Mastermind” group, where a group of business people met each month to discuss how they can best help and support each other, find solutions to challenges, learn from others wisdom and experience, and progress the implementation of each other’s action plans.
I first came across the UK version of the “Masterminding” programmes eight months ago when I discovered “Beyond Excellence” in Kent and Yorkshire. I got really excited about this, as I had previously had experience of running a similar business development programme few years ago in Corby. As an added bonus the “Mastermind Roundtable” programme allows me to offer a very effective tool for those who appreciate the massive collegiate, melting pot process involved with this sort of inter-action between peers to move their business forward”.
Basically the “Masterminding” programme provides an opportunity for up to twelve like minded business people, from a range of sectors and sizes of business, to take time out once a month to focus on working on their business in a friendly, confidential and supportive environment. Through their combined knowledge and experience, members help each other to focus, find solutions, address challenges, sound out new ideas, increase motivation and commit to action. The thing is when you have twelve committed people sitting round a table from different sectors, backgrounds and jobs you have up to four hundred years of combined wisdom, knowledge and experience in business and life that can resolve any challenge.
Most issues you come across in business – maybe even a personal issue – will have cropped up at some time for others around the table and in this present economic climate it is absolutely invaluable for those who have never been through rocky times to find people around with some grey hair who have. The sessions include tools and strategies to help accelerate business growth and development, and powerful exercises to help participants focus and get things in perspective.
Finally experience has taught me that it is all very well having action plans created at a well presented workshop, but the proof of the pudding is the implementation and so there are also individual mentoring sessions in between the monthly sessions, to help members with the difficult bit of implementation.
I am planning on launching two groups – one in Derby, based at the brand new Cathedral Quarter Hotel and the other in Coventry, whose location is still not finalised. The inaugural launch of the Derby “Masterminding” programme will be held on March 19th at the beautifully restored Cathedral Quarter Hotel, which by the way is the only four star hotel in the city centre - with the first programme being held on April 16th at the same location.
The launch in Coventry will be one month later. The launch will be by invitation only due to space limitation and so if you are interested in some independence and thriving along with another eleven other dedicated business peers at the beginning of this great journey, please get in touch with me and get your name in the guest list.
©William Barron
Creating Insight
January 10 2009
12 January 2009
Goals, environment, energy, exercise and ecology in 2009
The arrival of the New Year always seems to be an emotional watershed, or at least it has the potential to act as such, because we all tend to be asked: “what was your New Year resolution?” – in other words: “how are you going to change?” So, sitting on my early morning Virgin train, laptop at the ready, I am thinking that I have enough difficulty deciding what a New Me is going to be, let alone anybody elses.
The thing is that when I am chatting to my clients around this time of year, they often want to know what I think they should be aiming for next year. But, what do you say? I mean it is nice to be considered a fount of knowledge but for anybody to say what someone else should do is a bit like playing God. Galileo got it right all those years ago when he said: “you cannot tell anybody what to do, you can only help them facilitate their own knowledge”.
So invariably I say something that is wrapped up like a “feedback sandwich”, which is give some background thoughts on the past sessions and our progress (that’s the positive supporting part), followed by a précis on what we had agreed to accomplish but have not been able to for a variety of reasons (the feedback middle part) and finish with a comment regarding the positive results that would be achieved if they fulfilled their vision.
With the demands and pressures of everyday life, of responding to customers, the bank, staff, new legislation, and so on, what chance do our simple goals or desires have in the scheme of things with the time nibbling that goes on? The fact remains that our changing world requires us to have a very good prioritisation system in place if we are going to get done what we need to do, be it the New Year, New You, New Me or just a New Day.
Left to our own devices, we lose sight of our resolutions and we slip back to our old habits. We may wish to change, but on our own we’re going to struggle. If we’re really going to change rather than papering over the proverbial cracks then coaches and mentors like myself, can act as a real catalyst. We can’t do the changing bit for people, we can only do the cajoling, advising, encouraging, steering and monitoring bits. We see the dawning of a new person and we can help to keep that person on whatever track they want to be on. So what helps my clients stay on track of change or a new goal?
I suggest that when thinking and planning change and new goals that my clients use the acronym STREAM – Specific, Time framed, Realistic, E, Achievable and Measureable. The most important letter they must use and one that underpins the whole process of change and goal-setting is the fifth letter E which stands for Emotion, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Ecology and Exercise, to all of which we must pay more than lip service, if we are to make meaningful life changes.
It is Emotion that is going to provide the Energy that is going to get you up in the morning, keep you going when you are absolutely knackered and don’t really want to go to that networking event or give that talk or see that customer. It is Emotion that provides the love and passion for one’s family and the life blood of the business. It is the Environment that sustains us all and is something that we all seem to be hell bent on destroying; countryside, food-chain, irreplaceable petro-carbons. Our personal Ecology is about how we view the world that is intimate to ourselves - our own emotions and health, while Ethics, something that was taken for granted in the past, is rapidly becoming mainstream again in business, squeezed between good old capitalism and the new order of behaving correctly. Finally, Exercise - something that we all need to do more of if we are ever going to get the most out of our minds, our spirits and our bodies.
Emotion, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Ecology and Exercise are all crucial to feeling good about ourselves, and creating a successful business.
So what we can do about New Year, New You or New Me? We can honour ourselves by including more of the E in Everything we do. This can mean in small or big ways. Here are five suggestions that are somewhat revolutionary in that they have been around since time began and while all quite obvious but are things that we each still face continuously:
- Leave space “on your plate” by saying learning to say “No” more to all those requests that pour in.
- Plan the time to plan, which will automatically give you more time for effective business; actually block planning time into your diary. At the end of the day we may be the least productive but that may make it a good time to plan effectively.
- Communicate more with your family so that your “base camp” is being nurtured and honoured. This means being more at home, and when at home listen more what is really being said, and what is really going on.
- Listen to what your own body is saying to you. Notice the signs of stress; aches and pains, headaches, backache, frequent colds, tiredness, migraine, irritability, impatience.
- Take some exercise, any exercise, just do something - at least a total of thirty minutes every day. Even if it is walking upstairs rather than taking the lift, walking the dog, or as a friend of mine said walk to the shops, walk to the train or walk a few bus stops before catching it. Just do something.
Whilst taking care of the Es in MASTER in the New Year and beyond, you will have a New You, we’ll each have a New Me and our grandchildren will have a New World to live in. Have a great Entry into the New Year and see you in 2009.
©William Barron
Creating Insight
william@creatinginsight.co.uk
20 January 2009
Environment rules OK..
John Naish has recently published a book called “Enoughism”, which as you might have guessed is aimed for all of us at these difficult recessionary times, as well as helping the environment. So before flashing the cash and parting with hard earned income, as well as helping the Planet, here are three of the basic laws when shopping… there are more in his book…
Men can only take 70 minutes of shopping before.. - take your husband or boyfriend with you as men’s stress level soar during a hectic shopping spree and studies indicate that men and women can shop together about 70 minutes before they start to row. The research is unsure why this is so, but it could be due to men defaulting to quick decisions and knowing what they want, whilst ladies tend to “converse and talk ” out the whole investigation process over a longer period of time…
Beware of the seductive colours especially at Christmas and sales as retailers tend to strike our attention by using red and white labels for the January sales items, as they are associated with Christmas and good times. Red is also associated with emotions and love but maybe we need to remember that red also stands for danger!
Take cash and save money - and studies have shown that playing with cash at the till is much more painful than having your credit card swiped. Personal feelings on this matter of counting cash, is that when I see and feel those notes there is much more of “am I spending my cash wisely” feeling going on in my head. Certainly giving out the number online is too simple and easy a way of spending tens and hundreds of £’s. Ummm maybe there’s a lesson for me here as well.
John Naish in his book also suggests that before you buy that consumer thing, ask yourself these nine questions..
- Do I really need this “consumer thing” rather than simply want it?
- Has my desire for this “consumer thing” been planted by marketing techniques?
- Do I want this “consumer thing” because I want to be fitter, to be cleverer, more leisured or just look cooler? If so, will this “consumer thing” really work that miracle?
- Is there any other way that I could achieve my goal with out accruing more stuff?
- How many more hours will I have to work to pay for a this “consumer thing”? What else could I do with that working time that would bring me more fulfilment than the consumer item?
- Is there anything I already own that I could substitute for this “consumer thing”?
- Do I really want dust, dry-clean, pay to have it serviced or otherwise maintain this “consumer thing”?
- If I'm replacing something that I have already got, what's really wrong with the old one?
- If I really do need this “consumer thing” is there any way I can obtain it on a free-site, or to borrow it from a friend, neighbour or relative?
Extracted from Enoughism by John Naish
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