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 Labyrinth News
GROW your own...Issue 16
April 2009
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tel 01273 671488 / mob: 07843 593534
In this issue
So what’s in this issue? I have regularly been inspired, enthused and motivated by delegates attending our courses. In this month’s issue of Labyrinth News I want to tell you about how I have been stirred into action by a recent participant attending a workshop I delivered in Canary Wharf. Do you want £1000 towards developing your business? Can I remind you that we can access funding through Train to Gain for businesses employing 5 – 249 people as part of the Leadership and Management initiative. This funding may not be available forever – SO ACT NOW! ILM Endorsed Awards Find out what a recent client thinks of these great versatile training programmes. We have even included some free resources for you to download.
Welcome
How did you spend your Easter this year? Did you partake in the obligatory Easter activities of D.I.Y., gardening, or an Easter egg hunt? Or were you lucky enough to enjoy a well deserved break away from it all? As well as spending my Saturday evening planning my children’s egg hunt, most of my Easter weekend was taken up by preparing my vegetable plot for the year ahead. I was moved to this action after a recent coaching workshop I delivered. Read on to find out more. 
Gary Elton-Shewan Co-Founder - The Learning Labyrinth
GROW you own...
One of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Endorsed Awards we deliver includes a module on 'Coaching in the Workplace'. During a recent workshop, I was explaining the importance of structuring the job reviews that they hold with their team members. I was highlighting the value of making sure that any personal objectives have a clear focus, and how it is essential to ensure targets are made measurable, through setting specific and time-bound objectives (ie that they are SMART). As the group worked on writing their own personal objectives, I challenged them to let me to run a coaching session with someone who had a work or non-work related objective that they felt could not be made measurable. One of the delegates volunteered to role play a coaching session - the aim of which was to demonstrate how to structure a focused one-to-one that would result in them having a well thought out action plan with clear objectives. GROW - the model
The delegate wanted the focus of the session to be his new passion - he was running an allotment with a good friend. It was clear quite early into the session what his long term goal was: to provide fresh ingredients for a restaurant he was planning on opening within the next five years. As we discussed the reality of the present situation, we explored the challenges he had faced in his first year of having the allotment; poor crops, rotten vegetables, insect problems and even extreme weather conditions. Although there had been many successes in the first year – there had also been some major disappointments - and these were to be the focus of improvements. To maintain his allotment and to improve future crops, there were various options that they could focus on, such as joining a horticultural club, getting advice from the experienced growers who had plots at the same allotment, studying gardening via books or even evening classes. So, what next? After discussing the many options and consequences (strengths and weaknesses) of each option, he felt the best course of action was to write a simple plan of action for growing each vegetable on the allotment. Something he had never thought of prior to this session, but something he now felt to be essential – it was going to include: 1. a list of vegetables to be grown
2. sowing - timescales
3. sowing - instructions
4. growing instructions
5. harvesting instructions / timescales
6. best practise – soil preference – feeding – watering
7. storage suggestions
8. lessons learnt from previous year
9. back-up plan for when he or his friend were on holiday He takes his allotment seriously and was very motivated by the project. It is incredibly important to him that this plan was successful for his dream to be realised. He realised how simple, but effective it would be for him and his friend to take time out to write this plan. He said he would make this a priority that weekend and also said it would be a great tool to document any mistakes made or learning’s from each crop grown. GROW - the learning
So what techniques had I used? His jaw dropped when I explained I had used the GROW model when running the coaching session. He felt we had just had a good 'chat'! The GROW model was developed by Sir John Whitmore and is a well tested and utilised model for coaching. In simple terms, it follows the following structure: G – Goal (SMART) R – Reality (the present situation) O – Options (consequences of each option) W – What next - and their will (motivation) to achieve the chosen option(s) I think he will find it hard to forget the GROW model for developing a plan for GROW-ing future crops on his allotment. Not only did he walk away with a great plan of action for his allotment – but the other delegates felt very confident that the GROW model was a great structure to follow when coaching in the workplace. That weekend I hope he took the time out to plan his crop for the year(s) ahead. I certainly did, in fact this Easter I enjoyed a few days in the garden with my two boys building a vegetable plot and planting my potatoes, carrots, onions and lettuce seeds – we also planted some tomatoes and a great selection of seeds for our new herb garden! ‘Doing the practical session with Gary opened my eyes...to new things’ ILM Delegate - Credit-Suisse Free resources
If you want some tips on setting SMART objectives or using the GROW model just click on the links below. SMART GROW Model
ILM Endorsed Awards
The ‘coaching in the workplace' module that I was delivering is part of our ILM First Time Leader Endorsed Award. We also have three other great awards that have been Endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management. ILM First Time Leader Endorsed Award ILM Train the Trainer Endorsed Award ILM Building your Team Endorsed Award ILM Influencing Others Endorsed Award Click on each of the options above to find out more about them. You may be able to access funding for the above awards via Train to Gain - please contact us for further information or click on the link below: Train to Gain funding The four Awards can all be delivered at a time and place to suit your operation – and can all be tailored to suit your business needs. We believe these programmes can be a significant investment for any business – but don’t just take our word for it.... A Happy Client - what a recent client said about us
'Many thanks to Gary for the excellent training course he recently ran for Brilliant Futures. It was pitched at just the right level and really exceeded our expectations – particularly as we are all trainers / facilitators. Labyrinth really took time to understand and interpret our business needs and worked hard to ensure we had value for money – a real necessity for any small business. He really used the diverse group and ensured that everyone was challenged, in a non-threatening way. Gary really reinforced my view that an investment in training in a small business is vital and I know that this training will generate a significant return for that investment'. Sarah Cork, Managing Director - Brilliant Futures www.brilliantfutures.org How can we help?
At The Learning Labyrinth we are passionate about supporting people through their careers with leadership programmes, team events, behavioural profiling (for teams, individuals and recruitment) and coaching. We would love the chance to discuss how we can help you achieve even more in 2009, so please contact us:
The Learning Labyrinth (TLL Limited)
Room 5, Valley Social Centre
Brighton. BN2 5HE Tel: 01273 671488
Mob: 07843 593534
Email:
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Web: http://www.thelearninglabyrinth.co.uk/
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