Author: admin

How far would you go to build trust with a client? Do you think of work as being 9-to-5 and involving serious conversations, taking notes and having a clear purpose?

I used to.

And then since working in my own business for the last 11 years I’ve been slowly pushing the boundaries of what ‘work’ actually is. I remember that I used to wear my suit and tie, in order to feel like a ‘proper’ coach when I first started and now it’s chinos for the Summer and smart blue jeans for the Winter.

I used to have business greeting meetings, full of serous intent, and now when I’m networking I invite people out for cake. I think that cake is the currency of a modern business economy and the more I’ve eaten, the better business has become.

All this leads us to hot tub heaven, where a few weeks ago I was invited out for lunch by a client and had the chance to spend a happy hour in their hot tub. Sitting soaking under a pleasant sun, we chatted about life and work and connected at a deeper level than would have been possible if parked solemnly in an office.

Of course we had to be careful the cake didn’t get soggy!

Business is about doing what is right for the benefit of our clients and our own long term profitability. Good business is founded on relationships and if we grasp new ways of working and give ourselves permission to have fun in the sun then we can build long lasting friendships.

So, this week we can all give ourselves permission to define ‘work’ in new ways ….ways that make us smile and enable us to maintain relationships with people. Maybe have cake, lose the tie, go beach walking perhaps. Or…

Hot tub anyone?

Next week: Self coaching

I love geography* and it is far and away the best subject you can learn at school. Feel free to agree/disagree in not more than 500 words…

However, whatever your thoughts are about geography, the big win with it is the way it encourages us to stand back and view the landscape in context. For example, if you spot a U-shaped valley on your travels (a classic example of glaciation) it is likely to have moraine (boulders) in it and a little meandering stream in the bottom. Seeing all these elements together gives us a good idea of what the glacier was doing to the landscape and how it affected the world around us. We can fix these geographical elements on a map and share the map to spread the wonder that is glaciation.

Business is the same. We can map elements of a process to see where the confusion and waste is hiding. We can draw a sales pipeline to show where we need to bolster activity. We can draw the links between departments to identify areas of collaboration or lonely isolation.

I was asked recently to explain how Transactional Analysis can be used to develop leadership skills and create a positive culture to enable change programmes to thrive. In my struggle to describe the beauty of the links between models, I had a brainwave – and drew a map.

In doing so I created my Organisational TA Engagement Map, which shows how useful tools and concepts link together and self-support the process of change. The client was pleased and I was reminded that when you are stuck it pays to put down the iPad, get out the pencil and get creative.

If you would like a FREE copy of my A4 Organisational TA Engagement Map please email me directly with the words ‘Map Please’ in the subject line.

So, this week my invitation to us all is to think about how we can draw maps and diagrams to explain ourselves clearly and make sense of complexity in our working worlds.

Next week: Hot Tub Heaven

* Richard Maun, BA Hons Geography 2:1, Lancaster University 1989

…and proud to be a member of Pendle College on campus, where I effectively mapped the bar for three years, but that’s a whole ‘nother story…