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01/03/2022 By Ian Gibbs

Why I’m passionate about PLS

Why I’m passionate about PLS

I wasn’t the ‘brightest’ of kids at school. I was good at Art. I could keep my head above water with Maths and Science. But everything else was pretty grim and I wasn’t happy about it.

Given that my home was at the bottom of the valley and my school at the top, it’s fair to say that my educational progress was an uphill struggle every day.

Focus on what you are good at

But in spite of my academic failings, I was persuaded, for better or worse, to drop Art and continue Maths and Science at ‘A’ level, a decision helped by the fact that Close Encounters and Star Wars came out that year and the idea of working for NASA seemed like a dream worth pursuing. And that’s when something remarkable happened. I suddenly became intelligent. All those numbers, formulas and laws started to click into place. I started to get it. My capability for learning grew.

Ian Gibbs
Learning for life

Swimming pool full of mud

My confidence grew with it so much I practically ran up that hill each day. I left school with grades good enough to get into St. Andrews (the 3rd top university at the time) to study Astrophysics. I started university with the confidence of someone who was going to devour astrophysics and graduate with a glorious first class honours.

Unfortunately it was not to be. My newfound intelligence disappeared in first term. I went through university like Usain Bolt trying to sprint through a swimming pool full of mud. It was incredibly tough and I felt I had to study twice as hard just to keep up with everyone else. I did get my degree but not what I felt reflected my efforts.

The remarkable point of this story though, isn’t about the change of my academic abilities. The remarkable point is that nobody, not my teachers, not my parents, not even myself asked the question why? Why was I intelligent during ‘A’ levels and why not before or after?’. In fact it was only 30 years later on that it occurred to me to finally ask and answer it.

Are You Intelligent or do you just have a good teacher?

The answer was to do with something that few in education talk about.

When someone does well in a subject, we either justify it by saying they have a good teacher (school, coach etc) or they’re intelligent (bright, talented etc). Few people consider the third option: their learning techniques. Or in other words the way they learn – the strategy they use to combine the resources at their disposal to learn in a way that suits them. When done correctly, a Personal Learning Strategy can make a world of difference. Yet it too often gets overlooked.

And this is a pity because whereas we can’t genetically modify our intelligence or feasibly change teachers, we can easily change our learning techniques. During A levels I inadvertently stumbled across some great learning techniques. But because I didn’t recognise them for what they were I failed to maintain them through university and thus my university studies were much more of a struggle than they needed to be. I could have sailed through my degree, but I didn’t.

This missed opportunity has left me feeling frustrated, partly for my disappointing grades, but mostly for all other students, young or not so young, who could be reaching their potential if only they knew how to put together the techniques which suit them best. Trying to change this by raising awareness of the options we have and how to develop our own personal learning strategies to become better more quickly at whatever we choose has become my driving force.

When I see the difference it can produce, it makes me feel that getting out of bed each day is worth it. It makes them feel good and it makes me feel good, too.

That is why I’m passionate about personal learning strategies.

Still Not Convinced You need to learn how to learn?

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate including location and language.

17 associates; 4 continents; 8 languages.

Written by Ian Gibbs © 2022 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

Filed Under: Being Confident, coaching, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Growing your Business, Mentoring, Mindset, Motivation, Personal Development, Presenting and Presentations, Soft Skills Tagged With: Attention, Authenticity, Emotional, feeling, intuitive, learning, profiling, Sell, Smart Coaching & Training, strategies

06/01/2022 By Jessica Breitenfeld

Sell Yourself Authentically

Sell Yourself Authentically

How Can You Sell Yourself Authentically within the First Five Seconds of Your Video?

Potential clients want to know quickly if you are a good fit for their needs, so you need an emotional hook to keep them listening. In the coaching industry you are your product; you need to know your strengths, what your ideal client wants and be engaging enough to get them interested in listening to your video, hiring you and recommending you.

Grab Their Attention

Your first sentence must show that you understand your clients. Start with a fascinating fact or a surprising statistic, mention their problem, offer a solution, ask a question or hint at a story.

People hire coaches based on a feeling much more than on certificates or qualifications. They need to be vulnerable with you in their process and if they don’t like or trust you they will not progress. So, the big questions is: How do you get people to like and trust you in a short amount of time?

Jessica Breitenfeld Smart Coaching & Training Associate
Feedback from Jessica’s remote training in Saudi Arabia for SCT

Building Trust Has a Formula

Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy = Trustworthiness

As a Gestalt  therapist, I have seen many situations where women have put up a wall to protect themselves from getting hurt emotionally. Yet this same wall keeps intimacy, love and deep relationships on the outside knocking to get in. The door cannot open without intimacy, honesty and being oneself. I have come to understand that the best way for you to be yourself is to be brave. How2BeYou was founded with the vision of helping women get their ideas heard. To do that, you need to have the confidence to be yourself in three areas.

Understanding what you offer  gives you credibility. Once you become confident in who you are and what you are offering, getting your ideal client is easier online than it is at your local networking event. You don’t need seven billion clients; you need people who like you, relate to you and trust you to help them with their goals.

Building reliability comes from repeated exposure. One example is building a Facebook group. It’s easier and more comfortable to sell to your community than it is to your family and friends. You could give a workshop to build your YouTube library. People need to see you seven times before they buy from you, so video is the cheapest, easiest way to gain clients´ trust.

Intimacy is developed through being authentic.You have strengths and weaknesses and you are unique. What is it about you that your ideal client will relate to? Once you can show them that you have overcome the problem they are facing they will trust you and want to work with you.

Three tips on how to be visible and comfortable on camera:

  1. Always be clear and know your audience so you know what to talk about.
  2. Focus your topics on their pain points and their outcomes.
  3. Have a solid structure that offers tips and a call to action.

Are You Ready to Really Connect with Your People?

I know you want to do it. It can be scary, but ultimately, it is the play button to success. Your business has the potential to take off when you use video content properly. Once you step outside your comfort zone, your comfort in that zone grows and naturally your confidence grows! When potential clients see you putting yourself out there, being you in all your “you-ness” they come to trust you.

Remember, you are your brand. You are selling a transformation that comes from working with you and only you. Being open and sharing more of yourself helps build credibility and authority in your specialty. It shows who you are and: the expert- having overcome the thing they are struggling with. Allow your personality to radiate through your videos, creating connections as you go.

Still Not Convinced You Are Ready?

Are you worried about that mean girl from high school commenting on your video?

There are three typical problems that were stopping my clients from making videos to get clients:

  1. Imposter syndrome.
  2. Uncertain about how to structure content.
  3. Uncomfortable on camera with no real faces to connect to.

I felt like old friends might challenge me on who I grew into. How could I claim to be a motivational speaker? I used my techniques on myself. I overcame my imposter syndrome by applying the legendary LAB approach to my fears. I heard my doubts floating in my head, then trained myself to speak. I took courses, gave more than 50 workshops on Zoom this year, won contests in Europe and ta-da—the confidence and authority which I now have comes from being voted Best Speaker in Barcelona and second Best Speaker in the Professional Speakers Association London, UK. Having trained professionals like you for thousands of hours on five continents, I can confidently claim that I can get you heard on camera, in your relationships and in your career. I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas!

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate including location and language.

17 associates; 4 continents; 8 languages.

This article was originally published in Metropolitan Barcelona

Written by Jessica Breitenfeld © 2022 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

Filed Under: Being Confident, coaching, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Growing your Business, Mentoring, Mindset, Motivation, Personal Development, Presenting and Presentations, Soft Skills Tagged With: Attention, Authenticity, Emotional, feeling, intuitive, profiling, Sell, Smart Coaching & Training

18/03/2021 By David Rigby & Martin Kubler

How COVID brought us closer together

How COVID brought us closer together

Hello? Can you hear me? I’m sorry if I’m sounding a bit far away, but I’m currently hanging out with a group of hospitality professionals in Yorkshire while I’m in Dubai. Or was it Stockholm? Or possibly Accra?


There’s little doubt that COVID has wreaked havoc on our industry worldwide. Furloughs in the UK, lockdowns everywhere, limited (if any!) in-outlet dining, cancelled cruises – you name it. I’m not known for laughing challenging trading conditions in the face and shouting “Hey, but look at the bright side!”, but I readily admit that the pandemic has also brought certain positive changes to our industry – the most important one, in my opinion, being that we’ve come closer together.

It didn’t matter where you were

I’ve spend the last 16 years as an expat in various locations that didn’t have an Institute of Hospitality branch and I got used to looking at pictures of meetings, networking events, and celebrations that the Institute and their branches have put on over the years with varying degrees of envy. Then the pandemic hit, everything moved online and suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore where I was based – I could be anywhere.

The Institute of Hospitality’s virtual Thursday Coffee and Conversation mornings provided a first taste of our newfound freedom. Members joined from all over the world and exchanged updates or just engaged in light-hearted conversation to find a few minutes of distraction from the latest lockdown news.

Martin Kubler © Martin Kubler

People started to cooperate and collaborate… new platforms such as www.backtowork.support were born based on our conversations. New ways of presenting and distributing industry news and expertise like the fantastic Hospitality Recovery on LinkedIn Live were tested. If you fancied it and had the time (and, let’s face it, time was something most of us had in abundance during the various lockdowns), you could attend virtual branch meetings and networking events from the comfort of your armchair. One branch even put on a pub-style quiz.

Bringing people closer together

The pandemic has brought us closer together and that’s a good thing. The key, going forward, is to keep the momentum and not let things revert to silos again. The Institute and its members have an important role to play in the process, because we’ve been here, done that, and got the tea cup – in other words, we’ve successfully demonstrated how large international organisations can use technology to bring people closer together, ensure information and expertise flows freely, and collaborations between individual professionals create new opportunities, ventures, and projects

Remember Face to Face?

The pandemic has brought us closer together and that’s a good thing. The key, going forward, is to keep the momentum and not let things revert to silos again. The Institute and its members have an important role to play in the process, because we’ve been here, done that, and got the tea cup – in other words, we’ve successfully demonstrated how large international organisations can use technology to bring people closer together, ensure information and expertise flows freely, and collaborations between individual professionals create new opportunities, ventures, and projects.

Don’t get me wrong, now that I’m based in Europe again, I do want to attend one of the Institute’s annual Fellows’ Dinners. It’ll be my first one and I’m sure will be very enjoyable. The goal isn’t to move everything online – there’s much to be said for face-to-face interactions and good old black-tie jollifications. The goal really should be to use technology in the way, I think, it is meant to be used… to bring people together and to make things more inclusive and, very often, faster.

Cats are for baskets not Zoom calls © David Rigby

The latter is, in my opinion, a key point. Teams can now meet at the click of a button, regardless of where the various team-members are. You don’t need to take minutes anymore, because you can record things – great for people who aren’t totally fluent in English. Right now, I’m involved in a project that brings together professionals from Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. We communicate in English, but some of us find it very beneficial to be able to watch the recordings of our meetings again, just to make sure they understood everything correctly. You can’t rewind a face-to-face meeting, but you can rewind a Zoom meeting.


I hope some of what we’ve learned during the pandemic stays with us even in post-COVID times. The coffee mornings, for example, shouldn’t stop just because we’re all able to meet again IRL, in real life. How else could I find out how Robert’s hotel in Ghana is doing or what’s going on in the Scottish highlands and islands? Quite apart from being able to see the various members’ coffee and tea cups (someone used a massive Homer Simpson cup in today’s call!) and pets (last week I was in a Zoom meeting and a team-member’s cat blocked the screen for a good 5 minutes).
Walking into a face-to-face meeting later in 2021 or 2022 is bound to be like “Oh, I know, you’re the chap with the Homer Simpson cup!” or “What do you mean, you didn’t bring your cat?”.

A version of this article was first published by the Institute of Hospitality

Written by Martin Kubler, © 2021 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

Filed Under: Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Enterprise, Global teams, Growing your Business, hospitality, Management, Mentoring, Mindset, Personal Development, Soft Skills Tagged With: closer, coaching, COVID, Faceetoface, Foreign, Hospitality, inclusion, profiling, ventures

25/04/2017 By Isla Baliszewska

What is Business English?

What is Business English?

EVRT Road Trip

What is Business English?

Where does it come from? What’s it for? What makes it different from non-business English?  Ways of communicating both verbal and written have developed over centuries, but the protocols have never changed faster than now. We need to be adequately equipped with the relevant knowledge and understanding of the business that we represent to adapt to its culture, customs, norms, and practices. Who we are and what we do will be clearly reflected in our oral and written interactions.

As the photo of the Electric Vehicle Road Trip in UAE shows – the world is fast changing and many will be left behind. And even legal practices need to balance between the future and the precedent.

Business communication is not just about writing letters

While it is important, it is but a small part of doing business.  Of course you need to be able to write business correspondence, whether letters, emails or texts.

Communication also embraces the world of oral business communication, be that face-to-face, phone or social media. Networking gives opportunities only if you know how to behave, engage people and negotiate. Building rapport and improving communication are key ways of getting and retaining business, and are different when dealing with British, American, or other genres where English is used.

One size does not fit all

As with all communication it’s not just following the learnt routine – you need to know your audience and tailor your communication to them.  One man’s business English is another man’s flippant communication by a young upstart not showing respect to his elders. Or some boring long winded diatribe for those brought up on instant messaging. The conflict between story telling and the inverted triangle means you have to consciously chose the approach to take.  Regardless of ethnicity, age, race or sex some people are more emotional, others more logical, some need lots of detail, some insist on hardly any.

Listening skills for business EnglishAs customers rightly expect omnichannel rather than multichannel it is a skill to balance between the curt and the long-winded. British English and American English have the same words which mean different things (some very rude). Indian English has a different vocabulary too.  See the typical reaction when a Brit is told ‘I will revert back to you’. Different cultures read differences nuances in identical sentences.

You might expect that ‘legal’ English is the same throughout the world. There is no international standard of easily understood terms. And the balance between being ‘legal’ and ‘understood’ is harder than ever.

This is why you need to work towards building rapport to create a lasting impact through your interactions, presentations, negotiations, meetings, networking, socialising, listening, speaking, writing and reading. Getting the protocol of correcting mistakes and holistic communication  in the global marketplace is essential  to succeed in the business arena and the wider economy.

For more information contact David Rigby on davidr@smartcoachingtraining.com.

Filed Under: Communication, People Development, Soft Skills, Uncategorized

24/02/2017 By Isla Baliszewska

Stories within stories within stories: Roles within roles within roles

Stories within stories within stories: Roles within roles within roles

What are your stories and roles? It’s surprising what you

hear when you truly listen

see when you really look

know when you bravely open your intuitive memory

understand when you set free your mind.

Story Teller - Nick PiggottHow can you lean-in to take your place in the story? What boldness that has genius and magic in it might you use to take your place in the story? By employing gratitude as a valued member of the team how could that make a contribution? Unless you are actually in the story it is nigh impossible to influence the content and direction of the story.

“Tell a story. Make it true. Make it compelling. And make it relevant.” ― Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz

Every individual, every team, every organisation is a story and tells a story. Every individual, every team, every organisation is a system and being a system every part of that system no matter how miniscule no matter how huge has impact, influence, inspiration on the whole system. What is the story to be told, the outcome to achieve? What would be the evidence and most importantly how would you recognise the evidence? There are stories and roles wrapped up in everyone and every organisation.

Time to stop underestimating the influence of random acts of kindness; time to introduce a cultural realignment to look for what works well and what could work even better; time to let go of blame, of guilt, of getting it wrong, of exclusion, of assumptions, of un-appreciation; time to celebrate experimenting, exploring and engaging. Time to appreciate the benefit of movement, of momentum … every system needs to be kept in good condition in order to operate effectively and efficiently. Time to be agile, adaptive, appreciative; time to learn and move on by building positively, proactively and perceptively. Healthy systems indulge in exercise in all senses – physically, emotionally, spiritually which currently is embodied in the practice of mindfulness.

What are the skills that really matter? Peter Cheese Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), delivered a lecture entitled “Future of work and organisations” as part of the UWE Distinguished Address Series February 2017 was clear that soft skills are the ones that really matter. He shared that with only 2 in 5 employees working at peak performance the UK has one of the worst skills mismatch in the world!

 

 

 

Soft Skills - Luigi Mengato 2

What is the place in the story of the 5 R’s – resilience, robustness, reflectiveness, resourcefulness, responsibility?

Find out about how our Signature Soft Skills Workshops can support your 5 R’s.

Halina Jaroszewska – 2017

 

Filed Under: Mindset, Personal Development, Soft Skills

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