Up to £1000 of matched funding is available per organisation to help it’s leaders to devleop their skills and grow the business. (That is, to receive £1000 you need to spend £1000 too!)

The current Leadership and Management Advisory Service (LMAS) scheme has been running since April 2011. If you benefitted from the previous scheme you are still allowed to benefit from this one. If you are to qualify, these are the key criteria.

For businesses

• Planned growth of 20% per year over the next 3 years – in turnover or staff numbers.
• More than one person involved in the organisation, ideally two or more full-time equivalent employees. (Technically: “have at least one employee in addition to the senior leader.”)
• Not more than 250 staff.

For social enterprises / charities

• As above, however growth requirement is 10% per year over three years.
• Support could be given to unpaid staff such as a trustee

As the scheme progresses, and individual applications are considered, it becomes clearer which businesses qualify. There has also been some “softening” in requirements as we have seen that the criteria for growth are about plans and not a need to show growth from past results.

We can help with coaching, training and other solutions to help you to develop your leadership and thus your business. We can talk through with you this and other grant opportunities for your business.

Contact us now to find out more!

Just in Time Training seems to be the “in thing.” This is about receiving training in short blocks just when you need it. People recognise that if they go on a training course and do not make use of what they learn immediately, they forget it.

Coaching, including that which we deliver, uses as its raw material the fresh challenges that the client faces. It helps clients to learn from their experience and to grow in the skill of learning from their experience, so coaching is great for embedding training.

It is worth remembering that coaching can also be used to develop other new skills, Just In Time, without taking any further time away from work and in a completely bespoke way. You choose what you want to learn and apply the training to your actual situation, in a way that is not constrained by the content and context of any fixed course materials.

You just need to make sure that your coach has a sufficient skill base in the relevant area, and we’d be happy to talk to you about that!

Thanks to those who listened in to our guest appearance on Swindon Radio 105.5 on Monday evening. Regular presenter Gerry Reilly was joined by Peter Jones from the Federation of Small Businesses to interview Richard, Ann-Marie and Stephen from the Swindon Coaching Team.

I enjoy these conversations, and part of the excitement is never quite knowing what the presenters, or listeners who phone in, will want to ask about. The conversation was wide ranging with a lot of interest in the history of our team, what coaching is all about, and what people might experience from an encounter with us. We emphasised that coaching is personal, and so people usually want to meet us, have an informal chat, and get to know us before deciding on any coaching – and that is the way we work. We mentioned our next event at Swindon Connections, and our current special offer of free coaching taster sessions.

Peter was interested in the range of different kinds of coaching we offer (from business coaching to relationship coaching to coaching young people) and wanted to hear about the background and experience of the coaches in the team. I think I was as surprised as him to realise the diversity of backgrounds we have, which help us to connect with our clients and their issues. Our collective backgrounds include work in sexual health, in Information Technology, as a doctor, in marketing, hypnotherapy, and starting a business… I won’t take up space with the full list!

The last laugh was had by Stephen when he was asked about good techniques for stress-busting. He talked about the benefits of a good belly laugh and how he has been instrumental in setting up a laughter club in Swindon!

Our coaches were again at Bible Society today. We are continuing to offer pithy half-hour coaching sessions to employees. For convenience these sessions are held during and after the lunch period and there is no cost to those taking part.

The sessions delivered today were much appreciated. We are grateful for this opportunity to offer this coaching which helps staff to deal with work or personal matters in this way which is of benefit to them and will also increase their enjoyment and effectiveness in the workplace!

We look forward to continued involvement with Bible Society, and welcome enquiries from other local businesses or charities who are interested in this scheme.