It's snowing!
Hi Tribe,
We’re all back in the swing of things after the holidays and it’s snowing outside. Luckily the weather was good for our January workshop and an amazing group of people joined us on the day from organisations as diverse as the Children’s Air Ambulance, BAE, a nursery school, Sheffield Council, Manchester Metropolitan University, and a fish food manufacturer – to name just a few. That’s one of the things we love about the tribe – the diversity.
So what does the snow mean for you? Will you be hunkering down and working at home, being extra prepared or having to deal with last minute diary changes? It’s pretty and enjoyable, and tends to have a disproportionate impact on our lives. I for one am looking forward to it, and will have extra food, water and warm clothes in the car – just in case. And as the two year old in me comes out as soon as it snows, I'll also be packing gloves and wellies!
Lou
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If you missed the first workshop of the year...
The January workshop was a bit of a one off special – as Emma and I did the master classes. Having said that we really enjoyed it, so maybe one day…
Many of you want to know what happens at the workshops before you book. Here are two ways you can find out:
If Facebook is a way you’d like us to communicate with you, please give our page a like – we don’t use it as much as the LinkedIn group at the moment. This can change if you’d like us to use it more.
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| Thanks to Cliff Gibson for creating this word cloud about the January workshop |
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.... there's always February and March
In February, you'll be able to find out once and for all WHAT YOU ARE REALLY WORTH!
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| Chris Spray |
Your masterclass faciliator, Chris Spray, will provide an insightful and inspiring session. By the end of the masterclass, you will be crystal clear that just being technically good at your job is no longer enough. Being able to effectively position yourself in the minds of those that matter, whilst delivering business results, is now what gives you the edge. You can do this by enhancing your credibility, confidence and professionalism.
Investing in this session will provide you with insight that you can further work on to:
Check out the website now to book your space. Act by 18th January to make sure that you get the extra goodie of your personal 1-to-1 time with Lou or Ems - to help you plan for or review the session - and get the very most out of your experience of the day - click here
Sneak preview: In March the master class will be from Susanne Madsen.
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| Susanne Madsen |
The full master class details aren’t online yet. However, we can tell you that her master class will have a project management theme.
The strategies which Susanne will share have allowed her to go from being an overwhelmed and frustrated project manager to a program director who is in control of projects, programmes, time and very importantly, of her own career. Furthermore, Susanne improved her work/life balance to such an extent that she found time to qualify as a coach and write a book about project management coaching.
Whether you’re a Project Manager, Change Manager or have another Great Insider role which includes projects (and most of our roles do), Susanne’s master class will help you to;
- Get better results and get recognised for those results
- Reduce your stress levels and leave the office on time
- Focus on the 20% of activities that add to 80% of your results
- Build effective relationships with your clients and with your team
- Feel more energized at work
- Avoid project failure and redundancy
- Become a more inspirational and appealing leader
- Improve your project, change management and leadership skills
Book before 5th February to get your fee £30 minute coaching session worth £75 - click here
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Freebie Friday
This week we have 2 Freebie Fridays for you - in addition to the early bird booking for our workshops:
The detractors, the disengaged and the disinterested - Engaging the entire workforce in systems thinking at Tesco Bank
NET2 (North of England Transformation Network)
5 Feb, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Free for first-timers.
From day one Tesco Bank opened with no traditional targets for any of its frontline staff. No sales targets and no call handling time targets. The focus of the business is on improving customer service and therefore customer loyalty. But it isn't as simple as just taking away the traditional measures. Over the last 3 years they have built a business from scratch, understanding demand and designing all policies, procedures and processes while not losing sight of their true purpose. Throughout the journey they have come across the detractors, the disengaged and the disinterested, as staff at all levels have come from traditional insurance companies and call centres. However, by engaging the entire population of front line colleagues and managers and not just a small subset, they have built a business with a focus on the customer, and a focus on improving capability as well as reducing failure demand.
Join us for a talk and walk through the journey Tesco Bank has taken since it launched as a single entity and moved away from its joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The centre in Newcastle has over 900 members of staff and opened in October 2009. They have a second site in Glasgow holding around 300 staff.
NET2 have kindly offered a free taster place for anyone who is attending for the first time
Full details of this ½ day workshop are here http://net2.org.uk/?page_id=1266
The next one missed the Friday deadline, so is offically next week's Freebie Friday, but as there is only a week's notice we thought we'd include it this week too:
Free Webinar: Discover the Secret of Keeping the Solutions that are Hidden in Your New Year Business Resolutions TO Make 2013 THE Year Your Business is GREAT!
For: Leaders in Business & Professions
Time: 9.00 pm GMT
Date: Monday 21st January
By Judith Sharman, WellTree Coaching & Consultancy
Link: http://www.well-tree-learning.co.uk/webinar-make-2013-your-best-year-ever
(Judith came to the Great Insiders January workshop and immediately offered this webinar as a Freebie Friday - you can do the same - just email us and let us know of any free or disocunted offers you have). |
On LinkedIn this week:
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If you only do one thing on LinkedIn this week, you could vote on this poll from Dave of The Children’s Air Ambulance:
GI Charity Challenge - who wants to throw Ems and Lou out of a Plane? Perhaps drive a car blind? We are looking for GIs to help support The Children's Air Ambulance in it's Inaugural lifesaving year.
- I would be interested in a skydive
- I want to drive a car blind(2 charities)
- Eng's longest, steepest & highest 12hr
- My own personal challenge
- I'd like to support TCAA at a marathon
Go on - you know you want to drive a car round Donnington blindfolded!
Who do you turn to when you need to talk? Lou asked this and we’ve had some great ideas from the tribe about how they get the support they need when they’ve had one of those days.
Michael asks: Some Friday thinking....back to the floor?
While reading about the recent demise of Fred Turner, former President of McDonalds (he brought the world the McNugget, no less...), who started out flipping burgers for the company, I came across this quote:
"Matthew Gwyther, editor of Management Today, says working your way up from the shop floor, in the way Turner did at McDonald's, now largely belongs to the realms of corporate mythology.
"It is quite a folksy and backward-looking attitude. That is not meant to sound snotty but it would actually be a waste of time in many businesses."
Many large firms expect their executives to spend a week or two on the shop floor to learn how the business works - and that, argues Gwyther, is more than enough.
"You don't have to spend years working as a chimney sweep to know about chimneys.""
IMHO, unless you spend time doing the work, it's very difficult to know exactly what works and what doesn't.
What are your thoughts?
What would you put in a Great Insiders code of practice?
Just before Christmas Lou read a tweet asking if people had a personal code of practice, which has lead to some interesting moments of thinking.
“It's occured to me that this could be an interesting chapter in the book. So...
.. what would you put in a code of Practice for Great Insiders?”
What are the dos and don't that you think we should all be adhering to in the work place?
What are your personal ethics, that you think are worth people thinking about for themselves?
Cliff asks: What is the purpose of IT in an organisation?
Following on from the HR question, and working in IT, it would be good to get an understanding of people's opinions on how they perceive IT?
Personally I've always positioned myself as a partner to my customers, taking time to understand their issues and processes. This puts me in the best position to see the bigger picture, without the insider preconceptions, and deliver the best possible solution...
...however quite often I know we are seen as a necessary expense that just stop projects happening...!
Plus we have discussions on:
- Business process life cycle - unmet process overload hits organisational growth
- What is the purpose of HR in an organisation?
- Better Project Management Practice implementation requires better thinking.
- And more.
Do join us to add your thoughts |
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Who do you know who needs to read the 7 mistakes?
The 7 mistakes was written for people like you and your colleagues. If everyone in the tribe forwarded the link to just a couple of people then over 1,500 people would get the benefit of this free report and copies of this briefing, so they can find out about things like the Great Freebie Friday offers. So if you do one thing to spread the word about Great Insiders this week, forward this link to a few people and and change someone’s life.
http://www.greatinsiders.com/great-insiders/
The tribe exists and adds value to people's lives - because people like you are part of it. Please do feel free to always add your voice. You won't find a more supportive and friendly place on the internet to share your GI dilemmas, ideas and dreams!
Warmest wishes,
Ems and Lou
xx
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"A great insider is someone who DOES take their knowledge and insight of an organisation AND the people within it, and uses it to change the experience of SOME OR ALL of those people for the better. And that can be in a fully professional capacity, or it might just be a contribution towards making it a simply nicer place to be every day"
- Roberto Chorley |
Hi Folks,
This letter comes to you from my hotel in Kuwait. This is my 6th week out here (not consecutively) and I have been thinking a great deal this week about the way that countries work - and what we can learn from that for the organisations where we work.
As you may know from the news, there continue to be demonstrations here from opposition parties who disagree with the latest Government elections. It's really interesting to watch how the Amir is tackling the change (which is a change to the voting process). Although there is a great deal of passion on each side - things are generally peaceful.
This week I found out that the Liberation Day (26th February) was moved to that date in order to match with the Independence Day (25th February) and create a 2-day holiday. I was really interested to hear about this pragmatic approach to marking two key events in the country's history. I have noticed that the media here do talk openly about the moves forwards in relationships between Iraq and Kuwait - and the history of the two countries. There seems to be great pride that they have moved together through their past and are now cooperating economically and in other ways.
And that had me wondering - what is it about our role as Great Insiders that can help our organisations with 'moving on' past conflict'? Surely some of it is about just being honest about what has happened. Then, marking the changes in some healthy and practical way. And then, not being afraid to make our new relationships Front Page News.
Things go wrong - but we don't have to get stuck there.
Ems x
PS Read on for the latest on the LinkedIn group updates
PPS If you are coming to the January event, please book quickly. We are almost at capacity for the venue - so don't miss your place! |
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Gift Vouchers
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Not sure what to ask for your birthday?
Want to give a friend a present which will have a lifetime's impact?
Looking for a gift for your staff?
We've got a range of vouchers available. If you'd like to find out more, please reply to this email (put 'vouchers' in the title so it gets to the right person).
You can either buy a voucher for an amount of money, or for a workshop, whatever suits you.
The vouchers are also valid for the online learning which is coming shortly! |
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Testimonials
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“Great Insiders workshops are unlike anything else I’ve done before, they’re not just great, they’re extraordinary. .... you get the unexpected too: Great Insider workshops are fun. They are places where you make new friends because the work and exercises you do together engender this. And you know that your facilitators really care about you.
This is extraordinary, and you leave the workshop recharged and reinvigorated to face the challenges of the day job.“
Bruce L
“Bring a “tricky situation” along – the situational coaching session will help you help yourself – Brilliant, just Brilliant - really powerful to see what can be done to help each other! I can see the value Lou and Em add to any consultant work here – this was you both at your best!”
Lucy H
“The workshop met my expectations and more, in the theory/headings, but so much more in that I was able to reflect when I wanted. It’s a great opportunity to work in a safe open environment to ask all the things about influencing and having a confident professional approach in explanation.”
Maggie S |
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