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You can now find my Coaching Bloke Blog at

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Matt

Coaching company set for stronger brand image

Here's a wee PR thingy that our friends at Pulse Creative Marketing produced. The rebranding exercise referred to was an interesting exercise in how we all need to make sure we're communicating a consistent message these days. I think that applies to big corporates and individuals alike. Whether your promoting a multi million dollar ad campaign or putting your CV together, it's all about creating a brand image.

Anyway, here's the piece:

A leading Sunderland-based training company is set to boost their own performance, after receiving an extensive rebrand from a growing marketing agency.

Matt Somers, author, practitioner and coach, established Peak in 1999. Since then the company have delivered coaching skills training to managers and team leaders across the UK and Europe, building an impressive client base which includes Citigroup, Scottish & Southern Energy, Toyota and Northumbrian Water. After realising different strands of the company were clouding the overall perception of Peak, Matt called upon Pulse Creative Marketing for a rebrand.

Matt said: ‘Having worked with Pulse in the past, I knew they understood the different parts of Peak and would help us to create an image that would appeal effectively to all of our customers.”

Pulse and Matt outlined two clear elements of Peak, which needed to be refined and branded separately. Matt’s growing individual reputation often preceded the Peak brand, so it was decided that the coaching and training services, offered for SMEs, and new businesses, would be branded simply as Matt Somers Coaching Skills Training, allowing this arm of the business, and Matt’s growing reputation, to become prominent within the company image.

Matt Somers said: “The entire marketing process with Pulse has allowed us to re-imagine the way in which our business is perceived. Since the rebrand, we have seen an incredible increase in sign up for our entire range of services, and we have recently been recognised by the Association of Coaching, for our two day residential course, one of our many programmes under the Matt Somers – Coaching Skills Training brand.”

Paul Finch, Pulse Marketing Manager said: “After working with Matt sometime ago it was nice to work with him again to help develop the brand so the business can continue to grow and develop. I wish him every success with the future of his business.”

Stand and Deliver!

I've just been booked to tread the boards at the 4th annual Training Journal conference.

It takes palce at the Commonwealth Club in Northumberland Avenue, London on Tuesday 23rd June.

It looks like a fabulous event and the organisers have been kind enough to line me up several 'warm up acts' (ahem) including Elaine Grix, Head of HR at BAA Heathrow and Jackie Orme CEO at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

If you're interested in attending drop a line to carol@mattsomers.com

My talk is entitled "Coaching through the Credit Crunch". I intend to set out a range of low or no-cost ways that line managers can make sure that learning and development continues despite the economic downturn.

I have produced a short report on the subject which you can get if you Click Here

Hopefully see you there!

Oh look, books!

Books are a passion of mine.

I have written three (all on coaching; don't know much about anything else) and read hundreds more (not all on coaching, but a lot were!)

The tale of my getting published the first time is an interesting example of ignorance is bliss. Many consultants I speak to are keen to get a book published and regularly ask me which literary agent I used or which service I used to distribute my manuscript.

The truth is I didn't. I had several titles on my own bookshelf from Hodder & Stoughton's 'In a Week' series. I think I had 'Time Management in a Week' and 'Project Management in a Week'. Noticing that they didn't have a title on coaching I decided to see if they'd like one.

Not knowing who to talk to I phoned main reception and said "I'm Matt Somers and I'd like to write a book on coaching for the in a week' series. They must be trained to look kindly on happy amateurs because I was put through to the series editor who patiently explained that I needed to write a synopsis and a sample chapter.

This I did and they must have liked it because I was duly contracted to write the full title. I followed this with a fuller treatment of coaching for John Wiley & Son in Coaching at Work (2006) and have again written for Hodder with Instant Manager: Coaching (2008) which replaced Coaching in a Week when the series was revised.

I've recently created a mini-site to promote these books and recommend a number of other coaching titles. You can find it at http://coachingbooks.sapphiredev.co.uk

How I became the Coaching Bloke

My life changed forever in 1994. I was a newly promoted Training Manager with a high-street bank and had a range of courses I needed to attend as part of my own induction.

By far the most intriguing was a 2-day Coaching for Performance event hosted by Sir John Whitmore. I knew John had something to do with Motor Racing but was more curious about how coaching in sport could transfer to the world of work. How could it help me to help the managers my role was there to support?

The course took place over 2-days and was held at the Bisham Abbey sports facility in the South of England. This was also the base at the time of the England Football team, but sadly – perhaps – they were not there at the same time as I was.

The course was very enjoyable and we all had a lot of fun, but best of all it gave me answers. How to motivate people in ways other than just paying them more. How to get people to step forward and willingly accept responsibility to see a job through. How to operate in an environment of openness and trust. Best course I ever did.

When the bank wanted to make the course an internal one to be delivered in-house, I was first in the queue to volunteer to become a licensed trainer.

The first time I delivered the course, a participant arrived early. I was puzzled by his disappointed expression but heartily introduced myself. “Hi, I’m Matt Somers and I work in the Training Department.” I said while shaking his hand.

“Oh,” he said, “my wife thought you were a downhill skier!”

I realised then that I needed to drop the sporting analogies and concentrate of the world of work which I understood much better.

Fast forward a few years and I’ve left the bank and set up on my own. I took a redundancy package and joined the 'best thing that ever happened' club. I now run my own 2-day programme using models, exercises and concepts based on the world of work. I love going back to organisations I’ve worked with for someone to say “I remember you, you’re that coaching bloke!”

I do my best to pass on that initial enthusiasm for coaching in my training seminars, books and articles. I know that coaching makes the big difference and I see my challenge as spreading that message as far as I can.

Most recently I decided to join the web 2.0 revolution and have set up a blog called (appropriately I hope you’ll agree) “Thoughts from that Coaching Bloke” you're reading it now!

Perhaps you’d like to join me on one of our programmes and become a coaching bloke (or coaching lady?) too.

Call us on 0191 516 6237 or visit www.mattsomers.com

Five go mad at Longhirst!!

Last week I ran my training course Coaching at Work for a group of managers interested in using coaching skills to improve motivation and performance in their businesses.

Here are their personal learning objectives along with my closing tips related to them.

By the way, I've changed the names to protect privacy.

Sarah: "Coaching for customers and staff"

You now have an approach you can use with customers, staff and just about anyone else you can think of. I guess the ‘ballet dancer’s mirror’ is the perfect metaphor for the way you’re trying to position your advisory support and I hope you left with a number of ideas to develop.

Nadine: Develop myself....to develop my staff"

As you recognised from the start, we can’t change other people we can only change ourselves, but those people that take up the coaching approach become very positive role models and it does wear off on others.

Cheryl: "Coaching myself and my flexible team"

Where people work in loosely structured teams without formal reporting lines, coaching is really the only approach likely to get you anywhere. The three stage team development model would definitely be something you could use too.

Kimberley: "Coaching for relationship building"

Coaching is great for relationship building because it positions people as central to everything we do. We can get tasks completed and relationships developed all at the same time.

Nichola: "Coaching for communication and letting go"

Letting go is the hardest part of becoming a great coach. The biggest challenge is giving up the need for control and the belief that, as managers, we must have all the answers. You’ll get there!

(Actually, there were men on the course too, but my daughter's a big Girls Aloud fan and I had to get my name changes from somewhere!)

As the picture here suggests we ask participants to undertake physical exercises designed to illustrate coaching principles. There is no real exertion involved and we’re certainly not talking about ‘outward bound’ style activities.

We don't insist on anybody doing anything that makes them uncomfortable and we don't ask folk to ‘confront their fears’ by walking over hot coals or smashing a house brick with a Karate style chop.

There are two main reasons we use physical activity:

We want to convince our participants that coaching works. To do this we have to prove it. It is not possible to model real business results in a few minutes but it is possible to see how coaching can radically improve a golf swing or a person’s ability to catch a ball.

To be truly memorable, learning needs to be impactful and fun. There is only so much you can do with a flipchart and Powerpoint.

12 days of Christmas: A personal view

My true love, if you're reading this, I'd like....

• 12 months without relentless misery in the media
• 11 QPR players giving their all every week
• At least 10 minutes each day for everyone to spend doing nothing
• 9 months of easy pregnancy for anyone woman due to give birth in 2009
• 8 hours sleep every night
• Year 7 to start well for my daughter, Evie
• 6 months when everyone can work without paying tax (Any chance Gordon?)
• 5th series of Lost to start revealing what the Hell is going on
• 4 weeks of uninterupted sunshine next summer
• 3 guys in Depeche Mode to wow us all on their World tour
• England 2 qualify for the World Cup (sorry)
  
• 1 new US president to start to repair the damage of the last eight years

Have a peaceful Christmas everyone