NT - Consultant - Challenges World Wide - Malawi
I worked with Chris on a Capability Development Project for small businesses and local trainee consultants in Blantyre, Malawi in July 2010 (see www.challengesworldwide.com)
Chris believes that warmth and interest centred on what's important to me - with a touch of humour - is critical to building a trusting relationship. I valued working with him because of his impact, energy and willingness to share his knowledge and experience in a thoughtful and relevant way. As an entrepreneur committed to developing my own skills, I really valued our time together.
SG - Public Sector Senior Manager
'In all honesty I wasn't really sure I needed coaching - but I was happy to go with the flow. My major challenge was that I have to report to two senior executives - one 'commercial' (more volume, better pricing), the other with a 'public sector' bias ( strategy and influence 'brownie points). There was also a day to day conflict between being strategic - which I prefer - and being very very operational (like checking loo rolls) which just crowded everything else out including my work/life balance.
So, it was really interesting that what I thought was a time management issue broaden into a discussion about what my manager needed, how I could best support them, as well as what would be good for me. Our conversations where very 'action based' and focused on what I could do to create the working environment that would balance my needs as well as those of the businesses.'
CH - Business Start up Entrepreneur
'Over the six months of our coaching relationship, Chris helped me clarify both the short and long term goals that were particularly relevant to my business. He consistently helped me re-evaluate my thinking and I was always conscious that he was listening very closely to what I was saying in a non-judgmental way. He always respected my views and encouraged me to continually explore different ways of developing my business. I valued the outcomes of the conversations we had.'
TL - Global General Manager
A large part of coaching is unscrambling your brain to think about actions which develop a clear path towards your goals, and Chris made me realise that you cannot do that alone.
Chris is good at creating rapport and building trust, which made the coaching process seem effortless. I’d been stuck on how best to begin to build my business in a new location, and in one tightly focussed session Chris helped me generate a raft of ideas for networking and marketing and for collaterals such as brochures and the website.
I’d been going round in circles, but now it seems obvious where the priorities were, what actions I needed to plan out in the short and medium term and how I might implement the plan.
I’ve learned a lot from working with Chris - I have take a big step forward in how I plan my business in the future.