International Women's Day 2024

This month we celebrate International Women’s Day (Friday 8th March) and the theme from the UN is ‘Invest in Women and Accelerate Progress.’ I am proud to be an Associate for the Women’s Utilities Network (WUN) which was founded to do exactly that; support women to thrive and succeed in the utilities sector through developing a space for women to come together, connect, learn, grow, and offer a platform for women to be recognised. 2024 will see this mission take it’s next step...

The WUN has joined with Utility Week to host the first ever Women in Utilities Awards which will take place at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on Thursday 27th June. I am honoured to be a part of the judging panel this year for the very first awards and cannot wait to review the candidates and celebrate women in this incredibly, important sector.

Louise Wapshare, WUN director, said: “WUN is a community of women in utilities who connect, support, develop and encourage one another. Through the Women in Utilities Awards, in association with Utility Week, we want to showcase the achievements of women at all stages of their careers in utilities, as well as celebrating the individuals and organisations who provide support, development and opportunity. Whilst much has already been done to encourage diversity and equity in the utilities sector, we believe there is a long way to go! These awards will showcase and promote great practice so that we can keep building a sector where women stay and thrive.”

Utility Week portfolio director Ellen Bennett adds: “With the gender gap still painfully evident in the boardrooms, offices and sites of utilities, there has never been a more important time to recognise and celebrate the many achievements of women who have made their career in utilities – not least to encourage new entrants and women in the early days of their careers. While great progress has been made, it’s eye opening that women make up only 26% of the workforce in energy and utilities. These awards provide a unique platform for the industry to showcase its commitment to gender diversity; celebrate the great women working in utilities today; and open the door for those who will come after them.”

People Skills To Become the Centre of Career Growth

AI is everywhere - even where we don't think it exists, it has a role right now - and more, and more people are using it. But can it ever fully replace us and what we do? I don't think so, because I believe we will always need the human-touch, both metaphorically and physically, and AI can't replace that. But we're still not the experts at this - at being human - and being able to communicate, build relationships, show empathy, and be compassionate, are still key critical skills which we can all grow and develop; at home and especially at work.

I recently found an article on the LinkedIn Talent Blog written by Dan Brodnitz Global Head of Content Strategy, LinkedIn Learning called 'The Most In-Demand Skills for 2024.' In a world which is evolving with AI our human-ness is more important than ever. “People skills are going to come more to the center of individual career growth,” predicts LinkedIn VP Aneesh Raman, “and people-to-people collaboration is going to come into the centre more for company growth. For leaders, you’ve got to start with communicating clearly, compassionately, and empathetically with your teams.”

Raman and Brodnitz are not talking about anything particularly new or radical and yet these are points worth repeating because they're still relevant, and we can still do better. There is nothing 'soft' about 'soft skills' and they require awareness, focus, commitment, and action to be maintained. If you're a leader and a manager of people right now, ask yourself:

Q How clearly do you think you communicate with others on a scale of 1-10?

Q What stops you from being able to communicate clearly?

Q What do you think could be better about your relationships at work?

Q What do you find challenging about this?

Q What one thing could you do differently to improve your relationships at work?

Want to grow your career & achieve greater success? Email me [email protected]

What I've Been Up To

Back at the end of 2023 I had the pleasure of joining Stephen Adams on his podcast Inspiring Thoughts where we talked about our mutual love of coaching and at the end of February we finally met in person! It was great to meet Stephen in 3D and to continue our conversation about coaching, helping and supporting others, leadership, and leading our own businesses. Watch this space for more things to come!

My 40th birthday celebrations continued on 28th February as I took myself off to London for the day to do all the things I enjoy. A day just for ME! Tate gallery, champagne lunch at The Wolesley, shopping, and mezcal cocktails. I highly recommend!

What I've Been Watching

On 13th February I attended a webinar hosted by The Coaching Academy featuring special guest Mike Garde, AI Trainer and Transformation Coach, sharing how to utilise AI effectively, authentically, and morally, in coaching.

It was an interesting conversation about the various AI tools available on the market e.g. ChatGPT and how to put them to use in coaching and designing training tools. I appreciated the points raised about what to be aware of and what to avoid. I don’t think we should be relying on the AI tools to do our job for us, or replace our creativity, but should incorporate them into our existing style, format, and approach, to enhance. It was also useful to learn how to use AI tools to deepen and broaden our research and increase knowledge.

What I've Been Listening To

Squiggly Careers #383 How pausing increases performance

Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis are at the forefront of the personal development and careers podcast genre with over 4M downloads of their super successful podcast Squiggly Careers. Their podcast focuses on how to achieve success by recognising the myriad of ways to get there - highlighting that straight up, is not the only way up.

I’ve listened to a few of their many episodes over the years and recently tapped into a recently published episode about taking breaks; a topic I am passionate about, and also need a reminder to put into practice...!

Helen and Sarah talk about the art of pausing and how it can increase productivity. A really helpful reminder and a useful listen.

The Coaching Cast IWD 2024

At The Coaching Cast podcast we’ve chosen to support the UN Women’s IWD theme and rallying call, to ‘invest in women & accelerate progress.’ In our special IWD episode we discuss our thoughts about this years theme, we share our personal experiences, and we offer our ideas as to how we, and our allies, can support women to accelerate their progress. In the episode you will learn: The UN IWD theme for this year and how they’ve broken it down into sub priorities for us all to get behind, our interpretation of this years theme - investing, and accelerating women - what and how, the challenges we believe women still face and what we think we can do differently, and everyones favourite feature, bullsh*t bingo, with a corker that has been gifted to us courtesy of our LinkedIn Community. This new episode is available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts, watch on YouTube, and you will also find all episodes on our website thecoachingcast.co.uk.

Time to Focus On You

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"Lisa really encouraged me to focus on what is happening right now, what I can do right now and what I personally need next. This was essential in helping me to get unstuck and start taking some action." Fiona, Clarity Hour Client, May 2023

If you’re an Entrepreneur or Middle Manager and feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, now is the time to focus on you and what you need to restore your confidence, balance, and energy. Why not try my Clarity Hour? 1 hour with me, virtually, on a day and time of your choosing. In the hour we'll explore together: What’s going on for you right now, what you want instead, what you’ve tried already, what’s getting in the way, what strengths and opportunities you have, and finally the steps towards achieving what you want. All of this for just £150. If you’re interested in grabbing one then visit gripcoaching.co.uk/services to book yours now or drop me an email and lets have a chat [email protected] I'd LOVE to work with you. Visit my website to see the full range of my services.