Everybody has a different idea of what a challenge is.

I am running the Brighton Half Marathon in a few weeks time. For me the distance is a bit of a challenge, but I am pretty sure I can make it that far.

Trying to do it in 1 hour 45mins is definitely a stretch as that is pretty rapid for me and I need to train hard to come close to doing that.

What is more of a stretch, and indeed has until now been out in my panic/procrastination zone, is to use an event like this to raise money for charity.

Now this is something I know others have no issue with and it’s well in their comfort zone.  I on the other hand, ran a few charity races last year but never asked others to donate.  Something stopped me asking others to help.

We often assume we know what a challenge is for others and indeed ourselves.  It sometimes takes a fair bit of soul searching and honesty to find out what the real challenge is though.

It is usually some form of limiting belief that holds us back. And it often transcends more than one part of our life. Breaking that limiting belief is a real challenge.

I am committing to asking others to donate to a cause close to my heart, Great Ormond Street Hospital who care for my daughter Georgia.  Click here if you would like to know why.

If you are setting goals, take the opportunity to also think about what it is you are not doing, rather than just adding more to what you can already do. What is your real challenge?

It depends a lot on what your area of interest is and your preferred learning style as to what might float your boat, however here are some we would recommend looking at:

Leadership Books

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R Covey is a great book to dip in and out of. The habits are easily explained and followed and really do make a difference to how effective you are.

Resourceful Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business – How to Succeed in Challenging Times by Christine Miller. A great set of articles from a wide range of leaders including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and also one from Hazelbranch founder Toby Buckle. Not that we are biased!

Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard is an inspirational book for anyone who aspires to excellent customer service.

Inspiring Videos

I recommend you view this video from TED on how leaders inspire action

This one of Steve Jobs address at Stamford University is great when thinking about your purpose

This is a great one for ethics and leadership The Childrens Fire

NLP

There are so many books out there for NLP it is hard to know where to start.

We would personally recommend NLP Principles in Practice by Lisa Wake. It is easy to read, practical, highlights many of the best tools and techniques and uses an evidence based approach.

Another good sourse of information on NLP is the ANLP. This governing body has a good reputation and its publication Rapport magazine produces some interesting articles whilst the Acuity and Research in NLP give the latest research and evidence to support and develop NLP.

The NLP conference is a great place to get up to date with the latest NLP techniques and theory as well as having good introduction sessions.

To find out more about what NLP is check out our NLP page

At Hazelbranch we have been supporting social enterprise for a number of years. We sit on the expert advice panel for social entreprenuers  for the Business Community Partnership and provide coaching support for Unltd award winners such as Fotodocument as well as working with larger social enterprises such as National Geographic.

We  also hope social enterprise comes to be the norm as opposed to being a niche separate sector of the economy. Social enterprises do not always need to start from scratch. It is entirely feasible that many private sector organisations can move towards a model of working that allows a good proportion of profit, energy or expertise to contribute to the development of communities, society and the environment we all live in.

Charities

At Hazelbranch we donate 12  days a year to social enterprises and community development. We also offer a 50% discount to charities for training.

We are also funding places on our Community Leaders development program to those who unable to fund themselves.

Hazelbranch has been involved with coaching charities such as  Muscular Dystrophy advising Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Mens Network

What is most different about this?

• Leaders are developed and get value from understanding and making a difference to a world outside of corporate life and learning from others outside of their usual scope of knowledge
• Leaders get a better sense of satisfaction from being better at their job and making a difference in areas they are passionate about.
• Wider society benefits from the experience and passion of leaders really being involved, people are engaged with your business in a proactive way.

What is the involved in the Program?

The program includes three one day training workshops, and six coaching calls taking the leaders on a journey from vision to action. There are guest speakers at each workshop who have delivered outstanding results.

Why have this focus?

Why have a focus on community and environmental projects?

Any brand or individual doing exceptionally well, is now expected to demonstrate how they also are giving back to society. Thanks to shifts in power and a relentless transparency, those who don’t know how to will have no excuses left.

Being seen to actively be involved in society and making a difference attracts people to work with your company, and consumers to do business with you.  86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business’ interests. TRENDWATCHING.COM

The 2006 Companies Act placed CSR as a critical component of corporate governance in the UK. Directors must assume responsibility for environmental, employee, social and community matters .

What is the investment?

The program is £3600 per individual. Part of your fees go towards the costs of promotion and kick starting of projects and can come from your CSR budget as well as your people development budget.

We are deeply passionate about providing our tools and training for those with a passion to make a difference. We provide places on a community leaders development programs to self-motivated individuals with a passion for making a difference who hasn’t the backing of an organisation or funds to achieve this.

Who runs the program?

Toby Buckle of Hazelbranch runs the program with:

Glen Poole: an experienced leader, trainer and consultant with a particular interest in what it takes to get different communities to take action and make change happen.

Glen has been responsible for designing and delivering a wide range of change campaigns in the public and charitable sector which included the Fathers 4 Justice campaign, the successful campaign to stop the development of third runway at Heathrow Airport and the Bounce Your Balls testicular cancer campaign. Glen is the Strategic Director of The Men’s Network in Brighton & Hove, a Community & Voluntary Sector elected representative and sits of a number of citywide groups in Brighton such as the Volunteering Strategy Steering Group.

Glen has also delivered training on communication, strategy, creativity and leadership to hundreds of people from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Glen enables leaders to identify the actions that make a difference and then empower more people, to take those actions, more often.

When I am at my office I often get asked if I want a cup of tea by the friendly co-workers sharing the space.

I tend to turn the offer down. I head to the kitchen to make my own tea as an when I need it.

On the face of it this is inefficient as I could be working whilst someone makes my tea.

However it is effective as I get to have a break from my computer, have a drink when I actually need it, and often have randomly useful conversations at the kettle.

The difference between efficient and effective is an important one to consider. The drive for efficiency is obviously important, but it often has the unforeseen impact on effectiveness.

Multi tasking seems efficient, until you make that critical mistake because you were not really paying attention.

Listening to someone whilst checking your computer or phone seems like a good idea until your staff leave because “you don’t really listen to them”

Running on a skeleton staff works until sickness hits and you lose that big order because you can’t deliver.

I am not saying you shouldn’t try to be efficient, only that it’s important to make sure you are being effective as well. Sometimes doing the right thing is inefficient, but effective.

I’m off to make myself a cup of tea. How about you?

How well do you fulfill these?

VISION – let your vision drive everything you do

GOALS – set clear time bound goals around what you are out to achieve. See Goal Setting

AUDIENCE – identify all the different audiences who could help you reach your goals

ACTIONS – define the different actions you want these audiences to take

MESSAGES – keep asking yourself  ‘what message do we need to deliver to our different target audiences in order to get them to take the actions that will lead us to our goals?’

RESOURCES – keep looking to identify all the different resources that can help you achieve your goals – Think: time, money, ideas, people, venues, potential partners etc….

LEADERSHIP – remember none of this will happen without your leadership – being a leader is making things happen that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t make them happen – so keep taking the actions that you know will make a difference.

(This is contributed by Glen Poole who helps run our Leading the Change program)

Ensure you have made clear:

1. Why the task needs to be done and what the real objective is.
2. When does it need to be done by/what priority does it take.
3. What authority they have to make decisions and what they must get permissions for.
4. What type of problems they must refer back to you on.
5. Any progress reports they should submit.  When/how/where?
6. How you propose to guide and monitor them.
7. The resources available for them and the budget if applicable.
8. What standards they must work to.
9. How will it benefit them or their personal development?
10. How will you review and feedback on the completed task.