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Millions descending on London

We can look forward to an exciting time when the spectacles of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games come to London. Millions of people from around the world will descend on London and other parts of the UK over a 100 day period to participate in the celebrations. It is estimated that 20 million extra journeys will take place during the games.

So the Olympic dream is coming, but … there could also be a potential nightmare facing businesses across London and beyond. How will staff, customers, suppliers and deliveries get to and from work? Travel disruptions are inevitable, so how do businesses prepare for this and ensure that they can continue to operate? And what role is coaching and mentoring playing?

Scottish companies gearing up for growth

The latest survey by the Federation of Small Businesses found that that 54% of Scottish companies are gearing up for growth in 2012, a significant increase over last year’s figure of 41%. As a Scot, I’m delighted to see our ambition growing. The areas being targeted to drive that growth are: increasing the client base, developing a greater online presence, and taking on more staff.

The luxury giant cruise ship, Costa Concordia, has been lying on its side for weeks and is now expected to be there for months, a sad reminder of the loss of lives, property, reputations and trust. However, what appears to have caused the most furore and become the focus of worldwide media attention, has been the behaviour of the captain. He is blamed for causing the accident by recklessly steering the vessel too close to shore, not managing the evacuation and abandoning ship before the evacuation of more than 4,200 passengers and crew was complete.

The debate goes further. It has become a debate about corporate ethics, safety regulation and the degree to which individuals are responsible for what happens on their watch. Does this seem familiar? It certainly reminded me of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the fall of many mighty financial institutions across the world.

So what is the link with coaching?

‘People support best that which they help to create’ , a fairly well known phrase and one, if you’ve been at the sharp end of managing people and teams you will recognise instantly. If ‘they’ didn’t have a good part in deciding what needs to be done, what the next steps are, and who needs to take them, then you can almost guarantee that some part of ‘it’ won’t happen, if not all of it. It’s a strange old thing people management; the father of statistical process control W. Edwards Deming said ‘management is the problem’. I think he has point.

When I recently spoke to a large room full of consultants at a conference in Telford, I discussed the differences and similarities between Business Mentoring and Business Coaching. It was interesting how many consultants and coaches came up afterwards to discuss this further and how differently they experience the terms being used in the market place.