Welcome to our newsletter...we have been very busy over the last few months. Our first Beehive ILM Accredited Coaching and Mentoring  programme is going brilliantly; the next course begins October 2012. We are offering  fully funded ILM Level 3 or 5 Coaching and Mentoring Programmes in North Wales. The Snowdonia Headway Trek was fun. 

Finally we discuss 'Making mistakes' and how awareness of error traps can help, so please scroll down!
Mark & Sara  

'Coaching is the most effective learning and talent development practice in organisations' states the CIPD Learning and Talent Development Report, 2012, and the Welsh Government (WG) has recognised this.

WG is offering every private and third-sector organisation in Wales one fully funded place on an ILM Level 3 or 5 Coaching and Mentoring Programme (Level 7 may be an option at a later date). This includes the full qualification and a train the trainer programme to help cascade coaching and mentoring throughout organisations. The WG ambition is to accelerate a coaching and mentoring culture throughout Welsh business.

Worth Consulting have won the contract with the WG to deliver this training under the brand of Coachwales  and Mark and Sara will be delivering the training in North Wales.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses and the third sector in North Wales. It's as applicable to micro businesses as larger organisations - a coaching approach to clients can help you understand their needs more fully, and can help the third sector understand and fulfil the needs of their members. It's also a big part of the Investors in People award,"  said Sara Lodge. 

The dates for the next two programmes in North Wales are:-

Programme 1: September 13th & 14th; Oct 11th & 12th; Nov 9th; Nov 26th & 27th

Programme 2: Oct 25th & 26th; November 15th & 16th; November 30th; December 10th & 11th

Contact either Sara   or Mark   at info@beecld.co.uk for more information.

Making mistakes is something humans do because we're fallible and it's not always a bad thing - in the field of learning and development we encourage managers to develop working environments in which people feel they can make mistakes and not be blamed as this encourages learning and problem solving behaviour. However, mistakes can be costly, and there are many things that can be done to avoid mistakes that are sometimes not embedded into performance management practices.

In the nuclear industry, error avoidance is crucial. While providing coaching training to a client in the nuclear sector to support their health and safety agenda, we've been very impressed with their error avoidance principles, many of which we felt were as applicable outside the industry as in it.

The 'dirty dozen error traps' - time pressure, distractions/interruptions, fatigue/high work load, inexperience/lack of knowledge, complacency, poor communication, stress, lack of assertiveness, resource planning, lack of awareness, lack of teamwork, and norms - are relevant to any workplace, and awareness of them can help anticipate problems before they occur.

The following techniques for avoiding mistakes are applicable to most tasks, roles and workplaces and provide a comprehensive check-list of performance management tools - it might be helpful to consider their applicability to your work place:

•      Pre-task/role briefing - ensuring everyone understands all aspects of a task/role, including their responsibilities, expectations of performance and behaviour, purpose and desired results
•      Post-task/ongoing role briefing - capturing learning and sharing best practice
•      STAR (Stop, Think, Act, Review) - consciously self-checking that what you're about to do will help you achieve and ensure your actions are focused and relevant
•      Checking - getting someone more knowledgeable or experienced to check what you intend to do/are doing/have done - particularly relevant if you're new to the task or role
•      Procedures - ensuring that there are clear procedures in place where appropriate that identify actions, behaviours and steps that are critical to the task/role
•      Performance management, shadowing and coaching - line managers, supervisors etc. taking responsibility for ensuring that people are working to expected standards of behaviour or competence and, if not, identifying why and providing the support, feedback and challenge required to do so
•      Questioning attitude - constantly challenging accepted wisdom and 'the way things are done around here' to avoid complacency
•      Learning shares - sharing experiences and best practice to ensure continuous improvement (could be included in the pre-task brief, before meetings and at the beginning of the working day)
•      Clear communications - making sure that there are clear methods and channels of 2-way communication for any environment, role or task.

As always, our business is enhanced by recommendations made by you on our behalf. We are always grateful for these recommendations and would like to extend the offer of a complimentary workshop or coaching session for any successful introductions made.