Walking Coach

Uplands House, High Wycombe, Bucks – 5 February 2011

We’re holding our first Walking Coaches’ Open Day in a few weeks at Uplands House, set amidst the beautiful Chilterns in Buckinghamshire, and we’re inviting fellow coaches and helping professionals to come and join in the fun.

How often do you get the chance to take part in a dedicated day of walking, talking, reflection and networking?  If like us, you have a keen interest in the integration of walking and the outdoors with your current work, as well as a desire to look at new and creative ways to develop your business, then this could be just up your street!

As part of this day I also hope to share some of the plans for Walking Coach and to invite input to the ongoing creation of learning and business opportunities that may be of benefit to every one of us.

Please join us for what promises to be a fun and inspiring day with the chance to meet and work with like minded colleagues and friends.

Contact sandra@walkingcoach.co.uk  for more information and to book your place.

“Stress”: a physical, mental, or emotional response to events that causes bodily or mental tension. 

Stress Management has never been more relevant than it is today. With workplace stress levels having doubled in 4 years, the annual cost to business has reached as high as £8.4 billion, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Yet how far do we expect employers to go towards solving this growing problem?

An important  study by Mind, released last week to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day, revealed that the majority of employees (62%) feel their bosses aren’t doing enough to look after the workplace well-being of their staff. (Read more: http://bit.ly/cSqNVK ) Meanwhile, as Henry L. Thompson reveals in his new book, “The Stress Effect”, stress is often the major culprit behind leadership failure. 

It should come as no surprise to us that people at all levels within organisations are suffering. How far can we expect the bosses to be the ones to heal this malaise? Times are tough after all.    

While not letting employers off the hook, the harsh reality is that if we wait for employers to act, then we could be waiting a very long time in most cases.  The more we get ourselves in a stew about what “they” do or don’t do that affects our well-being, the more stressed we’re likely to get. 

Let’s face it, if we’re going to keep ourselves well and sane, then we have to learn to help ourselves. 

How you can help yourself

Next time you feel yourself tightening up, try stopping for a moment and become more conscious of your stress. Then, jot down in a mood journal specific answers to these questions:

1. What’s the trigger that has led you to feel stress?
2. What are the symptoms that show up in you?
3. Where are you when you feel the most stress?
4. Who is with you?
5. What are you doing?
6. Has anything changed recently in this situation?

By becoming more aware of your own stress patterns, you can then look at ways to change either your involvement with stress or your response to it.

If you suffer from stress, the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) is a good place to start for information and advice. You can download their free leaflet here ”Your Top Ten Key Steps to Stress-free living“.

5 Essential Tips for getting back on your feet.

Throughout our careers and our lives, all of us will come up against situations or challenges which can throw us off balance.  At these times it’s very tempting to focus on quick fixes or mindless distractions, anything that will help to rid us of those negative feelings.  But what steps can we take to ensure that at times like these, we remain cool, calm and ready to take on the world?

Speaking personally, I have vivid memories (some very recent) of times when I have become completely overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of the task or challenge ahead. I know what it is to be racked with self-doubt ..….What if I fail? What if I’m not up to the job? What if I’m rumbled as a fraud? Or, what if I am kicked out? My reactions to these ‘confidence killers’ have swung embarrassingly, anywhere between numbed paralysis, to running around like a demented rabbit.  

So here are 5 key tips to help free yourself from your fears, so that next time you are afflicted by “What If……?”,  you can get back on track and producing the results you really want:

1. Discomfort is good. Only by taking risks and ‘putting ourselves out there’ will we move forward from where we are today. Take notice the next time you feel hindered by your fears and congratulate yourself – it’s a sure sign you’re not only alive, but growing and learning too.
2. Just notice and breathe. Practise simply being aware of how certain situations tend to get a grip on you and prevent you from acting with your natural wisdom and power.  By avoiding the temptation to analyse and self-scold, you will become increasingly detached from these unhelpful  thoughts so that you can eventually choose a different and more constructive way to respond.
3. Get re-acquainted with You.  Remind yourself of the special and unique qualities you possess that have brought you to where you are today. Acknowledge the many positive contributions you make to your work and to others. It’s easy to lose sight of these things when our confidence goes A.W.O.L.
4. Adopt a conscious spirit of adventure. Determine to have joyful, learning-ful experiences and appreciate the journey.  The simple truth is that our lives and careers are constantly unfolding, presenting us with challenges, big and small, new and familiar. Always.
5. “There is no failure. Only feedback.” (Robert Allen) It’s no cliché.  Almost without exception, the world’s high achievers see failure as a pre-requisite for success.  And in the words of Henry Ford, “Whether You Believe You Can, Or You Can’t, You Are Right”.

Think Executive or Business Coaching, think stuffy office, stuffy boardroom and a therapist or coach sitting on a leather couch.  But that’s exactly what the Walking Coach is keen to change.  

Walking Coach encourages businessmen and women to put on their walking boots and take their sessions in the open air, in beautiful countryside where the environment itself inspires great results!  And an increasing number of clients now choose to take their coaching outdoors – they invariably know they need more exercise and welcome the opportunity to embrace walking as part of the coaching process.

“While the outdoor sessions are as structured and planned as they would be inside,” says experienced coach and owner Sandra Cunningham, “people often find that once they are able to escape from the familiar work environment, its interruptions and associations, the mind is free to think.” 

Just some of the benefits reported by Walking Coach clients are:

• Improved mental sharpness and focus, helping them to face challenges more effectively
• Better life balance and stronger capacity to deal with stress and anxiety
• Overcoming the ‘blues’ and recovery of energy and self-motivation
• Enhanced levels of creativity
• Increase in self-esteem and raised levels of self-confidence
• A greater sense of awareness and connection – with themself, others and the world around them

Contact us to find out more about how taking a walk might benefit you and your business.

Walk your Way to Business Success!, a new group coaching programme for small business owners and entrepreneurs in Essex/East Herts, will commence at 2.00 pm on Friday 12th November, 2010.

At the Walking Coach we work with a growing number of businessmen and women now choosing to take their coaching sessions in the open air, where the combination of moderate exercise and exposure to the natural environment, boosts wellbeing and inspires great results!

This is refreshingly different professional development programme (see post below) that will enable you to:

• take time out to focus on different, core aspects of you and your business success
• benefit from the collective wisdom, support and accountability created through working with an experienced business coach as well as other local business owners
• be helped on your way to an improved level of physical and mental wellbeing that in turn will enhance your performance and impact at work.

Please join us at our first meeting, which will be held at Audley End Business Centre, Wendens Ambo, Saffron Walden, Essex.  This is the first of 6 sessions to be held over the next 6 months at various locations between Saffron Walden and Bishop’s Stortford. Group size will be limited to a maximum of 9 members.

The programme which will be led by experienced consultant and coach, Sandra Cunningham CPCC, will appeal to new and experienced business owners and entrepreneurs in Herts, Essex, Beds and Cambs.

Find out how to reserve your place by following this link, or contact us now to find out more.

Coming Soon – New Essex/East Herts Coaching Group

When it comes to running your own company, starting up is the easy bit. When it comes to surviving and sustaining a healthy business, many of us start to struggle and lose heart. But once you know how to navigate your way through life as an entrepreneur, it can come as a huge relief. It gives you the confidence, clarity and focus to reach your goals and deal effectively with the inevitable obstacles and challenges that come your way.

‘Walk your Way to Business Success’ is a 6-month business development programme aimed at new and experienced business owners or managers, wishing to move past the pressure and angst of growing a young business, and towards achieving better and more satisfying results. In this brand new, group coaching format, you will:-

• Examine the role that business plays within your life as a whole
• Develop or refine your business vision as well as your core business values
• Understand what holds you back and develop strategies to overcome these obstacles
• Create a business development strategy that works, with clear priorities for the next 12 months
• Identify the immediate steps you need to take that will move you forward – and be held accountable for them!

“Walk your Way to Business Success” is a 6 session group coaching programme from Walking Coach, where we work with a growing number of businessmen and women now choosing to take their coaching sessions outside, due to the improved physical and mental wellbeing they have experienced as a result.

Key elements include:

• A 15 minute pre-programme one-to-one call
• Six 2.5 hour group walking-coaching sessions held monthly at various East Herts/West Essex locations, with access to countryside and varied walking routes
• Exercises and techniques designed to help you and your business, and that you can also use by yourself at a later stage
• Group support and networking opportunities
• Follow up conference call one month after programme completion to check in on progress and results

So if you are looking to give yourself regular, quality time out with like-minded others, look at how you can positively build business momentum plus reap greater reward from your efforts, then this programme could be for you.

Dates and locations coming soon.  Please email info@walkingcoach.co.uk  for more information.