I believe in change management and there was a lot of change happening when I took over the running of the UK beer business of Scottish and Newcastle. The head of HR suggested that a mentor might aid the cause. I was pretty keen on the principle, but I didn’t know what it would actually yield.
The context of our relationship is quite material. I took over the UK business of a FTSE 100 company. My division was the biggest division within the company. Within 6 – 9 months of starting the job, I had to drive a profits warning announcement that caused the company to be the worst performing FTSE 100 share in that year. And things got worse before they got better.
Do you know that old Kipling yarn about how, if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…? David’s work with me through that very difficult period allowed me to keep my head.
Looking back, I believe the biggest thing David got me to do was to recognize all the stakeholders, and take into account their desires. In my job, it was critical to persuade the various powers that be to do things they didn’t necessarily want to do. That is a difficult task to accomplish, even when you are exposed to and working with those people on a regular basis. The remarkable thing about David is that he could get inside the minds of my colleagues just from what I reported to him.
David was able to understand the dynamics of meetings he was not at. At times, it was as if he was more capable of articulating the views of people he’d never met than they were themselves. That kind of almost clairvoyant insight was invaluable to me.
There’s little point in having a brilliant strategy if you can’t sell it to others. When I would tell David about a new strategy that I had developed, he was able to tell me how the stakeholders were likely to react. This helped me build stronger cases for my strategies.
I suppose we all have a tendency, at times, to put off some things that we know we have to do. David won’t have any of that, thank you very much! He pushes you.
During turbulent times in our careers, when all about you are losing their heads, one can’t help but wonder if it’s worth it. To wonder, “What’s the bloody point?” That is when David’s services are most valuable. Business coaches help you build a better business; David will help you build a better business and a better life.
