Business coaching is a very personal experience, and who wouldn’t like to know a bit more about their coach before taking the plunge?
We thought we’d take the time to explain a little about our approach and put some questions to our team of coaches by way of a little ‘getting to know you’ session…
Our MadeYou GROW Model
One-to-one coaching with MadeYou Grow is a personal and professional development service, headed up by our hugely experienced, professionally qualified and accredited coaches.
Our sessions are delivered via frequent, confidential sessions (either face to face or via video call) where your coach will work to uncover and harness your strengths and achieve your goals.
We use the MadeYou GROW model to guide our approach:
- Goal: We’ll work with you to find out what your long-term goals are or what they should be if you haven’t quite got them figured out yet.
- Reality: We’ll balance your goals and expectations against the reality of the situation. While it’s great to have high aspirations, some people fail to understand the barriers (and opportunities) in their way. By not addressing these realities, we often set ourselves up for failure and disappointment, so we believe it’s productive to acknowledge them early on.
- Options: We’ll help you explore all your realistic avenues to success including considerations for training and discussions around what may be holding you back.
- Way Forward: Without agreeing on the next steps, all the coaching in the world will get you nowhere. As we’re invested in your success, we’ll help you cultivate the way forward needed for you to succeed.
Meet the Coaches
We put the same three questions to each of our coaches:
- What are the pros of having a business coach?
- Why you (as opposed to the other MadeYou coaches)?
- Why should people choose MadeYou coaches, rather than a coach from another business?
You’ll find their answers below along with a little about their backgrounds and some useful sneak peeks at some recent testimonials from our clients.
Kelly (Co-Founder and Director of MadeYou)
Background: Kelly is a qualified Psychotherapist and Master of Neuro-Linguistic Programming who has worked with everything from tiny start-ups to international financial institutions.
- What are the pros of having a business coach?
“Having a business coach gives you an external, objective view- and the opportunity to speak to someone who has a lot of business development and strategic experience can give a new perspective.
A great business coach can enable you to think more critically and more deeply than many do when talking things through with peers or colleagues.
Your coach not being ‘in the business’ is pretty vital, as their investment is in helping you towards the best outcome; not knowing the mechanics of the business means they can focus on you and your goals without getting lost in the details or politics.”
- Why you (as opposed to the other MadeYou coaches)?
“As coaches, our backgrounds are similar and yet very different. My training as a Psychotherapist and in NLP sets me apart and enables me to blend my experience of working in senior leadership positions with the skills to help clients navigate their emotional awareness while driving their business forward.
My approach is no better or worse than my colleagues, it’s just different. Luckily for our clients, we have a pool of talented coaches who can be paired with their needs and natural strengths in mind.”
- Why should people choose MadeYou coaches, rather than a coach from another business?
“MadeYou is diverse in the breadth of expertise of its coaches, and we don’t subscribe to the idea of forcing someone to be good at something they’re just not naturally talented at. We’re all about getting people to develop their existing strengths and helping them to become great!
We’re all Gallup StrengthsFinder trained and accredited, meaning we work with a positive psychology approach to develop our clients.
There are other psychometric tools that can be used, and they certainly bring some value, but I’m not keen on putting people into boxes and talking about them in terms of being a ‘too this or too that’.
Our approach is to work with individuals’ strengths; turning them into talents before looking at how teams work and how they could better leverage each other’s strengths.”
Contact: You can find Kelly on LinkedIn or drop him a line via kelly@madeyou.eu.
Luke (Co-Founder and CEO of MadeYou)
Background: Luke’s background is in customer operations with extensive experience in managing both large and small inbound/outbound teams in a variety of industries including Digital Media, Retail, Financial Services, Utilities, Telecommunications, and Web-Hosting.
Luke has worked in senior leadership roles for some of the largest companies in the world such as eBay and Aviva Insurance and, having managed workplaces with up to 1000 employees, he’s learned to navigate and work with every personality under the sun.
He is Gallup StrengthsFinder trained and accredited and loves using this positive psychology approach to truly inspire and develop leaders.
- What are the pros of having a business coach?
“Where to start?! There is amazing value in working with a business coach. It allows you to explore ideas around driving a business forward or pushing through issues with someone totally detached- meaning you can freely communicate your thoughts and explore things in-depth before communicating any plans internally.
You can also be open and frank with a business coach which can hugely improve your emotional intelligence- you can let it all out and work through emotions while maintaining your professionalism internally.
It can be hard for C-Level staff to talk openly with peers without compromising reporting lines- having a business coach provides the opportunity to talk openly about the issues being faced.”
- Why you (as opposed to the other MadeYou coaches)?
“All of the coaches at MadeYou are amazing, and we all come from business backgrounds.
My strengths lie in getting things started and being very business strategic. So, if you are needing help in these areas- either to become more proactive and strategic or just to tap into those strengths a bit more, I may well be your man.
My skills are also particularly useful for anyone transitioning into a Director or C-Level role for the first time (as I understand a lot of the enablers and disablers involved with these roles).”
- Why should people choose MadeYou coaches, rather than a coach from another business?
“An easy one! All of our MadeYou coaches are Gallup StrengthsFinder trained and accredited (we’re the only 3 in Malta!) and we have also held senior positions within organisations before moving into training and coaching.
That experience sets us apart- coaches with operational backgrounds allow you to explore issues in more depth, rather than just touching on the conceptual. It also means if you need a helping steer, we can easily slip into a mentoring mode to get your brain engaged before moving back to coaching.
You will not find many coaches with our experience in operations- we really do know what it is like and are well placed to help you to help yourself.”
Contact: You can find Luke on LinkedIn or drop him a line via luke@madeyou.eu.
Richard (Training Manager at MadeYou)
Background: Richard has worked in finance for a worldwide company as well as hospitality and medical fields and has great knowledge and experience in HR, Operations and development of great leaders.
Along with his Gallup StrengthsFinder accreditation, Richard’s experience enables him to see things from the business angle while his skills with the ‘people element’ allow him to do what he does best.
- What are the pros of having a business coach?
“There is plenty of generic advice online about how to best run your business and work with people, but with a business coach you are able to gain far more personalised, valuable knowledge. There are genuine discussions, shared experiences and one-on-one sessions to help define goals, set the vision and help move individuals and businesses forward.
Investing in a coach does not mean you are unable to do the job. It’s another set of eyes that will move you to where you want to be by allowing you to think differently. The great thing about having a coach is that you decide where the focus is. It can be with you as an individual, ways to focus on certain areas or even look at the business as a whole.”
- Why you (as opposed to the other MadeYou coaches)?
“My experience in operational and service departments has allowed me to align people issues with business strategy.
I can help you focus on how to deal effectively with people who, though they are the main focus of the business at times, can take over the thought process when looking at goals, visions and strategies.
I can not only ensure a good outcome for people relations but will also drive the person being coached to see to it that the business outcomes are not only considered but have an effective and positive outcome.”
- Why should people choose MadeYou coaches, rather than a coach from another business?
“All of the MadeYou coaches have many years of experience (yes, we are all on the wrong side of 30!). Not only have we seen businesses evolve, but we have also seen what people want from their employers.
Our coaching technique is far from the textbook and is based very much on our own personal experiences. When we are asked to coach, we have a great method of selecting the right coach for our clients- for us, this relationship is as important as the coaching sessions themselves.”
Contact: You can find Richard on LinkedIn or drop him a line via richard@madeyou.eu.
Enough From Us…
We’ve gone on for long enough- time to hear from some of our clients.
We are lucky enough to receive great testimonials from our clients on a regular basis- and none are more gratefully received than from those who are brave enough to let us chat to them over video call and display their feedback for the world to see!
Here are a few recent video testimonials (linked) with quoted highlights:
Marie was kind enough to discuss the benefits of working with MadeYou while utilising the StrengthFinder approach during the later stages of the Senior Recruitment process.
“Working with Kelly; I was able to see the areas to address and tackle moving forward. Kelly really helped me remove my corporate hat and find ways to use my strengths in a new, different environment and culture.
The coach that you have makes a big difference and it is also important to be disciplined and open as a coachee, especially if you are working on your own development.
Coaching with an external coach gives you a different perspective on challenges, development and strategic thoughts you are having. Coaching plays an important role for me and others within Hero, to build and strengthen our culture.”
Diane Abela, Director of Information Security at Gaming Innovation Group (GIG
Diane discusses how beneficial she found the Business Coaching she underwent with Luke- an experience she remembers vividly and refers back to even now, 3 years later.
“I often refer back to what Luke said to me: “There are no strengths and weaknesses, there are only strengths. But there are some strengths that are ‘dialled up’ to high volume and there are some that are more dialled down- but they are still a strength and are still part of who we are.”
(The process) made me be more mindful of why I have certain reactions, why I see things in a certain manner…made me aware of my versatility…Luke has made a very big difference in my career, and in my life actually…he is the definition of a ‘coach’; he’s never told me what to do…he’s allowed me to shape the way I think… I would recommend it to anyone.”
For more information about MadeYou’s 1-2-1 Business Coaching service, head to our website or get in touch with us directly so we can start the conversation.
