Please join us at Begin Space (details in the booking form below) for this presentation.  Running your own business, being your own boss, offers great advantages: freedom, independence, autonomy and financial rewards.  At the same time it is easy to get caught into a spiral of time wasting activities, procrastination, lack of focus or inspiration; so if you are:

• a business owner/partner in a high tech small business, perhaps a start-up
• a software development contractor or freelance
• thinking of starting a new business in high tech

you will find very interesting the possibilities that a highly focussed peer group can offer to you and your business.  Please have a look at the following questions:

• Are you working hard and making less money than you deserve?
• Have you ever asked yourself why some people work hard and barely survive while others seem to be thriving while working a few hours per day?
• Do you think there is space for improvement in your efficiency and effectiveness?
• Would you like to work more on your business rather than in your business?

If you answered yes to two or more of the above you should come along.

This one hour presentation will be run by Massimo Gaetani, business and executive coach, founder of MaGa Coaching.  The presentation will show you the tangible benefits of how working within a peer group, facilitated by a professional business coach, can help growing your business, focussing on essential profitable activities and being accountable toward yourself in achieving important milestones.

This is a free event: coffee and cakes will be available to participants.  Please book your place using the form below:

Posted under Announcements, Events

Massimo Gaetani, MaGa Coaching’s CEO, was recently interviewed by Mark Peters and the Star Radio team during a seminar on Social Networking run by Ian McKendrick, a Cambridge based entrepreneur, consultant and social networking evangelist.

Massimo first describes here a few issues about coaching a business and what people can get out of it and then the important aspect of social networking to promote his business.   Enjoy the view:

Maga Coaching Interview 22nd July 2009 from Mark Peters on Vimeo.

Posted under Video

In sport having a coach is fact given for granted in order to guarantee performance, focussed effort, attention to details and continuous stretching of your personal motivation to succeed.  Many of the top performers in the show business or in politics are using more or less regularly the expertise of a professional personal coach.  A growing number of large companies and organizations are instilling a coaching culture as a definitive turn from the classic regimented management style based on control and command.

A survey, run by the International Coaching Federation, has revealed a number of highly positive results out of a sample of over 200 business owners, professionals and managers that used coaching.  The main role of the coach was: 84.8 % sounding board, 78.1% motivator, 56.7% friend and 50.5% mentor.  Among the outcomes of coaching we can see:  67.6% higher level of self-awareness, 62.4% smarter goal-setting, 60.5% more balanced life and 57.1% lower stress levels.  The typical issues addressed by the coach we can list: 84.5 % time management, 74.3% career guidance, 73.8% business advice and 58.6% relationship / family issues.

In business people have historically used various sources of education and personal skill to fill the gap between what is expected from their employer or clients and what their natural performance is.  There are obviously many multi skilled people that can plan, organize, manage, sell, invoice, recover credits and grow their business all alone.

As their business grows also the need for more and more specialized skill increases and the single business owner or the partners involved in the business tend to run out of their personal skills. From time to time we all acknowledge the need of a:

• Solicitor to prepare and check business contracts or to manage some unfortunate litigations with clients and supplier
• Accountant to prepare the company accounts and tax return
• HR expert for employment matters
• Marketing expert for PR, adverts, promotion
• Computer support to guarantee an efficient and smooth running of our computer systems

The list can be a lot longer depending on the circumstances: it is accepted and common understanding that for a large number of specialized services you will ask for the expertise of a person or company that offers and guarantees success in a particular area.

At the same time when it’s about personal performance, organization, time management, motivation and people management there is a general assumption that these skills can be learnt in the field, with little or no formal preparation or training. A professional executive coach can help you focussing on the two or perhaps three areas you would like to boost or improve in your current job and support you to achieve excellence.

So as a conclusion to this post I would suggest the following.  If we are asking “who needs a coach?” the answer could be: “most people that want to excel in what they are doing”.

Posted under Articles

I was recently at a talk organized by Cambridge Network where Louise Makin was presenting her 4 years at BTG and the great transformation she managed to undertake in this company.  The first part of the presentation was factual: the company was financially in a very bad shape when she was first offered the position of CEO and she managed to lead a deep transformation in the culture and running of the company itself. A heterogeneous group of different business models and modus operandi that was carrying over £30M of losses in 2004 became a successful money making organization in 2008 when the company managed to acquire Protherics and it is now in a very strong position with £60M in the bank.  While the presentation continued into the more human aspects of running the company Ms Makin explained the continuous difficulty of running a public company where every decision has to be communicated to the market that ultimately will take decisions about buying or selling shares in the company.  She also made a great analogy in choosing the right team between the day to day running of a company with the aim to succeed and being part of an endurance sailing and running race.

She described how at the beginning decisions were tough:  redundancies were unavoidable and causing low morale. As the strategic plan proceeded it was obvious that the strong management team she put together had the right attitude and determination to succeed.  I found interesting her definition for these people is of being great givers: people that were and are truly interested in giving to the company energy, skills and full dedication without necessarily measuring their personal return.

Several times she mentioned her loneliness in running a large organization and the difficulty of sharing her doubts and insights in an environment where uncertainty can surely cause panic and instability to the market.

In my experience, once you make it to the top of an organization, you tend to share similar feelings and experiences, a great analogy to when you climb a mountain on your own.  You get to the top and, as you look around, you realise you are alone.  Many people, particularly those that report directly to you tend to assume you have something extra and they expect that extra from you, all the time.  You do not or cannot share with them your doubts and uncertainties and the pressure on you keeps growing.

In a situation like the one described above an Executive Coach can help a CEO or a top executive in their decision process, acting as a sounding board, a trusted person that can truly facilitate the decision process of the executive being coached while maintaining total confidentiality.  The main task for the coach is to ask questions, powerful open ended questions, without offering any input, suggestion or advice.  Coaching can make a big difference in the way you as the executive are running your business: best results are achieved when the coach manages to stay out of the content, that is the day to day drama, the decisions, the workload and source of stress and concentrates on the process, the coaching process of getting you toward your business goals.

Does it sound too abstract? Try it to believe it.

Posted under Articles

Wouldn’t be great to have the possibility of improving your business and get funded to do that? If your organisation has between 5 and 249 staff, you may be eligible for a Government grant of £1,000 to spend on leadership & management training, coaching or mentoring.

Business and Executive Coaching are excellent tools to boost your business performance and they have proven record of delivering an absolute minimum of 200% ROI.  Coaching helps your company to be more profitable while ensuring a smoother running of your day-to-day business and ultimately delivering higher morale among employees.  It is now possible, for a broader range of companies, to get the Government to fund part of this investment.

Have you ever asked if:

• The senior managers in your company are role models that are inspiring and motivating staff through changes?
• Anybody in your business could be helped with their management style?
• Is your knowledge or your business skills up to date?
• Are you holding your business back by not delegating and following the old rule that states: “If you want to do something right, do it yourself”?

The Train-to-Gain scheme was recently reviewed and it is now extended to all organizations that:

• Are private, franchise, public and voluntary bodies.
• Have between 5 and 249 employees. This is for the whole company, not an individual site.
• Did not benefit from Leadership and Management grant in the last 12 months.

While the train to gain scheme is applicable to a broad range of coaching, mentoring and training services available to employees in any position within their organization the Leadership and Management section states that:

Train to Gain can help your business:

• get the essential skills to boost your business performance
• improve your business efficiency and increase profits
• help your staff grow in motivation and confidence

To benefit of this service, once checked your eligibility, simply identify a suitable provider for the service you are interested in and then contact the local train-to-gain office.

MaGa Coaching offers a broad range of coaching service to business owners, senior executives and teams.  Please enquire today and check how we can boost your business performance.

Posted under News