QED has spent the last few weeks working with Julia Dunlop and team at i-Zimbra to develop our new website which we are thoroughly delighted with. Amongst other things i-Zimbra have equipped us with their latest blogging system which takes just one day to integrate into a site like ours. i-Zimbra are based in Brighton with clients all over the world http://www.i-zimbra.com and we are using Julia’s skills and experience due to the trust that I have built up with her over the past 4 years.

Julia and I meet once a week at The Breakfast Club in Hove. I started this club over 7 years ago and if I look around the table on any Tuesday morning I can see at least 8 faces with whom I do regular business – the power of networking can never be underestimated! http://brightonnetworking.co.uk

One of the club members, Victoria Jahkeline Saloman has recently introduced me to SATACHI, a business trade association which provides the systems for businesses to barter their services with each other – more about that in a later blog.

I also got to know Andy White of Wireworldmedia at breakfast (affectionately known by club members as The Podfather!) and he asked me to make a podcast for his exciting project Brilliantly You. http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk
Andy talks to successful people from all walks of life and asks them to give tips and techniques that you can walk away with and use. During the interview I talk about the steps I took to create a successful business, keeping life in balance, dealing with challenges, using visualization effectively and goal setting. ……..To listen to this 10 minute interview please click on the pod cast on our about page. https://www.qedcoaching.co.uk/about.html

Early in the New Year I will be repeating my motivational one-day workshop for small business owners. Some of my clients come back every year or two to repeat this powerful workshop and it always get’s me thinking about my own business too!

Hit the Road Running – Venue: Brighton & Hove January 2008

One Day Workshop for Small business owners

• Review 2007 and identify what you wish to keep, leave behind, develop and build on in 2008
• Identify what is holding you back from success and what’s not working inside your business
• Create some powerful and inspiring personal and business goals to kick start your new year
• Develop a plan for taking action to make your goals a reality

Come prepared to roll up your sleeves and work ‘on’ your business rather than ‘in’ it!

Last month saw the launch of unitised qualifications at ILM. This is a big shake up for lots of well loved programmes and qualifications but the new structure and options it provides have been well received by ILM centres and employers so far.

The process, which affected Coaching and Mentoring Qualifications from 1st October, has created six possible qualifications where there were only three. We think this is a good thing and that our clients will respond positively to the choices they will now have.

Our online knowledge base which provides learning for our candidates and for other centres blends well into the new structure. ILM have validated our online programme which was originally devised to cover the theory Module H1 in the original Diploma, “Developing Performance through Management Coaching and Mentoring”.

ILM confirms that our programme is equally suitable for the delivery of the first two units (D5.01 and D5.02) providing “Good coverage of the indicative content of these two units”

This month we are recommending our friend and colleague, Jackie Arnold’s new book release, ” Raise Your Glasses Please” How to make a toast or short speech that is perfect for the occasion – and enjoy it!

Keep watching this space. We will be posting regular coaching articles, QED’s latest news, including our introduction to SATACHI plus free coaching related downloads to help you build a coaching culture in your organisation.