Coverdale UK

22/03/2022

We are really looking forward to working with more excellent people from Mabey Hire Ltd next week, guiding them through a 5-day leadership skill development journey;
a true Quest, during which they will step out of their comfort zones, try new things, and deliberately develop the fundamental skills of leadership and human cooperation!

coverdale.co.uk

01/03/2022

My colleague Innes Milne and I had the pleasure of spending 2 days in Manchester with members of awesome team Mission Mars; developing skills in harnessing a Systematic Approach to getting things done and applying the fundamental skills of human cooperation.

As you can see, it was a blast! Our sincere thanks to the team for their openness to learning and application, and for the laughs along the way!

If you love pizza, I have an unashamed recommendation: my Portobello pizza at wearerudyspizza was out of the top draw and brilliant value!

coverdale.co.uk

26/01/2022

On bringing Project Management to life!
What a fantastic way to kick off a year of enabling people to succeed together – bringing together 12 wonderful people from Scotland Food & Drink to develop true skill in applying a common language and method of working for managing projects.
Harnessing the virtual environment in which we came together, through the practice of experiential learning, we worked on key aspects such as:

• Establishing ways of working together – in order to recognise the importance of how people behave and cooperate on project success;
• Harnessing the power of purpose for every project; clarity of why, so that those involved and impacted by the project know why the project is being initiated;
• Using simple and effective methods & tools for clarifying project Aims, managing information and planning for action, so that project teams and key stakeholders are aligned and focused;
• Practicing the discipline of process reviews, so that insights and learnings from project experience are clearly identified and carried forward into future activity;
• Exploring methods and tools for effective stakeholder engagement and risk management, so that these key aspects are woven into the fabric of projects;
• Identifying individual and collective insights and key learnings from the workshop, and how these will be applied and built upon back at work.

My sincere thanks to all of the workshop participants for being open to participating and learning; for being engaged and focused throughout the 1.5 days we spent together (in Zoom!); for asking really insightful questions and sharing insightful observations and ideas; for identifying invaluable insights and key learnings, and what they will apply back at work as a result.

At Coverdale, we are proud to play our small part in supporting the Scotland Food & Drink team. As I wrote at the beginning - what a fantastic way to kick off a year of enabling people to succeed together. It’s our privilege to have the opportunity to work with the wonderful people at Scotland Food & Drink.

21/12/2021

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and all the very best for a healthy, happy and successful 2022.
From everyone at Coverdale.

28/10/2021

On Integrating Others
A critical skill for those who lead others is how we integrate people into our teams, projects, and tasks; it’s something that goes on all the time.
We recruit people to join our teams, functions, and company. We may need their experience and expertise to help us progress a particular project or task, or to help solve a problem or figure out how to best capitalise on an emerging opportunity. We may need to harness the thinking and ideas of others at the operational interface between different teams and functions as we look to optimise collaboration.
Therefore, how we think about, plan for, and lead the integration of others is a critical skill. In the business of work and life, taking a few minutes to think about and plan for the deliberate integration of others will ensure those you are integrating feel valued, engaged, and aligned. When this happens, people will give the best of themselves – maximising their contribution and feeling good about it!
This short video introduces 3 ‘levels’ that we need to take account of, and we hope you find it helpful…

14/10/2021

On The Value of Learning from Experience
It’s the Bristol Law Society Annual Awards 2021 tonight. My daughter, India Jenkins, will be there, as she is one of 4 people who have been shortlisted for Junior Lawyer of the Year. She is a 23 and is now into year 6 of her 7- year Law Apprenticeship at Burges Salmon LLP in Bristol. Technically speaking, she is an apprentice who is not yet formally qualified. So how can it be that she has been nominated and shortlisted for this award?
Well, her baseline mindset is a positive one; open to new experiences, to observing and listening, willing to step out of comfort zones and get stuck in, self-reflective.
This may sound like familial aggrandizement, and it isn’t meant that way. This is about process – the process of learning from life’s experiences and applying those learnings in a continual journey of self-development. For over 5 years she has been learning law and its application in the real world from hands-on practical experience, working in a number of different teams & departments across the company, surrounded by more experienced people who actively support her development and hold her to account for high standards.
She has built a broad and invaluable network. She has learnt from experience how things really get done in a large professional services firm. She has observed management and leadership in action, and in doing so has leant invaluable lessons from the examples set by those around her. She has worked directly with clients and handled matters in the way in which a fully qualified and experienced solicitor would do – and received feedback that has testified to this.
So when she completes her apprenticeship and is fully qualified, Burges Salmon will have a newly qualified lawyer who knows the company intimately (it’s people, processes, clients, culture) and India will have her qualification; equally importantly, she will have vital knowledge and skills that can only be gained by learning from hands-on practical experience, being open to new challenges, taking feedback on board and working alongside more experienced people in a professional environment.
I remember when, over 5 years ago, she started commuting for nearly 4 hours a day from home to Bristol. And today I am incredibly proud that she has been shortlisted. Whether she wins the award is not the point. It’s the value to be gained from the continual process of learning from practical, hands-on experience, from those around us who support our development, from reflecting on those experiences and harnessing this for continual self-development. It’s the value of apprenticeships.
Congratulations and best wishes to all those who have been shortlisted for the Bristol Law Society's Annual Awards 2021!

coverdale.co.uk

30/09/2021

On Applying Appropriate Technology
I don’t think our business would have survived the last 18 months without the technology that became available in the prior years. Products such as Zoom, Teams, Mural and Miro (amongst many) have enabled us to bring people together in virtual settings and bring to life experiential learning and skill development as we all sit (or stand) remotely from one another, separated by time and distance. Modern technology has been so very helpful, and personally I have moved from rejection to identification in harnessing these tools in service to those we have the privilege to work with.
And we are now getting back to planning and delivering in-person learning journeys, bringing people together in shared physical spaces and harnessing the collective human energy that comes from this. In these shared spaces it’s wonderful to bring back to life ‘old’ technology that is supremely fit for purpose – the simple, blank, utilitarian canvas that is the humble flip chart, with which one builds ‘walls of learning’, as illustrated in this video.

09/09/2021

Coverdale Bitesize - where we share a selection of short videos relating to some of the skills and supporting models and tools that are at the heart of what we do, in order to provide something of interest and practical use to you.

We will regularly add additional content over time, and thank you in advance for taking the time to check it out…

https://www.coverdale.co.uk/coverdale-bitesize/

19/08/2021

Feb 2019
A great 3 days working with Verena Stresing, Managing Director of Coverdale France, delivering a Project Management workshop for our client Better Cotton Initiative and thank you to Heni Fourie, Lane End Conference Centre, for the perfect venue.

Listen to Verena explain 'The Delegation Funnel' by following this link to 'Coverdale Bitesize' - a selection of short videos introducing some of the models, tools and skills that are at the heart of what we do.

https://lnkd.in/dE6hgJW

28/07/2021

A Leadership Mindset
The High Performance Podcast episode with Kate Richardson-Walsh OBE (She/Her) (captain of the Rio 2016 gold medal winning women’s hockey team) is well worth a listen if you are interested in what people actually do to release and realise the very best of themselves and their colleagues. She shares her experiences, perspectives and learnings with great clarity and humility, and describes leading others as being a “joyful thing”. Whilst her leadership context was a high performance sport team, what she shares is relevant to any team and organisation.

“…I’m obsessed with how you get a group of people with all these different strengths round one table, all pulling in the same direction and creating these magical bonds between them.., I think that is just a joyful thing…”.

And with regards to team / organisational culture:

“…getting explicit about your behaviours and actions means you can challenge yourself against something concrete, and you have license to challenge each other against that, and celebrate them when you see and experience these behaviours…; doing this took us from being average to being outstanding…”.

Listening to the interview with Kate, she reminded me of some key insights into the behaviours of some of the most effective and successful leaders identified by Sam Walker in his book The Captain Class. Just to highlight one: “…they listen as much as or more than they talk and are very engaged with whomever they are listening to…”.

https://lnkd.in/dyGZES9

Olympics Special #2: Kate Richardson-Walsh Kate Richardson-Walsh is the most capped female hockey player in her country's history. Kate was captain of GB women’s hockey teams for 13 years and was one of the many key drivers of the incredible team ethos and commitment that drove the GB team to a na

22/07/2021

Opportunities and Gratitude

I had my 52nd birthday back in February. I’ve just had my 6th anniversary as a member of the global Coverdale team, having had my first ever experience of Coverdale as a delegate in 2012. This picture was taken six years ago, at our offices in Edinburgh with Dave Heddle and Mike De Luca - my first Coverdale Coaches in my first ever Coverdale workshop!
It would be easy to say it’s completely changed my life. It hasn’t. What is has changed is invaluable – I now have a deep sense of inner purpose that, on reflection, I can see was missing before. Joining Coverdale has also given me:
• Incredible opportunities to travel, to meet and work with people from many different markets and organisaitons, in all kinds of roles, all over the world.
• Constant personal learning from these experiences, gained from the experiences, knowledge and wisdom of all of those people.
• Opportunities to embrace elective and imposed change – such as moving what we do and how we do it from shared physical spaces to virtual environments.
I loved all the ‘jobs’ I was lucky enough to have before joining Coverdale. Yet I always had this nagging sense that I wasn’t doing what I really should be doing, and I didn’t know what the answer was.
And then I went on my first ever Coverdale workshop, whilst working for Asda Logistics Services. At the end of that 3- day workshop, I knew it would lead to some meaningful change in my life, even though I didn’t know what the end result would be.
On reflection – looking backwards – it now all makes sense. The opportunities that came up, the people I had the privilege to be influenced by and learn from. The decisions that we (my family and I) made along the way, the things learnt and built upon as a result.
So what? Well, some KEY personal learnings from experience and reflection:
• Observe well and listen to understand; this helps us to see opportunities in life that we otherwise might miss.
• We plan looking forwards; taking time out to deliberately reflect on past experiences and influences adds great value when we then look forward.
• Every interaction and experience is an opportunity for personal learning; and reflection and review are the amplifiers of learning.
Six years with Coverdale and 52 years in life. I can’t believe how lucky I am. I hold a very deep sense of gratitude for those people who have given me opportunities, enabled me to keep on learning, and helped me to uncover and pursue my purposes in life; my sincerest thanks to all of you.

15/07/2021

Great memories of working with Walsall Academy and their Year 10 students, helping them to develop the fundamental skills of leading others and human cooperation. We’re reminded of how successfully they were able to access, understand and practice these essential skills. Just like adults, and sometimes better than adults.
On a personal level, it reminds me of all that stored up potential; to imagine what it would be like if more and more of our amazing young people were equipped to step into their future world of community, society and work with the awareness and confidence to bring these skills to life…