A little story about learning to walk. 14865 kilometres from home. And how this can help you communicate well in your new job with new colleagues.

I was in a freakishly high top bunk bed in a shared room, even with sunglasses on, the seering white light of the afternoon bouncing off the pavements was blinding and I really was far, far away.

But the thing that freaked me out? Walking.

Great questions to develop rapport, the Dalai Lama telling it like it is and the mighty power of a handwritten card.

You know how it goes, your manager’s keen that you go to that networking event, get the word out about a new service and come back with a host of eager customers that want a follow up meeting.

But networking doesn’t quite work like that. It’s about creating connection, solid listening skills and being helpful to others. Here are real, practical ways to successfully network and be a good asset to others in your network.

Disclaimer - you can probably guess which side of the fence I’m on with that one… but read on. Have you ever shared a career challenge like this with AI?

Dear ChatGPT, it’s me again…I’ve had a heck of a week and, yes, I know it’s only Wednesday. Can you help?  I'm struggling with three deadlines that are getting increasingly close and one of those involves that presentation to a client who I think I’ve mentioned to you before, you know the one that always looks at me like I’m a bit slow.

I’ve a presentation to deliver tomorrow afternoon to senior management that I haven’t even started to look at yet but it’s hey, only 5 minutes…. so I can probably just wing it, can’t I?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a powerful question. But asking that question on a regular basis means that your job stays in line with your values and the vision you have for your life.

As a career coach, when I work with my clients, we dig deep into what makes them who they are, what’s important to them, the skills they just love to use and what kind of work really lights them up and has them jumping out of bed in the morning.

But first - an example of what can happen if you realise that the job you’re doing is not what you want it to be. At all. And it’s an episode from “The Marvellous Mrs Maisel” a show set in the 1950s.

Being alone can get a bad rap. It can mean less of. Inferior.
But the opposite can be true.

As a career coach, I work with my clients who are looking for a new role. Maybe they’ve been let go and made redundant, or they feel like they need a new direction and aren’t sure what to do.

And at first they can find that they feel all alone. But by tapping into the network around them they can find new opportunities and develop skills that lead them to their next big thing.

How do you know your stakeholder relationships are strong? How do you know that your colleagues value your skills? How do you know that your communication skills are supporting your career and not creating stress – for yourselves and others?

And wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple way to check this out? Well, it turns out there is!

Welcome to the Power Audit. Here’s how you do it.

Tom Jones, Bryan Ferry and KT Tunstall. What do they have in common?

How can this help your career and get you noticed for all the right reasons? And how can it help you be a brilliant facilitator that brings people together?

If you’re anything like me you’ve been to a number of concerts. Live music is special, isn’t it? That energy in the room. Hairs on the back of the neck stuff. And yet it can be a very different experience. And for me, that's down to how good the performer's facilitation skills are.

You pole vault to get to the end of a packed aisle in the supermarket. Surrounded by families, rubber rings and Pina Coladas at the resort pool in Tenerife, you execute a dive Tom Daley would be proud of. On the dance floor at a family summer wedding you throw in some Simone Biles moves.

The Olympics were brilliant. Are you like me and a part of you is still grieving for the sheer excitement and those “wow, did that just happen” moments? It was amazing, wasn’t it?

But much as I loved it all, some of the sports have limited advantage in everyday life. What if there were sports that did have a huge advantage? What would the "Communication Olympics" look like?

It takes 1.6 seconds and reaches a speed of 48 kmh. And it takes a huge impact on the wrists. What am I talking about?

The 10 metre Olympic dives I’ve been mesmerised by. It’s quite something to look down from that height never mind dive from it. 

And it’s something else when the diver goes to the very edge of the board, turns around, stands on their hands, goes into a full handstand, and then pushes themselves into the air, twisting and turning as they speed towards the water.

They smile. Laugh. Scrunch up their eyes a bit as they think. "Wow. That was fun, Mica!” This is the answer. But what’s the question? The question is “What’s it like to work with me?”

One of the ways I work with clients is through doing a series of communication skills exercises. They’re short and snappy. And – the important bit – they get results.

My clients get promoted. They take on new, big pieces of work that would have scared them before. Their words are more fluent, natural, and calm in those important meetings. So, what exactly happens in a coaching session when we do these communication skills exercises?

How would you rate your influencing skills? And how good are you at influencing the influencers?

When you know how to do that well your career picks up pace. Meetings get more productive. Communication is easier. You start getting noticed for all of the right reasons.

In my 1 hour bitsesize workshop “Influencing the Influencers” I help you explore the different needs of your stakeholders.

Life and work can be tricky when you’re stuck. This gentle book takes you by the hand and helps you get unstuck.

Recently, a friend told me about a book. I was intrigued by the title and was also interested in what the book looks at because it explores some quite big issues but does so in a kind of gentle, storytelling way.

The book is called “The cafe on the edge of the world” and it’s a fairly short read of 125 pages.

That meeting. You know. The tricky one. Here's how to manage that. With some tips taken from swimming in cold water….

A few times a week I go to a local outdoor pool. They say it’s heated and I think it was probably was - shortly after the last Ice Age.

And so getting in the pool as you can imagine is quite the experience.

Time for a song. A song about how communication skills coaching boosts your career, helps get you that promotion and increases your impact in the workplace.

How speaking up can get you seen and raise your visibility. How building your engagement skills can strengthen your network.

How telling stories that bring ideas to life and listening more and talking less makes you a valued member of a team.

This article is for you if you’re a coach looking to take The International Coaching Federation’s credentialing exam, of if you're thinking of getting a coach and want to know what it takes for a coach to get accredited by The Gold Standard of Coaching, The ICF.

Long story short, it’s slightly less than it took Frodo in “Lord of the Rings.” Slightly.

And note, this exam is the very last thing a coach does in a series of assessments before becoming a fully credentialed ICF coach.

Being creative with how we communicate can pays dividends. How we present something can grab people’s attention. Make them sit up and take notice.

But how do you do this? You can use a different shape for your talk. Spice things up a bit.

Take the Pecha Kucha format.

If you’re looking for a new job, or a change in career there’s one thing you can benefit from knowing really well and one thing you shouldn’t be scared to do.

So, what am I talking about?

First up, knowing your skillset well means you know yourself well, meaning that you know what you’re good at, what you enjoy doing and the benefits these skills bring to others. As for the one thing that you shouldn’t be scared of – that’s standing out.

So, you’re bored in your job. Or you’re feeling lost and wondering what to do about it.

And like colourful flowers in a meadow, there are lots of jobs that catch your eye. But how do you know which is the right one for you? Ever thought of career coaching?

Career coaching is getting to know yourself better so that you can explore what you’ve done in the past and the present that lights you up and use this to discover what your next role can be.

“You can find out a lot about yourself up a chimney.” Did you know that the actor Bill Nighy comes from a long line of chimney sweeps?

Sometimes we can learn a lot about ourselves in unusual situations.

Before I went to university I worked for a few weeks in a warehouse. It was dark, there were hardly any windows and it felt a little like being trapped.

Oxygen tanks and sherpas. Blisters and stunning views. The endless cycle of one foot in front of another. My husband and I recently went mountain climbing. And didn’t experience any of these.

But we did go to a place we’ve never been before. And saw sights we’d never seen.

You may have heard of where we went.