I cannot guarantee you’ll fall in love with me but I can promise you the best home-brewed beetroot wine you’ll have ever tasted.

I teach people to become better at communicating and so I love it when I come across real life examples of communication that hit the spot. This week, two pieces of writing stopped me in my tracks. One is about love, and the other is about the life of perhaps the most fascinating person you’ve never heard of.

Congratulations, you've been promoted! Your stellar communication and leadership skills have been noticed and you're now in charge of motivating, guiding and looking after a group of people. Your team.

Whilst getting results is about doing stuff, a lot about being a manager is asking the right questions to help shift people's thinking to help them make decisions to get their own results. You can support your team members by using the following simple framework.

You’re stuck. You know what you need to do but you’re bamboozled about how to do it.

That goal you’ve written on a post-it is becoming an ornament on the edge of your screen and you’re convinced the words are actually sneering at you because you’ll never get it done. Here’s a simple and fun coaching technique to get you unstuck and find a solution.

What’s coaching got to do with a cream tea? Quite a lot actually. A scone with just the right amount of crumble. Clotted cream that delivers heaven. Jam that is jamish in all the right ways. Served on elegant china and savoured with a great pot of tea.

If you’re thinking about coaching, here are a few things you should consider. And yes, what with the power of metaphor and the mention of yummy cakes, reading this might make your mouth water.

This simple exercise is fun, practical and makes people much better writers.

Small can pack a punch. A few words can distill a story as big as Alaska into the same potency as your granny’s perfume. I teach people how to write. This is one exercise that's fun, practical and makes people much better writers. It's called the six word memoir.

You've an audience in front of you and your role is to motivate them. Here's a simple 5 piece structure to help you do just that.

We know Mickey Mouse and M&Ms have shaped American culture, but what about Alan H. Monroe? I'll give you a few clues. He invented something in the 1930s. You'll know his work. It might have brought a lump to your throat. It made you care. It made you want to take action. Any ideas? Read on…