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As a freelance trainer for the Springboard Women’s Development Programme, I am a passionate supporter of the positive impact that it has had on so many women across the globe. I first discovered the Programme whilst a Senior Police Officer, when looking for positive action initiatives to help increase the numbers of women in senior positions. In the early 00’s, I realised that there were a lot of very [...]

Last week I suggested some tips that might be helpful if you are planning to set yourself personal or professional goals for 2019. One of the ‘tricks’ that I use to help with achieving my goals is to set myself 30 day challenges. I was originally inspired by Jason Zook’s challenge (click the link to read his article). He talks about profound changes he has made in his life in [...]

You will note that I haven’t used the word resolution in the title of this blog. I’m not actually a fan of setting next year’s goals on or around New Year’s Eve, the traditional time for planning how we are going to make our lives so much better. This is mainly because by 11.30pm on 31st December I am probably heading towards the end of my second bottle of Prosecco! [...]

It’s the pantomime season – oh yes it is! That peculiarly British tradition in which everyone looks grotesque, no one is quite what they seem, the audience works as hard as the cast and bad jokes abound. I LOVE it, and this year I’m thoroughly enjoying being in our local production of Puss in Boots. My character is a baddy which is particularly fun; lots of sneering at the [...]

In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is thundering into view at some pace! Whether you celebrate it or not, Christmas has a habit of generating plenty of extra activity, be that fun stuff like mince pies with the neighbours, or less lovely concerns around trying to juggle the budget. I was talking to a friend about this the other day. She has two school-age children who are full-on with [...]

I don’t believe in “personality clashes” – at least not in the sense of “Oh, they’ll just never get on – it’s a personality clash”.  When I hear that phrase uttered at work, it seems to me to be a way of explaining why the two people concerned have not been ‘encouraged’ by their manager to learn how to get along with each other.  A justification for avoidance.  A [...]

Last week I was speaking with Helen, the General Manager of a residential home for older people I have come to know quite well. We were talking about the upcoming Christmas period and how some of her residents no longer have family or friends that can come to visit them. Here’s what she told me, pretty much as she said it. “I’ve been encouraging the staff to come up [...]

Last week I had one of those ‘aha!’ moments, and as is often the case, it happened in a session with my business coach. (Yes, coaches need coaching too!) It was this phrase that did it: “We constantly try and find our purpose. Maybe instead we should CHOOSE our purpose and work towards that.” What do you think? Let me explain why this was an important thing for me [...]

Every now and again, something I read sears straight through to my head and my heart. And so I find myself using this Guest Blogger slot to tell you about a very special book I’ve read this week. The book is called Into the Woods: When Love Isn’t Always A Fairy Tale and it’s by Julie Leoni, a Coach working here in the UK. The link to buy a [...]

Other people wind me up! I was recently in a traffic jam with my husband and he was not a happy bunny!  We had been warned by the electric signs on the road that we were heading towards a hold-up about 30 miles further down the road, so we knew we were in for a wait – over an hour of delays, it turned out.  However, after 5 or [...]

One of the things I really dislike about Facebook are those posts that seek to play on our emotions to ‘make’ us share the post.  You know the ones I mean – the “share if you care” or “I bet I won’t get even one like because I’ve been told I’m so ugly” kind of posts.  Now, I’m usually an easy-going, even tempered person; but my internal reaction to [...]

I often wonder what drives our life decisions.  Are we making decisions that are logical, reasonable and based on our own goals that we have set for ourselves?  Or are we somehow trying to live up to someone else’s expectations, wishes or hopes for us?  Or living up to some idealistic picture of who we think we should be? Let me explain – I often think about two particular [...]

As I run my own business I am selling things.  I sell my time, my knowledge, my expertise, my products. That means I engage in a sales process with my clients, moving them towards saying yes and buying what I have to sell. I’ve been on a variety of courses and read self-help books to aid my success in this area. One of the bits of information that I’ve [...]

I had a complete weekend off last week. Well I thought it was a weekend off. I’ve started reading through some family archives. I’ve got around 200 letters between my uncle and family members written between 1944 and 1947, together with lots of other info like his posting notices. He was in the Royal Naval Air Squadron. I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, I started cataloguing it [...]

I was at a sales conference recently and we were talking about having fun at work. Sadly lots of us don’t do that. There are also very many people who don’t have fun out of work either. Having fun gives us a high and this makes the world a better place. You can’t feel negative after a good laugh. So my challenge to you today is to find a [...]

Through assertiveness we develop contact with ourselves and with others. We become real human beings with real ideas, real differences…and real flaws. And we admit all of these things. We don’t try to become someone else’s mirror. We don’t try to suppress someone else’s uniqueness. We don’t try to pretend that we’re perfect. We become ourselves. We allow ourselves to be there. Randy Paterson Canadian Psychologist Author The Assertiveness [...]

CLARITY – “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” Epictetus Attending the recent Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Womens Network Conference (QRRRWN) in country Kingaroy Queensland Australia encapsulated the value of what women can achieve when they have an education and access to information and nurturing supportive networks. In the 30 years that I have been attending professional and community [...]

Our lives continue to evolve around our ability to keep up with the rapidly changing technologies and how to use IT effectively to expand our networks, research information, make conscious consumer choices when we shop online, continue our lifelong learning, share ideas and connect with other like minded business associates, community organisations and individuals who share common interests. It is not easy to stay on top of it all [...]

Do you know the difference between a Bit.com, Sit.com, Dot.com, Dit.com, (OK so I made that last one up:>) and the endless stream of tech savvy jargon that seems to infiltrate our modern communication systems? To this little baby boomer it just goes right over her head. Between the evolving applications on Androids, IPhones, IPads, Notebooks and all those other gismo’s, the old days of the computer hard drive [...]

“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.” ― Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban SDG # 4 Transforming Lives Through Education (The World We Live In) I am delighted to be invited as the Springboard Guest [...]

One word that seems so hard to say – no. The art of saying no is a skill that you need as part of your own self-development. It is central to understanding and being able to articulate your own self-worth. Why do we feel guilty when we say no? How can we learn to feel more comfortable about saying no? Saying no is not negative, by understanding the power [...]

“It doesn’t matter if you start on the rocks or the rooftops. Spread your wings and let them take you to new heights.” ~ Sue Krebs ~ Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve really wanted to do something… be it apply for a job, or venture into something new and exciting like… changing your appearance or style…   You really wanted to do it but, were too frightened to do it [...]

Even in the midst of life’s many storms, we have the capacity To Stand in the Centre of Our Own Peace ~ Anon ~ Have you had days, weeks or months where things seem to be happening one after the other?  As soon as you’ve sorted one issue out, another one comes along like the famous London buses… you wait for one, and then three come along at the [...]

When I saw the lovely inspirational quote below about people draining or inspiriting you and to choose them wisely, it lead me thinking about my whole career thus far, the people I have met along the way and, the cornucopia of knowledge, skills, guidance and disillusionments that I have come across in what I call my ‘Journey to Empowerment’. The truth of the matter is my journey has been [...]

What advice do we give to children that we need to give ourselves as adults? 1.  Distraction “ooh look, look what’s over here” Adults distract children from tears and pain.  How we can we distract ourselves in a positive way?  What can we control in any situation and where are we placing our focus. 2.  Playtime “Go and let off some of that energy and have some fun” What [...]

Let’s be honest, the stereotypes that men don’t show their feelings, or talk about them either, must have stemmed from some kind of truth and experience in society at some point, otherwise how does anything become a stereotype in the first place?   However, when it comes to attitudes towards mental health, and our ability to talk specifically about this serious area of health and wellbeing, perhaps we are still [...]

In 1992 ITV brought “Men Behaving Badly” to our living rooms.  It was a tongue in cheek, light hearted parody of male stereotypes that jumped on the band wagon of society laughing at the somewhat clumsy, unskilled, care-free behaviour of young men in 1990’s England – and which coincided with BBC2’s tongue in cheek light hearted parody of female stereotypes programme “Absolutely Fabulous”, which oddly enough depicted the somewhat [...]

The first time I realised that I was one and they were referring to blokes, guys, chaps, fellows, gents, geezers (dudes might be rather a stretch) – indeed men like me, was sometime early last year, 2017. Being perfectly honest, I can’t tell a lie, (well I can but I’m not going to), I confess that I didn’t like the idea of being one then, but didn’t dwell on [...]

Education is the Key to Women’s Empowerment Investing in the education of women and girls is not only good for the economy it is also a basic human right and one that needs to be clearly evident in how governments prepare their budgets from a gender mainstreaming perspective. When we contemplate what the real value of a woman’s worth is to the economy this will largely depend on what [...]

This week’s blog has been designed for inclusion in your organisations leadership and training programs to stimulate discussion on the challenges and opportunities for now and in the future for accelerating gender equality. So what exactly is gender equality? Watch this short video and envisage what your country and organisation could look like if more women and girls were empowered to participate as equal partners in decisions that impact [...]

As a passionate social justice advocate and feminist, can you indulge me for a few minutes, as I take you on a whimsical journey back in time to the 1970’s in Australia and the recruitment strategies of large companies when seeking suitable ‘Executive Men’. Because as we all know there could not possibly have been any ‘suitable women that would be eligible to fill such a position’. Back then [...]

As we welcome a New Day and a New Year (2018), I hope that your dreams and goals go way beyond simply making a New Year’s resolution. If we take on board these words “A New Day is on the Horizon” that were expressed so eloquently by Oprah Winfrey in her acceptance speech on being the First Black Woman to receive the Cecil B. De Mille Golden Globe Award [...]

Right at the beginning of Springboard Workshop One a question we ask participants is this: “What is your greatest achievement?” We get some astonishing responses, and hearing a whole room-full of achievements spoken out loud really makes your heart sing. One of the answers that crops up the most, though, is this: “My children.” (Please don’t stop reading if you’re not a parent – I promise there’s a bigger [...]

Have you read Sheryl Sandberg’s bestseller ‘Lean In’ yet? It should (imho) be required reading for everyone, male and female, before they leave school to become the next generation of employees and employers. Certainly it’s a staple of my Springboard resource table. Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and founder of the Lean In Foundation. The book is part of a wider conversation around the lack of women [...]

Yvonne is a highly skilled, motivated and inspiring trainer with plenty of experience of working successfully with individuals, groups and teams, and has worked in the public sector, the private sector and with voluntary organisations. Yvonne has designed and delivered training courses for individuals and organisations for over 25 years and is particularly interested in topics that include human interaction and understanding personal impact. She is extremely experienced in [...]

My personal experience of Springboard dates back to when I was training in an Engineering Company in Stockport. The gap between men and women was clear and identified. My mother raised me to demand equality and accept nothing less, so when asked to run the programme I jumped at the opportunity. Was I ready? No. Was I scared? Most definitely yes! But is anything less worth it? At the [...]

Everyone wants to get on their career but as you climb the ladder not everyone can reach the top spot. Here are six invaluable tips on how you can make yourself that person no one can do without and be in line for every promotion that comes your way. Carry yourself with confidence If you believe you can do something then the people around you will feel that confidence. [...]

As the festivities begin and the cheery Christmas songs play out loud in the stores and cafes, all around is confusion and worry as people try desperately to make tricky choices. What to buy, who to buy for, what to cook/eat/drink, who to invite, which invitations to accept or turn down? It can feel like endless decisions when the pressure around us says ‘consume, spend, buy’. Added to the [...]

How well do you give and receive compliments? This is a question that I’ve asked several Springboard and Sprint groups over the last months. Some people nod wisely and say they’ve been working on this aspect of assertiveness. But still for the majority there is a great challenge in being able to say a simple ‘thank you’ when presented a compliment. Reasons for being reluctant to accept praise can [...]

There’s a comedy chat show on the radio that encourages celebrities to try out things they’ve never done before – things that many other people have done. The programme has made me smile, especially when Sandi Toksvig tried out wearing high heels for the first time and it made me consider if this could be an approach for some gentle goal setting. Personally, there are many things that I [...]

Looking through the window, the sun is shining, the sky is blue. This may be the last warm sunny day of autumn in the UK. But I’m into my fourth day of a nasty cold/flu attack (who ever knows the difference between a cold and the flu – especially when you’re in the middle of it). Reaching for the tissues and paracetamol, I could easily be stressed that I’m [...]

October is Black History Month and wanting to find out more, I did what any self-respecting individual would do….I asked Siri! After wading through all that internet noise, she (Siri) found that Black History Month in Britain is 30 years old this year and is 90 years old in the USA. Even though America has 60 years on us, 30 is a special and significant birthday none the less… right?! [...]

I’ve just returned from a most enjoyable holiday with friends, floating serenely along the Shropshire Union canal on a narrowboat. It’s the gentlest of pastimes, intercut with frantic moments of activity. And tea. Lots of tea. When we arrived to pick up Sir Valadon on a sunny Saturday afternoon we were welcomed by our smiling host, who ran through all the technical stuff we needed to know. He did [...]

Now I’m not a fan of reruns, but I recently watched an episode of Columbo and there is something about this series, even though I’ve watched it countless of times; that whenever it’s on, on a lazy Sunday afternoon I just can’t resist watching it! Anyway, there was a scene, which went something like this… Columbo: Sergeant, come in here Sergeant – enters the room: Yes Lieutenant [Columbo] Columbo: [...]

I got to the shopping centre early one Sunday (an hour early to be exact – misread the opening time). I thought I’d take advantage of my forward planning and decided to grab a coffee before starting my mission! I noticed that there was a queue outside the Apple store. I kept checking my watch, as I knew there was still some time to go before the centre opened [...]

As the late Max Bygraves used to say, “I wanna tell you a story”.  When I was younger there were two things that would publicly embarrass me but privately amaze me.  The first was Max Bygraves – the East End singer, actor and comic, the second was old people telling stories about the war.  These amazed me as I could never understand at the time why Max was so [...]

Next year it will be 20 years since I was first introduced to Springboard and since then a lot has changed in my world. We all go through life’s varied experiences; I’m no different. All the usual things like job changes, bereavement, divorce, more job changes. But the one thing that’s remained by my side and in my head like a faithful friend has been Springboard. As my life [...]