Coaching Chronicle by Gerard O’Donovan

Hi everyone I just returned

Late on Sunday night from our most recent residential coach training programme held at Eynsham Hall near Oxford. 

http://www.eynshamhall.com/

It was lovely to meet so many people in such a wonderful atmosphere. We had a group from Poland, people from Romania, Ireland, France,Scotland, Spain and South Africa. In total about 30 people and 7 staff.

And just imagine how pleased I was to receive this e-mail the next day. It really does make it all so worthwhile.

 To: sadiehargreaves@noble-manhattan.com

Subject: RESIDENTIAL WEEKEND 26/02/-28/02/10

Hi Sadie,

 I attended the recent residential weekend and I feel that I really must express my gratitude to Gerard and all at Noble Manhattan for the hard work that went in to making it an enormous success.

From the very first day when I stepped into the training room, I felt like I was transported back to my childhood, the happiest period of my life. All the wonderful memories of love, care, attention, joy and laughter were bursting out from inside, so much so, that I was struggling to contain them.

 The entire three day training course was packaged and delivered, with such thought, care, attention to details and to the needs of all the students, that it reminded me of my happy childhood.  he select these David, Aina and Cherry did their jobs exceedingly well, from day one right through to day three and the facilitators, John and Chris were right up there with them. They made themselves available, approachable and willing to answer our questions and help us to overcome our anxieties and self doubt. But, most importantly, they were willing to share their knowledge and experience with us. I felt blessed.

 I think that Gerard is an amazing human being. I love his passion, energy, kindness, attention to the smallest detail, his giving nature, but above all, I love his massive heart. He is unique and a great inspiration.

 I made a lot of friends at the residential weekend and I am looking forward to keeping up with them and sharing our experiences for years to come.

 Thank you Noble Manhattan.

  Kindest regards

 Lyn

 This coming Saturday we are doing a one day ” Introduction to Coaching” in London for people who are considering training to be a professional coach and the next day Sunday we are going to be doing a very special day indeed.

A “ Build Your Coaching Practice” one-day training course in London. If anyone is interested in spending Sunday with me and learning the most incredible techniques on how to build your business then just let the Office know 

info@noble-manhattan.com

 or call  01305 769411

 Looking forward to seeing you all soon

Lots of love

Gerard

Although we are now only at the beginning of February it actually seems as if Christmas was many months ago.

Our International Distributors strategy is going very well.As many of you know we have opened offices in Romania within the last couple of years and also with our partners in Poland, Turkey and Canada and we now have the opportunity to partner with two more companies Internationally this year.

So if you know of any organizations or well-placed individuals that would be interested in talking to Noble Manhattan Coaching about partnering in their country, please let us know.

 Our support group division is growing extremely well with five new support groups starting in Romania and five new in Poland within the next two months as well as that we are on target to launch at least 10 to 12 more in the UK by late summer.

Allan in Canada is doing extremely well and has got 3 regular meet up groups getting together every month in different areas south of Toronto with a total of over 60 people committed to coming each month.

 The biggest stage of my recent book ” A Coach’s Story” is now complete. I am so glad that all of the writing has now been done.:-) Now we have to get it proof read, edited and then of course published. All being well it should be done and dusted and on the bookshelves by Easter.

 We are also delighted to be able to announce that we have partnered with ” Catalyst Coaching” in the London area. It has been a real joy working with Catalyst, and over the last few months I have got to know their owner Nick Horan very well, in fact we have become good friends.

So from this month onwards we are delighted to be able to shoulder the burden of taking on all of the delivery of coach training for Catalyst allowing them to develop even stronger in their learning and development arenas. A partnership made in heaven

 And as if all of that wasn’t enough we are just about to launch a most incredible face-to-face coaching course in London.

It will be 10 days face-to-face over a one-year period and we are calling it “A Coaching MasterClass with Supervision”

It will be suitable for All Coaches, All managers from organisations and even student coaches.

To find out more about this incredible course contact the office. ( very very special deals just for the first few!!)

 We are also delighted to be able to announce that we are taking on a new general manager for our Noble Quest.

http://www.noble-quest.com/

 Our Coach Radio Division is building furiously right now under the leadership of Greg Evaristo. www.coachradiointernational.com

 Greg is fast putting together an international team of business development associates,programmers, designers and professional broadcast trainers. It looks as if we will be able to launch properly at the end of this month.

 I have also decided to take on some new Personal Coaching clients over the next few months. I will be doing this in a highly dynamic interactive online group environment.( it really won’t be for the fainthearted ) This will be for people who really want to move forward and make 2010 the year when their life really starts to take shape and they achieve the success they wish to.

If you would like to find out about being coached by me for one hour once a month then please get in touch with Stacey Melvin at staceymelvin@noble-manhattan.com

 Lots of love

Gerard

Last week my wife and I were in London for the weekend. I had to deliver two different keynote speeches one on Saturday and one on Sunday so my wife joined me,as we thought it might be a opportunity time to spend some time together (away from the children !)

On Sunday morning we went for a walk along Bayswater Road to look at the beautiful Art exhibition which has taken place there every Sunday since 1963.

For at least half a mile the railings on the north side of Hyde Park are sectioned into approximately 10 foot pictures and artists are allowed to license these pitches from the local council.

As we were walking along admiring the huge amount of different art and styles we came to a large pitch actually a triple size one and we were both struck by how beautiful the paintings were.

We all must say to each other at the same time ,” you know, this looks just like the work of David James”

Now David James is an artist that we have both admired for many years. We first came across David James over 25 years ago when I was a Royal Marine grain-based in Poole.we would sometimes go into Poole Art Gallery based on Poole Quay and admire the paintings.they used to display some of the work of David James and we liked it very much however we just could never afford to buy any even a small one of his paintings 12″ x 12″ was in the region of £400 and that was back then.

As we were having this conversation I leaned closer to look at the paintings on the railings and was astonished to see the signature of ” David James” just at that moment a voice from behind and said ” can help you” and we turned around to find the man himself !!!!!

He is very distinctive in his late 60s with a long flowing white beard.

We were so delighted we ended up talking with David for quite some time we told him how many years ago we had come across his work but could never have afforded it back then. He told us where he was living and we spoke about many things.he talked about how the galleries make a lot of money out of Artists and take by far the bulk of all the purchase price.

He gave me his e-mail address and we agreed to keep in touch.

It was quite a coincidence, because he very rarely displays his work now on Bayswater Road, being so internationally acclaimed, and having such little time.

 Gail and I then continued our walk through Hyde Park, stopping for lunch etc. About three hours later as we were heading back to our hotel I said “let’s make a quick detour and see if those paintings are still there”. We got to his pitch just as he was getting ready to pack up and go home.

 He smiled when he saw us and we spoke again for some time. As we were looking at his paintings and he was explaining to us what lay behind some of them he asked ” are there any that you like” we both admitted that there were a couple that really took our fancy. Two beautiful Winter landscape scenes in light brown.

He put them side by side and we admired them and he explained about his use of light etc. Then he said “would you like to buy them” I replied that actually I would love to buy them but I didn’t think that we could probably afford his prices. He paused, and smiled, and thought for a while and then he said ” I tell you what” I will let you have them both for £90. I couldn’t believe it !!!!!!!! I was so incredibly pleased and surprised. Obviously I said yes.

I am now the proud owner of two beautiful paintings done by an artist that I have now come to know.

If you go to this website you’ll see the two that I purchased

http://www.davidjamesart.com/content.php?page=new_work

 Isn’t life wonderful the way it brings you these great joys and surprises

It took me 7 1/2 hours to drive home from London yesterday, I arrived home at 10 minutes to midnight. It should have taken no more than three hours and I left at 3:30 PM in the afternoon.!!!

There was snow and ice everywhere and traffic was moving at about 5 mph. Lots of lorries had crashed into barriers and cars were stranded on the hard shoulder,and the snow was coming down thick and fast.

 To be honest I didn’t mind too much because it gave me some unexpected time to do some extra studying in my Mobile University.(my car)

I listened to quite a few new CD’s that I had recently purchased on the Power of the Mind and the Law of Attraction.

I also listened to some fascinating interviews on ” Group Coaching” something that I personally have been doing for quite some time and achieving a lot of success with some great clients.

It made me realise again just how incredibly effective it can be to coach small groups of five or six once a month for approximately one hour.

Perhaps I ought to do a lot more of this? Just need to work out where I can find the time??

 I had a meeting in London yesterday with our partner from Istanbul in Turkey, what a wonderful guy. I am so lucky to have attracted such wonderful people into my life. It is a real joy to work with such people.

At our meeting we started to put together plans to develop coach training more effectively throughout the whole of Turkey and also in countries like Azerbaijan Kazakhstan, Syria etc

I have to say I’m very excited about the thought of moving into that part of the world and seeing how we can change corporate cultures and give people true power through the use of coaching.

 Today I am back in the office working through a mountain of e-mails and trying to get all of the last-minute work done before we close the office for the holidays tomorrow.

I really am looking forward to this break, time to catch up on some sleep, also time to spend with my family ( if they remember who I am )

I also traditionally use the Christmas break as a time to review this year’s goals and to comprehensively plan all of my goals for the coming 12 months.that always gets me very excited.

Till the next time

Gerard

Just got back yesterday from my two-week trip to Florida. I was there initially to attend a four-day coaching convention run by the ICF.

We usually take a booth there every year

It was held at the Convention centre at Rosen shingle Creek.what a huge magnificent place

I was there with my wife and two of my children who did the usual tourist things ( Disney World, universal studios etc) while I attended the conference.

At the conference when we first arrived it was interesting to see a whole group of SWAT people walking around all with their guns on their hips.

They were attending their own convention.

I found it very interesting that in a convention setting they were all wearing camouflage trousers and boots and carrying their guns, and so different to the UK.

 Later that evening we saw most of them wandering around in the bar drinking beer but still wearing their guns on their hips.( Only in the USA !!!!!)

Now, that’s an interesting combination, guns and beer.

One I don’t really want to see together.

 Coaches and SWAT teams, you really couldn’t get two more different types of people.having meetings in the same hotel.

I have to say the ICF ran a very well organised and structured convention,hats off to them.

 It was great to see a lot of old faces from last year in Montral and from the year before in Los Angeles.

Next year it is at Forth Worth in Texas,looking forward to that

We have three completely separate courses and seminars running simultaneously in London.

All at the same hotel.

 First of all there is the beginning of our new NLP Practitioner Programme being run by Aina Egeberg. This is happening on Friday and Saturday and Sunday at the Thistle Kensington Gardens Hotel on Bayswater Road in London.

 On Saturday I am running an “Introduction to Coaching” seminar for people who are considering coaching as a whole new career.

I have to say I really do love doing these days they are soul satisfying and rewarding.

Then on Sunday were doing a very special event. We are calling it a” Build your Coaching Business Day”

This is really going to be a jampacked day teaching Coaches how to raise their profile, generate business, increase their income, attract more clients, use effective networking and using cutting-edge IT online media techniques to generate a huge amount of enquiries.

I am going to be joined by George Metcalfe one of the U.K.’s greatest coaches and an absolute expert in networking, 

also by Mindy Gibbins-Klein

, one of the most successful coaches in the UK an accomplished author who is going to be doing a marvellous session on how to raise your brand.

 I’m also very excited by the fact that yesterday we took delivery from the publisher of our two new DVDs

1) The Seven Secrets of Super Achievers

2) Outrageous Marketing Techniquess to Build Your Business

 We will give these to every participant on Sunday free of charge ( a special gift for them )

 I am really looking forward to it

Gerard

Yesterday, I took two motorbikes out for a test ride. The BMW 1200 GS and the BMW 1200 GS adventure.

Both from CW’s. ( who have won the Best dealership prize for the last five years in the UK)

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed both bikes and I’m very tempted to get one.

The dealership couldn’t have been more helpful, and not in anyway pushy or salesey.

 I suppose the question I really have to ask myself is ,bearing in mind the fact that I live in Weymouth in sunny Dorset, do I need an all-purpose world beating adventure motorbike,

That will go down jungle tracks, cross deserts, climb snow-covered mountain wilderness and deal with all weather conditions.

And, I guess when I am completely honest with myself the answer has to be

  So, now I have a decision to make !!!!!

The difficult thing is my wife loves the Yamaha and really does not like the look of the BMW. I however love the BMW!

So – Bike or divorce ??

Well, here I am sitting in my hotel room in Warsaw slaving over a hot laptop dealing with my never ending stream of e-mails.

I went for a Thai massage last night in a place called the Thai house just around the corner from the MDM hotel ( where I am staying) it really was a great massage and very well priced 120 zlotys equal to about £25 

Today I had a really great experience, went out for a walk and a coffee this morning and found about five fantastic bookshops one after another. I couldn’t resist buying some more books. ( my wife will kill me) my suitcase is already verging on my airline limit !!

I will have to do some fast talking at the check-in J

 Looking forward to attending the Warsaw coaching support group meeting tonight.

I am going to do a presentation on Shamanic Coaching.

I am also going to give everyone a special gift. FREE membership of big life www.biglife.ws

I think that could really help them.

Then it’s up at 3 AM for a 6 AM flight ( deep joy!!)

Should be back in the office by 12 noon.

Interesting synchronous event happened today.

I left the office to go into town to do some administration. For some reason, and I don’t really know why, I started to think about my time in the Royal Marines and when we were in the Falklands.

On the way back from town to the office as I walked past a charity shop I had a very strong impulse to go when and check their books on sale.

The first book I saw was

” Forgotten Voices from the Falklands War” Which I immediately bought.

Isn’t that interesting.Is That the power of intention? Is it the Law of attraction?

Is it the power of universal consciousness working to create and manifest our thoughts into reality?

Something to ponder on

Gerard

The first coach a child has in life is his/her parent. If the parent/baby interaction is a pleasant and satisfying one, the child will be likely to follow the parental example willingly. While the parent eventually would like to inculcate her/his own set of values in the child there are occasions when the child’s difference of opinion should be allowed and respected. Just as you would be considerate of another adult having diametrically opposed religious or political beliefs, you want to show tolerance for your child in making a decision to wear a mismatched outfit to school for example.

You don’t have to agree with the child’s choice of a red skirt and orange blouse; but being empathetic about her making a choice is part of building a good relationship. Perhaps showing her the value of empathy will teach her not to make fun of how other children dress. Developing empathy towards those who are different will prevent her from becoming one of those school bullies that cause so much emotional pain to other kids. A parent is “coaching” a child to teach her/him the values that are hers/his. But there must be some “wiggle room” in what decisions the child is encouraged to make on his/her own.

Children learn what they live and parents are “coaching by example” whether they analyze it as such or not. When Dad is able to show his sensitive side, so will his son. When Mom takes the time to explain why Tommy has to use a wheelchair instead of stopping her child from talking about it, she is helping her/him to develop empathy towards another child.

Her child won’t grow up making fun of kids who can’t play sports as well as most. When he is old enough to recognize the sad state of a homeless man, he/she won’t focus on the fact that he is dirty and unkempt instead of feeling empathy for his hunger and inability to cope with ordinary life. The little boy or girl who learns empathy at an early age will not be the playground bully or the person who feels no sadness at running over a pet while driving. He/she will not be one of those whose bullying behaviour was the root cause of a Columbine tragedy. Empathy breeds kindness in the human soul.