Advocate - Stefan’s Week-notes 25/10/2024
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I thought I'd give it a go.
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I thought I'd give it a go.
Here's a dive in to the happenings of the past week. I start with what I’ve been up to, to frame the week and then the successes.
Why? Because it's easy to look into the dark rather than the light; isn't it?
Hope you enjoy it; comments, observations and thoughts welcome.
What have I been up to?
(Question inspired by @James_ Arthur_Cattell week notes). It's been a busy week.
This week I got back to full strength bike rides including a fab 3 hour ride with Adrian and the crew of @AdrianBikeShop in Freshwater, as well as strength and conditioning sessions. This period between now and Christmas is about maintaining what I’ve built this year - capable of riding 1000km in 48 hours and riding a sub 24 minute 10 Mile TT on a road spec’d @northroadcycles gravel bike and keeping me ready for next year.
In addition to this, I started a 12 month nutrition programme with my cycling coach @Joe_Staunton of @ceyresteperformance in return for some coaching from me. We will be looking at perfecting my fuelling, refuelling and my ‘fighting weight’ for some bonkers rides in 2025 including the Solstice Series.
This weeks coaching sessions included:
An executive coach and leadership development consultant looking at their offering, their ideal clients and how to create more of the work they are passionate about.
A Design Lead in the public sector looking at how far they have come on their leadership journey, their confidence and their ability to advocate for those they are leading.
A head of sustainability looking at influencing, advocacy and purpose driven career progression.
This week I also held two inquisitive sessions and signed up two new coachees; delighted. I have space for more if you’d like one - email me at stefan@stefanpowell.co.uk
Marking answers from digital marketing programme delegates on the impact of empathic concern has been a delight; the depth of thinking and the practical application of this in the marketing space - for good - very encouraging. (This is the digital marketing programme I mentor on for my great friend @Angela_Mcllelland on behalf of the Liverpool City Region).
I also found the time to write and release my second newsletter which contained pieces I’ve written on my 4 life pillars of1. Work 2. Rest 3. Play and 4. Sustenance. I am delighted to say it’s received some wonderful feedback including the feedback pictured above. You can sign Up for my BE THE WAVES newsletter here:
On top of this, I opened my gallery The Little Boat on Wednesday PM and held a 1,5 hour chat with a young woman who lost her mum last year and her sister this year; very tough and we had a beautiful conversation about honouring a life; whilst honouring your own.
What's been good about this week?
I’ve really enjoyed this week. Getting out on the bike and starting my strength and conditioning work has been a real win this week and it’s had a massive impact on my enthusiasm and zest for life.
It was great to work with all of my coachees this week and in particular I really enjoyed working with the Head of sustainability who wants to develop their influence in their existing role, making new products and services more sustainable across the whole product lifecycle as well as looking at existing products and services and recycling and sustainable practices for those. A global org; this is immensely encouraging.
In the session, we explored who would need motivating and what their drivers are, as well as how the coachee could influence the politics within the situation to serve all concerned. There was some overlap with a blog post I wrote earlier in the week on influencing your boss and stakeholders and you can read more here:
It’s purposefully simplistic; but thats the point.
Why did I enjoy it so much; I love working with clearly brilliant people who aren’t getting that brilliance across as well as they could. In this, case they know what ends doing and they can do it, but their language and the vocab they are using betrays their senior leader status. So, we discussed re-labelling and re-branding what they do rather than changing the pace and pentameter of what they do.
What am I grateful for?
This week I am grateful to have my parents still with me. It was my Dad’s 79th birthday this week and my Mum’s 69th birthday 2 weeks before.
Both more frail than I would like, after being ‘fit as fiddles’ for years. it’s been too long since I’ve been to visit them and i’m aiming to put that right in the coming weeks.
On top of this I had a fabulous Friday afternoon at @tapnellfarmpark on the Isle of Wight with Vera (it’s her and Willoughby’s half term) whilst Will played football and rode his mountain bike with his mates.
Vera is full of beans and blew me away with her energy and drive to ride relentlessly the pedal go karts and bounce up and down on the ‘bouncy pillows’. Winter passes now secured.
Social media gratitude…
I’m also grateful for some lovely shares and mentions this week on LinkedIn - every little helps including a fabulous mention by Stacey Crump a former 1:1 and team coaching client who asked for a few words from me on 'recruiting for attitude’; you can read my reply in the comments of her post here:
Based upon the work she does it was an honour to be mentioned.
Look out for a case study from my work with her and her fabulous team in a few weeks time.
Thank you Stacey.
Likes, comments shares and signs ups make these 3 main differences:
They help me get seen on linked and on instagram by ‘leaning into’ their algorithms.
They mean that others, outside of my immediate network, get to see my work, know I exist and contact me to find out more about my work, chat about the great thing they are leading, or wish to lead, and just maybe ask me to coach them.
They makes me feel valued and motivates me to do more.
Thank you all for helping me to do more of what I love.
What could have gone better?
The good news is that last weeks, ‘could have gone better’ which was sleep, has been a lot better - some obvious, but easier said than done, changes went a long way to making a difference including:
Charging my mobile phone in the living room rather than the bedroom - temptation removed.
No electronics after 9PM most evenings
Reading a paper back book rather than a digital one
Pre bed relaxation through breathing technique practice
I also found this to be a great piece on sleep hygiene from the fabulous sleep charity.
What else?
The only other thing that I can think of this week is that I wished I’d been able to fit in my weekly brew up with my mate Jason and Darren.
The aim of the brew up is to ride out for an hour, stop, brew up and ask one another about how our week’s have been, anything we need to get off our chest and what we’ve got coming up - then we ride back home. They make a real difference.
Community is a big part of my work, rest and play ethos and is one of endurance athlete Sean Conway’s 11 pillars of endurance and I really notice when I don’t manage to include it.
There has simply been too much on and I need to prioritise them again next week.
My saving grace has been Dominique and this wonderful community I’m part of and building on linkedin - thank you.
What am I reading?
This week, I’ve been reading the fabulous biography “Step by Step” by journalist and adventurer Simon Reeve.
A great investigative journalist, adventurer, documentary filmmaker and television presenter, He makes global travel and environmental documentaries, and has written books on international terrorism, modern history, and his adventures.
I love reading biographies for three main reasons:
I love reading about other peoples lives and what they have overcome - they inspire me
They give insights into different perspectives on life, which informs my empathic concern for those I work with and
They often show how people have been able to overcome the challenges they face which helps others, including me to do similar - even if less amazing - feats.
A charity shop purchase, like many of my books, I didnt know that Reeve's journey would be so inspiring and a such testament to resilience.
Despite facing a tumultuous upbringing, Simon navigated through challenges that included a strained relationship with his father and behavioural issues that necessitated counselling from a young age.
Reeve's path was marked by difficult moments, including brushes with self-destructive tendencies and thoughts of suicide. However, he found the strength to persevere, demonstrating immense courage in the face of adversity.
His story is a powerful reminder of the human spirit's capacity to overcome even the darkest of times.
A favourite quote of mine here:
“if someone believes really strongly that we should do something, whether it's the assistant producer or the executive in charge, we generally do it. Enthusiasm trumps apathy."
So often in my life I have found this true of the teams I've worked in, lead and had the honour of supporting. It’s often what informs the first step that my coachees make too.
Resonating strongly with why I do some of the things I do - like enter bike races and do overnight rides from the island to cheddar gorge and back. If my first response to something is ‘that sounds awesome’ - I try to remind myself to find a way to do it and listen to that initial excitement and how I will feel after the event - rather than allow the fears and doubts to turn me away from it.
With this in mind - watch this apace for more details of a fairly bonkers ride I plan to do in 2025.
A question - What do you get excited at the thought of and then say no I coldly possibly do that?
If you’d like to chat …about your own experience of trying to keep going; get in touch here
What am I wishing for?
This week I am wishing for those who want to do good in this world to find their reason to do so.
When the pain of not acting outweighs the fear of ‘moving’, we often find it within us to do it.
In my experience, this means that we have the capacity to act; we just haven’t had a big enough reason to do so.
If you’re in this space. Don’t wait for someone to leave, someone to fire you, someone to not hire you, that ship to sail or that friendship to fail. Hell, don’t wait to influence those around you to ‘build’ better, more sustainable and affordable products and services which pay your supply chain fairly, grant access to those who really would benefit from your service, whilst making a reasonable profit.
Find YOUR reason or connect so strongly to THEIR’s that you just have to…
BUT - Do pause for a moment about how best to do it.
As a coaching session, this week showed.
A coachee going in to speak with a board. 1.5 hours of your time to influence the rest of your life - is well worth it.
Our world, and just as importantly, your world needs you to act.
A Last Word - Advocate
This week, I’d like to leave you with the word Advocate.
An advocate is “A person who helps someone express their views. An advocate is a person who helps someone express their views, wishes, and rights. They can help people weigh up options and make decisions. For example, an advocate can help someone with health and social care needs”.
We all need advocates - just for different things; whether you be a leader wanting someone to advocate your approach to the board or a self employed consultant benefiting from a leader advocating their services to others.
We also live in a world where it still feels hard to ask for help; especially in a world full of noise but it shouldn’t be.
As our parents get older and we live further away from them advocacy services for example become more and more important; you might find this NHS link useful if this resonates with you.
Who do I advocate?
Another way to advocate fore someone is to recommend their services.
I have a high bar that those I work with, have to reach before I will recommend them to others. And I see so many people, good people doing great work, get overlooked in favour of those who have shinier bells and whistles that are often less tuneful and long lasting as those that get chosen.
I think we, as a network, need to do more about this.
So I’d love you to start shouting about and sharing details and posts, to others within your network, of those who you would recommend to others.
A recommendation means the world to those who receive them and importantly brings in opportunities for work, which feeds peoples families and enables them to work, rest and play and continue ti keep their fees lower and just as importantly volunteer their time and experience to charities and organisation that couldn’t have access to them otherwise.
I’m gonna start us off with three people I would recommend to you without question:
My cycling coach Joe Staunton of Ceyreste Performance. Enough training, nutrition and practical coaching knowledge to fill the coliseum. A great chap, brilliant cyclist and the person who helped me get fit enough and strong enough to ride with some of the best amateurs in the UK, within only 2 years.
My sports psychologist friend and original coaching mentor Karl Bevan. Karl created the first coaching course I ever attended over 22 years ago and I still use every day the stuff that I was taught there. He’s also helped coach my mindset for the Solstice Sprint last year and has worked with leadership and management teams all over the world. I had the honour of coaching him last year too.
My friend, photographer and web developer, Andrew Eberlin. His eye for detail and design, combined with practicality and simplicity are second to none and his loveliness in the process immense. He’s produced beautiful websites for some fantastic organisations; you really must look at his work. He takes beautiful photos too.
Advocate for me and get some Free Coaching?
I feel blessed when someone recommend people to me. It makes a massive difference to my business and in turn my family - that vote of confidence and the trust it builds in someone before they even meet me, makes a world of difference.
In return, any recommendation which leads to a sign up will be gifted a free coaching session with me to ‘bank’, use or gift to someone in their network.
It seems only fair and is a way for the who have less available each month to spend on coaching to feel like they can access the services of a coach like me, whilst feeling that the relationship is one of equity and reciprocity.
Who do you know that might find working with me useful?
Follow these 3 steps
Message them about them
Them about me
Follow up (We don’t always do what we know we need to do.
Stefan
Thank you for reading my week notes.
For now, let me leave you with 5 questions:
Who do you want to influence and what about?
What would it mean for you?
What is YOUR reason, or someone else’s which is important enough to make you try?
What would help you turn that reason into action?
What would be the smallest step towards doing that be? Take it today
If you’d like some help answering those questions get in touch via my contact page here; or via stefan@stefanpowell.co.uk
Have a great weekend and love to you all
Stef
Enjoyed reading this? Consider doing one of these:
Get in touch - If any of this topic resonated with you and you have something you’d like to share with me or if you’d like to discuss working with me on this topic - stefan@stefanpowell.co.uk works really well for me.
Connect with me on linked in and read my long form posts on the rotating topics of Work, Rest. Play, Sustenance and Love every Thursday
Sign up to my newsletter ‘Be The Waves” here - which collates each weeks long form post on a monthly basis and you’ll get to read it later in the month
I’ll continue this in 4 to 5 Thursdays time when I continue the topic of ‘Rest” in my Thursday Journal.
Book an inquisitive session with me to find out more about what I do and how I do it or run a challenge or thought you have passed me.
For now; thank you
I am…
An executive coach who specialises in helping good people lead great things.
Good people care about others, our planet and beauty. Great things are changes for the betterment of society and all that lives within an around it.
It sounds big and fun - it is.
I'm also an endurance racing cyclist and a go. getter.
You can read more about me and what I do; how I work here