A blog on business mentoring, executive coaching and career transition coaching by Ross Nichols, the business mentor and coach.
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Peter Jones Enterprise Academy
We are
delighted to sponsor the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at Bournemouth and
Poole College’s Enterprise Academy. Many congratulations to the winner,
Kat Teversham, who is already trading even before she graduates with her B Tec
in Enterprise.
Bath University Submarnine Racing Team.
Team Bath Racing at Silverstone.
Ross Nichols (in blue shirt) with James Merritt, Team Bath Racing's project manager and the Formula Student 2013 racing car.
Team Bath Racing's Formula Student 2013 racing car.
Engineering the Future – University of Bath Design Exhibition
Tom Pellereau the former Apprentice winner kicked off the University of Bath Mechanical Engineering Design Exhibition of 29 May 2013 with a lecture entitled ‘Inventing Your Future’, which went down a storm to a packed house. Human powered aircraft, human powered submarines and a Formula Student racing car were all on show with helpful explanations from the student designers manning the stands. How I wished my 18 year old son, an advanced engineering apprentice himself, could have joined me for this exhibition – the sky and the sea is the limit for these brilliant young designers who get to design, build and then race their creations around UK, Europe and further afield in international student competitions.
Tom Pellereau gave a thought provoking lecture, explaining how social media was driving a closer relationship between manufacturers and consumers, which allowed more testing of ideas before product launch. This experimentation reduced risk and increased the speed of reaction to the market place, which in turn could drive the return of manufacturing from China to the UK. Ultimately, consumers could become the new inventors by directly influencing which products companies develop: “it could be that invention itself is reinvented”, said Tom.
While viewing some of the student industry placement reports, Steve Culley, Professor of Engineering and Design, welcomed me to the exhibition. The breadth of industry placements with blue chip companies gives an insight into the opportunities these young engineers have to gain real experience during their studies. Placements include Michelin Tyres R&D in France, Williams F1 transmission department, Red Bull F1 Team, Airbus Operations Ltd and Aston Martin/Daimler to name but a few.
I was shown around by Ian Goode the student Project Manager for the submarine racing team. Ian explained the intricacies of designing, building, testing and racing the submarine, as well as the problems that needed to be solved along the way. You can follow the Bath University Submarine Racing Team at: www.facebook.com/bursthps and www.bursthps.co.uk. The same level of challenge applied to Team Bath Racing’s Formula Student racing car, designed in part by Alex Summers who did his placement with McLaren where he helped to test their new MP4-12C supercar. You can follow them at www.teambathracing.co.uk and www.facebook/com/teambathr .
The exhibition finale was the unveiling of Team Bath Racing’s racing car for 2013 in the main hall, where there was standing room only. Dr Geraint Owen thanked all the sponsors and supporters of the project and James Merrett, the student Project Manager introduced the car to the audience. The car weighs 150 kg and can accelerate from 0-100 kph in under 3 seconds. Team Bath Racing have had the fastest UK built formula student car for the last 5 years and aim to have a car capable of taking their first outright victory in the international races in the 2014 season, despite operating with a much lower budget than their international competitors. Support from BP and Caterpillar shows how highly graduate employers value these Bath University projects.
It was clear to me that these design, build and race projects not only provide excellent learning opportunities and develop work-ready skills, they are also a lot of fun. This is such an inspiring exhibition for young engineers that I really hope the Department invites engineering apprentices to visit next year.
Copyright 2013 Ross Nichols and Business Mentoring Services Ltd
ROSS NICHOLS
Business Mentor, Executive and Career Transition Coach
www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk
Twitter: @Biz Mentoring Ltd
Blog: http://www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk/blog.php
LinkedIn Group: Career Transition UK South
t: 020 8242 6271
m: 07512 965992
FSB Visit to Parliament
Along with Somerset and Wiltshire members of the Federation of Small Business, I visited Parliament on 14 May and had the opportunity to discuss business issues with regional MPs.
Why Engineers Need Help - Bridging the Gap between Engineers and Business
The transition from engineer to entrepreneur is easy, isn’t it? While engineers may be competent in their technical discipline, in my experience they tend to struggle with management and business skills. It is my contention that there is a significant gap between engineering and business. As Lord Sugar put it during a programme in The Apprentice TV series, ‘I’ve yet to see an engineer make a good manager – you’re fired!’ Not everyone agrees with me (or Lord Sugar). A recent post on LinkedIn by Joshua Turner took the opposite view, stating that engineers make great entrepreneurs, because they:
I have no difficulty with the view that engineers can be great entrepreneurs (such as James Dyson) however they often need help to get there. This is because engineers are by training and inclination most comfortable with the tangible world where the empirical approach is king and therefore tend to struggle with people skills and intangible concepts. They can also find it hard to develop management judgement, which is an essential skill for decision making in conditions of uncertainty and complexity. Such challenges are not unique to engineers. Engineers and other professionals such as accountants are specialists with deep but relatively narrow education and training, whereas managers and entrepreneurs are more generalist with relatively shallow but broad learning. This focus on logical left brain activity by specialists is an obstacle to the creativity and open mindedness that comes with right brain activity, which is so important for the innovation and original thinking required in management and business.
So what can we do to help engineers become more business and management savvy? There are 2 approaches to bridging this gap:
up-skill engineers with business and management skills
use engineers with business and management skills to help other engineers develop their inventions and innovations into realistic business propositions
An excellent example of how to up-skill engineering professionals is the Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF). www.smf.org.uk SMF is a UK charity that champions the benefits of a combined business and engineering education to help improve the performance of the UK economy. SMF does this by awarding £300,000 worth of MBA scholarships each year to young engineers with exceptional education qualifications and leadership potential. The excellent SMF infographic on mentoring is available on their website at: http://www.smf.org.uk/initiatives-and-events/mentoring.aspx
SMF is involved in two schemes: mentoring young engineers, and an Executive Mentoring Programme for engineers heading towards positions on the Board. SMF mentors young engineers through the Engineer Leadership Awards programme run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, www.raeng.org.uk/. Since 1999 Fellows have mentored over 500 young engineers; there are typically 40 young engineers in the scheme at any one time.
David Sainsbury (now Lord Sainsbury of Turville) founded SMF in 1987 because he felt that there should be more people in the boardrooms of British industry who have both the knowledge of how things are made and effective management skills. By contrast, he found that many overseas companies, particularly those in Japan and Germany, were succeeding because their senior executives and boards included qualified engineers.
SMF Executive Mentoring Programme (EMP) is for Sainsbury Management Fellows heading towards board level positions of leading public companies. The Sainsbury Management Fellowship Society has partnered with a leading executive search company, Heidrick & Struggles (www.heidrick.com) to create the EMP programme. Fellows chosen for mentoring are partnered with captains of industry. The number of engineers in the Executive Mentoring Programme is expected to reach 17 by the end of 2013.
The alternative approach to bridging the gap is to use engineers with business and management skills to help other engineers develop their inventions and innovations into realistic business propositions. An excellent example of this approach is the Engineering Innovation Network South West (EIN-SW) www.einsw.org.uk/
The Engineering Innovation Network South West has one simple aim, to help develop the small to medium engineering sector in the South West. The project aims to assist a minimum of seventy seven engineering SMEs throughout the South West by providing £2000 or two days of assistance. Not only will the business benefit, but staff and students within the engineering departments of the partners will gain experience working with engineering businesses.
The EIN-SW is a partnership led by Wiltshire College with Swindon College, Bridgewater College and The University of Bath. The project is funded by a £375,000 grant from the European Regional Development Fund through the South West Competitiveness Programme 2007-13. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf or the EIN-SW website www.einsw.org.uk The University of Bath also runs an Innovation Centre (UBIC), http://ubic.org.uk . UBIC is a membership organisation for high-growth potential businesses and the entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers that create them. As part of the University’s Research Development & Support Office Enterprise & Knowledge Exploitation team, UBIC has supported over 200 companies, helping them to create 400 jobs and raise £40m in investment from ventures capitalists and business angels since it was established in 2003.
Schemes like the Sainsbury Management Fellows, the Engineering Innovation Network South West, and the University of Bath Innovation Centre, should be celebrated for the important contribution they make to the UK economy. It is widely accepted that economic growth and new jobs will be generated mainly by small to medium enterprises, including manufacturing, so anything we can do to bridge the gap between engineering and business will help. Supporting manufacturing also helps to re-balance the economy away from its over-reliance on services.
ROSS NICHOLS
Business Mentor, Executive and Career Transition Coach
www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk
Twitter: @Biz Mentoring Ltd
Blog: http://www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk/blog.php
LinkedIn Group: Career Transition UK South
The List, National Liberal Club, Whitehall
I was honoured
to be invited to speak on career transition at the London List on 02 May, the
networking group for military personnel in career transition. With over
200 military and city folk present, it was a great opportunity to share the learning
from own experience of transition.
Federation of Small Business National Conference 2013
I was honoured to attend the FSB conference in Leicester 21-23 March 2013 as the Salisbury (Wilts) branch voting delegate. The views expressed in this summary are my own.
As a newcomer, I was impressed by the FSB’s professionalism and its well developed policy work. The outgoing chairman John Walker, and the head of policy Mike Cherry, were highly capable and linked comments from the floor to FSB lobbying and policy work to make their points very effectively to senior politicians: SoS for BIS (Vince Cable), his shadow (Chuka Umunna), SofS for EFRA (Owen Paterson), Minister for Biz and Ent (Micheal Fallon), his Shadow (Toby Perkins), and the MPS for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan) and Leicester (Jon Ashworth). The politicians appeared reasonable, acknowledging cross party agreement on many business issues. They talked up small business as the engine of economic growth and new jobs. They were realistic about party politics driving a short term approach, which became a theme of the conference. For example investment decisions on UK energy provision are becoming urgent. They listened well and took away some ideas. Experienced FSB members commented that this was the most impressive national conference to date, and said the FSB had raised its game over the last 12 months.
From the AGM motions, the FSB appeared set on a path of continuous improvement, including good governance. A sidebar conversation with one of the national officers explained the issues of FSB recruiters being barred from high office, and past chairmen clogging up the National Council. FSB finances were improving dramatically: reserves were approaching 50% of annual expenditure, with a new target of 90%. Delegates warmed to the National Treasurer who had a good story to tell.
The Chairman was upbeat about FSB successes. It had established a reputation for ‘fact based lobbying’ built on evidence gathered from member surveys and by partnering with respected external bodies such as business schools. The FSB had a high level of engagement with Government and Regulators and ministers often quoted FSB policy reports and consulted the FSB proactively.
SoS for BIS (Vince Cable) was positive about the future as both employment and the number of start-ups were increasing, which were grounds for optimism for a private sector led recovery. Access to finance remains THE problem and the Government intended to set up a Business Bank for wholesale banking to address this. Comment: other speakers were critical of this idea as it would use existing banks to distribute funds. Why would banks change their behaviour when 'the computer still says no?’
Justin Urquhart-Stewart, co-founder of Seven Investment Management, was irreverent, witty and hugely entertaining. He raced over recent economic history and politics and the state of the economy. His conclusions: our economy was 'damaged not doomed’; and confidence was the key. Thunderous applause.
Peter McAvoy (Google Mobile) talked about the change in consumer behaviour to mobile technology – checkout Google Glasses! Businesses that understood the shift in how users relate to both the physical and digital world would prosper. Afternote: as if to illustrate his point, a few days after the conference, Yahoo announced the acquisition of ‘Summly’ for $20M, an app designed by a young teenager in his bedroom to provide relevant news summaries on the go.
SofS for EFRA (Owen Paterson) identified rural broadband as a key enabler for economic growth, and said present provision was 'dire’. With 50% rural membership, this was a big issue for the FSB.
Shadow SofS for BIS (Chuka Umunna) was keen on a state backed British Investment Bank with local business banks like Sparkasse in Germany. He suggested a new agency for small business to bring together all those factors affecting business and called for a USA style 'Small Business Saturday’ in UK, proposed for 7 Dec 2013.
The UK head of policy (Mike Cherry) noted the importance of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). There were 3 LEP models: big cities, counties, and shotgun weddings (my words). LEP performance was patchy, reflecting differences in capacity and competence: some weren’t even able to bid for resources. Cash distributed through LEPs was dependent on LEP good governance so the Heseltine report provided a 'moment of opportunity’ for the FSB to hold LEPs to account.
In the Policy Workshop, lead officers gave detailed responses to questions and clearly had a good grip on their subjects.
In the Q&A with local MPs and journalists, Mike Cherry noted that the FSB had lobbied for years on transport and infrastructure but wasn’t getting very far yet integrated strategies were still needed (cheers from the floor!). He added that Government was too big, took too much tax from small business, and gave preferential treatment to big business (more cheers!)
The FSB Finance for Business presentation pointed out that the FSB was already providing the Business Bank the Government was talking about. £9B had been lent in 2012 via 92 lenders and 900 brokers for various uses: investment, purchase and credit, and was available to FSB members now. It Included Funding Circle and provided a single point of contact for all small business finance needs with no upfront fees, cash-back for members and easy access to local brokers.
The FSB Pension Scheme addressed the auto enrolment ‘headache’ for members: where could they get advice, help, costings and assurance on a good scheme? The FSB scheme provides an end to end service with excellent T&C for members to help them comply with auto enrolment by the 'staging date’ of June 2015, and avoid heavy fines for non compliance.
I left the conference early to avoid the worst of the bad weather but was able to catch up with videos of the other speakers on this link: http://www.fsb.org.uk/conference2013 I particularly enjoyed the motivational speech by Toyah Wilcox. Oozing a positive attitude and being true to herself, Toyah gave a tour de force as a creative artist flowing through the changing stream of show business. She described her career as now being a 'cottage industry’ compared to the ‘big corporations’ like lady Gaga. Through it all she has been acutely aware of her image, reinventing herself as she grew older. Toyah recognised that everyone is unique and at some time that uniqueness has a value and can be part of your business.
On the social side, the murder mystery dinner night was very enjoyable. Approx 700 people shared an excellent meal while Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson led us through the investigation on stage with film clips featuring National Officers in glamourous roles such as James Bond and Maria in The Sound of Music. Brilliantly done.
Ross Nichols
Business Mentor, Executive and Career Transition Coach
www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk
Twitter: @Biz Mentoring Ltd
Blog: http://www.businessmentoringservices.co.uk/blog.php
LinkedIn Group: Career Transition UK South
t: 020 8242 6271
m: 07512 965992
Double Page Feature in FSB National Magazine
The business
was featured at p22-23 in an article on business mentoring in the
February/March edition of ‘First Voice’ (of business), the Federation of Small
Business national magazine. Naturally we are delighted.
WHAT ARE THE PREDICTORS OF SUCCESS IN A BUSINESS OR CAREER?
I recognised some time ago that people with real PASSION and PURPOSE tend to be more motivated and enthusiastic about their business or career. For clients in transition, it’s the loss of that passion and purpose, and rediscovering them that is the challenge. These are necessary qualities but on their own insufficient to be confident of a successful outcome.
PERSISTENCE was the next P word that came up: have they got the staying power to keep going through the inevitable ups and downs when trying something new?
They also need to be PROFESSIONAL. By this I mean they need to be willing to invest in their business and/or themselves, get appropriate training, learn new skills and take responsibility for their own learning and development. They need to be willing to comply with professional codes of conduct.
PROBITY is an important quality too. Do they have the integrity to keep their stakeholders interests at heart? Whether these are customers/clients, employees or an employer, are they willing to put their stakeholders’ long term interests above short term gains for themself? Are they willing to comply with professional codes of practice and ethics? Probity pays off in the long run. I’ve learned that you don’t chase the money. Be true to yourself and your stakeholders and success will follow.
Another quality I’m looking for is PERSONALITY: are they a good cultural fit for their sector or career? Is the context right for them to be doing what they want to do, in other words are they the right person in the right place at the right time?
If these P words are aligned, in my experience we get successful PERFORMANCE in both businesses and careers. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s guaranteed, however as predictors of success, aligning passion, purpose, persistence, professionalism, probity and personality generally lead to successful performance.
I realise this doesn’t necessarily move me very far forward in researching what mentoring is, however I find it an interesting predictive model and a useful start point for discussion. I’d be pleased to have your views on it.
National Listing for Business Mentoring Services Ltd
We are delighted to announce that we are now an approved provider on the national business mentoring portal, http://www.mentorsme.co.uk Director Ross Nichols said, ‘The assessment process is rigourous, confirming that we meet nationally recognised professional standards. Our clients now have independent assurance of our quality and high professional standards.’
