Outdoor Coaching for
Teams and Individuals
Do you struggle to motivate your staff? Do you worry about the difficult conversations? Do you want to be a more effective leader? Are Sunday evenings tainted by the thought of leading your team on Monday?
I help leaders to be more productive at work whilst enjoying it more. I help them to improve the way they interact with others so that they exert influence, particularly in technical settings.
Meet Nick Smith
Helping people to learn and grow, as well as a love of the outdoors, have been two of my passions since my youth. They obviously impact work but also now my family. Other important values are freedom and faith as well as having fun – both at work and elsewhere.
Mountains
The Mountain Leader award was one of the first qualifications I gained when I first entered the world of outdoor coaching. I’m still working to complete a first round of the Munros – progress has been slowed recently to focus on lower-level shorter family walks.
Sailing
Sailing is another of my long term loves and how I met Lindsay, who is also a qualified sailing instructor when she’s not working in HR. Whether in traditional Broads yachts in Norfolk, dinghies anywhere, or our own yacht Pelingar, I am always happy to be on the water.
Music
Another interest of mine is music, ranging from West African percussion lessons in The Gambia to hearing Dizzy Gillespie or The Shamen live in concert. At school I played the piano and trombone but they have gradually been supplanted by a drum kit and other percussion.
What I Offer
One-to-one coaching allows you to assess your leadership ability, plan what you want to improve and then helps you to complete that plan. You might tackle a general issue or deal with a specific issue that is troubling you. In either case we can walk (or sail or canoe) together and improve your leadership
Head knowledge of each other’s strengths is good. Being able to see it in action by completing challenges together helps. Reflecting on those observations gives further learning. Regular review of the learning brings lasting change. The challenges can be accessible for all and can take place outdoors.
With small teams of 5 or less, there can still be friction from not interacting well. However classic team building programmes tend to cater for larger numbers of people in their design. I have several options for micro-teams based around climbing , RIB driving or sailing which provide the challenge aspect of Classic Team building. The rest of the learning process before and after the challenge stays broadly the same.
Senior leaders will benefit from knowing where their energies lie in terms of the different aspects of the business process. Using the revolutionary GameChanger Index, people discover their own tendencies and the makeup of their team. It helps them to identify what they are lacking and plan accordingly.
What My Clients Say
Jay
The Choke Folk
The three sessions have had a marked positive effect on me that others have picked up on. I have been able to move forwards on decisions in a direction I am comfortable with, I have been communicating with staff in a much better way but probably key is that I have been able to take a step back and look at what is truly important to me in life and business.
Alan
Campbell Mackie
It’s hard to tell you how totally worthwhile our day with you as a company was. You allowed us to make right and wrong decisions, work in a collaborative manner and then sat with us to facilitate us detailing what we need to do to improve. One week later and I can hardly believe the way the day has impacted us all. You really know how to get the best out of a day like that for your client.
Jarl
Hendrix Genetics
Nick has been providing myself and colleagues with 1 to 1 coaching and mentorship advice over the past 6 months. He also organised a 2-day offsite team alignment event with a follow up a month later. It has been absolutely fantastic and well worth. I can only be positive how he got the team to understand each other strength and areas of conflict. We formed strategic and common goals and got to work more as a team instead of as individual experts. Loved it.
Frequently Asked Questions
We will have an initial free conversation about your goals; which are most interesting, pressing or important. This chat also allows us to check that we are happy working together. From there we will have either a one-off walk or a series of shorter walks to investigate reality and make plans to improve. Once the goals are complete, we will reflect on the results, celebrate and possibly replan to tackle a new issue.
Anything that is around dealing with yourself or the people around you. These can include, but are not limited to, topics such as communication (written and spoken), motivation, delegation, change management, conflict resolution, assertiveness, resilience, goal-setting, time management, behavioural change, self-control, presentations, difficult conversations, giving feedback, influencing.
As short a time as possible. My goal is to make you independent of me as soon as possible. But putting a specific timescale before knowing what we are dealing with is not possible. It might be a single chat or a series of several, depending on what the issue is, and how many subsequent issues you want to continue to work on.
No we don’t. But it is my preference and, unless the weather is particularly foul, I find being outdoors adds an extra powerful dimension to the coaching.
I haven’t got one because there is no silver bullet guaranteed to solve your problems. That said, there are a lot of good techniques and we will find something that helps you to achieve your goals.
Usually it does, but I can’t give you specifics. I don’t spend time tracking these kind of metrics but the international bodies that oversee coaching have done research that proves the financial value of leaders being coached.
No. I’ll help you solve them yourself. I am not a consultant, coming in to fix the issues. Nor am I the expert in your particular situation, yourself and your company – that role stays with you. Instead I will help and guide you to figure out your own answers and then assist you in putting your own plans in place.
Depending on what issues we want to deal with I may use any of persolog’s personality profiling, GameChanger Index, metaphoric experiences, NLP, xpand Workbooks, TGrow, Eisenhower Matrix, Values Assessment, 360 degree feedback.
Whilst I am not an expert in your business, I have over 20 years of experience of successfully coaching people, I am a member of the Association for Coaching and adhere to the Global Ethics of the ICF. I am fully trained and accredited to use all the coaching tools I offer and am a qualified outdoor professional, including current First Aid certificate.
Let's Go For a Walk
Want to work with me? Want to find out more? Complete the form below and I’ll make sure to get back to you.
Contact Details
Address
100 Pollok Drive, Glasgow, G64 2DZ
Phone Number
07880 583 653
nick@squarepegscoaching.com
Opening Hours
Mon – Fri: 9am to 5pm
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