Articles by Jenny Williams
During lockdown, I worked with a senior client who had navigated their organisation through some high stakes and high-profile potential risks; on the outside, they presented a positive picture yet inside, they felt discombobulated and were questioning whether or not
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When asked “what has been the biggest positive change in your company culture in the last 15 months?” “Flexibility”, “empathy”, “more caring of each other”, “seeing people as people”, “mental health checks”, “having each other’s’ backs” and “togetherness” were some
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Work life feels messy. Yes, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and are starting to cme back together in person, but what does the future hold for how we work together? In conversation with the
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I love a coaching brief looking at how to help someone “develop their strategic thinking”, because in my twenties this was the feedback I was given too. At the time it felt like a doom-laden comment: no one could explain
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Being an entrepreneur is personal. There is nowhere to hide, especially from your own personality. Who you are as a person is going to directly impact your success, right from the start. Your good, bad and the not-so-pretty traits will
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In How To Own The Room, Viv Groskop explores how you can show up and own your space and in a way that is true to you. You don’t have to be the funniest, most charismatic or wisest person to
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Your mind can be your worst enemy when you are looking for a new job. When people do not respond, or they tell you you are overqualified, and then in the next breadth underqualified… there is plenty going on that
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If life creates two big changes at the same time – that is, you fall pregnant and at the same time made redundant, or your dream job comes up while you are expecting – how can you make it work?
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This speedy, practical read is full of constructive ideas to help managers empower their people and create a happy workplace. The point that caught my attention was around the idea of preapproval. I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t
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Ben Horowitz has built and sold companies, and now is the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm. This is my most recommended book of the moment – it’s packed full of great insight, whether you are an entrepreneur,
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I coached a manager who was highly frustrated with a member of her team. They were inconsistent in their communication with her, and had a tendency to feed ‘new news’ straight to her boss. However, she thought he was very
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Why will you not get the job at your next interview? It’s crucial to ask this for four reasons: It forces you to be honest and, in doing so, identify what your real development goal is. It stretches you,
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My Facebook page is currently filled with photos of cute children, looking smart in their new ‘you will grow into it soon’ uniforms, ready to start school. This past week has felt like going back to school for me too,
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I have just read Lionel Shriver’s The Mandibles 2029-2047, about a family struggling to adapt to a catastrophic US economic meltdown in the future. It is imaginative… and pretty depressing. Hopefully none of us will face the same predicament, but
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How do you feel when a business contact you have not heard from in ages gets back in touch and asks: “Can we meet up for a coffee?” I always think: What do they want? Why are they getting in
Read moreI couldn’t make any sense of my new client’s CV. In the 10 years since university, she had set up her own business, and worked for a charity, a consultancy and a major tech company. There were huge chunks
Read moreThis was the question on the minds of those who attended my Future Proofing Your Career workshops – is it time to leave my current job? It can be hard to work out the answer. There is no doubt that
Read moreThe only question you can guarantee an interviewer is going to ask you is: Do you have any questions for me? Cue your opportunity to show what a smart, insightful individual you are, and why they would be foolish not
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Are you the star employee of your business? A team of one, with a job description spanning CEO to Mr/Ms Do-it-all. In fact, you are THE business – there is no one else. Founder, Soletrepreneur, Entrepreneur, Consultant are all
Read moreI am an ex marketer. I like to think I know about positioning, sales and digital marketing. I also like to think I put my old skills to good use in building my coaching business. To that end my LinkedIn
Read moreA friend started a new senior job in the financial sector, she had been hired because of her FMCG experience and they were keen to inject the rigour and consumer focus of FMCG into the way they worked in marketing.
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So far I’ve discussed Millennial’s work needs, how companies can attract and develop their Millennial workers. Now we will focus on retention, which is important because the average time spent in a job by under-35s is less than 3 years,
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In previous posts, I’ve discussed the needs of Millennials, and how firms can better attract them to their organisation. In this post we are going to explore how to help develop them. We are pushing on an open door with
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In a previous blog post, I discussed the needs of Millennials: they’re Skill Seekers, who want Productive Experiences, to be Short Term Sensations, Society Contributors and Collaborative Connectors. I’d now like to discuss how businesses and recruiters can go about
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Recently, a creative agency wooed and recruited a new Creative Director. However, when the CD started they found him inflexible in his approach, antisocial and militant in his music choices, to name but a few woes. After three months, he
Read moreThere are many reasons for leaving a job, perhaps it is a break for freedom or you have a fabulous new role, but in the small world of work it is unlikely to be a final goodbye and more a
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I sadly found out a very dear man who I worked for has died recently after a long illness. It struck me the impact we can have on each other without ever realizing it. This is as true in our
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I had a conversation this week about company values, which went along the lines of “what’s the point?” Now this leader leads a large organization and the amount of new business and people awards they win shows how well it
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We are all in the thinking business. The value we add to the business is in our thinking. As leaders we need to actively encourage and care for our teams’ thinking. How much of your time is spent nurturing and
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No one wants the role of Failure Director; leading your team and business towards failure. Of course we don’t want to fail at work, however failure is important. We need to understand the role it plays and as leaders be
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