Life is all about decisions; you try to adopt an objective and rational approach in order to reach an educated and informed conclusion. I went through exactly this approach when I decided to park up Matt Molland Training and join JLR - there were compelling reasons for doing so, all of which I listed in my last blog.
JLR are a great company; all of my colleagues have been warm and welcoming and the business has an exciting growth strategy aligned with really good products but within the space of eight weeks I knew I’d made an error in turning away from my business. Why?
A few years ago when I was with Mercedes-Benz we ran a 2-day off-site management development programme and we invited Steve Black as the afternoon speaker (Steve has coached Jonny Wilkinson amongst many others). He spoke that day about identifying your strengths and weaknesses and focusing on your strengths – your weaknesses can only be taken to a certain point but your strengths can be developed much further.
I came to realise very quickly that I wasn’t going to able to utilise my strengths in my new role. I write and develop innovative and creative training material and I deliver training with a genuine fire in my belly because I care about driving business improvement through the development of people. Spending four days participating in a Trainer Accreditation programme 2 weeks ago brought this into sharp focus – working with my peer group and seeing what can be created and delivered.
And so it comes to pass that only 12 weeks into my role I’ve realised that the objective and rational approach to decision making is flawed because sometimes you have to listen to your heart… And I’ve done that.
So, I’m going to return to doing what I do best and pick Matt Molland Training up where I left off in the summer. Because for all of the stresses, strains and worries that having your own business brings, nothing compensates for that feeling at the end of a training programme when you know you’ve inspired people to improve on what they currently do and given them the skills and knowledge to actually go and do it.