During the last week People Empowered turned 17 years old. Some of you may have seen me promote that achievement on social media. When I rebranded my business back in 2005, it was a group of my clients who chose its new name – People Empowered. They had felt empowered working with me. Their fears, doubts and uncertainties faded into the distance. They let go of the beliefs that were limiting their potential. They developed a confidence to be everything they wanted to be and do. They became “Can Do” people. They took their foot off the brake and just went for it.

It felt very right to celebrate 17 years, rather than wait until the 20th anniversary which most people would have done. Why? Because I’m re-branding again.

People Empowered has continued to provide leadership development for 17 years – workshops, training, mentoring, coaching consultation and facilitation. But COVID has caused me, like so many others, to re-evaluate what I want to be doing into the future, where I can make most impact and difference for leaders.

COVID took my leadership development work on a roller coaster ride of planned workshops that were then cancelled, then re-scheduled for a month or so later and cancelled again. Remember when we thought COVID was going to end in a few months times? I decided I didn’t want to take my workshops online, so I accelerated my mentoring and coaching. I could reschedule those very quickly in between lockdowns and move from Zoom to face to face which most people wanted. The results were amazing, so much impact on people’s leadership, such a difference.

New Focus For My Work – Empowering You Through Mentoring.

I’ve decided to specialise in mentoring from my 17th year onwards and that’s why I am celebrating. Last week I had the fantastic Ric Gentiluomo from Image to Brand Business Photography take photos for my re-vamped mentoring website which is now in development by my website team so there’s not a lot to see there just yet. I look forward to sharing more with you soon about the next 10 years, Empowering you through Mentoring Women, Mentoring CEOs and Leaders and Mentoring Encore Professionals – the three areas from which most of my mentees emerge.

What I have found in these times of uncertainty and unpredictability, is that there are so many talented people from CEOs to receptionists, who are living their lives with their foot on the brake. They are hesitant to be who they want to be. They fear to do what they want to do. They don’t make the decisions they know they need to make. They don’t speak their own truth in their own voice. They too often are living by someone else’s agenda and expectations when they really need to be setting their own agenda and living by their own expectations.

What I am about at People Empowered is helping these people to empower themselves to confidently negotiate these uncertain and unpredictable times so they can play a bigger game than the one they are playing now. I have discovered that mentoring is the most exciting, dynamic and successful way to help people achieve that.

Creating Empowering Spaces For The People With Whom I Work.

I can’t empower anyone but myself, but what I can do is create an empowering space for people if they want to join me in what I am doing. It is an energising and pro-active space where they discover potential and strengths they didn’t realise they had and where they learn how to optimise them. More importantly, they have someone who walks beside them believing in them more than they believe in themselves and supporting and encouraging them to take the action they need to take to create their new reality.

Empowering spaces are also where other empowered people hang out. Surrounding ourselves with empowered and empowering people is where success lies.

What Does It Mean To Be Empowered?

Empowered people are:

• positive, not negative,
•  optimistic, not pessimistic,
•  glass half full people, not glass half empty ones,
•  pro-active, not reactive,
  supportive of others, not working competitively with them,
•  “can do” people, not “can’t do” people,
•  solution focused, rather than problem focused.

To all of you reading this, I want to encourage you to become an empowered person.

• Discover the websites, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, webinars and videos that feed your sense of empowerment.
• Seek out coaches and mentors who can sustain you.
• Attend workshops and conferences and join organisations where other empowered and empowering people hang out.
• Share your thoughts and ideas, your solutions to the challenges you face, with other empowered people.

One of the most exciting things you’ll discover about being empowered is that you empower everyone else with whom you come into contact and they you. That’s why discovering empowering spaces is so important to your success.

• Make a decision before you go any further to be an empowered and empowering person.

 

• Make a commitment to remove from your life everything that stands in your way of doing that. That includes negative, disempowering people.

 

• Spend your time with empowered people in empowering spaces.

 

• Take your foot off the brake and be and do everything you want to be and do.