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The BOLD Action Briefing Q1 2025 Newsletter













Hello and welcome to my first quarterly newsletter of 2025.

I wanted to share some highlights and insights with you and to let you know what’s been happening behind the scenes for Penny Wood Talks.

Enjoy…


Behind the Scenes


Curated curriculums - combining coaching and personal development…




This year, so far it has been all about expanding my coaching practice, working with different types of organisations from a variety of new sectors as well as individual 1-1 coaching. A key highlight has been working with a high-profile organization in the UK to deliver online learning and development workshops. Additionally, being accepted onto their coaching framework - a significant achievement - has enabled me to provide coaching support across multiple departments, helping professionals enhance their skills and effectiveness.  I’ve also been coaching senior leaders in the legal sector for a company with a global client base, as well as delivering professional skills development to a client in the US in the animal health arena. Working in such a cross section of environments has been fascinating and professionally, extremely rewarding because my work has been hugely impactful in so many different ways and I love that!


So, what are the benefits of creating a curated curriculum and why would your organisation benefit from that?


What I’ve noticed is that when you deliver a curated curriculum that targets specific leadership behaviours, individuals not only gain new skills and perspectives, they also have the opportunity to explore how to apply what they’ve learned set against their own personal challenges – and those can be different for each person.  The result? I’ve seen individuals grow in confidence and self-belief, for example, they’ve been able to make faster, more informed decisions because they have greater clarity and much more perspective on situations. For other leaders, it was about improving their professional business relationships by changing specific elements in their behaviour. A significant part of everyone’s development was around changing their mindset, removing their limited beliefs and stories from past experiences - and then approaching a situation with a new, blank canvas. The impact was that new and different possibilities were created which drove innovative solutions in all sorts of different areas and for some people, this was a game changer!


The key thing for you to recognize is that they did the extra work that’s required to dig deep and get to the root cause of their challenges - and by addressing them head on and changing their behaviour, they’ve taken BOLD action that’s delivered significantly more successful results. You know I’m always talking about taking BOLD action, because it’s only when you do that, you change your results and success – and when that happens, it can be incredibly powerful and impactful.

Seeing all that unfold in real-time has been amazing – and it’s why I’m so passionate about what I do! If reading this has got you thinking about your own leadership, get in touch and let’s have a conversation about what you’re dealing with and I can share some strategies that will help you. Email me at penny@pennywoodtalks.com



Current Leadership Challenges for 2025


In line with what I’m experiencing with my clients, I was reading an article by Gallup recently about trends in the US that have highlighted leadership challenges through all the significant change and uncertainty that’s going on right now and I thought you might be interested in the findings because they relate to similar challenges that many of you might be experiencing - and these topics are coming up in my coaching conversations too. Here they are:


1. The Great Detachment threatens performance - unlike the Great Resignation of 2021, people are worried about the impact of inflation and a weaker job market, so they’re sticking with their jobs, but they’re more disconnected and committed.

2. Poor job markets lead to more disgruntled workers - because it’s harder to find a job, people are feeling trapped where they are in a job they don’t really like, but they can’t move on because the opportunities are more scarce.

3. US employee life evaluation hits record low - only 50% of employees are thriving in their overall lives and it’s a new record low since 2009.

4. AI stalls in the workplace - only 1 in 10 say they use AI weekly. Adopting AI is slower than anticipated. Yes, there are the early adopters, but most organisations haven’t got a clear direction on AI or know how they’re going to support staff through a training and implementation.

5. Childcare remains a major career roadblock for working mothers - retaining top leadership talent is a challenge because 35% of women compared to 25% of men have had to decline or delay a promotion at work because of family obligations.

6. Feedback and Recognition: biggest manager blind spots - 50% of manager strongly agree they are giving feedback to direct reports every week, while only 20% of individuals strongly agree their manager does so.

7. Productive hybrid work required better team collaboration - Gallup found that the best teams create a team charter that defines how members best work together. They maximize the quality of their on-site time with collaboration and teamwork.


There’s a lot to consider, especially over the coming weeks and months where we are going to see a lot of change within organisations for sure. You’ll need to be prepared! Check out my upcoming April webinar below which will be all about how to deal with change, you won’t want to miss it!


AIM HIGH! Monthly Free Webinars



Topic - Motivation - January’s session about how to unlock motivation in your team by truly understanding what drives them so that they are performing at their best was a real “aha” moment for many of those who attended.



Topic – Difficult Conversations - February’s “Navigating difficult conversations at work” session where I shared my framework for structuring these types of conversations has really helped people have the confidence to conduct those challenging conversations, whereas before, they might have chosen to avoid them! It was an immensely powerful session. Note, I will be delivering this session to an organisation in May where over 400 people have currently signed up to attend, so it’s definitely a topic that is at the forefront of people’s minds. If you’d like me to deliver that session for your organisation, get in touch. Email me at penny@pennywoodtalks.com



Topic – Managing Change - as a heads up, April’s webinar on Wednesday 30th April at 1pm UK time, will be all about how, in the upcoming months when so much is changing in organisations due to the economic impact, that leaders are going to have to Pause, Pivot and Push Forward. What that means is that when something major happens, it’s important to take a moment to pause and reflect on the change and the impact it’s had, so that you can work out how to pivot powerfully and provide a new solution quickly. This will allow you to be able to push forward and be the person who delivers new results faster – as opposed to being stopped in the moment, feeling stifled, not knowing which direction to turn and letting those barriers stop you from succeeding. It doesn’t have to be like that - and I’ll be sharing a whole strategy on how to overcome all of that and more, so don’t miss out, click on the button below to register now!




One thing to remind all of you at this point is that it’s really important that you REGISTER for my events. Lot of people express interest in wanting to come but don’t register, so they don’t receive all the relevant information and then they miss out on the sessions which is a real shame – because this is FREE personal development! With all the cutbacks, you can’t afford to miss out if you want to develop yourself as a high-performing leader, so next time you see one of my events listed, register straight away. It’ll take you 30 seconds and then you’re done! I can’t wait to see you there…


ILM Mentoring Scheme


I started with a new mentee as part of the scheme this year and it’s been so rewarding. Being able to support someone through the business challenges that they’re dealing with and being able to offer practical strategies to help them navigate their way through them has been a highlight of the year so far. I look forward to what’s going to unfold in the future.



SUBSCRIBE! So that you keep in touch with all things AIM HIGH!


Just to let you know, another way you can follow what I’m doing is to subscribe to my AIM HIGH! email list where I share weekly leadership excellence insights, the latest research, public speaking tips and tricks, as well as keeping you informed about what’s coming and you’ll be the first to hear about my latest offers etc. Get involved and join my community of high performers.

Click on the button below to subscribe now so you don’t miss out!


And finally...


It’s been a great start to 2025 and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed serving all of you, delivering value, sharing knowledge, expertise and thought leadership, seeing so many of you taking lots of BOLD action and achieving new results and success.

As we move into the next quarter which could be challenging for individuals and organisations for all sorts of reasons, I want you to know that I’m here to help you navigate your way through. Remember, success is possible as long as you are ready to Pause, Pivot and Push Forward!

Here’s to an exciting quarter ahead. Keep in touch and don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can help you, your team, or your organisation.

I’ll see you all very soon.


Penny

Penny Wood, FloL, CMgr MCMI, DTM

Business Leadership Success Coach - helping business leaders take BOLD actions that deliver next level success!

Mob: +44 (0)7910 481372



 
 
 

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