Powering Productivity

Small, local & independent can create magic! In this episode Suzanne is joined by Bernie Mitchell, from the London Coworking Assembly. A seasoned expert who's been around the coworking scene for about as long as coworking's been around! A huge advocate, writer, podcaster & coach he's a champion for us smaller, more local & independent flexible workspace operators & communities.

They chat about:

• What nuances & added values do smaller & more regional flex spaces bring versus bigger city brands?
• Humanity in the workplace
• What drives that sense of belonging, engagement & fulfilment for members?
• Understanding & delivering on those unique team & individual member dynamics, requirements, personalities & nuances
• How coaching can help coworking operators and other SME business owners through partnership, support, checking in & accountability

Suzanne welcomes back William Redpath, Director of Manabu Learning & Chapter Lead with Grow Remote Ireland. They dive into:

Suzanne welcomes back William Redpath, Director of Manabu Learning & Chapter Lead with Grow Remote Ireland. They explore & chat about:

Suzanne talks to Andrea Splendori, founder of Social Fabric and accomplished life and career coach. They chat about how creating the environment where individuals can thrive at work, through coaching & mentoring at both a team & individual levels. Here are some of the topics discussed: - Andrea's move from Italy to Ireland

- Building community and a healthy ecosystem

- How coaching works & what it embodies

- The benefits of coaching for teams & individuals in today's workplace

- Different forms of coaching and mentoring

Suzanne talks to William Redpath, Director of Manabu Learning & Chapter Lead with Grow Remote Ireland.

They chat around the rapid evolution & benefits that hybrid & remote working can bring to employers, employees & communities as well as the effects of changing flexible workplace industry as a whole.

Here are some of the topics discussed:

• Learning & development, realising potential, unique skills & cultures
• His role as a Chapter Lead for Grow Remote-The magic & potential for remote working in Ireland
• The benefits of remote working for employers and employees
• The challenges of rolling out remote working more broadly
• Why younger generations are more keen to work remotely

William’s expertise is very much around learning & development and he comes at this from very creative angles, realising potential, unique skills & cultures that already exist and moving away from just focusing on 'plugging the gaps'. He uses an assets & strengths-based philosophy through digital games & simulations, quoting “We all have enormous potential it’s just about realising it.”

He’s also spent time in telecommunications, he’s a qualified community youth worker and facilitates learning and development through coaching & mentoring.

Suzanne talks to Joanne Mangan, Employer's Lead with Grow Remote.

We look at the solutions that hybrid & remote working can bring to employers, employees & communities as well as the flexible workplace industry as a whole.

Originally founded in 2018, the ethos of Grow Remote is about enabling people to live and work wherever best suits them and for communities across Ireland to become more sustainable and connected, both socially and economically. 

As Employer's Lead, Joanne engages with employers at every stage of their remote working journey. She manages the partnerships with Ireland's leading remote first organisations, and helps employers who wants to make that transition to remote or hybrid work. She's a regular media contributor on this topic, and is passionate about the potential it can bring as a driver of equality, diversity and inclusion. Prior to joining Grow Remote, she worked for a number of multinational technology companies, managing distribution teams, and enabling channel partners.

They talk about:

• The ethos of Grow Remote
• The solutions (and some challenges) hybrid working can bring to employers, employees & communities
• Why hybrid working is so popular
• Finding remote & hybrid jobs
• Why remote working is an ongoing community project
• Changing the workplace to be remote first
• Encouraging remote work in Northern Ireland
• Tips for remote working from the employee and the employer perspective

I’ve spoken to six wonderful women this series drawing in threads of sustainability, flexibility and work/life balance.

Suzanne talks to Russell Zehtab of Silk Mentoring, an educator and trainer in growth and relations and has vast experience in working with a diverse range of clients from around the globe. With a magnetic personality and positive outlook on life she's an awesome approach on how live and work in our highest energy zones and be our most authentic and compassionate selves. 

They talk about:

• Russell's signature conceptual framework
• How to sustain and operate in from our highest energy 
• Our most productive and natural work environments 

Suzanne talks to Emily Crosby - a media editor, producer and consultant on a mission to make your media work for you as efficiently and productively as possible.

With experience in academia and broadcasting, Emily works with small businesses on podcasts, videos, online courses and publications.

They talk about:

• Podcasting for business
• How to start your own podcast
• Choosing the right equipment
• Making your media stand out
• How and when to outsource editing

Suzanne talks to Deborah Lynch - an experienced accountant who has partnered with a wide range of CEOs, executives, and solopreneurs to grow their businesses.

Having spent over twenty years working across a wide range of businesses both as an operations manager and as a financial controller she has a unique insight into managing the day-to-day operations of small and medium sized business.

They talk about:

• The advantages and disadvantages of new apps for accounting and business systems
• The challenges created by Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocols and the Covid pandemic
• Complying with GDPR
• How a quality management system could free up your time
• Becoming comfortable with delegating as the owner of small business

Suzanne talks to Ilona Brannen - a consultant who works with fast growing tech companies as well as individuals around leadership, storytelling and brand imaging. 

Ilona uses her knowledge and expertise to successfully bring companies into the digital world focusing on people (leadership and training), processes and systems in order to build and scale their success at speed. She amplifies energy at scale.

They talk about:

• Getting the best out of teams in the digital space
• Improving your leadership skills
• The challenges women still face in the workplace
• How to use storytelling at work
• How understanding your motivation can improve your branding

Suzanne talks to Jane Sartin - Chief Exec of the Flexible Space Association.

The Flexible Space Association is the trade association representing, supporting and promoting the flexible workspace sector across the UK. 

They talk about:

• The evolution of the office model & how we interact
• New trends in flexible workspace industry
• A workspace surge towards the regions but still a requirement for city hubs
• The standout demands for choice, personalisation, bringing productivity & energy
• Technology and sustainability in the workplace
• The recent FlexSA conference

@JaneFlexSA

Twitter & Instagram - @FlexSA_UK

www.flexsa.co.uk

Suzanne talks to Carmel Seery of carmelseery.com, a management accountant. 

Carmel helps small business owners get control of their business, by helping them build simple processes so that they will always know their cashflow.   

They talk about 

- Establishing an accounting process 

- Money mindset - Pricing - Setting soulful goals - what stories do you tell yourself about money and how this can affect your bottom line revenue 

- Outsourcing financial work, when's the right time and how to find a good accountant  

Suzanne talks to Zoe Ellis-Moore CEO & Founder at Spaces to Places.

Zoe has built an 18-year career out of being passionate about commercial spaces and how people engage with them. In her role at Spaces to Places, she works with investors, landlords, franchisees, and operators in the flexible office space. Her approach is built on the concept of marketing intelligence – driving value through research-led market insights that make a difference. 

They talk about

- balancing consumer need with commercial interest

- new models for office leases and set ups

- how planning your work schedule can inform where and how you work

6:02 'It's the smaller independents that bring that creativity and vibrancy to an office space'

12:47 'Time is the commodity now'

23:00 'Technology has been the enabler to allow people to have the freedom to work anywhere'

Suzanne talks to Alison Matthews of Virtuali. Alison specialises in helping entrepreneurs automate processes around running course / events (online / face to face) to be a virtual set of hands, eyes & ears.

They talk about 

- automation and planning for an easier working life
- collaboration not competition with other VAs
- Alison's love of wild swimming and connecting with nature

'You have to have a helicopter overview of what’s happening in the business, how it works and what it’s all about so as you can really see what areas can be more automated and productive.'

13:16 'To me, planning is a massive part of being productive'

20:47 'When you find that niche of what you want to do, it creates lots of energy for you, and then when you talk about it, because you talk about it in a passionate way, other people buy into it as well'

Suzanne talks to Eimear Flannagan of Away a Wee Walk founder of Away A 'Wee' Walk, set up back in 2013. 

Eimear is passionate about helping visitors to Ireland create magical, authentic, spirit-renewing experiences, hiking in the Irish landscape.

Suzanne talks to Eimear about her your love affair & business partnership with The National Trust and surviving lockdown as an outdoor business. They chat from the perspective of getting down to business, getting an understanding of she you carves out the time, the energy to focus on the nitty gritty of the business strategy, admin & marketing side of the business. Often very creative, outdoors people struggle in an office environment, so Eimear chats about the secrets of balancing this out....Here's a synopsis of the conversation:

- Her collaboration with the National Trust

- Surviving lockdown as an outdoor business

- Her use of Instagram to increase online presence and reach a whole new audience

- Selling Northern Ireland

- Avoiding isolation and outsourcing

- What productivity means to her

2:53 'I thought, whatever else this virus is doing, it's not taking my business'

16:20 'My focus is on being happy'

Episode 5 with Susan HayesCulleton, “The Positive Economist” and Managing Director of the Hayes Culleton Group. We talk about identifying your financial thermostat, your patterns with money, saving for a 'sunny day', how to really take control and dare to succeed and her amazing work to get teenagers financially savvy.

Episode 4 with Jean-Yves Huwart Founder of Coworking Europe launched back in 2010 & founder of Social Workplaces - a consultancy firm focusing in on the education and benefits of coworking and flexible workplaces, leading edge innovation and new workplace models.

Want to know the secrets to personal & business growth that are underpinned by our values, skills & purpose?

Tune in to this episode where Suzanne is in conversation with Russell Zehtab - an experienced mentor, educator & coach with an infectious, energetic outlook on life. She has a very diverse background and has dedicated all of her energies in to aiding the advancement and empowerment of individuals from both a business and a personal perspective. 

Russell's conceptual framework is 'The Silk Mentoring Empowerment Cycle'. It's an interactive, learning methodology, focusing in on personal skills including confidence, boundary setting, negotiation, authenticity - skills which are all tied together to improve our communication style, language, and expression. 

One element of this very much focuses in on the concept of 'nobility' - it changes the way that we engage with each other, it allows for an equality despite our differences in education, background. "What ever has divided us as human beings nobility will allow us to come into a space as equals". 

Some of the areas highlighted in this conversation are how "as humans we have really complicated our lives by compartmentalising our learnings in to 'business' & 'personal'. We need to bring this into a holistic approach where it is all in balance as one, otherwise, it is just not sustainable." Russell Zehtab. 

learn more about Russell Zehtab's Silk Mentoring Empowerment Cycle here:

In this podcast Suzanne talks to Eve about discovering people's true identity be it within their business or career or life in general. We discuss the toolkits and the processes that she uses to do this including the model to tell your 'signature story' and how to identity your 'why', your purpose and then how to repurposes these tools to reach your target audience.