Head 2 Head: Nicolle Clement, Coach and Mentor at Metisblue

Craig

So, can you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and who you are.

Nicolle

I’m Nicolle Clement, and I am an Associate Coach with Metisblue. I have spent probably about 22 years in corporate life and at the latter part of my corporate life, I was doing so much team engagement change programmes and developing people, that I kind of thought to myself, actually, I like this I enjoy this. So I set up my own coaching business and linked up with Laurent, about three years ago.

Craig

Fantastic, and what industries were you working in Nicolle.

Nicolle

Financial services, telecoms, and I did a stint at the Home Office as well.

Craig

That’s really interesting.

Nicolle

It predominantly was always around change management and process reengineering, moving more into the agile space in the latter part, but always had a steer of how organisations could get better and more efficient.

Craig

I do think that the coaching piece, especially the one-to-one piece has become more accepted and more utilised. I certainly think it used to be a bit of a taboo subject where people didn’t want to admit they had a coach, or a mentor did they?

Nicolle

I think it all depends on the industry and the organisation. Having done my Institute of Leadership and Management level seven coaching, a lot of the people I was with on the course were from the NHS and education, and it seemed to be that those areas specifically were really investing in the coaching and mentoring element. I’ve seen it with a couple of companies that I do some consultancy work with, they’ve moved away from their in house coaching and mentoring, and they’re now giving people a bit more free rein to look externally because I think they hadn’t seen the benefits they were expecting. Coaching and mentoring is really important and I think a lot more people are actually looking at their own self-development in different ways, and the coaching and elements aspect is coming back to the fore a bit more.

Craig

Yeah, I see I see that more. I think if certainly execs can park their ego a little bit, sometimes they’re really useful, and I really, I totally concur with your point there. If you can use external coaches, you have that invisible boundary, that Chinese wall if you like, that stops it from being an internal piece. I think people feel a bit more relaxed with it, so I see more of it.

Nicolle

It’s a really interesting space to be, and especially as we’re talking about the 90-Cay Coaching Programme here. If I look at one of the Sales Directors that I’m coaching at the moment on his 90 day, yes, he’s a typical salesman and the first conversations we had were really quite interesting as to whether or not he was up for it. It was completely new to him. And actually, it’s been an interesting journey, and very thought-provoking, and very beneficial for both parties.

Craig

Good – we have a link that we work together. And, you’re part of the panel that are helping us to deliver our 90-Day Accelerator plans for the successful candidates that get placed with our clients. Tell us a bit about what is a 90-Day Accelerator Plan.

Nicolle

The 90-Day Coaching Programme is predominantly a three- or four-month programme with any of your new recruits that are going into your companies that you work with, so it’s an addition to the onboarding process. And we basically work with yourselves, and with the recruiter, and then with the candidate. We get an understanding of what the recruiting company is looking for from the individuals that they have chosen. Sometimes we go through the job description but more it’s about what are the expectations? What are they looking for from these individuals? And then it’s more with the candidates, actually, aiding them and helping them through that journey of onboarding, yeah these are seasoned professionals. But sometimes you there are elements, especially at the moment, where actually having that independent body that is there as a coach and a mentor for them as they’re working through their onboarding and their first few months are really helping and is something that actually the people that have never seen it before. It is actually a really nice add on to the standard onboarding process, and it makes them feel as though the recruiting company actually has their best interests at heart.

Craig

I think I’ve worked in this way for the last five or six years, so you don’t need to sell the benefits to me, but two things I think off the bat are: what better way to say to somebody joining your organisation than we care and we want to win, we want you to be successful than we’ve also invested in you before you’ve even started – that’s a great one. And I try and explain it to clients as well that it is useful to have that independent person, because when you ask a new hire in week one week two week four, “How’s it going?” – they don’t want to tell you that it’s actually a bit tricky or they’re a bit worried about something though, they’re a bit sceptical because they don’t want to be seen as a problem or don’t want to come to that person with issues.

Nicolle

Yeah, and they don’t want to question certain things. I had one example of a client who joined a big multinational new role, and within the first three weeks – it was actually our first session – and they actually said to me, I don’t think the fit is here. You know the interview and everything else had been great. The job looked fantastic, but there was an element of a cultural fit. There was an element of, actually, the role in principle is not working out the best way. And I could work as an intermediary between them and the organisation. In the end, the role slightly changed, and the individual is still with the organisation, is loving it, but it was that first element of being able to openly have conversations, and then address them back to the individuals, which worked to everyone’s benefit. He didn’t leave. He didn’t look for another job. There wasn’t the element of then having to go out to the market to recruit again,  but it just needed that kind of offer and a bit more of a conversation that was never going to happen if you had an internal coach or HR in the mix.

Craig

Brilliant. And what are the other benefits then Nicolle? What else are we seeing that that’s helping both our clients and our candidates?

Nicolle

I think at the moment with so much virtual onboarding it’s another buffer for those individuals. I’ve got a couple of clients who have been recruited into the manufacturing industry. They are not based in this country, their bosses are in this country but they’re based out in Europe. The conversations we are having are actually validating the whole onboarding process so that the previous onboarding process was very much, you come over to the factory, you get completely immersed in everything that we do and then you go back to your home country, and you’ve kind of got a buddy there. What they’re finding at the moment is the buddy isn’t there. The onboarding into the factory isn’t there, everything’s having to be done virtually, there’s a lot more reading that they’re having to do. And so, for me, I’m in a position where I can take what the candidates are telling me, I can feed that back to the organisation and really quickly they can start redesigning an onboarding process that actually works for people that they’re now having to get on board in a completely virtual way.

Craig

Yeah, that’s fascinating. In terms of remote working, I feel as though rightly or wrongly people are quite distracted at the moment, in terms of, you know, everybody has heightened challenges, issues, situations, at home as well as work. There’ll be some real value for people to understand some of these things, you know, what’s, what’s working in the virtual onboarding world, and perhaps, what’s not.

Nicolle

I think people are having to look at the whole onboarding slightly differently. I’ve got clients who are very much people people, and they’re actually starting new roles in new industries. So, they’re coming up with the development of right, I’ll do a mind map, you know I’m meeting all of these people that I would normally meet one-to-one, I’m meeting them all at one go. So, I’ll create a mind map about me, who am I, what do I like, what I don’t like, what have I done previously – so it’s kind of your CV on one page, but with some nice pretty pictures and a bit more fun. You can also then get across a bit more of actually what makes that person tick, you know the rapport piece you have to get really quickly.  I know from a coaching perspective, rapport for us is really important, and we’re having to do that really quickly now, face-to-face with somebody over a screen. And I think the whole aspect of the 90-Day is certainly helping in this virtual world.

Craig

I really like the storyboard idea; I think that’s great and might steal that and I’m sure anybody listening will do the same as well. Anything else that you’ve seen that’s worked particularly well in terms of this virtual onboarding. You mentioned there the building of rapport, do you have any hints or tips that might help people to do that. How would you build rapport?

Nicolle

It’s also the bit that we’re doing. I think it’s putting the camera on, you know, it sounds really silly thing, but actually, the amount of meetings that we’re all on nowadays, within this screen, actually having that face-to-face connection with people is really, really important. And we’ve been doing this for such a long time that I think some of the bad habits have sometimes come into play. But I would always suggest that the camera goes on, I know with all of my coaching sessions I’ve moved completely from being face-to-face with people, to doing everything remotely and electronically. And, the first rule is the camera goes on.

Craig

Yeah, nice. We’ve tried in our business, we’ve got some we have a meeting a week typically on the last thing on a Friday, and it’s no work, no shop talk, it’s that we try and make it into that Friday pop to the pub after work conversation.

Nicolle

I actually think, actually being able to utilise the screen and the link-up on a Friday, don’t talk about work, you have a bit of a drink with everybody and actually use it as a bit of downtime to say okay right now let’s go into the weekend and, you know, have a good one, and a bit of time with your teams and with your people. When you’re not actually, you know, theoretically, working, but just having a bit of a laugh, to tell a joke, something like that. If someone wants to sing, then you have a bit of a sing – heaven forbid!

Craig

I can imagine the camera would go off if I tried to do that. I think it is important, making the time, you know with no other distractions so that people feel valued because I think one of the challenges we will see is people haven’t. One of the things that has not been done is making time for employees because everybody’s been busy. I think that if people don’t start to really engage people and pull people in, that could have a negative effect of people feeling disengaged in the business and perhaps as the market starts to improve, start looking at other opportunities so yeah you’ve got to.

Nicolle

I think you’re right. And I think the third lockdown has definitely been the one that’s probably hit the hardest. I think the first lockdown everybody went into this is new. So, the hour lunch break, kind of went into people’s diaries, and was held religiously. I know I told a number of my clients to start booking some time out in the morning, in the afternoon just to get some fresh air and to get a break. And I know with the check-ins that I’ve had with them more recently, that’s gotten completely out the window, because there’s the home-schooling element, there are work pressures of either q1 or q4. And it’s just the old habits have crept in, and some of what people were holding really dear to in the first and to some extent the second lockdown have gone out the window.

Craig

It’s raining, it’s snowing, it’s, it’s the first lockdown, go for a walk after work at seven o’clock in the beautiful sunshine was amazing. Yeah, no, not so much in gale-force five and torrential rain, that’s for sure.

Nicolle

I think it’s you know the unfortunate thing is we do have the square box, be that the computer, iPad mobile or TV and the problem is, in winter you know it’s kind of how do you close either one of them down and actually take some time for yourself, for your family. I think we’ve all realised that actually the commute, love it or hate it, actually provided us with some downtime and be it listening to a podcast, reading a book or listening to some music, actually people realise that that actually is quite important for them to cut off their working day and their home day, and not a lot of people have got that at the moment and that you know that’s also impacting the whole aspect of this the lockdown.

Craig

Whether it was downtime or not, I think it was, and I think men, appreciate it quite a lot as well. It’s a long time, it’s time on your own, and actually, I think that’s quite a novelty at the moment for a lot of people. So, I think, I think you’re really right and I’ve seen more people and heard more people talk about doing this virtual commute now where they will go for a walk or even a drive, in some cases a bike ride, something to go right, I’m going around the block, I’m coming back in a different headspace and at the end, that the end of the day to blow off a bit of steam before engaging with a conversation with their other half right.

Nicolle

Yeah, exactly. I’m incredibly fortunate that my parents are in my bubble because they live quite near me. So I religiously now have one day a week where I come and work at that place. Yeah, because it gets me out of my four walls. It gives me a drive and, you know, it’s an element of I have aspects that I need to sort out for them. I’m quite fortunate in the ability to be able to do that, but yeah, you’re quite right everybody’s looking at that, that special thing that gives them that bit of headspace.

Craig

I was lucky enough I went into a Winchester office last week to pick something up. So, I drove to work, I parked the car, I walked into the office. I was then in a big 12person office rattling around on my own, but the whole novelty of it was great! I know you do a lot of work, and a lot of what you do, not just with the 90-Day Accelerator piece, but in your own business is focused on that wellbeing. Have you got any other hints and tips that help people with either the beginning or end of their career transition or when they’re actually in their jobs that help with that wellbeing?

Nicolle

I think it’s remembering the basics. It’s a terrible thing to say, but it is actually giving yourself some time to breathe. And, yeah, I don’t know what the world is going to look like when we can actually go back into an office and who knows what the office structure will look like going forward, but I think there is an element of home working that will become the norm and the office structure potentially could become the reverse of what the homeworking was previously. There is always the element of fitness, looking after yourselves and eating properly and all of that, but I think also it’s the element of actually having some time for yourself and looking after yourself, be it, you know, binge-watching a Netflix series, reading a book, grabbing a magazine, listening to some music, but it is that element of just being able to switch off and taking some time for yourself, that is the critical bit. And, if you are seeing with your team’s elements of anxiety and stress, then you know it’s also being aware and seeing that and knowing some of the triggers. There are some brilliant tools out there, the Change Curve is fantastic. And that’s a really good way of seeing aspects within people’s behaviour and how they are as to, you know, how they’re feeling, and that you can send up signals for you as managers or even colleagues to say okay, I just need to go and check in with that person.

Craig

What’s the Change Curve?

Nicolle

If you do a Google search for Change Curve, it’s basically a set of emotions that people go through. Normally you would utilise it if you were going through a transformation programme because change is one of those things. Some people love it. Some people hate it. And it’s a really good tool to actually look at where people are in their mindset of change and how they are feeling, but you can use it in that in a number of different ways in respect of how people are feeling about working at home. And also, when we do return to an office, I think there’ll be an element of people feeling a little bit anxious about getting back into that work environment with quite a few people and what will that actually look like.

Craig

Yeah, I think that’s another very interesting point, I think it’s funny how our mindsets have changed. We’ve kind of gone from working from home, brilliant, I’m never going to an office again, to work from home, be quite nice to see my colleagues, and I think people miss that interaction and I think you’re right, we’re going to have to find this halfway house between that flexible arrangement and being able to work from home but still having that collaboration interaction. And, you know, a different set of four walls that will be a really good blend of balance and help people. What else if anything should I have asked you about either the 90-Day Accelerator Plan or about your health and wellbeing stuff that I should have asked?

Nicolle

There is an overview of the 90-Day Programme that we have, and the one-pager that we use quite regularly is really good to give people an overview of actually when you are onboarding, when does the 90-days start? What’s the interaction with the line manager? And then what does the three or four-month programme look like, and what can an individual get out of it? And if people are interested in it, that is available.

Craig

Excellent, thank you so much for your time with us and great insights there for everybody. And if people want to get hold of you, LinkedIn? Is that the way to get hold of you?

Nicolle

Yeah, LinkedIn, or Nicolle@Metisblue.co.uk.

Craig

I hope it’s not too long before we do get to sit together in an office and have a conversation, or even better enjoy a glass of wine, but thank you very much for your time today.