This monthly update provides you with Jumpstone’s latest news, coaching insights and perspective to inspire all of us to feel empowered and elevate our leadership.
“Even when the sky is filled with clouds, the Sun still shines above!”
Janet Donaghy
The weather this month has been extremely trying with the persistent rain, floods and stormy weather. One can all too easily start to feel depressed, especially those already prone to SAD ‘seasonal affective disorder’, so – as I often share with my clients -, it’s important to remember to press your release valve and find some peace in between the intensity of work and life. For some, it might be going for a walk (I love the fresh autumn breeze and bronze colours), for others, it might be meditation, exercise or welcoming some humour into your life with family and friends. The key is to remember there is always sunlight above the clouds of life if you look for it!
New Jumpstone Coaching models are on the way!
One of the things I love about being an executive leadership coach is that I get the opportunity to use my design background to illustrate the complexity of challenges through creating new coaching models.
This month, I’m excited to be running a workshop for the senior leadership of one of my multinational clients. I’ve been tasked with helping the leaders better understand their modus operandi so that their interactions can bring more understanding and fruitful collaboration in overcoming their challenges as a team and collectively reaching their objectives. This has driven me to create a new leadership model that I will share in future monthly skimmers once I’ve tested and proven its validity.
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
Albert Einstein
Wise words from Einstein, but too many of my clients admit they spend hours thinking about a problem, but rarely find the time to focus on the solution! I’m not sure why this is, but I’m guessing in today’s busy world, they can only grab thinking time in fragments rather than setting aside focused time for quality headspace. There is often an element of fear as well as they often don’t know what angle to approach it.
The key is to make a start – just like any plan. You’re not going to get it right the first time, but just make a mark, sketch it, doodle it or lean into using your preferred sense. We all gravitate to a particular sense – called sensory preference – so if drawing is not your thing, try sculpting it or at least imagine it, link it to a type of music if you’re auditory or even smell if you’re more olfactory. The point being, carve out time and use whatever is your natural inclination to express your thoughts and feelings.
If you would like to learn more, I’ve found an interesting article that goes into much greater depth.
The Genius of PictureSpark is a proven and powerful technique that swiftly unravels challenges within yourself and your business through the neuroscience of imagery. It allows you to harness your natural intuition and find true clarity in areas such as strategy, leadership, brand, culture and innovation.
This month’s image was inspired by the unexpected op our poor cat Leo needed. His expression says it all!
What comes to mind when looking at this image?
I’d love to hear what you see in this image. Send me a note.
Matt’s reflection: How do you cope with unexpected adversity?
Jumpstone provides a professional soundboard to help leaders navigate their challenges both in their professional and personal lives.
Do you remember what Mr Jelly used to do when he got stressed? …Yes, he counted to 10!
This simple advice still rings true as adults. Quite often, my clients admit to getting sucked into the emotion of the occasion often due to the intensity of back-to-back meetings, but re-learning to take a momentary step back can often provide the space to avoid a knee-jerk reaction and allow for perspective. Even more worrying is the increased stress induced over time. The image below shows the difference between the increased stress with back-to-back meetings versus taking a short break!
This article explaining Microsoft’s research is eye-opening:
Jumpstone prides itself on creating new models to help individuals and businesses gain perspective to their challenges. This month, I would like to share my company culture model that I developed when working with a client in Texas.
Model explanation:
The majority of companies are either leveraging a product or service, – or both. They need staff to support their objectives, but they either buy-in to the culture or are looking to exit depending on how healthy the various pillars are – hence the two-way arrow. The 8 pillars are crucial to the overall productivity of the company and they are shaped by the ethos of the entire brand. If this is clear, then staff know what they are buying into. If, like a lot of companies, the brand has become diluted or fragmented as the company has evolved, the staff are left confused and don’t understand what they are buying into.
Most of my clients find they can swiftly identify what is working well in their company and where the pinch points are using this model. This provides an avenue for open dialogue and discussion to determine how they can improve and resolve these areas and ensure it is embedded into the company strategy moving forwards.
If you would like to learn more about how to use this model, contact me.
I believe we’re all a ‘Work in Progress’, and to that end, I am always interested to learn, grow and evolve my leadership coaching practice. If you would like to share an insight, or are interested in Jumpstone’s Leadership Services, please contact me via the links below:
Matt Guiver
www.jumpstoneinternational.com
Book a meeting with Matt via Calendly
Copyright © 2025. Jumpstone International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Receive a Free Chapter of 'Inner Compass' to successfully navigate your leadership.
By claiming your free Inner Compass chapter, you will be added to the Jumpstone mailing list. You can unsubscribe at any time. Your information is protected as per our privacy policy.
