Episode 1: Become a leader

00:00:00 - Hi, everyone.

00:00:01 - Hello.

00:00:02 - Hi.

00:00:03 - Hi.

00:00:04 - I'd like to thank you all for attending this call.

00:00:07 - My name is Emma Smith, and I'm head of operations for Noble Manhattan Coaching.

00:00:11 - Today's conference call is to tell you all about becoming a support group leader, and

00:00:17 - I'm delighted to introduce the CEO of Noble Manhattan Coaching, Mr. Gerard O'Donovan.

00:00:23 - Thank you, Emma, and thank you, everyone, for connecting with us today.

00:00:26 - I do appreciate that.

00:00:28 - You're welcome.

00:00:29 - Just a little bit of housekeeping tips before we begin, because we have so many people online.

00:00:35 - Our system shows that we have well over 60 people online, and we have people phoning in from Germany, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, America.

00:00:45 - We've actually got someone from South Africa, all over the UK, Ireland, and other countries.

00:00:50 - So please be aware that any noise in the background will affect the call, and we would appreciate it if, while you are listening, you could keep your mute button pressed, if you have one, or if not, put your hand over the mouse piece, and then, of course, when you want to speak, obviously release that.

00:01:10 - The purpose of the call is to talk to you about an opportunity within Noble Manhattan

00:01:16 - Coaching worldwide to become one of our partner support group leaders, and I'll structure the call like this.

00:01:24 - I will spend, some of you know Noble Manhattan, but there are people on the call today who do not.

00:01:31 - So I will just spend two minutes giving a quick overview of Noble Manhattan.

00:01:36 - Then I will tell you what our support groups are, what they do, how they do it, give you a feel for that, and then I will talk to you about being a support group leader, what does that involve, and what are we looking for, and what are the responsibilities on both sides.

00:01:57 - And at each point, I will stop and take questions, so we'll have plenty of time to get our questions answered.

00:02:04 - Okay, so first of all, for those of you who are unaware of Noble Manhattan Coaching, Noble

00:02:10 - Manhattan Coaching specializes in training men and women worldwide to be magnificent life coaches, executive coaches, and corporate coaches.

00:02:24 - We are the longest established company in the world that does this outside of America.

00:02:31 - We started in the early 90s.

00:02:34 - Today we are currently trading in 26 countries around the world, and in the next three to four months, we're opening offices in Istanbul, Singapore, and Hong Kong, with Beijing coming along shortly afterward.

00:02:50 - Someone online has got talking going on in the background, and I really would appreciate it if they were aware of that and honored everyone else's commitment.

00:02:59 - We have trained in excess of over 5,000 coaches so far worldwide, so that's a little over view of who we are.

00:03:12 - We tend to do two things and two things only in Noble Manhattan.

00:03:15 - One is that we train people to be absolutely fantastic coaches.

00:03:20 - However, having trained them, we know, and we know this from so many years of looking after coaches, that it is even more important to look after and to take care of and to support those students and coaches.

00:03:36 - Our support division is actually almost bigger than our training division, and we have a whole series of support initiatives.

00:03:44 - We have Big Life.

00:03:45 - We have Business for Coaches.

00:03:47 - We have our support groups.

00:03:48 - We have Tidal Wave.

00:03:49 - We have our Coach Radio.

00:03:50 - We have our Meaningful Change Program, all of those designed to help our existing students and coaches worldwide to build a magnificent coaching practice.

00:04:01 - Our coaching support groups, and if you happen to be near a computer at the moment and you want to have a look, the website is www.coaching-support.com, so coaching and then the little minus sign, coaching- and then support.com.

00:04:23 - We launched this coaching support initiative about two years ago, and we now have in place somewhere between 30 and 40 coaching support groups around the world.

00:04:35 - We have over 20 in the United Kingdom.

00:04:37 - We have them in Ireland.

00:04:39 - We have them in Canada.

00:04:40 - We have them in India.

00:04:42 - We have them in Romania.

00:04:43 - We have them in Poland and many other places.

00:04:46 - So what is a coaching support group?

00:04:49 - Well, it is a home.

00:04:52 - It is a meeting place.

00:04:54 - It is somewhere that coaches and students can go to once a month and be looked after and be taken care of and be made to feel that they're part of a wonderful, loving, caring, compassionate family, but also to learn and to grow and to be educated at the same time.

00:05:16 - Our coaching support groups meet once a month at a set time, and the meetings last approximately two hours.

00:05:24 - So, for example, Robert, if I pick on you again, my friend, you're down in sunny Exeter, aren't you?

00:05:31 - I certainly am.

00:05:32 - Okay.

00:05:33 - So if I pick on you, and if we run a coaching support group in Exeter, we would set a specific time and date, and the group would meet, for example, maybe the first Tuesday of every month or the second Thursday at the same time at the same place.

00:05:50 - So it might be 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. or 6.30 to 8.30, and we do it like a military operation so that everyone in the area knows where and when the support groups meet.

00:06:03 - Now, here is a very important point.

00:06:07 - We at Noble Manhattan open our support groups to everyone.

00:06:12 - Every man, woman, and child from that local community who wants to come can come, and they can come free of charge.

00:06:21 - These groups are not just for Noble Manhattan coaches or students.

00:06:27 - Anyone whatsoever who is a coaching student, who is a qualified coach, or anyone involved in the personal development industry in any way, shape, or form is welcome at our groups.

00:06:40 - The groups are structured.

00:06:42 - People come along.

00:06:44 - We do not charge people for the groups.

00:06:47 - As if we have had to hire a room, and we paid 20 pounds or 20 euros for the room, and there are 20 people involved, they would contribute a pound each to cover the room cost.

00:06:57 - That would be the only thing.

00:06:59 - We never actually charge for the service.

00:07:04 - People come.

00:07:05 - They socialize.

00:07:06 - They register in, and then we do a talk.

00:07:08 - Every month, there is a formal talk given on a coaching or personal development subject.

00:07:16 - There is a discussion on the talk, and then the delegates or the people in the room break up into three groups.

00:07:24 - We have study buddy groups for students on courses.

00:07:28 - We have coaching groups, so people can either receive free coaching or deliver free coaching.

00:07:36 - We have a mastermind group where people get together to discuss issues and problems.

00:07:41 - Then they come back together again and discuss.

00:07:46 - It's pulled to a close after about two hours.

00:07:51 - We do this so that anyone and everyone in that area can have a home to go to.

00:07:56 - We get an awful lot of people who are not coaches at all coming.

00:08:01 - We get local businessmen who want to find out what is this coaching thing all about.

00:08:05 - Come along.

00:08:06 - Meet experienced coaches.

00:08:09 - Receive a free coaching session.

00:08:11 - We might get a single mother raising children on benefits who have no money, and at least she can go along once a month, meet positive-minded personal development people, have an evening out, have a coffee, listen to a personal development talk, and receive half an hour of free coaching.

00:08:30 - We do this as a benefit to not just our own students and coaches, but to the communities that we live in.

00:08:40 - The whole vision of a coaching support group is to be a safe, compassionate, loving, caring place where people can come along and meet once a month in an atmosphere of positivity and coaching.

00:08:56 - They can learn something.

00:08:58 - They can receive or deliver free coaching.

00:09:02 - If they're a student, they would engage in study buddy groups and so forth.

00:09:07 - I'll stop now and just take any questions if anyone wants more clarification on what our coaching support groups are, or is everyone totally underwhelmed?

00:09:19 - Do we have any questions?

00:09:23 - Sorry.

00:09:24 - Sorry.

00:09:25 - Fire away.

00:09:26 - Oh, hi.

00:09:27 - It's Tracy Lipsett here calling from Paul in Dorset.

00:09:30 - Hello, Tracy.

00:09:31 - Yes.

00:09:32 - Hello there.

00:09:33 - Hello.

00:09:34 - Hello, everyone else.

00:09:35 - I'm not sure whether or not you're looking to expand, so you've got several coaches in one area because, say, take Exeter, for example, that group has expanded so much you'd need more than one leader.

00:09:46 - As it said, it did actually say on the email about worldwide, so I'm curious to know where exactly you're looking.

00:09:54 - Actually, it's the latter.

00:09:57 - We don't need to have a lot of coaches or students in an area to set up a coaching support group at all.

00:10:03 - In fact, in the past, we set one up in Bucharest, and within six weeks, we had over 65 people coming to the coaching support group, and it grew so big it almost became unmanageable.

00:10:14 - Yes.

00:10:15 - That's why I'm thinking you might need more than one leader in an area.

00:10:18 - We do.

00:10:19 - Yes.

00:10:20 - In places like Bucharest and Warsaw, we're now setting up the number two group and the number three group.

00:10:25 - As the group builds in an area, we would divide it, you know?

00:10:29 - Yes.

00:10:30 - We also want to set up groups in areas where we do not have any representation at all at the moment.

00:10:36 - Right.

00:10:37 - Because we know that with the marketing we do, and we teach how to do this, we will get people coming ever so quickly.

00:10:45 - We do not, this is so important, these groups, they're led and they're run by Noble Manhattan, and if I use the word you as a support group leader, on behalf of Noble Manhattan, but they are open to everyone.

00:11:01 - When we set up a group for the first time in a new or a virgin area, we actually start to get people from all walks of life, all parts of the personal development world, gravitating towards us rather quickly.

00:11:14 - Yes.

00:11:15 - Of course.

00:11:16 - Yes.

00:11:17 - Okay.

00:11:18 - Lovely.

00:11:19 - Thank you for that.

00:11:20 - It's a bit of both.

00:11:21 - We're looking for extra leaders where we have groups, but more importantly, we're looking for new leaders where we don't.

00:11:24 - Right.

00:11:25 - Okay.

00:11:26 - Not at all.

00:11:27 - Not at all.

00:11:28 - Not at all.

00:11:29 - Not at all.

00:11:30 - Any other questions?

00:11:31 - Gerard, that's Francis Kelly from Stirling in Scotland.

00:11:32 - Hello, Francis.

00:11:33 - My favourite castle in the whole world, by the way.

00:11:34 - It's a beautiful place in the country.

00:11:35 - It's gorgeous.

00:11:36 - Gerard, I was wondering what sort of support Noble Manhattan would offer in helping the support group leaders to lead and run the groups?

00:11:38 - Oh, a huge amount.

00:11:39 - We have appointed a worldwide coordinator, Heather, who actually is ill today, or she would be joining us in a moment.

00:11:41 - I'm not sure.

00:11:42 - I'm not sure.

00:11:43 - I'm not sure.

00:11:44 - I'm not sure.

00:11:45 - I'm not sure.

00:11:46 - I'm not sure.

00:11:47 - I'm not sure.

00:11:48 - I'm not sure.

00:11:49 - I'm not sure.

00:11:51 - We have our own IT people.

00:12:01 - We will give you your own – I mean, I'll come to this in a minute.

00:12:04 - But every support group leader gets initial training.

00:12:07 - We do marketing in your area.

00:12:09 - We set up your own special website just for you and your area.

00:12:15 - We then promote any and all business and leads that come to us to you.

00:12:21 - So if, for example, you were our support group leader in Sterling, just don't take that as a given.

00:12:27 - Actually, I do most of my coaching in Aberdeen.

00:12:31 - But any and all, if you were our support group leader, either in Aberdeen or Sterling, immediately any and all inquiries we get for coaching, we feed to our coaching support group leader in that area.

00:12:45 - And we go out of our way to generate leads for you.

00:12:49 - I understand, yes.

00:12:52 - Okay.

00:12:53 - Any other questions on the actual support groups themselves?

00:12:57 - Okay.

00:12:58 - Thanks for that, Gerald.

00:12:59 - Oh, not at all, my friend.

00:13:00 - Hi, Gerald.

00:13:01 - Hello.

00:13:02 - Hi there.

00:13:03 - I have a question.

00:13:04 - This is Jules calling from South East London.

00:13:07 - Okay.

00:13:08 - Just to be a little impolite and to ask you this quite early on in the conference call, the support group leader position, is it a paid position or is it voluntary?

00:13:19 - No.

00:13:20 - No, it absolutely definitely is not.

00:13:23 - And I really wouldn't even want people who wanted to be paid because this is a partnership role, Jules.

00:13:31 - Okay.

00:13:32 - And it's unlike anything we do in Noble, Manhattan.

00:13:34 - And it has worked like a dream with the 30 support group leaders we already have.

00:13:39 - And we can put you in touch with some of those.

00:13:42 - We are going to go into partnership where we will train you, and I'll talk about the training in a minute.

00:13:48 - We will provide you with a huge amount of materials, backup support, pull up banners and posters, lots of layout materials.

00:13:56 - We will set up for you a special website so it will be called, they're all called coaching-sterling, coaching-Aberdeen, coaching-Southampton, whatever the town has to be.

00:14:09 - We then promote you as the main person in that area.

00:14:14 - Also, if any people from that area happen to sign up on a Noble, Manhattan course, we assume it's come from you and we pay you a thank you commission as well, quite a large one.

00:14:25 - Right, okay.

00:14:26 - I know they're in partnership with Catalyst or just about to.

00:14:30 - No.

00:14:31 - Catalyst is a completely different situation.

00:14:33 - Catalyst is an existing coach training organization and we're about to do a deal with Catalyst where we take over all of their coach training.

00:14:44 - It's nothing to do with coaching support groups.

00:14:46 - Right, thanks for clarifying that.

00:14:48 - Not at all.

00:14:49 - So really, I mean this is a good time to cover this, we're actually looking for partners.

00:14:52 - It is a real partnership.

00:14:55 - You will represent Noble, Manhattan in that particular town, city or region.

00:15:00 - We will train you and we will support you.

00:15:04 - We will push leads and inquiries your way.

00:15:08 - We will help to market both your group and you and we also teach you how to create a team around you to build and run that group.

00:15:20 - And here's a very important point I'd like to take you all on board.

00:15:23 - The support group leader is not standing up and saying, look at me, I am the best coach here in the room.

00:15:30 - What they are saying is I am the person who is running and organizing and facilitating this and I'm sure many of you have been to lectures and seminars before, but what happens?

00:15:43 - What does the public do?

00:15:44 - Well, the public gravitate towards the person at the head of the room, don't they?

00:15:51 - And as you build your support group, you as an individual will start to attract a huge amount of personal coaching business as a result of the exalted position that you'll be in and the brand and the fact that your profile is being raised in that area.

00:16:13 - And we will send out press releases on a monthly basis to newspapers, magazines and radio stations in your town, letting them know that the support group run by you is running at such and such a place at such and such a time.

00:16:31 - So you become the hub, the focal point for coaching in that particular town or city.

00:16:39 - Does that sort of make sense to everyone?

00:16:42 - And that's what we want.

00:16:44 - We want to make sure that six months after a group is set up, anyone in that town, if they're talking together over coffee, if local businessmen are having a board meeting and someone says, you know, we really ought to investigate this coaching thing, it seems to be taking off.

00:16:59 - Who do we talk to?

00:17:01 - The answer would be immediate.

00:17:03 - Oh, you need to talk to Robert Brown in Exeter.

00:17:05 - He's the guy.

00:17:07 - He is the one who runs the coaching support group.

00:17:09 - He is the most influential coach in this area.

00:17:13 - And that is what we intend to achieve with all of our support group leaders.

00:17:18 - Gerard?

00:17:19 - Yeah.

00:17:20 - Question here.

00:17:21 - This is Maggie from Southwest London.

00:17:25 - What would be the obligations from the support group leaders?

00:17:30 - Right.

00:17:31 - Well, to organize and run a once a month meeting, which will last for approximately two hours, we will give you the training on how to do that.

00:17:43 - I'll come to training in a minute, but you will not be on your own.

00:17:47 - As part of the training, we teach you how to create a team of between six and eight people who will actually work with you running the group.

00:17:58 - You will have someone under you called head of CR.

00:18:01 - You will have someone under you called secretary.

00:18:04 - You will have someone called head of logistics.

00:18:06 - You will have to meet and greet people.

00:18:08 - You will have a chapter education secretary.

00:18:12 - You will have a whole team, and you will be the coordinator.

00:18:16 - You will not have to actually physically do it all yourself.

00:18:21 - That is why we're looking for leaders.

00:18:24 - The job will not be to actually roll up your sleeves and do it all yourself month after month after month.

00:18:29 - You will create a team.

00:18:30 - You will also have a second in command who will be there to do it when you're on holiday and away and so on.

00:18:37 - Does that make sense?

00:18:39 - Yeah, it sounds very much like the way Toastmasters is organized.

00:18:43 - Not...

00:18:44 - Yeah, there are elements that are similar, yes.

00:18:50 - It's probably...

00:18:51 - If I was to pick an organization, and actually it's nothing like this, but I suppose it's a bit more along the lines of BNI if you've ever come across them, but it's nothing to do with referrals or...

00:19:01 - That's why they exist, to give business to each other.

00:19:04 - But the structure and the way it's run, like a military operation, is a bit more like that.

00:19:09 - Okay.

00:19:10 - Now, in terms of training, when we choose the right people, there will either be a one or a two-day training course.

00:19:17 - Now, that may sound strange.

00:19:20 - Everyone gets a one-day training course on how to set up, build, run, administrate, market, and organize a successful coaching support group.

00:19:32 - If you have had little dealings with Noble Manhattan before, so you are not that sure of who we are and our products, then we tack on a second day, which is a day that trains you in all of our products, so you become completely familiar with our product range and how we do things.

00:19:53 - But if you're already one of our coaches and students, you may or may not need that second day.

00:19:58 - So everyone gets one day.

00:20:00 - Some people get two-day training.

00:20:03 - Now, for people in the UK, we tend to do it near where our head office is, so you get to meet all of our head office staff.

00:20:12 - For people abroad, we don't.

00:20:14 - We fly in a team to do it.

00:20:15 - For example, next week, we've got seven people in Bucharest being trained.

00:20:20 - We're opening seven more support groups in Romania, and two weeks after, we're doing five support group trainings in Warsaw, because we're opening five more in Poland, so we would come to that country if we had a group there.

00:20:36 - Any questions on that?

00:20:39 - No?

00:20:40 - Let me tell you what we're looking for, then, and this is very important.

00:20:47 - We really are looking for people who have great communication skills and good people skills.

00:20:54 - We're looking for people who want to build their own profile, and we're being very open about this.

00:21:00 - I want you to be successful, and I want you to want to be successful.

00:21:04 - I do not, for this position, I'm not looking for, what's the expression?

00:21:11 - Shrinking violets?

00:21:12 - Is that it?

00:21:13 - Is that the one?

00:21:14 - I am not looking for those.

00:21:16 - I am looking for people who actually are willing to step up and say, you know, I would like to be successful as a coach, and I'm not embarrassed about saying that.

00:21:24 - And we will be happy to partner with you and provide all of this to help you.

00:21:29 - Gerard?

00:21:30 - Yes?

00:21:31 - Just a quick question.

00:21:32 - I just wondered, do you need to be a trained coach already?

00:21:36 - Ah, good question.

00:21:38 - No, you do not.

00:21:39 - In fact, one of our most successful, for example, is Clive DuPont.

00:21:43 - You can click on his link.

00:21:44 - He runs the Bournemouth Coaching Support Group, and Clive, I've known for years, has been a mentor and a trainer with the Prince's Trust, but not a coach.

00:21:53 - Right, thank you.

00:21:54 - And we're delighted to work with Clive and help him.

00:21:58 - So he's managed to generate a lot of extra training business and mentoring business within companies, but not actual personal coaching business, because that's not what he is looking for.

00:22:11 - You do not, therefore, have to be a qualified coach, but we do want you to be involved in the personal development industry in one way or another.

00:22:20 - Great, thank you.

00:22:24 - In order to help ensure that we're picking the right people, we work with, well, we don't work with them, but we use an organization called Motivational Maps, and anyone who wants to be a support group leader, we would get you to do what's called a motivational map.

00:22:42 - I'm sure you've come across these type of things before, sort of psychometric, psychological profiling.

00:22:48 - We have profiled our top coaching support group leaders and what they're like, and we want to make sure that we're working with people who are setting themselves up for success.

00:23:00 - So we would get everyone to complete, first of all, a motivational map, and then if they're successful and they have the right profile, we're really delighted to then take it further and go on to training.

00:23:15 - We found that that seems to be one of the better ways of assessing whether people will be in tune and aligned for success.

00:23:24 - Gerard, one other question.

00:23:29 - In terms of room hire and all these administrative topics and points, we would deal with that?

00:23:36 - You would, but we train you.

00:23:37 - We train you and teach you how to do that, what to look for.

00:23:40 - In many areas, it's about 50-50.

00:23:43 - In 50% of our areas, we get our rooms free, because whoever gives us the room, local hotel or restaurant or bar or community center, they know they're going to get 20 or 30 people coming along buying drinks or teas and coffees every month, and to them, that's worth it.

00:24:03 - In other areas, we do have to pay, £20, €25, and we just divide that among the delegates coming.

00:24:11 - Gerard, this is Davina.

00:24:12 - It sounds to me like this is very much a sales job and that we're marketing Noble Manhattan for you.

00:24:24 - You're marketing?

00:24:25 - No, you're not.

00:24:26 - You are and you're not.

00:24:27 - First of all, you are marketing coaching and the benefits of coaching and a home for all students and coaches to come to, but on the other hand, yes, you are representing Noble

00:24:37 - Manhattan.

00:24:38 - I will not allow any of my coaching support group leaders to represent another coach training company, and you will have a contract.

00:24:46 - That will be in the contract, so you're safe and we're safe, but there is no way we're going to invest thousands of pounds in time, effort, and energy training you if you're marketing some other company in our own industry, and I think, to be honest, that's quite fair.

00:25:03 - Yes, absolutely.

00:25:04 - The motivational maps, how do we ... Do we Google those, or ...

00:25:10 - Oh, no, no.

00:25:11 - We give you ...

00:25:12 - You'll send those out, will you, or what?

00:25:14 - They're done on the internet, but Heather does it.

00:25:20 - We give you some sort of code.

00:25:21 - You go onto their website, put in a code, and you do like an online ... It's all online, and it gets emailed to you.

00:25:29 - Thank you.

00:25:30 - No problem.

00:25:31 - No problem.

00:25:33 - Any other questions?

00:25:36 - I do have another one, actually, because I'm a part of a group of counselors in my area who are providing a counseling service.

00:25:47 - Now, would that be a problem to ...

00:25:50 - No, no.

00:25:51 - Oh, goodness.

00:25:52 - No, no, no, no, no, no.

00:25:53 - We're happy to promote every aspect of personal development, and the only thing we don't do is because we are a coach training organization, we just don't promote any other coach training company, but we do promote any and all other aspects of personal development, and coaching, and therapy, and so on.

00:26:15 - Okay.

00:26:16 - Thank you.

00:26:17 - Because this is meant to be a home that people in the local community can come to to get help and support, to get coached, to meet like-minded individuals, to meet people that they can develop relationships with, be it coaching client relationships or therapy client relationships, to learn.

00:26:40 - They come along, they get educated, they learn something.

00:26:43 - It's great networking.

00:26:44 - It is.

00:26:45 - It is.

00:26:46 - Okay.

00:26:47 - No, it's a wonderful idea.

00:26:50 - Thank you.

00:26:51 - Here's another point.

00:26:52 - If we don't charge the public to come, and we're not selling anything to the public, we get free PR in all the towns.

00:27:01 - In fact, in many towns, they put us into their local what's on guide, because we have no ulterior motive.

00:27:10 - We're not trying to sell anything to the public of what we are.

00:27:16 - We're trying to sell them the benefit of getting involved in personal development in one way, shape, or another, whatever that means to them, you know?

00:27:24 - Yeah.

00:27:25 - Yeah.

00:27:26 - I understand.

00:27:27 - Thank you.

00:27:28 - And a lot of coaches, you know, many, many coaches, and I'm just using the word coach.

00:27:31 - It could be counselors or therapists, have written books.

00:27:34 - They've written pamphlets.

00:27:35 - They run workshops.

00:27:37 - They do mini-courses.

00:27:38 - So if you were a coach coming to the coaching support group, we would allow you to lay out your own materials, so that when the public come in, they meet you, maybe they'll bond with you and like you, and then they see that you're running some courses yourself, it will help you to get customers on your course.

00:28:02 - And if you have your own CDs or books or pamphlets that you're selling, then many of our regular attendees, our coaches and so on, manage to market some of their own materials quite a lot by coming to the group.

00:28:18 - We're happy for that.

00:28:19 - It's a way of helping everyone.

00:28:21 - Great.

00:28:22 - And we don't take any money.

00:28:23 - Okay.

00:28:24 - Thank you, Gerard.

00:28:25 - Okay.

00:28:26 - Any other questions?

00:28:27 - Yeah, Gerard.

00:28:28 - I'm just wondering what would be my financial investment into your partnership?

00:28:38 - We don't ask any money other than a contribution to the training.

00:28:42 - So let's say we're going to train five people at a time.

00:28:47 - We hire a hotel room, lay on, we give you teas, coffees, lunches, we'll give you material to take away, banners, that sort of thing.

00:28:57 - Anything that you would be asked for would only be to cover that cost.

00:29:00 - I'm not sure what that is, actually.

00:29:02 - I can get Heather to email you and let you know.

00:29:06 - Sure.

00:29:07 - Because I like so far what I'm hearing, and I've just accredited as a coach, and I've got my own company and everything, but I also would like to get involved with Noble Manhattan on some level as a coach or as a support group leader.

00:29:23 - Okay.

00:29:24 - So would it be possible, like around this teleconference call or to have a one-to-one appointment with you to discuss things further?

00:29:33 - Yes.

00:29:34 - Okay.

00:29:35 - But I'll put a little caveat in there.

00:29:36 - Yes, if we can fit it in the diary.

00:29:40 - My PA, Stacey, she's a lovely girl, but she's like a sergeant major.

00:29:45 - She runs my diary like Attila the Hun.

00:29:49 - So if we can get Stacey to find a space in my diary, then the answer is definitely yes.

00:29:55 - Okay.

00:29:56 - Okay.

00:29:57 - That's fine.

00:29:58 - Thank you, Gerard.

00:29:59 - No problem.

00:30:00 - In fact, what I'll do now is just cover what next.

00:30:02 - If anyone is interested in taking this further, all we ask is that you send an email mentioning coaching support group leader in the body or in the subject and just saying, look, you'd like to take it further.

00:30:16 - Send it to info at noble-manhattan.com, so that's info at n-o-b-l-e hyphen m-a-n-h-a-t-t-a-n.com.

00:30:30 - Heather, well, she's ill at the moment, but or Stacey or Sadie or Emma or one of the others, we'll get back to you.

00:30:35 - They'll send you some documents in the post for you to look at.

00:30:38 - We'll send you information and we'll just start the process.

00:30:42 - Okay.

00:30:43 - Thank you.

00:30:44 - Yes.

00:30:45 - That's great.

00:30:46 - Does anyone else have any other questions?

00:30:49 - No, Gerard, maybe.

00:30:52 - Sorry.

00:30:53 - Okay.

00:30:54 - If the lady goes first and then the gentleman.

00:30:57 - Hello there, Gerard.

00:30:58 - Thank you.

00:30:59 - Yes, I just wondered what the hours were.

00:31:02 - The good news is I can give you a definite on that because we've done it so long.

00:31:09 - Once the group is up and running and humming along and you have your team with you, which probably takes three months, the commitment from you would be the two-hour meeting once a month, but you would probably get there 30 to 40 minutes beforehand and stay 20 to 30 minutes afterwards chatting to some people.

00:31:32 - So you're probably looking at, therefore, three hours once a month.

00:31:37 - Right.

00:31:38 - In the first one, two, and three months, you're looking at probably triple that in the first three months because you're going to be talking to people individually.

00:31:48 - You're going to be meeting some people on a one-to-one basis that you quite like that you're going to invite into your close team to be part of your organizational team.

00:31:58 - So you'd be talking to them by phone, on email, and then you might meet them for a coffee, talk to them about it.

00:32:04 - We provide you with everything.

00:32:06 - We provide you with all the terms and conditions, the overviews, the templates, everything you need.

00:32:13 - Right.

00:32:14 - So you're looking at nine, ten hours a month for the first couple of months, then dropping down to five, and then dropping down to about three a month.

00:32:24 - Right.

00:32:25 - Okay.

00:32:26 - Lovely.

00:32:27 - Sir?

00:32:28 - Okay, just a quick question.

00:32:31 - Can you give a rerun on the email address?

00:32:33 - I wasn't that far.

00:32:34 - Oh, so sorry.

00:32:35 - Of course, of course, of course.

00:32:36 - It's info, I-N-F-O-F for Freddie, at noble hyphen, hyphen of the little minus sign, manhattan.com.

00:32:46 - Manhattan finishes with an A-N, M-A-N-H-A-T-T-A-N.com.

00:32:51 - Yeah, that's okay.

00:32:52 - That I know.

00:32:53 - It's just a hyphen.

00:32:54 - I didn't know where.

00:32:55 - I got a bit confused.

00:32:57 - It's okay.

00:32:58 - Other than that, it's perfect.

00:32:59 - Listen, confused is okay.

00:33:00 - We're all confused.

00:33:01 - We're at a much higher level.

00:33:02 - Jean-Marc, one more question.

00:33:03 - Yes.

00:33:04 - Let's say down the line, after eight, nine months, or even one year, we had other commitments and we cannot continue.

00:33:06 - How does it work?

00:33:07 - Oh, that's easy.

00:33:08 - Well, you have two choices, right?

00:33:09 - By then, all being well, not only will we have a lot of money, but we'll also have a lot of time.

00:33:11 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:12 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:13 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:14 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:15 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:16 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:17 - We'll have a lot of time.

00:33:19 - The key is to have a team.

00:33:20 - You would have a team of five, six, seven, eight people working with you running the group.

00:33:34 - One of those is called a 2IC or second command, or sometimes we call them a deputy coaching support group leader.

00:33:42 - Well, that lady or gentleman, if you want, can just step into your position.

00:33:49 - So you could, if you wanted to, just step away.

00:33:55 - But there's no commitment. I mean, we don't have handcuffs on you.

00:33:59 - We're not forcing you to stay in any way, shape or form.

00:34:03 - Gerard, this team, do we get this team together or do you provide people or how does that work?

00:34:13 - Do you help us to find people who will take up these positions?

00:34:16 - Yes, that one. We help you to find people who will take up those positions.

00:34:20 - Okay. So at the end of the day, we'll be the people who will decide who takes up those positions.

00:34:28 - Yeah, there's never a problem with that because once you start to run your first couple of meetings and you get, and it's quite normal that the first meeting might just have three or four people, two, three or four, and then it goes to seven, eight, nine, and then 10, 11, 12 and so on.

00:34:44 - As the word gets out and people come.

00:34:46 - You will be able to just approach people who come to your first meetings and say, would you like to work with me in a closer relationship and be one of the organizing and the organizers of this event?

00:34:59 - Okay.

00:35:00 - And you actually find that sometimes the difficulty is keeping people away.

00:35:05 - People like to be involved, you see.

00:35:08 - Yeah.

00:35:09 - We give them a nice badge and they're introduced as the head of PR, the head of the education secretary and so on.

00:35:18 - Okay. Thank you.

00:35:21 - Jared, this is Sue from Southampton.

00:35:24 - Hi.

00:35:25 - Hi there.

00:35:26 - I was wondering if you could say anything about what happens when you become a support group leader.

00:35:31 - Is there a network of support group leaders that in themselves provide support to each other?

00:35:36 - I'm so sorry.

00:35:37 - That was me.

00:35:38 - I should have remembered that.

00:35:39 - Yes.

00:35:40 - We actually took on an employed person at head office a while ago to do nothing but look after the support group leaders.

00:35:48 - That's Heather at the moment.

00:35:50 - She is our international coordinator.

00:35:52 - And then we will provide for all our support group leaders two things, regular networking and we do conference calls.

00:36:02 - We have conference calls where all the support group leaders talk together every couple of months online.

00:36:08 - You know what I mean by that?

00:36:10 - Like webinars.

00:36:11 - We do that.

00:36:12 - We also organize training, free training every year, once or twice a year, for all our support group leaders on just to help them, how to build a business, how to get clients, how to be more successful in their industry.

00:36:24 - That's all part of our commitment to them.

00:36:27 - Great.

00:36:28 - That's really helpful.

00:36:29 - Thank you.

00:36:30 - Yes.

00:36:31 - And you have your own person at head office that you can pick up the phone to any time.

00:36:35 - And if you're able to, hop down and have a cup of tea with us.

00:36:39 - But that might not be appropriate for everyone.

00:36:41 - I guess it depends how quick the flight can be.

00:36:45 - But thank you very much.

00:36:46 - Yes.

00:36:47 - And any other questions?

00:36:51 - Gerard, it's Ruth here calling from Southwest London.

00:36:55 - I am one of those who don't have any training as a coach.

00:36:59 - Okay.

00:37:00 - And I'm just a little concerned as to what level of training you need.

00:37:06 - I mean, I have fantastic people skills.

00:37:08 - But, you know, I mean, beyond that, I've had no formal training.

00:37:12 - No, we understand.

00:37:13 - And, you know, the fact that you're not a coach, we love you just as much.

00:37:16 - It's all okay.

00:37:19 - No, no, you don't have to be a qualified coach.

00:37:22 - Okay.

00:37:23 - Not at all.

00:37:25 - Because this job that we're training you for is not to be a coach.

00:37:29 - It's to be a support group leader.

00:37:31 - Okay.

00:37:32 - It just so happens that many and many of the people who attend your group will be coaches or student coaches.

00:37:38 - And because we are heavily involved in that particular world.

00:37:42 - But, no, you yourself do not at all have to be a qualified coach.

00:37:47 - Correct.

00:37:48 - Okay.

00:37:49 - Cleared up.

00:37:50 - Okay.

00:37:52 - Just mindful of people's time.

00:37:53 - And any other last questions?

00:37:56 - Hello there, Gerard.

00:37:58 - Hello there.

00:37:59 - Hi, this is Valerie Lothian.

00:38:01 - It's more a statement as opposed to a question.

00:38:04 - I just want to tell everyone that I actually trained with another coaching organization.

00:38:11 - And I met Gerard through my network, through networking at events.

00:38:16 - My relationship with him meant that I was able to do some work doing some coaching, giving free coaching at Olympia on the psychology stand.

00:38:26 - This was about coming up to two years ago.

00:38:28 - I had a fantastic time.

00:38:30 - And the reason why I feel I have loyalty towards Gerard and Noble Manhattan is because of the respect and flexibility he's given me as an individual person.

00:38:42 - I'm a qualified coach, and I see this opportunity as a fantastic one.

00:38:47 - It's a great start for 2010.

00:38:49 - It's great for anyone that's involved in personal development that's either received it or wants to teach or mentor or coach, whatever it is you want from this.

00:39:00 - And I think if you really want to put yourself out there, give to the community and receive, then just go for it.

00:39:08 - Because I know I definitely will.

00:39:10 - And I just want to thank Gerard again for the opportunities he's given me in the past.

00:39:14 - Oh, bless you.

00:39:16 - Thank you so much, Valerie.

00:39:17 - It's a pleasure.

00:39:18 - I really appreciate that.

00:39:19 - Thank you.

00:39:20 - Gerard, one last question.

00:39:23 - Which month are you looking into starting?

00:39:26 - Oh, no.

00:39:27 - This will be a rolling program.

00:39:29 - This will never really stop.

00:39:33 - We have 20 or 25 coaching support groups in the UK.

00:39:37 - I want to take that up to about 70.

00:39:40 - By the end of this month, we'll have about 10 or 12 in Romania.

00:39:45 - I want to take it up to 30.

00:39:47 - So we're constantly going to be looking for great leaders in areas where we don't have support groups.

00:39:55 - Does that make sense?

00:39:57 - Yes.

00:39:58 - And we're going to be laying on training.

00:40:01 - Every couple of months, we lay on a one- or two-day coaching support group training in the UK, and we'll do the same in many other countries.

00:40:09 - So as we find the people that we are attracted to them and they're attracted to us, then every time we've got at least three or four people who want to do it, we'll then lay on a training.

00:40:26 - I hope that's fairly clear to everyone, is it?

00:40:28 - Yes.

00:40:29 - Gerard, it's Judy Barber here.

00:40:31 - I just want to say this sounds absolutely brilliant.

00:40:33 - Well done.

00:40:34 - Hi, Judy.

00:40:35 - Hello.

00:40:36 - I just want to say to everyone, Judy is one of the most incredible coaches and authors you are ever going to meet.

00:40:44 - And I was honoured, honoured, honoured, honoured to play a tiny little part and write a couple of pages in the most magnificent book she wrote a while ago.

00:40:54 - Judy, tell everyone the name of the book.

00:40:56 - It's called Good Question.

00:40:57 - By the way, Gerard's chapter is wonderful.

00:41:00 - It's more than a couple of pages.

00:41:01 - Good Question, the art of asking questions to bring about positive change, and it's questions that you can use to really change the course of a conversation or a meeting and help bring about things that might not have happened without your question.

00:41:16 - Thank you, Judy.

00:41:17 - I just felt it appropriate for you to do that because I think the work you do is so great.

00:41:21 - Thank you very much.

00:41:23 - And so is what you do.

00:41:25 - Looking forward to being part of things more.

00:41:27 - Thanks.

00:41:28 - Any other questions?

00:41:30 - Hi, Lillian from London, from South West London.

00:41:35 - I don't really have a question, but I do have a question.

00:41:39 - Hi, Lillian from London, from South West London.

00:41:44 - I don't really have a question, but I do have a question.