Life as UK's leading Points of You trainer

So there I was, sitting in the back garden writing up notes from a coaching session , when there is a knock on the door.

"Delivery for Jamie Illingworth?"

I wasn't expecting anything?? I definitely was not expecting a small box from Tel-a-viv!
I said thank you and took the box back into the garden and sat down at the table, curious to say the least. I opened the box and there it was, my first Points of You Tool.

Only moments before I had been asking myself "What makes me different from any other coach?" trying to figure out what the future looked like for our business. Little did I know at that time but the answer had just been delivered to me... literally!

From that moment on, I knew what I was going to do, and some months later I left the shores of Blighty and headed for the dizzy heights of New York to become Britain's only Certified Trainer. My experience of the program can be found in my previous blog, here is the Link if you want explore more.

Being a Points of You Certified Trainer has changed my life and my business. I know that is a big statement, but it truly has. Before it came along I was just one of thousands of people trying to make a living from 'Coaching', most of them amazing people in their own right and trying to do something different. So here I am, using a coaching method that before now has never been formally introduced to the UK. It has the reputation of being used in 147 other countries and is the preferred coaching tool for organisations such as:

So convincing people that it adds value is simple, you just give them an experience and let the processes speak for themselves! 

The best part for me is the 'lightbulb' moments. When you coach normally you are asking questions to assist thinking, so you effectively lead the process. With tools like The Coaching Game, all you are doing is teaching people how to view an image or a word. The process combined with the tools has an amazing way of unlocking thinking to allow you to explore your own insights and challenge your automatic responses. The results are amazing to see.

To witness the moment when someone explores something and reaches a point of clarity is a real privilege and I give thanks every day for the opportunity.

 I visited the Lake District a few weeks ago to give a well-established L&D consultancy an experience of Points of You. They took part in a 5 card team development process which they absolutely loved. For 45 minutes they talked about the cards they had chosen and what they meant to their team, not only were they interested in adopting the tool, but had two leadership programmes that they could slot it into straight away. Working with organisations to help ingrain the tools into their professional processes always amazes me, the different ways that HR and L&D professionals can adapt the tools to work in interviews, 1-2-1's and feedback models seems never ending and I learn something new every day.

My goal now is to spread the word, not because I want to make money (although we all have bills to pay!), but because I want to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to explore life’s challenges in a way that is in obtrusive and easy to use. It's all about paying forward, giving people the opportunity to do something for themselves.

So now I am growing my business and Points of You gets its official UK launch on the 23rd June (referendum day!) at Healds Hall Hotel in Liversedge, West Yorkshire and residential Train the Trainer programmes are in the diary starting in July. The future is bright for Purple Pebble People and Points of You and as more and more people become aware of our tools, the more certain I become that what I do for a living really does add value to the world.