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Tony Robinson OBE

Motivational Speaker & #PayIn30Days Campaigner

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I could be a star

I could turn out to be a star, if only you’d open your eyes and look at me

I’m always amazed at how business fails to make the most of human potential. ‘Being professional’, often equates to looking cool, acting smart, putting in the hours and realising when you need to be very seriously focused on the ‘biz’. The trouble with this philosophy of business life, is that it is very easy for us to see the exterior and never the inner talents of a team member or colleague.

Opportunity is the key word here. Most of us do jobs, or set up our businesses to earn a living, in areas where we see an opportunity. This is true of both a job opportunity and a business opportunity. Others, if exposed to our ‘inner’, rather than ‘on show’, talents, can see opportunities for us that can be used in our current business environment.

At one of my client’s, some weeks ago, I realised that the PA of a very high profile boss had all the ‘deal making’ skills of a top footballer’s agent. It didn’t take long to realise that she should be dealing with every price negotiation regarding public speaking/attendance at public engagements both on behalf of her boss and the other directors of the company.

The company tried this out, and the result has been a substantial increase in income in this area and a significant reduction in ‘time wasting’ engagements by the directors. How could the company have discovered what a gold mine they had under their noses? Simply by asking which of her previous jobs the PA had most enjoyed. She would have told them about the time she was employed by a PR company, assisting on corporate sponsorship negotiations.

It’s never easy to ask this type of question at the selection interview, because the candidate is intent on impressing the prospective employer the talents they have that were specified in the job advert. The answer is to find the time and right environment to ask personal, real life, questions.

For example, three months into the job an informal ‘meeting of minds’ can be arranged, with follow up every three months. This type of discussion is not a performance appraisal interview, or a 360 degree review, with all and sundry joining in, examining their navel fluff related to their existing job!

It should be as near as we can get to an off-the-record, informal conversation (over a meal/ in a pub or club) about their life. It will include questions like:

“What do you think you’re really good at doing inside and outside of work?” “If you could choose how you spend 8 hours a day, what would that something be?” “How could I help you to use these talents more?”

The point of the conversation is to find out about the individual’s potential, without the constraints of their present job or the career choices they have already made. Of course, you can do it at performance appraisal/review time, but only if the bureaucracy doesn’t get in the way.

This is really what people in people management and people development should be doing. We should be enabling people to fulfil their potential and not just the career in which they’ve landed. It makes good business sense. In fact, somebody actually asked me recently what career I would have most preferred to have. Expecting the answer “a captain of industry”, they looked stunned to find out it would have been as a cricket commentator on radio and television.

By the way, we can help you organise events that do zap your business issues head on, by allowing your people to harness their individual talents. As we said above, however, we don’t believe there is one, single ‘off-the-shelf’ process to do this.

Contact Me

Mob: +44 (0) 7715 749079
Email: tonyrobinsonobe@gmail.com

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The Happipreneur Blogs & Show Aide Memoires

These blogs cover a wide range of “Be More Happipreneur” Show topics such as leadership, famous happipreneurs and the popular  “Celebrity” interviews series. The post at the top of page one includes aide memoires & mnemonics used in the “Be More Happipreneur” Show.

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Tony’s 5* Satire

Freedom from Bosses Forever

Tony's award-winning and very funny 5* satire. Freedom from Bosses Forever, is now a fabulous audio-book on Audible

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Highlights

  • TONY ROBINSON OBE IS THE FOUNDER OF ENTREPRENEURSUK.COM AND HAPPIPRENEUR.COM – UK PARTNERSHIPS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES.
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Contact Tony Robinson OBE

E: tonyrobinsonobe@gmail.com

URL: www.tonyrobinsonobe.com

Tw: @TonyRobinsonOBE

Mobile : +44 (0) 7715 749079

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About Tony

Tony, while running his businesses, has held many NED and Vice President positions for national organisations which support enterprise and entrepreneurs. In 1996 he founded the SFEDI Group – the Sector Skills Body (includes the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs) for Enterprise. He is Patron of the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank, Director of Yorkshire in Business and is a judge for the Great British Entrepreneurs Awards. Tony is the co-founder, with Tina Boden, of the #MicroBizMatters movement and annual #MicroBizMatters Day.

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Tony was honoured in 2001 with an OBE for services to small firms and is a recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards for Enterprise. He is in the top 100 of UK influencers on Entrepreneurship. He has written six business books, three fictional satires, one book of poetry and prose and one novel.

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