Rebecca Collins, Managing Director – Chapel House Training and Consultancy
Rebecca tutored Andrew. March 2020.
“Andrew’s coaching style is precise and to the point. He will help you find a path through distractions and challenges and get to the heart of the issue”
Naomi Kent, President, North America – In Touch Networks
Andrew coached Naomi. 12 March 2021.
“Andrew Warneken was my executive coach for 6 months.
We worked on my professional goals, and also on some areas of my development that we had identified.
Andrew was skilled at asking the right questions, and providing guidance on reaching my goals.
We met on a regular basis and during that time I was given focused goals to complete to keep me on the right path. Having him encourage and motivate me to continue to progress was an essential part of my development.
While working with Andrew I made some fundamental changes and improvements that I would not have been able to make alone.
A life-changing experience”.
The recent COVID pandemic has, in some cases, highlighted certain quite significant gaps in business operation planning and “disaster” resilience.
Possible scenarios for a major disruption to a business would be an office fire / flood / or perhaps an infestation.
For the purposes of this blog it is assumed that a fire sweeps through the office and destroys the contents of the building; nothing can be salvaged. Business documentation, IT equipment, servers and backup drives have been destroyed or at least damaged in a some way that renders such equipment inoperable for a period longer than business needs demand.
After the emergency services have dealt with any casualties and extinguished the fire business operations do need to continue. How are you now going to continue to maintain contract / project commitments and deliverables? Would failing to meet such deadlines result in the income being withheld or even financial penalties because of late delivery?
Any building insurance is likely to cover structural repairs, contents losses and equipment damage would it cover a disruption of cash flow and / or penalties associated with project delivery? Even if the insurance did provide cover for such eventualities the insurance company are highly unlikely to provide a “ready-made” plan so that your business may start to begin managing the steps required for work to continue as soon as possible and begin to rebuild operations to where things were before fire.
Imagine that you are now looking at the smouldering ruins of the building that was once the office and a by-stander walks over, stands next to you and asks: “what are you going to do next and how are you going to manage to do it”?
Whilst you’re considering these questions the by-stander then turns around and begins to walk away. As a parting comment that person tells you that they can help you recover the business but also show and help you make sufficient preparations for when the next major disruption to your business take place.
Can you confidently answer these questions? Would you not at least consider calling them back to get their contact details? If no, why not? What have you got to lose? Would you not be intrigued by such an offer?
Whatever you decide you’d still be looking at the smouldering ruins of the buildings but, with the benefit of high insight, would you have now decided to accept the offer of help? If you had done so you would have already made the preparations to deal with the consequences of the fire that has just destroyed your office building. You would now be able in a position to know what you are going to do next. You will now also possess the knowledge on how to start business operations and project delivery (initially in a limited capacity) as soon as possible after the fire.
For any further information about the subject raised in this blog email me at andrew@warnekenconsulting.org
I was approached by the Burton and Lichfield Chamber of Commerce to write a blog about Autism in the Workplace.
In this blog I will be talking about autistic people that sit on the high functioning part of the autistic spectrum. I am not medically trained; by education and career I am a nuclear marine engineer. My knowledge and understanding are based upon 50 years of personal experience and a great deal of more of the understanding behind the autistic condition I have received from my consultant psychiatrist and consultant psychologist who specialises in autism.
About 3 years ago at the age of 47 I was diagnosed with Asperger’s condition, which is a “high functioning” part of the autistic spectrum (ASD). My diagnosis also included having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which is commonly associated with ASD.
One of the difficulties that those of us with ASD have is reading and understanding non-verbal communication . About 70% of the communication between people is non-verbal with the remaining 30% being verbal. One of the many characteristics associated with ASD is that it is (sometimes very) difficult for us to read and interpret body language with the consequently effects thereof. The corollary of this being that those of us with ASD rely almost entirely on only the 30% of all inter-personnel communication and as such do not see, understand or comprehend the remaining 70%.
Imagine living in a country where you can only understand / read about 30% of the its vocabulary. No matter what you do, and because of your genetics, you find it incredibly difficult to learn any more of the language and vocabulary? This is our world.
Within the workplace environment poor communication can often result in a breakdown of understanding individuals. As such people can sometimes be viewed as being difficult to manage, understand and work with. Unless you can effectively communicate with those who have ASD (and a huge majority of people can’t) then resentment and frustration can build up.
Invariably this is down to a fundamental misunderstanding of how those of us who are autistic people process and respond to information. Consequently, these highly intelligent employees are often poorly managed and their skills under-utilised.
Autism is covered under the Equality Act of 2010 (see Page 41 of Equality Act 2010 Guidance) as such carries the same requirement to make adequate adjustment for autistic employees as any other “disability” (as it is deemed). As well as communication difficulties this Act also covers many other characteristics that those of us with ASD have that may be require reasonable adjustment to be made.
At Warneken Consulting we can provide training and advice to businesses on effective communication and management of your autistic employees.
There are many other considerations associated with the autistic condition that can affect the requirement to provide adequate adjustment at work.
If you are interested in learning more about any training / advice I may be able to provide to your business please contact me via email or via my website.
This article can also be found on the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce website.
Gordon Baker, Coach & Mentor at RTC Leadership & Coaching
“Andrew created a safe space for me to explore a very challenging situation for which I needed a way forward.
He provided good open questions, a balanced challenge which made me think deeply but constructively about key aspects of my circumstances and helped me identify some blind spots that were a barrier to moving forward.
I am sure that this is one of the most productive hours I have spent in conversation in recent years, with some actions to follow. Thanks Andrew; great job!!”
Tracey Hartshorn, provides inspirational support for awesome Mental Health Be Proud ~ Be True ~ Be You
Tracey managed Andrew directly. February 5, 2021.
“I know Andrew through the coaching network, Reach for the Moon, where he is a regular contributor to our discussions about all aspects of coaching.
Andrew has a really unique style as a coach which undoubtedly stems from his engineering and military experience. I really appreciate his structured input which helps to ground our discussions. He is clearly very knowledgeable about his practice and also about the positive impact that coaching can have with regard to neurodiversity. His ability to cross the boundaries of engineering, coaching and different ways of thinking is really helpful to our coaching network.
If you are looking for a coach who offers a structured approach with a clear focus on outcomes and results, I would highly recommend contacting Andrew.”
Lesley Butlin, Psychotherapist, Supervisor, Mindset Coach, and Trainer Co-Facilitator of Reach for the Moon – Network for Coaches
Andrew was a client of Lesley’s. February 8, 2021.
“Andrew has attended several of our Reach for the Moon Network for Coaches events. He is open, honest and shows integrity when discussing the issues that arise in his coaching practice.
Andrew is a pleasure to have in our groups, bringing a wealth of experience, knowledge and skill from other areas of his working life.
I thoroughly recommend you contact Andrew, to discuss how he can coach you to deal with the issues you want to address.”
Kamal Hanif OBE, CEO at Waverley Education Foundation
Kamal was a client of Andrew’s. February 8, 2021.
“The coaching sessions have helped me to deal with very complex staffing issues and matters, and helped me to frame how to deal with the issues. Decluttering mentally and being focussed on resolving and finding solutions. Creating a structure and timeline to enable the progress of the organisation and bringing on trustees in supporting the decisions that need to be made and their role within processes.
All this has helped in resolving matters to enable me to lead more effectively and move the trust forward and now begin to finalise structures and systems to enable both running of the trust. It has also enabled me to seriously consider my own well-being and looking at my own workalike balance in what I wish to achieve and the balance for the future.
Thank you for all your support in helping me to find the solutions and having the headspace to do so.”
We are excited to announce the launch of our new website and branding for Warneken Consulting. With 30+ years of military standard corporate environment experience, Warneken Consulting can offer your business expert advice and coaching in areas including (but not limited to) Crisis Management, Leadership and Management Services/Training, and Corporate Security.
Our blog will be home to useful articles on corporate business advice plus any important Warneken Consulting company updates so be sure to check back for exciting content soon!
We must send great thanks to The Marketing People for all their help with building our website and launching our new brand. They helped us improve our branding and have designed our new logo- applying this to all touchpoints of the business. Alike our services, the new website is precise and to the point, and the team at The Marketing People have communicated our core values effectively on our new website.
During a time of change in the workplace due to the ongoing effects of Covid-19, why not make that change a positive one and find out how Warneken Consulting can support your business. View Our Services to discover our offerings suited to any business in any sector. Many of our services complement one another, therefore, we can tailor the perfect combination of improvements to your business requirements.
We hope you find the new website interesting and informative, and we look forward to assisting you with all your business management and consulting needs.
Sally Pepper interviews Andrew Warneken
A Derby man living with autism is urging people to support those with the condition as we head back to work and a sense of normality. Andrew [Warneken 00:00:10] says, going back to the office means you could be sitting at a different desk and be following a complete change of routine to the one you’ve had whilst working from home. Heading to the shops and wearing a mask can also cause distress for those living with the condition. So what can we do to help?
Well, Andrew joins me now. Andrew, good morning.
Good morning.