News

DECEMBER 2024 NEWS – TIS THE SEASON TO BE KIND AND UNDERSTANDING… AND BOOK IN FOR ONE OF OUR 2025 EVENTS!

As we come to the end of 2024, I decided to write about a worrying trend I have seen within organisations over the last few years. The rise of stress, the tolerance of bad and unacceptable behaviours, and how they are interrelated. I wanted to remind everyone that, in these stressful times, we all need to be MORE KIND and MORE UNDERSTANDING. So why not be kind to yourself and allow yourself the permission to read this article, it’ll take you all of 5 minutes, and you’ll be really glad you did.

We also have some of our events dates planned for 2025 with our Meta Leadership Network planned for April , and our flagship Journey to Mastery programme resuming in September. We will be sending out more details on these closer to the time, and also have information on our EVENTS page. Alternatively, drop me an email on jo@metapositive.com to reserve your place in advance.

We also have a confirmed date for our next NLP REFRESHER DAY! We’ve met some amazing leaders over the years, and many of them have been participants in our Journey to Mastery NLP programme. During the 6 month, 8-day programme you learn so many NLP-based tools and techniques, that it’s useful from time to time to remind yourself of just how many NLP tools you have in your toolkit.

The purpose of our NLP Refresher days is two-fold, to remind those who have been on the programme of the tools they learnt and their direct application ‘in the real-world’, and to give those who are curious about NLP and our Journey to Mastery programme an opportunity to have a day where they learn and get to experience Meta’s approach to NLP first hand.

Our Halloween refresher day had a mix of old and new Meta family members and what a day we had. I love these days, they are quite the favourite thing that I get to do as Meta CEO – the NLP tools are so magical and yet so practically useful and, to a fault, every single person said that (a) the day was perfect timing for them, (b) that it was everything they’d hoped for and more, and (c) that they would recommend the days to anyone!

So don’t take it from me, take it from them – it’s a great way to experience Meta & NLP in an informal, supportive group environment. All you have to do is look at the photos to see how much fun was had. 

So why not get in touch with Jo to come experience it for yourself? We already have the next day in the diary – it’s on Thursday March 6th and will be held at the Cheltenham Chase hotel.

And remember, we always love hearing from you, so feel welcome to drop us a line to arrange a cuppa and a catch up. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
In peace and with love, Jo xxx

SEPTEMBER 2024 NEWS – CREATING A JOINT PUBLIC-PRIVATE LEADERSHIP TEAM AND DEVELOPING THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

Last Autumn, we were asked if we’d be interested in helping two organisations improve their partnership working. In a fascinating and very rewarding piece of work, we have been working with a borough council’s property directorate and their third-party building services provider, to improve the working relationship and, ultimately, to improve the council’s customer experience. Over the last nine months we have brought the two leadership teams from the two organisations together into one joint leadership team. It has been an amazing journey, and I am so proud of the work we’ve done together. It just goes to show that the cultural and leadership team work we do can work even cross-organisationally when there is a common purpose and common goals. It has been such purposeful work and already it is making significant differences to the communities and customers this borough council serves. To watch this team come together, to watch these leaders grow, has been a real privilege and we will miss them when the journey together is over. We know the future is bright for the tenants in this particular council’s borough. Here’s Jo with the new Cardo-Dacorum joint leadership team.

Remember also to check out our new article from Jo, THE BIG C–WORD (CULTURE), which explains just why organisational and workplace culture is so important – and increasingly so too. Keep your eye on our Events page too, as we have our NLP REFRESHER DAY coming up on 31st October, with plans to restart our flagship Journey to Mastery programme in 2025 – watch this space!

JUNE 2024 NEWS – HOW TO IMPROVE TEAM COMMUNICATION AND AN IMPORTANT DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

We have some new Meta treats for you this month, with a super-useful article from Jo about on IMPROVING TEAM COMMUNICATION IN THE HYBRID ERA. With so many new channels to communicate and most teams not together in an office at the same time anymore, we have been finding that it’s a consistent theme coming out of the work we’re doing in organisations. So, we thought we’d share with you a few tips on how to improve your team’s communication and, as a result, collaboration and the re-invigoration of your team spirit. You can find it on our ARTICLES page or by clicking on the article title above.

NEW DATE FOR OUR NLP REFRESHER DAY – IT’S GOING TO BE ON HALLOWEEN!

In April we held our first NLP refresher day of 2024, and it was such a delight to see familiar faces from the Journey to Mastery family and have such a powerfully purposeful and practical day together. We also had a LOT of fun as you can see in the photos! 

We had decided that, from now on, we’d open up the days to new people curious about NLP and Meta’s approach to it. Safe to say that all those who attended, new and old, were unanimous in their appreciation and gratitude for the day. It was truly magical, and I have to say that, for me, it’s the highlight of my year running these days. To watch people have those ‘a-ha!’ moments is an absolute joy and honour, and it’s so wonderful to see how deeply Meta and the Journey to Mastery has impacted people’s lives. It’s a day full of purpose and, most importantly, LAUGHTER.

The next day is going to be a memorable one and we’re hoping that, by announcing it now, some four months ahead of the date of 31 October 2024, it will mean that even the busiest of you will be able to get it into your diary! And remember, it’s not just for previous attendees of our Journey to Mastery programme, it’s for any of you who want to have a fuel-tank -filling day with Meta, so if you’d like that, just get in touch and we’ll get you signed up.

You can also head over to our EVENTS page for more details on all our events. Hope to see you there! 

MARCH 2024 NEWS – WORKING WITH THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW

We were asked to work with the leaders of tomorrow in the NHS in 2023, and started a leadership team development journey with the leadership talent identified within the LHIS-the technology directorate within Leicestershire NHS. Over the last nine months we have been on an incredible journey together and, just this month, we had our final day together. It is such an honour to work with such amazing people, and absolutely part of our purpose at Meta to help and support leaders making such a difference. There’s always a little tinge of sadness to say goodbye, but it’s so important as a consultancy to know when it’s time to let go, when the leaders are ready. We will of course do what we can to support them in developing a culture of excellence within the wider directorate and we look forward to seeing them realise their potential. What I will say with great confidence is this – the NHS is in safe hands. I have been struck by just how dedicated, talented and passionate these leaders are. We are so proud of just how far they have come in such a short time. We wish them every success going forwards and look forward to sharing those successes with them long into the future. 

JANUARY 2024 – HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

2023 was a genuinely wonderful one for us here at Meta. So much interesting and purposeful work! We were very blessed to work with some brilliant organisations from all three sectors and we hope to continue that trend into 2024.

We’d especially like to give a shoutout to some work we’re particularly proud of, and customers we’ve really loved working with. The first must be the People and Innovation leadership team at Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland ICB. We did a nine-month leadership team development journey, and when you work in the NHS with such amazing leaders, it reminds you of just how precious this national resource is and just how special the people that work within the NHS are. 

Second we want to mention Faurecia (now Forvia) and especially the Fradley plant leadership team who we have been working with now for over three years. Now, with a new plant manager and leadership team, they have had to deal with the significant challenges and adversity of working within the automotive sector. It’s been wonderful to share their journey and it’s been a delight to help them navigate some of the challenges of the last 12 months. 

We have also loved working in the third sector, continuing our work with homelessness Charity CRISIS around resilience, stress, and well-being. We continue to be astounded by the people we encounter in this organisation – their passion, their drive and their commitment to their purpose as an organisation is truly inspirational. 

Then there is NACCOM, a tiny charity that makes a massive difference to the refugee accommodation charities they support. We have been working with the CEO and the whole team, helping them to collaborate even more effectively as a team, despite their geographical spread across the UK – it’s been a real delight to help them in their purposeful work. 

And finally, we must mention our latest leadership talent development programme which we are running for the Health Informatics Service (technology directorate) in the NHS. We were asked to help develop the bright young management talent in this service into the leaders of the future. We have totally fallen in love with these leaders in-waiting. It’s safe to say that the future of this particular part of the NHS is in safe hands. We will be continuing our work with them into 2024, before looking at the next stages of our work together. 

We’re already starting some very interesting work in 2024, bringing leadership teams together in a work of collaboration between the public and corporate sector, and educating people in a whole county on how to get a good night’s sleep! 

If you’re looking at developing your leaders, doing an awayday with your team, or indeed a directorate or organisational staff conference, and want a really different, memorable workshop, event or speaker, then please do consider Meta, give us a call or email and talk to us – we know how to make whatever you have in mind bring about the maximum impact and have long lasting results. 

RECONNECTING THE META FAMILY – In 2024 we’ve made a commitment to reconnect with as many of our Meta family (i.e., you!) as possible. Some of you we’ve not seen in far too long, so we’d very much like to correct that and get back in touch. So, if you’d like to reconnect too, then just drop Jo an email at jo@metapositive.com and we’ll arrange a proper catchup! 

[2023 AND PREVIOUS ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND BELOW]

JANUARY 2023 NEWS:

THIS MONTH’S ARTICLE – ‘BE MORE MARTY’:

Sadly, before Christmas, we lost a valued member of the Meta family and a dear friend of mine, Marty Ward. At just 40 years old he was taken far too young, and in honour of him I’ve written this month’s article about how we can learn from his example. He was a fabulous man, warm-hearted, kind, generous, fun, playful and so loving. I believe that he has much to teach us from the way he lived his life, so that’s why I’ve written this article to pay tribute to him, but also hopefully to inspire us ALL to BE MORE MARTY. BTW – It’s not a sad article, it’s an inspiring and uplifting one, and one that hopefully will inspire and motivate you in your life. 

THANKS FOR 2022 and LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023:

2022 was an amazing year for Meta and I want to personally thank everyone we had the pleasure of working with. It was an abundant and purposeful year working with some amazing organisations, leaders and leadership teams. We hope that in 2023, if you do decide to do some team, leadership or organisational development, you’ll consider giving us a call or dropping us an email. We’ve been evolving what we offer and what we do – and we’d love to share our learning, our renewed passion with you. 

Here’s to a joyous, positive 2023 for you all, I look forward to reconnecting with you soon!

SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWS: REALISE THE MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL POWER OF PURPOSE

THIS MONTH’S ARTICLE: THE MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL POWER OF PURPOSE

In this month’s article, Jo reminds us how important it is to realise our purpose – why we do what we do. Without true purpose, it is challenging to remain motivated and make the right decisions in our work and in our lives. But it doesn’t have to be that way, wherever we are in our lives and our work right now, we can still find our purpose and lift our spirits again. So head on over to read this thought-provoking and inspiring new article at THE MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL POWER OF PURPOSE.

NEWS: WORKING WITH PURPOSE – BARNARDO’S CHILDREN’S SERVICES

I wanted here to give a shout out to the amazing (and I truly mean AMAZING) Barnardo’s Children’s Service managers and staff in Birmingham. It has been our absolute honour and privilege to work with them over the last nearly-12-months.  We started off with work around resilience, helping every staff member in the Birmingham area to re-build their resilience and re-fill their fuel tanks, after what had been an incredibly challenging pandemic period for the charity. Barnardo’s, and especially Adam (assistant director who commissioned the work) and his team, have opened my eyes to the truly awesome work Barnardo’s does. Their passion and commitment to what they do is truly inspiring. 

There are some pieces of work that you do, that just don’t really feel like work, because they’re absolutely part of what you’re here to do, part of your organisational purpose –working with Barnardo’s is one of those. We’re continuing the work, now with an extensive leadership team development programme with the centre managers, and it’s so wonderful to be working with such brilliant people doing brilliant work with the children and families in the Birmingham area. 

EVERY LITTLE HELPS:

In a time of challenges, in this cost-of-living crisis that we are all facing, it’s important to know that there’s help and support should you need it. At Meta, we’re committed to making sure that everyone in the Meta family (and if you’re reading this you ARE in the Meta family!) has access to us, anytime. We all need, from time to time, a friendly ear, an independent listener, a bit of guidance, a bit of help or support. Sometimes we need a rant buddy, someone to just let off steam with and vent – we just wanted to remind you, that Meta is and always will be there for you, so if you’re getting stressed or a little overwhelmed by what’s going on out there in the world, then please feel free to get in touch ANYTIME – jo@metapositive.com

Wishing you all a wonderful month ahead!

In peace,
Jo x

 

JUNE 2022 NEWS: RE-SET YOUR WORK/LIFE BALANCE WITH META-POSITIVITY AND A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

META BLOG – RE-ESTABLISHING BOUNDARIES

This month’s blog is a really practical and useful one. Jo reminds us how important it is to re-establish our boundaries when it comes to work. Too many of us are letting our boundaries slip and, as a result, are feeling that our work-life balance is out of balance! So, if you’d like a simple exercise to help you re-set and re-establish your work-life boundaries, then read all about it in this month’s blog: RE-ESTABLISHING BOUNDARIES

META LEADERS NETWORK

We’re delighted to announce that we will be running a new META LEADERS NETWORK event in October this year. We’re giving you plenty of notice as we know just how busy you Meta leaders out there are just now. 

The title of the workshop will be ‘BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL’ – and will be an opportunity for leaders to discuss their experiences of business and work-life post pandemic. What business challenges have you been facing post-Covid? How’s the experiment in hybrid working going in your organisation? How has it been to be a leader in these unusual times? Meta Leaders Network events are a great chance to meet like-minded leaders, share knowledge, best practices, and have time to think and reflect on things you probably don’t normally get time to do in your working day. 

META-POSITIVITY

We felt it was time to re-establish something that, at Meta, we’ve always been famous for. Our positivity. We’ve struggled, as you probably all have, to see the positives in recent world and domestic events. However, we want to remind you that it’s not all doom and gloom and there are always reasons to be cheerful, always reasons to focus on the positives in your life. This month’s “Meta-Positive quote of the MONTH” comes from the psychologist Robert J Sternberg, and it’s a wonderful reminder that sometimes we all need to slow down our thinking and our actions to a more sustainable pace. We thought it was something that was worth sharing – we hope you enjoy it! 

“If anything, the essence of intelligence would seem to be in knowing when to think and act quickly and knowing when to think and act slowly.” – Robert J Sternberg

Whatever you do this month, remember that it’s OK to slow things down a notch or two. Life (and work) isn’t an emergency, and almost everything can wait.

Have a wonderful June!
In peace,
Jo & Di xx

APRIL 2022 NEWS: HOW TO MAKE THE SMARTEST INVESTMENTS IN 2022

META BLOG – THE INVESTMENT THAT GIVES THE GREATEST RETURN

With the new financial year just started and it starting to look as though we are finally out of the Covid tunnel, in this month’s blog Jo asks you what you’ll be investing in this year. He makes the case that the best investment you can make is in your staff, your leaders, and your OWN development. Understandably, over the last few years, there’s not been much financial capacity in organisations to train and develop their people, but those same people have invested so much time and energy getting their organisations through the worst of the pandemic; and Meta feels it’s time to give back and invest in your greatest asset, your people and, indeed, yourself! So head on over to our blog page to read THE INVESTMENT THAT GIVES THE GREATEST RETURN.

META EVENTS – IN-PERSON META MASTERCLASS JUNE 23^rd

Talking of investing in yourself! – It’s been well over two years since we last held a MASTERCLASS face-to-face and, FINALLY, we now get to run an in-person MASTERCLASS for you all. We’re announcing it EXTRA EARLY because we want as many of you as possible to be able to put a holder place in your diary for it. We would love, love, LOVE to see you again, it’s been TOO LONG, and we can’t wait to reconnect and share our new NLP tools with you.

The date for your diary is JUNE 23rd – contact Jo to reserve your place ASAP and keep an eye out on an email from Jo all about if very soon!

WE WANT TO SEE YOU!

We’ve all been through a tumultuous couple of years, and we’re all slowly starting to come back out of our enforced hibernations. We have genuinely missed our Meta family, we’ve missed YOU. So, when you get a moment, please DO just drop Jo or Di an email and get back in touch. We’d love to hear from you and we’d love to reconnect with you. We’re always up for a cuppa and catch up, and we’re always up for hearing your news! 

Have a wonderful month everyone!

In peace and love,

Jo & Di xxx

MARCH 2022 NEWS: HARNESSING THE POWER OF YOUR TEAM AND NEW IN-PERSON EVENTS

META BLOG – HARNESSING THE POWER & ENERGY OF YOUR TEAM

Well spring has truly sprung and, although Worcester is a little ‘under-water’ at the moment, it’s lovely to see the crocuses and the daffodils starting to flower and the mornings starting to become lighter. This month’s blog has been inspired by recent team away-days which Jo has been running. He was struck by the power and energy in the room, and the incredible creative flow of ideas from the team members stimulated by the time away from the office. It was a useful reminder of just how powerful getting your teams together for an away-day can be. Due to Covid, you’ve probably not had a team away-day for years, so Jo highlights why having team away-days matter, and why getting away NOW could be one of the best decisions you’ll make this year.  So, take a short break and read HARNESSING THE POWER AND ENERGY OF YOUR TEAM.

IN-PERSON META LEADERS NETWORK – MAY 13th

We’re also looking to hold our first ‘in-person’ Meta Leaders Network event in May. It will be held on Friday May 13^th, from 9:30am-1pm. We’re still looking for a host, so if you and your organisation would be prepared to host the Leaders Network, please do let us know. These events are open to any and all leaders in our Meta network, so if you’re getting this notification and you’re a leader – you’re invited! Do get in touch with Jo if you’d like to come along.

MEETING UP

Now we CAN meet up in person again, we’re looking to reconnect with those of you in the Meta family who we’ve not seen in a while. So, if you’ve not heard from us or not seen us and you’d like to reconnect, then please DO reach out to us and we’ll arrange a time to meet up and have a catch up and cuppa!

Have a wonderful month everyone!

In peace and love,
Jo & Di xxx

FEBRUARY 2022 NEWS: WRITING YOU NEXT CHAPTER AND RECONNECTING WITH META

META BLOG – WRITING YOUR NEXT CHAPTER

Jo has written an inspiring and practical blog to begin the new year, one that encourages us all to ‘write our next chapter’. It’s been a challenging couple of years, so in this step-by-step guide, Jo shares a great way to put that behind us, learn from it all and start designing the life we’d really like to have. It’s simple but powerful, a real transformatory way to start your 2022. So head on over to our blog for some practical and fun tips on WRITING YOUR NEXT CHAPTER.

META NEWS – RECONNECTING

In 2022 we’re looking to reconnect with the Meta family. During the pandemic it’s been hard to keep in touch as much as we’d have liked to, so we’d like to give here an open invitation to those of you we’ve not spoken or heard from in a while to get back in touch. We’d love to hear how you are and what you’ve been up to, so we’re launching our ‘catch up over a cuppa’ concept. The idea being that we come visit you and yes, you guessed it, we have a catch up over a cuppa! So, if you’d like to reconnect with Meta, and have a catch-up cuppa with Jo or Di, then DO get in touch as we’d love to hear from you.

META EVENTS – LEADERSHIP NETWORK 8TH APRIL 2022

We had such great feedback from our Leadership Network event in November last year, that we’re looking to do another event on Friday 8^th April 2022. We’re announcing this now as we know just how busy your diaries can get, so pencil in the date now so it is there! This will be the first ‘in person’ Leadership Network event in well over two years and we’re really looking forward to getting our amazing Meta network of leaders together again.

Register yourself NOW by emailing jo@metapositive.com to guarantee your place. We also are looking for a host for the event, so if your organisation has a room you’d be prepared to host the Leadership Network in, then please do get in touch.

Here’s hoping that 2022 is a much kinder and generous year to us all!
In peace,
Jo & Di xx

 

 

OCTOBER 2021 NEWS: OVERCOMING THE COVID HANGOVER AND BUILDING YOUR RESILIENCE TOOLKIT

LATEST META BLOG – ‘THE COVID HANGOVER’ – Don’t wait until it’s too late

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Stressed? Run out? Exhausted? Are you working more hours than you used to, to try and get everything done? Do you feel like you must be permanently switched on? If so, the likelihood is that you’re starting to feel the effects of what Jo has termed the ‘Covid Hangover’ in the new Meta blog. Since the beginning of 2021, we have been seeing a worrying increase in people struggling with their work-life balance, and a worrying trend in people working longer hours and harder than ever before. It’s time for us all to re-evaluate the way we work, not just as individuals but as leaders of our organisations too, before we suffer from the mother of all hangovers. This is perhaps one of the most important blogs that we’ve written in years, and so we really encourage you to take five minutes out of your day to read it – it not only offers ways to prevent the worst of the hangover, but also offers a renewed offer of support in this challenging time for us all.

META LEADERS NETWORK – The future of work and the covid recovery

We’ve met some amazing leaders over the years and, every so often, we bring them together to talk about the issues that really matter. We’re organising two Meta Leadership Network events on November the 18th and 26th, where we’re going to be discussing the future of work and yes, how we get through the Covid recovery period without getting a ‘Covid Hangover’.

The Leadership Network events are facilitated by Meta and are a great opportunity to meet like-minded leaders in the Meta network and come away with some really useful tools and practices for your leadership toolkits. They’re open to all leaders, so if you’re getting this email, then it’s open to you!

Leaders who have attended have told us just how valuable the events are, and how much they take away, and you can find out more about what it can do for you on our events page.

AND FINALLY

In this month’s blog (which we really DO recommend you take time to read) we wanted to remind you that you are not alone. Meta has always had a principle we call ‘support for life’ and, if you are getting this, that support is open to you. Often, when we’re finding things tough, we tend to isolate ourselves and not ask for help. So now, more than ever, we want to say that we are 100% here for you. You’re our Meta family, and families help and support each other – whatever is going on, there’s nothing we can’t or won’t help you with. That’s why we do what we do, and why we’re in business.  So please, as the blog says, get in touch, we’re here.

Wishing you a wonderful month.
In peace,
Jo xx

AUGUST 2021 NEWS: FINDING REASONS TO BE HAPPY AND NEW DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

NEW META BLOG:

In this month’s blog in a return to Meta-positivity, Jo reminds us that life’s not all doom and gloom and that how we choose to look at life really does matter and, if we choose to look for them, we can find lots of REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL.

META AUTUMN/WINTER EVENTS:

It’s been a challenging year for everyone and, in our conversations with the Meta family, we have found that many of you are finding things tough, feeling quite isolated and run down. So, we thought it was about time we to put on some Meta events that we hope will help cheer you up, support, and inspire you in the Autumn!

These events are open to everyone and they’re all going to be run virtually, so wherever you are, you can still sign up and join in. Email me at jo@metapositive.com to reserve your place at our events, or with any questions you have in advance.

NEW – META LEADERS NETWORK – Advance information for you leaders out there, our forthcoming dates are October 15th (AM) and 19th (PM).

This has been an incredibly challenging time for leaders and so we felt it was time to get you all together to discuss the future of working. With so many different experiences and so many different approaches to returning to work post-Covid, we felt now was a great time to get the leaders in our network together to share their experiences and to talk openly about what they think lies ahead in the coming months. It’s been very isolating being a leader through this time, so this network event is a chance to talk to like-minded leaders from all sectors. We are putting on two half-day virtual events in October, so if you’d like to join us, please contact Jo to register your interest.

NEW – META MASTERCLASS – Making Life Work for Me – September 17th (PM) and 29th (AM)

As there was not much uptake on doing an ‘in person’ Masterclass, we’ve decided to return to the virtual offering for the next event. We’ll be running two half-day Masterclasses in September and the topic is ‘Making Life Work for Me’. Our lives have been thrown upside down over the Covid period, and so we felt it was a good time to re-visit some of the excellent NLP tools that can help us re-frame and re-create the life we want to have now our freedoms are beginning to return. Jo will be writing to you very soon about coming along, and we hope that now these events will be virtual, you’ll be able to join us! If you’d like to get yourself on the list first, then contact Jo directly.

NEW – JOURNEY TO MASTERY – A Taster Session – December 14th (AM)

Can you believe we’ll have been running our flagship Journey to Mastery personal development programme for 20 years next year? With everything that’s been going on, we felt that this year was a good time to launch a new ’taster session’. This FREE session is open to anyone in the Meta network. During the half-day event you’ll get a taste for NLP and get a feel for what the full Journey to Mastery is all about – it’s an opportunity to experience Meta and our unique approach to personal development. The Journey to Mastery is a truly transformational programme – so if you’d like to come along or want to sign up a friend/work colleague or family member to come, then contact Jo directly.

Have a wonderful summer everyone and we hope to see you at one of our Autumn events!

JUNE 2021 NEWS: WHY AWAY DAYS ARE SO CRUCIAL FOR BUSINESS AND PERSONAL WELLBEING AND LAST CALL FOR MASTERCLASS

NEW META BLOG:

Here at Meta we have been working with a quite a few organisational leadership teams in the first half of 2021, running away-days to help them review, reflect, re-set and re-focus after the challenges they faced in the 2020 Covid pandemic. It’s reminded us of just how important it is to get your team away from the office, especially leadership teams, so we wanted to share why we think now is absolutely the perfect time to book in your leadership team away-day. In this month’s blog, Jo gives us the top five key points of excellent feedback which we always receive from our away-days, and explores why these points are so important. So take a couple of minutes from your day and read: Leadership Team Away-Days – Why NOW more than ever you need to find the time to reflect, re-set, re-focus and, most importantly, get RE-SULTS!

META MASTERCLASS JULY 1st – GETTING BACK ON TRACK: A return to our excellent selves: 

We still have a few places remaining on our July 1^st Masterclass, which will focus on helping all of us to get back being at our best after the challenging 2020 we all had. If you would like to reclaim your excellence and set yourself up for a wonderful rest of the year, then why not sign up today while there are still a few spots left. All you need to do is email jo@metapositive.com to secure your place.

META CATCH-UPS:

As we all start to return to some semblance of normality, we’d like to take this opportunity to say we’d LOVE to catch up with you! Just drop an email to Jo or Di – we’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you a wonderful month ahead!

APRIL 2021 NEWS: 15 TOP TIPS TO MAKE WORKING FROM HOME WORK FOR YOU, AND NEW DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

NEW META BLOG:

This month’s blog from Jo is an absolute must-read, as he draws together many years of research and experience to create the ultimate guide for working from home in 15 TOP TIPS TO MAKE WORKING FROM HOME WORK FOR YOU: And your organisation too! This brilliant new article covers everything from how to organise your work space to how to organise your time, and the key elements which are crucial to maintaining optimum performance. So take a couple of moments out of your day to find out more – these tips are revolutionary. It’ll just take five minutes to read this blog – you will be so pleased you did, as these top tips could transform the way you WORK FROM HOME.

We also have some new dates for your diaries!

META GIVES VIRTUAL WORKSHOP AT LOCAL CIPD MAY 14^th:

On Friday May 14th, Meta will hosting a special RE-BUILDING YOUR RESILIENCE WORKSHOP at our local Hereford and Worcester CIPD. So, if you’re a CIPD member in our locale, then please DO make sure you sign up to join us, you should find info about it in your inboxes very soon. Jo will be sharing a couple of fantastic tools that can help you as HR & L&D professionals to re-build your resilience. It’s always been a part of Meta’s mission to be actively supporting those organisations like the CIPD which support local businesses, so we’re delighted to have been invited to give this workshop. If you are in the Worcester area and would like to find out more, then contact jo@metapositive.com for further information and to sign up!

JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2021 – RE-STARTING JUNE 2021:

We are happy to announce that we are re-starting our flagship Journey to Mastery programme from June 2021 – and we still have a few places left! If you love what you experienced at our Journey to Mastery Masterclasses, then now is the perfect time to join Journey to Mastery 2021. Head over to our EVENTS page to find out more, or contact jo@metapositive.com directly. We look forward to welcoming you on the Journey which has helped so many of our Meta friends and family fulfil their excellent best in both professional and personal lives.

META CATCH UP CUPPAS – SOON TO BE IN REAL LIFE!

We are still in the process of virtually catching up with as many of you in our Meta family as we can, and look forward to catching up with you in real life as soon as we can too! If you would like to jump the queue and get in our diary sooner than later, then drop an email to Jo or Di – we’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you all a wonderful month ahead!

MARCH 2021 NEWS: VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS DATES AND HOW TO MAKE WORKING FROM HOME WORK FOR US

NEW META BLOG:

This month Jo has written a must-read new blog, in which he asks ‘IS WORKING FROM HOME REALLY WORKING?’, explains exactly why so many of us are struggling, and gives us some invaluable tips and tools on how to make working from home work for us. It offers key insights for both employers and employees, so make sure you click on the title-link above to head straight over to the article.

VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS DATES – 16th & 25th MARCH: OPEN TO EVERYONE!

We also have some places left on our virtual MASTERCLASS events in March and these events are now open to everyone in the Meta family, and this means you! The dates for your diary are 16th and 25th March and the theme is: GETTING TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN: Top tips and tools to help us get through the final stage of this COVID journey. These virtual Masterclasses are real fuel tank fillers, so if you’ve not been to a Meta event in a while and could do with a good pick me up, why not come join us? Head over to our EVENTS page for full details.

META CATCH UP CUPPAS: 

We are still in the process of virtually catching up with as many of you in our Meta family as we can, however if you’d like to jump the queue and get in our diary sooner rather than later for your virtual catch up and cuppa, why not drop an email to Jo or Di and arrange yours! We’d love to hear from you!

AND FINALLY – IN THESE TIMES WE’D LIKE TO HELP YOU & YOUR ORGANISATION

We have been working extensively throughout the pandemic, helping organisations support their staff with workshops on resilience, stress, sleep and smarter (virtual) working practices – we’ve spent years researching these incredibly important topics and now there’s a great opportunity to really change the way we work for the better, for good. So if your organisation is looking to do something on well-being, resilience or virtual working, do bear us in mind – we’re always up for a conversation. Or maybe it’s that your organisation is looking for an engaging and inspiring speaker on any of those topics for your staff conference this year? If so, then get in touch, we love delivering powerful presentations that share our practical tools & research in an engaging and uniquely Meta way.

Have a lovely month everyone!

In peace,

Jo and Di xxx

JANUARY 2021 NEWS: HOW TO CLIMB MOUNTAINS AND THE POWER OF SAYING THANK YOU

As we enter another uncertain and challenging period of the COVID pandemic, we first of all wanted to say that we are STILL HERE. Meta is committed to doing what we can to support the wonderful people in our Meta family and, if you’re reading this, that means you!

It’s hard to keep on picking yourself up and motivating yourself when things around us are all doom and gloom, especially when it’s the umpteenth time you’ve had to do this. So, if you need a pick me up, a few words of encouragement, or just a friendly chat with someone who cares, then please DO get in touch with Jo or Di – we’d love to do what we can to help you get through these next few months and come out the other side. It’s not easy, we know that – so please do call on us should you need to.

NEW META BLOG

In this month’s BLOG, the first of 2021, Jo reminds us of the power of a THANK YOU. It’s a powerful blog, that hits home the point that it’s time to say THANK YOU to those that have helped us up the metaphorical mountain that we’ve all been climbing – and how healing and energising a genuine THANK YOU can be. We all want to be appreciated and valued and, now more than ever, we need those little THANK YOUs to get us through our working days, and the coming months. It’s an inspiring blog that’ll just take a few minutes of your day to read, so why not take a break, a Meta-break, and read it for yourself – It’s time to say THANK YOU!

META RESILIENCE WORKSHOPS

Resilience means our ability to ‘bounce back’ and, with all the enforced changes, in and out, that we’ve had over the last year, I think it’s safe to say that most of us are ‘all bounced out’. Ever since the pandemic began, we have been running virtual workshops with frontline organisations to help their leaders and their staff to develop their own resilience toolkits. You may not have realised that Meta offered resilience workshops, but if your organisation is looking for a provider to help your staff cope with the well-being and mental-health challenges that this pandemic has brought, whilst still understanding the realities of business and virtual working, then we hope that you’d consider us – do get in touch to find out more. Remember to also keep your eyes open for further announcements about virtual events we shall be running through 2021 – watch this space!

NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS: KINDNESS, CARING AND CHARITY

CRISIS – META’S CHARITY FOR 2020

We wanted to take this opportunity to say how wonderful it is to have been working with CRISIS over the last few months. This amazing organisation supports the most vulnerable on our streets, and the more we work in partnership with them, the more we love them. We’ve been supporting their frontline staff with our virtual BIO-CHEMISTRY OF STRESS workshops and #HAPPY SLEEPING workshops and will continue to support this brilliant charity and its staff.

That’s why we’ve made CRISIS Meta’s charity for 2020 and we’d like to use this opportunity to ask you to do what you can to support this vitally important charity. This year has been tough for all of us, but imagine what it is like to be homeless in these unprecedented times. Crisis is an independent charity solely dependent on public donations, it is fiercely independent and gets no government grants. They do that so that they can fight for and give voice to those who are homeless and put their members (those homeless people who come to them) at the forefront of all they do. They’re not just a place that runs shelters, they are a frontline service that helps anyone who comes to their door to find the support they need and helps them to find a pathway back from the streets to finding a home. It’s been an honour to work with this amazing organisation and so that’s why we’ve been supporting them and why we’d like you to support them if you can too. This year charities’ incomes have really suffered, none of us have donated as much as we would have normally and I know that CRISIS is urgently in need of more support to deliver it’s incredibly important work over the winter period – a time when I think we’d all agree must be the toughest for those who are homeless. So, let’s do what we can to help, let’s do what we can to support the homeless and donate to Crisis.

NEW META BLOG: KINDNESS (IS INFECTIOUS TOO)

Lockdown is upon us again, so in this month’s blog Jo focusses in on something that we all need and can all give, even in lockdown measures – KINDNESS. Kindness is something so easy to do, so simple to share, and Jo explains why kindness matters and why it’s a gift that keeps on giving. Jo also introduces us to kindness’ sense-sibling, CARING. We all like to feel like someone cares about us, especially now we’re working from home – to feel that we’re connected and cared for matters. Kindness is infectious (in a good way!) and caring is our natural way of being. So have a read for some handy tips on how to show your kindness and show you care during lockdown, not just with those you love, but those you work with too. So while you are here, remember to head on over to Kindness (Is Infectious Too).

NEW YEAR STARTS FOR META WORKSHOPS

Obviously, with lockdown upon us, we’ve had to sadly delay the next Meta Leadership Network event and our Journey to Mastery Masterclass. However, please do keep an eye on your inboxes, because we’re intending, in the run up to Christmas, to announce NEW dates for virtual Meta events. Keep checking back to our Events page too, where we shall be posting the information for all forthcoming events!

SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS: HOW TO OVERCOME “THE UNHOLY TRINITY” OF OVERWORK, STRESS AND SLEEPLESSNESS; AND A NEW DATE FOR OUR VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS

NEW META BLOG: “THE UNHOLY TRINITY”: OVERWORK, STRESS AND SLEEPLESSNESS

In this month’s blog, Jo looks at how the combination of overwork, stress and sleeplessness becomes a toxic “Unholy Trinity” which raises our cortisol levels and lowers our immune systems, and explores what we can do to help ourselves, our loved ones, our colleagues and our employees. New data shows that, in this challenging time, we are more overworked, stressed and prone to insomnia than ever before. At Meta, these are the very areas we tackle with our tailored programmes for individuals and organisations, so we can turn it around, lower our stress levels, boost our immune systems, and get a decent night’s sleep. So head on over to our BLOG to find out how you can escape the vicious cycle of “THE UNHOLY TRINITY”.

META DOES ‘REBUILDING YOUR RESILIENCE’ WEBINAR FOR LOCAL ORGANISATIONS

This month Jo was invited to give an hour-long webinar on Rebuilding your Resilience for the Hereford & Worcester Chamber of Commerce. The seminar was a great success and got rave reviews! It’s a topic we’ve done a lot of research into and is something we are very passionate about. We feel that, in these challenging times, it is so important to support local organisations, and this was a great opportunity to share our research with those employers in our local community. We want to thank Dawn and Olivia at the H&W Chamber of Commerce for inviting us to put on the webinar and we look forward to working more with them in the future – stay tuned for more info on that!

NEW DATE FOR JtoM VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS

We also a NEW DATE for our virtual Journey to Mastery MASTERCLASS, which is OCTOBER 15th, and the subject will be ‘LESSONS FROM COVID – CREATING OUR ‘NEW NORMAL’.

These last few months have been tough for us all, but it’s important for us all to review what we’ve learnt from this time in enforced self-isolation and make sure that we use those LESSONS FROM COVID to create a ‘new normal’ that really works for us. Change that is forced upon us, can be a great opportunity to learn and grow – to re-create our lives in the next biggest version and that’s what this MASTERCLASS will be exploring.

Normally these MASTERCLASS events are just for people who have attended our Journey to Mastery programme however this month, we are opening it up to anyone in the Meta family as we feel this particular Masterclass topic is relevant to us all. So head on over to our EVENTS page for full details and to register.

AUGUST 2020 NEWS: BRINGING YOU THE BEST TOOLS TO MANAGE STRESS AND EXCITING NEW DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

META BLOG – THE COVID HANGOVER – It’s time to talk about stress

At Meta, even before the Covid Crisis, we saw a worrying rise in stress-related illness within our extended leadership network and Meta family. The Covid Crisis has led to us all having elevated levels of stress, for an extended length of time – something our physical and mental health will be feeling the after-effects of for a while. So, in this month’s META BLOG, Jo invites us into action, be that as an individual or leaders in an organisation, because we all need to be taking stress and its health side-effects much more seriously. If we are to prevent a mental health crisis in our organisations, we need to be pro-active and take action now before this COVID HANGOVER kicks in.

FREE RESILIENCE WORKSHOP for H&W CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Jo has been invited by the Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce to give a FREE virtual workshop on RESILIENCE.
It’s open to members and non-members, so if you’re a local organisation in the Hereford and Worcester area, please do come and join Jo as he highlights some of our techniques to build resilience. It’s only an hour of your time and it’s FREE!

THE BIO-CHEMISTRY OF STRESS WORKSHOP GOES VIRTUAL

We’re also proud to be working with a leading homelessness charity delivering our Bio-Chemistry of Stress workshops virtually for their frontline staff. It’s a delight to help support such a wonderful organisation that’s been doing amazing work throughout this crisis. It’s also helped us refine and revamp the workshop content on this important topic (that Jo is talking about in this month’s blog) so that it is works brilliantly virtually!

VIRTUAL META LEADERSHIP NETWORK – PART TWO – DATE TBC!

After the wonderful success of our first ever virtual Meta leadership network event, we’re going to be doing another by the end of the year – date to be confirmed! The session will focus on what the ‘new normal’ will be and how to ensure, as organisational leaders, we mitigate the long-term effects of the Covid Crisis on our staff and organisations. Stay tuned for more info from us soon.

AND FINALLY – WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

We have tried, over this Covid-19 period, to get in touch with as many of you in our Meta family as we can, however we know that we haven’t managed to get in touch with you all. So if you’ve not heard from us yet, we’d LOVE to hear from you!

Have a lovely August everyone and enjoy the summer!

In peace and love, Jo xxx

JULY 2020 NEWS: HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR NEW NORMAL AND GREAT NEWS FOR THE RECOMMENCEMENT OF JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2020

This month we have an excellent new blog from Jo – LESSONS FROM COVID – How do you want your ‘new normal’ to be?We’ve been through a truly once in a lifetime experience these last four months. As we start to ease lockdown and get to some sort of ’normality’, Jo suggests that it’s really important we review and understand the lessons we take from this pandemic, both in our own lives and in our working lives. There is no doubt that we are all going to be working and living in a ’new normal’ – but what will that new normal be like? Jo argues that now is the time to ask yourself what you’ve learnt from this period of isolation and enforced changes, both good and not so good, so that you can create how you’d like your ’new normal’ to be. In crisis there is always opportunity, this is an opportunity for you to work and live in a different way that works more for you and your family.

JOURNEY TO MASTERY – Hopefully returns in September! 

We are hopeful that should the easing of lockdown continue apace, that we should be able to reconvene the postponed Journey to Mastery programme 2020 in September. We are quietly confident that all being well, we’ll finally be able to re-start our flagship personal development programme! The delayed start has meant that we are able to re-open the registration for the programme. If you have found yourself asking the bigger questions during lockdown and would like some answers and tools to help create the life you want to have. Then you could be a perfect candidate for the Journey.

Have a read of this info document see if the Journey to Mastery is for you – 2020 Journey to Mastery Awakening Brochure

WE’LL MEET AGAIN

Now that lockdown is easing, we’re eager to get back in touch with you all in our Meta family. We’d love to meet up be it virtually or socially distanced to catch up with you. We’d love to hear your experiences of this challenging time, and we’d just love to see you again!  So please DO get in touch.

JUNE 2020 NEWS: HOW WE CAN LEARN FROM EXTREME CHANGE AND WHY IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK SOME DAYS

FIRST META VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS A REAL SUCCESS

In May we ran our first virtual Masterclass session on ZOOM. The theme was YOUR RESILIENCE TOOLKIT – and we’ve had amazing feedback from the sessions, so we’re going to be announcing our NEXT Masterclass next month. It was so lovely to see so many of your smiling faces and it was a genuine delight to see you all and share time online together.

The virtual sessions really work! So much so that we’re going to be doing a VIRTUAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK event in July.

META LEADERSHIP NETWORK GOES VIRTUAL – JULY 14th – ‘LEADERSHIP IN CRISIS’

One of the events we’d had to postpone as a result of the pandemic was our META LEADERSHIP NETWORK event. Having had success and positive feedback from our VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS last week, we’ve decided that it’s important for us to do something to support the leaders too! And that’s why we’re announcing that we will be doing a VIRTUAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK EVENT on July 14th. The event will focus in on your what it’s been like to be a leader during the last two months, and is an opportunity to get together with other leaders in the Meta network to share your experiences of leading in this crisis. There’ll be the usual input from Di and Jo, along with the chance to learn from each other – both the best practice and the obstacles you’ve faced along the way. We’ll also be touching upon what the future of working will be like after lockdown is eased – can we really ever go back to our old ways of working? What will the ’new normal’ look like?

For more info on the META LEADERSHIP NETWORK EVENT please go to our EVENTS PAGE.

WHY IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK SOME DAYS

As well as looking how and what we can learn as leaders during this time, Jo’s blog this month also looks at how extreme change can affect us as people. So while you are here, remember to give it a read and learn why IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK.

 

MAY 2020 NEWS: META GOES VIRTUAL AND SHOWS YOU HOW TO BOUNCE LIKE TIGGER

We hope you are all in good health and good spirits!  This month we have two lovely things we hope will bring a smile to your face.

THE NEW META BLOG – TIGGER’S BOUNCE

The first is Jo’s new blog that uses some of Meta’s favourite characters – Pooh, Piglet and Tigger – in a blog about the importance of friendship, our support network (and bouncing!) when we’re in self-isolation and lockdown. Those of you who have known us for years will know that we often would read from Winnie the Pooh in our workshops and so it’s lovely to have them join us again! So take five minutes to read TIGGER’S BOUNCE and see how it can put a spring in your step!

META GOES VIRTUAL – NEW JOURNEY TO MASTERY – MASTERCLASS – MAY 26th & 27th

The second lovely thing is that we are going to be running a VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS at the end of May. We thought the most relevant topic to explore would be RESILIENCE and, more specifically, giving you some tools for your own resilience toolkits in these challenging times. The three-hour workshop will be done over ZOOM and places will be limited, but if there is a high demand we will do more so no-one misses out. Head over to our EVENTS page for full details!

AND FINALLY – META SUPPORT FOR LIFE

As Jo says in his blog this month, in times like these it’s useful to know who we’ve got in our friendship and support network – who is there for us when we need a friend or just someone to talk to. At Meta we consider you all to be part of the Meta Family and we want you to know we’re absolutely here for you. So if you are furloughed or working from home and have some time that perhaps you wouldn’t normally – why not use the upcoming month to get in touch and arrange a virtual cuppa and catch up with Di or Jo?

Have a wonderful month! In peace and love!

Jo and Di xx

APRIL 2020 NEWS: BEING POSITIVE RIPPLES IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

We do hope that you are healthy and taking care of yourselves in these challenging times we all face. At Meta part of our purpose is to spread a little positivity out into the world, and so this month’s blog is a lovely reminder that in times like these we can all SMILE AND BE A POSITIVE RIPPLE, spreading kindness and making someone’s day with something as SIMPLE as a smile. It’s times like these when we need to come together as a community, to remember just how much we have in common we have with those around us, and do what we can to be of service – what greater service than to cheer someone’s day and spread a little kindness and compassion.

At Meta we say that if you’ve ever been on one of our programmes or been a customer of ours, you get our SUPPORT FOR LIFE. It doesn’t matter if that was a month ago or indeed 15 years ago – as far as we’re concerned you’re part of the Meta family, so we are HERE TO SUPPORT YOU! We are at your service, so please DO get in touch, should you need someone to talk to or just to reconnect!

We are ALSO currently planning some virtual Meta sessions, so stay tuned for more info on those in the coming weeks. Do also keep an eye on our events page, as we will be re-scheduling in-person events as soon as we are able.

Be safe and take care of yourselves!

Sending much love to you all,

Jo & Di xxx

MARCH 2020 – AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM JO & DI

META – YOUR SUPPORT FOR LIFE

At Meta we have been wondering how best to respond to the current extraordinary situation we are all facing. It’s easy when watching the constant news updates to get caught in fear, to worry about uncertain times ahead, to isolate oneself and go into protective lockdown – but fear is never a good voice to listen to, let alone follow its advice.

It’s love and kindness, generosity and compassion that will get us through this period. It’s a time to put aside difference and come together as a larger community. It’s at times like these that you go back to your core-values, what are you HERE FOR? What is your real PURPOSE? And that’s what we’ve been doing here at Meta.

I’m going to be honest here: I’d been caught by fear and I’m sure I’m not the only one. With a small business consultancy like Meta it can go from everything is good to everything is gone very quickly! But there’s only so long that you can listen to fear and this morning I decided to have a stern word with myself whilst looking in the bathroom mirror:

‘Jo, it’s time to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get yourself out there. Meta is a company here to help change the world – get back out there and do what you can to help – that’s your purpose, that’s your mission! Go and do what you are here to do, go do what you can to make a difference and support those in your Meta family’

So here we are with this very simple message to every single one of you reading this:

“WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU ANYWAY WE CAN – PLEASE CALL ON US.”

Meta has always talked of giving ‘support for life’ to anyone who has been on a programme or part of a group that we have run.

Yes we will be exploring ways of making Meta virtual (please stay tuned for video tool-kit exercises and invites to virtual Meta sessions and more) but first and foremost we, Me and Di, wanted to say that we are here to support and help YOU, your leaders, people and organisations in ANY WAY we can.

In the challenging days and months ahead, it’s useful to know that you can talk to someone, that you can get some guidance and support in the extraordinary times we are facing from someone independent but understanding of your world. We will all need to talk to someone, we will all need a ‘rant buddy’ – and we are GREAT rant buddies!

Meta is in business to support people like you. Now more than ever it’s time to be there for your family and YOU are OUR FAMILY.

So please do call on us. We are always just an email or phone call away.
We love what we do, and we love you, our Meta family – so let us help you, that’s what the Meta family is for.

We wish you all the very best in the coming weeks,

Be safe, be healthy & please take good care of yourselves.

Now more than ever we need to be filling our fuel tanks and looking after ourselves as well as being a positive ripple in the world.

Please keep an eye out for further Meta announcements in the coming weeks & for direct emails from Jo + Di – we’ll be reaching out – If you’re no longer on your work email, then please do contact us and we’ll make sure you get the announcements!

All our love,

Jo  jo@metapositive.com

& Di – di@metapositive.com

xxx

FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS: REBUILD YOUR RESILIENCE WITH META AND A NEW DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

This month we thought it was time to do a really practical and useful blog. Right now the likelihood is that all of you are finding there’s not enough hours in the day to get everything done. You’re working extremely hard and probably, as a result, you’ll be feeling like you’re running on empty. So in this month’s blog Jo shares six really simple tools that will help you re-build your resilience and get you back to feeling on top of your work and life again. At Meta we’re passionate about helping people to be at their best, especially in these challenging times. So take just five minutes to read our new article RUNNING ON EMPTY? and maybe print if off too – we promise you’ll be so glad you did.

META HELPING VODAFONE WELL-BEING LAUNCH

Recently Jo was invited to give a half-day session on ‘the science behind working smarter not harder’ at Vodafone HQ in Newbury. It was such a delight to work with leaders who were so eager to promote well-being in the organisation. Big thanks to everyone who came and made it such a great workshop, and special thanks to Nick and Angela, who head up the global well-being programme at VF, for inviting Jo in to share. It is so encouraging to see a global organisation like Vodafone making such a commitment to their staff’s well-being, and we’re proud to be supporting them in the launch of their ‘well-being’ programme next week where Jo will be doing a lunch and learn session on ‘working smarter not harder’.

 

JOURNEY TO MASTERY MASTERCLASS – NEW REVISED DATE March 31st

If you’d like to get some tools to help you ‘excel in 2020’ and would like to experience what Meta does best, then why not come join us at our first Masterclass of 2020.

Held in Cheltenham, these days are normally just for previous attendees of our Journey to Mastery programme, however this time we’re opening it up to all comers! So if you’d like to get some extra tools for your work/leadership toolkits to help you to be your most excellent in 2020 – then get in touch and come along, we’d love to see you there! You can also see more details about our Masterclass and the full Journey to Mastery programme on our events page.

AND FINALLY

The ‘Meta way’ has always been ‘two-way’ – if you’d like to talk to us, or you need a friendly ear or a bit of support, then just get in touch. If work is getting a bit too much or you’re finding your own fuel tank running on empty, please do call on us and we’ll do what we can to be of service to you – that’s what we’re here for, and that’s what we’ll always be here for.

Look after yourselves this month, and make sure you get a-filling those fuel tanks!

JANUARY 2020 NEWS: HOW TO TRULY EXCEL IN 2020

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that 2020 is one of abundance for you all! Jo has just written an excellent new blog WHAT’S YOUR VISION? What will the new decade bring for you? which gives us a fun, creative and incredibly valuable exercise to find out for ourselves how we can best create our most abundant lives, not just in the year to come, but for the next decade. So while you are here, do give it a read – you will be glad that you did!

It certainly looks as if it’s going to be a busy year for Meta, and we’re really looking forward to the exciting new projects that we have planned.

JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2020 and a NEW DATE for the MASTERCLASS

We’ve decided to delay the start of our Journey to Mastery this year by a month, so that gives you STILL TIME to get yourself or someone you know signed up – it will now start on MARCH 26th. If you’re curious about Journey to Mastery but not quite ready to sign up to such a big programme yet, we’ve got our Journey to Mastery MASTERCLASS on MARCH 31ST, which would make a perfect ’taster session’ which would give you the JtoM experience without such a big commitment. You’ll get to experience our approach to NLP, get to meet other people who’ve already been on our Journey to Mastery programmes (and pick their brains about how the experience was for them) and come away with some really useful tools about ‘excelling in 2020!’ – which is the theme of the day.

META LEADERSHIP NETWORK – coming in March

We’re looking to have our first Meta leadership network event of 2020 in March this year. We’re working with Lloyds Banking Group who will be hosting the event to finalise a date. However we can whet your appetites by telling you the theme for the event is ‘culture’ and how, as leaders, we can create the right culture to allow our people to flourish and grow. More info about that soon, so keep an eye on our Events page for more info.

And finally.. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

We want to make 2020 a year where we reconnect with those in the Meta family we’ve not seen for a while. So if you’re one of those people, why not get back in touch? We’d really love to hear from you, no matter how long it’s been. We’ve already had two Meta family members get back in touch this year, and it always makes our day to hear from those we’ve not heard from in a while.

DECEMBER 2019 NEWS: WISHING YOU A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS AND AN TRULY EXCELLENT NEW YEAR AHEAD!

It’s that time of year again and wow, didn’t 2019 just fly by? The festive season means different things for all of us. Some of us like to ‘hibernate’ and snuggle up by the fireplace with a good book and a hot chocolate, or glass of wine. Some of us like to get dressed up in our glad rags and attend festive parties and events. For some of us it is all about family. For others it is about volunteering to help the less fortunate. And for some of us, this time of year can sometimes feel a little lonely. However we feel about Christmas and whatever it means to us, this is the perfect time to review the year gone by, and plan how we would like the next year to be. If there is anything we want to leave behind which is no longer serving us, we can do just that. If there is something new we want to achieve, we can do that too. In fact, we can ALL embrace this opportunity to reflect and review and decide what comes next. After all, we are the masters and mistresses of our own destinies!

In this month’s blog, YOUR NEXT CHAPTER – WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND IN 2019?, Jo explains exactly how we can create our own 2019 reviews and plan the year ahead, along with giving us the questions to ask ourselves along the way. So head on over to our blog and check it out, you will be glad you did.

If you want to ensure you truly excel in 2020, then we have a special MASTERCLASS for you on 30th January, entitled ‘EXCELLENCE 2020 – How to ensure you excel in the year ahead’. Meta Masterclasses are brilliant and fun days to either catch up what you have learned if you have already been on Meta’s JOURNEY TO MASTERY, or to get a taster of what to expect on the programme if you have not yet joined us. Contact Jo to book your spot, as we expect our January event will fill up fast. And remember, there is still time to register for JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2020 too, so download our brochure for more info: 2020 Journey to Mastery Awakening Brochure

Whatever you are doing, and however you are celebrating, we wish you all a MAGICAL CHRISTMAS and EXCELLENT NEW YEAR AHEAD!

Love from Meta x

NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS: WHY HUMAN BEINGS THRIVE ON COOPERATION AND NOW ENROLLING FOR JtoM 2020

We’re so busy these days we rarely get the chance to stop, reflect and look forward. As a team, it’s so important to get time away from the office to focus on what’s really important and HOW you will work together to achieve what needs to be done. In this month’s blog, WHY COOPERATION WORKS, Di and Jo dust off their etymology dictionary to talk about the real meaning of cooperation and collaboration. In a world that is currently so divided, it’s a useful reminder that working together is built into our DNA, and it’s what has always brought us success and prosperity.

So if your team has taken a battering in the storm of work that has been raging this year, then why not treat them to some time away from the office? Now’s the time of year for budgets, so why not budget in a team away-day in 2020 to refocus, rebuild, reset and look to the future together? We love helping teams at all levels to recapture their team spirit and give them tools to work together more effectively and work smarter not harder – it’s what we do best! So why not get us into your workplace to help you and your team to really excel in 2020? If you’d be interested in finding out more, just get in touch.

Our flagship programme, JOURNEY TO MASTERY, is also now open for 2020 enrolment! If you’d like to take your learning to the next level; if you’d like an extensive toolkit which enables you to be at your best whenever you need to be; if you’d like to hone and develop your leadership skills and invest in your own future or that of the talented rising stars in your organisation – then come join us in 2020 for our flagship Journey to Mastery programme. This eight-day NLP-based programme starts in February and comes with four built-in coaching sessions. For many of us life and work is a daily challenge, how do we fit everything in? How do we do all that needs to be done? The Journey will give you all the tools you need to excel in work and at home. There’s nothing ordinary about the Journey, it’s a magical experience that could just change your life. So if you’d like to find out more and register your interest in our Journey to Mastery next year then head over to our Events page for further information and to download the brochure, and get in touch with Jo on jo@metapositive.com

OCTOBER 2019 NEWS: BEATING STRESS WITH DELOITTE, SHARING STORIES, AND RE-BUILDING RESILIENCE

In this last month, Jo was invited to speak at the prestigious Deloitte Global Shared Services conference in Dublin. Some 1500 top global leaders attended the conference and Jo shared our research on the bio-chemistry of stress and tools on beating stress and building resilience, in two well-attended breakout sessions. It felt so purposeful to be sharing this on the global stage and we believe it’s so important to be looking after the wellbeing and mental health of your staff. We’re passionate about sharing our research and tools for tackling stress – so if you’d like to have us come speak or facilitate a fun and informative session on resilience/stress/wellbeing/working smarter not harder at your staff conference, or as part of your L+D development plan for 2020, please do get in touch!

It was also so great to see those of you would came along to our JtoM Masterclass last month! This was our last Masterclass of the year, but there is still time to come along to our next LEADERSHIP NETWORK on OCTOBER 17th – head over to our Events page for more info!

In article news, we have two new treats from Jo for you. One is our new blog, Jo’s story about work he was doing before Meta and how ‘MY DAD’S WORDS OF WISDOM – TAKE THE GOOD STUFF HOME WITH YOU‘ changed Jo’s perspective on something he was struggling with, and inspired him on his own personal and professional path. This is the good stuff, so take a moment to read it – you will be pleased you did.

The other is a new LinkedIn article in which Jo explains why the only way to be truly resilient is to look after ourselves first and foremost, and gives us the six essential steps to ensure we keep our own personal fuel tanks topped up. Jo says: “I like to think of resilience as like your emergency power source, it’s what keeps you doing when everything is falling apart around you, it’s the back up battery that allows you to come back after a knock back, or run that bit longer even though your actual internal fuel tank has run out.” Find out how to re-build your own resilience with ‘IS YOUR FUEL TANK RUNNING ON EMPTY? HOW TO REBUILD YOUR RESILIENCE IN SIX EASY STEPS‘ and give your day an extra added Meta boost!

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEWS: HOW TO BE A TRULY EXCELLENT LEADER AND JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2020

Due to high demand, we have just released our brochure for 2020 Journey to Mastery Awakening Brochure. You can download it directly from the link on the brochure here, or head on over to our Events page for more details of all the excellent benefits JOURNEY TO MASTERY can have on your own professional and personal lives. And don’t forget our MASTERCLASS taster day on SEPTEMBER 17th, where you can experience some of the JtoM magic for yourself – this one-day event is open to everyone, not just those of you have been on the Journey already, so come along for a top-up yourself, and share with your friends too – it is going to be a great day!

In blog news this month, we have a short, sweet and absolutely spot-on piece from Di, BEING A LEADER, which gives us the top tips for leadership skills we can use at work, at home, and even whilst out and about in the world, all centred around being a good person and leading by example.  And on the subject of leadership, don’t forget our next LEADERSHIP NETWORK on OCTOBER 17th – head over to our Events page for more info!

Lastly, Jo is about to head to Dublin to speak at the Deloitte Shared Services conference – we can’t wait to hear all about it when he gets back, watch this space!

AUGUST 2019 NEWS: HOW TO MASTER TIME A NEW DATE FOR YOUR DIARIES – OUR JOURNEY TO MASTERY MASTERCLASS WILL BE ON SEPTEMBER 17TH

Our next JOURNEY TO MASTERY one-day MASTERCLASS is now booked for SEPTEMBER 17^th and we are really excited about this one, as we have especially enjoyed seeing how far our JtoM family and friends have come in the past couple of years, and we have some new content to share with you too. This is the perfect day to both brush up on the skills in your toolkit and catch up with other members of our JtoM family too!

And on the subject of get togethers, don’t forget our final LEADERSHIP NETWORK event of the year on OCTOBER 17^th. This is a wonderful opportunity for all leaders in our Meta network to come together and share experiences, tell truths, and help each other overcome obstacles faces by leaders today. This meeting is about LEADERSHIP INTEGRITY and you will be able to share good practice and develop skills in a structured, interactive, half-day workshop.

Head over to our Events page to find out more about both events and book your spots before places fill up.

In other news, our CEO Jo Clarkson has been asked to contribute to the Deloitte Shared Services conference in Dublin on September 10th&11th. This top conference brings together global leaders to talk about the future of shared services working, it’s a great honour to be invited, and we’re super excited to be sharing our smarter working research and practices on this global stage. More on this coming soon!

And remember to check out our new blog TIME – ISN’T IT TIME TO ADMIT WE HAVE A PROBLEM?    Written by Jo and recently published on LinkedIn, this article gives us the ’10 Principles to Manage Time’ and the crucial keys to making our time go further – even and especially if we are so super-busy we feel we can’t even stop to think. In fact, just stopping is the very first thing we must do in order to manage our time better, so give yourself a little head space and enjoy this enlightening and valuable read!

JULY 2019 NEWS: CREATING THE BRAIN CAPACITY TO LEAD AT DELOITTE AND A NEW LEADERSHIP NETWORK DATE ON OCTOBER 17TH

Jo recently presented a mini workshop at Deloitte’s Public Sector Shared Services Forum 2019: Leading in the Digital Age. This is a significant public sector event in the UK and included thought-provoking discussion forums combined with plenary sessions from shared services leads from: Hampshire County Council; Cabinet Office; DWP; the Danish Government; National Grid; Discovery Channel, Solvay… and META!

Amongst subjects covered such as ‘How to be a leader in the digital shared services age and why you need to become ‘customer-educated’, ‘How to apply AI and chatbots’ and ‘Delivering the moments that matter – redesigning the employee experience’, Jo presented a mini workshop on ‘Creating the brain capacity to lead’. It was wonderful to meet some of the excellent leaders in this sector and to share our knowledge. We look forward to working with the team at Deloitte again soon!

On the subject on leaders, we now have a new date for our next LEADERSHIP NETWORK event, booked for THURSDAY 17TH OCTOBER. Check out our Events page for more details and how to reserve your place. And remember to catch up with our latest blog from Di too – this month’s title is MOVE YOURSELF! and we look at how even the smallest amounts of physical exercise or bodily movement can make a big difference to both our physical and mental wellbeing.

 

JUNE 2019 NEWS: IT’S ALL ABOUT INSPIRATION AND INTEGRITY

We hit the ground running this month and it’s all about inspiration and integrity, with the launch of JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2019 and the final prep for our forthcoming LEADERSHIP NETWORK on 27th JUNE. We hope we can inspire you with a little Meta magic every day, and if you are interested in finding out more about how you can be an ethical leader, then check out our Events page for more details, and head over to our Blog for a wise and wonderful article by Jo entitled LEADERSHIP INTEGRITY – WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR AS A LEADER?

Jo was also recently invited to give a mini-workshop on the ‘bio-chemistry of stress’ at our local CIPD branch’s annual meeting. Jo was sharing our research into stress and how to overcome it an increasingly stressful world, a topic that we’re sure will resonate with many of you reading this. Jo had a great evening, and the feedback has been really positive. It’s so lovely to be supporting the local CIPD like this and we’re grateful to Pip and Gill for inviting Jo to come present!

As a company we are committed to making a difference in the world and we think that stress is something we all need to be talking about more openly and be doing something actively about in the organisations we work in. We were so delighted to be invited as we know it’s part of our purpose as an organisation to share our in-depth research and simple practical approach to tackling stress. We believe that, now more than ever, we need to be doing what we can to shine a light on this major issue – so if you’d like to find out more about our bio-chemistry of stress workshops, then please get in touch we’d love to help your organisation defeat stress!

With special thanks to Pip from the CIPD for the photo of Jo in action!

MAY 2019 NEWS: GETTING IN SHAPE FOR SUMMER WITH META

So the lighter nights are upon us, and our thoughts turn to getting in shape for summer. We love beaches at Meta, but to us, getting in shape doesn’t mean dieting to fit into a bikini or shorts; rather getting into shape means feeding our minds! So, this summer, how about you join us on a different kind of development journey, where we lead with our brains and our bodies follow.

When we enter into challenges, it is easy to see them as a race to reach a goal. So we jump into it and sprint, without a second thought. But can we sprint a marathon? Of course not. If we want to cover any real distance, in life as in running, we need to properly prepare and train for it, else we are in danger of burning ourselves out too soon.

April is a BIG month for Meta, as we are celebrating Jo’s wedding to the beautiful Katie and wishing them both a wonderful life together! So we will be enjoying a little break, to celebrate love, relax, recharge, and come back refreshed and raring to work with you all again – so keep those dates in your diaries! We are starting our 2019 JOURNEY TO MASTERY now starting on JUNE 6TH – there is still time to sign up, and please forgive us if we are slower than usual to respond this month. For those of you who follow us on Facebook, we will leave you in the capable hands of our admin, so you will still be able to get your weekly Meta fix there. And we will be back in May, with new blogs and updates about all the excellent things we have going on for you for the rest of the year!

MARCH 2019 NEWS: NEW DATE SET FOR META LEADERSHIP NETWORK; NEW CONTENT FOR JOURNEY TO MASTERY; AND THE RIPPLE EFFECT

We’ve got lots going on in our March news, and it seems that in 2019 you leaders are busier than ever too! So to make sure we get into your busy diaries, we’ve pushed back the date for our first META LEADERSHIP NETWORK  event of 2019. It’s going to be hosted by Sandwell Council (thank you Alison!) and will now be on THURSDAY JUNE 27TH.

The theme for this event is on LEADERSHIP INTEGRITY asking whether ethics and values matter in today’s workplace still. We know that for many of you this is a topic close to your heart, so we hope you’ll join us for what will be a very interesting network event. You can download full info here:  MLN JUNE 27th 2019-info

In JOURNEY TO MASTERY news, we were also thrilled to see those of you who came to our February Masterclass JtoM catch-up day. It is wonderful to see how far you have come and continue to thrive with your Meta toolkits of excellence!

And if you have a talented member of staff or leader you’d like to develop, then why not enrol them on JOURNEY TO MASTERY too, as our flagship personal and professional development programme is now recruiting for our 2019 start, now in JUNE. 

If you’ve been on the Journey, you know what a magical, transformational, development process it is. And now it is even better than it was before! The updated Journey now has more emphasis on professional leadership skills, as well as the personal development and coaching side, so you can take all your new excellent skills back to your organisation to share with the team and implement in the workplace.

It is a truly great way to develop your leaders and people of potential. Maybe you have someone you’d like to see grow and blossom, both professionally and personally. Maybe you have a star in the making, who might need improved communication or influencing skills, or a talented individual who needs to boost their confidence and develop their leadership skills. Or maybe this is YOU!  Let us help you with on our powerful programme, an eight-day Journey which can change your whole life ahead and now includes new topics such as the biochemisty of stress, and tools on working smarter not harder.

Head over to our Events page for more information on both JOURNEY TO MASTERY and our LEADERSHIP NETWORK events.

And remember to check out our new Blog too, a fantastic article from Jo, inspired by a recent seminar we attended with Dr David Hamilton PhD. A specialist in organic chemistry, Dr Hamilton spent four years developing drugs for cardiovascular disease and cancer for the pharma industry, before he had a revelation to leave the industry and write books to educate us all on how we can harness our minds and emotions to improve our health instead. We always love learning from other brilliant minds, and in THE RIPPLE EFFECT – WILL YOU BE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE RIPPLE TODAY?, Jo shares some super-interesting information on the ripple effect and how we can all make it work for us.

FEBRUARY 2019 NEWS: THE BENEFITS OF CELEBRATING A JOB WELL DONE

Hello everyone and a big THANK YOU to everyone who came to our 18th Birthday Party Open House Event. We had a wonderful time catching up with you all and hope those of you who came enjoyed it too! At Meta we are confirmed believers in celebrating, whether that is at a party, or just a cup of tea and a cake for the team on a Friday afternoon.

CELEBRATING is the subject of this month’s article from Di, so do hop over to our blog page for a two-minute read which will boost your morale!

We’ve also been celebrating LEADERSHIP, with our ‘Creating the Brain Capacity to Lead’ mini-workshop for Wirral Council’s Top 100 Leaders.

Jo our CEO ran a mini-workshop for Wirral Council’s Top 100 Leaders Well-Being Conference on January 16th, with the subject being ‘Creating the Brain Capacity to Lead’. We love sharing our research on smarter working practices and the invitation was one we couldn’t resist! It was wonderful to meet and work with some of the top leaders in the council and see a public sector organisation so committed to the development of its leaders.

Our next LEADERSHIP EVENT is on FRIDAY 21ST MARCH and the subject is INTEGRITY AND LEADERSHIP: Do your ethics and values matter in today’s workplace?

You too can access some of these brilliant tools to improve and increase your brain capacity, by coming along to our next MASTERCLASS on 28th FEBRUARY, where you can get a taster of all the wonderful things you will learn on there full Journey to Mastery programme. So remember to check out our events page on a monthly basis too.

JANUARY 2019 NEWS: HOW YOU CAN MAKE 2019 A MOST EXCELLENT YEAR!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you enjoyed a magical festive season and have started 2019 with a positive spring in your step! We have now returned to work and now is a great time to resolve to work smarter this year than we did last year. Working smarter is a theme that runs through all the work that Meta does – it is essential if you want to be at your best and stay productive and healthy. And we can help you to achieve it – with three simple steps! (And remember to also check out our new blog from Di, as she gives us some excellent advice on how to start our new working year in the best way!)

STEP 1: PARTY!

A wonderful start would be to come along to Meta’s 18th birthday party on January 31st, where we shall be holding an open house to welcome friends and colleagues at our Worcester HQ. It will be relaxed and fun and a wonderful opportunity to meet and chat with other members of our growing Meta family. See our flyer here META PARTY INFO

STEP 2: COME ALONG TO OUR EVENTS!

You can also book in for our Masterclass day on February 28th, to get a taste of how our full Journey to Mastery programme (starting in May) can help you on your own individual journey to personal and professional excellence. And don’t forget our Leadership Network events in March, July and November!

Head over to our Events page for full info.

STEP 3: KEEP UP TO DATE WITH META NEWS!

There are lots of ways to stay in touch with us! In addition to our website, we also publish articles on our LinkedIn pages, so remember to connect with Jo and Meta on there too.

Whilst we were going to leave Facebook, we still currently run our Meta Positive page due to so many of you telling us you love our weekly postings!

We can also deliver monthly news direct to you by email, so please contact jo@metapositive.com if you would like us to add you to our mailing list (we never share our data and our principles are outlined in our Privacy Policy).

Wishing you all a wonderful month and we hope to see you very soon!

DECEMBER 2018 NEWS: LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE SHARED, A VERY SPECIAL 18TH BIRTHDAY PARTY AND WISHING YOU ALL A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS!

We held our second leadership network event of 2018 in November and what a wonderful event it was. So wonderful to see so many leaders from our network sharing ideas, best practice and being able to share the realities of being a leader in today’s challenging work environment. Here are a couple of photos of attendees deep in conversation, as they learn from each other. It was a great success everyone who came loved it and said how needed it is to feel there are other leaders like you out there! – It’s something we’re very passionate about at Meta – supporting the leaders who are out there really making a difference to the world of work.

Why don’t you come and try the Meta leadership network out for yourself? We have three dates scheduled already for 2019 and the first time you come it’s always £FREE so why not pencil the next one on March 21st  in your diary – download the info for further details: MLN-2019-March 21st-being the change-leader as role model-info

 

 

 

 

 

META PARTY – COME JOIN US TO CELEBRATE OUR 18TH BIRTHDAY!

On January 31st we are hosting 18th Birthday Party and we’d like to invite you to join us! We’ll be holding an open house @ Meta HQ in Worcester from 330pm till late, drop in anytime that works for you & join us for a glass or two of the good stuff and come help us celebrate – we’d love it if you use this date as an excuse to come reconnect and catch up.

Here’s the party flyer META PARTY INFO – make sure you put the date in your diary!

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM DI, JO and META

We want to thank all of you in the Meta family for your kind support in 2018. It’s been a wonderfully successful year for us, we’ve loved working with you and reconnecting with those of you we’d not seen for a while. We feel that 2018 has been about reconnecting with our grand purpose, our mission and our Meta family. We’ve also met some amazing people over the year, and it’s been a great honour and privilege to work with you all!

We wish you all a magical Christmas! And hope to see you at the Meta Party in January!

All our love Di and Jo xxx

Photo credit: Juliette Neel – www.julietteneel.com

NOVEMBER 2018 NEWS: CREATING THE BRAIN CAPACITY TO LEAD AND PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR

Our CEO Jo Clarkson was recently invited to speak at Wirral Council’s ‘Making Commercialism Work in the Public Sector Event.’ He did a mini taster workshop on ‘Creating the [Brain] Capacity to Lead’ which gave the leaders in the room (some 60 from councils all around the country) some of Meta’s ‘working smarter not harder’ techniques for their own leadership toolkits.

At Meta we’re passionate about sharing what we’ve learnt and so being at this event for the public sector felt really puposeful and exactly WHY we are in business. We’d like to thank Nicki Butterworth Assistant Director of Commercialism and Sam Jones Senior HR officer for asking Jo to come along and we’d like to thank all the attendees for making it such an enjoyable and memorable event.

We feel that now more than ever we need to get out there and share our research into smarter working practices so if you’ve got a staff conference or leadership event, whatever sector you’re from why not end your conference with a real energetic buzz and invite Jo along to give a mini taster workshop that will give your conference a memorable end and the leaders or delegates that attend something to take home with them that will be really practical and useful. We have a variety of topics that we can cover topics currently popular include the ‘bio-chemistry of stress’, ‘working smarter not harder’ & ‘creating the [brain] capacity to lead’. Each can be tailored make sure they’re ‘on message’ to your conference’s theme. Do get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

Remember to also check out this month’s new blog and our events page – there is still time to join our November Leadership Network and gain early bird tickets for Journey to Mastery 2019!

OCTOBER 2018 NEWS: LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM CHRISTOPHER ROBIN AND LAUNCHING JOURNEY TO MASTERY 2019

 Those of you who know us well, will be aware of how much we love Winnie the Pooh! So, of course, we recently skipped along to see the new Christopher Robin film – and we were not disappointed! Whilst Winnie the Pooh and the animals of Hundred Acre Wood may seem unlikely role models, there is sage wisdom in that ‘bear of little brain’ and we’ve often used stories from Winnie the Pooh in our Meta programmes over the years. If you want to know more about what we can all learn from Christopher Robin and his magical friends, you can read Jo’s excellent new blog, which both reviews the film and explains why it is so poignant – especially in today’s society!

Now is also the time to book your early bird ticket for our 2019 Journey to Mastery programme (starting in March). Our flagship JtoM programme transforms people’s lives- it’s a big statement, and it’s true! So if you’re a leader looking to develop your leadership toolkit and fulfil your potential, get in touch as this programme is absolutely for YOU.

There is also still time to give yourself an extra Meta boost before the end of the year, with our Journey to Mastery Masterclass next week, on Thursday 18th October; and our Leadership Network on Thursday 15th November. Check out our events page or contact jo@metapositive.com for more information on all our events and find out how you can secure your place.

SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWS: HOW TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN OTHERS, WHILE BECOMING YOUR OWN BEST SELF

We hope you all had a wonderful summer and are feeling refreshed and ready to take on whatever comes next. If you do need a pick-me-up, we are here for you! This month we have the second part of Di’s blog about how to get into just the right state to be fully prepared for all your interactions; and we would like to remind you about our forthcoming events.

Learn how to use your Journey to Mastery skills to bring out the excellence in others at our next and final (of 2018) Journey to Mastery Masterclass, held at the Cheltenham Chase Hotel on Thursday 18th October. On the Journey to Mastery programme you learnt how to utilise NLP to help transform your own lives, and those same tools can be super-useful in also helping others to be at their best – be that in a mentoring capacity, or training/leading a group at work. Contact jo@metapositive.com today to reserve your place and come along to learn the next level of mastery!

Our next Leadership Network event is on Thursday 15th November in Coventry, where we’ll be focussing on the challenges leaders face today. These events give everyone who attends an opportunity to share their own experiences of being leaders in their own organisations. Is it easy being a leader? Does your organisation reward you for it? Can you be the leader you want to be and how can you make that happen? Find out at our Leadership Network events – the first one is FREE to attend, so you have nothing to lose. Contact di@metapositive.com to reserve your place.

AUGUST 2018 NEWS: FILL YOUR FUEL TANKS WITH WISE WORDS OVER SUMMER BREAK AND JOIN THE MISSION TO MASTERY IN AUTUMN

Happy summer holidays everyone! Before we all take time out for the ‘silly season’, it’s good to get some dates booked in for when we return and also, of course, catch up on some reading.

In Events news, we are running our next Masterclass on October 18^th and here is a photo of Jo and all the happy faces from our last one. This is a brilliant day to catch up on and re-boost your Skills of Excellence from Meta’s Journey to Mastery programme.

In reading news, in addition to our thought-provoking and ever-wise first instalment in our new two-part blog from Di, on how to Be Fully Prepared, did you know that Di also has her own blog  at www.dikamp.com . It is free to subscribe, so why don’t you sign up to keep up to date with the latest musings from Meta’s founder. You will receive updates when new blogs are posted, but we will never share your details with anyone else.

Wishing you all a magical summer!

JULY 2018 NEWS: ALL ABOUT LEADERSHIP, WITH NEW LINKED IN BLOG AND NEXT NETWORK DATE SET FOR NOVEMBER

In July news, we are all about Leadership, with an excellent, thought-provoking, new LinkedIn article from Jo: Leadership Integrity – What Do You Stand For.  Jo writes: “Integrity is something that no one can fake. No amount of coercion can convince me that you are a person of integrity if you are not. As soon as you ‘relax’ your own values, as soon as you ‘allow’ the bending of your own morals or ethics as a person or as a company you can no longer be ‘in integrity’…”  

Read the full article to discover the top two qualities of a great leader, the pitfalls to watch out for, and how to retain your own integrity in business and in life. And remember to connect with on LinkedIn so you can keep up to date with our news there too. Link through to our Meta-Uk-Ltd page and Jo Clarkson‘s page to gain full access.

We’ve also set our next date for our Leadership Network Event, which will be taking place on 15th November. Check out our Events page for details.

JUNE 2018 NEWS: WE’RE HALF WAY THROUGH THIS YEAR’S EVENTS, WITH LOTS MORE TO COME!

We have just enjoyed a wonderful May Masterclass and are half way through this year’s Journey to Mastery Awakening programme. If you haven’t joined us yet, don’t worry, we have lots more going on, with many more opportunities to come and meet us and realise your own excellent self; and we are running our next Masterclass on October 18th.

Our forthcoming June event is our Meta Leadership Network on 27th (in Coventry). We have created our own Meta leadership network, made up of all the wonderful leaders we have met over the years. The idea was to get these leaders together to chat about the issues and challenges they faced in their organisations, share best practice, tell the truth in a safe environment, and go away with some extra tools for their leadership toolkits from the facilitation from Meta.

Above are a couple of photos from our last leadership event, with some of our lovely Meta friends and clients deep in thought and discussion.  To find out more about our events and book your place on one, head over to our Events page.

MAY 2018 NEWS: TWO EXCITING META OPEN PROGRAMME EVENTS – MAY & JUNE

We have two really exciting open programme events coming up which we’d like to share with you. If you are getting this newsletter, they are open to YOU – so if you’ve been wanting a taste of Meta and a re-fuelling of your fuel tank, why not pop along to one of them.

META MASTERCLASS: NLP for everyday – 31st May, Cheltenham 
This open day workshop will show how practical and useful NLP techniques can be to help you deal with some of the challenges you are facing in life and at work right now. You’ll take away from the day some simple, easy to use tools which will genuinely change the way work and life feel.

WHO WANTS TO BE A LEADER? – being a leader in challenging times – META LEADERSHIP NETWORK, June 27th, Coventry
Last year we decided it was time to create our own Meta leadership network, made up of all the wonderful leaders we have met over the years. The idea was to get these leaders together to chat about the issues and challenges they faced in their organisations, share best practice, tell the truth in a safe environment, and go away with some extra tools for their leadership toolkits from the facilitation from Meta.

Check out our events page for more info or contact Jo direct at jo@metapositive.com

APRIL 2018 NEWS: NOW TAKING BOOKINGS FOR OUR MASTERCLASS AND LEADERSHIP NETWORK EVENTS

META MASTERCLASS – MAY 31^st 

NLP is something that shouldn’t just be used on the good days, when we are ‘on form’ but should be immediately what we call upon when we’re struggling, when we’re finding life and work a challenge. So we want to use this Masterclass to remind you that NLP is not just for high days and holidays but also for EVERYDAY.

This day is all about reminding you how AMAZING you are. It’s about reminding you that you have all the tools you need in your Journey to Mastery toolkit. This day is about turning the challenges into adventures – to wrestle back control and get back on top of life and work.

So if you feel that you need a boost and a reminder of just how brilliant you can be, If you’d like to get back to how amazing you felt when you were on the Journey, and like to get that energy, that positivity and absolute belief that you could do anything you set your mind to, then this is the Masterclass for you.

META LEADERSHIP NETWORK – JUNE 27^th.

Meta has created a new kind of leadership network, one where leaders from all sectors can share and speak their truth.

Each network meeting, facilitated by Meta’s Di Kamp and Jo Clarkson will be around a theme and all leaders attending will be able to share their good practice and develop their own leadership skills in a structured interactive half-day workshop.

The aim is to develop a mutually supportive network/environment where leaders can speak openly, share best practice, and learn how to thrive in today’s challenging organisational workplace.

We ask questions such as: Is it easy being a leader in today’s workplace? Does your organisation want you to be a leader? Are you rewarded and appreciated for being a leader and showing leadership traits? Do you have the time or the capacity to do the things you’d like to do as a leader? Can you be the leader you’d like to be? And if not, what needs to change?

 Visit our Events page for more details on these events and how to reserve your place.

Also follow us on Facebook as we will be creating dedicated events pages there too, so we can invite you all along!

MARCH NEWS: MASTERCLASS DATES ANNOUNCED FOR 2018 (MAY & OCTOBER)

We are happy to announce our Masterclass dates for 2018. We will be running two events, which are open to all: the first on May 31st and the second on October 18th. If you’ve been on our Journey to Mastery programme already and want to take it to the next level, or if you are a leader looking for an inspiring day of learning, then make sure to mark the dates in your diary! To find out more, contact jo@metapositive.com

DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THE META LEADERSHIP NETWORK 2018 (JUNE AND SEPTEMBER)

Announcing our new dates for the Meta Leadership Network in 2018 – WEDNESDAY 27th JUNE and THURSDAY 27th SEPTEMBER.

Meta, supported by BDHT & Alstom Ltd., has created a new kind of leadership network, one where leaders from all sectors can share and speak their truth.

The aim is to develop a mutually supportive network/environment where leaders can speak openly, share best practice, and learn how to thrive in today’s challenging organisational workplace.

Contact us to find out more

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: NEXT LEADERSHIP NETWORK SET FOR MARCH 8TH 2018

The next leadership network event is on March 8th. It is on the topic of influencing  – something we all need to use as part of our leadership skills. It will be held at Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (bdht) in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Do get in touch with di@metapositive.com if you would like to find out more and secure your place today.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: WANT TO TAKE YOUR LEARNING TO THE NEXT LEVEL? JOIN US FOR OUR FLAGSHIP JOURNEY TO MASTERY PROGRAMME (LATE MARCH 2018)

When you get to a certain phase in your career, it’s difficult to know where to turn for more professional development. You’ve got the business degree, you’ve been on so many leadership courses you’ve lost count, you’ve done the MBA… but you’re still looking to take your learning to the next level. So where do you go to find what you need when you are a busy executive, enlightened leader, dynamic director or inspiring CEO?

At Meta we’ve spent 14 years researching, designing, creating and refining our Journey to Mastery professional development programme. Based on the study of excellence, this 8-day programme, with built in 1-1 support, will help transform your work and personal life, helping you to become the leader and person you always wanted to be.

This practical and inspirational programme will give you more than 70 tools for your leadership toolkit and toolkit for life. If you love to be challenged and stretched and want to learn how to truly excel, then we’re looking for leaders like you!

We’re currently enrolling for our Journey to Mastery – Awakening programme due to start at the end of March. Contact Jo, our CEO and Journey to Mastery lead, at jo@metapositive.com or download our PDF brochure 2018-Journey to Mastery-full info to find out more and secure your place today.

NEWS – DECEMBER 2017: A BIG THANK YOU! META @ DELOITTE SSC, GBS & BPO CONFERENCE (VIENNA)

Thanks to everyone who came to our workshop on ‘Creating the [Brain] Capacity to Lead’ at the Deloitte Global Shared Services Conference in Vienna at the end of November 2017. It was such a wonderful experience, and it was so lovely so share our ‘working smarter tools’ at such a prestigious event. We’d like to personally thank the organisers for allowing us to take part; and thank all the leaders who joined us for our break-out session, for their willingness to join in, and their amazing feedback. Here’s a couple of photos of Jo in action!

        

NEWS – NOVEMBER 2017: LAUNCH OF NEW JOURNEY TO MASTERY PROGRAMME FOR 2018

Our flagship personal and professional development programme, ‘Journey to Mastery’, starts on March 22nd 2018 . JtoM is a magical programme – not only does it give you a tremendous NLP toolkit to use at both work and at home, but is also a truly transformational experience for those who come along and take part. We’d love for you to join us! Contact Jo for more more information at jo@metapositive.com.

NEWS – SEPTEMBER 2017: Last JtoM MASTERCLASS of 2017

“Working Smarter Not Harder” – tools and techniques for thriving in challenging times

Over the last couple of years we have been researching the topic of ‘Working Smarter Not Harder’, the science and study of working (and living) in a more natural, sustainable and excellent way. We have found that people who take part in our ‘working smarter not harder’ development days get a huge amount from it, so we thought it was time to share that research and combine it with some NLP techniques so that our Masterclass family can benefit from it too. You will come away from the day with some really valuable insights into how your brain works and great practical tools that will make a real difference to how work and life feels!

Our final Masterclass of 2017 will be held on October 18th at the Cheltenham Chase hotel.

NEWS – JULY 2017: META LEADERSHIP NETWORK – a great success!

In July we held the second Meta Leadership Network event, where nearly 20 leaders from all sectors gathered together to share best practice, tell their truth, and help each other with the common obstacles they all face. The theme was ‘creating the capacity to lead’ and was centred around how, as leaders, they can work in a smarter way that makes the most of their own capacity. It was a great success with amazing feedback from participants on the day. It’s proving to be a very powerful, popular and useful network for those that attend, and so we’d like to invite you to join us. Just get in touch for more details.

NEWS: META CUSTOMER BDHT ANNOUNCED NUMBER 1 COMPANY in “GREAT PLACES TO WORK”

There are certain organisations we have worked with over the years which we are very fond of. One such is BDHT (Bromsgrove District Housing Trust) which we worked with extensively in 2014/15 when they were in the Sunday Times Top 100 places to work competition, where they reached number 4, and we have continued to work with them ever since. Just recently, BDHT won the amazing accolade of being NUMBER 1 in the “GREAT PLACES TO WORK” competition. There are very few organisations which truly live their values and want to continuously improve themselves. BDHT has created a culture of excellence that enables them to excel even in these challenging times in the Housing Sector – we wish to congratulate them for this well deserved award!

NEWS – JUNE 2017: NEW META VIDEO TESTIMONIAL FROM BDHT CHIEF EXECUTIVE MIKE BROWN

We asked BDHT Chief Executive Mike Brown if he’d put a few words together on camera about the “Journey to Excellence” that we did in his organisation in 2014/2015 and what its lasting legacy has been. We are very proud of the work we have done with BDHT over the years and, if you’d like to get a feel for what Meta can do for you, then please do take a moment to watch the video.

NEWS MAY 2017: META CONFIRMED FOR DELOITTE GLOBAL SHARED SERVICES CONFERENCE

We are delighted to announce that we have been invited to give a workshop at the Deloitte Shared Services Global Conference in November. During this two-day conference held in the beautiful Austrian capital, Vienna, we will be offering a session on ‘creating the (brain) capacity to lead’. This is a new exciting venture for Meta and for Deloitte, who are extending their traditional conference offerings to do something new and innovative to support the top global leaders that this world renowned conference attracts.

NEWS: VIDEO TESTIMONIAL FROM MARYHILL HOUSING ASSOCIATION

In 2015 and 2016 we did an extensive leadership and staff development journey at Glasgow’s Maryhill Housing Association. Last December, Jo went back to see how everyone was getting on, one year on. The Chief Executive, Lynn Wassell, was happy to give this glowing video testimonial of the work we did together – we’re proud of the work we did at Maryhill and we’re proud of all that those at Maryhill have done to carry on the wonderful work we did together!

NEWS – JOIN US ON THE JOURNEY TO MASTERY – enrolling now!

Our flagship personal and professional development programme Journey to Mastery starts on 26th January 2017. JtoM is a magical programme – not only does it give you a tremendous NLP toolkit to use at work and at home, but is a truly transformational experience for those that come on it. We’d love you to join us, here’s what some of our previous attendees had to say about it.

 

  NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA: LINKEDIN ARTICLES

At Meta we are passionate about getting a different message about business and how to work out there. So every fortnight we post our own articles on our LINKEDIN page and we frequently re-post articles we feel that every busy executive, CEO or leader should read – we think it’s time to start a debate about whether the way we work… is working! We think these articles will make you think! So come befriend us and follow us on LINKEDIN.

LINK TO META’S LINKEDIN PROFILE

LINK TO THE LATEST LINKEDIN ARTICLE

NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA: META ON FACEBOOK

We figured it was time to spread our wings into the world of social media and bring a bit of Meta-positivity to Facebook! The purpose is to post inspirational, positive messages and videos to remind people of the important things in life and work. We’ll be renaming the last day of the week “FACEBOOK FRIDAYS” from now on, so if you’d like a positive end to your working week, something to make you smile and warm your heart then come like and befriend us.

LINK TO NEW META FACEBOOK PAGE

NEWS: NEW META LEADERSHIP FOLDER NOW AVAILABLE

In response to customer requests we are delighted to announce we now have a brand new Leadership brochure. We have compiled our extensive leadership and leadership team development offerings into one NEW leadership folder. If you’d like to get a copy, and find out about our innovative and creative approach to leadership then you can either get in touch via the contact page to get a hard copy or download the PDF Version here:

Meta Leaders & Leadership Team development brochure

NEWS: NEW META STAFF DEVELOPMENT FOLDER NOW AVAILABLE

At Meta we have spent many years studying and researching excellence within teams. In this NEW staff development folder we have brought all our one-day team development offerings into one place. They are designed to be used in-house, either as stand-alone workshops for team away-days, or as part of a more coherent organisational team development programme. If you would like to know more about Meta and what we can do for your team and organisation then get in touch via the contact page OR you can download your copy here:

Meta Staff & Team Development brochure

NEWS: ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE -THE  META BOOK!

Di Kamp, Meta’s founder, has written a business book. Called ‘It’s Not Rocket Science: A Blueprint for a Sustainably Successful Organisation’, it distils all of her years of experience and wisdom into one very accessible and brilliant book. Her first book in over 10 years, it was launched in June. Available as both a paperback and an e-book, this book  highlights a more enlightened and evolved way of working, an A-Z of how businesses could and should be run – a must read for any leader.

You can buy the book from the Meta website store, or on Amazon Kindle.

You can buy the book on Amazon.

Have a great month everybody, and Happy New Year!

in peace,

Jo and Di xxx