It's that time of year again where I track back through my diary to add up all the hours of volunteering, discounted work, and hours spent supporting fellow coaching professionals.
This year, I was fully expecting to report a lower number because I've needed to take a lot of time out to complete my portfolio to gain Chartered Status, but having added up the numbers, I am actually higher this year on volunteering. The number was so high, in fact, I've accidentally inverted my ratio of volunteering to discounted work, which wasn't actually in the plan; this year was, however, exceptional for a few reasons.
As always, before diving into the detail, I'd like to say a massive thank you to my corporate clients. Many of you may not realise, but in working with me, you create a ripple effect of social impact.
The charities I've been able to discount for have come from all over the country and have covered priority areas including:
Funding small charities / Individual Grant Giving
Learning-disabled people
Refugee and Asylum Seekers
Mental Health
Young People
Conversation and Environmental
Adult social care
Women and Girls work
LGBTQIA+ Communities
Education
Homelessness
Domestic Violence
Some of my favourite evaluation quotes came from the Action Learning Sets I deliver for non-profit CEOs including:
If you get the opportunity to go through this experience with Gary, take it! Action learning is a powerful way to gain confidence, reclaim your values, become better at active listening, and solve problems in a supportive environment. Gary is an amazing facilitator who makes the whole group feel welcome and safe. He has a gentle manner, guiding the group with compassion to get the most out everyone. It's a rare skill and he is an expert at it. Highly recommend, especially for CEOs who often don't have a peer support network. Katherine Rosen - CEO of The Orchard Project
and
I would wholeheartedly recommend ALS with Gary to all charity leaders. It gives you the opportunity to meet others facing similar challenges and helps you solve difficult issues whilst developing your listening and questioning skills. Overall you will come away feeling more reassured, connected, and confident in your role as a result. Matt Blacker - CEO of Hope for the Young
and finally...
Gary held a safe space for us to explore sometimes very personal challenges and problems. He was structured but flexible, keeping us on task but allowing us to follow the flow too. He was warm and good-humoured and I would recommend :) Jo Todd - CEO of Respect
Volunteering
My volunteering hours were a little higher than usual this year as I served my final term on the Board of Governors for The University of Manchester (after nine years!) and took on the role of Chair of the Board for Hopwood Hall College and University Centre, which meant I had an overlap where I was holding an extra board position for a few months, plus doing all those extra things I needed to do to wrap up one role well and be inducted for the next.
I will deeply miss all of my board colleagues at the University of Manchester, but am delighted to have been appointed to their General Assembly until 2027 which means I'll still contribute to the success of the institution.
I'm already loving my role with Hopwood Hall - everyone has been so welcoming and I even had the honour of hosting their graduation ceremony this year where I got to wear my own graduation gown for the first time. Here I am with Julia Heap, the CEO and Principal as we made preparations for the celebration.
The organisation is values led and their pioneering work in trauma informed education has even won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize, the highest prize that can be bestowed on a Further Education College.
I continue as Vice Chair of Victorious Academies Trust which now has 13 schools, 4,097 young people and 638 staff as I write today (Jan 2025) and I enter my fourth year of being a Non-Exec Director for The Apprentice Academy which goes from strength to strength.
Supporting Coaching Professionals
Last year, I started reporting on how much time I had dedicated to supporting other Coaching Professionals. These hours are a mostly paid hours but also include a little bit of fun. This year I spent 39.5 working days training new Coaching Professionals on the Post Graduate and Masters in Business and Personal Coaching, Coaching Supervision, Mentor Coaching and of course joining other coaching professionals on the free walk I host every couple of months. This work is not technically about social impact, but it does bring more coaching skills and insight into the world which I think is a good thing!
So, there we are... Another year in summary... 2024 was definitely a year of tough graft where I was worried about how much time I would be reporting on, but delighted to see it all balanced out (ish)!
Thanks for stopping by and here's to even more in 2025!
* Methodology: I count direct hours of working and multiply this by 1.2 as there is nearly always additional preparation, travel and reading time necessary. I then divide this time into half day units of 3.5 hours in order to get to my totals. Time is always rounded to the nearest half day unit for ease of presentation.
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