SME News - Managing Director of the Year Awards 2024/ 78 Leadership Training MD of the Year 2024 (Southern England): Nicola Lyle We all have the potential to become great leaders, but many of us are not quite sure how to untap that inner potential. With the right support and guidance, any individual interested in progression can achieve their leadership dreams. This is exactly what Fired Up Leaders are here to do – empower people to be, do, and have more in their careers. We speak with Founder and Managing Director Nicola Lyle to learn more about her secrets to success. Fired Up Leaders provides businesses with executive coaching and leadership training for senior leaders and their teams to help boost performance and drive results. The company works mainly with corporate clients within the food and drink sector, as well as the legal sector. There are three pillars to the company’s coaching model – mental fitness training, executive coaching, and leadership training. Fired Up Leaders will first teach aspiring leaders to move beyond their self-doubt and put a halt to self-sabotaging. Clients can also take an eight-to-twelve-month programme and learn how to achieve their leadership dreams. “We start with mental fitness training as we know that everyone has sabotaging behaviours that get in the way of us being our best self. Plus, you need a growth mindset to make any changes, so this is usually the beginning of the work we do with all leaders,” Nicola tells us. The company’s core values are learning, connection, trust, being bold, and empowering. The aim of empowering clients is at the forefront of everything that Fired Up Leaders does. The company seeks to build trusting partnerships with clients, investing time into making connections to ensure that they are delivering exactly what is needed. This level of trust will allow the client to feel emboldened to achieve greatness. Nicola founded Fired Up Leaders in 2018, following a career in the drinks industry. Initially, she worked in sales for various notable brands but admits that she was not a great saleswoman, preferring collaboration to persuasion. This prompted a move into customer marketing, still within the drinks sector. She recalls, “I loved the work I was doing there, but there came a time when I wanted a new challenge. I was being called in a different direction and that was into the world of professional development.” For a time, Nicola worked as both a coach and in customer marketing with a team before training military service leaders returning to civilian life. Finally, she felt that she had reached a point in her development where she could deliver a more comprehensible solution for clients herself. Fired Up Leaders was born. Nicola leads her team at Fired Up Leaders with a cheerful outlook and a quick pace. She remains open to challenges, allowing her successful approach to transform any obstacle into opportunity. “I think this is really important as a business owner – you can’t hold onto difficulties or challenges. You have to keep moving forward with a positive mindset as that inspires your team,” she says. Additionally, she cites clarity in communication as a vital facet of successful leadership. When building relationships is such a large part of the job, maintaining clear lines of communication both with clients and within the team is pivotal. Employees must be in tune with client needs to recognise areas of development and devise a successful coaching strategy. When selecting new members for her topclass team, Nicola seeks out a few shining attributes. “I look for a positive, can-do attitude, a willingness to learn, and a growth mindset. It’s okay if someone doesn’t have all the answers, as long as they’re willing to learn and seek out those answers. A good sense of humour is also really important,” she tells us. 2024 promises to be fruitful for the company, as Nicola divulges the future plans for Fired Up Leaders. In the upcoming months, the company will be launching various online programmes and hopes to have more involvement in the food and drink industry, both in and outside of the UK. Nicola tells us, “We want to help as many leaders as possible to build confidence in what they do and provide a great experience for their team.” We wish Fired Up Leaders the best of luck with its approaching advancements, though with such an exemplary leader as Nicola at its helm, luck hardly seems necessary. Contact: Nicola Lyle Company: Fired Up Leaders Web Address: https://www.firedupleaders.co.uk
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