Thank you for signing up and welcome to my Bonus Toolbox page where you will find additional content and resources to complement my book - Boardroom Ready Women.
This book gives aspiring women in business, insights and practical tools to overcome the very common hurdles they typically face inside the workplace and out. 
It opens to the wider world, a proven model that provides successful, simple to remember and trial techniques that will transform middle and senior level females to become exceptional leaders, deliver strong business results for their organisation in today's fast changing environment and thrive with a healthy career/life balance.
​A must read for high potential females as well as visionary HR Leaders, to unlock their hidden talent within.

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I meet so many business people who shy away from the limelight or hesitate to put themselves forward for promotion, despite the fact they are brilliant at their jobs. Sue's insight into life as a business leader, and the model she has developed from it, offers women the tools needed to build their confidence and really nail it in business.

Steph McGovern

Journalist and TV Presenter
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BBC

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total toolbox downloads

'Cutting Through'
'Influencing Actions'
'Building Resilience'
'Creating Awesome Self Belief'
'Delivering Outcomes'
'Our Human Needs'
'Sparkling'

carbon - cutting through

'Cutting Through'

recommended viewing

​As I express 3 approaches to consider being as LAW: Lioness, Alpaca, Wise woman, here is an interesting clip of an acting coach Patsy Rodenburg, demonstrating the physical stances for the 3 circles that match my approaches.

Exercise - elevator pitch (40 seconds)

  • Open with a headline (to cut through and engage their generous listening)
  • For this need of...
  • Here's my proposed offer/solution...
  • My rationale/evidence
  • And my request is...(Call to Action)

CARBON - influencing actions from others

'Influencing Actions'

Exercise - influencing and getting results

Possible barriers when influencing or getting results and how to tackle them
  • What does successful influencing look like?
  • Specify a particular person and outcome you wish to see successfully persuaded
  • List what stops someone being persuaded or getting results?
  • List what stops people addressing this - and specifically you?

Exercise - transforming conversations

Think of a current challenge or significant step change you want to drive
Specify your desired outcome...
  • What needs to be true for this to happen...?
  • What's missing...?
  • What type of conversation is required with whom...?
  • Script outline...
  • What is your SPECIFIC request of them or your offer to them?
  • Script...issue, idea, implications, ignite

recommended reading

The Leadership Challenge - by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
For more than 25 years, The Leadership Challenge has been the most trusted source on becoming a better leader. Based on Kouzes and Posner's extensive research, this casts their enduring work in context for today's world, proving how leadership is a relationship that must be nurtured, and most importantly, that it can be learned. It shows The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership in action, focuses on the toughest organizational challenges leaders face today and addresses changes in how people work and what people want from their work. 

carbon - building resilience

'Building Resilience'

recommended reading

Mental Toughness for Women Leaders - by LaRae Quy
Most references to mental toughness imply we bulldoze our way through roadblocks that threaten to derail career goals. But mental toughness has little to do with physical strength or aggressive behavior; instead, it is understanding how to control the way your mind thinks. In Mental Toughness for Women Leaders, former FBI undercover and counterintelligence agent LaRae Quy shares how she created a strong mind by overcoming obstacles she encountered while at the FBI Academy, working in a male-dominated environment, and recruiting foreign spies to work for the U.S. Government. 

CARBON - creating awesome self belief

'Creating Awesome Self Belief'

Exercise - explore who you are with colour insights

www.inside-inspiration.com.au/insights-discovery/insights-colour-energies.html#.WARLQuArLIU
Have a go for yourself

​Or try a long time established Myers Briggs personality assessment

Exercise - 360 feedback

recommended online resources

recommended reading

Strategy and the Fat Smoker - by David Maister
We often (or even usually) know what we should be doing in both personal and professional life. We also know why we should be doing it and (often) how to do it. Figuring all that out is not too difficult. What is very hard is actually doing what you know to be good for you in the long-run, in spite of short-run temptations. The same is true for organizations. What is noteworthy is how similar (if not identical) most firms' strategies really are: provide outstanding client service, act like team players, provide a good place to work, invest in your future. No sensible firm (or person) would enunciate a strategy that advocated anything else. However, just because something is obvious does not make it easy. Real strategy lies not in figuring out what to do, but in devising ways to ensure that, compared to others, we actually do more of what everybody knows they should do. This simple insight, if accepted, has profound implications for:
  1. How organizations should think about strategy
  2. How they should think about clients, marketing and selling 
  3. How they should think about management.
Maister explores the fat smoker syndrome and how individuals, managers and organizations can overcome the temptations of the short-term and actually do what they already know is good for them.
The Leadership Challenge - by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
The Leadership Challenge has been the most trusted source on becoming a better leader which show The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership in action around the world

Recommended viewing

Watch entrepreneurial leadership within the framework of prudent controls

exploring

Effective directors have these key attributes:
Strategic awareness
Set company’s purpose and strategic aims
Ensure financial and human resources are in the right place to meet the objectives
Watch outs 
-    the resources are in the right place
-    the communication/ process between them is as simple as possible
-    structures don’t simply add roles but review and reset
-    diversity and inclusion is evident in the culture
Financial acumen
P&L accounts
Balance sheet
Cash flow
Long term value vs short term profits
Innovative thinking vs prudent controls
Access and control vs some risk taking
Risk assessment and mitigation approach
Watch outs
-    knowledge of critical drivers, by all
-    early warning culture vs hide bad news
-    accuracy and consistency, real or manipulated
Leadership qualities 
See the books for reading
Ability to create and have a vision understood and want to be followed
Inspire distinct from motivate
Ability to delegate without losing accountability
Understanding and responding to different people
Performance management
Self awareness and humbleness
Generous listener
Watch outs
-    Knows difference between being a coach, a player and a spectator
-    The right questions to listen to answers that assess outcomes, culture, process, controls, possibilities, risks
Governance understanding
Review management performance and behaviour
Ensure obligations to the stakeholders are understood and met
Operational awareness vs no interference
Corporate responsibility in action at all levels
Watch outs
-    setting and measuring the right KPIs and how they cascade and interlink
-    policies and procedures are active and match in reality

exercise

exercise

Mapping your end in mind vision and the outcomes that need to be true to get there

carbon - delivering outcomes

'Delivering Outcomes'

recommended reading

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - by Stephen R. Covey
Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the gold standard for grasping life and business. His principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems gives the reader the security to accept and manage change and the knowledge to take advantage of these new opportunities. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – The Snapshots Edition takes this philosophy and compresses it in a series of user friendly, clear and concise graphics. These visuals summarize and analyze all 7 of Covey’s habits in an efficient manner while retaining his core message of improvement.

recommended websites

www.paracomm.com/distinctionary
​A way of thinking, planning and having conversations by Paracomm International, organisational coaches.

Citi training https://www.apm.org.uk/WhatIsPM  have a very disciplined approach but calls out the critical factors
ILL project management training  - I have seen the UK team interlink transformational outcome thinking with solid PM processes but upon checking out the website, data overload! So would need a conversation.

recommended viewing

CARBON - our human needs

'Our Human Needs'

Exercise

recommended website

Finding out more about Tony Robbins, his philosophies and his approaches - see the website

Exercise

Letter to yourself one year from now:
Dear Me,
Here I am in [date 12 months from now] and looking back what a year I’ve had!

When I think of the 
[achievements]
[things that didn’t go to plan]
[people who’ve been there for me]
[way I showed up across the year]
[what I’ve learned about myself]
[surprises]
[what was most out my comfort zone]
[what gave me pure joy]
[the ways I put myself first]
[what I would do differently]
[what I am thankful for but took for granted]
[what my family talk about]

I realise what an amazing year it has been and I can’t wait to see what next year brings. 
Love me xx

Exercise

Creating the right balance of flexibility, returning to work
If you wish to build flexibility into your working life and continue to grow…
1) Consider and be specific about what flexibility you actually want. Don’t simply default to three days a week part-time working
Flexibility in taking your child to or from nursery school?
Flexibility in attending sports days and end of term assemblies?
Parents’ evenings? Doctor appointments?
Working at home or taking a day off when your child is sick?
Holiday cover?

2)Think creatively of all the different ways this could be achieved?
How could you make up this time with additional hours at a different time in the week?
What practices would you need to put in place including contingency planning?
How could it be contracted or tracked?

3)What concerns could a boss have?
These are generic but do be specific as you know your business…
Are you committed to being flexible and working extra hours, even late into the night, if a project deadline, company issue, client need or Head Office request required it?
What if no one’s there to answer a customer’s phone call or urgent need?
What if colleagues are not being able to progress their tasks because you are not there to make a certain decision?
What if there’s a lack of willingness to work extra when a tight deadline emerges?
What if there’s a lack of concentration or attention to detail because you no longer care about the role?
What if tasks are incomplete because you now clock watch?
What if your team cannot find sufficient time with you to have business conversations or use you as their idea sounding board or problem solver?

4)What would a way of working look like that accommodated ALL of these things?

5)Consider carefully and honestly: How important it is to you? 
What is your non-negotiable line? What will you commit to doing if a win-win solution cannot be met? Will you seek another role, another company or another career? 
Do you want to progress at the same trajectory? Would you want to have a period in your career that is steadier whilst you bring up your family or care for a parent before later returning to the steep trajectory again?

Remember…
Great talent will always be in demand
Companies (unless only staffed with dinosaurs) will prefer existing, experienced, knowledgeable staff to unknown newbies
You always have a choice, as long as you are honest with yourself about what you really want to commit to at different stages of your life.

Have the conversation. It will be refreshing to hear. Be genuine with give and take.

s - sparkling

'Sparkling'

Exercise

Letter to yourself one year from now:
Dear Me,
Here I am in [date 12 months from now] and looking back what a year I’ve had!

When I think of the 
[achievements]
[things that didn’t go to plan]
[people who’ve been there for me]
[way I showed up across the year]
[what I’ve learned about myself]
[surprises]
[what was most out my comfort zone]
[what gave me pure joy]
[the ways I put myself first]
[what I would do differently]
[what I am thankful for but took for granted]
[what my family talk about]

I realise what an amazing year it has been and I can’t wait to see what next year brings. 
Love me xx

recommended websites

For regular support with like-minded women, check out:
Lean in website
Damsels in Success website

recommended reading

If someone in your family is suffering from dementia, these 2 books helped me gain an understanding and ability to engage for mutual contentment