Introducing Anne East, Director, Easterly Winds Consulting Ltd
– Delivering personal development courses at Pure Human Resources
“I always ensure there are actionable takeaways from the sessions plus the odd goody bag!”
What courses do you train and what do you think is the most important thing delegates will learn?
I am very passionate and often overly excited about facilitating and watching those in the room have “Aha” moments. I achieve this by training on Management, leadership and personal development courses like Time Management, delegation, coaching, customer service and courageous conversations. I firmly believe in the power of personal growth and development so I think that the most important message the attendees will learn is that everyone can benefit from growing their mindset. I know they will learn some new skills and techniques in my sessions but having the right mindset is super important!
What makes you an expert in the topic?
I have held many different roles in management and been a senior leader in my corporate career as well as owning my own company so I have a box load of experiences that I share, but even more importantly I have been an HR professional for over 15 years. So I know the right way and have seen the wrong way on developing the best out of teams and the consequences that can bring to individuals and the company. I share all this experience mixed in with my passion for developing others and my sense of humour.
What’s your training style?
“Come with an open mind and willingness to participate”
I like to run practical and interactive sessions. Yes there is usually a model or two as there are some amazing theories out there that still apply and make sense today in our changing world, but mostly I invite discussion so that the attendees can learn not only from me but from each other as well. I like to settle in the group as quickly as possible in a fun and informal way and then focus on achieving the days objectives with practical tools and techniques that they can start using the next day in their teams. I always ensure there are actionable takeaways from the sessions plus the odd goody bag!
Is there anything that surprises people about the course content you train?
During the time management course I often find that people are surprised by how many “fire fighting” tasks they are doing on a daily basis that they deem as urgent and Important, however once we start diving into the specifics and I challenge different thinking, they soon realise that many of them are either not needed or that they could automate or delegate to someone else, thereby developing others.
What do you think are the benefits of face-to-face learning (vs. online learning)?
I have sat on and facilitated many virtual online courses over the years, even before Covid, and have found that as long as you make them a reasonable length and make the sessions engaging for the audience there is absolutely a place going forwards for the method of learning and they can be very impactful. They are a great tool to connect remote workers together and provide short bursts of skills learning, however my heart is in the face to face workshop! You get such a buzz from the energy in the room, and I find that running full day sessions are much easier face to face as you can encourage attendees to move around, chat together and most importantly stay away from their phones. If you are investing a day to be in a course then I have found that face to face workshops give that freedom and space to stay in the moment and indulge in your own development, with online virtual training those emails are very tempting to have a quick peek!
Do you have a favourite industry or subject blog/ book/ publication/ podcast you read/ follow?
I am addicted to the Blinkist app as I am quite a slow reader. I like to read leadership and self help books, take notes and really digest the words, so having an app read out loud and summarise the key themes to me I think is fantastic. However I am a huge fan (big crush) of Simon Sinek and have read all his books and highly recommend Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last for anyone interested in management. I am also quite a spiritual person and believe in Mindfulness and wellbeing, so I love facilitating the Wellbeing and Resilience course, and reading subject blogs as I find them. The power of the mind fascinates me…
If you could become an expert in anything other than what you’re doing now, what would it be?
I am also a Senior School Governor as I always wanted to become a teacher but my career just took a different path. I have so much respect for everything our teachers do for our children. Their role literally starts the development of our next generation which is an awesome responsibility so I would have loved to have trained to become either a Science teacher as I loved creating fun experiments when I was a kid with my science kits or a psychology teacher which have fed my passion for understanding the mind. My daughter is taking A-level Psychology and I think I have read more of her text book than she has!
Anne East is Director of Easterly Winds Consulting and Associate Trainer for Pure Human Resources, delivering courses at our training suite, near Southampton.
