This is The Coaching In, a podcast from 3D Coaching. Good morning, it's Su Blanch here from 3D Coaching and I'm here today with my colleague and friend Sue Appleton. Sue, would you like to introduce yourself a bit? Hi Su, it's lovely to talk with you today. Yeah, I'm Sue Appleton, I'm the administrator of 3D Coaching, I work part-time in the office and I'm the Sue with an E because we often have people confuse the two of us. That's true, yes.
Yes, we're a small company, but imagine that we both, there are two Siouxs. It does make things a bit complicated, it? absolutely. Cool. Thank you very much for that, Sioux. And we thought that it might be interesting to just have a bit of a think back over the 3D history, really, from your point of view, because you've been alongside 3D for such a long time. So, yes, so perhaps, how did that start for you? How did you become involved with 3D coaching?
OK, well, I met Claire in the school playground. Our children were at the same school, so we would often chat as you do when your mum's waiting for the children, you're dropping them off. And I think that was back in the early 2000s. So in about 2005, I was wanting to do something different. My children were starting reception school and so I had a bit more time and I felt as though I wanted to start working again but I didn't really know what that was.
So Claire one day said come round and have a cup of tea and we did a mini career makeover really. So it all started there and then a few months later I can't remember the exact time scale of things now. A few weeks or months later, she just asked me one day whether I wanted to come and do a bit of admin for her. Because I think maybe from what we talked about in that career makeover conversation, what I was looking for and what she was then looking for to help her, the two were very similar.
So she asked me whether I would like to do that. So I said, yes, please. So I started working a couple of hours a week and that was how it started really. So that was the starting point. What did the 3D coaching feel like at that point? It was a small company. was Claire and another business partner then. And I think it was just the two of them really, from what I can remember now. They did some coaching. I had no idea what coaching was. I had never heard about coaching before.
So I didn't, and even now I'm not sure I fully understand exactly what you all do, but I have a bit of a better grasp of it now. So Claire didn't work full time then. She was working around her children. I wanted something to work around my children being flexible with school holidays and dropping off, picking up from school, all that kind of thing. So we were running one or maybe two or three training courses a year, a few face-to-face coaching sessions.
Obviously nothing was done online like this now. some work, some coaching conversations on the phone, I think. So it was quite different to how it is now. And there was a lot less coaching and training being done at that time. So, so it sounds much smaller, clearly much smaller. And at that stage we worked from Claire's home. Okay. Okay. So, and I, I'm not sure. I think perhaps we shared a laptop. I can't, I was trying to think about that. can't remember now.
So I think I used to go and work and answer emails or set up documents and things while Claire was doing a face-to-face coaching session. So we kind of worked out between us what would work. Yeah and I wonder and you might not know but I wonder if at that time if you can cast your mind back if you had any sense of where this was going you know this small business working out of Claire's home. I wonder if there was a sense of what the direction of travel or not. don't know. No, I had no idea.
And I still don't now. It goes off in tangents all the time or takes new directions all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me. Because I'm a methodical, I'm not a big forward thinker and Claire is, and that was always a big difference between us. So. I'm never looking for things to expand really. I'm much... more in the background, just wanting to keep things going well. Yeah. So at that point I had no idea how, how it would change. Yeah, absolutely.
So I want to then, because it obviously has changed enormously. I wonder if sort of casting your mind back, you can think about some of those, what sorts of things did change and move and become different. there some sort of key things that stand out for you?
Yeah, the most significant one was when we moved to our office away from working at Claire's home and I remember we had, because it wasn't just Claire working there, we had you, we had some other associates and we used to go away for a residential, an overnight residential team meeting to get to know each other better because we were working remotely and didn't really spend much time together.
That was always a great time to have some time getting to know each other and thinking about work and also some socializing as well. And I remember at one of those, I don't know which meeting it was perhaps after two or three years, I had a conversation with one of our colleagues and right at the very end of our time away, I recognized that I was finding it very hard to cope with working in Claire's home in the small space we had there.
I used to sit on the lounge floor compiling course materials, the folders for the courses. And I'd have it all spread out over the floor. And we were just running out of space there and I needed to work more hours. Claire was doing more and it was no longer working really at home. So I came away feeling, and this was expressed at the end of that residential, thought, that was a great thing to do.
So I would have come away and thought about that for a few weeks and thought, yeah, that would be nice to have an office. But I probably wouldn't have done anything about it, not for quite a long time, because I would just mull it over. then I think the next day or the day after that, Claire phoned me and said, I've seen an office, come and have a look. So she had moved that on very quickly, which is how things always happen.
she'd seen two, she went to see two, so we went and had a look and that's... And then I think the next week we actually moved in to the office. So it all happened very quickly. So very quick. And what was the impact of that then? think it suddenly, it felt very grown up and very real because it seemed like a proper job then because I was going back to an office, a proper office. So yes, I think it did change.
was felt more like going, yeah, having a proper job rather than just popping around to someone's house to do a few things. And then it also meant, I think I had my own space that I could arrange. to work for me. I wasn't going into somebody else's home where things were. Well, it was an office in a home, so it wasn't set up as a proper working office. And I'm quite an orderly person. And I found that great that I could arrange things in the office to help me work in a better way.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And we shared the office. So we had a desk each, which worked well because we're very different in how we work. So we had our own space. It was a small office. We only went for a small one. And also we arranged it so that we worked on different days doing different things. So I went into the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and Claire could then see people face to face on Mondays and Fridays.
And other people could as well because I didn't need to be there doing admin work. So we worked, we were always, we've always been very flexible in how we worked to make it work for everybody. Yeah, absolutely. So, so that was a big shift in 3D coaching and a big shift for you in terms of your work. Was there anything noticeably different that happened as a result of that in terms of business or clients or anything else that you saw? Yeah, I think there was a shift.
And I don't know, I can't really remember when that happened. had, we had, we took on more employees at that time. which brought in different types of work from different organisations and that started to open up 3D coaching to a bigger audience, that's not really the right word, but to different organizations to what it had been before. So we kept the core business as Claire had started it, but it also expanded out to other organizations from about that time we moved to the office.
And I don't know, that was a lot of factors, I suppose, just different people coming in with different contacts. We always felt, I don't know, it just seemed more professional from working from an office. though we were working in the same way, it did just seem different. And I think it allowed. allowed us to take on more associates in some way. don't know, it just, it did change. It felt different.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was obviously a really big sort of shift in all sorts of ways that had different sorts of impacts as well in terms of personnel involved and in terms of business, what business was coming in. Anything else that you would look back on and go that was, you know, that was a moment or that was exciting or, or, yeah, fun. There were, I don't know how long ago this was now either, I can't remember, it's hard to look back.
There was a time maybe three or four years ago when the work really expanded, the number of training courses that we were asked to deliver and could deliver and the amount of coaching. There was another shift. which as the admin person, and at that time the only admin person, was sometimes difficult to manage because suddenly there was an explosion of work which all needed managing and... There was a lot of admin around all of that.
Yes. And accounting work and all of that stuff that goes along with doing more work. So was great to have all the extra work, but then there are, it's not just delivering that piece of work. There's a lot of other things that need to be done in the background to manage all of that. Yes. So that sounds like that was a moment in time when your workload got heavier. Yes. And managing, actually managing, not managing, I wasn't managing people.
Dealing with lots of different coaches, associates that we work with who are all great at delivering work and coming up with new ideas of things to deliver. I find big change more challenging. Like when we moved to the office, I'm a much slower thinker. and need a bit of time to get used to something rather than just make that jump. And to work with lots of people who think quickly and like to do lots of new different things was a challenge for me to manage how I could work around all of that.
There was a lot of learning for me there. We all work differently and no way is any better than any other. It's just different. Yeah, absolutely right. And I think both of those in a company, need people to be the big thinkers and to have the ideas and to have the drive to move those things forwards because otherwise you won't have a business. But you do also need people keeping things going in the background. Yeah. And just doing the day to day stuff behind all of that. Yeah, absolutely.
And I was going to ask that, know, so what, you know, what's your sense of with, with the differences that everybody has, what's your, what's your sense been of, of, know, where your great contribution, which is great, you know, how would you define that? What do you, what do you bring and contribute to 3D coaching? I know it's lots. I'm just wondering what you would say. you I'm not sure really. I always find it hard to reflect on what I bring, how do I contribute to it?
I always hoped I would bring some stability, not that it was ever unstable, but it's just this bit of grounding of just thinking before. moving forwards all the time. Yeah. Just making sure that things are in place before doing some of those things. Yes. So some stability and just sometimes to say, have you really thought this through or what about this? Just trying to think of that can sometimes come across as being negative. And it's not, it's doesn't come from a negative perspective.
I always felt it was more of a reality check really, just to think, is this going to work this way or hang on a minute, let's, what about this before step, let's do step one before we do step three. Yes. Yeah. So what I'm hearing there is stuff about grounding. you know, that that's a really important thing that you bring and, you know, this kind of reality check and hang on a minute, have we got all our ducks in a row here and so on.
And I just think that that's such a significant thing for, well, it's certainly for 3D coaching, but also I think for other, you know, small businesses, which are, you know, starting up with great ideas that the great ideas also need a sue, you sue, not me sue, you sue to be able to go right. Yeah, and have we thought about all of this? This? Yeah, and it can be seen as boring or as being negative.
And I think as that being that person, you do have to be careful not to squash the people with the big ideas. and to let them have those ideas. And sometimes just to say, okay, let's just go with it and see what happens. Yeah. Yeah. Because I've done that and it wouldn't have been, some things wouldn't have been what I would think would work or be sensible at a certain time, but they have been. So it's been important for me to not always voice my concerns.
but just, I don't know, keep a watchful eye and, but let those things fly. Yeah, absolutely. So I wonder, it sounds like that there's in all of this journey of 3D coaching that you have been so incredibly part of and integral to. I wonder what, what, I've got two questions. So one is about what have you learnt personally? And another question is kind of what would you now? tell the Sioux who was at the beginning of that journey?
Those two questions are kind of linked I guess but yeah I'm interested to know what you've learnt and also what you would tell the early Sioux in all of that. I think there might be people who are thinking of their own businesses and what do they need to take into account. That's interesting. I've learnt not to stop people from having ideas. I've learnt to be more tolerant of different, the different ways in which people work. I think that's been my biggest thing.
because I wouldn't necessarily have chosen to do what I do with the people I do. It's kind of all just grown over the years. And I think if I knew at the beginning how it would be, it would have scared me a lot. Yes, yes. I came back, actually. I would have always thought, no, I couldn't do that. But because it's all happened slowly and over time, it's been okay. I've enjoyed it. It's been great. And I didn't know how a small business worked before I worked with 3D.
I'd always only worked for big companies before. So it's interesting to see what needs to be done to run a business. And the legal things that have to be in place. I didn't know about any of that. Once you've got five employees, there's all things like health and safety have to come into consideration and responsibilities to employees. The other question, what would I say to a Sue now starting?
That's interesting because as a Sue, as me, I wouldn't be starting a company because I'm not the big thinker. But if you are somebody starting a company, you need somebody like me with you. Because at some point in a business, usually if it's really growing, just one person can't do everything. And if you're the big thinker with the big ideas and wanting to move it forwards, you won't want to be doing the detail of the accounts or making sure the bills are paid.
making answering emails all the time, that kind of thing. You want to be doing the stuff and thinking up new ideas. So I think every business needs a combination of the big thinkers and the adminny, accounting people. But I know I wouldn't have the drive to build a business myself. That's not in me. So that's really helpful thinking, I think, for as people might be thinking about their own businesses. If you were to meet, this is a very hypothetical question Sue, I'm feeling it.
If you were to meet a Sue who was in the start of a new business, what would you say to that person? recognize what you bring to a company. But keep your mind open and don't think that your way is always right. but know that what you do is still valuable. and it's very important. that stuff that you do and you don't.
you don't get the sometimes the recognition or the acknowledgement I suppose because you're not out there in the front but it's important to those people that you are doing what you do. And it's a good thing to do. That's wonderful. So at this point in time Sue, looking back over all of that, how would you describe that journey? In a couple of words, my goodness. Well, I was just thinking earlier and I did mention to you, in a way I feel we've come full circle.
In a way we've actually we've done a curve. bit like the COVID curve actually of this peak of work over the years which has now, it's changed so. But I also feel as though we've come full circle. We started off working in Claire's home. We are now forced back into working from home. That's a forced issue, not a choice. But actually working from home is all right now before we needed to move from home to an office to operate.
But I think this is showing now, now that technology as well as come on so far since then, that it's easy to work from home. Technically it is. the interaction with people is different obviously with us not meeting. So in a way I feel as though yeah we've come full circle but the work hasn't come full circle because the work has grown and that has been curtailed a little bit at the moment because of not being able to do things face to face.
But I'm sure that will well I don't know if we'll be able to do or when we can do face to face. training again, who knows, but so much can be done online. So the work has decreased a little bit, I suppose, but not significantly. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting about the full circle thing. Okay. But technology enables us to do that now to work from home and everything. We've now got everything on the cloud.
So all our accounts are on the cloud, emails and everything, which again is a change from there when we first started. So that again allows people to work remotely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So thank you Sue for kind of describing that journey of you and 3D coaching as I guess you learnt and grew and 3D learnt and grew and so on and changed and the things that happened along the way. It's just really interesting to hear stories narrated like that and I hope people can listen and hear a bit of their own.
and hopes and dreams in all of that. So thank you very much for spending time with me Sue. Thank you. It's been great to talk to you. You've been listening to The Coaching In. Find out more about us at www.3dcoaching.com slash B hyphen developed.