Episode 119: The Middle Manager Coach with Lisa Robyn Wood

The Business Awards Show

Middle managers need far more support to help them thrive in their roles and develop into effective senior executives. So Lisa Robyn Wood, owner of GRIP Coaching tells us.

Lisa was a successful middle manager at such major corporates as British Gas and Lucozade Ribena. She enjoyed her jobs but started to realise that coaching people was the thing she most loved. What sets her apart is she acted on it. Lisa put herself through a recognised coaching qualification, and began coaching as a side hustle in 2016.

In 2020, she left the corporate world, and joined her husband running a pub in Oxfordshire. Little did she know that COVID was just around the corner, bringing a set of challenges greater than any she had faced as an employee.

Despite the myriad issues she was faced with, Lisa navigated that period successfully and when her husband decided it was time to sell the pub she was ready for the next step in her journey. Having been growing her coaching business whilst working, Lisa became fully committed to GRIP Coaching in 2022, a business that is growing year by year. Her voice is also reaching many through the podcast she launched with her co-founder Suzy Hunt, The Coaching Cast. Lisa tells us all about the pod and the wide-ranging subjects the pair discuss.

Find out why coaching became so important to her and how she struggled with her own insecurities and lack of confidence as a manager.

Having worked for British Gas, she is passionate about the utilities sector and explains why the perception the public has is rather skewed by the media. It is why she has joined the Women in Utilities Network and became a judge for their inaugural awards, celebrating successful women working in energy and water.

She has also become a judge for this year's Best Businesswomen Awards, and compares her experience across the two programmes. Discover what she found so impressive about the entries for the BBWAs and why awards can have such an impact for female entrepreneurs.

Lisa is great company, and anyone listening will get lots of insight into coaching, and inspiration from someone who followed their dream despite the significant pressure it put on her. It is also a useful reference point for anyone thinking of entering awards because it is likely Lisa will convince you to just do it!

{3:53} Lisa's journey into coaching.

{10:11} Juggling a corporate role with a side hustle.

{14:36} Leaving the corporate world behind as COVID hit.

{16:57} The Coaching Cast Podcast.

{18:24} Subjects on the pod.

{21:48} Judging the Women in Utilities Awards.

{27:18} Comparing entrants in the WIU and BBWA Awards.

{30:25} What next for GRIP Coaching?

{33:19} Who Lisa would like to collaborate with.

Connect with Debbie at: https://thebusinessawardsshow.co.uk

Connect with Lisa: https://www.gripcoaching.co.uk/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grip_coaching

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GRIPCoachingLtd

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOOvEicDjfgpC_V3CZz5EA

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grip-coaching-limited/

The Coaching Cast: https://www.thecoachingcast.co.uk/