John Stannard Consulting

11/11/2025

11/11/2025

As always at this time of year, I think of with gratitude and sorrow, those who gave their lives, their health and their service in duty to their country.

I think of my father in his National Service after World War Two and before that, my grandfather on the battlefields of The Great War, both serving in the Royal Horse Artillery “Where Fate and Glory Lead”.

Thank you to all who gave and continue to give. And I am grateful to my grandfather and especially my beloved father for the life they have helped to give to me. 🌹

11/11/2024

As always at this time of year, I think of with gratitude and sorrow, those who gave their lives, their health and their service in duty to their country. I am privileged and forever honoured for my birthday to fall upon the 11th November, Remembrance & Armistice Day.

I think of my father in his National Service after World War Two and before that, my grandfather on the battlefields of The Great War, both serving in the Royal Horse Artillery “Where Fate and Glory Lead”.

Thank you to all who gave and continue to give. And I am grateful to my grandfather and especially my beloved father for the life they have helped to give to me. Always remembered ❤️ 🌹

04/02/2023

A slightly promotional post but enrobed with immense pride, Wuffings is back in the chocolate kitchen and is creating selection boxes of handmade truffles for a very special client this weekend. Who are Wuffings? Wuffings is the name of the chocolate company that my wife Katie and I have that takes us on an adventure together. For me, it is an opportunity to tell the stories of our origins, history and landscape of East Anglia. For Katie, it allows her to express her love of making chocolatey treats and show us the breadth and depth of her creativity. I am so very proud of her. If you have the chance, follow us and see how we get on through this weekend, see what’s being made, how it’s being made, what Wuffings is about and, to wrap it all up, we reveal with great pleasure at 7pm on Sunday 5th February who our special client is. We are so pleased and proud to do what we are doing with them. Have a good day and we look forward to you joining us on our adventure.

06/06/2022

A pleasure to attend this at recently with and to see our old friend . His masterly portrayal of M.R.James has captivated audiences with various ghost stories over the years, and this was equally splendid as he recreated James’ lecture on the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds, which James gave in the same building in 1932. Wonderfully entertaining and informative, thanks should go to the Bury Society for sponsoring the event. And it’s always lovely to be in the same beautiful venue that we held our wedding reception in. Always lovely to see and in the and stay for a splendid cocktail, before walking back to the car through beautiful Bury on a lovely early summer’s evening. Blissfully calming in uncertain times.

11/04/2022

Very best wishes to all for their official opening day today. Katie () and I were honoured to be invited to a preview on Friday, where we were delighted to see our friend and branding guru Sue from Holy Cow also attending. Thanks so much for thinking of us and asking us to come along. We had a lovely time, and thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Steve and Michael, who were respectful, warm, good humoured and attentive. All the hallmarks of the people who we’ve met from , which can be summed up as being authentic. The food was delicious, the wine selection superb, the decor typically high standard and the atmosphere was vibrant to say the least. A different destination from our beloved but one we’ll no doubt return to. Whilst the recent winners of the Best Pub Brand may not need it, we do wish this recent addition to every success.

30/03/2022

Reflecting on the passing of Shane Warne on the occasion of his memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today and the impact he has had on my life, and my wife's, and on my coaching pathway. He is and always will be a significant point of inspiration for me and . Grateful to you Mr Warne, always.

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15/03/2022

My wife Katie & I were quite upset on hearing of the death of Shane Warne. Aside from the suddenness of his passing at 52, of someone we admired & who had become a familiar presence over the last 30 years, the connection seemed deeper.
Whilst there is a clear reason for sorrow with things that happen to us (death of a family member/friend, illness, worry, etc) & seeing the effects of war, natural disasters, the death of public figures, etc, can all prompt sympathy from us, occasionally there is a little more to it.
My wife explained how watching Shane Warne in the 1999 World Cup inspired her to follow & play cricket from which came enjoyment in competitive physical & mental activity, friendships made, new places to travel to & experiences gained. It even extended to meeting her husband! So much came from seeing him play, firing up motivations & inspirations.
And me? It took me back to 1993 & 'the ball of the century', watching him mesmerise with an almost supernatural wizardry, a time when my beloved father was alive & my equally beloved mother was well, when life seemed simpler, kinder & more joyous, with the harder times feeling less frequent. I studied what he did, listened to commentary, watched the television (BBC then), read books (no internet) & taught myself legspin & the variations, bowling for hours with a toy rubber dog's ball (lovely bounce) onto the concrete in front of the vehicle workshop in our haulage yard, trying to spin it across an oil drum. 4 years later, having joined a cricket club & invited to help out with some coaching, a young player (about 8 or 9 years old) bowled a ball that spun. I name dropped Shane Warne to engage & a response of 'Who?' prompted a moment of internal panic. However two other players said how great Warne was to their friend. He was sold. My very first bit of coaching.
From there came coaching courses, tutoring, training & mentoring tutors; developing players, coaches & coach educators; consulting with county & national boards on the support of those coaching & developing coaching; chairing the ECB's Coaches Association, making a connection between the Board & the thousands of volunteer coaches & contributing to coaching strategy; meeting with so many good people & going to lovely places; gathering experience, unlocking my potential & helping others; gaining cherished friendships including my best man Gordon & of course the most wonderful partner I could dream of.
Sometimes we can lose sight of why we do things, how we do them & who we do it for. Maybe we can follow the thread back to the inspiration to find the answers. Shane Warne's passing perhaps unknowingly prompted sadness & happiness, thinking of cherished times past & the paths taken from them. A point of inspiration in life.

23/02/2022

I shared the post on micromanagement yesterday from my original LinkedIn share and here today is my further response to it. When coaching issues with regard to micromanagement, I think it important to look not only at the effects and the detail of them, but to broaden out and look at the wider situation. What are the perspectives from all involved; what does it mean for individuals and the organisation as a whole?

The original post from Leadership First was quite damning regarding micromanagement and presumably micromanagers; "complete waste of everybody's time", "sucks the life out of employees", "fosters anxiety" and "creates a high-stress work environment". It's pretty fierce.
If that's the case, why on earth would somebody or an organisation want that to happen? Or perhaps the question that least provokes a defensive answer is, what factors have led to this situation?

~ What is the state of the relationship between the micromanager and their team members? Same question for the micromanager and their line manager.
~ How effective is the communication between the micromanager and their team? Again, how well are the micromanager and the line manager communicating?
~ Has something with regard a project or projects happened for the micromanager to lose confidence in their team members? Or has the micromanager lost confidence in themselves?

The last question brings the spotlight onto the micromanager and touches on what makes them work in the manner that they do. Have they always worked this way or has something changed for them to go down that path? Is it due to how they were managed and therefore 'brought up' to do this?

Or have there been some issues with projects that haven't gone well and that they are compelled to be more heavily involved in the detail? Do they perceive failure to be detrimental to the organisation, as well as their own reputation and possibly their position?

The possibility also arises that the wellbeing of the individual has been affected, perhaps by something in their personal or professional life (or both). As hard as they might try to not let it affect them, building a dam for protection, the 'reservoir of worries' can spill over the dam and into their work. And sometimes their world contracts and control seems to be lost over all manner of things including work, leading to them holding on to anything they can control. They need to do it otherwise they're unsure of their place in the overall scheme of things and also feel a lack of confidence in their abilities.

Confidence seems to be crucial. Confidence in themselves, confidence in who they work with and who they work for.

In coaching this, the key seems to be allowing the different individuals the opportunity to talk openly and honestly about these issues, to show the context of the different perspectives, to both challenge and support the views of these perspectives, to agree a realistic strategy to move forward, and create the confidence to enact it. It's also having the confidence and ability to listen to and question any feedback that perhaps resets and enhances the working environment.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if this is something that particularly resonates with you and you'd like to discuss it, please do message me on here or by email.

Take care and have a splendid rest of your week.

22/02/2022

A post from my LinkedIn page regarding micromanaging which I have come across quite early on in my coaching, as well as having slipped into it myself.

“So have you been micromanaged, are you the line manager of a micromanager or are you indeed the micromanager?

It takes some energy to even read that question with so much "management" going on; what does it take from being one of those three subjects of the question? What does it do with regard performance, wellbeing and contentment at work?

As with anything, there are many factors that can create a climate of micromanagement in the workplace and especially those that cause someone to become a 'micromanager', and as with anything, it's not straightforward. Sometimes the micromanager needs as much support as anyone, if not more, as it can seem to be an inexorable path that they are compelled to go down due to issues they are experiencing. Issues that stifle their energy, satisfaction and performance, and therefore affect those around them.

I am grateful to David BORDES for commenting on this Leadership First post last week. It has prompted me to reflect further on some of the coaching I have done and also when I have been a micromanager at different times. Are there periods when micromanagement is appropriate, so can there be an opportunity for a blended approach? I will follow up with some thoughts on the three subjects of my opening question which I hope may resonate with you.”