On 1st June 2020, David Buffin transferred ownership of his company, Buffin Leadership International (BLI), to me, Paul Freeman, and I became its Managing Director. David founded and incorporated the company over 25 years ago, to enable him to fulfil his mission to facilitate lasting change in businesses and organisations; to develop their leaders, to recognise and empower their people, and to deliver change through decisive actions. His belief that results focused people can rise to the challenges in life, and that through their energy and actions can bring about lasting changes, inspired him to create and deliver unique, tailored, Leadership Development Programmes for leaders at all levels.
David had had a record of success with a range of UK and international businesses including manufacturing, sales, retail, construction and offshore engineering. Quite a formidable range of successes, all of which are currently being recorded in a new book which he is writing, but more of that in a later blog post.
I am a Chartered Chemical Engineer and have worked at a senior level in both the speciality chemical and paper industries for around 40 years. But then came the time for change, a time for me to believe in myself, for me to not rely on the security of paid employment – the time for me to start up my own company. This ultimately led me to BLI, whose vision is “Whoever you are, whatever your background, what is of utmost importance is that you work to make things better”. That resounded with me, it fitted my business ethos perfectly, as I was already facilitating young chemical engineering students at the University of Birmingham to bring together all their learning experience, to work together to produce a chemical plant design within a group project. There has been so much scope there for me to bring my experience, to help students move from a life of theory to world of reality. I wanted to work with organisations which took their people development seriously, I wanted to bring my energy and enthusiasm, and all my years of experience into ventures which had people development and organisational success at their very heart. I found all this in Buffin Leadership International. So, I joined David’s team in 2018 as a Licensee Performance Coach, to advise and deliver to client organisations, empowering individuals and teams to achieve fulfilment and move forward with positivity and energy to achieve great results. And that lead me onto subsequently buying the organisation, to become its Managing Director.
So, with my first year as MD under my belt, what has happened? You will all appreciate that my grand move took place right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, but David has worked alongside me for that time, ensuring that the quality of our service was not diluted. I brought in the technical knowhow, to enhance our use of technology, and to move online with coaching programmes. This ensured continuity, and in the majority of cases that has worked well and has enabled us to complete some key programmes, and continue the leadership development which has been needed more than ever, as businesses have had to meet some very challenging circumstances.
At BLI, we have had to develop our programmes to meet the needs which businesses and organisations have right now. We have developed a Coaches Programme, which has been used to great effect with people who have come all the way through our Leadership Academy. People who were very capable, and in a position to coach their team members for best performance, for innovation, for collaboration and business partnering, all of which enable peak performances to be achieved. That business is truly focused on its people. It knows they will bring it the success it needs.
We have also developed programmes for leaders in sports and community and local business enterprises, constantly adapting to our client’s needs. We’re also working hard on our marketing, gaining followers and a presence in the digital/social media arena, building relations to share what brings about business success. For this we have come together to produce a set of videos to showcase our particular programmes and our coaches. Videos have also been produced to reach out to people who are at that stage of life which I reached 4 years ago, to showcase BLI and offer up the opportunity to become a performance coach with us. If there is anybody who is interested in doing this, then please contact me to talk further. No hard sells I promise!
So, there we have it, my first year in office, I have a great team around me, wonderful testimonials, excellent leadership development programmes that are recognised by ILM, and drive to help individuals, teams and businesses to grow with abundant leadership.
