'Brand Strand/Founder Story': Melanie Staunton, CEO of Communicate Training on Turning Napkin Scrawls to Reality Goals! A Journey of Communication, Empowerment, a real Zest for Learning & a Deep Rooted Passion for Helping Others to Communicate Better

Ever find yourself scribbling down your dreams on a scrap of paper (or a napkin!) only to rediscover them months later? Melanie Staunton of Communicate Training did just that, and her story of transforming whimsical napkin notes into a tale of achieved aspirations will have you believing in the power of intention!

As we chat with Melanie, a stroll down her memory lane in Hong Kong reveals the importance of mental clarity and the role of diverse cultural experiences in shaping her journey from law and acting to becoming a corporate training maestro. She brings her experiences full circle, illustrating how the art of storytelling and the gift-of-the-gab are not just for the stage but vital for success in every walk of life.

Imagine the pure joy of finding your groove in a Rihanna music video, or better yet, the exhilaration of helping others find their voice. That's the pulse of our conversation with Melanie Staunton, as we reflect on the transformative power of effective communication and public speaking. With tales that span from dramatic performances to the boardroom, Melanie shares insights on how embracing feedback and owning your unique past can fuel your professional endeavors. And if you're thinking about the impact of personal relationships on your career trajectory, she's got anecdotes that reaffirm the profound influence of these connections.

As we wrap up, Melanie unfolds her vision for leaving a legacy of empowerment and positivity, drawing parallels between her love for rich red velvet cake and her passion for enriching lives through Communicate. And if you've ever wondered how to craft a future that reflects the best version of yourself, her dedication to clarity over certainty offers a guiding light. It's not just about honing communication skills; it's about embracing the journey of self-discovery and the joy of being a beacon of hope in someone's cloud. 

Join us as we celebrate Melanie's two-year entrepreneurial anniversary of Hong Kong based Communicate Training, as she 'Passes the Baton' to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going to Jennifer Ryan Peery Logue (another inspiring voice in the speaking industry) all the while basking in the shared wisdom that can only come from a global community.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Chris Grimes: 0:07

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5-4-3-2-1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes. Are you sitting comfortably here? Then we shall begin.

Chris Grimes: 0:56

Good morning LinkedIn and good morning Melanie Staunton. This is a very special Brand Strand Founder Story episode of the Good Listening To Show Stories of Distinction and Genius, the show in which I invite movers, makers, shakers, mavericks, influencers and also personal heroes into a clearing or serious happy place of their choosing to all share with us their stories of distinction and genius. And it's my great pleasure to be doing a special Brand Strand Founder Story to talk to Melanie Staunton from Communicatetrainingcom. Get in. So, melanie, welcome to the clearing.

Melanie Staunton : 1:36

Thank you so much, chris. I'm really excited to be here and this is my very first LinkedIn Live.

Chris Grimes: 1:44

So excited for the kids, allow me to guide you through it, but it's not your first sort of rodeo in a podcast platform. You've also been a guest podcast presenter recently with the wonderful Sixcoms podcast with Lisa Partridge. We'll talk about that, I'm sure as well, and I'm just going to blow a bit of happy smoke at you. So, melanie Staunton, I really enjoyed Googling and researching you. Did you know that you also have a midfield Aussie rules footballer, which is the first thing that comes up when I watched a video this morning where someone said well, we've got Mill on. What kind of footballer are you? When did you first get into footy? This is not what this is going to be about. This is about the you version, which is Melanie, who runs Communi. Tell us what you do, melanie. So if somebody asks you that clunky networking question, what do you do? What's your favorite way of answering that?

Melanie Staunton : 2:41

Well, firstly, I quite like that I'm associated with a footballer Because I quite enjoy sports. I feel like that makes me look even better.

Chris Grimes: 2:50

And you do enjoy sports. Yes, and you. You did, if I may, you did some target practice of biathlon shooting and got a bullseye over Christmas.

Melanie Staunton : 3:02

Oh my goodness, I actually have it here right next to me. I don't know if I can unbler my camera for a second to show you. Sorry, I've gone slightly off topic here already.

Chris Grimes: 3:11

No it's good it is my biggest challenge.

Melanie Staunton : 3:15

But yes, I did do some biathlon shooting in France over Christmas. I got my husband as a fun Christmas activity to do because it's an Olympic sport and he's quite sporty and I thought oh, just give it a go, you know, for a bit of fun. I didn't think I would enjoy it and suddenly I was totally addicted. I got a bullseye. So I was like, wow, my gosh, maybe I've got a second career in me with this.

Chris Grimes: 3:42

I hope you do talk about this, by the way, because you have a wonderful story about a New Year's resolution intention where you wrote it on the back of a napkin once. But then this year, because you've got a bullseye, you've written your New Year's goals and resolutions in, amongst the mayhem of Moving House, on the back of that very thing you've just shown us, which is the target bullseye. Yes, indeed.

Melanie Staunton : 4:05

So again, sorry, I will get to what I do in a second yeah 2020, at the beginning of 2023,. Thursday went on a hike and went for lunch with my husband and we were talking about goals and I was getting really excited and really inspired. So I just grabbed a napkin and I quickly wrote everything down that I wanted to achieve in the year to come, and this was everything. This was my goals with Communicate. This was personal goals, health goals, family goals. So it was really everything for the year that I wanted to achieve and, of course, about two days later, totally lost the napkin.

Chris Grimes: 4:49

As you do. It's only on a napkin.

Melanie Staunton : 4:51

Yeah, totally lost the napkin goals out the window and totally forgot about them. And about eight, nine months later I was packing up to Move House and, lo and behold, I opened one of the drawers and there was the napkin and I was reading through all the goals and what was really unbelievable to me was, first of all, the first goal, at the very top of the napkin was number one was moving to a home that we love, and the irony was I found the napkin packing up our place about to move into the home that we now are in, which we love.

Melanie Staunton : 5:37

So that was number one ticked off. But what was really amazing to me was I looked at all the other things on the list and I'd done nearly everything that I had written that day already, always in the process of achieving those goals, and so I recognized the value of writing something down even if you lose it.

Chris Grimes: 5:58

Yes, because it's percolating around. You've written it, you've externalized it. It's out there and then, underneath the surface, to be found in a drawer eight months later. So it proves that writing stuff down is helpful, because it just externalizes it.

Melanie Staunton : 6:11

It really does. It ingrains it in you and I feel like, even if you've lost your goal list, it's there and every decision you're making is kind of subconsciously taking you in that direction. And so I did it again this year, chris, but I did it on the back of my target practice sheet, because I thought that was so symbolic.

Chris Grimes: 6:30

And for those of you not able to watch what Melanie's just done, she's shown up the target practice. What's it called? It's not a map, it's a target, but I don't know what she's. It's not technical, is it? But there's an absolutely beautiful bullseye right in the heart of that. So you started on a napkin. Some of the world's best ideas happen if they're written, as the old saying was, on the back of a fag packet. But now you've got it on a sort of by athletes shooting target with a bullseye, and are the goals significantly different or extra because they're on a target bullseye?

Melanie Staunton : 7:06

Well. So this is what I also learned from doing the old napkin goal list is I put some goals on there that really felt impossible and out of reach, and I achieved those goals. And so what I realized is never underestimate what you're capable of and put things on there that feel really like your wildest dreams coming true, because you never know, they might just they might just do that, and so I put things that are really big in scale and also really achievable, manageable goals. Interestingly, those are the ones I find hardest to do.

Chris Grimes: 7:47

And we're getting into manifesting and all sorts of stuff in there, which is sometimes is a bit woo woo, but maybe it isn't because you've achieved it. So it's my great pleasure also just to, I must mention, obviously, communicate training. Your resume, detra, is you help people growing confidence through communication. You've got a very wonderful Zesty squad of 12 associates that work with you as well, and what a wonderful gallery of diversity they are as well, and you're based in Hong Kong. But just tell us the terrain you cover with communicate training.

Melanie Staunton : 8:18

Yeah, so sorry, chris, I massively digress from sort of introducing myself and communicate and saying what we do, which is, as you very aptly said, we help people grow in confidence through improving their communication skills. And I'd say another thing that I would add to that now, after doing this for a long time, is it's not just about helping people grow, but it's also about removing barriers, because sometimes communication skills can be a real barrier for someone achieving their goals. For example, if someone's got a fantastic idea but they can't pitch it in a way that captivates people or garner their attention, then that, potentially, is a barrier for them to succeed in the way they might want to. So that's another thing that I really feel is a big part of what we do at Communicator it's not just to help people build their confidence through communication, but also remove barriers to achieving their goals through helping them with different communication skills.

Chris Grimes: 9:17

And I know that your own specialisms you particularly point out are presentation skills, pitching, women's leadership and networking alongside personal brand. That's just part of what you offer, but it's a wonderful core essential communication skills consultancy.

Melanie Staunton : 9:32

Yeah, absolutely. But something that's really important to me as well is to amplify others, and also there are so many brilliant thought leaders in this space, and so you ask where we are. So mainly in Hong Kong. Singapore got some presence in the Middle East, the UK and Australia and in the States, but mainly APAC is our prominent area and I've worked with lots of brilliant experts in different fields. So we have our wellness specialist, who focuses on everything well-being, which is really important as well, because I like to think about learning and development in quite a holistic way, and so improving and building people's confidence can sometimes come from working on their well-being as well. And also I have some really, really brilliant consultants that do a lot of DE and I training for me as well, because that's not my specialty, but I love to learn about it and I love to encourage anyone who I hear who's a thought leader in this space to consult with communicator on it as well.

Chris Grimes: 10:39

Resonates beautifully with my own type of work as well, because we're both global heads of ourselves. It's amazing that we can tap into. The wonderment of the hybrid New World Order is that everybody can be connected now, and it's lovely that we can do it on a global scale, which is fantastic. I mean, even this very conversation is profound, because here I am in Bristol, 100 miles west of London. There you are in Hong Kong and we've met virtually and IRL, which my daughters taught me as in real life.

Melanie Staunton : 11:09

You are very trendy, Chris. You're very with it.

Chris Grimes: 11:12

I do speak to speak. So let's get you on the open road now of curating you through the journey. So this is going to be in a clearing, which is a serious happy place of your choosing, which I'll ask you in a minute. There's going to be a wonderful juicy storytelling exercise called 54321. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. There's also a golden baton. It's all to play for. So go as deep as you like, when you like, where you like. So we're going to amplify all things, obviously male staunt and, but most importantly, communicate training as well. So we can do a bit of a hybrid approach in how you talk about yourself and your wonderful work. So let's get you on the open road. Where is what is a clearing or serious happy place of your choosing? Where does Melanie Staunton go to get clutter free, inspirational and able to think?

Melanie Staunton : 12:05

That was a really great question, chris, and actually I think for me every day what I try and do. Sometimes I don't manage, but my goal every day is to take a walk very first thing in the morning and get outside before I do anything, and right in front of my home in Hong Kong there's a walking trail. So that's where I go, try to do it every day if I can, and that's what gives me some space to think, to be creative, to listen to podcasts. So I sometimes I'm learning while I'm walking, sometimes I'm voice noting while I'm walking, sometimes I'm just thinking and enjoying being in the nature, but it really makes me feel like I'm starting off the day in the way that I want to. So that's my space.

Chris Grimes: 12:49

I love that. And I love the fact there's a walking trail. It's a bit like a cycle path, but the trail is there right outside your front door.

Melanie Staunton : 12:58

Yeah. So I have no excuses, Chris. I have no excuse not to go for a walk.

Chris Grimes: 13:03

Lovely, and also I know that Lisa Partridge does within Singapore. That's all about the Nietzsche quote if in doubt, walk it out, and the best ideas happen outdoors. I've never been connected with Lisa because of that resonance. Have you seen Lisa in real life yet?

Melanie Staunton : 13:19

I have indeed.

Chris Grimes: 13:21

Yeah.

Melanie Staunton : 13:24

I think it was May, when I was in Singapore working with her, and it was the first time we met in real life and we had such a connection that that's when she very kindly offered me the opportunity to co-host a season of her podcast with her, and the rest is history.

Chris Grimes: 13:43

It's a six comms podcast and you may or may not want to talk about that in greater depth later on as well, but I love the fact where on your own walking trail outside your front door in Hong Kong you're also. I know when you walk and talk and reflect. You've left a few voice notes for me over time on WhatsApp and I think you hold the world record for the longest, brilliantly coherent but long messages on WhatsApp.

Melanie Staunton : 14:07

I think I need a shirt with that made on it like the longest voice note of all time. I tell you that is becoming my signature, chris his long voice notes.

Chris Grimes: 14:19

No, no, it's a good thing because, similarly, when I'm out on my bike and I say in lots of my LinkedIn stuff you know, my bike is my freedom, I just stand there, put my camera on, I let my thinking unfold and I resonate with you because I think you just let your thinking unfold, which is quite a good coach technique, in any case.

Melanie Staunton : 14:35

Actually, oh well, that's good to know. I feel a bit of relief, because do you know, chris, at my wedding how much I've voice note was in the speeches at my wedding. That's how much I do it.

Chris Grimes: 14:49

You actually. You didn't do a speech, you just put on a voice note. I've misinterpreted that.

Melanie Staunton : 14:54

No, sorry. It was mentioned in so many of the speeches how I am the constant voice noter because this is how I keep in touch with so many people across the globe. Is voice noting? Yes.

Chris Grimes: 15:09

I'm there.

Melanie Staunton : 15:10

I think it's 29 minutes is my longest one.

Chris Grimes: 15:13

Gordon Bennett. Do you know what? I'm glad you didn't leave on quite that long, but I think nine minutes I'm getting there, so I look forward to my first half an hour, which is great. We're on your walking trail in the geography of Hong Kong, which is lovely. How long have you lived in Hong Kong for?

Melanie Staunton : 15:30

So I grew up in Hong Kong, so it's my home, yeah, yeah.

Chris Grimes: 15:35

You also met. You've got New York and London in your previous geographies, but now I grew up in Hong Kong.

Melanie Staunton : 15:41

Yeah, I grew up in Hong Kong and it's a story which I might come back to. But yes, I grew up in Hong Kong. It's home to me. I, my dad, moved here back in at the times where you had to take a boat here.

Chris Grimes: 15:59

Ah, yes.

Melanie Staunton : 16:01

From the UK, so it was a really, really long time ago and, and, yeah, so I've grown up here since I was two months old. It's home to me. I have lived in other places which I might touch upon later, but it's, yeah, definitely home and wonderful place to be.

Chris Grimes: 16:20

And we'll get on to this as well. I know that you've lawyer trained as well as actress trained, so that obviously brings a bit of a USP in your ability as a coach and a facilitator as well. So let's get on the open road Now. We're in your clearing. Now I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. How'd you like these apples?

Chris Grimes: 16:38

And this is where you've been kind enough to have taken five minutes at Melanie Staunton from Communicate Training. So I've thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention and borrow from the film up, that's a bit bull squirrels. You know what never fails to grab your attention, irrespective of anything else that's going on for you in your very hectic life, and desire to leave long voice notes on WhatsApp. And then the one is a quirky or unusual fit of Elchill. Melanie Staunton, we couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us. So it's not a memory test. I'll curate you through it. Four things that have shaped you. First of all, melanie.

Melanie Staunton : 17:16

Right. So this is why I was holding off a little bit, because I thought I would touch upon this in this, in this moment, because you said I should think about this a little bit and to talk about what shapes me really is to talk about my upbringing in Hong Kong and also the fact that I said we talk of the four. I'll tell you them and then I'm going to show you how they all connect. But it's growing up in Hong Kong being a performer as well, both in terms of being an athlete and an actor, and relationships have been a big part of forming who I am. And then, finally, academics.

Chris Grimes: 17:59

What a great potpourri of shapeages. I like that.

Melanie Staunton : 18:03

Yeah, so how are they all tied together is? Growing up in Hong Kong, I was always really passionate about learning, so we'll start with the academic side. I loved learning to the point where I used to think my school library was too loud. I didn't think it was too loud.

Chris Grimes: 18:26

I was like I can't focus here.

Melanie Staunton : 18:28

I would study in the Hong Kong library. I loved learning and that was really important to me. On the same side of things, growing up, I was hugely passionate about sports, which is why I was really interested that I was connected to a footballer, because I was really passionate about sports myself. I represented Hong Kong in three different sports internationally yeah, yeah, hockey, netball and golf. So that was a big part of my formative years. And then, of course, being a performer on stage. I started at the age of eight and was always after school racing to rehearsals and dragging my mum to auditions. I just absolutely loved acting on stage and these were really my big passions growing up. However, chris, this brought me to a real crossroads because, when it came to going to university, I had very traditional Irish parents who said I had two options over a career. One was to be a doctor.

Chris Grimes: 19:35

Oh, okay.

Melanie Staunton : 19:36

Yeah, or to be a lawyer. These were my options.

Chris Grimes: 19:40

High bar.

Melanie Staunton : 19:42

Yeah, that was it. It was doctor or lawyer, couldn't even be an accountant. Chris Couldn't veer off the park in any way. So these were my options and I always felt re-torn because I wanted to pursue my passions for performing mainly. That's what I thought I was going to do, but I caved and I didn't want to disappoint my parents so often. I went to study law and get my law degree, but the whole time I was still performing and getting involved in anything that I could. And as soon as I finished and got my degree, I applied for drama school and I told my parents.

Chris Grimes: 20:26

I said I'm off, I'm off to New York.

Melanie Staunton : 20:28

I've got into drama school, I've got to pursue this. I mean, they were pretty heartbroken.

Chris Grimes: 20:34

Wow, I'm just impressed with everything you turn your hand to Gold. It's fantastic. Also, I'm really struck with the fact that your sporting prowess is about tonking balls, about hockey, netball and the third one now hockey, netball and golf.

Melanie Staunton : 20:49

Yeah.

Chris Grimes: 20:50

So you have no handicap whatsoever. Everything you're turning your hand to is going really well, so sorry, back to you.

Melanie Staunton : 20:57

Well, I think it's just when you're passionate about something, you put your everything into it, and so sometimes it doesn't work out, but you still enjoyed the journey because you love it. So yeah, but I caused a bit of heartbreak of my family when I said I was off to New York to be an actress, and I think my mom's just about got over that.

Chris Grimes: 21:22

So you have siblings as well, who have also had a high bar of expectation, or are you an only child in that regard?

Melanie Staunton : 21:27

Yeah, I do, I do have siblings and they've all done super, super well.

Chris Grimes: 21:33

So I kind of went off-peast, I sort of caught my own footprint I was going to say you ain't doing too badly, because that's very sorry, Mum and Dad, I'm after. Hollywood Sounds like quite nice. I know New York's not quite Hollywood, but I'm impressed anyway.

Melanie Staunton : 21:49

Well, thanks, Chris. I just kept you up to my muck.

Chris Grimes: 21:52

I'm still also reminded that when you tried target practice doing the by athlete thing, you did actually get a bullseye, whereas I'd be lucky to see what it is I'm shooting at, so I'm impressed.

Melanie Staunton : 22:09

I don't know. I do love sports, being something that I'm still passionate about this day. But yeah, sorry, back to New York. Went to New York, find MY DREAMS, was an actress there for six years and then I moved to London as well, got signed by a big acting agency there and moved to London for about three years, and then I came to another crossroads and my crossroads.

Melanie Staunton : 22:39

Is there anyone listening? I'm making an X symbol. I was wanting to be near a home. My dad's health wasn't so great and I wanted to be near a family. I've been away for a long time, very close to my family, and I thought, you know, maybe it's time to close that chapter and start a new one. And I came back to Hong Kong not really knowing what I was going to do because my career was so unusual, particularly in Hong Kong, which is the financial hub, and this is where relationships are always important in my life and always a big dictator of what I learned and what I do. But I sat down and had a conversation with a friend of mine who was in recruitment and, because they knew me so well, they were like you love learning, you've always been a really academic person and you're a performer have you ever thought about corporate training? And that conversation really changed and shaped as we're talking about this question.

Chris Grimes: 23:44

Who was it have that conversation with you? Because that's obviously one of those occasions when somebody says something to us in our lives and we never forget it. It's a crossroads or a breakthrough.

Melanie Staunton : 23:54

It was my friend Fee, and she knows she was one of my closest friends. She's known me for a very long time. I feel like that's how she was able to give me such a direction. That made so much sense for me. But I never had heard anything, I never knew about corporate training, so it's not something I would have ever thought of myself. And, yeah, this really changed the course of my whole life. And she was working with recruitment and put me forward for this role and then that was off. That was me off and started me in this whole journey that I'm now on.

Melanie Staunton : 24:29

And what's really amazing is all of the things I've done in my life being an actor. You learn so much about communication in that world Particularly, as often I'm helping people with public speaking and presentation skills, but even feedback skills. You know every, every performance. You sit down and you get notes and there's so much I learned from that and it. What's really amazing for me is I have always been searching for what it is that I'm really supposed to be doing and I thought it was the performing, but actually I think that was just a step in my journey, a chapter in my journey to being where I am now, which is 100% without a doubt, what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

Chris Grimes: 25:19

So relatable because we work in the same world in that regard, with our backgrounds leading to this point, to the clearing of what you're now doing. Completely relatable Also, what a profound testament about everything being a portfolio career towards this clearing for you, because now you belong front centre, in the centre of your clearing, which is about helping others to communicate better.

Melanie Staunton : 25:43

Yeah, absolutely it feels a bit. It's quite emotional for me actually, because it feels so wonderful.

Chris Grimes: 25:51

Because it was a journey.

Melanie Staunton : 25:51

It was a journey to get here and that was 10 years ago now that conversation. But it feels really, I feel very lucky to come and pass down.

Chris Grimes: 26:01

And when did you last say, when did you last see Fee? To say thanks for that, because that nudged me in the right direction.

Melanie Staunton : 26:07

Oh, I see her all the time.

Chris Grimes: 26:09

Very good. By the way, my dad told me when I was sort of 15, 16, if you want to be an actor, be a teacher first, and that will give you something to fall back on. And he's still alive, luckily for me, and I've been able to say many times what great advice that was, because, similar to what Fee said to you, it was just a nudge to do the right thing. That gets you on the right path.

Melanie Staunton : 26:28

Yeah, absolutely, and, as I say, you know, my parents gave me quite a narrow field for choices. The law degree has really helped me work in a lot of industries where I have to use a lot of the skills that I learned in that world, and so it has stood to me all these years later as well.

Chris Grimes: 26:52

And there's such logic in the transferable skills in acting and law, which are about standing up and just holding court metaphorically and literally. See what I did there.

Melanie Staunton : 27:02

Yeah, see what you did there.

Chris Grimes: 27:05

So we're in your shape, you still, so keep going, this is lovely.

Melanie Staunton : 27:09

Yeah, well, no, but that's really, that's really it. And then I learned all these skills around how to almost use what I had known for a long time and then use that to help others. But something else that spawned from that was you know, I was saying to you before that when I started to communicate a big inspiration for me there and what really shaped me with that was also wanting to amplify others and to be a platform for brilliant local trainers in the different countries that I've been in, to give them a voice and give them a platform, and female trainers as well. I'm a big advocate for them and that's been a big inspiration for me too.

Chris Grimes: 27:53

Lovely. And now we could be into three things that have inspired you. So we've done the shape of jazz. Now, three things that inspire you, melanie.

Melanie Staunton : 28:03

Oh, three things. I would say. Creativity and collaboration really inspires me. I don't know, chris, if you're similar, because, being in our world, I feel like that. That's always something that ignites passion and enthusiasm and driving us, but I don't know if you feel the same.

Chris Grimes: 28:25

I think it's a team work to make the dream work. The cogs of rapport If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together. All that sort of stuff. I love collaboration. I'm right there.

Melanie Staunton : 28:36

Absolutely, and it's so fun and you learn so much from working with others. So I think creativity, anything that sparks that juice of me, which I always find funny, because I'm very creative, chris, but I'm not artistic.

Chris Grimes: 28:52

That's open to interpretation.

Melanie Staunton : 28:53

You say that, but I can't, you don't want me on your picture. Every team will tell you that.

Chris Grimes: 29:01

Oh OK. Similarly, I'm crap at drawing. That's what I say about myself, but yes, but I'm all about the linguistic and the verbal rather than the visual. Well, what I talk about sounds visual, but if you get me to try and draw it, I can't draw it or paint.

Melanie Staunton : 29:16

That's exactly what I like it. Drawing painting disaster. I like to use all the colours.

Chris Grimes: 29:24

A palette of awesomeness, wonderful. Next, inspire.

Melanie Staunton : 29:30

I challenge. Challenges inspire me as well. I like to. I think that's again tying back into that sporty side of myself and being quite driven to achieve and accomplish. So I like a challenge. I like to try new things. I think if I'm doing the same thing constantly I'll get too comfortable, and so I like to push myself to try new things and go outside my comfort zone. I like that.

Chris Grimes: 29:58

But risk panic. We like that too. We get much more out of life if we risk something, which is great. This is lovely. You're allowed a third inspirational thing. That didn't really sound like English, but what's the third thing that inspires you?

Melanie Staunton : 30:11

I'm not an active person. Is that right?

Chris Grimes: 30:15

Yes, it's things. People attributes, what, just things that inspire you.

Melanie Staunton : 30:19

I'm going to say something a bit cheesy here. Chris, my husband, he inspires me every day. I think he's amazing, but also he's totally opposite to me, which is hilarious. We couldn't be more different. But what I love about that is he's taught me so much about understanding different perspectives than mine, different ways of going about things than mine, and I really appreciate it, and that's helped me a lot with what I do, because, of course, communication is often about understanding and understanding those who are different to you or do things differently to how you might do it, or look at the same situation with a different point of view. And so he really inspires me with that, because he's taught me so much and he's so kind and he's so patient and these are things I'm not the most patient about.

Chris Grimes: 31:25

We're talking about a lovely the yin yang of a relationship where there are things that he and you do that well. You're opposites and that's obviously opposite to tract.

Melanie Staunton : 31:33

Yeah yeah, total. But he helps me really learn, like I learn a lot from seeing how he approaches things, that does things, and I admire it a lot and so I try and you know, when he's so calm, I try and I wonder how does he do that? And I try and learn from it because I think there's so much value in that. He's also a fantastic listener and I've seen how incredible that is and it's that's such an important part again of communicating. So I've really worked on this skill because it's not a little thing for me.

Chris Grimes: 32:05

Again very relatable. In my family, patience is a virtue. Daddy doesn't have the yin yang stuff is really interesting as well, so that makes complete sense. And what's what's it? Do you mind if I mention his names? I know he's Darren, isn't he?

Melanie Staunton : 32:17

Yeah, Darren.

Chris Grimes: 32:19

I haven't met him, but what does Darren do? What's his line of work, which is the opposite to you?

Melanie Staunton : 32:24

He's a teacher, so actually not too different in a way, but yeah, he just, it's just everything. He's someone who, as well, is just so. He lives and breathes everything that he is. You know, he's very into health and because he's a PE teacher and he literally is embodies that entirely and I also really admire that about him as well.

Chris Grimes: 32:51

Lovely, generous, warm shape age to your partner, which is lovely. And now we're on to two things that squirrels borrow from the film up never failed to distract you. What are your monsters of distraction? Irrespective of anything else that's going on for you, what never fails to distract you?

Melanie Staunton : 33:06

What never failed to distract me? That's such a good question. I don't know what never fails to distract me. I think, again I'm so leading back into a problem or a challenge that someone is facing or I am facing, because I'm so determined to figure it out. And this actually can be a bit of like a downside to me as well is that, especially when it comes to that listening piece that I've been working on very, very much, if you know someone has a problem, I'm like all laser focused. Like you said, someone has got a problem, I'm there and I'm ready to brainstorm it or have like 100 solutions, but sometimes that's not what people need, which is what I've learned. So it has really taught me again to try and understand what their need is. Are they just wanting to be able to share and have someone listen and not give?

Melanie Staunton : 34:14

a million suggestions of all their options. But I think that's something, yeah, like if there's a problem that I am facing, I'm very consumed by it, or challenge, and I think that can be so fantastic in terms of driving action and helping you to explore different avenues for things. But then I think also it can have that negative side of you know, you're just so focused on that and there's all these other things you might need to pay attention to.

Chris Grimes: 34:42

I love the comedy and the idea that somebody comes to you with a problem or a metaphorical squirrel and then you try and give them 100 squirrels back. So we've got sort of a plague of squirrels that suddenly get out of the one problem or one squirrel. But what a great imperative.

Melanie Staunton : 34:57

Second squirrel I think you might don't understand something that really takes my attention because I'm a learner, I like to learn and if I don't understand it, then I really like to give my attention to it again and figure it out again. This might be the same as the first one, but I do like to understand and I think that's as well. From growing up in Hong Kong and coming back to shaping the, you grow up in Hong Kong and you meet people from so many different places and cultures and backgrounds and that is a wonderful, wonderful experience. But you know, it really does make you curious to understand so much and that's something that's really stayed with me. And if I don't understand something, I really like to learn about it. And when I'm learning about something, I really give again all myself to it. So I'd say that is that the study case.

Chris Grimes: 35:55

I think they're great squirrels. They sound like they were related and siblings as squirrels, but I love that because it's still a squirrel imperative. I commend you for your squirrels, melanie Staulton. And now a quirky or unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us oh.

Melanie Staunton : 36:11

OK, this is a good one, right when I mean you may. If you did some serious googling, you might have stumbled on this, but I don't think so. Back in my New York days, when I was an actor there, I performed in a lot of different types of things. Sometimes I felt like Joey and friends, so I'd always be doing random, random projects. But one time I got to do something that was quite exciting, and that was I was a dancer in a Rihanna music video. Oh, wow.

Melanie Staunton : 36:58

And I got to meet everything. She was amazing.

Chris Grimes: 37:01

That's amazing, and it's six degrees of separation. I know somebody who was the video producer, or is now one of the video producers, for Rihanna, so it's a small old world, but I wouldn't want to hoover it. How extraordinary. And now I've said that I can't at this moment remember her name, but I'll come back to you on that one, but that's a great fact, brilliant. So which? Video which song is it?

Melanie Staunton : 37:25

We can go and see oh gosh, I mean literally, it's like a second. It really is called what's my Name. And it's when she had the red hair. So it's quite a long time ago now. This is my New York days but she had the blaning red hair and I remember we were shooting at 3am or something in Central Park and it was kind of misty and she kind of came out and you know, through the mist with her amazing hair and I remember thinking, wow, she is a superstar. Like this is what being in the presence of a superstar feels like, and I was just in absolute awe. But also it was such a great story to tell my friends.

Chris Grimes: 38:10

It is, and I'm in the background manically trying to remember the name of the person, who it was, because I've been asking if I want to be in my podcast. But it's, it's. It'll come back to me and I don't know if that's that sort of different context, but that's great, great fact. We have shaken your tree, hurrah, and now I'm going to stay in the key ring. Move away from the tree. Next we're talking about alchemy and gold, melanie. So when you're at purpose and in flow, what are you absolutely happiest doing in what you're here to reveal to the world?

Melanie Staunton : 38:41

These are all such great questions, chris. I have to say I have to commend you on your questions. They really get me thinking. I think, in terms of what I do work wise I'm happiest when I feel like I am helping people in some way, whether it's with whether it's my clients or the participants themselves. I really love to think that I'm adding value and helping people with these skills, with these communication skills Also. I like to bring a positive energy to everything that I do and anyone that I'm with. Of course, this is not necessarily possible 100% of time, but I always feel like my happiest when I'm doing a session where I feel like I've helped people either remove a barrier or overcome a challenge to when it comes to their communication skills. That helps them in some way, shape or form, but also when they leave the room and they feel energized and they feel uplifted and empowered.

Chris Grimes: 39:42

A great enabler and helper of others is, in summary, using the great energy and force of optimism that you bring as your superpower.

Melanie Staunton : 39:50

Yeah, I like to think so, but I mean, I hope that's what the people think.

Chris Grimes: 39:56

Well, the intention is what's important, and reciprocity what you give out, you'll get back. How lovely, ok, next. Then we're ramping up to a bit of cake next, which is where you get to put a cherry on the cake. So, first of all, do you like cake? Melanie Staunton.

Melanie Staunton : 40:12

I do. I do like cake. I think I started to like it more as an adult than I did when I was younger. I used to like cupcakes, but my favorite cake came from my New York days red velvet Got to be.

Chris Grimes: 40:26

Oh, do you know what? You are the second guest who's specified a New York red velvet cake. That's very exciting.

Melanie Staunton : 40:34

Yeah, very hard to beat it Because you've had a New York red velvet cake. Very hard to go back to everyone else.

Chris Grimes: 40:42

That is your cake. Then nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. And now you get to put a cherry on the cake and this is the final suffused cake, suffused with storytelling metaphor. So what's a favorite inspirational quote? First of all, Melanie, that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future.

Melanie Staunton : 41:03

There's lots of quotes that I feel can dip into your life at certain times, right, that give you that reminder or that motivation or inspiration that you need. But one that I love from Maya Angelou is she said to try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.

Chris Grimes: 41:25

Thank you.

Melanie Staunton : 41:26

And yeah, that's what I try to be as well, like when, as I say, you know, when I turn up to things, I do like to bring a positive energy and leave people feeling, hopefully, better than when I arrived.

Chris Grimes: 41:40

Beautiful, Just allowing a little bit of silence there. Lovely. What's the best piece of advice? And you might have implied this already with what Zoe's if that's the right name again said to you back in the day Is that the right name of the person? I've never remembered that correctly. Fee Morning, I'm just making up the name Zoe. If there's any Zoe's out there, congratulations. So, yeah, what's the best? What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given, Melanie?

Melanie Staunton : 42:08

I've been given so many great advice. It's very hard to put it down, but I think there are a few things recently that I thought were really helpful. One was you might not be able to give certainty, but you can always give clarity. Yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes: 42:29

Boomtastic. We like that. That's really relevant, something that's a gift to me. As you said it too. Say it one more time, just to just reposition it. It's worth reincorporating.

Melanie Staunton : 42:39

Yes, you can't always give certainty, but you can give clarity. Boom.

Chris Grimes: 42:48

Wonderful. Now, with the gift of hindsight, the final question in this section. With the beautiful gift of hindsight, what notes, help or advice might you profit to a younger version of Melanie Staunton?

Melanie Staunton : 43:04

I would say. The biggest thing I would say to myself and this is something I still say to myself today is that the only person who can determine what you are capable of achieving is yourself.

Chris Grimes: 43:24

I love that the beauty of self-empowerment.

Melanie Staunton : 43:28

Yeah, I really believe that so much. Of course, I know sometimes circumstances can be really challenging, but I really do believe that. I think that there's so much as well that we can do that can help us get on the path that we want to be on. I really believe that. There's certainly something I've seen since starting Communicade, because when you start your own company it's very daunting and you worry about so many things going wrong. Actually, there's so much stuff that I worried about that never at all materialized. It only cemented to me actually what I was capable of achieving. Really, when I put my mind to something, the sky's the limit really.

Chris Grimes: 44:20

Your personal development journey and training others' journey is 10 years at this point, but how old is Communicade training?

Melanie Staunton : 44:28

Ooh, coming up to two years old, it's birthday.

Chris Grimes: 44:32

It's great we're talking about the. Have Another New York Red Velvet Awesome.

Melanie Staunton : 44:37

Yeah, I can't believe it's so exciting. It's been such an amazing journey. I've loved it so much. I've learned, I've got to travel to all sorts of different parts of the world Again. That's just informed what I do even more. It's been a really incredible experience Again to collaborate and work and learn from so many amazing people really yourself, Chris, that as well has just been so energizing and just wonderful to me. I've loved it. I've loved it so much.

Chris Grimes: 45:17

That passion really comes across. By the way, fantastic, we're ramping up to a bit of Shakespeare to talk about legacy in a minute, but just before we get there, this is the Pass the Golden Baton moment, please. Now you've experienced being given a damn good listening to from within Stories of Discipline and Genius. Who would you most like to pass the Golden Baton along to, to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going?

Melanie Staunton : 45:39

Ah well, I would like to pass the Golden Baton on to Jennifer Loog, who is the CEO of Phenomenal Speaking. She is amazing and very much an inspiration to me in this industry and in this space. She's got such an incredible wealth of experience and knowledge and she's just brilliant.

Chris Grimes: 46:02

What an awesome baton pass, and I know Jennifer Ryan Piri Loog very well myself, and that's a beautiful baton pass, Hurrah. So just before we get to legacy, this is now your moment in the sunshine for communicate training. Where can we find out all about you and your work on the old interweb? So this is the URLs, please, for communicate training.

Melanie Staunton : 46:27

Okay, right, so the website, if anyone wants to have a look, is wwwcommunicatetrainingcom.

Chris Grimes: 46:36

Boom.

Melanie Staunton : 46:38

Yeah, I think I hope I've got that correct. It's right, oh great, please go there, have a look. And also on there are links to my LinkedIn page, melanie Staunton. You can find my personal LinkedIn page or the Communicate LinkedIn page. And also we are on Instagram as well. I've got my personal is under Melanie Staunton, but my communicate page is Communicates underscore training.

Chris Grimes: 47:12

Fantastic and now inspired by Shakespeare and all the worlds of stage and all the bitter women, merely players. You'll see I'm tapping into my own hectic background as well. Well, there's a legacy now and, by the way, this is the actual complete work. Well, it's not a first folio, but this is the actual book I bought to go to drama school, so it says Chris Grimes, 16986, when I went to the Bristol Ulvick Theatre School.

Chris Grimes: 47:34

But anyway, so it's quite a lovely, authentic prop Nom, nom, nom, nom. So we're going to talk about legacy inspired by all the worlds of stage, and all the better, but we'll be be. Be so, melanie Staunton, when all is said and done, how would you most like to be remembered?

Melanie Staunton : 47:53

I would like to be remembered as someone who helped people in any way, whether it's for their communication skills, whether it's giving people a platform to be able to deliver their expertise in this area, whether it's helping clients with their challenges, or whether it's just being a helpful person in general to those around me and those who need it. I really would like to be remembered for that and for, as I say, bringing a positive energy and always wanting to grow and learn and improve myself in the process.

Chris Grimes: 48:38

I'm sure that legacy is yours for the grabbing Absolutely gorgeous, lovely. We also just quickly need to mention the Six Coms podcast that you have been a delightful co-host on. Do you want to just quickly mention that too?

Melanie Staunton : 48:54

Oh, yes, I'm so sorry we haven't touched on that yet, really. So, as mentioned before, I was a guest initially on the Six Coms podcast. These invited me to talk about how to receive feedback, how to help ourselves be able to receive feedback better, which is a largely unexplored area of communication skills. There's a lot of focus on how to give feedback and very little on how to receive it. So that was our episode, which I thought was really interesting.

Melanie Staunton : 49:25

Then we met in person when I was working over in Singapore and she kindly invited me to be a guest on the podcast guest co-host, sorry, just for one season. She was really fantastic because this is something that was her, her baby. She'd worked on it for a really long time, she'd put so much heart and soul and hard work into it and it was fantastic. So for her to open the door for me to come in for a season was quite remarkable. What she did, very kindly, was open it up to being something slightly different to what she had done previously.

Melanie Staunton : 50:03

I said to her I said that one thing that I always try and do is practice what I preach. So anything that I teach, anything that I train or talk about, I like to think that I've done it myself and either learn that it's something that works for me or not, but I still try everything myself. So I said to her why don't we have guests on and then have a challenge that they set us at the end of each episode and then we have to do the challenge and instead of just recommending everything to everyone, we should be trying it ourselves and then we do a debrief, follow-up episode to share with our listeners how we got on with our challenges. So it was really an amazing experience. I learned so much. I think you did as well.

Chris Grimes: 50:54

Chris. In fact, lisa Partridge, who you've just mentioned of Six Combs, is going to be a future guest in this podcast as well, which I'm very excited about because we've got somebody called Gary Pratt, who she really admires in Common 2 and he's been a previous guest too. And in fact, yes, I do have you to thank, because it's all thanks to you. In your episode about learning more about AI and embracing the change of it, I've subscribed to something called Get Munch, which is a way of giving you lots of video material back, so even this film will be nom nom, nom, nom, nom, do and get munch, and you'll be given the assets for it as well, to help you with all things promoting your company, communicate, training.

Melanie Staunton : 51:30

Amazing and just in case anyone wants to have a listen to the podcast, please do. You will see links to it on my Instagram, on Communicates Instagram and on LinkedIn, and there's lots of different episodes. So we cover feedback skills, difficult conversations, ai and whether that's helping or hindering our communication skills, which I thought was quite interesting. We look at different communication styles and understanding kind of cultural agility. We look at loneliness, which was a really interesting and very much connected with me as a topic, and finally we had an adventurer to finish off our podcast adventure. We had a real adventurer come in and be our final guest to sort of debrief the whole experience, because we thought we should compare it to climbing Everest during our OPPOcast series.

Chris Grimes: 52:32

By the way, to be continued, that was very interesting your loneliness, interest and intrigue, Because remember that I remember reading about the fact that that was the third pandemic. There was the pandemic, then there was the resignation pandemic, and then something that's pretty chronic at the moment is the loneliness pandemic, which is the danger of too much remote working, just as one of those attributes.

Melanie Staunton : 52:51

Yeah, so for me it was because last year I was traveling so, so much for work and I was honestly traveling nonstop for eight months, wow, and I spent only seven weeks at home in that time and often I was traveling on my own and that was wonderful because it was so exciting getting to go and do all of these amazing things for communicating, and that was I was so grateful and again, to learn about all these different places that I was in and incorporate that into what I do.

Melanie Staunton : 53:24

But spending seven, eight months away from home and on your own, quite a bit it's tough, that's very tough, and I did feel quite lonely at times, and so that's why that episode really connected with me. But, yeah, again, I just think what's really interesting about that when you're running your own business, is reminding yourself okay, what's my priorities, what are my goals. If something is maybe taking you to a place that's really great, but actually not making you feel so good, then you might need to really prioritize. And that's something that I learned and I did and I was like I need to just be at home for a while, and so that's what I did.

Chris Grimes: 54:08

Very relatable again in the in the work that I do too. Fantastic. So, melanie Staunton, founder and CEO of of Communicac Training, is there anything else, as this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the Good Listening, to Show, is there anything else you'd like to say?

Melanie Staunton : 54:24

I would just like to say, for anyone that is wanting to work on these skills, please know that you can. You can absolutely improve your communication skills and work on these skills, and if it's something that doesn't feel natural to you, that's okay. That's anything that we don't do often feels unnatural, but it just takes practice and learning techniques, and so I just want anyone that's that does feel like they're lacking in confidence with these skills that there is a light at the end of a tunnel and there are so many things we can do to help us, and it might just be doing something different, as simple as that. But please, please, note that there are so many tools out there and people out there that can help you build your confidence and help you work on these skills. I'm really passionate to remind people of that, because often I think people just they don't think it's possible, and I have seen it.

Melanie Staunton : 55:23

I have seen an amazing transformations, and so I just want to remind anyone who does feel like these skills are slightly beyond beyond them that you can absolutely learn them. You anyone can be a fantastic communicator.

Chris Grimes: 55:43

So, ladies and gentlemen, on LinkedIn and on the interweb, you have been listening to the wonderful Melanie Storten from communicate training. I've been Chris Grimes. This has been the good listening to show. And just to remind you, if you too would like to talk about your business, to amplify your brand or talk about the work that you do, then do get in touch. Care of the good listening to showcom. I've been Chris Grimes. That's been Melanie Storten, final opportunity. Anything else you'd like to say, mel?

Melanie Staunton : 56:09

Thank you for having me, Chris. I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it so much.

Chris Grimes: 56:14

And thank you for watching and listening on LinkedIn too. I'm just going to stop recording there. You've been listening to the good listening to show here on UK Health Radio with me, chris Grimes oh, it's my son. If you've enjoyed the show, then please do tune in next week to listen to more stories from the clearing. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then please do so. There's also a dedicated Facebook group for the show too. You can contact me about the program or, if you'd be interested in experiencing some personal impact coaching with me, carry my level up your impact program. That's chrisatsecondcurveuk. On Twitter and Instagram, it's at thatchrisgrimes. So until next time for me, chris Grimes from UK Health Radio. I'm from Stan. To your good health. And goodbye, melanie Storten from Communicate Training. You've just been given a damn good listening to in stories of distinction of genius. Could I just get your immediate feedback on what that felt like to be in the curated journey of this structure? So how was it for you?

Melanie Staunton : 57:08

I loved it. It was really interesting and actually your questions, chris, were so fantastic because they got me thinking about things in a whole new way that I hadn't thought about before and I tried my best to be spontaneous and in the moment with most of the questions. But yeah, it was really fantastic. I enjoyed it. It felt very creative.

Chris Grimes: 57:35

And thank you so much for your answers Great, by the way, the whole intent of the curated structure of it is to just let your thinking unfold, obviously because, like you, I'm a coach and a facilitator, so it's about giving somebody a damn good listening to, which is why I got going with it in the first place.

Melanie Staunton : 57:50

Well, I liked it. I felt I did feel very listened to, but I was also mindful of how I can usually go on and on. So be careful of that.

Chris Grimes: 58:02

And don't forget, you're also going to be my guest in the same material, but I'm going to pull you into the UK Health Radio show that I've got, which then gives you a big audience across 54 countries of about 1.3 million people and growing, which is really exciting. So I hope that there will be a really significant return on your investment of your time and for being here. Thank you so much.