Hear How ActionCOACH Steve Gaskell Has Helped the VU Online Team


Gillian Modrate – Operations Manager: When Steve first walked through the door, I found him very approachable, very understanding. A real people’s person, and for me that’s the big selling point for ActionCOACH.

Richard Wain – Technical Director: Personally I found working with Steve to be extremely beneficial for so many areas in work, but also in life in general. I would say that the focus that hes given to me and the rest of the team in terms of how we use our time, in terms of how we make our various systems and processes more efficient, and just in terms of cohesion and having a vision for the way forward in the business. He’s had a real impact on that for each of us in the business, but mainly in making the team feel like we know where we’re going.

Mark Healey – Creative Director: So good at listening. It’s those periods of quiet, he calls the pregnant pause. We got used to that quite early on, that we’ve got to figure it out for ourselves. We got the people and we got the skills, and it was how best to really benefit from what we’ve already got, which meant listening to ourselves as much as listening to a coach.

Gillian Modrate: I think with Steve’s background in the army I think he’s really brought in a lot of discipline into ActionCOACH. He’s been fantastic for us, along with people skills as well. I just think he’s really able to engage people on a personal level as well as a business level.

Richard Wain: We worked together, myself, Mark and Jill for many years. We were running the business a certain way that worked for us, but didn’t allow us to grow or expand. He’s really shown us how we can do that.

He’s done that for us on a personal level as well. For many years I’ve been a musician and I’ve done a bit of music, and working with Steve has given me the confidence to start to do that in a more public way and to perform in front of people and write music and think about it very differently, so there’s a level of personal and professional confidence that’s come from working with him.

Gillian Modrate: I think for me, one of the main aspects of Steve’s influence has been on my personal goals in which I’ve achieved during the Dunlop Classic. I came 12th which is an amazing achievement out of 300. It’s made me realize that I can do these goals and achieve more when I put my mind to it.

Mark Healey: For me, I’m passionate about music, never learned to play an instrument, so I thought I would try to set up a DJ set. I managed to perform down at the local arts center, so that was great experience for me. The other thing for me was sports, I’ve always done a bit of running, done a bit of riding, and put myself in for a triathlon, and completed my first triathlon. Two ticks off a bucket list which wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have the persuasive presence of Steve.

Gillian Modrate:  What it is is what he doesn’t say, He really lets you come to your own conclusions at the end of the day, it’s our business. We’ve gotta do what we feel is right for the business. I just find the way he  communicates especially in theGrowthCLUBs, really humorous…and his ability to engage with all sorts of people and all sorts of businesses, which is a talent in itself….yeah, we love Steve.