Working at the Coalface: In Their Own Words

[00:00:30] **Ian Wilson:** Ey up, and welcome to Coalface Stories. As I begin my 60 for 60 series, I’ve been asking each of my guests one simple question: What does working at the coalface mean to you? It’s a phrase that sits at the very [00:00:45] heart of this podcast, and as you are about to hear, it means something different to everybody.

[00:00:52] In this special preview episode, some of my first guests share what working at the coalface means to them, in business, in life, and [00:01:00] through the experiences that have shaped who they are.

[00:01:05] So let’s hear what they have to say

[00:01:09] **Jonathan Clark:** Showing up every day, dealing with clients, helping people, and [00:01:15] putting the hours in. Like, like if I go to bed and I’ve not done anything useful that day, I’ve not, I’ve not moved towards my goals, I haven’t filled the day with useful activity, to me that was a waste of a day. It’s like life, life, it gets quicker.

[00:01:27] I’m, I’m, I’m 59. The years go by [00:01:30] faster and faster and faster. It’s freaky. Um, I can’t believe my boy’s 20 years old. It’s like, how did that happen? Um, and that, that’s what happens. So if you’re under 60 right now, let me tell you, your life speeds up. Use the time constructively. Fill it with [00:01:45] useful activity and go for what you want in life, because it- if you don’t, you’ll– it’ll be over before you know it

[00:01:52] Getting your hands dirty and learning as much as you can about everything to be [00:02:00] able to then be informed when doing something. ‘Cause I think the biggest thing for me is if I’m managing someone or if I’m, um, working with a team, I should be able to do everything they can do. [00:02:15] It doesn’t mean I should do it, but I should at least know how to do it and what to do to be able to then support and guide.

[00:02:20] **Paraag Amin:** So for, for me, at, uh, back at the Coalface, it’s very much getting your hands dirty, learning as much as you can, being, [00:02:30] um, yeah, not, not, not just sitting back and letting everyone else do things. So yeah, just, uh, getting into the weeds of, of everything and learning so that you can then [00:02:45] take a step back and support those people who are, who are gonna be doing those things or, or actually have a, have an idea of what’s happening and not just guesswork.

[00:02:56] **Gwen Baird:** Working at the Coalface. Well, when you hear Coalface stories, [00:03:00] it instantly takes me back to my youth when my dad was a coal miner, and he used to come home from work all black, into the shower too. Um, but working at the Coalface is you, you’re there in the front line. You’re, you’re in control, [00:03:15] you’re deciding what’s happening, and you’re doing there with the support of everybody round about you.

[00:03:20] **Anida Westlake:** You’re thereWhich is working at the coalface. Coal miners, that’s what I look at through your picture and your name, um, and [00:03:30] what stories they must have in that sort of a job in their day-to-day lives and what they go through. And do we really think about that? We’ve heard… You know, the only time you ever hear anything is when there’s an accident, something horrific happens.

[00:03:43] But, you [00:03:45] know, the challenges that they face, the jobs that they do, um, you know, how, how important it is. Obviously, there’s a need. I would love to know more about that. So it’s interesting that you bring this, you call this and you bring this to light, [00:04:00] because do we really think about those stories and what the, these people go through on a daily in their careers, and how does it affect them outside of their jobs?

[00:04:10] How much of it do they bring home?

[00:04:13] **Permjeet Kainth:** I think it’s going back to the [00:04:15] roots of the coalface when the first miners first had started out in terms of it. There’s, there’s stories about what’s happened with the coal miners within Nottingham and how they, uh, didn’t really come sides with the strikes and that lot.

[00:04:27] I think what it is, it’s actually about [00:04:30] learning about all the other people in terms of it and how they are and how they develop skills, and the best way to help them move forward within whatever they’re doing, what endeavors they wanna do, whether it’s in business or whether it’s in their, on their personal life, is understanding what people are all about to [00:04:45] me is, I think is what people need to think about when they’re, when they, when they’re on their search to do what they wanna do in their life.

[00:04:52] **Anke Herrmann:** Like being in the thick of it, like being in like not, not just sort of watch things from the sidelines and, [00:05:00] you know, it’s not just theory. Like if you don’t, you know, if you don’t get your hands dirty, you haven’t lived basically

[00:05:08] **Melinda Abbott:** I think it’s being out in the front and not shrinking [00:05:15] back and not being afraid to, like, take action on the life that you want, and, like, get, get out there. Life is for living, [00:05:30] not for shrinking back. And we don’t know how much time we have on this planet, on this beautiful planet, so to take full advantage of everything that’s offered within the time that we have.

[00:05:42] And the time is always now [00:05:45] because we only ever have that present moment, so it really is, I think, that coalface for me is, like, living that, living the life that lights you up rather than settling for something that doesn’t

[00:05:59] **Michael Laws:** It’s everything [00:06:00] to me because all of the work that I do is at the coalface. Everybody that I’m working with is at the coalface. It’s not about something which is removed. It’s about right in there with that person dealing with the, the nuts and bolts of their life and [00:06:15] things that just don’t work. So some of the stuff that I’m doing in terms of business development is talking to organizations about what I can do to support their staff who are about to lose a job.

[00:06:27] So that’s like a secondary layer, [00:06:30] if you like. It’s the person that’s losing the job that I work with that is working at the coalface. So all of my client work is working at the coalface. Some of the business development work is to get hold of some people at the coalface. [00:06:45] So all, yeah, everything I do really, most of what I do is at the coalface

[00:06:50] Working at The Coalface is about

[00:06:54] **Bogna Zofia:** Knowing that whatever human being you come across, [00:07:00] they have their own journey. They’ve been through their own journey, and you have your own journey

[00:07:08] And ultimately, no matter what stories we share, no, no matter what [00:07:15] we’ve been through life, everyone has something to share. And, um, and we’re all connected. We are w- we are all one. There’s no [00:07:30] separation here. So if we look at, at that, at, uh, from that perspective, um-

[00:07:39] There is … There’s that coal- for me symbolically [00:07:45] that coalface is the face of all the ancestors, all the karmic experiences, all the childhood wounds that we’ve been through, um, that shaped us and who we are. [00:08:00] And we’re here to, um, have that human experience in this life, uh, for a reason. In that way our soul chose this body vessel and our parents [00:08:15] to, to have this particular human experience and that is

[00:08:21] And your story matters and it’s worth sharing

[00:08:25] **Margaret Sinclair:** It’s about being really upfront because they [00:08:30] were, they were, they were right there. It was, you’re not hidden from anything. It’s about being very intimate, exposed in a situation which can be quite volatile

[00:08:41] **Lianne Bryne:** working with people in the, the grittiness and the, [00:08:45] the kind of, kind of the space that they’re in, you know, and, and, and understanding and meeting them where they’re at. Um, I’m not sitting on a pedestal preaching down to anyone. Um, I just wanna get in and get my hands dirty and figure it out with them, you know?

[00:08:59] And [00:09:00] that’s, that’s the coalface for me. Yeah. I’m not removed from the coalface. I love the coalface.

[00:09:04]

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[00:09:05] **Charlotte Elliott:** I to answer that because I’ve, I feel like I’ve grafted and grafted and it hasn’t… When it’s like for something that you’re not passionate about It can be very, very hard. [00:09:15] And I think actually if you find the thing that you’re aligned to and you find your purpose, it’s very easy and it doesn’t feel like work and it doesn’t feel like graft.

[00:09:24] So I don’t know whether that’s a good answer for your show or not.