I've been asked by those curious and young, though not necessarily one and the same, what the initials LMC in our company name stand for. My answer invariably turns the question back on the asker: “What do you want them to stand for?”

Changes in the way we are doing things at LMC Solutions Ltd reminded me of why we used those three letters in the first place and, given our new direction, I thought it time a review was in order.

Initially, pun fully intended, the letters represented the initials of the two directors: Lesley and Martin Catterall. A little prosaic, I know, but it gave us a starting point. At the time the logo was being developed and our business plan defined, our focus was on achieving these end results.

The business of LMC Solutions is essentially about changing behaviours: providing new perspectives, broadening people’s knowledge base, enhancing people’s skills, paving a path to mastery and presenting opportunity for better control of what happens next.

In a discussion recently, I was challenged on why those words: Learn, Master, Control appear in our logo to the exclusion of others. In explaining the denotation of each, I had to articulate how these were relevant to the business and my response surprised even me. “They all have to do with our emotional well being,” I said. “Nearly everything I do, with people or animals, starts at an emotional level."

Learning is not possible if we are not emotionally ready for it. And yet learning is the only means we have of getting from where we are to where we want to be. Life is about learning and when the learning stops, so does life.

Whether I am working with a child or an adult or a wayward dog, my first task is always to get then to that place emotionally where they are receptive to learning. My intention in every situation is for them to be able to control that emotional state for themselves.

We humans are notorious for coming up with excuses for why we can’t do things. In that respect we are worse off than less sentient creatures. Dogs and horses and chickens never think that they can’t, instead they rely on their own self-confidence or trust in us before they try. Perhaps we need that confidence and trust in ourselves as well.

This is all part of the control we need to achieve mastery in anything. Getting good at something takes time and practice during which we are constantly learning. Refining our approach, self correcting, honing those skills till we get it the way we want it… are all part of the mastering process.

Learning a language is a good example of how these three elements – learn master control – create an equation for success: learning the words and mastering their usage gives you control of the language.

Want another example? Consider training a dog: First you need to get knowledge of what you want him to do and then you need to master your training techniques, armed with this gives you control of the situation.

After a year in business, we've made some changes at LMC Solutions. We've shifted our focus a little, tightened up on our core. Setting up The K9 Academy as our dog training arm of the business, and the establishment of our Motivation and Life Skills solutions has suggested other possibilities for our LMC acronym and there are likely many more that will become evident as we expand our thinking and our offering through the company.

What we hope remains constant though, is the quality of the solutions we offer. Our focus is always on providing the very best solution to the problem you are facing. We are exploring new ways to do this by making it easier for you to seek a solution and by making them more accessible than ever.