Great delegation or passing the buck?

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Delegation skills are vital for all managers and team leaders. The advantages are immense. However delegation performed poorly leads to de-motivation, stress and low productivity. The delegator often blames the delegatee and tries to 'pass the buck' when very often it's their ability to delegate effectively that lies at the heart of the problem. "If you […]

Sales Training – Looking for a provider to deliver Sales Training & Closing the Deal

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I work for a multi-national recycling and asset management company. The business has identified that the sales team need further development specifically in closing a sale. They currently struggle in their ability to clearly articulate the business value proposition, the differentiators, in defending price points and in up-selling other services. I am looking for a provider to design and […]

Optimism as a Skill

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Did you know that there are more negative words than positive words in the English language?  The capacity to emphasise the negative, rather than the positive, might be an evolutionary phenomenon stemming from the need to be risk aware. Whatever the reasons, a lot of research, including that carried out by Roy F Bauminster, Kathleen […]

There’s a link between assessments and performance

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In a report on the use of assessments, the Aberdeen Consulting group in the US have found that there are correlations between organisations that perform well (in terms of performance and retention of staff) and who use assessments, and this includes 360 feedback, in a consistent way. One of the key drivers for using assessment […]

5 tips for finding the right e-training partner

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When you have made the step towards partial or complete online training for your organisation, you don't want to end up with the wrong partner. A training programme is an intensive cooperation and a lack of research significantly decreases the success rate. Thoroughly investigate if a potential partner meets your standards, features and support requirements. […]

The way mobile training enhances the learning effect

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Online training has made it possible for people to improve their communication skills wherever and whenever for a few years now. But within online training, a new development brings even more independency: mobile training. Statistics show that training happens more and more continuously. This enhances the effect. Tuesday training day Our clients’ employees practice their […]

The strategic importance of continuous training

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If there is one thing that many sectors have in common in this economy, it is that new developments constantly succeed one another. Markets change and organisations that do not adjust their strategy  on time, live to regret it. In such an environment, continuous training is a tool that should not be underestimated. How can […]

Witches of Glum? It’s Just Nonsense Isn’t It?

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I’ve made a career out of creating engaging, innovative training exercises, used by professional trainers around the world. But even I have to admit that at face value, some of them might seem a bit, well, daft. A good example is Witches of Glum, recently added to Managers’ Library. (A slightly different version is also available as […]

Nelson Mandela: pragmatism and vision in leadership

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Released from prison 11th Feb 1990 aged 71 after 27 years imprisoned, Nelson Mandela subsequently received the Nobel peace prize for his efforts ending apartheid, becoming South Africa’s first black Prime Minister in 1994. Paul Russell of Luxury Academy London looks at the combination of pragmatism and vision in leadership. Even Mandela’s names tell us […]

Do you appreciate your ‘sloggers’?

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Jenni Russell commented in The Times (4/2/2016) that bosses don’t notice the strong and silent types. It pays to be one of the office jumper-uppers. She comments that if you are one of those “sloggers” that “work hard, be competent and self-reliant, never panic in a crisis, willingly volunteer for late hours, and never draw […]

How to combat the January blues

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The third Monday of any January is traditionally known as ‘Blue Monday’, the most depressing day of the year. In 2016 Blue Monday fell on 25 January. This was apparently calculated through a formula of weather, debt since Christmas, the time since failing our New Year resolutions, low motivational levels and no real desire to take action. The […]

Body language on the phone? You must be joking!

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You could say that because body language is non-verbal, then it is impossible to read the other person’s body language over the telephone – you can’t see them! However surprisingly there are a number of body language indicators that could be detected. These include:   Smiling on the phone. It lifts the tone of the […]

customer services training

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i am a new trainer and wondering if anyone can help with ideas for customer training many thanks trev noble i am a new trainer and wondering if anyone can help with ideas for customer trainingmany thankstrev noble

Managing Work while Having a Personal Crisis

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We always try very hard not to bring our personal life to the office, but sometimes it just impossible. Unfortunately, we have to deal with difficulties that occur in our personal lives even at times when we have a lot of office work. Divorces, death in the family, health or personal crises make us re-evaluate […]

Launching behaviours – looking for an interactive activity

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Hi, I have around 1 hour at our next team meeting to launch our new behaviour framework – its already been talked about and shared but this is an experiential session to get everyone involed with the behaviours to ensure they understand them and ultimately recognise why we need them. I am on right after lunch […]

The psychology of inspiring leaders

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Many believe that great leaders of their time were born and not made. But are we really sure the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Gandhi and Winston Churchill to name a few, are examples of those were born to be powerful or did they apply their innate intelligence, confidence and judgement to lead from the front? […]

Soft Skills are not soft.

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I once had someone suggest to me that I would not be capable of working amongst the “brutality” of business life.  I listened with great interest as there might have been some truth in what they were saying.  Upon extensive reflection, I considered what might be behind their comment, as it intrigued me enormously.  It intrigued […]

The value of contrast

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What if changing one thing in your message could impact four crucial purchase intent-related actions? Would you be interested? I’m here to tell you that you can do just that. New research shows that using one simple messaging technique can increase your influence on buying decisions by a statistically significant margin. Here’s how I reached […]

Infographic: Emotional IQ and you

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Emotional intelligence (EI) is a person’s ability to understand emotions in themselves and others. EI is quickly becoming a more preferred metric than IQ for evaluating employee credentials. It is believed that up to 58% of the variations in personal success factors can be attributed to emotional intelligence. Better work relationships are seen more frequently […]