Video: The real apprentices
Leading retailers reveal how their businesses are reaping rewards through apprenticeships in the video below.More than 80 major players in the retail sector gathered at London’s Excel Centre for a Skillsmart Retail Apprenticeship event hosted by Theo Paphitis. Speakers include Theo Paphitis – the retail apprentices’ champion, Hayley Tatum, Tesco’s UK operations personnel director and […]
Diary: And now for something a little bit different
As the new restructuring beds down, training manager and diarist Nathaniel Wallace faces up to the challenge of providing some innovative learning solutions in 2009. He starts by hiring a trainer who is just a little bit odd… We have reached the final lap of the financial year. Heads and senior managers are putting the […]
An introduction to Visio: organisational charts and much more
IT trainer Trevor Eddolls presents an introductory tutorial to Microsoft Office Visio, the drawing program for people who think they can’t draw. According to neurolinguistic programming (NLP) theorist Richard Bandler, learning can be auditory, kinaesthetic and visual. He would be the first to admit that most people absorb a combination of all three approaches. So […]
Climbing the training career ladder
So, you want to make training a career? Bob Selden has some essential, practical advice for those just starting on the training career ladder. I recently had an enquiry from a young trainer asking how she could improve her career prospects. My answer? “Become an expert”. Not an expert trainer (that is taken as a […]
Free thinking: Obama’s magic
Barack Obama can hold his audience spellbound, so what can the rest of us mere mortals learn from him about his magnetic speaking style? Martin Shovel looks at what makes Obama’s presentations so successful, and says it’s possible to spread a little of his magic. "Having heard someone speak, as time passes, you may find […]
Training to save lives
For Geraldine Grainger, training people to deal with choppy waters is all in a day’s work as she takes the helm as college principal at the RNLI headquarters in Poole, Dorset. The former head of L&D at John Lewis talks about about her transition from commercial to charity sector. Geraldine’s departure from the John Lewis […]
How to: Set a fee for your training services
How do you decide on a fee for your training that won’t undervalue your services or make the client run a mile? Peter Mayes tackles the age-old conundrum. A common question on TrainingZone.co.uk’s Any Answers forum is;“How much should I charge for my training?” This question suggests one of two things: The individual is, or […]
Tony Buzan answers members’ questions
Before Christmas in an interview with Tony Buzan, we gave members a chance to ask him questions. You came up trumps – the breadth, depth and quality of the questions impressed the great man himself. But what of the answers? Here is Tony Buzan’s second set of replies to your questions on creativity, mind mapping […]
Simplicity: Seeking stability in an unstable world
Would you like the world to stand still for a day or two, so you could catch up and enjoy some stability? Most people want to see a semblance of order and structure in their lives, says Trevor Gay, but we live and work in unstructured organisations where we just don’t have that luxury. So […]
Become a presentation sensation
Terence Mauri hones in on the preparation and delivery skills that turn a lacklustre lecture into a sensational session. “The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute you are born and never stops until you stand up and speak in public.”Roscoe DrummondThe fear of speaking to a group of people – technically […]
Rise to the challenge
With most organisations facing tough trading in the year ahead, Nigel Paine explains how to rethink your L&D strategy for the economic downturn. I have just spent a week in Philadelphia teaching doctoral students on the world’s first programme that combines business with learning. It is the first course out of a business school (and […]
Developing confidence in others
A large proportion of people complain about a lack of confidence. Rich Lucas considers the effect this can have on training, and provides a few tips on how to boost participants’ confidence. Ask someone to name three good traits about themselves and they will struggle. But ask them to tell you about the negative aspects […]
Review: The Really Good Fun Cartoon Book of NLP
It has to be one of the supreme ironies of NLP that very few books written on the subject are visual, given that one of the basic premises of the 'success science' is that 60% of people process their thinking in a visual way. However, one recently published book – 'The Really Good Fun Cartoon […]
Top reads 2008: Creativity: Can you teach it?
Can some clever training coax creativity and innovation out of even the most unlikely candidates? Annie Hayes reports. Setting the sceneThere’s no doubt that some people are just naturally talented when it comes to being creative, whilst others flounder at the first obstacle. So is it a skill that can be honed, tweaked and ultimately […]
Tony Buzan: Brain play – the never-ending story
It’s hard not to feel exhausted after talking to Tony Buzan, the brain-power guru best known for his Mind Mapping techniques, for Buzan is a man who never tires, who endlessly achieves and whose commendable positive attitude never fails – he is a veritable example of how to enjoy life to the full. Annie Hayes […]
2008: That was the year that was…
2008 is a year few of us will forget in a hurry. But as the credit crunch rolls into recession, it has been interesting to hear so many voices stress the importance of investing in skills. So how has L&D fared over the past 12, turbulent, months? Rebecca Midgley asked some key industry figures about […]
Simplicity: Formality v informality
Today’s society is less stratified and deferential than it was 30 years ago. Has the workplace lost anything important along the way? Trevor Gay considers the pros and cons of formality. “Would I be comfortable receiving financial advice from a bank manager dressed in jeans and T-shirt and a gold stud in his or her […]
Xmas crackers: Avoiding email clangers
Email is good for information and confirmation – not so good for persuasion and emotion, says Bryan Edwards. Here are his tips to email etiquette. When sending: In character, email is somewhere between an informal telephone call and a formal letter, but an email can be easily kept as a permanent record – a phone […]
A profile of Charles Jennings
Charles Jennings has close to 25 years’ experience developing and deploying technology-supported learning. Donald H Taylor talked to him about his approach to learning and why he doesn’t believe that training is always the answer. Charles Jennings, global head of learning at Reuters is responsible for the learning of some 18,000 people working in Reuters […]
Right to request training ‘to come in by 2010’
Twenty-five million employees are expected to gain the right to request time at work for training within two years. Under The Children, Skills and Learning Bill, to be put before Parliament next year, all employees who have worked for their employer for more that 26 weeks requests could ask to undertake accredited courses that lead […]
