Personal development: stop procrastinating and start doing
We are all prone to procrastination in various forms but I believe that the way we live and work now has only made this tendency stronger and easier. What is procrastinating anyway? It’s actually a kind of weird self-regulating failure and although most of us are aware that we procrastinate, we can’t seem to stop […]
VIDEO: how to set challenging goals
“I lived in Hong Kong for ten years, and while I was there I set up a dragon boat team called The Sea Gods. We were a fun team, and we did a lot of drinking! We were a group of friends. When we started we just paddled, and over about just three or four years we got a […]
Leadership: the three top skills all leaders need
You are probably used to tapping into a variety of skills, techniques and competences to manage people, teams and get the most out of them. You probably have to learn quickly to develop and foster what you don’t have. Despite this, you may not have thought about these three critical skills that supercharge performance, productivity […]
The first secret of accelerated learning – finding the balance in priorities
In 2013, I developed my ‘five secrets of accelerated learning’. These ‘secrets’ as I call them, were the culmination of research into a fascinating area. This area had many contributors but, up until then, there was no one unifying model to cover everything we had learned about how to accelerate learning through an organisation. This […]
Leadership: ditching the cult of the individual and embracing ‘communityship’
In part one of this feature, I explained why leadership development programmes as they stand today are unfit for purpose. Very little has changed in their design and content since the last financial crisis, and yet today’s world is markedly different, even to those times just a decade ago. Below, we’ll look at how and […]
Mindfulness for trainers: noticing everyday experiences mindfully
This month, I am sharing a technique that has enriched my life, and my training practice. Sitting practice is powerful, but I love the Mindfulness for Life approach of bringing mindful awareness to everyday tasks, such as driving, washing up, and walking (I’ll cover mindful walking in a later blog). This month, I am sharing […]
Why managers need to learn to be impartial
One of the biggest pitfalls for leaders and managers in business is a rock-solid belief in their own impartiality. Long experience and intimate knowledge of situations and people mean they must know best. It’s a problem when it comes to relationships and diversity – in how different types of people are perceived and treated; when […]
Presentation skills: take a deep breath and drop the corporate mask
Connecting with an audience in a business setting isn’t just about content – it’s about being able to bring your authentic self to the room. To get better at giving presentations, we first need to look within ourselves. In a corporate training room in London, an inspiring space with lots of natural light, creative décor, […]
VIDEO: What’s your work/life tipping point?
Struggling with your work/life balance? Maggie Buggie, SVP, Global Head of Innovation Services & Solutions at SAP (formerly at Capgemini) suggests finding your tipping point, and asks whether there’s a more important underlying question to face. “A lot of people ask me about work/life balance, and I have to be very honest here, I genuinely don’t […]
Transformational leadership: it’s not what you think
Don’t be fooled by the name – transformational leadership is charismatic leadership with a fancy title. The idea of transformational leadership sounds good when taken at face value. A transformational leader is someone who instills pride, respect and trust in their followers. They inspire and motivate people beyond expectations, sparking innovation and change. If you […]
The psychology of change: how companies should approach transformation
The key to successfully implementing change in an organisation is psychological insight – understanding your people and what they need in order to adapt to it. No matter where you work or what you do, everyone is talking about the future — anticipating change and how it impacts our lives. Human beings have, of course, […]
Why memory is the most important skill to train employees in
Training employees to have better memory skills makes logical and financial sense – after all, why spend money training them in other skills if they won’t be able to remember them? Here are some tips to help improve memory recall. What if you could not only help your employees to improve their performance, but at […]
Does Boris have the skills to be a great leader?
Two of the major political parties in the UK have gained new leaders this week. On Monday, we learnt that Jo Swinson will take over from Vince Cable as leader of the Liberal Democrats. And yesterday, in a result that was even less surprising, we were told that Boris Johnson has been chosen to lead […]
Five ways to have better conversations
While technology and management styles have been transformed over the past hundred years of working together in formal environments like offices, our ability to have ‘good’ conversations is stuck in the past. It’s important because businesses don’t just depend on the quality of their people – they depend on them communicating. Workplaces continue to involve […]
How physical intelligence can benefit employees in the workplace
We’ve heard a lot about emotional intelligence, but now it’s time to discover how physical intelligence can transform our careers and business outcomes for the better. Authors of new wellbeing book Physical intelligence, Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton, shed some light on this emerging skillset. Physical intelligence is the ability to detect and actively manage […]
2050 – Living in the algorithm era…
2050 is not that far away from us. Barely three decades… (Still remember the 90’s, right?) Of course, it is impossible today to precisely depict what our future will look like 30 years from now. But there are at least 2 facts that we can now take for granted: #1 – First, the world population […]
Continuous learning: The core of the workplace
On-demand learning may not yet be a matter of instinct for everyone but the time when it must be is upon us. Continuous on-demand learning is the only way we’ll be able to navigate the future that modern working life demands. This is not simply an employee issue, employers need to build a culture that […]
Analysing an emotional reaction during a training session
When conflict arises during training sessions, your initial reaction might be to shut down the other person immediately – but taking time to analyse their reaction can provide a greater learning experience for both parties. A few years ago, I was hired by a company to help them through a TUPE transfer (Transfer of Undertakings […]
Soft skills: the four cornerstones of a great conversation
I believe that the most important things that happen at any organisation are conversations. They are the reason we innovate, collaborate, sell, lead, coach, change, succeed, or fail. A salesperson who struggles to have meaningful customer conversations, a leader who is misunderstood when implementing strategy, or a manager who prefers to avoid coaching conversations are […]
Video: great leaders guide rather than direct
What makes a great leader, asks John Wagner? He shares an example of a great boss who has shaped his leadership style. “Reflect back on the good bosses you’ve had and why they were good: why did you feel you really wanted to go to work and work harder and do the right job for […]
