How to ensure team members are all on the same page
Communication breakdown can quickly spiral among team members when the heat is on to meet deadlines and targets. How can project managers and team leads ensure smooth working relationships that lead to successful projects? Most project managers will experience times when it feels like their teams don’t understand them. This tends to occur when chaos […]
The art of persuasion: the new top skill needed by employees?
What’s now the most desirable quality among employees? According to the latest global LinkedIn data on job opportunities and what employers are asking for from applicants, it’s the skill of persuasion. ‘Persuasion’, though, is often seen as being more like manipulation and lies. The kind of dark art used by sales people to pressurise customers into […]
Learning at work: how to persuade stakeholders and employees of the importance of continuous learning
On Learning at Work Week 2019, we look at some of the common impediments and objections to implementing training in the workplace and how L&D professionals can overcome them and secure buy-in from management and employees alike. A robust learning and development programme is a cornerstone of every successful organisation, especially in the current unpredictable business […]
Complex diplomacy: how to deal with conflicting demands and information overload
In today’s fast-paced world of work, there is a constant need to negotiate a compromise between conflicting demands across multiple projects. But by implementing the right strategies and not succumbing to the desire to multi-task, project managers and team leads can successfully rise to the challenges of the digital age. Tight deadlines, limited budgets and […]
Tuesday Insight: Treat me like a child and…
I’ll behave like one. One of the most useful tools for reviewing behaviours, particularly our own, is perhaps Transactional Analysis. It’s a beautifully simple model that learners can grasp quickly and easily relate to. In very simple terms, it identifies behaviours we adopt as Parent, Adult or Child. Parent behaviour can be Controlling or Nurturing, […]
Marketing teams: getting the mix of people right
What’s the most important role of a senior marketer? To bring on board and develop a marketing team with the right mix of skills for driving forward the most valuable areas of the business. Twenty-first century marketing is suffering from a skills crisis. The sector is confused about its priorities – a well-justified focus on […]
How to become a new learning leader through stakeholder support
What does it take to be an effective leader in an evolving learning organisation? And how can Heads of L&D truly flourish through stakeholder support? It has been over 30 years since I had a career change and entered the mesmerising world of L&D. Back then I was a VM Instructor for IBM, working in […]
How to get businesses on board with learning and development
Many businesses are failing to invest in employee training for a variety of reasons, but this can prove a costly mistake. Here are the four most common objections to investing in learning and development and how to challenge them. A third of businesses in the UK do not offer their employees any time for training […]
What can L&D professionals learn from the world of branding to help develop great leaders?
How can L&D support leaders with building a strong, authentic brand? Lisa Gillespie, Head of Learning & Development Services at Make Business, explores four key marketing principles to ensure branding success. Picture the scene. You’re dealing with yet another iteration of change. And with this comes the demand from the top. We need our leaders […]
People management: four steps to avoid relationship breakdowns in teams
In high-pressured work environments, relationship breakdowns sometimes happen. Here are some ways managers can bring teams together to avoid this. Undoubtedly project delivery, especially within digital, has the potential to create stressful environments. With new groups of people working towards tight, non-negotiable deadlines, and long hours that drain and deplete energy levels, this environment is […]
How to future-proof L&D
You don’t need to be at the cutting edge of learning and development to keep pace with change. But staying up to date with the latest trends, experimenting with new tools and empowering others to do so will enable the function to turn the dial on learning effectiveness. There have been some interesting discussions in my professional social […]
Trainers’ tips: how to tell what your trainees are thinking
How do you know if your training is hitting the right mark with your trainees, or if they’re bored senseless? Here are some top tips to help trainers take the temperature of the room and keep learners engaged. Whether you are a professional trainer, or have been tasked with training up the new recruits in […]
7 Tips For Improving Empathy in CS Teams
Poor customer service is costly. Businesses are losing 75 billion dollars annually, because customers don’t feel as if they are being treated as they should. What’s more important though is that customers often don’t complain directly when they are upset. They simply find another business to work with. In many cases, the problem isn’t a […]
Six ways to maintain momentum after a skills development programme
It’s possible to harness the positive outcomes of a skills development programme, funnel that into everyday action and continue to implement change, but it does require collaboration. Training and continuing skills development are core elements of professional life in the 21st century for a good reason – in a fast-moving, continually changing, highly competitive business environment, you need to […]
Effective leadership: five temptations leaders must avoid
Most people can resist everything – except temptation. Here are the five most common temptations that leaders succumb to, and how to avoid them. When it comes to working with leaders the most consistently lacking behaviour seems to be discipline. Now I know that most of you are reeling reading this and probably thinking ‘how dare […]
How to help your team overcome self-censorship
In order to encourage employees to open up at work, managers need to lead by example. Only in this way can organisational cultures change for the good of everyone. Vulnerability. It gives me the confidence to let go, build trust, embrace conflict and allows everyone in a team to share our individual truth. I was […]
Video: Why listening is a vital leadership skill
In the Clear Lessons video below, Maggie Buggie explains why listening skills are so critical. She describes the wake-up call in her career that helped her listen more effectively. “The only thing that I would have done differently in my career, if I had that time again, would be to develop the ability to listen […]
The Five Best Productivity Apps For Employees
The business world is dependant on interconnectivity. Sometimes this requires employees to remain a touch of a button away from colleagues and clients even while on the go. Setting up a company that’s in constant communication regardless of whether employees are in-house or not would’ve seemed practically impossible even a decade ago, but thanks to […]
Transforming L&D in the charity sector
Martin Baker is the founder and CEO of the Charity Learning Consortium and the Clear Lessons video library. As an ambassador for charity sector L&D, we spoke to Martin about how the core challenge around budget can be played as a strength since it requires charities to think creatively, share knowledge and focus on people, […]
Time for a chat?
Have you noticed how communication, even between friends, can become a minefield of miscommunication, indecision, confusion, indecisiveness and decision avoidance? Take the modern process for arranging a night out with a friend: It might begin with a simple text along the lines of “How are you? It’s been too long!” But how quickly it descends […]
