Teambuilding: Why bother?
Whether it’s horseriding, golfing or hanging off a zipwire, teambuilding events are not only good fun, they can make a real difference to morale – and the bottom line. Robert Myatt gives us his dos and don’ts of successful teambuilding. Looking at these events from the perspective of a business psychologist, teambuilding can be very […]
Why don’t we trust our leaders?
The ILM’s Leadership Index recently revealed that UK employees have lost faith in their leaders. David Pardey looks at why this is and what can be done about it. Nearly one third of UK employees have little or no trust in their senior managers. It should perhaps come as no surprise given that the past […]
Motivating the top team
When the going gets tough, how do you ensure your team doesn’t get going? Jo Geraghty gives us her top motivational tips. Motivating teams in your organisation can be a tough and unrewarding task in the current economic environment. Morale is low so thoughts of career progression and pay increases seem like a distant memory. […]
The unwritten rules of client engagement
Simply relying on tried and trusted methods to attain your clients’ goals can often stilt your own growth as a coach. Michael Bungay Stanier & Daniel Stane share their coaching secrets. Forget about your employees (for a moment). When I ask you to bring a typical workplace coaching conversation to mind, what do you conjure […]
The balancing act
As the stresses and strains of modern life change, so too does the training managers’ remit. Tim Holden looks at how to help staff maintain a healthy work-life balance. In July 2009 I met with the head of human resources for a potential new client, listed as one of the Sunday Times Best Companies to […]
How to win friends and influence people
In the effort to deliver more for less, organisations are increasingly turning to learning technologies yet while they offer great promise, staff resistance can often hinder their success. Laura Overton gives her hints and tips on how to engage managers and learners. At last month’s Learning and Skills group event, I was involved in a […]
Free team-building resources
On the look out for great training freebies? Cheryl Taylor has trawled the net for us and hauled in a huge range of free training materials! Here’s her updated guide to free team-building exercises. About.com Education This site provides a Top 10 Icebreakers for Adults. Don’t like Silly Games for Adults? There are other choices, […]
The most popular Trainer’s Tips ever! Team communication exercise
Joanna Howard submitted this fun exercise, which helps open up discussion about team communication. I’ve used this with surprising effectiveness: my colleagues have had the same experience. The debriefing often shows amazing insights about work style and communication. You need to have the people in a circle and up to eight soft juggling balls. 1. […]
Six steps to team enlightenment
Do you believe in the adage ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’? Andrew Leigh warns that a team’s reluctance for ‘development’ may be a sign that all is not as it should be, and suggests six steps on the road to team enlightment. If you lead a team, you almost certainly know it makes […]
Leading teams in difficult times
Is your team under pressure? Neil Twogood gives 10 tips to help you provide more effective leadership. These points should help you to ensure that your team is able to collaborate and to perform, he says, even in these challenging times. It’s a paradox of teamwork that in stressful or challenging situations – when there’s […]
Keeping the virtual team spirit alive
Travel bans induced by the credit crunch mean that virtual teams may find it tough to meet in person these days. Pradip Gajjar considers two important strategies to ensure team alignment during these turbulent times. A real scenario: A client wants to run a team-building programme for one of their virtual teams. They want to […]
To agree, or not to agree: How to improve team decision making
Businesses are suffering from poor decision making, says Clive Lewis. He highlights the perils of allowing the loudest people to get their way, and describes how consensus decision making can harness the collective creativity of teams. Majority decisions may have the illusion that we are getting on with the job, but in reality it often […]
Remote control: Managing remote workers
With more workers wanting to run their own race rather than the rat race, and with the technology available to enable this to happen, remote working has increased exponentially. But managing employees working outside the office is a real skill for their managers, says Anton Levchuk – and the secret is in the structure. For […]
The secret to achieving goals
Lost track of the number of New Year’s resolutions you’ve made, and broken, over the years? The secret isn’t so much willpower as the ability to select goals that are important, achievable and to stay focused, says Brad Waldron. My 2009 New Year’s resolution – no resolutions! Is that what you think this […]
Best read features of 2008
It’s that time of year when we reflect on the highs and lows on TrainingZone.co.uk in 2008. Here’s the list of what grabbed your attention most on site in the last 12 months. Most of the features in our top reads have been written by our own staff – experienced feature writers Louise Druce, Verity […]
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 […]
The secret to getting your team engaged
Many supervisors, managers and team leaders bemoan the fact that their team is not totally engaged with what they are trying to achieve. Bob Selden suggests some solutions. A recent survey by the Corporate Leadership Council of 50,000 employees worldwide found that only 11% felt fully engaged in their current work, 76% felt neither engaged […]
A week in training: Education and Skills in the spotlight
It’s all about education and skills this week following the landmark Education and Skills Act 2008, Sir Alan Sugar signs up to back the push for apprenticeships, Universities Secretary John Denham’s University Challenge looks set for success and a new report suggests women may make better leaders than men. Almost a decade after last addressing […]
A week in training: The £65m skills booster
This week: there’s a £65m pot for boosting skills in science, manufacturing and engineering, managers show support for extending flexible working to all, learndirect launches an interactive game to boost literacy and numeracy, and staff show a lack of trust in their senior managers. £65m skills boost for science, manufacturing and engineeringSemta, the sector skills […]
Trainer’s tip: Team building activities
You’ve suddenly been asked to come up with a team building exercise at the last minute – what do you do? Trainers point to several websites that offer details of great team building exercises, and the beauty is, they’re all free! Carson Warnes asked: I’m two months into a new job & I’ve just been […]
