Directors need training too

What skills do you need to be a successful board director in today’s agile environment? Some skills such as leadership and communication almost go without saying, being intrinsic elements of a lifelong learning commitment which leads towards a position of responsibility. However, there are other skills which are equally important but perhaps do not receive […]
Employee experience: the value of feeling valued

Show your people what they’re worth.
Leadership: how to have a personal impact and communicate better

Three key questions to give your leadership the ‘wow’ factor.
Leadership: how to become an emotionally intelligent leader

Seven emotional skill sets all leaders need to cultivate
Strategy Creates Conflict

You probably think that you have a strategy for your business. That is extremely unlikely. It’s unlikely because a strategy is a plan for what you’ll do in the future to achieve some objective or reach some goal. The problem is that your plans are in the future, and the future is uncertain, and you […]
How to create a culture of continuous learning

So much of business discourse – be it in the media, the boardroom, or around the office watercooler – is dominated by discussion around how established companies will survive and thrive in light of sweeping technological and societal changes. Younger companies have less to worry about. Such changes are the foundation of their business models […]
Common sense in Business Management

After more years than I care to remember, firstly in management myself with rising degrees of seniority, through to today running my own training and development organisation, it never ceases to amaze me that what I consider simple common sense just does not occur to many people. Is it just me? Have I clouded my […]
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 […]
Leadership V Management Training Exercise

Hi, Hope somebody can help me…. Does anyone know of any good exercises to explain / demonstrate the differences between Leadership and Management – group size of 6 – 8 ?? Many Thanks Dean Hi,Hope somebody can help me….Does anyone know of any good exercises to explain / demonstrate the differences between Leadership and Management […]
Leadership: the problem with managers and how to upskill them

Poor old managers. They really get it in the neck, don’t they? They’ve got top-down pressure to deliver more with less, little time to translate or enthuse their own teams with the need for more, better or faster work, and still less time or encouragement for personal or professional development. In learning and development we […]
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 […]
Leadership development: leaving behind a corrosive culture

For most organisations, the development of the next generation of leaders is a priority. The spend on leadership development certainly reflects this. In 2019, the leadership training market is worth US$366 billion globally, according to a Training Industry Inc. research report. Leadership development is big business. Growth continues, but its impact is doubtful. Even immediately […]
Leadership: why adaptability is the must-have skill for leaders today

Leadership programmes are littered with coaching models, strategic planning canvases and commercial awareness simulations. Whilst all this stuff is still relevant and important, it’s not what will make a leader successful, only passable. Every industry and workplace will continue to be disrupted by technology, and therefore adaptability is often cited as the number one attribute […]
Leadership skills and development

Training mental wellbeing

Do you pride yourself in having an open, caring organisation? Does employee welfare sit high in your priority list alongside a recognition that the more your people feel respected and engaged, the better the outcome not only for them but also for the business? Would it therefore surprise you to learn that 55% of workers […]
Leadership development: it’s time to ditch what you think you know

Right across Europe large companies are tearing up the rulebook when it comes to leadership development. How can I make such bold and challenging statement? I have just completed a report on innovation in leadership development working with 12 large, successful European companies as partners and co-explorers. The results are fascinating. The simple problem that […]
Leadership: are we at the dawn of robot leaders?

Workplace technology has significantly altered the way we work and interact. Digitisation helps us manage workflow, collaborate, generate ideas and stay connected. We can work flexibly and be more productive, but we’re at the dawn of a new era of digitisation and some interesting challenges for the way we lead and manage. Technology offers […]
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 […]
CEO Training Priorities For The Rest of 2019

As we move into the second half of the year, it’s fair to say that the pace of change hasn’t let up.And that means that CEOs are still operating largely in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. The global economy, continuing technological innovations, and the ever-present threat of competition mean that at any moment, anything […]
AI will improve employee productivity

According to Gartner, Virtual Personal Assistants and chatbots will be used by 70% of organisations within the next two years. Whether that’s incorporating AI-enabled response mechanisms to streamline incoming queries, to allow 24/7 customer service or to reach out to new customers with ‘chatvertising’, there’s little doubt that AI will be impossible to avoid. With […]