National leadership: A perilous voyage?
A new report reveals that moving up the ranks to become a national leader presents a fresh range of challenges, not least the fear of making a mistake.Navigating the new waters of national leadership is a study by international leadership development organisation Common Purpose into the challenges of making the leap to a national leadership […]
How to: Approach 360 degree team feedback surveys
360 degree surveys can be effective tools for providing teams with the information they need to support continuing growth and improve performance, says David Cooper in this practical guide. Team surveys can be used to help build a new team, develop an existing team or to support an established, capable team in raising their game […]
News summary
As house prices fall and gas prices rise, there are further arguments for keeping training spend going during the economic storm. It’s also apparent that the credit crunch could provide a temporary bonus for some. In fact, there are growth areas around – as the world’s fastest-growing profession, it’s a case of: project managers – […]
Leadership in uncertain times
As the cold wind of the credit crunch begins to blow across the business world, rising to the leadership challenge is critical, says Sarah Lewis. Uncertainty presents various leadership challenges, including how to continue to get the best from people while they are distracted by concerns for their own future.Many leaders become paralyzed by their […]
Leading the business troops
Does military leadership cross over into civilian life? Mike Levy discovers there’s more to military leadership training than command and control, and much that businesses can learn about communication and team roles. The military are very good at leading people in ever-changing situations where the cost of failure can be in terms of human life. […]
Driving employee passion
What influences employee passion? Jim Lawless argues good leadership is key and offers tips for those struggling with disengaged staff. A recent Blanchard study found that meaningful work, collaboration, fairness, autonomy, growth, connectedness with your leader and connectedness with colleagues are all key in influencing employee passion.While most trainers wouldn’t argue with the assertion that […]
The secret ingredient to productivity
Executives who want to ‘grow’ their company may look at marketing, re-branding, restructuring, new processes. But, says Jack Rowlands, the best means to achieve greater success and productivity is right under their nose: their staff. Take any business. It has assets, resources, customers, intellectual property, products, people, market and so on and it is achieving […]
No more heroes
Are you responsible for developing inspiring leaders? If you are, then make sure they don’t think they have to be heroes, says Sukhwant Bal. The main focus, he argues, should be on helping leaders motivate their staff – not on trying to achieve their own star billing. If you are a leader, or you are […]
News round-up
Skills training comes to the fore this week following the announcement of the Conservative’s ‘Building Skills, Transforming Lives’ Green Paper, Skillnet joins the government’s apprenticeship task force for London, a report calls for a regional food training network to help plug the skills gap and a new study reveals line managers lack necessary interview skills […]
More line managers need interview skills training, says report
Only 30% of line managers receive any kind of interview training, but the majority want to contribute to the recruitment process, a report has revealed.The findings, collated by SHL, the talent assessment provider, found that despite line managers showing a desire to become involved in selection interviews to ensure candidates are the right fit, they […]
News round-up
A good week for skills training as David Lammy approves the new National Skills Academy for Retail and publishes the first draft Apprenticeship Bill; the government launches a new leadership assurance and benchmarking (LAB) service; and success beckons for female apprentices at this year’s Apprenticeship Awards. Read these stories and more in our weekly news […]
Comment: There may be trouble ahead
Why, when times get tough, do companies cut back on learning and development, asks Gemma Middleton? This short-sighted, knee-jerk reaction may cost companies dear in the long run. Doom and gloom. Two words that could adequately describe the way both consumers and businesses feel about the latest economic revelations. Unless you have been hiding under […]
LAB service launched for civil service leadership training
The government’s new centre for learning and development, the National School of Government, has launched a new leadership assurance and benchmarking (LAB) service.The new ‘light-touch’ service is designed to help departments ensure that in-house leadership development is effective, delivers a return on investment and supports the corporate leadership agenda across government.It offers a constructive approach […]
Trainer’s tip: It’s all a question of time
What practical exercises can you do as part of time management training? Angela Brier-Stephenson gives some advice, while other trainers list their favourite websites for resources. Angela Brier-Stephenson advises:I get them to look at time spent now and how it would look in the future, by dividing up a pie chart into the relevant sections […]
Dear diary: The adventures of a training director
Everything’s going swimmingly for our training director, until a woman goes into labour in a training session and cracks appear in a relationship with one particular client… My new junior trainer is now in post and producing some sterling work. Clients are asking for him by name and he is already being recommended to new […]
Motivating the disengaged
Businesses don’t succeed – people do, says Richard Burkard. He explains how you can motivate your staff – even the disengaged – to turn your company’s fortunes from good to great. At the heart of every successful business lies four key things – a strong vision, values, culture and passion. It’s these qualities that help […]
News round-up
Quality, not quantity in this week’s news round-up as Research into gender skills gap is launched . We can’t quite believe that it’s taken three decades for anyone to put any serious research into working out whether a difference in skills might be one of the issues behind the gender pay gap. The question is: […]
Teambuilding and training help Ploughcroft scoop award
Yorkshire roofing and building firm Ploughcroft has been named one of the best construction companies in the country to work for thanks to it approach to teambuilding and training.All nominations for the Best Places to Work in Construction Awards have to come from employees – and a high percentage of staff has to put the […]
News commentary
This week’s news round-up is slightly different in that we’re permitting ourselves a comment or two…As you might expect, the economic downturn is exercising minds: from the predicted training budget squeeze to the secrets of success. A potential remedy could be coaching while organisations are urged not to inadvertently fire their brightest talent: Generation Y […]
New course provides dual award for leadership skills
A significant lack of management and leadership skills has been revealed as one of the leading causes of financial loss suffered by businesses in the UK. According to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the cost of poor leadership amounts to more than £6 billion a year for UK businesses.In addition, managers without recognised qualifications are […]