Ask the Expert: Training Audits
A training audit is no small task – where do you start and having collected all the data, what do you do with it? Our experts have some advice. Question: I want to conduct a full training audit within my organisation later on this year. Does anyone have any templates I could use or any […]
Leading in Tough Times
“Tough times call for innovation, not stagnation and retrenchment,” argues Jacqueline Byrd, PhD and Paul Lockwood Brown, MBA. What do we do as leaders of organisations when times are troubling? We retrench, we conserve; in short we become turtles, shrinking into our shells to avoid anything that may appear risky. Just what should an organisation […]
Trainer’s Tip: Code of Conduct for Associate Trainers
Advice from Graham O’Connell on how to formalise ground rules for associate trainers. You might want to look at an earlier thread at https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=163456To check out our code of ethics see: http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk/about_us/jobs/associate_working/CodeOfEthics.pdf Dress code is a tricky one. It is hard to set out in detail what is or is not acceptable, and anyway that […]
Bosses Hold Back 21st Century Working Practices
Leaders need training to manage the growing army of remote workers, a new report commissioned by City & Guilds and the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) states.The Tomorrow’s Leaders study, undertaken by Henley Management College, shows that managers are struggling to reinvent their working patterns to get the best from remote workers, with visibility […]
Finding the Words
Reality TV shows like Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice are portrayed as showcasing business talent. But for Vince Stevenson it’s the way that these intelligent, high-flying contestants fall when faced with an audience that highlights a serious business issue. The business world is finally waking up to the fact that communication skills are at an […]
Skills Shortages Keep Bosses at Work
Unskilled staff is a barrier to small business managers taking a break, a new study claims.Two in five small business managers are failing to use their full holiday allowance, and one in five cited unskilled staff as the key reason.The findings by the Learning Skills Council (LSC) are more surprising given that nearly all the […]
Entrepreneurs Shun University for ‘School of Life’
Having no academic qualifications does not prevent entrepreneurs achieving business success, new research claims.According to the poll by Barclays Local Business, just 46% of small company bosses had a degree and only 11% believed achieving a good education is crucial to business success.The report claimed that with figures showing that someone starting their three year […]
Trainer’s Tip: Selecting an External Trainer
Selecting an external trainer can be hard; even if you’ve had a recommendation, can you be sure they will deliver for your organisation? Graham O’Connel has some advice. You should have criteria for selecting the trainer/provider. For example, if you want to do a high level CPD event for seasoned project managers then you will […]
Remote Managers Fail to Win Employee Trust
Managers who don’t engage and inspire their staff are failing to gain their trust – and the further removed they are the worse it becomes.These are the findings of a poll carried out by the British Association of Communicators in Business (CiB), that quizzed 4,700 people.The report found that 70% of respondents said they totally […]
New Leader for ILM
Ceridian’s strategy director, Penny de Valk has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Taking on the role in October, de Vaulk will be responsible for the performance of ILM and will join the board of its parent group City & Guilds. She was formerly the chief […]
Free Thinking: Mind the knowledge gap
Martin Shovel argues that too much knowledge can can prove even more dangerous than a little when it comes to sharing ideas. Why is it that the more we know about something, the harder we find it to explain what we know to other people? Research evidence suggests that our difficulties aren’t caused by the […]
Trainer’s Tip: Team Tactics and Sabotage
Derek Hughes has come up with this team exercise that includes some underhand practices… Split into groups of six and give them a task to complete (eg build a bridge out of paper, card and paper-clips that can hold a cup of water).Distribute the resources randomly so groups have to barter with each other to […]
Leadership Lessons at the Movies
Ditch the management books and go to the cinema – this is the latest advice from four Italian management consultants who have issued a handbook called Cinema for Managers.The 50 recommended films range from Stephen Spielberg’s The Terminal (2004) in which Tom Hanks “devises a ground-breaking strategy for survival” and Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate […]
Teach Them to Achieve
Setting goals is the easy part, helping staff believe and achieve them is where the work really starts. Annie Lawler looks at how to teach staff the ability to achieve. Poor communication contributes massively to underperformance and demotivation in any workforce, whilst clear and open communication has the opposite effect.One area which is often overlooked […]
Emotional Intelligence Ten Years On
“A decade of research has demonstrated time and time again that EI is a key component of leadership and management, and the higher you climb in the organisation the more important it becomes,” argues Mark Slaski, an organisational psychologist who lectures in occupational psychology and is an independent consultant and chief psychologist with ConsultingTools. So […]
Running a Motivational Session – 10 Steps to Success
At some stage most managers need to conduct a motivational training session with his or her team. Bob Selden, who has been a manager and trainer for many years, sets out 10 helpful points to help them reach that goal. So, you’re a manager. So, you know you have to run a training session or […]
Report Hails the Decline of Office Turf Wars
Management politics is far away from its dark image, according to research published today, with most leaders favouring alliance building over turf wars.The report, from the Chartered Management Institute and Warwick Business School, found that only 31% of the 1,495 respondents viewed politics as ‘protecting their turf’. Fewer, still, saw it as ‘pursuing personal advantage’ […]
Leaders Recognise the Importance of Training to Their Success
Leaders are said to need greater training and coaching to deal with the added responsibilities they face climbing the career ladder.The comment comes after a survey found that leaders place career transitions – the point at which leaders are promoted from one level to the next – second only to dealing with divorce when considering […]
Pointless Emails Waste Three Years of Managers’ Lives
Managers are estimated to spend three-and-a-half years eading irrelevant e-mails, according to a management school.Research by Henley Management College found that 32% of the messages received by180 senior managers surveyed were considered immaterial.It also found that European managers spend at least two hours per day dealing with e-mail communications – equating to around 10 years […]
Leading the Way
David Kelsby shares some thoughts on leadership. Leadership is an aspiration. To be a leader is a mark of merit – not just a job title. Leaders are all around us. They move people; they bind people together; they inspire people to go beyond the known horizon. We should all aspire to develop our leadership […]