I’ll be Watching You…
Evaluation and feedback can make or break working relationships. Terry Russell, partner of Intouch Management Consulting LLP, offers some tips on how to make sure the process is productive. Evaluation and feedback are two simple words that can function either as an effective development tool or as a process that can do more harm than […]
Balanced Approach to Leadership
Leadership consultant Simon Batty of Maple Associates explains how values, effectiveness and influence are the three dimensions of successful management. There are three dimensions to effective leadership – values, effectiveness and influence. Effective leadership is about developing ability in each of the three dimensions and then applying these skills and abilities in a balanced, three-dimensional […]
Management Training Must Think Global
In a business environment that is increasingly global, David Head, Professor of International Business Communication at the University of Plymouth Business School, argues that management training in the UK must look beyond the shores of this small island. Just over a decade after completion of the European Single Market and with the business context firmly […]
Bitesize No. 2 – Putting a £ Value on Training
It is amazing how much training takes place and how much money is spent without any effort being made to put a real value on what such training is worth. This is a pity because training can make a significant difference and generate very considerable pound signs. Also, if managers do not really consider the […]
Case Study: Outdoor Training for Team Leaders
In late 2002, Knauf Insulation wanted a new approach to leadership development for its team leaders. Traditionally, the company had tended to promote employees who had shown initiative and leadership potential into the team leader roles. However, they had feedback that the team leaders were not clear about their roles and were not sure how […]
Opinion Piece: Leadership Lessons from the Rise and Fall of IDS
Since Iain Duncan Smith’s departure as leader of the Conservative Party, James Brook, Director of the Leadership Practice at RightCoutts, has identified some of the lessons current and future leaders should consider to ensure their success. A leader with visionThe Conservatives needed a visionary leader to take them beyond the self-limiting battles of issues such […]
Managers Need to Understand Finance
In the business world post Enron, finance trainer John Kind of John Kind Learning argues that managers need to get to grips with the accounting basics. Accounting and finance remain the ‘ugly ducklings’ of management subjects because they have a reputation for dullness and complexity, which many accountants fail to dispel in discussions and meetings […]
Branson Tops Churchill in Greatest Leader Poll
Millionaire businessman Richard Branson has been named as the greatest leader of all time.In a survey of 1,000 employees across the UK by business communications and management training consultancy Mentor, Branson came out top, narrowly beating war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill into second place.The results also showed a regional divide. Branson received the highest share […]
Leaders – Born or Bred?
Terry Russell, partner of Intouch Management Consulting LLP argues that with enough will, training and practice anyone can become a leader. So much has been written about leadership in businesses. Some theories suggest that a leader stands alone like a superman or superwoman and creates their own heroic visions. Other theories believe in distributive leadership, […]
Sporting heroes as business role models
John Macarfrae, director of training provider Maverick, believes the team training methods that create heroes on the sportsfield can translate into the field of work. If you are involved in training and development you will be well versed in the concepts of team-working and the need for a balance of people with the need to […]
Giuliani tells Brits how to be a leader
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has shared his leadership philosophy at a seminar for members of the Institute of Leadership and Management.Mr Giuliani, who came to personify the resilient character of New York after the attack on the World Trade Centre, appeared at the event via a satellite link up.Mr Giuliani told delegates that […]
UK waking up to the value of management training
Training buyers are putting more value on – and cash into – management courses, according to a new report. Cambridge Online Learning’s (COL) 2003 Annual Training Survey showed a 100% increase in the awareness of the importance of management training. While COL said that management training was still suffering the effects of recession, of the […]
It’s Sven 1 Fergie 0 in the management stakes
The calming Swedish influence of Sven-Goran Eriksson is winning over UK managers and staff. That’s the message from over 250 HR professionals and 2,000 staff surveyed by the Reed at the CIPD’s annual conference, taking place in Harrogate, this week.Managers are turning to a ‘consensual’ style of leadership preferred by England football coach Eriksson as […]
public sector management training
Dr David Towler from Cambridge Online Learning Ltd looks at Public Sector Management Training. In the past, the public sector has tended to give management training a much lower priority than in the commercial world and they are not alone in this as the same can be said for many of the other professions in […]
Leading business transformation – learning by doing
The horror of 911 has made it even more evident that we are one interconnected world – what goes on in other parts of the world, particularly in poorer countries and different cultures, and how we are seen there affects us all. In this rapidly transforming world, we are confronted with major issues, many of […]
Team learning – what’s the link with organisational success?
Why have teams become so important for organisational success? Research released by The Talent Foundation with the support the Campaign for Learning finds that organisations can unlock their creativity and effectiveness by promoting team learning.The report pulls together information from from existing literature and new interviews to establish the basic process behind team learning, examining […]
Can the UK learn to manage?
Can the UK learn to manage? Chris Daniel examines a wealth of evidence published over the last few years to attempt to establish an answer to this question. The below summary is compiled from the paper by The Work Foundation, January 2003 and is commented upon briefly with regard to other recent pertinent publications. Most […]
Leadership and management – a crucial distinction
Alistair Fenton, Management and Personal Development Consultant with business growth company Rewards Scotland looks at why striking a balance between these two roles can be crucial for SME’s. With recent statistics revealing that there have already been over 180 bankruptcies this year, Scotland’s fragile economic track record continues. The performance of Corporate Scotland plc seems […]
Helping managers who struggle with under-performing staff
Bill Esterson, director of training providers Leaps & Bounds, looks at how focusing on managers’ skills and approaches can have a much wider impact on the effectiveness of staff as a whole. Many of our clients tell us their managers struggle because of the under-performance of their staff. When we ask them to describe what […]
How to deliver collaborative leadership
Bruce Nixon looks at how leadership teams can ensure change within organisations can be achieved effectively, through both working to involve staff in the process and making relevant changes to leadership behaviour. “No top team can possibly understand the complexity and unpredictability of what needs to be done through the emergent workings of the collective […]