DfES announces new leadership college
A consortium of colleges and government bodies has been appointed to run the new college being set up by the government to develop leadership skills within organisations working in the learning and skills sector.The Centre for Excellence in Leadership, which is due to receive around £14.5 million of government funding over the next three years, […]
Top ten tips for being a great boss
What makes a good boss? The judges of the recent Parents At Work/Lloyds TSB Best Boss competition compiled the following tips on managing flexible working from conversations with bosses nominated for Britain’s Best Boss 2003. 1. Put your trust in people: be as open as possible and be prepared to take risks sometimes. 2. Treat […]
How to motivate managers and staff in times of great adversity
A quick straw poll of most organisations would indicate that they experience ‘times of great adversity’ most of the time, or certainly believe they do.Kim Coe, CEO of the The How2 Group, looks at how to deal with organisational ‘states’ that go beyond the normal experience of struggle, hardship, fear and frustration, which sad to […]
Team building – your views
Following our report on a recent Office Angels survey which found that employees struggle to see the point of many team building activities, TrainingZONE members had lots to say on the subject. Here, we’ve collected together your views – and they make for very interesting reading…If you’re a Training Manager, we’re particularly interested in hearing […]
Team building strikes fear into the heart of office staff
While employers may be keen, employees struggle to see the point of many team building activities, according to a recent survey. The Office Angels research questioned 1,500 office workers, and found over half of them regarded team development activities as ‘childish and embarrasing’. One in ten felt uncomfortable about the pressure of ‘bonding’ with colleagues, […]
Behind the Leadership and Management Model
In this special feature for TrainingZONE, Richard Gray, Director of Consulting at Esensys Ltd talks about some of the key issues they examined when creating the recently-launched Leadership and Management Model on behalf of Investors in People UK. Leadership, off the shelf, or bespoke to your needs?If you peruse most of the current popular titles […]
Team development doesn’t have to be hard work
Lud Romano, managing director of Alive Communications, argues that team development doesn’t have to be hard work. It is inevitable that many people will have to operate within a team at some point in their working lives, and being a good ‘team player’ is crucial. It doesn’t mean however, that individual personalities are dissolved in […]
Pay attention to corporate culture, or face an uncertain future – HRD Preview
The pressures of the modern economy are destroying a sense of community in many UK organisations according to Rob Goffee, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, speaking at the CIPD’s annual training conference, HRD 2003. Goffee claims that increased competition through globalisation has left a negative mark on organisations as they attempt to […]
Implementing performance management – HRD preview
Matthew Joint, Group Management Development Director at Centrica, is presenting a case study at HRD entitled “Performance Management: what a performance!”. Here he shares his experience of introducing performance management in a large organisation.TrainingZONE What do you think most often goes wrong with performance management?The most common problem is that it isn’t taken seriously, its […]
The manager and the team
Ruth Spellman, CEO of Investors in People, describes the managerial skills required to foster the essential relationship between manager and team. A simple definition of teamwork is a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. Yet developing a team – a successful team – is a complex task that requires certain skills. […]
Manage the individual and you manage your business
Performance management is a key part of any business, yet is not often a priority for line managers. Barrie Friend, Partner at MaST International, outlines some of the ways HR can involve line managers in performance management, and explains how encouraging them to understand the financial and legal aspects of the process is vital to […]
TrainingZONE’s theme for March: Developing Teams
Any organisation’s success depends almost entirely on its capacity to function as more than a bunch of unconnected individuals. Formal structures can only do so much, you also need to engage people. So how do we make a crowd into a team? This month we are looking at any and every aspect of team development, […]
Remote workers don’t have equal access to training – research
Teleworking or home workers are not being given the same access as other employees to development opportunities, according to The Psychological Contract, a new report from The Work Foundation. Respondents were presented with a list of development opportunities and asked whether remote workers in their organisations have the same access to these as other employees. […]
What makes for a successful team?
Jan Bailey, Marketing Manager of the Leadership Trust examines the qualities that make a team successful. What makes for a successful team? How many organisations throughout the UK and across the world have pondered this question? And it is not only business organisations. In the world of sport, for example, teamwork is frequently crucial – […]
How to choose a training provider
Outsourcing training to a specialist provider is an increasingly popular choice in today’s organisations. There are a large number of training providers to choose from, each offering different training solutions, so how do you find the provider to suit your needs? Robinne Collie, Managing Director of The Gourmet Challenge, outlines the questions and issues managers […]
Surviving change
In the current climate of global and economic uncertainty, the stresses and anxieties of individuals within the workplace are often overlooked with dire consequences for business. Julie Heavens, director of Sages and Wise Women explains how to minimise the damage to employees and to the employee relationship. Companies which are downsizing and restructuring may find […]
Thinking the same… differently
Globalisation and changing demographics in the UK mean that most organisations have staff who need to be able to work cross culturally. In addition, there is growing competition for talented people – businesses need to recruit from every possible pool to increase their chances of recruiting the best. It is clear that organisations need to […]
Teams benefit from emotional engagement
Jim Welch, programme director at Pera explains how emotional intelligence contributes to team effectiveness. How can organisations meet the challenge of getting people to work together more openly and honestly? Is emotional intelligence the answer?Research suggests that it is. A study by Yale University, for example, found that teams with high levels of emotional intelligence […]
Understanding teams
Roy Davis, Head of Communications at SHL, answers our featured questions about what makes a team work. What special qualities does a manager need to be a good team-developer?Given that job analysis projects show time after time that up to 80% of job content is personality related i.e. soft skills, it is the developing of […]
Nurturing team spirit
Tim Drewitt, Director of Balance Learning looks at what we should expect from team leaders. Trainers who are looking to help others develop team-working skills, to maximise the effectiveness of teams, should realise that the requirement for team training goes much further than just discrete courses for team members. It extends into other areas such […]