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 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 […]
Three workplace trends employers need to action
The workplace has changed a lot over the last decade. Low unemployment rates and millennials entering the workforce has seen large culture shifts within offices and organisations in a short space of time. Trends around the way workers want to work have also changed. Flexibility and work-life-balance are huge buzzwords and key selling criteria when […]
Why managers need to learn to be impartial
One of the biggest pitfalls for leaders and managers in business is a rock-solid belief in their own impartiality. Long experience and intimate knowledge of situations and people mean they must know best. It’s a problem when it comes to relationships and diversity – in how different types of people are perceived and treated; when […]
Conflict management: how to be generative rather than destructive
There’s only one organisation that I have worked with, where people had physical altercations in the office. That doesn’t mean that the other organisations don’t have conflict – it just means that they enact that conflict differently, often in ways that are equally destructive. What I more often see is weaponised gossip, arguments about technical […]
Are we feeding fear?
Several times a week, I take the winding road up onto Dartmoor. Essentially the main link between Tavistock on the other side of the moor and Ashburton on this, it’s a perfectly useful road for much of the route, with lines down the middle and everything. It’s a somewhat different story on our side of […]
First Steps as a Training Manager
Hi all, I'm taking my first steps as a newly appointed Training Manager and would like to hear about your must-do (and must-not!) hints and tips, to help me shape my first few months in role. I have been a Trainer for many years and have been involved in, and led, many training projects from inception through to […]
Video: How to encourage diverse leadership
Leaders are influenced by the examples around them, says Gwen Rhys, CEO of Women in the City, so diverse role models are vital. “It’s often said that women are more empathetic, that they have more emotional intelligence, that they understand (perhaps) the domestic demands of people in their team. I’m not sure that as a […]
Video: How to deal with bullies in the workplace
In this video, Zenna Atkins, former Chair of OFSTED, shares her experience of being bullied and offers advice to anyone being intimidated in the workplace. “Back in about 1990 I set up an organisation with a board. It was a very small organisation working with young homeless people. And the chairman of the board was bullying me. He would […]
Lessons in management: we asked some senior leaders what their first-time mistakes were
No one goes into a leadership position fully prepared for the role – there are always learning curves and things you pick up along the way. Here, we talk to senior leaders about their formative experiences and what they wished they’d known when starting out. When it comes to pivotal points in your career, being […]
Peak productivity: powered by culture & technology
Today’s leaders have a responsibility to invest in technologies that drive engagement and implement inclusive policies. This will help ensure company culture is aligned with the collaboration solutions they employ. Enterprise leaders also need to understand the unique differences across their workforce in order to empower every worker to do their most effective and productive […]
Problem solving techniques: creative options for trainers and facilitators
As trainers, our job isn’t to solve an organisation’s problems, but rather to give teams the tools to solve any issues themselves. Therefore this article will provide some techniques to help get people thinking differently and collaborating better. As leadership and management become more focused on collaboration rather than command and control, it’s essential that trainers […]
What’s aspiration and what’s bullying?
There’s a thin line between a high-performance workplace with high expectations and an organisation poisoned by bullying. It’s a line that’s getting thinner with the intensification of 21st century working (via IT, always on working and use of performance targets). As Amnesty International has found in recent months, getting the balance wrong has serious consequences. […]
Video: putting John Adair’s leadership theory into action
John O’Brien says using an Action Centred Leadership approach to focus on the team, the task and the individual is as relevant today as it’s always been. In this video John O’Brien explains how using John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership model helped him turn a failing business around: “About 30 years ago, when I was […]
7 Tips For Improving Empathy in CS Teams
Poor customer service is costly. Businesses are losing 75 billion dollars annually, because customers don’t feel as if they are being treated as they should. What’s more important though is that customers often don’t complain directly when they are upset. They simply find another business to work with. In many cases, the problem isn’t a […]
How to future-proof your career from automation
There has been much discussion centred around the impact of AI, automation, and robots on the future of work. Many people are divided on whether or not it is a good thing that more and more machines are implemented into the workforce at an ever-increasing rate – otherwise known as Industry 4.0 or the fourth […]
Managing & motivating multiple generations
The term ‘HR headache’ typically refers to a type of in-work behaviour that’s likely to result in someone from the HR team having a number of company compliance forms to fill out and difficult conversations to be had. But one thing that will be causing one of the bigger headaches for HR teams is the […]
Multi-team membership: good or bad for business?
Multi-team membership can be hugely beneficial to both organisations and individuals, but it’s essential that employees who belong to these teams are properly supported. While it’s been some time since John Maxwell first coined the term “teamwork makes the dreamwork”, his words still ring true for many people today. Yet, there are probably an equal […]
Employer Branding. How Companies Draw New Talent
When we think of branding, we think of those tactics that are used to attract patrons and customers to a business, product or service. Branding aims at creating loyalty, trust and ensuring growth. But branding also means attracting the right talent to a companies workforce. Enter Employer Branding. When today’s talented job seekers hit the […]
Crisis management: what makes a good leader?
It seems like forever since I took in my camera film to the chemist for developing or paid for anything by cheque. A clear reminder of the impact digital has on our everyday lives. How organisations operate and how they interact with customers is almost unrecognisable from just 10 years ago. But there is one […]
