Learning innovations: firing up your measurement capability

How can you ensure that your learners’ on-the-job behaviours have been improved by their training?
Team synergy: combining personalities for success

Organisations must understand the different personality types that exist within their teams.
Leaders: when the going gets tough, which hat do you wear?

Leaders wear many hats in the workplace, but knowing when to wear which hat is a crucial skill.
How to boost a feedback culture based on praise

When peers share positive feedback, the whole team benefits.
How to get things done as a learning professional in 2020

I work with many, many companies every year in lots of countries. I always focus on action: what are you going to do when you leave this workshop/seminar/webinar/conference? However, the real conviction and determination on the faces of participants as they leave the room so often turns to head-shaking within a few days of being […]
Motivation madness: the disconnect between employers and employees on appraisals

‘Tis the season for annual performance reviews – but how are you doing?
In-house team manager coaching

Hi there! I please need some advice on in-house coaching, as this is something we are looking to roll out (GROW model). What in-session coaching activities can I use with a customer services team manager to improve manager performance, and ultimately their teams performance? Also what out of session activities would you suggest? If there […]
5 simple ways to increase workplace productivity

You’d be hard-pressed to find a team lead or C-suite executive who wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to increase productivity within their organisation. One huge problem facing companies around the world right now is the number of disengaged employees within workforces. Engaged employees don’t just go to work, they love the work they do and […]
Driving performance through learning in 2020

Learning is, without question, undergoing a renaissance. It wasn’t so long ago that many L&D professionals were bemoaning the relentless onslaught of AI, automation and other emerging technologies as threats to their very existence. Skilled jobs in finance, HR and legal were surrendered to the machines, and L&D looked to be next in line. But […]
What Is Conscious Leadership?

The world is crying out for Conscious Leaders who are aware, awake, and connected as they rise to the challenges of our times. For millennia, human beings have been on similar journeys of self-discovery, pursuing knowledge, power, health, wealth, purpose, happiness and excellence. The human drive to look outwards, go further, run faster and build […]
Performance management: how to conserve mental energy during the day

Using your mental energy to boost performance.
Identifying Outdated Processes and How To Redesign

The Bicycle Book Like all good stories, the bicycle book may be real, or simply told to highlight a point. I personally was told the story of the bicycle book in a lecture whilst studying for my MBA. Whether its roots are in fact, or fiction, it highlights the point perfectly. So the tale starts, […]
Stress Awareness Day: why stress is the enemy of creativity

In the early 1990s, I used to write adverts for those new-fangled internet businesses. Most of them had the same promise: “Our technology will do all the hard work for you, so you’ve got more time to do what you enjoy!” The clients wanted us to show images of people relaxing or playing golf or […]
The third secret of accelerated learning: design with variety in mind

Variety is the spice of life when it comes to learning design.
The diversity challenge? Team cohesion grows from shared goals

Nisha from Finance eyes her lemon meringue cupcake, the topping melting in the sun. Liz from Communications forces a bright grin as she grapples with the microphone. “The winner of the Cupcake King or Queen of 2019 is…” Nisha hasn’t mistakenly entered herself for The Great British Bake Off, she’s just struggling to enjoy the monthly […]
How a Marathon Became a Team Event

You’ll have seen in the news that Kenyan, Eliud Kipchoge, achieved a remarkable thing – he ran the distance of a marathon in under two hours, shaving nearly two minutes off his own marathon world record of 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds. To put this achievement into context, it meant running an average […]
The second secret of accelerated learning: facilitate don’t train

Last time we looked at business focused and learner centred objectives, the most important of the five secrets. It’s the most important because without it, there is no focus, engagement or follow up. This time, we’ll look at the second of the five secrets, ‘facilitate don’t train’. At the time of first publishing these five […]
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 […]
Personal development: stop procrastinating and start doing

We are all prone to procrastination in various forms but I believe that the way we live and work now has only made this tendency stronger and easier. What is procrastinating anyway? It’s actually a kind of weird self-regulating failure and although most of us are aware that we procrastinate, we can’t seem to stop […]
The new languages of virtual working

From discussing progress and having annual reviews to booking holiday and asking questions about a task, face-to-face conversations have always taken preference. With the rise of the gig economy, however, and businesses looking to reduce costs, more and more people are working remotely, making these conversations arduous. How, then, can business managers effectively communicate with […]