Is it just me or is there an ever increasing number of schools of thought on how to manage the human psyche in the workplace? Many years ago, and with the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book, it was Emotional Intelligence. Then NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) became popular. Now mindfulness is very much in vogue. As is managing unconscious bias. Not to mention Neuroscience. So what’s next?
Read MoreEmpowerment has got to be one of the most over used words in the modern business lexicon. Everyone talks about how important it is but if there is ever a word that qualifies for the “Easy to talk the talk but walking the walk, that’s completely different” award, then surely it’s the word empowerment.
Read MoreFor too long, training and development has suffered from being seen as a ‘nice to have’. In many cases, it is the first budget to get cut when the purse strings are being tightened. Now I know, given what I do for a living, I might be slightly biased but I don’t get it! Firstly, organisations are made up of people. Secondly, most of these people are constantly being asked to do what they do better, cheaper and faster and finally, no-one is the finished article (or at least no-one has admitted it to me!). If this is the case, surely boosting the motivation, skill and confidence of an organisation’s people – which is what development is all about - is pretty fundamental.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year when many of us sit down and start the performance management cycle once again.
Now we could have an interesting debate about how appropriate the traditional performance management process is for the modern day business world. Is the Parent/Child dynamic, annual goal setting ritual and annual or bi-annual performance appraisal ‘fun fest’ really fit for purpose anymore? Hmmm! Some organisations have even abandoned the process altogether!
However on the basis that for the moment, many of us do participate in the process, we thought we would share some tools with you that you may find useful. They come from work we did with a client last year that in many ways was very revealing.
Read MoreTo some, the words ‘salesperson’ and ‘trust’ do not belong in the same sentence. Worse still, even the mere mention of the word ‘selling’ or ‘salesperson’ is enough to send some buyers into a spin. Now of course most of us in sales are a touch (OK much) more sophisticated than the old Del Boy image of sheepskin coat, slicked back hair, bling covered hands and the “Alright my son…” opening gambit however there are still many salespeople who seem to miss some of the more subtle and very impactful ways that trust can be both lost and built.
Read MoreThe 19th November saw our latest 'Secret Source' event, this time the 'Secret Source of Outstanding Leadership'.
Hosted by Andy Williamson and Jeff Wolfin, over 40 people from over 25 different businesses gathered in central London. They ranged from global corporates such as GE, Vodafone, RSA Insurance and British Airways through to SME’s, new business start-ups and charities. They all came to listen to, discuss and share different perspectives on a defining skill of the 21st century leader – the ability to exercise good judgement. This was defined as ‘Taking conscious decisions and actions that are not unduly or undesirably influenced by our conditioning’.
Read MoreI have lost count of the amount of times people have asked me for a technique for giving negative feedback. The world is awash with them and if you have ever attended management or leadership programmes you will have learned one or more of them. We can all have our opinions on which ones are best however they are all much of a muchness.
Read MoreA huge amount is written about what business people can learn from great sports people. In fact, entire post sporting careers have been built on speaking engagements that pass on the insights from sporting success to the workplace - much of which makes good sense. However, being a champion of good business practice and a self-confessed sports nut, I wonder if we can invert this and look at the lessons managers in sport can potentially learn from managers in business.
Read MoreOrganisations across the globe spend large sums of money on consultative sales training however it often fails to tackle one of the biggest challenges in successfully making the transition from product pushing to consultative selling....
Read MoreI must tell you about one of the most uplifting events in my entire working life.
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