What goes through your mind when someone suggests that you need to network more? Comments we often hear include: “Networking is insincere and manipulative” “It takes too much time and effort” “I’m shy, I can’t network” Do any of these sound familiar? Networking often gets bad press and can be seen...
It’s likely that a huge proportion of your working day is spent communicating with others, either verbally or in writing, be it text, email or social media. When we communicate verbally, we have lots of choices about the communication tools we use to say our piece. ...
To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy: “All happy teams are alike; each unhappy team is unhappy in its own way.” A dysfunctional team can be a nightmare and suck up huge amounts of time, emotion and motivation as well as significantly affect results. Sometimes, it can seem as...
When I received school reports for my two daughters at the end of last term, I was a bit surprised by the new format used. The way the report was written had changed and some key information, which had always been there before, was missing. ...
I am convinced that once you get to a certain level of competence as a leader and manager, the remaining development potential you have is all to do with developing your self-awareness and self management: coaching is the ideal vehicle for addressing this. If you, and/or your...
As a leader, do you ever wonder how you’re perceived by others? Well, as a leader, everything you do is seen and everything you say is heard which sends a message to the people you lead. So, what messages are you sending and how are these perceived?...
Do you feel that you're getting through a lot of work but are not really moving forward? Many managers feel like this because they try to become more efficient rather than focussing on how they could become more effective. To become more efficient (doing things right)...
Why do you delegate? Is it because you’re busy and can’t get everything done? Is it because you want to give someone else an opportunity to develop? Is it a bit of both? Whatever your reason, delegation is an ART and, like any art form,...
“The Pitch” has gained increased recognition recently as Lord Sugar’s Apprentices are required to pitch their ideas in a way that ensures theirs stand out from the crowd! So, what is a Pitch? Do you have one? Does it get your message across effectively and efficiently?...
You ask questions in many different scenarios; so whether you’re trying to assess someone’s suitability to do a job, explore how a project is progressing, establish reasons for a performance issue or delve into someone’s career aspirations…. Do the questions you ask help you get the...
Have you been told that you need to operate more like a Business Partner? Do you have the words ‘Business Partner’ in your job title? Are you wondering what on earth that means? So, what is a Business Partner? and How is it different from other roles For me,...
As a manager, once you have delegated an objective...
You’ve got a really interesting piece of work, perhaps a new, groundbreaking, project and you’re excited about sharing the news with your team. However, when you tell them about it, they don’t seem to see share your excitement; they’re not as motivated as you are!...
You’re snowed under; you have too many meetings to attend and not enough hours in the day to get the work done. Does that sound familiar? You also have a team of pretty capable people and know that you should delegate more, in fact you...