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...
There are many books written about Strategic Thinking but, to many people, what this means is still unclear. So, how do you demystify the concept in a short blog? Strategic Thinking seeks to answer two key strategic questions: Where are you going to play? In which countries,...
We all know that teams don’t just perform at their optimum level from day 1; it takes time and energy from everyone involved, from the team members to the managers. The stages of development that teams pass through to achieve high performance, as defined by Bruce...
How often do you attend presentations and find that the slides pretty much contain the presenter’s script? And you think to yourself “You may just as well have emailed it to me and I wouldn’t need to be here”. What about presentations where the content seems...
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?...
You’ve done everything within your control to prepare for that presentation. You’ve: considered the audience – who they are, what they know and what they want ‘begun with the end in mind’ and know what you want the audience to do as a result of attending your...
Are you a TEAM or a WORKING GROUP and why does it matter? In this blog I’ll explore the difference between teams and working groups and explain why it’s important to differentiate between the two so that you don’t fall into the trap of trying to...
We all know it’s a good thing to have a development plan but, when it comes to executing it, are you taking the steps to ensure that the learning takes place and actually sticks? Maybe you’re a manager who goes through the process of development planning...
It can be exciting when you have an opportunity to work in partnership with another person, department or organisation and you’ll be keen to move forward. But, how do you make sure this partnership works ….and lasts? A Partnership is defined as “an ongoing relationship where...
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)...