Many teams are actually just a group of people who happen to be working under the same roof. They may have similar jobs, work for the same company and aim for similar results, but are they all pulling in the same direction, meeting the same…
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Of all the skills managers want to have improved, communication pretty much comes up there at the top. Along with negotiating a higher salary, of course! But communication is such a broad subject. I often ask clients, ‘If there was one area of communication you…
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Many companies have cut back on their training budgets in today’s economic climate, as they put their attention on surviving and ensuring every penny is well-invested. But this doesn’t mean they have to neglect the development and progress of their people. In fact, if you…
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Boy, how times have changed! We were discussing the Sinclair C5 in the office this week and many here had never even heard of it, let alone seen one! Launched during a by-gone age (1985!), it became an object of media and popular ridicule during…
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We had an interesting question this week on our management course that opened up a good discussion on leadership. The question came from a new manager who had been promoted from among his peers and was now managing people who were much more knowledgeable and…
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The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model is based on the premise that excellent results with respect to performance, customers, people and society are achieved through partnerships, resources and processes. The model explains performance gaps and identifies improvement directions. I’ve used it a…
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You’ll have heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy, Hertzberg’s Dual-Factor theory and McClelland’s Achievement theory when it comes to motivation, but one new idea stands out among the rest because it epitomises the very real concept of intrinsic motivation within all of us. Daniel Pink argues that…
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One of our communication courses includes a section on obtaining feedback from your staff, and this is an area that many managers have concerns with. They feel that their staff hide their real feelings and are afraid to offer any form of feedback in case…
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I’ve been asked to talk at a conference about how business has changed in the last ten years. Boy oh boy, where do I start? It made me think about the changes in how businesses run today. But it also made me think about some…
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Strange question? Maybe. Few people actually think about the style they adopt when they are listening to another person. But there is value in doing so, and I’d like to share some ideas that may help your communications in the future. (more…)
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One challenge that is often brought up in our courses is that of lack of cooperation between departments. Although you’re all working for the same company, other departments may appear to slow you down. Here are some tips in working with this situation. In dealing with other departments, begin…
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We had an interesting discussion on a recent training course about how continuous improvement within a department can be supported. One manager on the course was implementing a Kaizen Programme and his main concern was that the structure of the organisation, and especially his team,…
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