30 -50 and employed? How much are you hurting?
Over the last 17 years I have spent thousands of days working on Leadership Development in business skills training rooms around the world with people who are what I shall call loosely mid-career. They share with me and each other how they feel about their job, their...
Question handling: is this the definitive list of techniques?
I’ve blogged before about the options you have when you're question handling. These are particularly handy when you’re making a presentation, although they come in handy when being interviewed as well. Politicians use them all the time. Since I wrote my original...
7 steps Leaders should take to to build Trust.
I know it's a bit early to call it, but I reckon one of the hot topics for 2017 is going to be Trust. I guess that's not surprising, given what's going on in the US, Russia and elsewhere. I've noticed a big increase in the number of online articles on this subject,...
Leader versus Manager. Confused?
Last week I coached an experienced sales leader as part of the follow up on a Leadership Development course he attended. We were getting along fine, finding much to agree on over how dysfunctional the human race is becoming, the immigration crisis etc., and then he...
Procrastination and Preferences
Last Saturday I had dinner with a couple who have moved into the village recently. They have a bitch working cocker spaniel who has become our dog Ross' girlfriend, so we already have plenty to talk about. Ben is a doctor, and we found ourselves talking about Myers...
Leadership: saying "yes" when you really want to say "no"?
My nephew David knows about Leadership. He is an inspiring young man. In his late teens he quit college and set up his own graphics design business with a friend. 2 years later they sold up and he decided to go it alone whilst travelling the world. He rocks up...
Inspirational Leadership: what’s the story?
Great leaders tell great stories. Stories engage people, are easy to pass on, are easy to remember, and - crucially - they appeal to the part of the brain where we make our decisions. If you want something to get done, appeal to an emotion of some sort. And if you...
Ping! Another email to read? Think again!
I meet enough frazzled business people to know that email and unproductive meetings are the two biggest time wasters in the workplace. Of the two, email is easily the most damaging, because it is the source of so much stress. Irrelevant, poorly run meetings are at...
Why you and your colleagues don’t trust your manager.
"The propensity for email, texting and quick-type apps has led us to forget some of our people skills, including distinguishing the nuances of language and meaning, fostering of a feeling of belonging among groups of people, and knowing our bosses and colleagues well...
Is this why Introverts hate working in the office?
Forget free food, forget our preference for natural light: what we workers want is not be interrupted all the time. The ability to focus on work without interruption is employees’ top priority, according to an Oxford Economics survey of 600 employees and 600...
Why more and more women choose self-employment
This week's Blog is written by Vicki Marinker, whom I have known for several years since running a training programme at the recruitment firm where she was working. Vicki is a partner in Comms Leaders, specialists in corporate communications recruitment. She also...
Use your ears. Otherwise IT NEVER ENDS.
As a business skills trainer I'm constantly on the lookout for new tools and different perspectives on the topics I work on, so that it stays fresh and relevant. I'm also looking for reassurance that what I am advocating in the training room is best practice and can...
Why you can’t beat personal experience. No matter how bad it was.
Last week I had one of those moments which make my job as a business coach and leadership skills trainer so completely satisfying. There are plenty of them anyway, but this one was like a beam of light shining through a cloudy sky. It really knocked me out. I was...
Conflict at work? Probably best to avoid it.
Here's a tricky question for you. Please take one of my metaphorical honesty tablets before you answer it. If you can't give an honest answer there's not much point reading this article. Here goes. Is your organisation like so many others, where the preferred way...
Why Project Managers should invite conflict and relish frustration
This week's article is written by my good friend and Project Management expert Spencer Holmes. Spencer and I work together wherever we can, and are enjoying building a training video business together. I have just come away from another workshop, with another group...
Remember that conflict last week? Which were you displaying: habit, preference or good old Amygdala Hijack?
It’s the end of January, and many of us are struggling to honour the resolutions we boldly made as part of the New Year celebrations. If you still have a clean sheet and haven’t reverted to your previous (probably bad) habit, congratulations! Go and pour yourself a...
How to use Myers Briggs to help you influence people
Last year I took part in some research carried out by CPP into the way Myers Briggs preferences impact the way we influence and are influenced. I've blogged before about various aspects of Myers Briggs, but until now never had anything concrete to offer on...
Can you coach? No, seriously. Can you coach?
If you were to ask a sample of managers how important coaching is to success in their role, what do you think their answer would be? I've worked with thousands of them over the years on Leadership and Management skills programmes, so I can state with some confidence...
"One of the finest and most uplifting speeches of all time." How Chaplin still speaks to us.
75 years ago, with America on the brink of joining in the Second World War, Charlie Chaplin made his film "The Great Dictator." It is a satirical political comedy-drama designed to confront Hitler, Mussolini, fascism, anti-semitism and the Nazis. It was Chaplin's...
The dreaded Annual Appraisal. Is the writing finally on the wall?
At last! Could the end finally be in sight for that annual ritual dreaded by both managers and staff: the Annual Appraisal? You know the one: the meeting you both hope will be over quickly, in which the manager loads up her gun with lots of surprise feedback ready...
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