It’s national Play Day on 3rd August and yes this affects your workplace!

Wednesday 3rd August is National Play Day, inspired in part by the fact that over 80% of adults feel that children should be encouraged to play more outdoors because it builds community spirit. Yet we live in a society where just 20% of children play outside their homes, whereas 30 years ago that figure was 70%.

“If you want your people to be more creative, give them more time to play” John Cleese

Play isn’t just diminishing in the lives of children. As workplaces become busier and leaner there is less time for informal conversations and light hearted activity. This drive for efficiency might not be quite as good for business as you’d think. Comedian, psychologist and successful businessman in his own right John Cleese said “If you want your people to be more creative, give them more time to play.”…

Team Building For A Good Cause

With the number of disgraced companies rising every month – starting with Enron, then BP last year and now News International – the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda shows little sign of diminishing.  Added to this is the fact that increasing numbers of employees are saying that they are keen to ‘give something back’ and ‘make a difference’ through their work.

5 Ways to increase your energy so that you can get more done

Stress and staying on top of heavy workloads is a challenge for us all. Time is finite and runs out whereas energy is renewable and extendable.

Here are a 5 ways to increase your energy so that you can get more done:

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5 Steps to great virtual team communication

Increasingly, teams don’t sit in the same office and even those that do probably rely to a large extent on electronic communication.

Top 10 Summer Leadership Tips to Beat Stress and Boost Productivity

Summer brings lighter days, not just in terms of sunlight but also in workload as clients and colleagues take their annual holiday, here are 10 tips to get the most from the next few weeks:

For yourself:…

Leaders shouldn’t be managers

I’m beginning to wonder if we should pay managers less and administrators more.

Is there such a thing as too many managers?

Electronic diaries along with other initiatives and technological developments mean that far fewer of us use secretaries now. It also seems to have led to an inordinate amount of a manager’s time being spent organising their own diaries and fighting off email rather than efficiently managing people and projects.

While these managers are failing to manage, I’m often pleasantly surprised by the efficiency and competency with which good secretaries can organise events and manage those around them. It could be argued that the loss of one administrator to a business would be more destructive than the loss of one manager. So if you are a business leader looking to hire new talent you might consider recruiting another administrator before expanding your management population.

7 Things That Will Help Make Your Team Great

Being a team in name alone is not enough. Having the right people on board, in the right roles and led by a strong leader will all help but it’s the day-to-day behaviours that make a truly great team.

Tuckman’s Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing team development model is as true today as it was in 1965.

So here are 7 day-to-day issues that make a truly great team:…

Seven Ways to Ask Better Questions

Getting to the heart of the matter quickly doesn’t just save time it ensures that relationships are built upon a clear understanding of the whole truth.

Don't make your staff have to turn themselves into The Incredible Hulk to get your attention.

To work effectively in and across teams it is essential to be able to connect honestly with others. Asking good questions helps to foster trust and shows genuine interest in the other person. Leaders who are able to ask better questions can expect to build stronger teams that perform at higher standards than the norm.

Whether we are engaging with customers, interviewing job candidates, talking to bosses, or requesting information from colleagues, as leaders we need to draw people out. And so often it is not a matter of what you ask but how you ask it.

Here are seven suggestions:…

Experience the wonder of nature with your team

I have struggled, writes Michael McCarthy, for the Independent, to find a way of expressing my elation at seeing the first butterfly of the year. Have you seen yours?

For opportunities to experience the wonder of nature with your team

It was a brimstone, a bright yellow brimstone, he continues. Using science, and rationality, I can tell you quite a lot about it: that it was an insect; that it belonged to the butterfly family Pieridae, the whites… that in its caterpillar stage it had fed on the plants buckthorn or alder buckthorn; and that it had hibernated disguised as a leaf, probably in an ivy clump, until the first warm day in March woke it up….

What Should A Good Team Away Day Achieve?

A team building away day presents a unique opportunity to achieve a number of outcomes.

Getting out of the office on a team building away day can be a great way of motivating team members

On occasions the potential of time away from ringing phones, interrupted conversations and pinging emails can be lost due to rushed planning, unrealistic expectations or simply a lack of energy and fun within the agenda.

A good team building away day should achieve some (not all) of the following:…