Conference Facilitation & Team Building Blogs

Is Your Organisation Growing Fruit or Vegetables?

The great Charles Handy made a rare public appearance earlier this week, not speaking to a group of executives but at a fundraising lecture for the family support network Relate.

Is Your Organisation Growing Fruit or Vegetables?

His lecture highlighted the fact that the ‘always on’ culture, combined with less people doing more work in organisations, is threatening family life.  …

Fallen Leaders

This week much has been written examining the strengths and weaknesses of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership.  Prior to the announcement of her death, another group of once great leaders was being described as reckless.

Margaret Thatcher, 1925 - 2013.

One of those was the chairman of HBOS Lord Stevenson.  In the months prior to the banking crisis, when he was held in high regard, he gave a lecture on the subject of leadership to invited members of his business school’s alumni.  …

Scientific evidence shows that women are hard-wired to make better managers

In the early 1990’s neuroscientists at the University of Parma discovered that brain cells not only fire when we perform a given action, such as reaching for a cold drink on a hot day, they also fire when we see someone else doing that action – hence the name mirror neuron (click here for a link to the research). This is why we sometimes wince when we see another person experience pain or embarrassment. 

The men vs. women debate continues...

This theory has been used to explain characteristics such as empathy, the ability to read other people’s emotions, with some research* suggesting that the female brain is better able to create mirror neurons and therefore better equipped to anticipate the moods and feelings of others. The men vs women debate continues……..

Education Revolution

Amazon revolutionised book selling, iTunes revolutionised record sales and EasyJet revolutionised travel. The digital revolution is impacting all areas of our lives and many commentators are suggesting that education will be next: BBC News – Online University Giant Gets Bigger.

We can access almost anything online - you can even gain a great education from the comfort of your own home.

TED talks, iTunes U, edx.org and the Khan Academy are taking high quality learning online. …

Why Hiring Goes Wrong – 7 Reasons Recruitment Fails

Hiring the wrong person for a role is estimated to cost the employer over £20k, with that figure multiplying when it’s a  management position.

When you're hiring staff, make sure that you follow our simple rules to avoid losing money...

Along with the recruitment costs and the time to process applications there’s productivity losses to account for.  And, if the error isn’t detected and dealt with speedily, the fall-out across other staff. …

Dump PowerPoint – Tell Stories

We all talk about ‘Death by PowerPoint’ yet the massacre continues.  There may be occasions when a picture, quotation or chart can help to reinforce a fact, but they rarely inspire an audience in the same way as a well told story. And still a terrifying proportion of highly paid execs continue to fall foul of the classic PowerPoint bloopers:

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Learning from Journalists – 15 ways to ask better questions

Journalists are among the least trusted of all professions, yet there’s still a thing or two they can teach managers.

Follow our 15 tips from journalists on asking questions and becoming a better manager

To manage effectively we need to have good insight. A primary source for insight is those around us, not just our own team but our peers, customers and those that lead us. …

Make it fun and it’ll get done

In the opening chapter of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer we see Tom persuade passers by to help him paint a picket fence: “work consists of what a body is obliged to do, play consists of what a body is not obliged to do” – Mark Twain.

Similarly the clip below demonstrates how commuters were persuaded to take the stairs in preference to the escalator, by making climbing the stairs fun.

Teams that play together, work together.

Less stress, more wine – the key to a longer, healthier life?

A BBC news report about the elderly population of the Greek island of Ikaria in the Mediterranean has highlighted the importance of a lifestyle rich in fresh food, wine, friends and family on health and longevity.  

Can the occasional glass of wine really help us live longer?

Research carried out by the University of Athens studied those aged over 65 on Ikaria. …

10 Resolutions for Leaders

As we begin another new year with good intentions to break bad habits, let’s take a moment to consider what small behaviours could make a big difference in our role as leaders.

The New Year is the perfect time to break away from those bad habits and behaviours...

Hopefully many of these already form part of your day to day routine, but which are missing?…