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Want your staff to be happy? Here are the four components of happiness

There’s been a lot of talk about happiness and general well-being of late.  Here we explore the four components of happiness and ask if busy executives can ever achieve a happy state.

Unfortunately this is not an option in the real world

Since becoming the Conservative leader David Cameron has argued that we should be monitoring GWB (General Well Being) alongside GDP (Gross Domestic Product).  This is an idea possibly inspired by the Kingdom of Bhutan’s GNH measure (Gross National Happiness), but Bhutan isn’t facing huge state spending cuts and bailing out neighbouring countries….

5 More Tips for Instant Team Motivation

Our earlier blog “5 Tips for Instant Team Motivation” was so popular that we have put together another with details of 5 more ways to boost productivity and create a great working environment.

Someone send this manager the link to this blog!

So here are the 5 extra routes to raising team morale in an instant:…

The Future Of Psychometric Tests?

Thirty years ago psychometric tests were largely administered by men in white coats and viewed by most managers with a healthy dose of scepticism. Now, most people in senior business roles will have completed a psychometric questionnaire either as part of a recruitment process or within a leadership development programme.

In recent years the number of psychometric tools has increased significantly. Quality varies hugely along with cost. A quick search on line or flick through a magazine will provide access to numerous free questionnaires, all claiming to unveil your hidden abilities and confirm your suitability to a given job role. At the other end of the spectrum you can pay several hundred pounds for a tool that will generate a ‘personal report’ an inch thick full of psychological terminology and coloured charts. Both have their place and probably contain some useful insights, if you are able to find them….

The Top 5 Leadership Qualities

The success or failure of a business or team is very dependent on the leader.

I think the leader above should read tip number 2

What, therefore, are the most important leadership qualities leaders should be aware of if they want their team or organisation to succeed? Here are our suggestions for the top five:…

Five Tips for Instant Team Motivation

With massive cuts announced across government spending this week it’s unlikely that the office Christmas party is top of the management team’s agenda.

We suggest trying tip no. 5 rather than this method

So here are five no cost routes to raising team morale in an instant:…

The Big Picture – Communicating Corporate Values

Finding genuinely effective ways to communicate change in a business can be a challenge. Emails get deleted, newsletters get recycled and live presentations are easily forgotten.

Team building at the largest cinema screen in the UK

With this conundrum in mind Foster’s Group approached Fresh Tracks to come up with a team activity that would bring to life the launch of their new company identity – Treasury Wine Estates. The strategic decision to separate the Foster’s beer and wine business marked a major change not just in name but also in culture, as the company transforms from a general drinks business to a wine specialist.

As with any change there was a degree of cynicism ahead of the conference, especially toward some of the new values and language being used.

Fresh Tracks responded by creating a challenge…

Our Latest Workshop: 20 Ways to Build a Better Team

Fresh Tracks have been in the business of building better teams for over 19 years and in that time there are certain messages – about the range of skills that are required for a great team to succeed, and the importance of communication and trust – that are often repeated.

We are sure that constant communication will make it into the top 20 list somewhere

However we all know there is a huge amount of collective wisdom out there and that we could all learn a lot by listening to each other’s experiences of creating and working with great teams.

So after the success of our last workshop, Creating Captivating Conferences, the next Fresh Tracks workshop will be about building better teams with examples drawn from our own expertise as well as from participants’ own experiences. …

The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership Communication

The 7 deadliest sins of leadership communication are the root of much of an organisation’s problems. Such as, low employee morale, low productivity, negative attitudes and a toxic work environment.

We are not sure if this boss's aggressive tone or love of wearing cowboy hats is more damaging to staff morale.

Twenty years in professional baseball management taught me one thing about creating champions on the playing field – it’s that executing the simple “fundamentals” of the game make the biggest difference.

The teams and athletes that effectively execute the little things when the championship is on the line usually end up the winners. To create a champion organisation in business or the not-for-profit world it’s about leadership “communication.”…

New Resources: learn from over 19 years of experience

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC).

We have condensed over 19 years of experience into these books, exercises and DVD

In a world of iPods, iPads and 3D TV, it is perhaps surprising that technology has yet to find a more memorable and effective way to put across a message than the simple act of doing.

For over 19 years Fresh Tracks have been coming up with practical activities that improve understanding. We appreciate that it’s not always possible to take a team out for a day and so we’ve developed a selection of resources that can be used in team meetings and training sessions….

What a laugh – Our new laughter workout

Much like exercise, laugh hard enough and your muscles will begin to ache. Similar to physical exertion, when we laugh the elation we feel combats the effects of stress, our body relaxes and endorphins (natural painkillers) are released into the blood stream.

'According to my research, laughter is the best medicine, giggling is good for mild infections, chuckling works for monor cuts and briuses, and sniggering only makes things worse.'

Last week Fresh Tracks ran our first Laughter Workout at a conference for a team from the BBC. This 45 minute energiser led by our expert Amanda Bate had some participants crying with laughter. Although different people respond in different ways everyone felt able to participate and even the most reserved delegate came away having felt a natural high….