I would like to share 25 pieces of wisdom I have gained over my time as a trainer. As we celebrate the amazing 25 years that Training for Results has been in business, it is a good time to look back on what I’ve learnt. A phrase which is too often used in the media […]

Leadership on the line has been inspired by a number of unique learning opportunities for me. The purpose of the article is to raise questions that many leaders may face in their working day. The Line of the Psychological Contract Setting expectations is one of the first aspects we emphasise on our leadership courses. The

We have all been to them – those really bad meetings – probably more than we would like. Before you get defensive, I’m not talking about your meetings.  They are of course beyond reproval … always!  However, you do know what I mean by the ‘waste of time’ meetings that all of us have had

The book, Engaging Change by Mark Wilcox and Mark Jenkins, provides a very practical and convincing process for a people-centred approach to managing change. There is a strong necessity to have a structured process like this when things are in turmoil and people are anxious. It provides reassurance that, as a team, you are going

Whatever leadership role you have, speaking the leadership language is vital. We have just completed delivering two sessions of a bespoke course, Language of Leadership, in Germany. The aim was to enable European middle managers of a global company to gain maximum credibility in leading their teams; inspire and convey their vision and values; and

Having recently read an article by Will Yakowicz about why leadership training is a huge waste, I felt it was time to write yet again about how you can make leadership development work for you. Any training is a waste of time if it is a tick box exercise. Too often, senior managers see training

It may come as a surprise to you that presenting a speech can be fun. Yet that was the message at a recent workshop we delivered for Try This Dorchester. The thought of public speaking fills many people with fear or dread. That might be why we only had a small number turn up for

While visiting a client yesterday to discuss developing the business values and behaviours, I was pleased to hear the new Operations Director state that in her opinion, culture was everything. It doesn’t matter what processes, branding and technology you put in place, if the company does not have the right culture, progress will be slow.

Training and career development are vital in any business that wants to progress and grow, but do you have an effective trainer’s toolkit? The effective trainer encourages people to learn and creates the desire to apply the new skills. If you can inspire people to want to change, then you can make a real difference

Managing performance is vital as your business cannot grow unless your people grow. You need to know how well your people are performing, just as much as you need to know how the business is doing. The two are integrally linked. For motivation, your people also need to know what is expected of them and

In my last article, I spoke about Loose Rein Leadership and the link I saw between western riding and empowering leadership. I would like to expand my learning from this experience further. Retraining my riding style has also taught me about how I learn. I would welcome your thoughts on this. Leadership for me is

I have recently started to learn to ride Western style at Loose Reins, Shillingstone, Dorset, after fifty years of riding the English way. This has sparked some thoughts on leadership traits for me, which I would like to share with you as I progress through my learning. If you disagree with any of my conjectures,

The tragic loss of the Germanwings airliner has highlighted the enormous risk of underestimating a pilot’s judgement and mental state to carry out their job. It has also demonstrated the problem of patient confidentiality preventing a doctor’s diagnosis being known or even being hidden from employers. Having a quick and accurate test may not totally