Our uniqueness is our distinct advantage, not our limitation. We need to learn to appreciate it in ourselves and respect and encourage it in others. There is so much talk about big data that it’s easy to forget that big is only the sum of small. In business we refer to ‘big’ via aggregates, averages, and […]
The urgent need to democratise learning The never-ending debate around undergraduate tuition fees and vocational and technical training courses hits the headlines again. The PM, Theresa May is calling for “better value” from the former and “higher standards” for the latter. While this issue centres on the quality and cost of education for young people […]
Making no decision is worse than making a bad decision. So much has been spoken about Brexit and of its likely impact on business in the UK. Whilst business confidence remains muted about its impact, it appears many are awaiting greater clarity before committing to longer-term plans. Preserving the status quo is preferred by many […]
The Economics Editor at Sky News, Ed Conway, commented that encouraging more apprenticeships and technical qualifications and viewing these on a par with graduate qualifications is the key to improving the UK’s productivity woes. It’s a valid point, but it only serves to divert attention away from the underlying problem hampering productivity – leadership quality. […]
Developing personal skills to foster leadership positions in engineering. In a profession like engineering – built on definitive right and wrong answers – it can be difficult to be told that you need to challenge the status quo, particularly when it comes to personal skills development. The technical skills and know-how that enable entry and […]
Learning & Development (L&D) falls into the discretionary spend category of a business. However, since L&D is a business critical investment in people, it should be a top priority in all SME’s For a business to be at its best, the people in the business need to be as good as they can be. Here […]
Employee Engagement has become the buzzword to describe a motivated and switched-on team of workers. Cast your mind back twenty plus years ago and people wouldn’t understand what the term meant let alone how to go about influencing it. What we now speak of as employee engagement was, in the past, referred to as Industrial […]
Where are the Coach Leaders? “We live in a world in which change is the only constant.” The importance and impact of statements of this ilk diminish the more they are repeated. Eventually, they fail to command our attention; we hear the words, but they no longer direct our thoughts to the ramifications of what […]
An engineering company discovered the significance of the engagement of sponsoring leaders when it trialled a blended learning package with its managers. “For the learning to be properly embedded, the line manager needs to do so much more than just allow the time and space for the learning to take place,” reflected Kelly Langley, learning […]
Development of people is not simply the acquisition of skills; it’s about behavioural change and having the confidence in one’s ability to know what to do and when to do it in live moments. Online learning and workshops can’t do that. Add in coaching and you’re getting there. Without it, you’re just dipping sheep: some […]
