Went shopping at the weekend, in preparation for a holiday I have just booked. Suncream? Shades? Sandals? No, what I wanted was ….a netbook.
It could be argued that I don’t need any more computers in my life but my iMac won’t fit in my suitcase (I’ve tried) and a girl needs to know what’s going on back home when she is away. Even if it is only for a week. Besides…they’re really dinky, they do them in all sorts of lovely colours these days and you can get cute little bags to put them in. I know. I am such a techie! more…
If you don’t believe me, try locking yourself in a room with a load of miserable people for a few hours. See if this prompts a burning desire to skip, whoop with joy and / or turn cartwheels. I’m guessing…no.
If you’re a manager, staff motivation is not hard to achieve, but it starts with you – not them.
Some people radiate natural positive energy; just standing next to them makes you feel warm and sunny. Others seem to exist solely to drain the life out of you (you know who they are). more…
Many organisational conflicts arise from personality clashes. In fact, one of the most common reasons that people give for leaving the company they are working for is that they don’t like their boss or their colleagues.
If you feel more like a referee than a manager most days, the chances are that your team has not yet found a way to pool their resources and use their differences to best effect.
Myers Briggs Personality Type is a popular psychological profiling tool that can be used to help people understand how they impact on each other. It explores how different people are energised, how they take in information, make decisions and organise their lives. For example: more…
This podcast is the last in a series of 3 which explore the personality type theory of Myers Briggs.
This one looks at:
How people prefer to make decisions –Logic and objectivity or values and relationships?
How people live their lives – Planned and organised or spontaneous and adaptable?
It will give you some clues as to:
Why some people want to be recognised for their achievements while others need to be appreciated for their efforts.
Why some people love to start things off…while others love to finish them!
If you’d like to know more about your personality type or those of your team members, check out our Myers Briggs courses, run by qualified Myers Briggs practitioners. Special Offers apply.
Last week, I did some training with a group of schoolteachers… on the terminology used in financial services.
As well as knowing your subject, good Communication Skills are paramount when you are training, developing or coaching others. There are many aspects to this, but here is one simple example.
When I asked which terminology they particularly wanted to discuss, a lady put up her hand and said that she couldn’t quite see how ‘Market Value Reductions’ worked. (There is something strangely satisfying about having teachers put up their hands to ask you a question….but I digress.) more…
This podcast is the second in a series of 3 which explore the personality type theory of Myers Briggs.
This one looks at how people prefer to take in information – high level or highly detailed?
It will give you some clues as to why some people see the wood first…while others see the trees.
If you’d like to know more about your personality type or those of your team members, check out our Myers Briggs courses, run by qualified Myers Briggs practitioners. Special Offers apply.
Last week, I was on urban safari. In the manner of David Attenborough, I have been observing the behaviours of a fledgling ENFP in its natural habitat as it prepares to migrate to sunnier climes for the summer.
Ok… so I’ve just been to stay with my little brother in London for a few days, before he goes off travelling, but it got me thinking…
ENFP is one of sixteen personality types used in the renowned Myers Briggs personality type model. All 16 personality types have their own unique preferences and blind-spots. This explains, to some extent, why we get on so well with some people, while others infuriate or baffle us. more…
This podcast is the first in a series of 3 which explore the personality type theory of Myers Briggs.
This one looks at how people are energised – through internal or external stimuli.
It will give you some clues as to why some people dive in and act before they think things through while others think carefully before they act.
If you’d like to know more about your personality type or those of your team members, check out our Myers Briggs courses, run by qualified Myers Briggs practitioners. Special Offers apply.
A friend returned to work after a week’s holiday on Monday, to find some of her staff staging a mini rebellion. They gave her a list of demands. I gave her some tips on conflict management.
“Give and take”, I said.
“But they’re the conflict. And I’m the management!”, she wailed.
You may think this is an odd claim, given that it is made by Think Training & Development Limited, a company that specialises in Leadership Training, but picture the scene…
Your company is not doing as well as it could. Your people need some direction; some motivation. And you’re the person to deliver it. If only you knew how.
Nothing to do with magic…well not the circus kind anyway!
If you have something important to do such as a presentation or a big meeting, there are some really easy actions you can take to get yourself in the right frame of mind to succeed. Listen to this podcast to find out more… Or take a look at our page on advanced presentation skills.
No. of reasons coachee gave for his recent poor sales performance when we met this week: Lost count after 15
No. of real reasons why his performance was suffering: 1
I found myself giving an impromptu coaching session this week, to a usually top performing salesman who had temporarily misplaced his mojo. (Hey, I ‘m down with the kids, what can I say). more…
Have you ever asked yourself what drives human behaviour? Why people sometimes act in ways that you find difficult to understand?
Imagine an iceberg. The tip is above water - you can see this. The majority of the iceberg is under the water – hidden from view.
A person’s behaviour is like the tip of the iceberg – the part you can see. What drives that behaviour lies underneath the surface. Venture below surface level and you’ll discover the values, beliefs, experiences and thoughts that drive a person’s behaviour.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
If you’d like to better understand and influence the behaviour of the people in your team, a good place to start is with some Myers Briggs or Influencing Skills training.
No. of different personality types I have encountered this week: 16
No. of different personality types I have got along well with this week: 16
This week, I have mostly been discussing Myers Briggs.
First, in a training session with 2 senior managers – to help them better understand the impact they have on their teams and how they can adjust their approaches for individual staff members, to get better results.
Next, in a discussion with an IT manager about how to improve his communication with the company’s executive team by making a few simple changes to the language he used. more…
No. of salespeople under-performing in the company I am working with (year to date); 6 (out of 46)
No. of these salespeople who need help rather than a kick up the bum: 5
When something like the snow gets in the way, it’s easy to use this as an excuse to fall behind with targets. In Financial Services, for example, successful salesmen and women will use such situations to their advantage. They might not be able to get out to see prospective clients but they can phone them. They can even use the snow as a conversational ice breaker (see what I did there?) to build an instant rapport.
Not everyone has the same level of drive, initiative or know-how though. It’s not that they deliberately come to work, hoping to fail. Usually people fail to deliver when they don’t know what to do or they lack confidence. This is where good team performance management comes in.
No. of centimetres of snow the weather men promised for Bournemouth: 21
No. of centimetres of snow that actually arrived: 2
The Big Freeze is upon us. It fascinates me how different people react to situations like this. Some, like my brother in Kent, seized the opportunity to build a pink igloo (as you do) and convert various pieces of furniture into sledges. Others chose to add this turn of events to their list of post Christmas grumbles. more…
If you run a business you can probably put your people into one of 3 categories according to how they work and their team skills:
Luke SkyWalkers
Followers
Dark Side
First, the ‘Luke Skywalkers’ of this world. These are the people who will never let you down and strive to achieve great things, whatever is thrown at them (You probably have a few of these in your organisation).
At the other end of the scale, you have those people who primarily like to moan a lot and drag everyone around them down in the process. We’ll call these people ‘The Dark Side’ (You probably have more of these). more…
No. of friends merrily wishing me Happy New Year on 31 December: 14
No. of formerly merry friends now deeply depressed at having to return to work today: 14
Why is it that people are generally so much happier as Christmas approaches? Supermarket cashiers smile and stop making you feel like an evil planet destroyer for forgetting to bring your own carrier bags. Motorists give way on roads with a friendly wave. more…
There have been many studies on how non-verbal behaviour (body language such as facial expressions, gestures etc) impact communication.
Back in the 1950s, Dr Ray Birdwhistell was one of the first to suggest that no more than 30% to 35% of the social meaning of a conversation or an interaction is carried by words. (There were others before him but Dr B has by far the coolest name, so we like him best).
Today, there is a strong school of thought that, when we communicate, people pay attention to our words and actions as follows:
Words, by their nature, are ambiguous. Why? Because we each give different words meaning – depending on our own experiences, beliefs, values, thoughts and ideas.
This video demonstrates this through a simple ‘ice breaker’ training exercise on…sex!
Take a look and you’ll see what we mean. No giggling like school kids now. This is a serious and highly scientific lesson in Communication Skills. Oh, ok then, it’s just a bit of fun…
But seriously…if we cannot agree on the meaning of a universally acknowledged, simple little word like ‘sex’, what hope do we have of ever being properly understood?
If you want to improve the clarity and impact of your communication, take a look at our Communication Skills courses or Contact Us to talk through what you need.
P.S. We run this exercise a lot and ‘love’ doesn’t come up too much. Shame on everyone. And whoever said ‘Zygot’ in a recent session – well that’s just weird.
This is the advice Gavin Aubrey of Think Training & Development gives to his trainees. Mooing like a cow can make you happier, increase motivation, and even make you live longer! This is just one of the practical approaches he and Wendie at Think Training & Development use to help demonstrate that people can control the way they think and therefore control their motivation, happiness and success. more…
A strange question you might think, but sometimes we all tick to the same habitual beat without trying something different. That’s why Gavin and Wendie at Think Training & Development take a practical approach to their personal and management development programmes.
Trainees from more than 10 countries are turning to Think for a breath of fresh air and pragmatic approach to communication and personal development training. Whilst the media scaremonger with news of job cuts, company closures, and reduced salaries, many forward thinking companies realise that at times like this, you need your staff to be firing on all cylinders. By investing in communication skills, leadership programmes and personal development training, companies can increase staff morale and reap the rewards through increased energy, motivation and productivity. more…
Being an effective coach can have an astonishing impact on the people you work with. Trust me, the personal rewards you get are out of this world and the business benefits can be far reaching.
Listen to the podcast for tips on:
Questioning & listening techniques
Types of coaching question to ask
You cannot hope to influence a change in someone’s behaviour until they understand:
Where they are now
Where they want or need to get to
What is holding them back
What choices and options they have to move forward
