So, you’ve just promoted your best member of staff into their first management position. They are delighted, and you are delighted as you can see so many benefits for you personally and your organisation. But have either of you stopped to consider what training and development they need to become effective in their role? Primarily, your role as their line manager is to help develop them into an effective manager, but how do you do that? Your own management skills have probably been honed over the years, so to actually put down on paper the knowledge and skills and behaviours
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I was talking to someone recently about a conversation she had with her line manager who suggested that she should contribute more in team meetings, and this set me thinking……   There are many reasons that people may not contribute in a meeting, and these include: Being uninterested in the topics being discussed Generally not being engaged Not feeling confident enough to say anything There not being a culture whereby everyone’s opinions matter   But for the person I was talking to, none of these applied, it was merely the fact that she is an introvert in a meeting full
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I believe that in this current situation, the role of the leader/manager has never been more important to the success of businesses. I’ve been reflecting recently about the skills of managers during this difficult period of covid-19 lockdown/return to work/don’t return to work. We all know that there are many skills that managers need in order to be effective, but it seems that there are some which are even more important in these difficult times. And those who have these skills and mindsets are finding it easier to manage their teams than those who don’t. The skills/mindsets include the ability
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I’ve noticed that the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be making people really think about the jobs they are in and whether they are doing something they really love, or just plodding along in a “same old, same old” fashion.   Other people are in the unfortunate situation of bring made redundant and wondering what to do next.   When you think about your career, do you just see a fog?   Here are some things you may be thinking: I love my job, and want to progress further I love my job but not the company I work for I
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A recent discussion with another HR consultant made me think about how as managers, we could consider our teams as components within a garden.   So for those gardeners out there, here are some considerations for designing a garden: The style of garden you want, such as formal, country, contemporary, Mediterranean style The type of soil and drainage Planting the right things at the right time of year What is already there that can’t be moved, such as large trees The parts of the garden which are sunny/shady/part sunny and part shady How much space for growth there is Different
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Welcome to the second of my blogs relating to the kayaking trip during my recent holiday. In my first blog I described my reflections during the 15km kayaking journey down the River Orme. In this blog, I reflect on the minibus journey we took up the mountain to the drop-off point to the start our kayaking trip. Imagine you are in a minibus, driving at speed along winding roads round the edge of the hillside, with a French driver who spoke little English. And imagine what follows, in an instant… We came across a group of cyclists going in the
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I started thinking about writing a blog and was waiting for inspiration...funnily enough it came while I was kayaking 15km down the River Orb in France. Now, believe me, I’m not a kayaker, and neither am I the adventurous type. We were on holiday recently and I was persuaded to do the 15km route by comments like “we did 5km last time” yes but it was 8 years ago and was the only time I had kayaked in my life. And “well we could do the 10km, but we may as well do the 15km as it only costs a
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