How do you give someone leadership skills?

You might be surprised how many sectors have challenges when it comes to leadership skills. Most people think they left education behind when they joined the workplace. But this management issue is clearly seen in the education system. If you’re knowledgeable in economics or geography and love children then you’ll make a brilliant teacher. In…

How do you choose between coaching and leadership development?

Your scenario Imagine you’ve just been promoted up to a senior leadership position in a different part of your organisation. You’ve come across some of your new leadership team at company events. One of them even bought you a drink! But now it’s different because you’re the boss. You’ve heard about them during talent reviews…

What is sustainable selling?

You might think this is about selling sustainability. Maybe you imagine sustainability consultants who help organisations build their green plans. Or you think of companies selling composting boxes or green bins. But sustainable selling isn’t about what you sell. It’s about how you do it. It’s ensuring that your sales capability is sustainable over time.…

How small businesses can drive sustainable impact. Part 2: Community

We wrote last month about the climate crisis and how it’s difficult to know where to start in fixing the problem. For many businesses, community is at the opposite end of the scale. Most organisations already run support schemes for their employees or help local charities. This stuff has been going on for years. Building…

How to choose the best psychometric profiling tool for your team

Many large organisations use psychometric profiling tools nowadays. If you’re an employee you might have been asked to complete a number of them on different occasions! But if you’re in control of your company budget and responsible for people outcomes how do you choose the best one? We’re very clear that the worst profiling tool…

How questions can improve the performance of your team

I remember my very first day at school. It sticks in the memory because the teacher asked a whole bunch of questions and a couple of us were able to answer them all correctly. In those days there was none of this “taking part is important” stuff. If you got the right answer you could…

What’s the difference between leaders and managers?

“Leaders focus on doing the right thing and Managers focus on doing things right” So goes the well known quote. But is it as simply defined as this? And would it even be desirable for everyone to be a leader if that left an organisation with too few people to ensure things were done right?…

We go beyond… the bottom line | B Corp

One of the hardest questions we’re asked is why we became a B Corp. You sense people expect an epiphany moment. A life-changing story about the do or die moment when we walked out of a high-flying job because we couldn’t live the company values. OR holding our first grandchild and realising the importance of…

Importance of feedback in leadership

Everyone who’s had a job will have heard an office conversation in which people profile the boss. Good or bad, most people figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the boss and are happy to compare notes by the coffee machine. Yet if this individual’s shortcomings are obvious to the entire team, why isn’t feedback…

Do I need a coach or a mentor?

Coaching or mentoring These are different, but often discussed in the same context. Both focus on helping you develop and grow but they do it in different ways. Understanding this will help you to decide whether you need a coach or a mentor. Coaching is more likely to be question-based, content-free and agnostic. It provides…

How do you give feedback to sales people?

This is a question that’s come around a number of times just recently. It’s perhaps revealing that it rarely shows up as a question about “building a buzzing sales team” or “getting the very best out of” someone. When people pose this challenge it’s much more likely to be presented as a management headache: My…

When’s the right time to create a business strategy?

This question came up with clients a couple of times in February. This challenge is especially acute as 2022 kicks off with so many uncertainties. Many organisations have seen their “known knowns” torn apart in the last two years. Brexit was followed by the pandemic, which in turn has been eclipsed by a brutal war…