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invisible man

How to Take Control of your Personal Impact: How visible are you?

I was coaching someone recently who said he wanted to be more visible in the workplace.

He was doing really well and was considered a high flyer by his managers but was not moving as fast as he would like. His consistent feedback was about being low on personal impact. Quite simply he needed to make his presence felt a lot more and he wanted to know how to go about it.

We often hear similar stories in our management skills courses and of course there are plenty of techniques we offer to help frame conversations and raise confidence levels in particular situations.

However there is some very useful thinking that can be done that can underpin these practical tools. Read more

5 Top Tips for Negotiation

I’ve spent quite a bit of time just lately negotiating with my 17 year old son around how much time he spends playing game and watching videos versus the time he spends on homework, chores and talking to us, his loving parents. You can probably guess how those negotiations have gone.

The good news is it helps me to hone my negotiating skills because believe me no business negotiation is nearly so difficult!

So I’ve come up with my top five tips for handling negotiations – whether that’s with your boss over your pay rise, a supplier on price or your teenage son on when he’s going to tidy his room.

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Sustainable Learning in Soft Skills Training

I’m constantly asked by harried HR managers how we can ensure the learning from our soft skills training courses is sustainable back in the workplace.

The problem is that all too often people go on a training course, think ‘that’s interesting’ and then go on with their lives pretty much as before.

HR managers want to make sure they’re getting value for money and, what’s more, they want the training to actually change behaviours in the workplace. And so do we.

But change is not easy.

People are comfortable in their patterns and even when there’s a benefit to changing them they don’t always want to make the effort. And of course it does take effort.

There are definitely things that trainers, in partnership with HR managers and line managers, can do to help.
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