After Action Reviews (sometimes referred to as AARs) have their origins in the United States military. Tools and techniques that improve team performance often have a military provenance. An advantage of techniques with military origins is that they’ve been tried and tested when the stakes were very high. The idea is that after… Read more
I need to manage your expectations on this one: if you’re a PRINCE2 PM guru you’ll be familiar with what follows. If you work on projects but your specific skills aren’t in that area, this post is for you. One of Zoomly’s many bite-sized workshops is ‘How to manage projects’ and it’s about the essentials… Read more
Something that I cover in ‘How to influence and persuade’ is taking the time and effort to understand how people take in information and then decide. Most of us have a preference for either the big picture or the detail. So, there are some of us who just ‘want the headline’ or the top 3… Read more
When I ask workshop participants to assess their negotiation process, they often realise that a) they may not have one and b) they’ve been neglecting the first essential step: preparation. Author of How to pay less for more and my co-creator of Zoomly’s ‘How to negotiate’ workshop Marc Lockley says that preparation accounts for up… Read more
Ever wondered why some teams are super effective and others screw up far more often? It may be the team isn’t learning from their day-in, month-out work and is repeating old mistakes. If this is problem, checklists can really help. If you’re working remotely, they’re essential. Sound out some teams about whether they use checklists… Read more
Participants in Zoomly’s workshops often hang back to ask me questions at the end, and I feel privileged to be asked. The ‘How to manage upwards’ session is typical. I’ll always do what I can to help. Yet I’m acutely aware that I don’t work there and I’m not their manager. But I try to… Read more
Here’s a post from the vault that I hope will help you if you’re new to remote working. More and more of us are working remotely; some of us some of the time, some of us all of the time. There are pros and cons… What’s great about working remotely? Many of us can now… Read more
Technology never sleeps – and if we’re not careful, so can people working across different time zones. Whilst tech is a great enabler for dispersed teams, it can be a source of pressure and friction. The human element is sometimes missing and there are cultural issues to consider too. These 8 tips aim to… Read more
We’re all busy – so it seems. With research reporting that almost half of UK workers feel overwhelmed at work, it’s no wonder I often hear people asking for tips on ‘time management’. My first response is that time isn’t something we can manage – it will be 4 minutes’ later in 4 minutes’… Read more
The idea generation, or ‘brainstorm’ (or ‘thought shower’ as someone suggested recently) is done. You’ve got heaps of wild and wonderful ideas, concepts, and suggestions. So now what? A point that’s made crystal clear in Zoomly’s ‘How to brainstorm ideas’ workshop is the need to separate idea generation from idea evaluation. These are two… Read more
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