Practical tips. Prompts to get you thinking. The odd rant.

1:1s have been a hot topic for me lately – whether that’s managers wanting to be more prepared and resourceful, or team members wanting to have a more in-depth conversation and get more support from their manager. Maybe it’s that time of year, when we look back at what’s worked well, what could have been… Read more

  One of Zoomly’s clients took an interesting approach to their six-pack of bite-sized workshops: they repeated the same topic, ‘How to interview potential recruits’, six times. This meant that they were able to provide essential basic training for all the managers who get involved in the hiring process. Some of them were pretty senior,… Read more

Yes, you may be smarting a little and yet no, it’s not the end of the world – or even your career. There’s probably more to it than you think – and there’s probably a silver lining. So please don’t do anything rash. Bear in mind this might not be all about you. There could… Read more

Being micro-managed can affect our feelings about how competent we are in our jobs, and dent our confidence – if we let it. On the other hand, there’s a lot that can be learned from working with a micro-manager, both about the job itself and about handling professional relationships. What can you do? Try these 5 strategies…

  What’s your reaction to that question: do you relish the time you spend having a 1:1 conversation with one of your team members to discuss their progress? Or do you find 1:1s a waste of time, a tick-box exercise? Or maybe, you find 1:1s a little uncomfortable? Welcome to your job. If you’ve progressed… Read more

Most of us are always learning in some way: to build our knowledge, master a new tech tool, or to boost our presentation skills for example. Beyond the workplace, we might be learning a new language or trying to improve our technique in our preferred sport. As adults, we learn differently to young children, who… Read more

  How are you doing? Good? And how well are you progressing towards your goals right now? Not this quarter, or even this month, but right now, here, today. If we’re not careful, all that planning (or daydreaming, or wishful thinking) we did way back when the year seemed all shiny and new will come… Read more

Whenever I deliver Zoomly’s ‘How to give effective feedback’ bite-sized workshop, there’s some initial squirming from a number of the participants. Particularly the Brits: we seem to get tangled in skirting around the subject, dressing it up, putting a bow on it – and let’s not forget serving up s*%t sandwiches*. Some of us find… Read more

It’s time for my quarterly round-up of psychology-based articles and resources that help us make sense of what’s going on – in the wider world around us, or in our own thoughts and feelings. Are we stuck with our Big Five personality traits – or can we change? We can use the ‘introvert’, ‘extrovert’ dimensions… Read more

  This is the second part of a pair of posts about mentoring: the signs that it’s not working as it should and what to do. You can find Part 1 here, where I set out the first 3 signs. 4. Little or no progress When mentoring works well, each meeting ends with the mentee… Read more