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

Whenever I run Zoomly’s ‘How to plan and prioritise’ workshop, as the group identifies their daily ‘time bandits’, meetings loom large. Typical comments are that they take too long and deliver too little. No wonder that people fiddle with their phones…Are they really an essential, valuable of getting things done? Or just a waste of… Read more

As the end of the year gets ever nearer, many a Learning & Development professional finds themselves trying to establish the value of their efforts. Yes, they got feedback at the time (before anyone left the room if they were smart) but they know that was just the initial reaction. How to find the value… Read more

You’re stepping up to mentor someone – well done. Having worked with employers and professional groups over several years to support their schemes, I’ve learned that the likelihood of a successful mentoring relationship is set at the start. If it gets off on the wrong foot, it can be hard to sustain. But if the… Read more

  According to Marc Lockley, the author of ‘How to pay less for more’ – and co-creator of Zoomly’s ‘How to negotiate’ workshop – 70% of a negotiation is preparation. When I first heard this figure, to say it came as a surprise is an understatement; you could’ve heard my jaw drop. There was a… Read more

World Mental Health Day this year is focusing on suicide prevention. You can be forgiven for wondering if this is an out-of-date post, or for simply being confused: Word Suicide Prevention Day (organized by the International Association for Suicide Prevention – IASP) took place on 10 September; the theme is continuing on this year’s World… 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

Experienced givers of feedback will know the alternative (and more widely used) name for this workplace snack. Whatever they’re called, I’m not a fan of them. I’ve lost count of the number of times this point has come up during Zoomly’s ‘How to give effective feedback’ workshops. Someone asks, “What’s so wrong with the old… Read more

Your team has a new member: a brand-new employee in their very first job. They may be a new graduate recruit, or an apprentice straight out of college or even school. You have been assigned as their manager. If you’re new to managing people, before you go power mad, bear in mind that it’s not… Read more

So you’ve got your very first full-time job – well done. I hope you’ve got aims and ideas about where you would like this job to take you in your career. We all need something bigger than ourselves / this week / now to aim at. At the same time, you will need to demonstrate… Read more

Here’s one of my occasional round-ups of psychology reporting and studies that I hope you’ll find useful. Which is more likely to foster wellbeing – introversion or extraversion? Here we go again…Whilst readers who tend towards extraversion may be thinking, ‘obvs, wellbeing’s all about being outgoing and talkative’, and more introverted people may be thinking,… Read more