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

Very often when people think of working on their communication skills, they’ll say they need to boost their speaking / presentation / influencing skills. Fair enough – those are indeed applications of communication skills – yet I have a sneaking suspicion that the focus is on transmitting more than receiving. I think the most under-rated… Read more

I often work with groups or individuals on goal-setting. It may be as part of the annual appraisal (yes, there’s a Zoomly bite-sized workshop for that), 1:1 conversations about development and progress, or a coaching conversation. Within the work context, I think it’s a bit simpler to set goals, because when it’s done right, there… Read more

Whether you’re winding down or still working at full throttle, I hope there’s something in this post that’s just what you need for a quick boost – or a completely new perspective. 2018’s most popular TED talks Want to catch up on TED talks? Here you go – TED’s top 25 of 2018. No, I… Read more

Participants in Zoomly’s workshops often ask ‘how do I…?’ questions and they always give me food for thought. One topic that always generates lots of questions is productivity: “How can I get stuff done?” I think there are six essential steps to focus on if we’re to improve. 1.Set and focus on your goals We… Read more

In Zoomly’s ‘How to interview’ workshop it soon becomes crystal clear why our lovely client has chosen this topic from the menu. Many managers who find themselves involved in the recruitment process for a new team member are, erm, not as skilled as they could and should be when it comes to interviewing*. And many… Read more

‘Happy sheets’ are so named because, by the end of a training session (if it’s been done right), participants are feeling good about things. When people have been asked to comment on what they enjoyed about the event, just before they leave the room, it’s no surprise to see praise and enthusiastic comments. ‘Great!’ ‘I… Read more

  Your colleague – maybe your best work buddy – just got promoted, and you didn’t. As well as feeling pleased for them, for some of us it’s natural to feel a pang of envy too. But don’t let this feeling get the better of you. Get jealous and it could sour an important working… Read more

I’ve written elsewhere – and of course in The Feedback Book – about the importance of getting feedback. We could all do with more feedback, so long as it’s of the considered, clear and actionable kind. We can also get feedback by practising self-review and reflection, to raise our awareness of how we did what… Read more

Often when I’m facilitating a workshop, particularly on topics that cover leadership, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and our mental wellbeing, the subject of emotions comes up. Yet when I ask people to shout out some words for emotions, after ‘Happy’, ‘Angry’ and ‘Sad’ they can soon run out of ideas. Many of us seem to struggle… Read more

Here’s a round-up of psychology news, research, tips and comments that have caught my eye recently – I thought you might find them useful. As we emerge from a long weekend, there’s always someone who bemoans the UK’s stingy number of public holidays (see what I just did there?). England and Wales has 8 such… Read more