What we're thinking

October 10 sees World Mental Health Day, which aims to boost awareness of mental health, specifically advocacy against stigma through education and awareness-raising. This year the focus of WMHDAY is on ‘Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World’ – you can read the full report here. WMHDAY defines ‘positive mental health’ as the ‘ability… 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

I’ve been delivering Zoomly’s ‘How to motivate people’ workshop quite a bit lately and it often strikes me how some participants feel powerless to deal with demotivation in those they manage. First, I qualify the workshop title: ‘motivate’ actually isn’t something we do to people – it’s more about what can do for people. So… Read more

It’s Mental Health Awareness week and many of Zoomly’s lovely clients are providing talks, activities and resources to support greater awareness of the importance of our mental health and wellbeing. One of the most important factors in workplace mental health is how employees perceive they’re being managed. So if you manage someone, that’s you. How… Read more

At the recent CIPD L&D Show, the Strengths Partnership team were out in full force, including one of the authors of this book (and co-creator of the tool), Dr Paul Brewerton. I think it’s fair to say that Strengthscope® is now firmly established as the UK’s leading assessment when it comes to helping teams and… Read more

‘Onboarding’, ‘Induction’, ‘new starter journey’, or simply ‘welcome’ – different employers have different labels. So if any of the above grated with you, sorry – I just went with the labels that many of Zoomly’s clients seem to be using right now. Who am I to offer tips on induction? Well, as someone who supports… Read more

Here in the UK, April sees the beginning of a new financial year, specifically for our personal finances and tax payments. Financial advice websites and ‘personal money’ pages of newspapers are full of advice about how we should best stash our cash to make sure we take advantage of tax breaks to save. ‘Huh. Some… Read more

Each year, Investors in People (IiP) publish their ‘Job exodus trends’. This does what it says on the tin: how many people are thinking of leaving their jobs in the coming year – and why? At the end of 2017 IiP polled 2000 people. Remember, 2017 saw the lowest UK unemployment levels since 1975 (4.3%… Read more

Here’s a Christmas tree made from business jargon, HR-speak and general nonsense that I’ve collected throughout 2017. Some phrases, such as ‘end of play’ may not be new – but they’re still in use. Other words and phrases are new – at least to my eyes and ears. So what? Here’s a little plea: can… Read more

  It’s that time of year… and whilst some of us are wild with excitement at the prospect of all sorts of gatherings, some of us are looking forward to a cup of tea and a good book. And some peace and quiet. Whatever your preference, I’ve been updating, sorting and sifting resources and hope… Read more