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

How do you respond when you’ve stuffed up on a task? Or when you’ve planned to walk part of the way to work –  and it rains? How about when you get some criticism from a colleague? The chatterbox in our head has a huge bearing on how we feel, and therefore on our resilience to… 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

  December is here…and that means Christmas parties. Not just mince pies and mulled wine – but also colleagues, including your boss. I’ve previously posted festive season tips*; thanks to the readers who asked me to get going with this earlier in December. “I read your post the morning after I’d done EVERYTHING you shouldn’t… Read more

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

Have you noticed…there are just 90 days left in 2018? “Yes of course Dawn” you mutter, rolling your eyes. I want to send you a friendly nudge and draw your attention to those goals you set yourself, way back in January. How are you doing? Have you already achieved all your goals? If so, well done! Or… Read more

It’s that time of year…even though we left school a while back, September exerts a powerful pull on us to get learning (well, here in the Northern hemisphere at least). With that in mind I’ve got a download coming up for you: ‘20 ways to learn at work’ – make sure you’re on Zoomly’s email… 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

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