Ideas are the lifeblood of an organisation. Without them it will not develop and improve its products, services and processes, but you can be sure that its competitors will!
Brainstorming is a well tested method for generating ideas. Originally intended for groups, brainstorming can also be practised alone.
Innovative ideas are fast becoming the oxygen and life blood of business today, particularly when considering ways to weather the current economic climate.
In our communities we see individuals add something unusual to their landscapes and suddenly everyone has it. If what other people are doing is such a good idea, why isn't it working?
In this article it is told about methods that will help you ignite your creativity and produce results.
Ideas are the lifeblood of an organisation. Without them it will not develop and improve its products, services and processes, but you can be sure that its competitors will!
Brainstorming is a well tested method for generating ideas. Originally intended for groups, brainstorming can also be practised alone.
When you think about creativity, what do you imagine? A small child playing with their toys? An artist drawing a masterpiece? A fantastic performance at the theatre? It is true that all these things are creative – but the ability to think creatively and having a critical and creative mindset is becoming increasingly important in the workplace. Creative thinking and critical thinking leads to greater innovation and problem-solving and ensures businesses remain agile, moving forwards and staying ahead of the competition.
As a leader, how can I encourage networks of conversations within my organisation that go from top to bottom and back up again in a continuous feedback loop?
In this article it is told about methods that will help you ignite your creativity and produce results.
There’s no escaping it – we all are! You probably didn’t wake up this morning thinking ‘I must log on and do the Impact Factory Creativity Quiz’. But here you are
Life treasure mapping is a fun, active step for connecting with your creativity.
What are the blocks to creativity and how can they be overcome? We can all be more creative, so what is stopping us?
'There's no such thing as Creativity; you just assemble what's already there.' George Balanchine
As a leader, how can I encourage networks of conversations within my organisation that go from top to bottom and back up again in a continuous feedback loop?
In our communities we see individuals add something unusual to their landscapes and suddenly everyone has it. If what other people are doing is such a good idea, why isn't it working?
Organisational structure can inhibit or foster creativity and innovation.
You've heard the expression "thinking outside the box," but do you know how to do it?
What many business owners do not realise is that you can use innovation to help move your business to the next level, one that is better for the customer an better for you.
If you have a job where you are expected to produce new ideas, fresh approaches and original concepts much of the time, there is no doubt you will be under extra pressure.
Just what do "improvement" and "innovation" mean and how are they related? What part does each play in the success of any enterprise?
Creativity and Innovation are often used interchangeably, yet they are (and should be) separate and distinct. There are six levels of competency required.
Are you looking for new ideas to develop your business? Do you and your people need to recharge your Creative and Imaginative batteries? The Splosh Factor allows people to rediscover or refresh their Creativity.
There’s no escaping it – we all are! You probably didn’t wake up this morning thinking ‘I must log on and do the Impact Factory Creativity Quiz’. But here you are
Life treasure mapping is a fun, active step for connecting with your creativity.
They want you to be authentic and clear so that what you advertise is what they get.
Ten Top Tips for better customer service.
Every company that gives lip service to customer service but doesn’t really deliver it opens up opportunities for those few company that actually do practice extraordinary customer service.
Signs speak a language of their own. They tell us where we are, where to go and how to get there.
When you start your own business, the biggest factor that you must consider and make a commitment to, is providing and maintaining good customer service.
A couple of basic ideas that will move the needle faster than any training course can.
Handling difficult customers can be challenging, but it's well worth mastering the negotiation skills required to win their loyalty.
Most interactions with displeased customers were not the result of a poor product, but rather a disappointing customer experience. Why is that?
As business owners have you ever considered how you act as a customer will reflect on your own business?
Here are 10 Tips for Delivering Good Customer Service in today’s fast-food world.
Most of us have had dealings with the customer service people of this world at some point or another. Our chances are mighty high that we're going to be disappointed.
Customer Service perspective is something most customers think is an oxymoron. The very idea of actually serving a customer seems to go against the grain for many of our big service companies.
Everyone makes a difference. For a company's advertising strategy to work, it has to be handled not only corporately but also individually.
As we move forward into a truly service driven economy it's beginning to dawn on us that it's really service care economy.
A personal experience of customer service in Greece.
Because we experience so much customer service that annoys us, and even insults us, finding someone who truly cares about customers lifts our spirits.
Quality Customer Service is attitude. Whatever you do, do it with a positive attitude.
You can spend a fortune on having someone come and tell you how to deliver customer service, or you can do much more, for much, much less. There are three easy steps.
Empowerment exists when employees have the authority to make decisions and take appropriate actions without first seeking approval from others.
One of the most important keys to developing a successful business is practising good customer relationship marketing.
Too often we see Customers as a nuisance, as difficult, even as incidental to the business.
But how can you turn a satisfied customer into a loyal one?
Six steps that you can take to continue to raise your own standards of excellence in customer service.
This article argues that every member of your company should train to be an active listener.
The key is to find out which type of training best fits your needs. One type of training tool that is good for many kinds of businesses is using video training.
Organisational structure can inhibit or foster creativity and innovation.
You've heard the expression "thinking outside the box," but do you know how to do it?
Learn to recognise how different forms of communication require different skills. Make a point of analysing your style and the results it engenders.
Tips to improve your communication skills.
The art of communicating is to understand that at a deep level we are all really one. There is no separation. When we know this, we immediately overcome the barriers that we build to keep ourselves separate. This article shows you how.
The Importance of Strong Communication Skills for Advancement in the Technology Industry
The first important step in communication is looking at the person you are trying to communicate with.
Cross cultural communication can be a tricky business. These basic tips can go a long way in minimising misunderstandings and maximising your cross cultural communication skills.
Here's a tip that a lot of us, myself included, seem to have trouble remembering: When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
Phrases Good Communicators Avoid Such As: 'I Don't Disagree With That'
Any work that tries to help people become better communicators, has to start from the view that miscommunication is normal
Much of what we measure about employee communication today records only whether employees access the tools organisations use to communicate with them.
How do your employees figure in Communication process? Follow this guide to effective communication and achieve good communication with your employees.
Communication Key Skills, this document outlines some of the pitfalls and bear traps that litter our everyday Business Communication Issues. Together with some useful approaches to Effective Communication.
Any work that tries to help people become better communicators, has to start from the view that 'mis' communication is normal.
Good communication is a key component of organisational effectiveness as we seek to order,influence, persuade, and motivate the attitudes and behaviours of others.
Communication means exchange of information and ideas. It acts as the nervous system of any business organisation.
We all have a communication habit that works against us in some small way. Here's eight interpersonal communication blunders that can wreck your career over time.
What types of Questions are there and what uses do they have?
Are you left feeling frustrated by the unresponsiveness of some team members? Or maybe you would like your partner to listen to you more?
These 3 steps will enable you to operate as a truly effective communicator.
The more information people have, the more reassured they feel. Even if it’s ‘bad’ news, it’s a whole lot better than no news. No news makes people feel grumpy and frustrated. Then they begin to act like children because they are being treated like them, with the ‘grown-ups’ doling out the information they think is appropriate.
They want you to be authentic and clear so that what you advertise is what they get.
Ten Top Tips for better customer service.
As the COVID-19 pandemic forces us to stay at home and work remotely, many of us are turning to video conferencing and virtual working tools. Tools like Zoom have become part of our daily routine, helping us to navigate unprecedented challenges and stay connected.
Communication by video conference can raise one or two unforeseen difficulties.
Starting digital copywriting in mid-action is a time-honoured technique used by many successful fiction writers to open the first chapter of a novel with a "bang." Give a lecture and people will fall asleep. Tell a good ripping story and they'll listen wide awake.
Digital copywriting is carried out keeping in mind two audiences: search engines and prospective human visitors
Here are some very important tips you will want to know -- ten ways to be respectful and courteous to your receiver -- before you respond to another email.
Communication by Email can be hugely liberating or deeply frustrating depending on peoples understanding of the limitations and constraints of the medium.
Will Companies Like Apple Eliminate Employees' Ability To Email? Although Apple is a big company that's at the forefront of technological advances, it would seem there's one technical advance that heads of other companies are beginning to wish had never been made available to their employees-email.
Here are some guidelines for communicating using technology in an effective manner.
Learn to recognise how different forms of communication require different skills. Make a point of analysing your style and the results it engenders.
Tips to improve your communication skills.
A reporter's job is to get the most accurate and interesting story he or she can.
Media training prior to dealing with the media is essential for business leaders, executives and company spokespersons.
What's the first thing you think of when the media contacts you? If you say, "Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame," you'd be surprisingly close.
Just about anyone who has been in the public eye has a story of the media interview that went south.
Are you winning the media game? Is your message getting across through the media? Discover how to be better at dealing with the media, especially doing TV interviews.
Dealing with the media often requires organisation and skills. All office professionals require different levels of media training. Here are ten tips to train your staff in media relations.
When being interviewed by media, it is tempting to do a `brain dump,' and give them as much information as you can.
You can get media attention for your product, your company or your ideas. Gain visibility through media outreach by learning the basics of what the media needs.
Dealing with the Media - Interviewers and Journalists - can be quite daunting for the uninitiated.
Media management has become one of the strategic tools for managers and leaders to drive marketing opportunities, communicate key messages, achieve social change or influence Government.
Want press coverage for your business? Then training individuals charged with speaking to reporters is critical. Learn five benefits of media training in this article.
When the media comes calling, savvy executives know it's not time to 'wing it'. Media Trainers are in the business to prepare executives and public figures for the media spotlight.
An effective media relations program does not end with an interview. Rather it is important to then monitor and evaluate the interview's effectiveness to gain a greater understanding of the media for greater personal and professional gain.
If you find yourself or your colleagues in a position where the 'Media' wants you. You may find this document helpful.
Communication by video conference can raise one or two unforeseen difficulties.
Starting digital copywriting in mid-action is a time-honoured technique used by many successful fiction writers to open the first chapter of a novel with a "bang." Give a lecture and people will fall asleep. Tell a good ripping story and they'll listen wide awake.
We have to have Meetings. However there is an approach that will help you have Better, Shorter and more Productive Meeting.
Love them or loath them, Meetings are a necessary evil. They're supposed to be about the transfer of information, about communication and moving things forward. How many of you are thinking one out of three wouldn't be bad?
Meetings are an essential part of our working and personal lives and they’re a great way to bring people together, get everyone on-song, hammer out negotiations, manage difficulties and conflicts. Learn in this article a few great tips to engage in a meeting to avoid wasting time and make things done.
Use this article as your guide to the crazy cast of characters you’re likely to encounter in your meetings.
We all dread the meeting invitation, not because of the content, but because a majority of meetings we have to attend are so poorly run.
How can you have a Quicker, Better Business Meeting? This article gives you some helpful ideas for Business Meetings Skills and Meetings Facilitation.
Use these seven business meeting etiquette tips to brush up your meeting skills and be more productive.
Interview with Julia Apple-Smith, Manager of Employee Development at Sauer-Danfoss Ames, Iowa about Facilitation Skills.
A reporter's job is to get the most accurate and interesting story he or she can.
Media training prior to dealing with the media is essential for business leaders, executives and company spokespersons.
Writing for the Web and Other Media is designed to help you master the challenges of communicating to an audience electronically. Want to make your website compelling, attractive and have your audience humming your tune?
Report Writing is a craft that can be learnt. Our courses help people write in a way that encourages people to engage with the writing.
Most people hate official reports don't they? Whether you have to write them or read them - most people would prefer not to. Own up!
How to get past those blocks that stop you writing easily and creatively.
Creative Business Writing and Compelling Presentations - I wonder what our communications would be like if we always held their purpose to the fore?
There is a lot more to impactful writing, but these three key writing questions will set you on the right path.
We have to have Meetings. However there is an approach that will help you have Better, Shorter and more Productive Meeting.
Love them or loath them, Meetings are a necessary evil. They're supposed to be about the transfer of information, about communication and moving things forward. How many of you are thinking one out of three wouldn't be bad?
Two specific forms of communication you can use to reduce conflict in professional relationships.
Although conflict is a common workplace issue, it is important to recognise the sources of conflict and implement strategies to solve problems.
In times of conflict you can take one of two positions. First the position is that of having your heels dug in and believing you are RIGHT. The second position is where you care enough to understand what is motivating the other person’s behaviour. My recommendation, as you might have guessed, is the second.
Miscommunication is the root of many conflicts. But what exactly causes the conflict when miscommunication is responsible?
Effective approaches and strategies for managing workplace conflicts.
Of all the issues that people tend to avoid, Conflict ranks at the top of the list, along with Public Speaking and swimming with sharks.
How easy would it be to change old patterns to avoid conflict during the Festive Season? Read these top tips if you dread the upcoming Festive Season or listening to your loved ones moaning about their dismal Christmas.
An insight in to Conflict in the workplace and how to resolve or best deal with Difficult People and Situations.
When it comes to managing conflict, the idea of the Third Element is something that's been on my mind for many years. It's about looking for a third thing that connects two opposite parties.
This article illustrates two styles of contact that people have with one another when communicating during a conflict.
Conflict in the workplace can be costly. It results in reduced productivity, low morale, and employee dissatisfaction. These important tips will help you move from crisis to calm when conflict threatens.
Four basic and important tips on how to avoid a verbal fight with an angry person...Assertiveness Training
It’s up to you. We at Impact Factory are great believers in that if you can take charge of a situation with the aim of resolution, then conflict is indeed something to be relished and not avoided. The more you practise, the better you will get at it. Here are ten steps to help you become a master at Conflict Resolution.
Conflict is an issue most of us shy away from. Why? What is so scary about a little bit of conflict?
There is a growing school of thought that conflict can stimulate an energetic and dynamic working environment that shakes apathy and complacency to its core.
The root causes of workplace conflict are often systemic.
When dealing with difficult people, stay out of it emotionally and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively.
Writing for the Web and Other Media is designed to help you master the challenges of communicating to an audience electronically. Want to make your website compelling, attractive and have your audience humming your tune?
Report Writing is a craft that can be learnt. Our courses help people write in a way that encourages people to engage with the writing.
Here are ten delegating tips that will save your time and get you the help you need.
There's nothing complicated about this kind of delegation: letting our colleagues develop their own 'voice' while working within some clear parameters. That way our standards are maintained without our breathing down everyone's necks making sure they do it our way.
'I haven't got time for Delegation! It takes more time to explain to someone what I want done than it does to do the job myself in the first place.'
Two specific forms of communication you can use to reduce conflict in professional relationships.
Although conflict is a common workplace issue, it is important to recognise the sources of conflict and implement strategies to solve problems.
Empathy is an emotion that's often misunderstood. While it's easy to say "I know how you're feeling," the truth is, more often than not, we've no idea how another person is feeling at all.
Empathy is an emotion that's often misunderstood. While it's easy to say "I know how you're feeling," the truth is, more often than not, we've no idea how another person is feeling at all.
For those of you reading this title and thinking it's going to be about some kind of touchy feely soft skills love one another diatribe... forget it.
Here are ten delegating tips that will save your time and get you the help you need.
There's nothing complicated about this kind of delegation: letting our colleagues develop their own 'voice' while working within some clear parameters. That way our standards are maintained without our breathing down everyone's necks making sure they do it our way.
Ten things to think about that will focus you towards personal and professional empowerment.
How to Empower. Indeed whether to Empower. Have a look at some of our experiences around Empowerment.
What exactly does Empowerment mean in the way it gets used these days?
Empathy is an emotion that's often misunderstood. While it's easy to say "I know how you're feeling," the truth is, more often than not, we've no idea how another person is feeling at all.
Empathy is an emotion that's often misunderstood. While it's easy to say "I know how you're feeling," the truth is, more often than not, we've no idea how another person is feeling at all.
Like many of the most fascinating things in life, group dynamics are always in a state of flux.
Good Facilitators see and hear not only the obvious, but are tuned in to what else might be going on that isn't quite so apparent. They are skilled in interpreting the difficulties, resolving conflict, cutting through time wasting and diversionary tactics and, most importantly, enabling people to reach agreements and develop new practises that will work.
Impact Factory offers training in facilitation, meetings, away days, conferences, brainstorming sessions, impromptu get-togethers among staff, inter-departmental talks.
Ten things to think about that will focus you towards personal and professional empowerment.
How to Empower. Indeed whether to Empower. Have a look at some of our experiences around Empowerment.
We are all influenced by people, places, events and situations at all times. This article lays out how influencing works and what can be done to make yourself a more effective influencer.
This is a common question we get asked, “how can I possibly influence someone when I have no authority over them?”. And our answer: the same way you would if you did have authority over them. Really, that’s not as glib as it sounds; what we mean is that what you have to adjust is what goes on in your head because what goes on in your head will influence your body language, what you say, how you react and what your expectations are.
Good influencing is an active process. It’s a confidence and willingness to use your skills to make things happen and get buy-in for your ideas, projects and goals. Here are some hints and tips to help you become a star influencer.
Persuasion, when done correctly creates change at a physiological, psychological and biological level in the person you are persuading.
Influencing others is a skill, an art without which working in today's professional workplace is very difficult. This article introduces ideas about what can be done to make yourself a more effective influencer.
Influencing can be convincing your boss you deserve a raise, inspiring your team to finish a project, cajoling a colleague to do a presentation for you, getting someone to see your point of view in order to have their support at a meeting.
If you communicate with someone in a superior position, begin by indicating that you are completely willing to comply with their expressed wishes.
Designing strong technical solutions often is not enough to achieve success. Success is often based on influence, and influence is built on communication skills, increasing trust and avoiding common pitfalls.
Like many of the most fascinating things in life, group dynamics are always in a state of flux.
Good Facilitators see and hear not only the obvious, but are tuned in to what else might be going on that isn't quite so apparent. They are skilled in interpreting the difficulties, resolving conflict, cutting through time wasting and diversionary tactics and, most importantly, enabling people to reach agreements and develop new practises that will work.
If you don't know how to negotiate properly, you're wasting so much potential and losing tons of opportunities!
Often in a negotiation people will continue to hold out not because the proposal on the table is inherently unacceptable, but simply because they want to avoid the feeling or the appearance of backing down to the other side.
Negotiation is essential to managing and doing business. Learn what is involved in successful negotiation and a negotiation method that can be both effective and foster healthy relations between parties.
Consider Negotiation as a game. It’s important to understand your own conscious and unconscious rules and also about making an effort to figure out what your opposite number’s rules are as well.
Negotiating Skills - "Heads I win, tails you lose." That's the way to handle Negotiating, isn't it?
Negotiation Skills Negotiation is a game and like any other game, it has its rules. When you learn how to play it well, you can get what you want and it's fun.
Negotiation Skills - Good Negotiation isn't about winning and it isn't about someone else losing. Good Negotiations are about both sides leaving feeling they got what they wanted, or at least better off than when they went in.
Can women negotiate as well as men? Here are five rules that should particularly help women Negotiate Like A Pro.
Your skill as a negotiator depends upon satisfying you, the other party and getting a good result. You need to develop good thinking skills, communication ability and an understanding of the personalities and what drives them to act.
Negotiation Skills - Contrasts the avoiding and accommodating approaches to negotiating. Also explains how to appropriately use these approaches.
We are all influenced by people, places, events and situations at all times. This article lays out how influencing works and what can be done to make yourself a more effective influencer.
This is a common question we get asked, “how can I possibly influence someone when I have no authority over them?”. And our answer: the same way you would if you did have authority over them. Really, that’s not as glib as it sounds; what we mean is that what you have to adjust is what goes on in your head because what goes on in your head will influence your body language, what you say, how you react and what your expectations are.
The truth about anger management. Simple steps to a calmer less stressful life This article will help your conquer your anger and improve your self esteem; your family and friends will thanks you for it.
For many of us, our style of communication can leave us with unmet needs, unexpressed emotion, and damaging effects on those around us.
Anger is one of those things that we tend to shy away from dealing with, even though we're all affected by other people's uncontrolled anger (and of course our own).
If you don't know how to negotiate properly, you're wasting so much potential and losing tons of opportunities!
Often in a negotiation people will continue to hold out not because the proposal on the table is inherently unacceptable, but simply because they want to avoid the feeling or the appearance of backing down to the other side.
At Impact Factory we often talk about making work a better place to be. That's part of the central foundation of our ethos. We know full well that bullying is one of the key things that makes work a horrible place to be.
Workplace bullying takes many forms, but two in particular stand out that happen in the workplace
The idea that some of us are born more confident than others is false. We are all born confident. That means you can re-capture your true birthright, which is to be the naturally assertive person you really are.
Being assertive is a means of putting your point or opinion across while maintaining a respect for another's point of view. The aim being to ideally achieve a solution that meets your needs and those of another - a healthy compromise.
Learn to distinguish aggressive from assertive behaviour and know when assertive behaviour should be utilised. You will become a new and courageous person.
Assertiveness Training and Influence. This article deals with the 'Perceived Assertive Behaviour', exploring ways to influence the way others perceive your message. This is done through speaking to the unconscious mind and evoking wanted associations.
Assertiveness Training not Anger. Sometimes, our efforts to show our assertiveness cross the line and we end up coming across as rude, aggressive or downright belligerent.
Assertiveness Training It is interesting that many people still confuse being assertive with being aggressive. How about you? Have you learnt the difference? A quick guide to assertiveness going for the win-win result.
If you want to be more confident, positive and cooperative in your approach to others, and if you wish to improve your ability to influence, then assertiveness is a must.
Being assertive means you have to find those things you know you can do when you don't actually feel assertive.
Assertive discipline advice on how to develop assertive behaviour when people cross boundaries personally and professionally.
Do you have a reputation as the "Nice Girl" or "Nice Guy"? Are you expressing yourself assertively? Here are three questions to ask to find out.
This document outlines a practical approach Saying No. Without actually using the word you can develop the ability to resist or sidestep being manoeuvred into doing something you really don't want to do.
It can be rather daunting to think that in really difficult and stressful situations Assertiveness is the best approach.
Assertiveness is a skill that can be learnt. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of these techniques hinges on the ability to know the other person, both in terms of thinking process and emotional response.
Too nice for your own good? Find out with this assertiveness quiz.
An assertive manager is an effective manager. In order to properly run your team, you must be able to communicate well. Being assertive allows managers to delegate responsibility and get tasks completed on time.
Just say no! If only being assertive were as easy as traditional assertiveness training makes out.
Changing what we do can be difficult indeed; changing people's perception of what we do is a whole lot easier.
A recent story of assertiveness in South Africa.
Assertiveness Hints and Tips When you aren’t feeling particularly assertive, it’s best to try something simple that you’ll remember, rather than trying to become a completely different person.
Successful Assertiveness Training. When you know you are supposed to "just shut up and listen," and you really want to get your point across, you have options. Follow these steps to reclaim your own power.
Impact Factory has been running programmes on 'The Art of Saying No' for nearly eight years and we are often asked what the difference is between our work and assertiveness training.
Five simple, useable tips to help any unassertive person straight away!
Assertive Communication: 20 Helpful Tips Twenty strategies and approaches to get your needs met in the most effective manner. AssertivenessTwenty strategies and approaches to get your needs met in the most effective manner.
Here's some useful guidelines to ensure your successful use of an assertive communication style.
Gentle assertiveness is founded on tolerance and respect for others. It entails the need for envisaging the possibility that others may have good reasons to see things differently.
Assertiveness is a method of communication that lets others know your ideas and feelings, while respecting their feelings as well...
The truth about anger management. Simple steps to a calmer less stressful life This article will help your conquer your anger and improve your self esteem; your family and friends will thanks you for it.
For many of us, our style of communication can leave us with unmet needs, unexpressed emotion, and damaging effects on those around us.
We all have feelings about people we meet. Part of the information we're taking in that leads to such conclusions is body language. Whether we realise it or not, we both read and speak it.
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to make new friends so easily, while others find it difficult to form successful relationships with new people?
Forget conventional mirroring techniques. Author Tessa Stowe proposes an alternative to mirroring that is more authentic and effective.
Some people can't tell a lie, others can't tell the truth and unfortunately, most people can't tell the difference. Can you tell when someone is pulling the wool over your eyes?
Using body language to enhance how you start a conversation can lead to great conversation. You do not have to say much just a look or a movement can speak volumes for you.
Body Language Training - If you haven't yet spent much time studying body language, I recommend that you add it to your to-do list for communication development.
Body Language Training - Body language is the meaning behind the words or the 'unspoken' language. Surprisingly, studies show that only up to an estimated 10 percent of our communication is verbal.
Since the 1970s, learning how to communicate better has had a lot to do with understanding body language.
A recent article in Discover magazine on how we recognise faces said that we have such powerful brain "circuitry" for facial expressions that we insist on seeing faces where there are none
To prevent the annoyance or boredom showing in your face, you may use gestures, smiles and gazes to pretend that you are listening to the other person! It may even be an important business deal.
What is it that makes a person popular? Why is it that they always seem get the job? Why are some people always sought after?
Body Language has been beaten to death over the past decade. In reality body language gives away your attitude and how you feel about your product.
When you take away your eye contact from someone it does affect them; how do you feel when someone doesn't look at you?
What is Proxemics I hear you cry - It is the study of a set-measurable distance between people as they interact with each other
Words only make up a small amount of the meaning of your message; non-verbal communication plays a huge role in our reading of what you are saying.
The many non verbal body language signals we give when communicating can be very powerful.
I once read somewhere that at least 90% of language is non-verbal. How do we communicate then if only 10% of a language is actually spoken? The simple answer is body language.
At Impact Factory we often talk about making work a better place to be. That's part of the central foundation of our ethos. We know full well that bullying is one of the key things that makes work a horrible place to be.
Workplace bullying takes many forms, but two in particular stand out that happen in the workplace
Another thing I bang on about is that I think it best never to "blag" in a professional setting - particularly in a presentation, or a meeting - because you'll always be found out.
Can you get excited about amazingly simple steps to networking to definitely expand your market internationally? Could you increase more sales by reaching out globally? Wouldn't it be an exciting challenge if we outline these basic steps?
New business meetings with existing or potential clients can be strongly influenced by the environment in which they take place.
Professionally, effective relationship building skills can mean the difference between triumph and defeat, particularly in a sales and/or service based environment.
Key Business Skills are not just basic skills such as communication and management. They are also likely to include advanced skills such as leadership, presentation, strategic thinking and project management.
The Six Universal Principles of Connecting in Business can help you to develop, monitor, and maintain better business relationships.
This article gives a seven-step process for building successful work relationships.
This article looks at how you can create and nurture good Relationships.
When it comes to business and sales, building a strong relationship is critical. The stronger your relationship is with your customer, the more likely they will be to refer you business.
Relationships that thrive and turn into customers, alliances or referrals have been nurtured over time with these techniques.
You have to realise that cultivating business relationships is not like cultivating turnips. You do not throw some seeds into fertile ground and then go away until you want to harvest something.
We all have feelings about people we meet. Part of the information we're taking in that leads to such conclusions is body language. Whether we realise it or not, we both read and speak it.
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to make new friends so easily, while others find it difficult to form successful relationships with new people?
Trade shows are among the most common ways for people that are interested in networking.
Networking events are about building relationships and not about seeing how many business cards you can acquire. Here are our top tips for turning a nightmare scenario into one that might even be fun!
What kinds of results do you get from networking? Find out how to make your networking results go exponential.
Networking is about building relationships and mutual interaction benefiting both parties. Being proactive and following up, you can have a network of contacts that you will be able to access quickly when you need them.
Take a look a type of networking group - the Chambers of Commerce.
Networking has always been an important process in the business world, allowing people from the same industry to meet and exchange ideas.
I am about to share with you something that I talk to people about a lot. It is focused networking.
Networking is something many of us resist doing because we think of it as something only pushy or aggressive people do.
Analysing the various types of groups you will find in a networking situation and how to treat them.
Alliances and partnerships will allow your company to grow and expand. Plus you will gain new clients and customers when you network. Where can you network?
Networking is a conscious, planned effort to get the most of quick encounters, in brief time periods, and to develop a lasting mutual relationship.
This step by step strategy will help you turn networking contacts into great business connections.
Companies spend thousands upon thousands of pounds getting their Exhibition stands, conferences and roadshows to look absolutely brilliant.
Part of the process of getting a job starts with networking...by establishing contacts with people who may be in a position to hire you or refer you to someone who is in the position of hiring... you!
A look at the contentious issue of Networking in Business and how you might use your Personal Style to best accomplish what you set out to do at Networking Events.
Business Networking - and there was a man standing there on his own with a small albino pig under his arm?
I'm sorry to have to say it, but Business Cards are boring.
Another thing I bang on about is that I think it best never to "blag" in a professional setting - particularly in a presentation, or a meeting - because you'll always be found out.
Can you get excited about amazingly simple steps to networking to definitely expand your market internationally? Could you increase more sales by reaching out globally? Wouldn't it be an exciting challenge if we outline these basic steps?
There are many benefits to a career mentorship, for both parties. Here are five tips to ensure a successful mentoring relationship.
Although finding the right job can be tedious, there are resources available to make your job easier. This article gives you the resources you need to make an informed decision about where to find the right resources.
A Job is for Christmas, a Career is for life. When was the last time you had a good, long hard, look at your career?
Trade shows are among the most common ways for people that are interested in networking.
Networking events are about building relationships and not about seeing how many business cards you can acquire. Here are our top tips for turning a nightmare scenario into one that might even be fun!
Have you ever been fired from a job? Use these winning job interview answers to beat this tough question and get hired into the job you want.
So you've answered all the interviewers questions, but what exactly should you be asking them?
Interviews are always enlivened when you have a few good anecdotes up your sleeve.
Be aware of your verbal and non-verbal performance and the messages you are sending. It could make the difference between a job offer or not.
By preparing and researching ahead of time, you can feel more empowered in the salary negotiation process of a job interview.
Distinguishing yourself from the pack will give you an edge. A little work before the interview will put some zip in your pitch.
Self Disclosure can make you more approachable, welcoming and interesting. When used judisiously during a job interview, personal disclosure will give the interviewer a more rounded picture of who you really are.
Self Deprecation used sparingly can help give an impression of modesty, but if over used will quickly test peoples patients.
What does your Resume say about you? Is it a list of everything you've ever done, or is it an entertaining glimpse of the real person behind the qualifications?
You are being made redundant. It's absolute. It's guaranteed. Your life is now going to change. Redundancy can be a curse or a blessing, but it certainly won't be boring.
Recruitment is all about the fit. Both sides need to feel good about the idea of working together and that can only happen through a painstaking process of weeding out the almost good enough.
Qualifications are important, but many companies believe relevant life experience and a healthy attitude to learning and development are as, if not more important than shiny qualifications.
Are you waiting to be promoted? Or are actively seeking promotion? People are rarely promoted from a position of passivity.
Be careful what you outsource. Our entire web content is developed 'in-house' as we are the only people who really know what we do.
A euphemism for 'You're Fired'; or real help for employees who are surplus to requirements? Well it all depends on who is outplacing you.
Nervous Energy - If you begin to shift your thinking that nervous energy is your friend and not your enemy, you can use it to your advantage in a Job Interview.
You'll hear all sorts of rules about job interviews and interview technique. But getting the job you want isn't about following rules.
Hints and interview tips on CVs, job interview questions, interview technique and advice to get the job you want.
Job Hunting - Thinking of Job Hunting as a job in itself can transform the way you approach getting a job and your feelings about yourself as a jobless person.
What Interview Questions should you expect to be asked and how should you prepare for them?
Interview Dress Code - At a job interview there is no set dress code, but the closer you can get to the company feel the better off you will be.
One sure-fire way to miss out on a job is to show up at an interview dressed poorly.
Human Resources is not just about hiring and firing people. It's also about people's development, well-being and level of support in the company they devote much of their waking hours to.
12 strategic questions so that you can formulate winning interview answers.
Headhunters don't just go out to find someone to fit a job. No headhunters make it their business to know who is out there achieving above the norm. So if you want to be hunted, raise your profile.
Making a Good First Impression really does count for a lot, however it is possible to retrieve the situation and leave them with a last impression that's just as powerful.
What Does it Mean to be Employed? Employment is not just about having a job. Employment means a great deal more to most people; community, friends, a sense of purpose, self esteem and much more.
Downsizing; for some it's a lifestyle choice, but for most of us it means the organisation we work for is no longer vibrant and outward looking, but hunkered down and fearful for it's own survival.
Here's what Curriculum Vitaes (or as they are called in the States, resumes) are good for: getting you the interview
Common Interview Questions are easy...Be prepared for these crazy interview questions can make you trip, slip, fumble, and bumble...
'Be yourself' is advice given on just about every Interview Skills course, book, website, career advice column, etc.
Behind every interview question there is a concern or another question. Learn to decipher those basic questions.
There are many benefits to a career mentorship, for both parties. Here are five tips to ensure a successful mentoring relationship.
Although finding the right job can be tedious, there are resources available to make your job easier. This article gives you the resources you need to make an informed decision about where to find the right resources.
Is your workplace productive, effective and happy? In a working world that is increasingly driven by technology, interpersonal skills are more important than ever. Our success as a species depends on our ability to communicate in every area of our lives; at home, with friends and in the workplace. These skills are critical, regardless of the workplace hierarchy or the industry you work in.
How do you get the gravitas? Let Impact Factory help build your confidence through our Communication and Influencing Skills Training courses.
Some people, it seems, just have that certain something, a Personal Presence that's very hard to define, but that makes such an impressive impact that others who are less dynamic fade.
Lots of people say first impressions matter. Indeed, the academics and psychologists who study this kind of stuff, say that people take about a nano-second to make up their minds on meeting someone new.
Impact is a strong word. It happens when something or someone comes into contact with something or someone else.
Marketing is not just about brand and corporate image. You can apply marketing thinking to yourself when looking for that perfect job or position.
People interacting with other people, that's what Interpersonal Skills means.
A brilliant colleague of mine used to say that there seemed to be a conspiracy to keep everyone small. Ray thought, as I do, that people ought to be as big as their real self wants to be.
Have you ever been fired from a job? Use these winning job interview answers to beat this tough question and get hired into the job you want.
So you've answered all the interviewers questions, but what exactly should you be asking them?
This article asks important questions about how we can become more resiliant.
Some people, it seems, just have that certain something, a Personal Presence that's very hard to define, but that makes such an impressive impact that others who are less dynamic fade.
This article examines ways of building a good self image and raising self-esteem.
Losing self confidence can really feel awful. This article offers suggestions about re-building low self esteem and confidence by taking back your power and identifying the things that might trip you up along the way.
There are certainly times when all of us wish we could go into a shop and ask for a pound of Confidence please (or rather, 500 grams of Confidence please).
Confidence is something we all could do with a little more of, however you can't just pop down the shop and buy it by the kilo.
This article asks important questions about how we can become more resiliant.
How do you get the gravitas? Let Impact Factory help build your confidence through our Communication and Influencing Skills Training courses.
How can you make appraisals effective and powerful sources of staff motivation?
Losing self confidence can really feel awful. This article offers suggestions about re-building low self esteem and confidence by taking back your power and identifying the things that might trip you up along the way.
The future of work is human. It’s a hot topic in the global business world. And with good reason. Despite technological advances substantially changing – even improving our lives and our jobs, it’s all for nothing without humans at the core.
The correlation between organisational performance and Shared Values has been tested and validated with over 2,300 organisational sites. So what are the universal Shared Values?
This article examines ways of building a good self image and raising self-esteem.
How to prepare yourself for change and not let change overwhelm or stress you out. Take control of the aspects of your job that are within your span of control and adopt the "It's about personal survival" attitude.
All progress is the result of change. But not all change is progress. Some changes don't make any sense.
There is a lot of talk about "change" - how important it is, how we should alter the way we do to things at work and in our personal lives in order to be more effective.
How do you ensure employees and their managers have got the message and truly understand the reasons for the new system implementation.
There is a very easy way to ensure that there is structure and content that make it very easy for managers at all levels to follow when dealing with organisational change.
This is a helpful document for those of you Dealing With Change issues at home or in your work life. It tries to help you think about Change Management as something you can work with rather than be the victim of
Change is inevitable, but with good advice, it can be made more palatable and more effective. Try some of our hints and tips to help you manage change more effectively.
Change is a constant. Change is good for you. Too much change is bad for you. Impact Factory's thoughts on change.
With many organisations facing continuous change our most common reaction is an ostrich like attempt to try to keep our heads down until it's all over.
Humans are creatures of Habit and Pattern; it's how we survive. That's why Behavioural Changes are sometimes difficult things for us to deal with positively.
The correlation between organisational performance and Shared Values has been tested and validated with over 2,300 organisational sites. So what are the universal Shared Values?
How can you make appraisals effective and powerful sources of staff motivation?
Seven tips to help you expedite the hiring process and secure a coach that will truly help double your results.
Every organisation that intends to survive in the re-engineered environment which arrived with the new millennium must respond to those realities.
Coaching is frequently sought by top performers whose organisations value their management and growth potential. Yet, sometimes leadership coaching programs just don't work. Why?
Why, despite the competition for our time and energy, being a mentor is one of the best things you can do.
Why Mentoring? Many people think that when they're hired to do a job, particularly if it's a well paid and/or high flying job, they're supposed to know everything, be able to handle everything with ease.
Life Coaching has probably grown more than almost any other 'soft skills' training in recent years. Why this rise? To start, people are looking to Life Coaches to help them create a better Work-Life Balance.
Should you consider Coaching as a replacement for traditional Training?
How to handle the challenge when you talk to someone who either does not have a lot to say or who is naturally shy.
The importance of executive coaching, why executive coaching services are expanding, how best to use an executive coach.
An outline of Impact Factory's practical approach to Business Coaching, Executive Coaching and Mentoring for yourself or colleagues.
Five principles that should be clarified at the outset of the leadership coaching process.
This article looks at finding and developing a useful relationship with a Coach or Mentor.
This article outlines the reasons for introducing Coaching and Mentoring and how you can go about doing this in your company.
Understanding how Coaching and Mentoring works, benefits of using a Coach or Mentor, Hints and Tips on using one and being one.
We are not... the answer, but we will listen, steer and offer up ways to make life at work a little easier!
How to prepare yourself for change and not let change overwhelm or stress you out. Take control of the aspects of your job that are within your span of control and adopt the "It's about personal survival" attitude.
All progress is the result of change. But not all change is progress. Some changes don't make any sense.
What do you want people to say about your leadership impact 10, 20 or 30 years from now?
Determine your leadership skill in 15 minutes by taking this quick Leadership Quotient self-evaluation for effective leadership development in any area of your life
Leadership Development - Management training courses all seem to focus on leadership. What is Leadership really about?
Why not spend your money on leadership training and development down in the trenches, where it will really do some good?
If you recognise there is a situation at your company that is headed down the wrong path, step up and offer to take the lead to correct it.
A hero to millions, Dr. Covey is known the world over for his landmark work around helping people take profound ideas, philosophies, and principles and distilling them into easy-to-use daily habits that anyone can apply.
Great leadership is about showing your people that there is more in them than they know: so they'll be unwilling to settle for less.
Want to know if you've got what it takes to lead? Are you prepared to take the helm, or would you shine as a team player? Take our 'Transforming Leadership Quiz' to find out!
Leadership potential is everywhere, you just have to find and encourage it then watch it blossom.
Leadership is not just for people at the top. People learn to lead by discovering the power that lies within each one of us to make a difference and being prepared when the call to lead comes.
This article takes a look at this minefield and asks 'How do you become a good leader?'
What makes a good Leader? Can you define specific qualities? Or perhaps Leaders are born, and not made?
Can you take someone who is not a Natural Leader and put them through a programme that will turn them into one?
To survive and succeed as a leader, you must learn four essential skills of persuading people.
What can you learn about corporate culture by studying the mudslinging, vicious war of words between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell?
How to get the most out of your leadership training.
Leadership is often made to feel much more complex than is necessary. Here is some simple advice about Leadership at Work.
Great results are not truly great unless they are being achieved on a continual basis. Here are four ways to make it happen.
Five simple things good leaders do.
Seven tips to help you expedite the hiring process and secure a coach that will truly help double your results.
Every organisation that intends to survive in the re-engineered environment which arrived with the new millennium must respond to those realities.
How do you inspire confidence and innovation in an organization that appears to be in freeze mode?
Why? Because we've always done it that way.
The majority of people in teams and organisations throughout the world are severely underutilised. Your team have probably more to offer in terms of skill, knowledge and experience.
You can change your attitude even quicker than you can change your shoes. That can change your entire day and the day of those that have to deal with you.
Follow your dream - so what are your dreams? And what is preventing you from realising them? Some ideas from Impact Factory on dreaming with feet still on the ground.
Motivation - How to get away from that self destructive "lazy" feeling and get back to a normal motivated self.
Motivation is one of those vague catchall words that mean completely different things to different people.
Whether you are an employer, manager, teacher or parent, we are all at some stage keen to get answers to the age old question of How to motivate others?
Your challenge as a parent, manager or small business owner is how to keep people motivated to perform their assignments.
What do you want people to say about your leadership impact 10, 20 or 30 years from now?
Determine your leadership skill in 15 minutes by taking this quick Leadership Quotient self-evaluation for effective leadership development in any area of your life
This article defines open and closed communications systems. It outlines an approach to keeping systems open, functional and healthy within a business and corporate environment.
How does strategic planning differ from strategic thinking? Every strategy starts with a vision, a vision of success, both in the long-term and short-term picture.
Strategic planning is a management tool. It is used to help an organisation clarify its future direction.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu contains strategic thinking and philosophies that have uses beyond military problems.
Let's take a look at what Strategic Thinking is, how to do it, and some useful tools to implement Strategic Thinking at the personal, family, community, and corporate levels.
The words vision, strategy, mission and values are words bandied around a lot in the corporate world. But what do they actually mean and how can you make them more than just words?
Are you listening to your customers? They could be telling you something that could improve your sales. Take the time to understand what is being told to you.
How do you inspire confidence and innovation in an organization that appears to be in freeze mode?
Why? Because we've always done it that way.
There is a very glib thing that you often hear quoted about teamwork and that is: "There is no 'I' in teamwork".
A look at Team Building and what it is exactly! There are so many ways to go about bringing a group of people together. Each team is individual and it's not as simple as it seems to make them work more effectively together. There are a number of factors up for discussion...
Whichever route you choose to get your team working well together - to build the kind of team you want - there are a few key elements to consider that are crucial.
In this article you will learn some of the strategies of geniuses and how to apply them within any group you are working with.
This article defines open and closed communications systems. It outlines an approach to keeping systems open, functional and healthy within a business and corporate environment.
How does strategic planning differ from strategic thinking? Every strategy starts with a vision, a vision of success, both in the long-term and short-term picture.
People are Difficult. There are few fantasies in life that are more potent that the "if only" ones.
A look at Team Building and what it is exactly! There are so many ways to go about bringing a group of people together. Each team is individual and it's not as simple as it seems to make them work more effectively together. There are a number of factors up for discussion...
A look at Impact Factory's approach equality and diversity issues. Our focus is on examining people's perspectives on difference, diversity, change management and the attitudes and feelings which are sometimes difficult for people around equal opportunities work.
Equality and diversity can be a real strength or an absolute minefield.
Life would certainly be a lot simpler if other people would just shape up and see things our way! This document looks at ways of approaching cultural differences.
A Culture Clash of some sort occurs as soon as two people get together.
People are Difficult. There are few fantasies in life that are more potent that the "if only" ones.
There is a very glib thing that you often hear quoted about teamwork and that is: "There is no 'I' in teamwork".
Most Induction Training is dull and boring. People troop in and are spoken at for anywhere from an hour to three days (or more!).
A quick introduction to the induction programme we recently designed and ran for Mark and Spencer Financial Services which revolutionised people's introduction to this dynamic company.
This is a lively document that looks at designing and developing dynamic, engaging and useful Induction Programmes
A look at Impact Factory's approach equality and diversity issues. Our focus is on examining people's perspectives on difference, diversity, change management and the attitudes and feelings which are sometimes difficult for people around equal opportunities work.
Equality and diversity can be a real strength or an absolute minefield.
Have you ever wanted to play the role of a colleague, boss, counsellor and psychologist all in one job? Welcome to the role of the line manager!
When someone’s been promoted to this role, there’s a great deal of expectation that they will bring all those wonderful abilities they were applauded for along with them, without realising that being a terrific member of a team won’t necessarily make you a terrific team manager without adequate training.
Oh, the joys of becoming a Line Manager! But what exactly does a Line Manager do?
Becoming a Line Manager can be exciting and daunting at the same time, like entering new territory without a map.
Most Induction Training is dull and boring. People troop in and are spoken at for anywhere from an hour to three days (or more!).
A quick introduction to the induction programme we recently designed and ran for Mark and Spencer Financial Services which revolutionised people's introduction to this dynamic company.
Training Your Staff: 13 Things EVERY Employee Should Learn
Training prepares Managers to delegate, motivate, influence, coach, communicate, recognise and strategies.
Providing appropriate and ongoing training assists in maintaining the high quality of their work and output.
It's often just taken for granted by senior managers in an organisation that managers will have the "natural" skills to motivate, coach, give feedback and get the best out of their people.
Unless you live on an island populated only by yourself, you interact with people every day of your life. Therefore, you are continually 'Managing' the people you know and meet.
One of the hardest professional moves to make is that from Workmate to Manager.
Learn ways to get the biggest bang from your training dollars.
Management Training - There you are, you've aspired to be a manager, you got the promotion.....and then what?
Organisations promote people assuming that if they have performed well at one job, they'll likely perform well at the next one.
To be competitive in the global market arena requires training and development of your greatest resource - Your People.
Consider the following scenarios for potential problems in your workplace, problems that could be resolved with the right management training.
This article presents innovative uses of board games in management training, and demonstrates the power of this technique with some example games.
One of the behaviours I have been advocating for many years for managers is that they carefully and routinely evaluate the areas where they have made progress and where they have not.
When someone’s been promoted to this role, there’s a great deal of expectation that they will bring all those wonderful abilities they were applauded for along with them, without realising that being a terrific member of a team won’t necessarily make you a terrific team manager without adequate training.
Oh, the joys of becoming a Line Manager! But what exactly does a Line Manager do?
The annual performance appraisal is an opportunity to enhance employee performance and create greater success for the company and the individual.
Many businesses today have appraisal processes in place, and if they don't they probably soon will. But, do appraisals work? I
Face the facts: Creating a new performance appraisal system is a difficult undertaking. It's even more difficult if the organisation doesn't have a logical, well-tested, step-by-step process to follow in developing their new procedure.
Springing bad news on an employee during an appraisal usually means you’ve been avoiding the day-to-day performance management of team members. So here are ten ways to nip issues in the bud before they grow.
Do it Every Day to Improve Your Management and Avoid Boring Paperwork. Performance Appraisal often strikes fear into the heart of the most intrepid manager. It's associated with in depth interviews, filling out complicated forms and planning career development. No wonder it scares people. But if you do it every day, it's a breeze.
Self evaluations or appraisals of your job performance can easily be viewed as a tedious or frightening task. In today's tough job market it's more important than ever to take this process seriously, but it doesn't have to be intimidating.
Good Performance Management processes should contain critical opportunities for recognition and therefore motivation.
A robust, on-going Performance Management culture can significantly improve staff morale, productivity, motivation and the overall health of an organisation.
There's a lot of magical thinking that hovers around Performance Management that even seasoned managers succumb to: that, somehow, problems with people's performance will fix themselves without anyone having to say anything to anybody.
If you're looking for tips on how to fill in all those boxes on Appraisal Forms you're in the wrong place. This document outlines what the Appraisal Process is designed to achieve when well implemented.
Just about every manager I know - including me - has been guilty at some time or another of this 'misdemeanour'. This is how it works. Someone on your team (let's call them Person A) does something you don't like, or is underperforming, or has rubbed you (or someone else in the team) up the wrong way.
Let people know how they're doing, give them useful feedback and ensure they are working as effectively as possible.
This document outlines our thinking about what a good performance appraisal and performance management process should be.
Appraisals can be a terrific forum for review, development and communication; or they can be a 'tick the box' exercise that is relatively meaningless.
How can performance appraisals be valuable if managers and employers don't understand the point? It's time to stop focusing on the past, and blaming in performance appraisals, and look to the future to improve performance.
Performance appraisals are almost universally disliked by both managers and employees, but they have to be done. Learn the most common mistakes made in employee reviews.
To be able to evaluate your own presentation as impartially as you can, make an effort to examine it from your supervisor's point of view.
My 1 to 1 sessions seem to just fizzle out at the end of each one, usually because we run out of time and need to get back to the work place. How can I overcome this?
Without preparation from both supervisor and employee, a performance appraisal will most likely fail.
These are some small suggestions that will help to reduce the awkwardness that always seems to surround the performance appraisal discussion.
Performance appraisal is a method of evaluating the behaviour of employees in the workplace, normally including both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of job performance.
How to develop a perfect employee performance appraisal form. And getting the form right is essential to effective employee performance management.
Training Your Staff: 13 Things EVERY Employee Should Learn
Training prepares Managers to delegate, motivate, influence, coach, communicate, recognise and strategies.
Although this document concentrates on work-related projects, anything suggested in this context can (and 'should') be used in just about any project you've got on the boil.
Seek to empower workers and make them more responsible for their actions. Promotes more management and less supervision. Under the MPM concept, the individual is expected to act professionally and supervise themselves.
Project management as the name suggests is the task of setting and achieving targets while optimising the use of different resources such as time, money, people, materials, energy, space etc. over the course of a project.
I often run into companies who ask the simple question, "Why can't we get our act together? Why does Project Management routinely fail in our company?"
Project Management - The theatre's been booked, the marketing done, the tickets sold: the curtain must go up on a certain date at a certain time. How to Manage a Project!
Many skills are admired and sought by individuals who want to progress in an organisation. But one which would make them more effective in an organisation is usually treated indifferently, by the individual and the organisation.
The annual performance appraisal is an opportunity to enhance employee performance and create greater success for the company and the individual.
Many businesses today have appraisal processes in place, and if they don't they probably soon will. But, do appraisals work? I
Are you stressed or under pressure? Try the Impact Factory Stress Quiz and see how you are managing your pressure...
Managing Stress - It is unlikely that our workaday situations are going to change much in the next few years.
The one and only truism about stress, is that it's different for everyone: what causes one person to feel pressured won't be true for someone else. In other words, one person's stress is another's excitement. This article looks at how to identify and manage those things that you find particularly stressful.
Although this document concentrates on work-related projects, anything suggested in this context can (and 'should') be used in just about any project you've got on the boil.
Seek to empower workers and make them more responsible for their actions. Promotes more management and less supervision. Under the MPM concept, the individual is expected to act professionally and supervise themselves.
Do you find yourself working through your lunch break? Staying a couple of hours extra? Answering work emails in the middle of the night? Here's what you can do to manage your time better.
This is a list of things to pay attention to in order to manage your time and productivity more effectively.
Time Management is more a matter of managing your patterns and behaviours when confronted by conflicting demands on your time, than it is about planning your time better.
Are you stressed or under pressure? Try the Impact Factory Stress Quiz and see how you are managing your pressure...
Managing Stress - It is unlikely that our workaday situations are going to change much in the next few years.
From company BBQ's and picnics to formal galas and holiday parties, corporate events range in size and theme and the guest list usually includes people with widely different tastes and interests.
When it comes to selecting the corporate event venue, Greater Manchester is definitely the best place of all. With its natural scenic beauty, peak districts and green countryside, Greater Manchester is easily the best place to indulge in fun filled corporate events and team building activities.
Corporate events are organised to attain a wide range of objectives. Such events generally are hosted to rejuvenate a corporation and to build relationships with the key players in business.
Planning a Corporate Event may seem like a daunting task, but as with any project, if you get the basics delivered efficiently, the harder items will tend to look after themselves. Will Kintish delivers events to board level clients almost on a daily basis. The following article details the simple process that Kintish follows.
How do you keep delegates awake, engaged, and motivated at your annual away-day conference?
Corporate events such as company picnics, holiday parties, or summer bashes include a variety of fun activities. These events often provide employee incentive, and encourage togetherness and communication.
Do you find yourself working through your lunch break? Staying a couple of hours extra? Answering work emails in the middle of the night? Here's what you can do to manage your time better.
This is a list of things to pay attention to in order to manage your time and productivity more effectively.
Whether it's your job to sell products, services or ideas, can you afford not to look at ways to finesse your next sales presentations?
What can you do to differentiate yourself and your offer from all the others?
A document to help you cope with Tendering, Beauty Parades and Pitching for New Business.
Pitching for Business - some things that can improve your pitching success rate.
From company BBQ's and picnics to formal galas and holiday parties, corporate events range in size and theme and the guest list usually includes people with widely different tastes and interests.
When it comes to selecting the corporate event venue, Greater Manchester is definitely the best place of all. With its natural scenic beauty, peak districts and green countryside, Greater Manchester is easily the best place to indulge in fun filled corporate events and team building activities.
PowerPoint is simple to use, but like anything else, unless you are confident of your ability to handle whatever comes up, it can be quite daunting.
PowerPoint is a phenomenally powerful tool. But like all tools, it can be dangerous in untrained hands. Learn how to use it well and it will enhance your presentation and make you look good.
PowerPoint is a marvellous invention. But it's just another aid, another tool... a very trendy blackboard.
Whether it's your job to sell products, services or ideas, can you afford not to look at ways to finesse your next sales presentations?
What can you do to differentiate yourself and your offer from all the others?
Presentation Skills - Maybe you are giving an informal presentation, at a networking event or a trade show, and you see these folks - fidgeting with change in their pockets, standing with hands over crotch in the classic fig-leaf position, leaning on a counter, twirling a pen, or tossing a give-away from hand-to-hand.
Matching is where you make the connection between the problems a potential client wants solved and the features/characteristics of your service that solves those problems.
Remember that many speaking situations really involve two presentations: the formal presentation and the question and answer period. Insure success with both presentations by using these techniques for the question and answer period.
Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur, public speaking is a necessary skill to help you sell your products, service or skills as well as help you climb the corporate ladder
Presenting is something many of us are required to do, but which few of us ever master.
The problem with business presentations is that they tend to be complicated and boring. You need to catch and keep your audiences attention.
Six Easy Steps for Getting Started with Presentations that Promote Your Business
Presentation delivery and how to turn one into a benefit for you. Full details and help in preparing to deliver your presentation.
People only start listening when you stop talking. To put it another way, one of the very best things you can ever do while speaking is to NOT.
If you are required to make Presentations as a part of your job this article outlines an approach that seeks to make it easy and enjoyable rather than difficult. Presenting should be more than just a skill we learn; it should feel like an extension of yourself.
There's an exercise we do which helps to demonstrate the power the listener has in any face to face conversation.
The more time it takes the average person to absorb and assimilate the information they see, the greater the chance you have to lose your audience.
If your purpose is to move the audience to action, then your conclusion should in some way answer the question, "What do I want my audience to do as a result of my presentation?"
How to present well - Presentation skills hints and tips for people who are looking for help with presentations, public speaking, conferences speeches and other "stand and deliver" situations.
PowerPoint is simple to use, but like anything else, unless you are confident of your ability to handle whatever comes up, it can be quite daunting.
PowerPoint is a phenomenally powerful tool. But like all tools, it can be dangerous in untrained hands. Learn how to use it well and it will enhance your presentation and make you look good.
Public speaking is something most people try to avoid. It can however, with a little effort, be mastered by all of us.
Public Speaking article based on an interview with Robin Chandler the founder of Impact Factory's presentation skills work written and published by Emma Pomfret.
There are a number of questions consistently asked in relation to public speaking and presentations. Here are a few of the most common questions, along with the answers.
Public Speaking - Hints and tips on Public Speaking Skills, dealing with public speaking nerves and anxiety, public speaking skills and public speaking techniques, public speaking training.
Public Speaking Training Tips For Better Business Presentations To Culturally Diverse Audiences. Cultural, social and religious differences impact on how people learn, take in information and interact with presenters.
Ten tips towards becoming a more influential and motivational speaker.
Presentation Skills - Maybe you are giving an informal presentation, at a networking event or a trade show, and you see these folks - fidgeting with change in their pockets, standing with hands over crotch in the classic fig-leaf position, leaning on a counter, twirling a pen, or tossing a give-away from hand-to-hand.
Matching is where you make the connection between the problems a potential client wants solved and the features/characteristics of your service that solves those problems.
It's true, everyone does love a good story. Here are our 5 Top Tips for spinning a good yarn.
Public Speaking article based on an interview with Robin Chandler the founder of Impact Factory's presentation skills work written and published by Emma Pomfret.
There are new skills and behaviours absolutely key to help people stay nimble as the world changes around them, which it is doing on a continual, accelerated basis. Not only that, what is often said about Millennials – that they are ambitious and are hungry to learn – is definitely true.
Children misbehave around their mothers and fathers because parents are as predictable in their reactions as washing machine cycles. Improving or shaping children's behaviour is easy if you first can understand the purpose of their misbehaviour and then change your response. There are four types of misbehaviour that you need to know about.
It's true, everyone does love a good story. Here are our 5 Top Tips for spinning a good yarn.
Public speaking is something most people try to avoid. It can however, with a little effort, be mastered by all of us.
Find out what makes professional personal development work at Impact Factory so different from run of the mill 'sheep dip' training.
It is difficult to find organisations that would say, "We find that training has little impact on our bottom line year on year".
Sometimes we have to put together a programme and deliver it within a very short timescale - this article looks at one recent example.
The story of how two people founded an organisation that changed the way we think about training.
Making a Plan for the Impossible looks at changing the Current View of the Situation to a Better View of the Situation which is 10 times as good as the Current View!
To call Impact Factory a training company doesn't do it justice. We are consultants and training creatives, designing workshops, courses and events and ensuring their delivery to the client's satisfaction.
Having the experience is so much more vital than listening to someone talk about having an experience.
Experiential training program aims to get more women leaders in top management positions.
A cogent argument for good development programmes. It looks at addressing the needs of the individual and the groups being trained as well as the business needs.
This article outlines the case that Counselling Skills are essential to good training.
There are new skills and behaviours absolutely key to help people stay nimble as the world changes around them, which it is doing on a continual, accelerated basis. Not only that, what is often said about Millennials – that they are ambitious and are hungry to learn – is definitely true.
Children misbehave around their mothers and fathers because parents are as predictable in their reactions as washing machine cycles. Improving or shaping children's behaviour is easy if you first can understand the purpose of their misbehaviour and then change your response. There are four types of misbehaviour that you need to know about.
Every action you take supports something, some result. The question is - are you taking the actions that support the results you would rather have in your life?
Attitudes towards working life have changed considerably as well and there is an appreciation that if people are going to be spending a huge chunk of their lives at work, then work needs to give them more.
Use the Lincoln technique yourself. First, write down your thought. Second, oversimplify it and three, connect the dots.
Adults, with eyes to see, can learn so much about success in life from children. Children have a fresh uncluttered approach to life, and have a clarity and perception that we often lose as adults.
When organisations invest in their people, their people will invest in them with their commitment, loyalty, professionalism and abilities. Soft Skills CPD equips individuals with the kind of skills that benefit everyone.
This goal setting article will help you move past your limitations and focus your energies on your highest goals.
Spreading yourself too thin can result in nothing getting finished. You put in shed loads of work, but still get no pay off. Why?
How to keep good Professional Development more about your Development rather than how other people would like you to be.
'Don't put off until tomorrow...'. Somehow turns into 'Don't do today (or even tomorrow) that which you could possibly put off till forever'. And if we have such busy lives (as we increasingly seem to have), we don't really have time to Procrastinate, do we?
Proactive people make things happen. Passive people have things happen to them.
Are you so distracted with life that you have time to pay attention to what you want in life? Can you even remember what you want any more?
Do you have any idea how to measure your success? Money, power, paying off debts, raising children and so on. All of these are factors to as a success equation.
If you stay the same, never change, stay fixed and inflexible, it's unlikely you're doing much personal development.
A look at how to make Personal Development really about you, rather than someone else's idea of how you should develop.
Jo Ellen Grzyb explores her own past as a 'loser magnet' with men and shares how she became less nice, less magnetised and much happier.
Use with caution!! This could change your life (or at least make you think about it a lot). Reconnect with your real desires for 2006 and remember that Impact Factory is more than just work.
Why you should be wary of anything that offers a quick solution to people skills issues by putting everyone through a sheep dip programme. It makes the case for slower, but more effective personal development.
In the hard world of business, 'soft skills' seems such a squishy term for one of the essential competencies people need in order to be successful: interpersonal aptitude.
Most people measure their Self Esteem through externals: did I get a Good Appraisal, did I get the raise I asked for, do my colleagues think I'm a Team Player, did I get Praised by my manager?
'Don't put off until tomorrow...'. Somehow always turns into 'Don't do today (or even tomorrow) that which you could possibly put off till forever'. And if we have such busy lives (as we increasingly seem to have), we don't really have time to procrastinate, do we?
We hear the term 'proactivity' or the phrase 'we need our people to be more pro-active' a lot these days. But what the hell does it actually mean?
Positive Attitude, Feedback, Acknowledgement, Affirmation; whatever you call it there are some very good reasons to tell people what works about them.
Most people want to feel useful in their lives. They want to feel as though they are making a contribution of some kind.
'I'm fine; there's nothing wrong with me.' Difficulties in the Workplace, difficulties at home, stress getting too much to handle.
Every action you take supports something, some result. The question is - are you taking the actions that support the results you would rather have in your life?
Attitudes towards working life have changed considerably as well and there is an appreciation that if people are going to be spending a huge chunk of their lives at work, then work needs to give them more.
It is important to realize that any trainer needs two separate sets of skills and knowledge.
All managers are not trainers. In fact, many have had no training in how to run a training session. Yet, every manager at some stage needs to conduct a motivational training session with his/her team. Here are 10 simple points to help managers make their training sessions motivational.
Most people measure their Self Esteem through externals: did I get a Good Appraisal, did I get the raise I asked for, do my colleagues think I'm a Team Player, did I get Praised by my manager?
'Don't put off until tomorrow...'. Somehow always turns into 'Don't do today (or even tomorrow) that which you could possibly put off till forever'. And if we have such busy lives (as we increasingly seem to have), we don't really have time to procrastinate, do we?
