In a recent blog, I suggested that noticing your successes and strengths using the S-Factor releases your confidence and creativity. This is a useful way to boost thinking in your teams too, meeting 1;1 or with the whole team. The S-Factor at work Start meetings with the S-Factor…. Read more
Is it Discrimination or Cultural Awareness?
In our global post-Brexit world, business professionals who work internationally have to manage a tricky balancing act. On the one hand they are advised not to discriminate, so they should treat everyone as equal and ignore differences. On the other, we all want to be appreciated for being who we… Read more
Talk to Your Team
What is more challenging for you as a manager, talking to a large audience or speaking to an individual in your team about their poor performance? Many people say it’s the public speaking gig. But a lot of managers avoid that 1:1 conversation. Do you avoid the 1:1 challenge?… Read more
Benefits of a Coaching Qualification
But why gain a coaching qualification? Coaching from a qualified practitioner is very different to training. It’s easy to train another person on a 1:1 basis. You focus on that one person, helping them improve in a specific skill or skills. This is not to say it should replace training. That would not be… Read more
Are you frustrated with under-performers?
It can be frustrating running a team. Of course you want to get the best out of your people, whether you are a manager, a teacher or a trainer – but it is often a struggle. You want to keep a good atmosphere but high standards of accuracy and professionalism are important. In fact, ideally we want… Read more
Benefits of Gaining a Coaching Qualification
What is coaching anyway? Coaching is used to describe a wide range of instructional activities. It spans the motivational sports coaches who train top athletes, and voice coaches who work with world-class singers, to 1;1 training at work or individual lessons for a student at school. At Oxford Professional Consulting, we focus on the workplace because… Read more
Want a more effective team? Learn coaching skills in Oxford this Spring
Would you like to motivate your team to be more productive? Is it your job to develop their skills? And do effective one-to-ones? If you lead or manage people, or develop others as a trainer, I’ve got great ideas you could use to make your team more productive. I’ve spent my career helping others develop their… Read more
Do you hire people like you?
Finally the staffing penny dropped Recently I realised two obvious things: I keep hiring people who are like me when I need people who are the opposite, the ones who do well what I do badly. I need to develop completely different thinking styles for specific contexts. The penny dropped when I realised I wasn’t… Read more
Generation Y and Why We Don’t Need to Worry
I recently attended a workshop on how to manage Generation Y. The basic premise being that those in the 20-30 age-bracket have been brought up on video games and networking websites so they are motivated by a different management style to the rest of the workforce. The Gist for Gen Y Gen Y are motivated… Read more
Feel the fear and fly the plane anyway
See that plane? That’s the one I flew today! Well I only used the controls for 5 minutes but it was a scary feeling since this was my first time. Don’t worry, there were no other passengers – just the instructor and me. I’d been offered the opportunity to go flying and accepted – doing something… Read more
