When we hear the term ‘coaching’, many will think of sports coaches who teach, motivate and inspire their team to achieve more on the pitch.

With this in mind, perhaps, business coaching is not far from sports coaching. Think of the manager as the coach and the players are the employees.

Organisations now require a new breed of managers that act as a coach for their team and their players.

Creating a winning environment

Coaches and managers have many important things in common; teamwork, motivation and people management. Therefore, it’s fair to say that professional sports coaches provide great role models for managers.

Essentially, the parallels between the sporting world and the business world are numerous.

But, how important is coaching and mentoring to your organisation?

Well, a staggering ‘93% of managers need training in coaching employees’ 

And “30% of employees said they had benefited from the advice and guidance of a mentor”

This means that organisations need to start focusing on ‘coaching their coaches’ to get the most out of and retain their best employees.

So, where do you start?

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Like many things in life, when it comes to project management the success of your project begins way before the work gets underway. For this reason, choosing the appropriate project management framework for your requirements is an important decision in any project.

In an ideal world, all our projects would run smoothly. Unfortunately, in reality, that’s not quite the case. A staggering 97% of organisations believe project management is critical to business performance and organisational success.

So, how can you be confident that your project is managed effectively? There are lots of frameworks out there and the decision is not always an easy task.

Have you ever heard of the analogy oranges and onions?

If not, I’ll explain… Read more…..

While growth is exciting for UK businesses, there’s no question that the world in which we operate is becoming more chaotic and challenging.

Let’s face it, we are all being challenged to face change management in all aspects of the businesses. What many organisations fail to understand is how the power of growth is impacting their leadership styles.

The question you need to ask yourself is how is your leadership style affected by growth? And, are you a HERO or a VILLAIN, in this case?

All heroes have different powers, and all leaders have different leadership styles. But it’s for you to understand if the style you have adopted makes you a hero or a villain? Read more…..

Do you remember building all sorts of things with LEGO as a Kid?

In my architect days, I was always trying to build bigger and aim higher, to only find out that my crafted skyscrapers would fall over without a strong foundation. Like LEGO, any business without a strong digital foundation will fall short of reaching new heights!

To build a stable foundation, you need to address four unique building blocks: Developing personas, a responsive website, visibility in search, and standing out through social media.

Think of these components as the base of your skyscraper, without one, it will result in the whole building falling over. With that being said, having a strong online presence is a crucial component to the foundation of your brand awareness strategy, if this is done correctly you can sit back and watch your skyscraper grow higher and higher.

So the question is how do you create awareness? Well my building days aren’t quite over yet, here are four fundamental building blocks to success…

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Coaching and mentoring is an integral part of the development of any business and its staff.

It can even help to support the growth of your business.

A study found that employee retention is actually 25% higher for those who have engaged in company-sponsored mentoring. This makes coaching and mentoring an especially attractive prospect for those struggling to capture and keep the best talent in the industry.

With this in mind, we have created this process to follow for effective coaching and mentoring practices in your organisation.

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Are you a leader or a manager?

When you think about leadership and management, you may struggle to define a discernible difference between the two.

This subject has baffled many business people for years, so let us shed some light on the situation…

The difference between a leader and a manager is that anyone within a business can be a leader. A leader doesn’t necessarily have to be in a management or senior position within an organisation.

Leaders are followed by others because of their personality and influence, not their job title. This can make them extremely valuable and a great tool for managers to harness to produce results.

Good managers often possess a certain degree of leadership skills, otherwise they wouldn’t be in their position. However, the best managers refine their leadership skills so that they are able to cover all of their bases and reach organisational targets effectively.

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Management is becoming an increasingly demanding role that has developed to cover a wider range of topics and responsibilities.

A good manager has an understanding of all key operating principles of the business that they work in. This can range from HR activities to organisational strategy and financial planning – the level of involvement really is endless.

This is why it is essential for managers to brush up on their skills in all areas of their organisation and stay ahead when it comes to the best practices. In order to do this, you need to continuously develop yourself and share your experiences.

One way to achieve this is to attend up to date skill workshops every couple of years to make sure that you are being as effective as you can be.

With this in mind, we have created this list of things that managers need to focus on in order to stay ahead and remain a valuable asset to the business that they work for.

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Lead Your Business to Success

The business world is rapidly shaping the way in which we work, and with it so are leadership and management styles. It is not only technology that is evolving, this revolution now requires a new generation of aspiring innovators with the skills to master this style of working environment.

Small, medium and large businesses are doing everything to keep up with what lies ahead. It is important for you to recognise and identify capable leaders and nurture future talent to lead your business to success.

According to Harvard Business “A staggering 54% of organisations are undergoing a leadership development transformation”. In this ever-accelerating change, leadership and management programmes are a key factor driving an organisations ability to transform successfully. Organisations that fail to reinvent their learning strategy could be in jeopardy of adapting to these demanding changes.

Particularly, organisations that start their journey by transforming learning and development, specifically leadership development have a higher success rate with adapting to the ever-changing demands of the business environment.

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The Golden Age For Young Entrepreneurs

There was a record number of over 600k new start-ups last year, which is expected to be surpassed in 2016. As Lord Young expressed in his 5 year report on small businesses in the UK, ‘we are in a golden age for small firms’. It is not just well established professionals starting their own businesses, but internet savvy students are also turning their backs on the corporate life after their studies and setting up their own companies.

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What Makes a Successful Leader?

What makes a great leader is often debated with countless ‘Top 10s’ and ‘Leadership blogs’ yet the answer is far from straight forward.

“Debate is common about which leadership style is most effective. The answer of course… it all depends” Thomas Kohntopp

We have taken inspiration from events and leaders who have paved the way in terms of leadership in 2015, take a look.

Inspires

Leaders inspire their team by doing the ordinary things well, whilst continually striving to achieve the extraordinary. Tim Peake is a stand out example of inspiring others during 2015 he became the first British astronaut to go to the international space station. Millions of people around the world watched in admiration as his soyuz rocket launched into space. Tim Peake dreamt of going to space and his courage, commitment and belief has seen him achieve his ultimate dream. Selected ahead of 8,412 other applicants, he spent 6 months in training, learnt Russian and relocated his family before embarking on his journey to space. His 6 month stint at the international Space is sure to inspire millions of people to pursue their own dreams and ambitions. Read more…..