Monthly Archives: June 2018

On the last management blog, we discussed how paradigms cause us issues regarding our mindset and how we do things sometimes without thinking about them.  Research shows that 80% of our thinking is subconscious thinking and therefore throughout our working day we are using paradigms.  In other words, we have created habits of thought.  Of course, this can be positive if our thoughts are positive, but it can also be problematic mainly if our thought process is negative or harmful.  Today's blog explores what is going on when we experience a negative thought in our brains and how this can cause us massive issues with conflict.

Our brains are incredible and this, of course, is why we run the planet.  I know when we watch the news sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but we are incredible.  Our ability to create and seek answers to problems is phenomenal, and nothing else on our wonderful planet has this ability; this is why we run it.  There is a part of our brain called the

I love to share training experiences (good and bad) with people as it gives me a great impression of what goes on in the real world and also gives me some great topics to write blogs on!  Talking to someone about their training experience last week, I was astounded when they told me what the trainer did during one of their sessions.

I’d like to focus on the positives firstly on what the trainer did well; they were asking the audience questions throughout that were good open questions which were a huge positive as they are thought-provoking and promote engagement. As I always say though, the way that you (as a trainer) handle questions, is just as meaningful as the questions themselves as they are part of the continued motivation and engagement; unfortunately, this was the part that wasn’t so positive.  The person told me that they got asked a question from the trainer and when they answered the question correctly (in their own words), the trainer said to them in a stern tone “NO!!”

Decision making is such a significant area of life that some people tend to struggle. Procrastination is a common theme I hear which I always find interesting. When you think about this in a different way you realise we make decisions all day, clothes we choose to dress in, driving to work, drinking water, coffee or tea, all day, all the time.  What is the difference? Well the decisions you make without thinking about are all habits, habits that we are used to doing, or shall I say the brain is used to doing. When you sit and hover with decisions and tell yourself you can’t make one, it is because your brain does not want to change. Your mind likes to be comfortable, in its comfort zone.

What can you do about it, well I believe repetition, repetition, repetition is the answer. The best way is to form a new habit! It is not hard, it is about stepping out of that comfort zone and taking the risk, then do it again, then doing it again and again. All the time you will increase your decision-making

I thought I would write about something that is very important to me from a management perspective, dealing with conflict and over the next four management blogs I want to provide you with some essentials when dealing with conflict.  The ability to deal with conflict is essential for everything in life.  How we deal with it as a manager or leader, it is vital.   The first thing I want to talk about is where the conflict comes from, and in this blog, I want to focus on from a perspective of someone who regularly has experienced conflict or someone who has experience of regular conflict.

I know this of course because I have had to deal with conflict throughout much of my life and in my working life as a manager, it was something I like many of us had to deal with. Of course, I am not just speaking about managing conflict as a manager; I had to deal with that.  I am also talking about conflict in our everyday lives. First of all, it is essential that you know that I have struggled

Coaching with someone in a very private, confidential place, that makes you feel safe and secure, is so powerful. Sometimes there is no one, and I mean no one that you want to share a problem with whether it is personal or professional.  I am always amazed at the reluctance of human beings in that we don't want to share what is going on for them. Once space is created in a coaching session for the coachee to share, they will, but the coach must build the rapport and safe space for the outcomes to occur.

In training, trainers give solutions, when people have coaching sometimes they expect the same, a solution. That is not great coaching; professional coaching is more about what is not being said. Coaching creates such different thinking in coachees. It is all about what you would like to be different, how you can look at things differently, creativity is the key.

I have a great experience at watching and listening and once the coachees feel comfortable to share what is going on for them,

Yesterday marked an anniversary of the D-Day invasions where Operation Overlord was launched to beat the Nazis and ultimately saved us all.  I was thinking about this yesterday, and once again it got me thinking about the mental approach that those young men had in their minds.  Moreover, those left behind would no doubt have to have had the same attitude too, the attitude of never giving up.  The approach for our whole nation was never to give up as they faced overwhelming odds which ultimately saved us all.

I believe we can take this mentality and put it in our normal working practice as a manager and lives.

When facing challenges – Never give up, just because things appear difficult or hard doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.  We can achieve anything if we put our mind to it.  When the actual goal or target appears massive, break it down into manageable bitesize chunks.

When dealing with staff – Never give up on staff, many managers do this and this reinforces negative behaviour.

In a previous blog, I talked about the importance of preparation in your lesson plans and specifically, having a structure that’s easy to follow.  This helps you, your fellow trainers and more importantly your audience but it won’t entirely be enough for you to deliver the very best sessions and here’s why:

One of the stand out things I see on our PTT Train the Trainer courses is when the delegates prepare to deliver their sessions, they will prepare their lesson plans and notes in a way they think works for them.  Quite often though, (and this is common in many trainers) they will write these notes in a way that’s perceived to be right rather than what works best for them.  That perception is usually that there has to be either reams and reams of scripted pages or to the other extreme, very little detail in bulleted form.  This way of working becomes even more evident when we need to engage more in sessions, so more suitable preparation is required to help guide and prompt.