Breaking the stigma: why every office needs a Mental Health First Aider

Depression, anxiety, stress – mental health issues in the workplace are cause for concern for many employers.  According to the HSE stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 9.9 million days lost to work related ill health between 2014/2015. If absenteeism is having an impact on organisations, consider the impact of presenteeism to the organisation’s bottom line […]

What can HR do to encourage social advocacy from employees?

This is a guest post from Rhiannon Stroud – strategist at Synergy Creative – explaining the benefits of social advocacy and the practical steps needed to implement it into your organisation. This is the second in a series of articles where we explore how HR can use social media to improve their processes; something Synergy Creative will also be discussing during […]

You can’t handle the truth: Are you being bullied or performance managed?

You’re being bullied, but an inner voice is telling you it’s performance management. You’re good at your job but whatever you do is never good enough for your manager. When you try to discuss your concerns, your manager says, “I don’t control how you feel, only you control how you feel”, making you feel victimised. […]

Just how can you quickly spin up teams on the fly and make them more efficiently?

In response to today’s rapidly changing contexts, businesses are regularly reviewing their lists of projects, closing down some and kick-starting others. With this constant flux, building teams on the fly and expecting quick results is becoming a common occurrence in modern organisations. What type of leader is best suited to build them and what should […]

Enterprise social networks: how can you make sure yours is a success?

This is a guest post from Lucy McKerron – account director and social media lead at Synergy Creative – explaining the benefits of Enterprise Social Networks in the workplace and what you need to embed an ESN into your organisation.  This is the first in a series of articles where we explore how HR can use social media to improve […]

Coming to terms with discrimination: how to push past adversity and take control

I was training in London recently and one participant, Jasmine*, mentioned that she had experienced 'horrendous' sexual harassment in her previous workplace that had affected her both mentally and physically.  She had lost weight, could not sleep and, at one point, thought she might have been diagnosed with clinical depression if she had consulted a […]

Mergers & Acquisition : Are you heading towards cultural mismatch?

There comes a time in the life of many organisations when they have reached as far as they can through organic growth. When that time comes some opt to remain at that level, seeing the size/value proposition as being at the optimum for their type of business. Others however view the future in a different […]

What’s the connection between leadership & chocolate Hob Nobs?

What IS the ultimate message at the very core of great leadership? Peter Anderton of Internal Alignment strips away the noise and gets right to the heart of it with TEDx Derby – go to https://youtu.be/oDsMlmfLjd4 to watch the TEDx talk – centuries of leadership wisdom in just a few minutes… Helen Clark, TEDx Derby: You’ve […]

Do team members retaliate or cooperate when co-workers call in sick?

There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]

Systemic dialogue: a gateway to purpose-led leadership

What does leadership that serves everyone call for – in us, in teams and in our wider networks? What does it take to lead such transformation during these times of turbulent change? How can leaders identify solutions that strengthen a whole system? These are the questions that I am finding and exploring with my colleague Ed Rowland […]

What makes the ideal team player?

This was authored by Patrick Lencioni with assistance from Steve Turner and Mike Snelling. When it comes to visible team performance we in the UK have seen some amazing examples in recent times. From the history-making season Leicester City FC just completed to the now four-times Tour De France winning Sky team. It makes us […]

Politician analysis: Boris Johnson

His heroes are Winston Churchill and the Mayor from Jaws. He has been described as colourful, flamboyant, and unpredictable. His imaginatively offensive comments about many of the world’s political leaders will no doubt be recalled for years to come. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, or should we say the Rt. Hon Boris Johnson our foreign […]

How to deal with dinosaurs in the workplace

In my role as a behavioural consultant, many of the business professionals I work with understand the importance – the necessity even – of continued development, change and moving with the times. However, older or more established team members, whilst often performing well, can often be very resistant to change. This is a common cause […]

How to deal with people you just want to strangle

One of the most common challenges I’m presented with as a behaviourist, is how to handle individuals who exhibit especially challenging behaviours. The fact is that the larger the group of people, the more likelihood there is for conflict and the more likely we are to work with or alongside people that we don’t especially […]

Simplify and direct your management style with a ‘step-up mindset’

Type ‘Management Styles’ into Google and you will get over 13 million+ results. Anyone inspiring to become a manager (or existing managers) may very well be overwhelmed by this figure. Question: Where do you start when considering your own management style? Answer: Get the foundations in place. Simplify your management style and find a direction that suits you […]

How to strike fear into your team and alienate colleagues

This article is not about putting shackles on personality but it is about understanding what is, and definitely what is not, appropriate behaviour for a manager to exhibit in the workplace. Being a manager is a tough job. When you want to say something, instead of blurting it out you need to consider the impact […]

Red light for BA performance appraisal system

Industrial action is nothing new to British Airways, Britain’s flagship airline. No surprise then when we hear of possible action over the introduction of a new performance appraisal system.  For BA’s Director of People and Legal, Maria da Cunha, this must be a disappointing result given her commitment to a more engaged workforce.   In […]

Make employee feedback more actionable and productive

Most organisations support their employee engagement programmes with an annual employee survey – using the resulting engagement scores to measure success. While this provides the ability to track engagement over time, and potentially benchmark against competitors, there’s now a drive to gather faster, more specific and actionable feedback that delivers more value. With generic, standardised […]

Shoring up employee relations in the Brexit aftermath

The Brexit revolution continues to send reverberations throughout UK workplaces. The political turmoil creates understandable uncertainty and anxiety in organisations of all shapes and sizes. Employees are unsure of the future and this presents both an opportunity and a risk for employers seeking to provide reassurance to staff on the road ahead. Trust and confidence […]

Employee engagement at a 100-year-old retail motor group

Helen Burrows is HR Director at Marshall Motor Holdings, which comprises two businesses, Marshall Motor Group and Marshall Leasing. Marshall Motor Group is a top-ten UK motor dealer group which was established in 1909. It currently operates more than 100 franchised dealerships, representing 24 different manufacturing brands in 25 counties across England. It has a […]