Three ways to improve your strategic thinking skills

istock-1160716260

During my career I have written many strategies, as an HR professional, a government policy adviser and even as a school governor. I know how to write a strategy and also know how to teach other people to write strategies. But what is much harder is to understand is the concept of ‘thinking strategically’ or […]

HR job seeking: how to stand out in a crowded market

istock-1021684912

This year has been one of change on both a global and local level, and this evolving political and economic environment is drastically affecting how companies recruit. In an unstable market, candidates can be nervous about their job prospects and reluctant to consider a move. There are a number of reasons for this, the main […]

Employee onboarding: a game changer for talent development and retention?

fizkes_onboarding

Organisations that have robust employee onboarding and talent management structures, which support continuous learning, will secure the committment of their employees. According to research published earlier this year, approximately a quarter of new employees, reported that they received no clear onboarding when starting a new job. Some even stated they had a truly bad experience; one in […]

Digital transformation: balancing AI and EI in the digital workplace

istock-1051617224

As artificial intelligence advances, it’s the human qualities of our employees that we will value the most – and those with the right mix of soft skills will be most in demand. The attitudes and behaviours needed to thrive in the modern workplace are changing. With digital transformation, increased automation and artificial intelligence (AI), skills-based […]

Behavioural excellence: an essential quality in high performance leaders?

lovethewind-behavioural-skills-leadership

How do certain behavioural qualities set top leaders apart? Charlotte Dennis and Sarah Wall, of leadership development training company, LeadEQ, explore… Technical excellence is a given for all senior leaders, yet when it comes to soft skills many reach a tipping point in their career when they find that they do not have the capabilities […]

Leadership: how to avoid anger hijack with emotional intelligence

leolintang

Intellect can only get you so far in the workplace – emotional intelligence is what’s required if you want to be an effective manager.  Work is good for your health, so we are told. It’s certainly true that a good job can provide meaningful activity and friendship, as well as a means of paying the bills. It […]

Are those cliché HR metrics working for you?

alphaspirit

Traditional HR metrics focus too much on macro events that HR professionals in reality have little influence over. Here are the micro KPIs you should be working towards instead… When I ask people in HR to talk about achievements, the things that they are proud of and what might make it onto their CV for the […]

The people profession: how can HR develop in 2019?

istock-972538176

Off the back of the CIPD’s recent research on the ‘People Profession in 2018’, senior HR professional Charlie Goff-Deakins examines three development areas for HR and people professionals to focus on in 2019. The CIPD recently issued the results from the survey ‘The People Profession in 2018‘, which consisted of 974 respondents from a people […]

We know about IQ and EQ, but what about PQ?

filippobacci

A species evolves by developing new ways of understanding and responding to its environment. Over the last 20 years or so, the office-dwelling species has taken an evolutionary leap by recognising EQ alongside IQ.  Prior to this, corporate employees were largely recruited, assessed and valued on the basis of their intellect… Then Daniel Goleman offered […]

Are stereotypes impacting your career and work decisions?

milkos

In this article, we present some of the ideas that prevail about gender bias and women in the workplace. We present you with a question, ask for your answer and then provide the research which supports or refutes the idea. It’s a fun way of checking how much you believe the myths and stereotypes which […]

Signs you might need a career tune-up for 2018

algre

In any role, you must be doing a great job in the eyes of your stakeholders: your boss, team and others who have influence over your career. And whilst this sounds very straight forward few people take the time to stop and check… That’s one reason why the annual performance review can be a shock […]

Why we need a new approach to conflict resolution

akindo

Conflict between employees and their co-workers, with managers, within teams or with their employers is inevitable. It goes by many names: falling out, feud, fight, battle, disagreement, grievance or complaint, to more severe forms including bullying, harassment and discrimination. The problem is rife. The CIPD estimates that four out of ten employees in the UK has experienced […]

One woman’s journey to the world of freelance

jirsak_2

What you’re looking for is right under your nose. I was musing for quite some time, before I made the move. In a job that I enjoyed, with flexibility, autonomy, permission to create, however, I just knew deep down, that there was more; that I was capable of more. I knew I must spread my wings and […]

7 essentials for emotionally intelligent customer service

shironosov_istock_thinkstock

Occasionally people from certain organisations say to me “we’re not looking for emotional intelligence support or training,” And that’s fine. Except when I find I’m interacting with the very same organisation as a customer a while later and my experience follows an all too familiar ‘low EI’ pattern that erodes trust and engagement. It’s that […]

Leaders must avoid bad thinking leading to bad leadership

marekuliasz

Martin Winterkorn seemed to be on track to make Volkswagen the world’s biggest car company. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf was among America’s most admired bankers. Yet both got stuck in bad thinking that led to tragedy for their companies. They were, in a word, clueless.  But they didn’t realize it, so they kept doing more of […]