How Accurate is Insights Discovery?
Insights Discovery is the “re-discovery of yourself”. The journey toward self-awareness has begun. After going through certain everyday experiences that led to learning, adapting to the environment, and growing, you might have noticed that you're changing more slowly than your previous self. This change may be favourable after a happy experience in life and negative after a traumatic one. The biggest evidence of the fact that you’re changing is you saying to yourself, friends, colleagues or relatives some common phrases like “Childhood was the best era of life; school age was better than college age “etc. That’s Insights Discovery [...]
What Result Can You Expect From Sales Training?
Before starting any business, sales training is necessary because only a well-trained team can give you profit in your business. The sales associates can properly handle any project if they have already been trained. Success in any business depends upon the appropriate skills and abilities of the dealer. Sales training is the way of developing and enhancing the abilities of your employees. The main objective of sales training is to improve the sales rate. Here we describe some of the results of sales training: 1. Improve Product Knowledge By taking sales training, sales person’s knowledge about products increases. They [...]
Endurance verses (and/or) Resilience
This morning I went for a run, I do this two or three times a week (two if I'm being totally honest), I had a guided run on and the coach was talking about endurance in order to go the extra distance. Being able to run that bit further than I have on other runs. It got me thinking about the many conversations I have had recently about Resilience in teams, and the workplace, and looking at organisational health the word Endurance has come up more often than Resilience. There is no doubt that the last few years have stretched [...]
Your Leadership Story
A hearty mix of life experience, self-awareness, self-management, a few good theories to stand by, and a sprinkling of external factors - and a Leader is made. This tells us that leadership skills can be learnt and should be practiced well. It is useful to know about all the leadership models, theories, and behaviours, but it is practicing that develops strong leadership. Putting things into action, noticing the results, make changes to what you have done accordingly and then trying it again. Leadership should be a journey, not a destination. We hear a lot about leadership these days in [...]
LearningCog nominated for People Management Award!
LearningCog are proud to announce that we have been nominated for this years County Business Clubs Sussex in the 'People Management' category. The awards are held in aid of Rockinghorse Children's Charity and The Table Talk Foundation and their aim is to raise as much money as possible prior to, during and after the event including a Silent Auction and Raffle Prize Draw. These awards are nominated by the community. No judges. No panels. This isn’t about the biggest and the best businesses, this is celebrating the wins and good news stories from Sussex businesses. Voting closes midnight on the 14th April [...]
LearningCog Turns 10
Ten years ago, when I founded LearningCog, my intention was to earn a living doing what I love the most; helping people to learn more about themselves and reach their full potential through learning, training and development. I never expected that 10 years later I would have built a global business that has supported so many clients and individuals. Setting up LearningCog I made a promise to myself to keep my passion first and foremost in everything I do. Back then I got first-hand experience of what it takes to run a business, on my own, and what happens [...]
Pitch Community
PRESS RELEASE LearningCog Limited is proud to announce a new sales training and development venture for independent sole traders, small and medium size business across East Sussex. ----- Ric Hayden, owner and director of LearningCog is taking his global expertise in people development and sales training to create a new community of training and development - specifically designed for the small business community. Pitch has been designed to support small business, independent sole traders and creatives. The programme is for those that do not fall into a full-time salesperson role - but are the subject matter experts in their field. [...]
Time Management
People who load up a plate of food and don’t finish it are often described as having ‘eyes bigger than their belly’s. The time management equivalent is the person who takes on more and more projects that look inviting and exciting, and don’t pay attention to existing commitments. The end result is overwhelm – dashing from one unfinished task to another, putting in short bursts of effort and hoping that things get done. Not only is this a really ineffective way of working, it is also a very stressful. To regain control over your workload, you need a reality check. [...]
Feedback
One of the best tools we can have in our toolkit, and a tool that most businesses really need a lot more of, is actually centred around being able to give and receive feedback. Being honest, we are generally pretty bad at it. A recent Gallup survey found that only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they get actually improves their work! The problem is, most feedback being given doesn’t work for the way our brains process information. We either give soft ambiguous feedback, which is indirect. To the point that we don’t even realise we are getting [...]
Listening Skills
Understanding Listening levels helps us to become more effective communicators. I hope you enjoy my thoughts on the three levels and how they can help you become a more effective listener both personally and professionally. Level 1: Internal Listening — Listening to your inner voice. Level 2: Focused Listening — Listening intently to another person. Level 3: Global Listening — Listening to others in the context of their entire surroundings.
The Conscious Competence Learning Model
The Conscious Competence Learning Model is an explanation of the stages in which we learn and develop a new skill. In this model, LearnUnconscious Incompetence = You don't know what you don’t know. Conscious Incompetence = You know that you don’t know how to do something. Conscious Competence = You know how to do something; it takes conscious effort. Unconscious Competence = You know how to do something, and it is second nature; you rock at it. It's "automatic".
Perception
Perceptions impact how we respond to our colleagues, our family and our friends. It is through perception that we understand and make sense of the world around us. Once the mind sees things one way, it can be difficult to see them another way. If the data we perceive is incomplete, we ‘fill in the blanks’ in our mind to enable us to make sense of what we see. The mind may also distort what we see in order to fit in with our current understanding. Different ways of seeing things are not right or wrong – they are just [...]
The Mindset Model
Our Mindset governs what we do and relies on our 'Belief System' to give focus to knowing if we can or can not achieve something. This model shows that our behaviour is driven by our beliefs. We cannot act unless we have a thought on which to initiate the action. There is always a reason why we do what we do; actions do not just spring up completely without cause. The results are based on actions we take and the thoughts and beliefs we hold close.
The Comfort Stretch and Panic Zone Model
The Comfort Stretch and Panic Zone Model is simple, easy to use and recognises how can understand oneself or others and why reactions in different situations are so varied. It takes into account how we are continually changing – how we are dynamic systems - so what is ‘in’ a zone today might be in a different one tomorrow or in a month’s time. If I work through a period of substantial change in my Stretch Zone, I can extend my Comfort Zone. Although if that change is unwelcome or imposed on me by ‘circumstances’ I am likely to resist [...]
Manager as a Coach
I recently facilitated a Leadership and Management Development workshop for a group of senior managers where the topic of the day was ‘Manager as a Coach’. It was an interesting day that highlighted the intrinsic relationship between coaching and team development and the result when a manager as a coach is absent. “I haven’t got time for that as well as manage the team’ This is a common barrier. Time-strapped managers often will get on with their own work whilst also taking on work from colleagues just to get the job done, rather than sitting down and coaching their teams. [...]
Is keeping your own perspective damaging your team performance?
One of my favourite topics to discuss on any training course, whether that be on management development, leadership development, team development or sales development training courses is Perspective. It is a favourite topic because, firstly when people understand how it works it can have so much movement as part of people’s development. My other reason, it is one of those things that everyone does exceptionally well, operating from their own perspective. To connect to the people around us effectively we need to first understand how we perceive the world and then how others perceive it. Our Perceptions We all [...]
The Boy Band Technique
I was recently running a Presentation Skills workshop, which is one of my favourite courses to run. Seeing the change that people can make when they receive just a little feedback is very rewarding. During this workshop we were looking particularly at how people co-present in pairs or in groups. I introduced the workshop delegates to my theory “the Boy Band Technique”. Cast your mind back to the late 90’s, for those of us that have that memory, for those a little younger I should still be able to explain this one. In the late 90’s there was a [...]
I can do it quicker… and it is ruining my work life!
It is true that no one knows how to complete a task in your department like you do. You have worked hard all of your career to become a manager and built your team up around you to be successful. You, the manager, understand all of the component parts that come together to get things done. You live and breathe the work you do, which is why you can get things done faster than most. When looking at the development of a team, understanding how team members go from the enthusiastic beginner right up to the most self-reliant achiever, [...]
Why is it so important to develop workplace trust?
When managing issues around employee engagement, productivity or performance in any business; creating a sense of trust is one of the key factors to consider. Trust is the foundation of all relationships and interactions; it is just as important in professional relationships as it is in personal ones. When you find poor productivity and performance within a team environment, you can be sure a level of mistrust lies at the heart of the issue. A business that creates a strong sense of trust in the workplace, and actively encourages Leaders, Managers and Team Members to build trusting relationships is [...]
Superhero Powers and Leadership Development
“What would be your Superhero power?” This is the question posed to me on a recent management development programme. At lunch time we had got to talking about the most recent Avengers movie, which had all the Superheroes, all the powers. We all stepped in to the superhero world together and discussed the merits of which one we would be and the powers we would have. Wonder-woman and Superman did quite well in the discussion, followed by Captain Marvel (but I think this could be spoilers for a new film). What does the debate over Superhero’s have to do with Management, [...]
Performance, What does good look like? Do you really know?
Organisations the world over are only as good as the team of people working within that business. The success of the business is driven by the performance everyone. Ultimately the managers that drive that performance are responsible. However, many of the conversations I have with managers on development programmes are about how they can put in to context “What good looks like?”. They seem to fall in to a trap of not delegating soon enough and hindering the development of within teams. Recently when working with a great group of aspiring managers taking part in a “Stepping in to Managment” [...]
Developing Emotional Intelligence – Part 15 – Optimism GalleryDeveloping Emotional Intelligence – Part 15 – Optimism
Emotional Intelligence, Happiness, High Performance Culture, Leadership, Management, Optimism, Organisational Culture, Organisational Happiness, Organisational Performance, Success, The Happiness Effect
Developing Emotional Intelligence – Part 15 – Optimism
This blog is the last in a series of blogs exploring Emotional Intelligence. Looking at ways to be able to develop and enhance our own perceived levels of Emotional Intelligence. I say it is the last but it is such a great subject that there will be more. What is Emotional Intelligence? To gain a greater understanding you can read a previous blog What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can I develop it, for more detail. However, Emotional intelligence is all about how well you understand your own emotions and the emotions of others, and the ability to identify [...]
Developing Emotional Intelligence – Part 14 – Stress Management
This blog is part of a series of blogs exploring Emotional Intelligence. Looking at ways to be able to develop and enhance our own perceived levels of Emotional Intelligence. What is Emotional Intelligence? To gain a greater understanding you can read a previous blog What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can I develop it, for more detail. However, Emotional intelligence is all about how well you understand your own emotions and the emotions of others, and the ability to identify and manage them. Emotional Intelligence, also known as “Ei” or “EQ”, is now a well established set of “Competencies” [...]
Developing Emotional Intelligence – Part 13 – Flexibility
This blog is part of a series of blogs exploring Emotional Intelligence. Looking at ways to be able to develop and enhance our own perceived levels of Emotional Intelligence. What is Emotional Intelligence? To gain a greater understanding you can read a previous blog What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can I develop it, for more detail. However, Emotional intelligence is all about how well you understand your own emotions and the emotions of others, and the ability to identify and manage them. Emotional Intelligence, also known as “Ei” or “EQ”, is now a well established set of “Competencies” [...]
Developing Emotional Intelligence – Part 12 – Impulse Control
This blog is part of a series of blogs exploring Emotional Intelligence. Looking at ways to be able to develop and enhance our own perceived levels of Emotional Intelligence. What is Emotional Intelligence? To gain a greater understanding you can read a previous blog What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can I develop it, for more detail. However, Emotional intelligence is all about how well you understand your own emotions and the emotions of others, and the ability to identify and manage them. Emotional Intelligence, also known as “Ei” or “EQ”, is now a well established set of “Competencies” [...]
