Archive for the ‘Leadership’ category

How to build better Customer Relationships

I was asked to take part in a panel discussion recently where the key theme was “Being Better at Business”. My focus for the session was how to be better at Customer Relationships. It was a subject that caught the imagination of the participants at the time so I thought that it would be worth creating a blog post on the same subject.

So here goes; 5 Ways to be better at Customer Relationships;

» Read more: Five ways to be better at Customer Relationships

Networking is mostly about connecting with people and building effective relationships with them and since any business is reliant on connecting with people, even on-line businesses, this is a crucial subject for any entrepreneur and business owner to focus on.

If you’re short on time to read the full article, here’s some tips to help you get the most out of your next networking opportunity;

» Read more: The art of Networking – connecting with people

Emotional Intelligence and you

Emotional intelligence (EI) is our ability to understand and manage emotions in ourselves and in others. EI is a major factor in your personal and professional perceptions and interactions and is now becoming a more preferred method for evaluating employee credentials than simply looking at their IQ.

» Read more: Emotional Intelligence and what it can mean for you

In today’s competitive markets, business executive are put under an increasing amount of pressure. With so many key responsibilities and areas to manage, it leaves them with very little time and energy to devote to developing themselves as leaders and creating best management practices.

Something that is becoming increasingly more popular as a way of allowing individuals to take the step towards bettering themselves and their companies is executive coaching. Here we will provide an explanation of executive coaching and what it can do for you as a leader.

» Read more: What Executive Coaching can do for you

I’ve written a few posts over the years Evaluating Meetings, Planning a meeting using PPO and Leading Meetings Effectively. Meetings are a fundamental part of business life, whether you are a small company or a large international organisation, meetings are intended as a way of communicating, sharing information, decision making and as a vehicle for perhaps delegating tasks that need to be done. This post is meant to go some way to answer the question; What’s causing unproductive meetings in our working environment today?

Meetings take up a considerable amount of our time, but for most organisations the actual ‘cost’ of meetings is simply lost or never thought about in real terms. Have you ever stopped to work out the actual cost to the organisation of a meeting? The next time you’re sitting in a meeting, take a moment to work out an estimate of the cost to the organisation. Think about how much time is being spent. Think about the average salary sitting round the table or “on the call”. Think about the loss of productivity whilst people are in the meeting. Or maybe think about the “loss of potential customer contact” whilst you’re in the meeting. In this technological age where teleconferences and video conferencing is becoming more prevalent, providing new distractions and opportunities to not focus on the task at hand.

The truth is that many meetings that you attend are about as useful as a chocolate teapot is for making tea. (Mind you, you can always eat it!)

» Read more: What’s causing unproductive meetings?

This second of two blog entries about some leadership lessons that I drew from a trip across America via Route 66 earlier this year.

If you missed the first instalment you can catch-up with it here.

We we’re lucky enough to travel the whole Route from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. It had been an ambition for a while and we wanted to do it the proper way, on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. We made the trip as part of a group in an organised tour run by Eaglerider in the USA.

So how did I draw Leadership lessons out of this experience you may well ask? Well, being a management trainer and coach I try to look for learning in everything that I do and everywhere that I go. Our Route 66 experience was literally ‘littered’ with them, from the people that have helped the Route to survive and prosper, and the people who fought and in some cases continue to fight to have their town, city or attraction listed as a Route 66 Historic monument. However it is our guides and support teams on our journey that I want to focus on today for they were truly inspirational. So what did I learn?

» Read more: Leadership Lessons from Route 66 (Pt 2)

This blog entry is based around some leadership lessons that I drew from a trip across America via Route 66 earlier this year. We travelled the whole Route from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. It had been an ambition for a while and we wanted to do it the proper way, on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. We made the trip as part of a group in an organised tour run by Eaglerider in the USA.

This is a two part blog with 5 Leadership lessons in each one. The second one can be found here.

» Read more: Leadership Lessons from Route 66 (Pt. 1)

Over the last few years executive coaching has enjoyed growing popularity in the world of staff development. It’s no-longer viewed as solely the domain of senior management or simply for staff requiring remedial development (“to get them back on-track”). It is becoming regarded as an essential tool for developing both existing managers and new ‘high potential’ staff alike.

However, despite this growing popularity, many common misconceptions still exist. These mainly revolve around the nature of the work that executive coaches do and the results they’re expected to achieve.

» Read more: Executive coaching: Common Misconceptions

I have a particular fascination for Neuroscience and understanding how the brain impacts on our behaviours, so this info graphic caught my eye the other day and I thought that I’d share it with you on my blog. It’s fundamentally a simplified and exploded view of the human brain detailing which parts of the brain controls which parts of the body as well as our emotional response to events that we encounter.

» Read more: Neuroscience – Mind Blown

Further to our earlier posting 20 Tips for Managing Time, Here are 20 more tips to help you be more effective in the way that you plan you day, week, month year.

TiMe Management is one of those topics that we can all find difficult to address at times. Am I perfect at managing my time or planning my day, no I’m not, but I do use the tools and tips below to help plan my day and manage my time more effectively. The key to changing most behaviour is awareness, so be aware of when you’re not effectively using your time, and then do something about it!

So to help you, pure and simple here is a list of 20 tips for managing time and setting yourself up for a productive day.

» Read more: 20 more tips for Time Management