Webinars

Or should that be ‘virtual classrooms’? Everyone talks about ‘webinars’, although just calling them that hardly does justice to the interactive nature of the learning experience. But for want of a snappier word, ‘webinars’ it is.

Our approach to ‘webinars’ creates genuine learning experiences for the participants. Our sessions give them the opportunity through discussion, case studies, practical role-plays, interactive ‘chat’ and whiteboard activities to experience a unique, targeted development opportunity.

Participants are able to explore key models and concepts, discuss them in relation to their individual situations and plan for the application of these techniques in the workplace. And there’s usually an opportunity to experience or role-play the new behaviours.

In addition, we often include extra resources at the end of the session which participants can use to refresh their memories and embed learning following the training. Sometimes, there’s ‘pre and post’ work.

Sometimes the sessions are stand-alone, sometimes a mini-series of two or three and sometimes an entire structured programme. The approach varies according to the subject and, of course, to individual client requirements.

We’ve designed our open webinar sessions to run on the world’s most popular platform, Zoom. We’ve never had a problem with Zoom and neither have any of our clients, and Zoom themselves are constantly updating their security advice and features, but if you’ve got any concerns just follow these eight top tips. Of course, on an in-house basis, clients often need us to use their preferred platform, so that’s fine too, whether it’s Teams, Webex, Adobe Connect, whatever.

We’re sometimes asked about accessibility, so here’s our approach.

Most of our sessions are bespoke, for individual clients, but here’s a selection of ones we prepared earlier to help inspire you:

Hybrid and home working series

These sessions have been phenomenally popular as open events. They’re also available for in-house delivery, tailored to your specific requirements:

Coaching skills in a time of Covid

A 90-minute webinar

 

How is your management style standing up to the pressures of working from home?

Are you maintaining the right level of personal contact? Are you totally submerged by emails? Or are you spending hours longer on the phone than you would like?

Now might be the time to step back for an hour to take a hard look at how your approach might benefit from a greater focus on the use of your coaching skills.

Using a coaching style means that you can have great conversations in which you create a sense of connection, listen, ask challenging questions and give feedback that encourages fresh thinking. All of this is good for those you manage, of course – but it’s also great for you.

Used appropriately, as this session will demonstrate, a coaching approach to conversations can help you create a greater sense of connection as you manage your team members virtually. It’s a way of working with them holistically to ensure that you deal with their needs whilst at the same time moving them forwards with work-oriented coaching conversations that reduce the burden on you.

Embracing new ways of working

A 120-minute webinar

 

Embracing new ways of working creates opportunities for improving flexible work practices. It also has its challenges.

Whether we love or hate working remotely, the world of work has changed and with it comes a change in the way we look at work.

Balancing the collaborative benefits of working in the same physical space with the focussed time and increased life balance of working from home, hybrid working seems like the ideal option for staff and employers alike.

This practical and focused 120-minute webinar gives members of staff the opportunity to discuss with other colleagues what is working well, as well as the challenges some people face.

WFH – HR and employment law issues

A 90-minute webinar

 

The Covid-19 crisis continues to affect businesses across the board and the way in which we work as managers and individuals has changed dramatically. Rapid changes to our normal ways of working put a focus on what HR can do to best add value in these unprecedented times – not least, grappling with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Now more than ever, HR input is essential in supporting the business, in keeping abreast of new developments, and in supporting/developing managers and employees. Before long, HR will also be key to supporting the organisation post-Covid-19.

In amongst the many changes it is important that we remember and reinforce what has remained the same. This includes, of course, our legal obligations as well as upholding organisational expectations and responsibilities in relation to key HR policies and standards of behaviour.

This interactive hour-long webinar aims to help HR professionals through the complexity of HR and employment issues that are facing businesses grappling with the implications of Covid-19 today.

Hybrid working

A 60-minute webinar

 

According to a BBC survey, 86% of the UK’s biggest employers said they did not plan to bring staff back to the office full-time. A further 8% said they were keeping the idea of hybrid working under review.

Whether we love or hate working from home, the world of work has changed and to a large extent it has been proved that flexible working can work.

Balancing the collaborative benefits of working in the same physical space with the focussed time and increased life balance of working from home, hybrid working seems like the ideal option for many staff and employers.

While there are opportunities, it doesn’t come without pitfalls.

This practical and focused 60-minute webinar raises awareness of the benefits of hybrid working, what goes well and things to be aware of and avoid.

Maintaining mental well-being

A 90-minute webinar

 

Mental health has been increasingly recognised as an important issue in the workplace over the last decade or so. And in the current Covid-19 situation, significant numbers of people are working from home in a climate of unprecedented crisis.  So we should all be able to recognise that it is more crucial than ever that all staff have the tools and the support they need to maintain their mental well-being while they endeavour to remain professionally active and productive, and that managers have, additionally, the ability to help their colleagues and protect them from excessive stress.

This webinar session provides an opportunity for managers, and others who have staff development responsibilities, to:

  • reflect on the potential and actual effects of working from home on their own mental health and that of their colleagues
  • explore the potential challenges of working at home alone, and equally the difficulties that might arise when people are constantly surrounded by family members who have their own needs and demands
  • discuss strategies and techniques that can help to alleviate acute stress and prevent mental ill-health
  • look ahead to people’s return to the workplace and discuss potential preparations and interventions that need to be put in place to facilitate that transition

Managing remote workers

A 180-minute webinar

 

Embracing new ways of working creates opportunities for improving flexible work practices. It also has its challenges.

Whether we love or hate working remotely, the world of work has changed and with it comes a change in the way we manage our staff.

Balancing the collaborative benefits of working in the same physical space with the focussed time and improved work-life balance of working from home, hybrid working seems like the ideal option for many staff and employers.

This practical and focused virtual classroom session gives managers the opportunity to collaborate by discussing what is working well as well as the challenges many managers face.

Remote management

A 90-minute webinar

 

Managing remote or home workers takes more effort. This session is an opportunity to explore what makes it so different. It gives you the tools and techniques to do it more effectively.

You will identify what you need to do differently to successfully manage and create an environment of trust, confidence and regularity of dialogue for remote and home workers. You will discover ways to engage your team through different forms of communication, building trust, and setting clear expectations. You will leave the session with practical tools and techniques that will enable you to be more confident in your role as a manager of remote or home workers, and at the same time make their roles more productive, positive and rewarding.

Safe working at home

A 90-minute webinar

 

Slipping into bad posture habits is easy to do when you don’t have a dedicated office or study at home. Undertaking informal or employer-led risk assessments is vital for creating a safe working environment.

You will identify causes of potential unsafe work practices and simple remedies that will prevent long-term problems. You will create safe working habits that you can share with work colleagues, friends and family who are also working remotely.

Self-motivation when WFH

A 90-minute webinar

 

Keeping motivated when working at home can be challenging, especially when you’re not used to it. We all create habits in our daily lives to make things happen easily and with little effort. When we wish to change these established habits, it becomes difficult and takes a great deal of energy and willpower.

You will identify and understand what you need personally to motivate yourself to get work tasks done. You will learn what needs to be different in your approach to build and sustain productivity remotely over time. You will discover a range of best practices and learn from other people’s experiences. Most importantly, you will understand the value of being open to ideas and trying new approaches you haven’t considered before.

Staying connected when WFH

A 90-minute webinar

 

Working remotely by its very nature means people will be separated from work colleagues and line managers. Whilst this can be ideal when you need to focus on a specific complex piece of work, there are potential psychological challenges for some people. When there are gaps in communication and information, our brains naturally try to fill in the blanks. This is when misperception can play a part in misunderstanding and conflict, adversely affecting relationships and creating a feeling of isolation

In this practical webinar you will: increase your awareness of the potential pitfalls of working from home, discover easy-to-implement steps and learn to take responsibility for preventative action. The session will also help you to look out for fellow home workers, both inside and outside your organisation (or, indeed, home).

Staying healthy when WFH

A 90-minute webinar

 

When travelling to work only involves moving from one room to another, rather than a physical commute, it is easy to get out of the habit of proper exercise. Building healthy activity and routines into your day is key to productivity and both physical and mental health.

As well as providing examples of best practice, including a healthy work / life balance, this session will encourage people to share their experiences of health, fitness and general wellbeing when working from home.

Stress and resilience

A 90-minute webinar

 

In a 24/7 world we are exposed to stress from many different angles. Not least when working from home.

Handled well, stress can boost our performance; handled badly, it can have a real impact on our wellbeing. We all need to be able to manage different stresses and pressures if we are to think clearly, make the right decisions and avoid unnecessary distress and worry.

This webinar explores the best way of doing that, giving you a range of strategies to use, based on a number of proven models and approaches. It will help you understand your stress and pressure points and develop strategies for managing them.

Time and priorities when WFH

A 90-minute webinar

 

Most people find it harder to maintain focus on work priorities when working from home.

Although we might have fewer interruptions from colleagues, the greater danger lies in domestic temptations, distractions and interruptions. This is especially true when partners, children and elderly relatives share your home.

This webinar will help you explore how best to manage the time you have when working remotely. It will offer different approaches to planning your work with all the additional pressures and anxieties you face in the current situation.  Working more effectively, by structuring your day around peak energy and personal demands, can stop you feeling overwhelmed. It’s also important to know how to maintain a healthy work / life balance. This means being confident and assertive when saying ‘no’ to unrealistic requests that trespass upon your personal time.

Wellbeing when WFH

A 60-minute webinar

 

Work and wellbeing are even more closely related than usual when we’re working from home.

So, as we move through a different phase of working from home, we need to look after our whole wellbeing – the ‘wheel of life’. This means looking at the emotional, social, psychological, physical, financial and spiritual, as well as work, aspects.

Where are the ‘dents’ in your wheel? (We all have them!) How can you ‘punch them out’? You need the right tools for the job. But you also need the right approach, the right frame of mind.

This 60-minute ‘virtual classroom’ session will help you tackle the challenge. It’s an opportunity to step back, think about your current state of overall wellbeing, think about how you think about these issues, prioritise development areas, and identify tools and strategies that will help improve your wellbeing and your resilience to the challenges we all face when working from home.

Working from home

A 90-minute webinar

 

As the trend in flexible working increases, more people will be working at home, remote from their colleagues and line manager.

This interactive webinar aims to help anybody who is new to this concept, or anyone who would just like to tap into some of the best practice available. These techniques are based upon the real experiences of those who have been working remotely and have developed a range of methods and tactics to optimise this way of working.

You will identify what you need to do differently to maintain productivity and create a working environment that works for you. You will discover ways to actively engage with your team and manager through different forms of communication, building trust, and agreeing clear expectations. You will leave the session with practical tools and techniques that will enable you to be more confident when working from home, and at the same time building trust with your line manager.

Wellbeing and resilience series

Building on our hugely popular ‘Hybrid and home working’ series, the wellbeing and resilience sessions follow our unique ‘flexinar’ format – flexible webinars that can be delivered in whatever configuration suits you best. Full details here.

The remote manager series

Another flexible series – bite-sized ‘pick ’n’ mix’ sessions designed specifically for line managers who need to adapt to new ways of working. Full details here.

Management development series

Our very popular management development programme normally runs on a classroom basis as seventeen half-day modules, two modules a day, over eight or nine months. Full details here. It’s now also available as a series of seventeen 90-minute webinars and is currently being delivered on that basis in English and in various European languages. To discuss how that might work for you, give us a call on 01582 463460. We’re here to help – and not just in English!

Leadership development series

Our Inspiring Leader programme normally runs on a classroom basis as four two-day modules, typically over seven months, interspersed with one-to-one coaching sessions. Full details here. We’re delivering it now on a virtual classroom basis, with facilitated action learning sets as well. It’s a flexible format that can be adjusted to suit the needs of a specific group. To talk through how that might work for you, give us a call on 01582 463460.

Public service series

Public service organisations need shorter sessions, delivered virtually, often bespoke but without a budget for learning design. We’ve developed a unique range of flexible webinars – ‘flexinars’ – designed specifically to rise to the challenge. You choose the topics and the length of the session and we do the rest. Outstanding value for money! Full details here.

Cultural intelligence series

Our unique range of 90-minute virtual classroom sessions focuses on the practical aspects of cultural difference. An introductory session on ‘Understanding cultural difference’ (and an optional session on ‘Managing global teams’) is followed by a series of ‘deep dives’ focused on developing cultural intelligence for giving effective feedback, communication styles, building relationships, etc, etc. ‘Focus’ sessions put the spotlight on specific work cultures – France, Italy, etc. Full details here.

Modules

These are the webinar versions of our very successful series of tried-and-tested ‘modules’ – a growing range of topics, each available as a one-day, half-day, bite-sized or webinar session. Details of the classroom versions here. Monthly free ‘taster’ sessions available here.

Assertiveness

A 45-minute webinar

 

If you’re assertive you can portray a strong, confident image and put your views across while still taking other people’s opinions into account.

If you’re not assertive, especially if you become passive aggressive or aggressive, you can cause misunderstandings, frustration and even a breakdown in relationships at work.

This session will help you build confidence to be more assertive more of the time. And how to disagree without being disagreeable!

Change management

A 45-minute webinar

 

Change is a given in any organisation today. You can choose to lead it, go along with it or ignore it – but the last of these options is not a route to success. The best approach is to be positive and proactive, whether that’s in a context of organisation-wide strategic-level transformational change, or whether it’s a question of making changes within the areas of the organisation that are within your direct control. This webinar will take you on a journey exploring your role in driving and supporting change, and the steps needed to bring about and deal with successful change.

Coaching skills

A 45-minute webinar

 

Performance coaching develops people’s capabilities, improves effectiveness and enhances productivity. It also encourages ownership and responsibility, leading to staff being happier and more motivated.

Managers will leave this programme with lots of tools and techniques they can use immediately – together with increased confidence in their ability to develop people effectively.

Communication skills

A 45-minute webinar

 

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

So said George Bernard Shaw.

Communication is a two-way process. If you only think about the information you’re trying to give, you’ll never be able to communicate effectively. This session shows what you should be doing instead.

Creativity and innovation

A 45-minute webinar

 

The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.

So said Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger. And he’d know, being widely regarded as one of the world’s most innovative leaders.

We can all learn from Disney, whatever the nature of our businesses, whatever our individual roles.

Dealing with change

A 45-minute webinar

 

Few people like change. Yet it’s always with us and we have to deal with it. We can make ourselves (and others) miserable trying to avoid it. Or we can embrace it.

This session explores why we might seek to avoid change and why we’re better off becoming advocates for it instead.

Emotional intelligence

A 45-minute webinar

 

Rational, problem-solving intelligence is not enough! You need EQ – the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. Surprisingly, perhaps, this realisation has been one of the most important business developments in recent times.

This session will help you explore what it means for you and understand how to use it to make life easier, less stressful, more successful.

From team member to team leader

A 45-minute webinar

 

What are you letting yourself in for? Organisations constantly give people their first line management role because the individual has been identified as being good at their day job, not necessarily being good with people.

People skills are a very different skillset from processes and tasks. Managing people can be the best job in the world, or the worst. No-one tells you what it’s like until you find out for yourself. ‘You’ll be fine’ is all you may get. This webinar will help you understand what to expect and how to prepare for it.

Honest conversations

A 45-minute webinar

 

This is a foundation session for anyone in business, from leaders to graduates, who needs to develop their confidence and clarity when having honest conversations and giving feedback.

It’s an opportunity to enhance your existing skills in having difficult conversations, structuring information in a non-emotive way, giving clear feedback and delivering messages with empathy and compassion. It will help you understand which types of conversation you struggle the most with – and how to manage them better.

Influencing & persuading

A 45-minute webinar

 

We all need to influence and persuade others, but most of us have a limited range of strategies, so we’re not effective in certain situations or with certain people. But this is a skill that can be learnt – an essential skill for anyone in business. This interactive and engaging webinar will give you practical tools and techniques you can use immediately to get others to say ‘yes’ more often, to buy in to your ideas and to give you commitment.

Management essentials

A 45-minute webinar

 

The most common reason for leaving a job is dissatisfaction with one’s manager. Being an effective, supportive and clear manager is crucial for ensuring staff retention, team motivation and happiness, and business success.

This engaging webinar explores ideal manager behaviours, helping you get the most out of your team by understanding what they need from you. This is an opportunity to explore management and leadership – and to ensure that you’re not the manager everyone wants to get away from!

Managing effective teams

A 45-minute webinar

 

Some of us spend a large proportion of our working lives in meetings – and much of this time is wasted. That’s why good chairing skills are crucial. This practical and engaging programme shows how skillful chairing can steer a meeting to a successful conclusion, saving considerable time and significantly boosting efficiency.

Meetings

A 45-minute webinar

 

Some of us spend a large proportion of our working lives in meetings – and much of this time is wasted. That’s why good chairing skills are crucial. This practical and engaging programme shows how skillful chairing can steer a meeting to a successful conclusion, saving considerable time and significantly boosting efficiency.

Performance management

A 45-minute webinar

 

How can you get the best out of your people?

Every organisation has people who are high-performing with lots of potential for career progress. They also have under-performers who can often take up a lot of valuable management time as well as affecting the motivation of the rest of the team.

In this highly interactive session, you will learn how to manage and develop people at all levels of performance and achieve better results all round.

Presentation skills

A 45-minute webinar

 

Presenting with confidence is an essential business skill. Whether you’re delivering a client presentation or addressing an internal gathering, good presentation skills are crucial for success.

This session introduces the core skills you need to improve the impact, clarity and structure of your presentations. Master the physical factors, harnessing the power of non-verbal communication. Engage your audience. Structure your presentation for best results. Deal with questions more effectively. Boost your confidence. And learn to enjoy doing it!

Remote management

A 45-minute webinar

 

Overcome the challenges of time and space! Managing remote workers is different from managing those in the same building as you. It’s harder to successfully manage and create an environment of trust, confidence and regularity of dialogue. This session will give you ways to engage your team through different forms of communication, building trust, motivating and setting clear expectations. You’ll leave the session with better able to make remote working productive, positive and rewarding.

Stress and resilience

A 45-minute webinar

 

In a 24/7 world we are exposed to stress from many different angles.

Handled well, this can boost our performance; handled badly, it can have a real impact on our wellbeing. We all need to be able to manage different stresses and pressures if we are to think clearly, make the right decisions and avoid unnecessary stress and worry. This webinar explores the best way of doing that, giving you a range of strategies to use, based on a number of proven models and approaches. It will help you understand your stress and pressure points and develop strategies for managing them.

Time & priority management

A 45-minute webinar

 

We’re all faced with more competing demands on our time than ever before. But do we even know where our time goes? Knowing how we spend it is the first step towards being able to control how we spend it. What non-essential activities can you drop? If there are things you can’t drop, how can you manage them better? How can you be more intentional about how you run your day?

This is an opportunity to explore different approaches to time and priority management. How can you make your life easier by using the compass, not the clock?

Management and personal effectiveness series

Many of these sessions are currently being run on a global basis, in different languages:

Breaking bias

A 90-minute webinar

 

We all suffer from unconscious bias. Neuroscientists believe that more than 99% of the decisions we make and the actions we take are outside our conscious awareness. Most of the time we operate on autopilot – relying on deep-in-the-brain biases, preferences and assumptions that operate largely automatically.

While these mental shortcuts help us make decisions quickly and with little effort, they can have unintended consequences, including irrational thinking and faulty decision-making. When people are involved, bias can result in stereotyping, prejudice and a lack of diversity – and a multitude of problems at work.

This session helps people not only become aware of their own unconscious biases but gives them practical techniques for acting more consciously and making objective decisions.

Breaking the anxiety loop

45-minute webinar, 2-hour webinar or half-day workshop

 

The workplace is an exciting and sometimes challenging environment, where pace and expectation can affect our mental wellbeing. Managing the associated anxiety is an essential skill needed to succeed and thrive in today’s VUCA world.

Managing anxiety can feel like a real challenge when we don’t have the right tools.

Building bridges

A 90-minute webinar

 

Some people seem to just ‘click’ with others, building a large network and loyal friendship group. Built on the current research into Social Intelligence, this workshop focusses on how you can take a strategic approach to building bridges rather than relying on chance. You need to be clear about your ultimate purpose and develop a structured plan for achieving it. It is also about connecting with others and that means conversational skills are critical, making engaging small talk and introducing yourself memorably.

Challenging messages

A 90-minute webinar

 

Being able to deal with difficult conversations effectively is an essential business skill that is invaluable in maintaining good relationships and retaining business. Disagreements don’t disappear when they’re ignored. People are often concerned about having a difficult conversation because they’re worried the client or colleague might react defensively to what they’ve got to say. They need to be dealt with in an appropriate way that achieves the desired result and keeps the relationship intact. This session will give people valuable techniques to prepare for a difficult situation, get the conversation off to the best possible start and manage their emotions.

Change and people

A 90-minute webinar

 

Running a successful change project requires skills in planning, budgeting, tracking deliverables and stakeholder management.

But there’s more to it than that. Too often, the ‘People Side’ is neglected – there’s just a single line at the end of the project plan that says ‘Comms and Training’. If people are going to have to work differently and learn some new processes, then there is work to be done by the project team to help them through the emotional side of the change.

This session explores why it’s important to bring people along when a change is being made. It will provide change teams with the skills and knowledge either to manage the people change plan themselves or to secure the right resources for their project.

Change management

A 90-minute webinar

 

To achieve continuing success, organisations need to change to keep ahead of the competition, take advantage of the rapid development of technology and meet customers’ expectations. In an agile environment, change management is even more important because of its iterative nature, its impact on readiness and culture and the increased churn. Managers have an important role in initiating and implementing change, innovation and continuous improvement. This practical virtual session focuses on the strategy, implementation and process of change management, thinking about how it can be achieved effectively in an agile and changing environment.

Cognitive flexibility

A 90-minute webinar

 

People often have multiple responsibilities as part of their roles, and achieving these means being able to switch between one task or thought and another by developing cognitive flexibility. Being able to do this quickly and efficiently can give individuals huge benefits. As well as being able to manage priorities and time they will also have greater opportunities for linking concepts and ideas to generate creative ideas.

Collaboration

A 90-minute webinar

 

Working with others has never been easier – or harder. With more and more online collaboration tools people can share ideas and resources across platforms, but as people become busier and spread across countries face-to-face time for collaboration becomes harder and it becomes forgotten. This practical workshop helps participants navigate the different options and build a collaboration strategy that ensures it becomes the starting point for any project.

Collective intelligence

A 90-minute webinar

 

With the advent of artificial intelligence, collective intelligence now looks at the collaboration of people and computers to harness the power of both combined. Defined by MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Thomas Malone, collective intelligence occurs when both sides work together. This practical session looks at how people can work collaboratively with one another and technology to achieve optimum results.

Compelling case

A 90-minute webinar

 

We all need to influence others, but most people work with just a handful of approaches, so they’re less effective in certain situations or with certain people. Getting this right is a crucial business skill. This interactive and informative workshop will build on participants’ existing skills in providing a compelling case and give them additional strategies they can use so others say ‘yes’ more often. Whether it’s with clients, with peers, stakeholders, suppliers or C-level managers, participants will learn to structure their ideas to give them the greatest chance of achieving buy-in.

Complex problem-solving

A 90-minute webinar

 

This energetic, interactive and practical session will give participants the knowledge and skills to solve complex problems successfully. They will leave with powerful, innovative techniques and tried-and-tested tools that will enable them to be more successful in their roles. These include pros and cons, SWOT analysis, brainstorming, fishbone analysis and appreciative enquiry as well as delving deeper to find the root cause. Participants will learn how to use systems thinking to explore and gain insight to complex problems.

Creativity (advanced)

A 90-minute webinar

 

In an era of rapid change, organisations need their staff to be creative and innovative. This isn’t just a matter of what we do but of how we do it – creativity is just as much a feature of ‘boring’ management process flows as ‘exciting’ product development. This interactive session builds on the participants’ existing experience and knowledge of creativity in a masterclass structure that focuses on drawing from some of the most up-to date techniques from a variety of industries.

Cross-cultural competence

A 90-minute webinar

 

In a marketplace that is increasingly working globally, organisations can’t afford to neglect the importance of good communication. While a multicultural workplace offers opportunities, if people don’t adapt their approach there can be misunderstandings and frustration. Supporting your people in developing their cultural knowledge can give benefits through effective working relationships, better communication, improved employee retention and more productive staff. This practical VILT session focuses on improving relationships, understanding, communication and working across cultures.

Data brilliance – turning insights into action

A 90-minute webinar

 

Often data is the key to understanding a situation, but only if that data is converted into insight. Often people in data-driven roles will report information without giving those in different departments in business the insight to ‘de-code’ it and make it useful. This can be costly for an organisation, but it also means that those teams don’t benefit from the credibility, reputation and often the seat at the table that they deserve. This practical session encourages them to look beyond the data and give clear updates.

Judgement and decision-making

A 90-minute webinar

 

Being able to make the right decision – even in agile, ambiguous situations when you don’t have all the information you’d like – is critical to success in business, especially for managers and leaders. Participants will learn how to ensure they have all the information (including understanding the problem), how to overcome bias and identify which are reliable facts in order to make decisions, as well as determining which problems to devote the most time to using the Pareto Principle. They will develop their abilities in making decisions under pressure and communicating with clarity. They will appreciate the importance of gathering facts, taking an assumption-busting mindset and taking a strategic decision-making approach using the decision tree.

Delivering change

A 90-minute webinar

 

Change is a given in any organisation today. You can choose to lead it, go along with it or ignore it – but the last of these options is not a route to success. The best approach is to be positive and proactive, whether that’s in a context of organisation-wide strategic-level transformational change, or whether it’s a question of making changes within the areas of the organisation that are within your direct control. This engaging and interactive workshop will take you on a journey exploring your role in driving and supporting change, the impact of change on the human brain, and the steps needed to bring about successful change.

Diversity and inclusion

A 90-minute webinar

 

This highly participative session focuses on the importance of valuing individual differences at work and creating a positive working environment, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. The programme highlights the responsibilities that managers have in this area and reinforces relevant organisational policies and procedures, particularly those relating to harassment and bullying. In addition, the workshop builds awareness of relevant legislation, taking a practical approach to minimising risk. The emphasis is on encouraging managers to manage positively and proactively, to model appropriate behaviour, to recognise issues at an early stage and to take prompt action to resolve concerns informally or formally as appropriate.

Dynamic delegation

A 90-minute webinar

 

Most of us struggle to fit everything in at work; often staying late, sometimes suffering from stress and challenges with work-life balance. But does it have to be that way? No – when you have effective strategies for delegating to others you can achieve more, motivate others and contribute positively to their development. Everybody wins! This session will support participants in diagnosing readiness for delegation and giving clear guidelines to ensure work is carried out effectively.

Effective webinars

A 90-minute webinar

 

As technology has progressed you can now replicate most of the techniques you’d have face-to-face to keep a group of people engaged in what you’re doing.

How can you make the most of your webinars, though, without detracting from your message?

If you choose to use different functionality how can you make sure it doesn’t ‘throw’ you while you’re presenting?

This practical session explores how to set up a virtual presentation to succeed, creating a structure and planning interventions as well as considering ground rules and how to share documents.

Emotional intelligence

A 90-minute webinar

 

Rational, problem-solving intelligence is not enough. You need EQ – the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. Surprisingly, perhaps, this realisation has been one of the most important business developments in recent times. This session will help participants explore what it means for them and understand how to use it to make life easier, less stressful, more successful.

Generations, millennials

A 90-minute webinar

 

Millennials make up the largest percentage of the workforce, posing challenges to the structures, working practices and management styles of organisations and individuals of other generations. This practical session focuses not just on millennials, but on the traits, characteristics and differences between each of the different generations found in the workplace. Exploring preferences and behaviours through practical case study discussions, participants will explore how to adapt their style to others and avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Getting things done

A 90-minute webinar

 

Participants will be asked to consider how they spend their days and weeks, learning how to focus their use of time on their goals, targets and priorities and looking for ways of minimising or even eliminating their ‘time bandits’ – activities that bring no value to the business. The dangers of ‘busyness’ – of activity that doesn’t generate productivity. What’s the best way of managing your ‘to do’ list to ‘get things done’ – especially when you have competing demands placed upon you? Participants will learn how to avoid just doing the urgent things – while important things get compromised or even sacrificed.

Great feedback

A 90-minute webinar

 

Giving and receiving feedback may come naturally to some, but to others they are difficult and painful. It doesn’t have to be that way. Participants will explore the myriad benefits of feedback, how it can be positive and developmental and reduce workplace conflict and errors. Focusing on the importance of clarity, empathy, rapport and collaboration as well as knowing your desired outcome, they will leave more confident in delivering feedback to others with impact.

How to present a webinar

A 90-minute webinar

 

Some of the greatest presenters we know struggle to have the same impact when delivering their presentations virtually.

You’ll see people who are normally hugely charismatic slumped over laptops, or people ploughing through dozens of slides because they struggle without being able to ‘read’ the audience. In the past webinars and presenting via videoconference were less common than face-to-face and we made allowances, but as the world is changing and video presentations have become part of everyday life, audiences are expecting more.

This practical session gives key tips on how to adapt your presentational strengths to a web environment, engage the audience, maintain structure and get across key messages.

Hybrid working

A 90-minute webinar

 

Balancing the collaborative benefits of working in the same physical space with the focussed time and increased life balance of working from home, hybrid working seems like the ideal option for many staff and employers.

While there are opportunities, it doesn’t come without pitfalls. Whether it’s conflict over diary issues, managing individuals who have a preference for one way of working rather than the other, meeting the needs of clients and suppliers and making sure communication isn’t missed when people are coming and going, it can create an extra burden for managers to carry.

This practical 90-minute webinar raises the awareness of the benefits of hybrid working, what goes well and things to be aware of and avoid. Participants explore scenario-based discussions, peer sharing and facilitated activities to improve their confidence in managing people who are hybrid working.

‘Imposter syndrome’ and how to deal with it

A 90-minute virtual workshop

 

From time to time we will all have doubts about our ability and whether we ‘belong’. This is never truer than at work. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that we don’t deserve the position of responsibility that we have, and therefore find it difficult to take pride in our achievements and can feel like a ‘fraud’.

In particular, there is a perception that this ‘confidence gap’ is holding women back in the workplace, with women’s imposter syndrome being a cause for not going for promotions or negotiating better deals at work.

This practical workshop, aimed at all colleagues, looks at the evidence surrounding imposter syndrome and explores practical ways that organisations and colleagues can create inclusive environments to support others to develop and excel.

This short, interactive session focuses on understanding the data and experiences that surround imposter syndrome, strategies to boost confidence and reduce negative self-talk, and how to support one another and request the support of colleagues to create a shift in the organisation.

Creativity for logical thinkers

A 90-minute webinar

 

Managers and staff in every forward-thinking organization need to generate new ideas, products, services and processes if they’re to maintain their competitive edge. This means that creativity and innovation aren’t simply nice-to-have skills – they’re essential for success at every level in every organisation. While some people seem ‘naturally’ creative, in reality innovative thinking can be developed by anyone. This workshop provides a great introduction to the creative process for people who typically work in a more logical way. Participants have lots of opportunities to use proven techniques on their own real work problems and situations. They learn how to challenge existing thinking and generate new ideas – and how to make sure the best of them are captured and implemented.

Managing expectations

A 90-minute webinar

 

A lot of us remember being told to ‘under-promise and over-deliver’, but in reality it can be easy to try to please by making promises that we struggle to keep. Whether it’s down to us, or factors outside our control, sometimes whatever the reason we simply can’t deliver and this is why it’s important to manage expectations from the start. Tackling some of the mindset issues, like ‘no news is good news’, participants explore the stages of projects and how to set clear expectations from the start, how to keep people updated and how to deliver bad news if needed.

Delivering motivational feedback

A 2-hour virtual or half-day classroom session

 

It’s difficult to escape the notion of feedback being negative.

We need to reframe it. It needs to be motivational. We need to think of it as developing people through praise and constructive evaluation.

So far, so obvious, perhaps. But if it’s that obvious, why aren’t all managers doing it? Because it’s not as easy as it looks. That’s why this session focuses on the practical skills and behaviours required for motivational feedback conversations. Using real examples, participants think about what to say, how to say it and how to get the timing right, so that all their feedback is truly motivational.

Neurodiversity in the workplace

A unique ‘flexinar’ programme

 

The term ‘Neurodiversity’ was coined by Judy Singer in the 1990s. It recognises and celebrates the fact that we are all ‘wired’ differently, and will therefore bring different ways of thinking, feeling and doing to what we do. Finally, organisations are beginning to realise that their practices need to be designed in a way that recognises, values and embraces this diversity, and the individuals concerned.

This virtual classroom session, designed and delivered by Elisabeth Goodman, offers an opportunity to develop your understanding of Neurodiversity, and of the steps you can take to create an end-to-end employee experience where individuals and your organisation can thrive.

The session relies on participants using the activities presented and group chat to apply ideas and learning to their personal experiences.

Openness – developing openness and a culture of conscious inclusion

A 90-minute webinar

 

Have you ever been told by someone that you made them feel left out, or less than welcome? Most of us have, and for most of us it’s something that’s happened by accident. Whether it’s through existing strong connections with people that take your focus, being driven by the task and not thinking about how you’re working with others, or through the emotional leakage that people pick up through our behaviours and body language, it’s easy to create distance between ourselves and our colleagues. This practical virtual workshop encourages participants to increase their self-awareness and create a strategy that ensures they work towards a culture of conscious inclusion.

Peak performance – get the best out of your team

A 90-minute webinar

 

High-performing teams improve productivity and efficiency and lead to increased employee engagement. When people work well together they are able to use all their varying strengths to achieve success. It takes a self-aware and effective manager to achieve this and maintain high performance. Every team is different and there are many factors that influence how a team performs over time. This informative, engaging and practical workshop will equip managers to create and manage a high-performing team, taking them to peak performance.

Performance management – why bother?

A 90-minute webinar

 

Business success is only achieved by its people – they are a company’s greatest asset. Making sure you use your assets in the best way possible is a crucial business skill. This programme will help you develop and stretch your high achievers as well as manage any under-performers effectively. Addressing some of the common causes of under-performance and lack of motivation will help everyone in your team, free up your own time and help you achieve better results all round.

Relate (build good working relationships)

A 90-minute webinar

 

Working together effectively has a huge number of benefits, from feelings of satisfaction and wellbeing at work to increased productivity. Being able to relate to others and collaborate is good for everyone. This practical session encourages people to explore their current working relationships and to identify those that could be improved. Through proven techniques, peer sharing and role play they will develop strategies to take their relationships with colleagues to the next level.

Relaxing the busy mind

A 60-minute webinar

 

‘The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it’ – Sydney J. Harris

In this interactive, 60-minute workshop, you will be led through a series of small exercises to help you switch off from the ‘busy’ mode and get back into the present and more relaxed mode.

Servant leadership

A 90-minute webinar

 

The concept of the servant leader inverts the norm. Instead of employees existing to serve the leader, the leader exists to serve employees, especially those on the front line. Coined originally by Robert Greenleaf, he understands that customer service associates often have the greatest impact on what the customer thinks about the product and more particularly the service they receive. Whilst it challenges the traditional view, according to a study by Sen Sendiva and James C Sarros, Servant Leadership is being practised in some of the top-ranking companies today, and these companies are highly ranked precisely because of their leadership style and following.

Service mindset

A 90-minute webinar

 

Giving service isn’t enough these days. People expect – and deserve – consistent and high-quality service. If they don’t get it, they may go elsewhere – and generate negative publicity for your organisation. This interactive virtual session is focused on changing mindsets and behaviours so that participants meet and exceed the expectations of their customers (internal or external). They will learn valuable techniques for providing excellent service, handling difficult or dissatisfied customers effectively and, where appropriate, identifying up-sell opportunities along the way. They will explore their own mindset and how to reframe thoughts to feel more positive.

Storytelling

A 90-minute webinar

 

‘Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.’ (Robert McKee)

This targeted virtual session will guide presenters and salespeople how to use compelling anecdotes, case studies, analogies and real-world examples that are engaging, memorable and persuasive, in order to enhance their communication. Participants will discover what story format to use when; how to collect, create and craft stories for optimum effectiveness; and explore the best ways of delivering their stories for the largest impact.

Using our strengths

A 45-minute webinar

 

Why focus on improving your weaknesses when it’s your strengths that get you from just ‘okay’ to ‘excellent’?

Positive Psychology focuses on helping people to identify their strengths, to use them more and to develop them wisely. People in the strengths zone at work are more engaged, energised, have better working relationships and have the potential to perform at high levels.

Virtual impact

A 90-minute webinar

 

The success of many organisations depends upon their ability to collaborate and communicate with others effectively in a virtual environment – especially in a time of Covid.

All too often it goes wrong, leaving some individuals feeling isolated or frustrated, and struggling to achieve their goals with projects going off track.

People often think that everything they have learnt in the physical world can be translated into online presentations and meetings, but in reality it can’t.

Built on practical examples, learnings from business psychology and neuroscience, this practical session gives you a toolkit you can use to increase your virtual impact.

Virtual performance conversations (using actors)

A 90-minute webinar

 

This virtual session builds managers’ skills and confidence in holding one-to-one conversations remotely with their staff.

The session is highly experiential – managers work together to build learning across a range of potentially challenging types of conversation.

The conversations are brought to life through the use of actors, who bring realism to the scenarios and give ‘in the moment’ feedback to participants.

Everyone gets a turn practising their skills, getting feedback from the actor and from their peers, and giving feedback in their turn. It’s a collaborative, supportive, interactive session – with real impact.

Working in a VUCA world

A 90-minute webinar

 

We live in a VUCA world where rapid and unpredictable change has become the norm. VUCA represents a set of challenges that individuals, teams, managers, and organisations all have to face.

But what does ‘VUCA’ actually mean?

  • Volatile. Change is violent and uncontrollable.
  • Uncertain. The future is unpredictable, making it hard to prepare for.
  • Complex. With so much going on, things can often feel chaotic and confused.
  • Ambiguous. We lack clarity because it’s hard to know what the root cause of the problem is.

Working within our culture whilst figuring out our new environment can be challenging. This 90-minute webinar will give you clarity around the VUCA model, give you space to share your thoughts with colleagues, and get you to explore the future…

Your impact on others

A 90-minute webinar

 

Being technically good at your job isn’t enough – good people skills are also essential. Whatever your profession and role, you need to be able to connect with others, present ideas assertively and build strong, lasting relationships. This practical session will cover self-awareness and how participants can develop their ability to make a positive impact, whatever the situation. They will discover how to avoid fading into the background, how to raise their profile and how to present ideas powerfully to internal stakeholders and managers.

We can, of course, tailor any of these webinars to your precise requirements or we can design a programme from scratch. Just give us a call today on 01582 463460.