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Why is effective management important, and what are good management skills? There are few other roles as complex as the ones in which people manage other people. Partly this is because there are so many external influences on managers, such as organisational brand, culture and the expectations from teams and superiors. Where to begin? Those searching for the secrets of good...

Most organisations aspire to engage their employees and yet despite great investment in this area they aren’t always guaranteed success. But why?There are countless blogs that tell you what ‘The costs of poor employee engagement’ are Higher staff turnoverLower productivity and efficiencyIncreased sick daysImpact on profits To mention just a few and plenty more on how best to engage them… Whilst...

In 1968 a strike by 187 female workers at the Ford car factory in Dagenham was instrumental in the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act. The machinists walked out for three weeks in protest against their male colleagues earning 15 per cent more than them.A few years later the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it illegal to discriminate against women...

This month, we’ve been working with Chaucer Plc, a leading specialty insurance group, to help managers be more aware of unconscious bias. But can you really train people in unconscious bias awareness if it’s ‘unconscious’? To understand this, you must first understand what unconscious bias is. We all have it, it is a bias that happens automatically, is outside of our...

There was controversy this week following the announcement that relationships and sex education (RSE) will be taught in schools from age four. Some critics say that is too early to talk about these topics with children and that it can introduce them to ideas before they are ready to understand them fully. But any intelligent person would understand that by talking...

If you meet a Year 6 teacher in January, the likelihood is that they are a shadow of their September selves. Gone are the dapper dress sense and the happy-go-lucky attitude. That feeling of easily ‘surviving SATS’ seemed a lifetime ago. Now, however, some are counting down the weeks, others the days, until that dreaded week in May. Headteachers have maniacal...

Love is in the air this week. And this has got us wondering  - can you improve your L&D training outcomes with a fiscal roll in the hay or should you be more loved up and committed - less a Tinder date and more Love Actually? With a few more weeks to go until the new financial year, how will you...

How to do a ‘Stan and Ollie’, and build lasting working relationships, even with colleagues who appear to see the world in a completely different way. I recently went to see ‘Stan and Ollie’ the much-lauded new film which explores the relationship and final years of one of history’s best-loved comedy double acts, Laurel and Hardy. As an eighties child, I...

Creativity is a sought-after commodity. But is it just something we’re born with or is it something we can learn? Studies of the most creative people reveal surprising insights and show us how we can switch on our own creativity. Here are five things you should know: Be in the right mood. We are at our most creative when we are...