Blogs & Articles

Someone said to me recently that although they knew we delivered leadership and management training as well as commercial courses at Maguire Training and it was clear at to what these are, they were less clear about, ‘What exactly does personal development mean?’ and it prompted me to think carefully about the answer because I had previously thought it to be obvious.

The Change Model is a framework for any change programme which is seeking to achieve transformational, sustainable change. The model has eight elements that should be considered when leading change:

What makes a good listener? There are a thousand and one training courses available to us that will teach us the many skills required of a good listener. All will no doubt be full of good stuff and they are often combined with other forms of outgoing communication skills such as use of words, pace, pitch, tone and of course body language etc. However, this piece will focus purely on listening as a skill or indeed a craft and assess whether everything that we have been taught is actually being put into practise. As evidence would seem to suggest that the nature of listening appears to be slowly changing in its very essence.

NHS Productivity Keeping up with the demands is challenging, however, it is suggested that rethinking how to attain greater productivity and the way this is measured, may alleviate some of the pressures. Productivity is a simple comparison between the outputs produced by the NHS i.e. the amount and quality of care provided, with the inputs used to produce them i.e. staff, equipment, drugs clinical supplies etc. Improved productivity can be achieved through efficiency and cost measures or alternatively by getting better value from the existing budget.

The 70 / 20 /10 principle is well known across the learning and development community as being a great blend of professional training, support and coaching from key influences around the business and learning whilst you work.

Microlearning can be defined as delivering content to learners in small, discrete chunks. Where there is a library of content available, the learner is in control of what and when they’re learning. For a long time, this has been referred to as “bite-sized’ or “snackable” learning as it’s easily digestable and fits in with busy scheduled.

What is coaching? Coaching is a style of management in which the manager encourages people to reach their full potential by encouraging self-belief and self-development. Self-belief gives people the drive to achieve their potential. Self-development gives them the means.

Coaching and guidance by the line manager is a fundamental learning activity and it’s worth noting that the CIPD’s Who Learns at Work? survey found that only 21% had received one-to-one coaching from their line manager in the previous year. Without support to apply or consolidate, 60% of learned knowledge and skill stops being applied on the job within 90 days from the end of the learning.

What is development? Development is improving your performance. It is different from learning. Learning is either knowing something new or acquiring a new skill. Development is behaving differently and better. You can learn without developing although you can't develop without learning. Learning is about improving your capacity whereas development is about improving your performance.

What is innovation? Innovation refers to the process of implementing new ideas, creating dynamic products, or improving existing services with the aim of enhancing the company's competitive edge and operational efficiency. It includes creating a creative environment for employees to openly share their creative ideas within the workplace.

Nomophobia – anxiety over being separated from your smartphone – it actually has been given a name and more and more people are admitting having the condition. Research has shown that on average, we touch our phones 2617 times a day, with the top 10% ‘power users’ racking up 5,427 touches (source: dscout.com).

How important is creativity in writing? Well I suppose that mostly depends on what you are writing and who it is intended for. With a love letter or an essay on the life and times of Shakespeare or even writing in a business context such as a sales proposal or management restructure document, it could be argued that a dollop of creativity in the writing of it would improve the reader experience somewhat. Conversely with a shopping list, witness statement or audit report, all we really need are the facts.