Blogs & Articles

Learning always has to be relevant to the job, the organisation, the industry and the market. Rubbish. Education is about developing the mind, not just stuffing the memory. Our job here at Maguire Training is to teach the delegates of our high profile clients to be able to do something differently tomorrow that they are not doing today. That could be applying new knowledge, implementing a new skill or adopting new behaviours and to do that it is often much more useful to use abstract teaching tools to excite the imagination, draw out instincts and encourage more cerebral analysis.

Most people would agree that anyone in a leadership and management role should have competent problem solving skills. But what does that mean and how do we acquire them? Every day managers are faced with making a multitude of decisions. Some will require prolonged thought, research and a deep level of scrutiny before a decision can be arrived at and others will be far less onerous to arrive at a suitable conclusion. Also some decisions just make themselves, for example, no one has to be told to go down a fire escape when the flames are licking at your coat tails behind you.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is more than just PR fluff – it’s a vital aspect of any successful organisation. Of course, CSR means different things to different people but broadly it is about Corporations acting as good corporate citizens.

Strong and effective Corporate Governance is a crucial characteristic of all successful organisations in the modern global economy and as such is something that every organisation must give high priority to – it is not a choice, it is an absolute necessity.

The concept of Coffee Break Coaching is very much around having little and often quality dialogue with your team to aid engagement and give recognition and support in a more timely fashion.

There is one vital area that is often overlooked in the process of managing projects and that is the people skills required to see the project through to a successful conclusion with as few hiccups as possible.

Leaders and managers, especially those who have recently been appointed to the role, often feel as though they have to be personally in control of every task and project that falls within their remit. Yet the simple truth is that no-one is capable of doing everything. The art of delegation is an essential skill if managers are to successfully focus upon the tasks they perform best and avoid becoming overwhelmed with work that could be effectively carried out by someone else.

Certainly it makes sense to promote a senior sales representative who has good field experience to the role of Sales Manager but this must be done in tandem with providing effective, structured sales training...

Whichever field of business you're in, the role of manager typically calls for a diverse range of skills and knowledge. Every manager aspires to be successful, but those making the transition from employee to manager for the first time, and who may be worried about living up to expectations, formal management training can be invaluable.

As a means of developing your employees and improving productivity and business performance, one-to-one or group mentoring can be highly effective and budget-friendly. The role of a business mentor is to share their business knowledge, experience and insight with one or more employees who have been identified as suitable candidates for career development and progression.

A motivated team is a productive team, but achieving and maintaining individual and team motivation is a notoriously tricky task...