Skills Development

This course will cover reviewing your products, services and customers and driving sales, putting a marketing plan together and setting marketing objectives and goals to help you to grow your business.

Our Growing Your Business course will give you practical insights, tools and approaches to take your business growth to the next level, whether you are just starting out or have an established business. 

You’ll begin the course by creating your own definition of what successful growth means to you, and why. You’ll then work on shaping an objective perspective of your starting point, so that you can then learn how to get from where you are now to where you want to be in the strategic and tactical toolkit for growth. You’ll engage in peer-to-peer learning throughout, as well as benefiting from our strategic and tactical toolkit for growth.

Brief course description

By the end of the course you’ll have clarity on your distinct value proposition, market and product / service development strategy, target business operating model and a high-level business growth plan.

Course content

Leading a growing business starts with you and your energy. It cascades through to your strategy, people, sales approaches, customer experience, processes and more. You’ll start by:

• Learning about your growth mindset
• Creating your purpose-led, business growth vision

Next, you’ll work on your high-level business strategy. You’ll focus on:

• Developing your value proposition
• Identifying your target customers
• Finding out how to assess potential market demand
• Ways of positioning your product or service to drive sustainable growth

Having considered your value proposition and high-level strategy, the next steps will be to consider how to optimise your business model. We’ll cover:

• Process-driven client delivery
• Digital and automation
• Circular economy and net zero business model principles

Finally, you’ll learn how to fuel your growth through forecasting, including the importance of cashflow management. You’ll leave with a high-level business growth plan ready to finesse and then execute.

Brief course description

Whether it is with clients, business partners, managers, colleagues, or team members, negotiation happens throughout business. This course is designed to develop negotiation skills for people at any level of an organisation. Learn how to keep calm and understand a range of techniques ready to use in different circumstances.

This course will equip you to:

• Apply evidenced based tactics in negotiation scenarios
• Manage your emotional responses while negotiating
• Understand a range of techniques ready to employ in different circumstances
• Steer negotiations towards your desired result
• Provide an opportunity to practice your skills in a safe environment
• Obtain constructive feedback on your negotiation skill

Course content

The course will cover techniques and models to help delegates to:

• Learn techniques for managing emotional responses during personal or emotive negotiations
• Explore how to maintain effective communication during negotiation processes
• Consider how to achieve a win/win outcome, or where possible, examine how to grow new opportunities with partners and stakeholders
• Examine and apply evidence-based techniques in a negotiation; receive feedback, and build confidence in tried and tested negotiation tactics
• Consider the pros and cons of different negotiation models
• Undertake practical exercises to develop the core skills and behaviours of successful negotiators

Brief course description

A highly reflective and consultative session that will encourage participants to reflect on their own values and behaviours, and the alignment with those of the organisation they work for.

We will introduce the concept of Authenticity; understanding your own values and leading through these. Participants will explore psychology research in the fields of Emotional Intelligence, leadership, and communication, and in a coaching conversation identify how to enhance their approach and impact.

Participants will get the chance to reflect and analyse leadership and explore different leadership approaches. The day will help attendees develop a sound understanding of effective leadership and practical application of how to adapt and develop their own approach to leadership within their organisation. 

Course content

Throughout this highly interactive session participants will:

• Consider the connection between Authentic leadership and a high performing business culture
• Define Authentic and Transformational Leadership, and analyse own communication and leadership style against these concepts
• Analyse the role of Emotional Intelligence in leading, motivating and engaging with individuals and teams
• Consider own underpinning motivations, values and belief around self and others, and how these personal factors influence own professional approach
• Reflect on alignment of own values and organisational values / behaviours
• Use objective data from psychometrics to inform own approach, and to analyse the performance and culture in own department, and the wider business
• Consider team performance against a ‘best practice’ paradigm using Magerison-McCann research, and make evidence-based recommendations for enhancement
• Apply the principles of Transactional Analysis to effective communication and conflict management. Utilise subsets of this to manage own interaction and create an ‘Adult’ performance culture
• Engage in one-to-one coaching to support ongoing professional development

Brief course description

This practical course will improve participants’ public speaking skills and knowledge. The training includes effective presentation techniques to enable delegates to present professionally and confidently, as well as engage well with the audience.

Unleash your powers of communication with practical tools and models. In this one-day presentation course you will focus on finding the best version of yourself when presenting. You will develop your awareness of body language, vocal energy and mental script and learn experientially strong, practical alternatives.

Course content

At the end of this full day workshop you will be able to:

• Capture your audience's imagination and put your message centre stage
• Channel a positive mental script and connect to your authentic physicality and voice
• Break old patterns and limits to create voice-body message congruency
• Present with clarity, presence and impact

Aimed at:

Individuals and organisations who need to communicate with clarity and presence in their professional and personal lives. The course actively supports those seeking to increase their personal impact and win business.

You will be offered creative, practical skills to make presenting and communicating enjoyable and effective. In order to discover this, you will be encouraged to play, re-invent, and explore different ways of being.

Brief course description

Using creative communication and negotiation skills delegates will develop their own tool kit of tips and techniques to help become more effective sales professionals. This course is suitable for:

• Newly established sales people who must understand the sales process and need to apply themselves in the field to achieve immediate results
• Non-sales people, managers and directors who may work alongside teams of sales people and who need to interface with them to maximise overall business success
• The course will be highly interactive, and encourage participants to practice skills and receive feedback from peers and the tutor

Course content

The course will cover techniques and models to help delegates to:

• Examine the decision-making cycle, and consider the stages people go through in relation to making purchasing decisions
• Identify how to generate leads, and manage stakeholders at the early stage of the sales process
• Use a personality profiling model to identify different personality types, and reflect on how to engage with different people
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence, and practice critical interpersonal skills such as active listening, summarising, and clarifying
• Identify how to use questions to identify needs, and how to develop benefit statements to respond to these needs
• Identify how to manage a client account, how to create and develop opportunities with existing clients

Brief course description

A digital marketing strategy masterclass providing an overview of all the main digital channels and social media platforms, explaining how to use them and exploring which ones are best to reach different target audiences. You will learn and implement practical skills tailored to your business.

Benefits of the course include:

• Being strategic with your marketing
• Learn how to build trust
• Getting the most out of LinkedIn
• Ensuring your target audience find you in Google

Course content

This strategic marketing course covers the key aspects of marketing effectively in the current climate equipping delegates with knowledge and strategies such as:

• Setting goals and objectives
• How SEO and PR meet
• Understanding the power of LinkedIn
• Hashtags, Lists and Engagement with Twitter
• Making news and website content more social ready
• Email Marketing, how not to annoy people, and get clicks
• Planning, scheduling & calendars
• Apps to save time and make it easier

Brief course description

In this interactive course you will have the opportunity to think differently about your business, learn different ways in which you can pivot, consider whether or not you need to and come out with a clear, focused plan. The course will cover how to: make your business more relevant, make business changes to generate more cash and profit, and make the most of new opportunities quickly.

It's important to balance the decisions you need to take right now to survive and thrive with the impact that these decisions will have longer term on your business. You may be thinking about pivoting - which means making a change - large or small - to your business - if your current products and services aren't performing well for you.

In this programme, you'll have the opportunity to think differently about your business, learn different ways in which you can pivot, consider whether or not you need to and come out with a clear, focused plan.

Course content

This course will examine the following subjects:

• The definition of pivoting
• When and when not to pivot
• Decision-making and balancing short- and long-term needs
• Cashflow and your numbers
• Your pivot gameplan

This course will equip leaders and managers to:

• make their business more relevant
• make business changes to generate more cash and profit
• make the most of new opportunities quickly

Brief course description

Agile management provides a logical, dynamic and simple way to lead people and projects.

Originally developed by leading edge software companies, the Agile approach has been identified as the most effective method of leading people and projects in today’s complex and competitive environment (Stephen Denning – The Age of Agile). This pragmatic and application focussed course designed for ‘real world projects’ will enable leaders and managers to apply a logical and effective methodology to how they work and approach projects.

On this exciting, highly interactive, and practical course we will introduce participants to the main principles of Agile, and identify how they can be applied to any role. We will examine what it is to have an Agile Mindset, and how Agile teams are formed and communicate, internally and as part of a collaborative network. Finally, we will identify the necessary traits of an Agile Project Manager (The SCRUM Coach) to effectively introduce and lead Agile projects.

Course content

This course acts as a great introduction to Agile allowing delegates to:

• Define the Agile methodology, and explore how the concept can be adapted to fit with and enhance existing working practices and frameworks 
• Identify where Agile works best, and where more traditional methods may be more appropriate 
• Apply Agile principles to the management of projects in any context 
• Utilise Agile tools and a Growth Mindset to engage with problems
• Identify how the principles of Transparency, Curiosity, and Adaptation can establish useful metrics, and improve delivery of project outcomes 
• Consider the role of the Project Manager (PM), examine how this is evolving, and what a great PM looks like within your organisation

Brief course description

A resilient team will thrive and grow in climates others might struggle in, seeing changes as positive whereas a team lacking in resilience will struggle to achieve the levels of performance they are capable of. As a leader you need to create a climate or environment where individuals have the correct levels of support and challenge and focus upon your team’s needs to create this resilience.

Research has shown that the leader has a 50-70% impact upon the climate which in turn can have a 30% impact upon performance. This interactive experiential model is designed for managers and team leaders. It will investigate the concept of resilience from the perspective of the team and how a leader can foster this, managing resilience of the team through change and creating the right environment for your team to be resilient. You will also receive some tools to enable you to build your and your team’s resilience.

Course content

This one-day workshop covers the following topics:

• Definitions of personal and team resilience
• Personal stressors and our relationship with them
• Growth mindset – what it is and how to develop it in ourselves and others
• Faulty thinking – how we create challenge for ourselves
• How to assess team resilience
• Strategies to develop our team’s resilience
• Action planning

Brief course description

This programme is for you if you're leader who wants to use cutting-edge business innovation and growth strategies to accelerate results and compete more strongly. You’ll learn how to identify and use entrepreneurial approaches, even if (and especially when!) you’re in a resource or time-constrained environment.

The programme is highly interactive, packed with opportunities for you to apply your new insights to your own leadership and business context.

You’ll gain clarity on how to transform your energy and ideas into results, optimise how you build and launch new business ideas, learn how to evaluate market opportunities, shape your business model and financial plan, and connect with customers through your value proposition.

Course content

The programme is highly interactive, packed with opportunities for you to apply your new insights to your own leadership and business context.

You’ll gain clarity on how to transform your energy and ideas into results, optimise how you build and launch new business ideas, learn how to evaluate market opportunities, shape your business model and financial plan, and connect with customers through your value proposition.

Brief course description

This course will combine presentation of Creativity and Innovation techniques with interactive, hands-on application of those techniques in a context that is directly relevant to business. The course provides delegates with tools, techniques and knowledge that they will be able to use in their own roles to generate commercial benefits for the business through winning work and building client relationships. 

Using proven, contemporary innovation frameworks the day will introduce delegates to key innovation concepts and provide delegates with the opportunity to apply them to their own organisation and roles.

This course explores a number of the key innovation process models and provides delegates with an action plan to bring ideas for innovation to life and from there to monetisation and achieving broader outcomes.

Course content

This cutting-edge course explores the process of innovation from beginning to end, starting with external trends, changes, opportunities and challenges that are likely to impact the organisation in the near to medium term. The course then examines how to assess an organisation’s vision, business models and commercial strategy in the light of the external analysis. Finally, there will be an opportunity for creating an “Innovation Blueprint” and learning how to take an idea from concept to practical opportunity and implementation.

The following topics are covered in this in-depth course:

• Horizon Scanning
• Strategic Space Mapping and influencer Mapping
• Risk and Opportunity Analysis
• Creating a canvas for the current and target business model
• Types of innovation – incremental, differential, disruptive – definitions, risks and benefits
• Innovation scoping, innovation prioritisation, and innovation process models – design thinking, user experience, and customer design sprints
• From idea to monetization – the innovation process and filter
• From idea to broader outcomes – creative outputs and values-driven, audience impact 
• Creating an innovation business case for effective decision-making

Brief course description

Increasingly coaching is seen as a necessary management skill. In the current environment, coaching is a key strategy to facilitate change with individuals and teams, and by focussing on empowerment, it is helping leaders to strengthen trust within their teams. Coaching encourages colleagues to reflect, learn from experience, and develop their own decision-making ability. Over the past 12 months it has proven to be instrumental in enabling leadership of remote workers and teams under incredibly challenging circumstances.

Organisations adopting a coaching approach cite tangible business benefits including increased productivity, better morale and reduced absences.

This short, high impact programme has been designed to give managers at any level an insight into the benefits of the coaching approach and to introduce some of the core skills, behaviours, tools and techniques required to be a safe and effective coach.

Course content

This highly interactive programme will help delegates to:

• Explore the differences between coaching, mentoring and counselling
• Identify the attributes of a good and bad coach
• Examine how to contract and agree ground rules for coaching
• Look at appropriate questioning techniques within the coaching relationship
• Consider when to coach to maximise impact
• Introduce a range of tools, techniques and models to support coaching practice
• Allow delegates to practice coaching in a safe and supportive environment

Brief course description

This course focuses on self-awareness and understanding, the cornerstone of successful leadership. Emotional intelligence, and the concept of behavioural agility. Simple but significant communication and interaction skills. 

The key leadership concepts including the concept of marginal gains. Delegates will gain an understanding of their own behaviours at work and so start the process of focusing and excelling accordingly. Delegates will also broaden their understanding of how others operate at work, and gain insight into how to drive high performance within their teams.

Course content

The course will cover techniques and models to help delegates to:

• Demonstrate confidence in managing, coaching and developing their teams and individual colleagues
• Demonstrate leadership skill, presence, and self-awareness in senior positions
• Understand own working preferences, strengths and weaknesses, and how to most effectively utilise strengths
• Consider own underpinning motivations, values and belief around self and others, and how these personal factors influence own leadership approach
• Demonstrate with certainty and clarity, the connection between accountability, visible leadership behaviour, and a high performing team culture
• Analyse the role of Emotional Intelligence in leading, motivating and engaging with a diverse range of colleagues
• Manage conflict effectively, applying the principles of Transactional Analysis to effective communication and conflict management

Brief course description

This session provides team members with the self-awareness and skills needed to lead remote teams and to collaborate with team members and people from other business functions remotely.

This programme is designed to level up performance through an insightful, pragmatic and relatable understanding of the importance of collaboration.

It takes a realistic, human view of how collaboration can feel and work in business, and is packed with actionable approaches that colleagues will be able to use the second they leave the workshop session.

Course content

The session includes:

• The difference between co-operation and collaboration
• Why collaboration matters – the multiplier effect on  performance
• How to build successful collaborative relationships in an online environment
• The principles of successful collaboration
• What to do when collaboration gets tough, why it’s more important than ever to keep collaborating through it and how to do it

Brief course description

This session will help leaders to understand the impact of mental health and wellbeing on organisational performance. The course aims to help delegates with an understanding of emotional and mental health and an understanding of stress on the human body. Review wellbeing initiatives and understand how to create and sustain a positive culture of mental health and wellbeing.

Course content

This interactive session explores the definition of mental health and wellbeing as well as exploring some of the common signs of low mental wellbeing to look out for in your team.

The session then delves into a number of practical tools, and, resources that managers can use with their team members to improve mental wellbeing during times of extreme change.

This course will equip leaders and managers to:

• Identify and manage negative thinking styles in themselves and their team
• Focus their attention on areas that are within their control and influence and teach members of their team to do the same
• Assess current levels of self-care and examine how they can increase it
• Reframe situations to benefit your mental health
• Bring these skills back to the workplace, enabling their team to examine and work towards improving and safe-guarding their wellbeing

Brief course description

Change is now part of everyday life, and can create a feeling of uncertainty, potentially increasing pressure and stresses both in and out of the workplace. How individuals view and manage this will impact on both their performance and wellbeing.

The good news is that resilience can be learnt and developed. This highly interactive and experiential workshop looks at the current idea of individual resilience and its application. What are the factors that create resilience and how does each of these relate to the participant?

Through a series of activities, supported by theory, the workshop will deliver practical steps to understanding and building your own individual resilience.

By the end of the course, delegates should be able to:

• Define and understand personal resilience
• Know what factors affect their resilience
• Be able to deploy strategies to build their own resilience

Course content

This one-day workshop covers the following topics:

• Definition of personal resilience
• Personal stressors and our relationship with them
• Growth mindset – what it is and how to develop it
• Faulty thinking – how we create challenge for ourselves
• Self-assessment of own resilience
• Strategies to develop our own resilience
• Action planning

Brief course description

A one-day programme to support new or established managers to inspire, communicate effectively and develop their teams.

Delegates attending this course will be able to:

• Maximise their strengths and impact as a leader of people
• Communicate effectively with their team, on a one-to-one basis and as a group
• Get the most from their team
• Give useful feedback which makes a difference to their team performance

Course content

Team Leader Skills

• Explore the core skills, attributes and behaviours of an effective team leader
• Examine your own strengths and consider how you can maximise your positive impact before considering any areas for personal development

Effective Communication Skills

• Core skills in communication including appropriate use of language, neurological levels of communication and a range of tools and techniques for ensuring your message is clearly received and understood
• Explore team briefing as a core management tool and develops skills to make the briefing process fun, engaging, motivational and beneficial to all

Staff Development 

• Explores the leader’s role in supporting and developing staff members
• Appraise a range of leadership models and undertake exercises designed to develop your skills in this area
• Consider the need for effective performance management regimes and meaningful appraisal processes
• Undertake practical exercises designed to help managers have difficult conversations and give meaningful feedback

Brief course description

A course focusing on applying the underpinning principles of lean and continuous improvement to significantly reduce time wastage. This course allows delegates to:

• Consider the benefits of single tasking over multitasking.
• Apply the principles of intentionality to their working week.
• Enhance their ability to develop trust and delegate more effectively, using simple principles from applied psychology.

This course also helps to demonstrate how to work more efficiently, and at a higher standard by applying the principles taught during the workshop.

Participants will work through an interactive exercise that will apply the principles of intentionality and reflective practice to their working week. We will then examine the related issue of peer to peer, downwards and upwards delegation, which is difficult because it is contingent upon trust. We will discuss some simple but highly effective applied psychology tools and leadership theory that will help participants to think differently about how they self-manage, prioritise, negotiate, and delegate. For leaders, the methods discussed will encourage teaching and coaching to sharpen the skills and enhance the knowledge of their colleagues.

The concepts drawn upon in this short, practical, high impact course are supported by a range of Agile and Continuous Improvement principles that not only improve our relationship with time, but lead to improved outcomes and higher levels of personal fulfilment.

Course content

Part 1: Introduction, and Continuous Improvement

We will begin with a continuous improvement focussed ‘team challenge’, where participants will be asked to improve a process, using Rolf’s cycle (below), to reduce the time it takes to complete a task.

This will be a fun and relevant ice breaker that will relax delegates and create a reflective In the review, this will be discussed within the context of lean, and how we reduce wasteful practices to improve process and save time.

Participants will be asked to identify where they are currently inefficient, or wasting time, and reflect on how the lessons learned might be applied to their own situation.

Part 2: Intentionality

Many studies have shown that multi-tasking is a highly inefficient way of working for most people (Stulberg and Magness – Peak Performance). Intentionality involves single tasking; the discipline of organising one’s day to focus, without distraction, on one task at a time.

This method, supported by reflective practice, has been shown to significantly enhance productivity and quality of work. Participants will work through an interactive exercise that will apply the principles of intentionality and reflective practice to their working week.

Part 3: Delegation

Delegation is difficult because it is contingent upon trust. We will discuss some simple but highly effective applied psychology tools (Transactional Analysis / The Chimp Paradox) that will help participants to think differently about how they work and how they delegate.

Once we have set the conditions for effective delegation, we will use the Eisenhower matrix as a coaching tool to support participants in organise their time, and use all available resources, more effectively.

Brief course description

This session provides team members with the self-awareness and skills needed to level up their personal impact when speaking, leading or influencing in online sessions.

Virtual Presence is a game changing experience for leaders and influencers who work with remote teams. Through self-awareness and often a few simple adjustments to their online impact, leaders and influencers will feel more confident, become more effective and make more positive progress in the organisation.

Course content

Topics covered include:

• Advanced emotional intelligence for virtual environments
• Influencing skills
• Key strategies, tools and techniques to achieve and maintain high levels of trust, engagement and influence to get more done, whilst taking others on the journey