Explore a wide range of software applications, including their features, benefits, and best practices for maximising their potential in various business and personal contexts.
What is Power BI? Perhaps you have heard it said that everybody should be using Power BI. But what is it, exactly? Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors. These work together to turn unrelated data sources into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. The application consists of several elements that […]
The nature of nerves Several years ago, a survey was conducted to identify the top 10 public fears. What came in at number one? Public speaking! Apparently, the scariest thing we can do in our lives is stand in front of people and speak. What is the secret to successful presentations? Why the fear factor? […]
In this post we’ll look at the essentials for any Train the Trainer course or programme. What should be included, how and why… Why bother with a Train the Trainer? Many people think that anybody can be a Trainer, it’s just a matter of getting up there and doing it. Of course, that’s not the […]
Changing to Office 365 Office 365 has more applications, as well as faster and more collaborative ways to work and communicate than ever before. There are both online and desktop versions available for most of the apps. Office 365 also offers amazing new tools and features. Are you upgrading to Office 365 but finding that […]
How to Build Rapport When you are trying to develop rapport with others, make the Oxford Dictionary definition your mantra: “a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well”. What does it take to accelerate “close and harmonious” communication with those you want […]
Together Everyone Achieves More! 4 Stages of Team Development What’s a team? How about ‘a group of people working together to achieve a common goal or objective’? And if you like the definition, do you have a team? If the answer is no, then how do you get one? Questions, questions! Let’s look at some […]
How To Accept The Things We Cannot Change The ability to manage our own stress levels is a wonderful thing, but we need to approach it with realistic aims. It is extremely helpful to acknowledge straight away that some sources of stress in our lives are unavoidable – for example, economic downturns or the loss […]
The Secret to High Performing Teams: Do I have a High Performing Team? The aim of any manager should be to create an effective team, also known as an HPT (High Performing Team). After all, the performance of a team reflects upon whom? Technically, everyone, but the manager or leader of the team in particular! […]
If you read any book or article about what’s needed to be a great Leader, effective communication skills are key, particularly the ability to have great listening skills. In these tips to improve listening skills for better leadership, we will explore how listening mastery is one of the five key essentials in communication that every […]
We take many steps to ensure you have a productive and engaging learning experience in our online (virtual) classroom but we need you to check three simple areas on your IT setup before your training session. Contact us on 02079873777 or info@stl-training.co.uk if you need support with the below. Please note that if you are […]
A lot of people out there think that the story of Power BI is too good to be true. Here is a list of the reasons that we think you should consider Power BI as a self-service and/or Enterprise Business Intelligence Solution. It’s like the new Microsoft Microsoft have not been the best at listening […]
Throughout our careers, nothing will have any greater impact on us than change. For most, we enjoy the security of routine and the known boundaries in which we operate. Let’s begin to look at the 4 steps to managing change and dealing with uncertainty in a positive way. Change can have substantial effects across so […]
How do some people influence us so easily? They seem to effortlessly sway us into an agreement. Those razor-sharp, crystal cut people skills that acknowledge our importance and make us feel so special. You might call it the what’s-in-it-for-me clause that all great marketing and sales gurus just to seem to find in each of […]
For starters… We all know the basic prep needed… Research the company, the role and the person who will interview you. Refresh your CV and make sure it fits the role. Collect your interview suit from the cleaners and do a dry run travelling to the place of the interview. And don’t forget to set […]
We all love to chat. And yet being the lead in the conversation is not what makes it engaging. Having the passion to get to know someone and build a relationship is a great skill in leadership, and underlying all that natural enthusiasm is the ability to lead a conversation and discover the other person’s […]
How to Structure Your Presentations Efficiently Once you have decided on the purpose of your presentation and identified your audience, you need to prepare the structure and content in order to go from storyboard to creating a successful talk. Structuring can take time. You can get it done efficiently so you can maximise practice time […]
Real Strategy: 3 Case Studies. Strategy confuses most people. Perhaps that’s why there are a lot of confusing articles out there in cyberspace, championing “killer” strategies that, in fact, do doing nothing more than list taglines or explain successful tactics. STL takes a look at three strategies that will demystify strategy and inspire your leadership. […]
This blog will help you to successfully handle tough questions during your presentation. How do you respond to unexpected/challenging questions? A fearful scenario You’ve prepared fully for your presentation and it’s flowing smoothly as planned, with the audience hanging on every word. Suddenly, out of the blue, someone interrupts you with a comment or question, […]
With the Analytics Pane in Power BI, you can quickly and easily make dynamic reference lines, which can be extremely helpful when analysing data and making key business decisions. From simple trend lines to more complex forecast lines, there are so many options to choose from! First, find the analytics pane by going to the […]
Are you getting the best out of your OneDrive for Business? With storage of more than 1TB per user, OneDrive provides a fantastic cloud service to work with your documents and images. Read these tips to learn how to maximise your use of this amazing application! Add Content Quickly You can easily create new documents […]
Emails, emails and more emails – we’re bombarded by them almost constantly! We waste so much effort in Outlook taking time to read, time to organise, time to process and time to action. Follow the quick steps below to embrace some of the fantastic features of Microsoft Outlook and learn to manage your email time […]
If you’re working from home and not using MS Teams to co-ordinate your efforts, you’re possibly not being as productive as you could be. In this article learn more about Microsoft Teams and how this super-app could save you and your team not just time, but also probably a few headaches too! 1. Improve your […]
Why use What if? Have you ever wanted to quickly demonstrate how your data changes in different scenarios? The What if parameter in Power BI is a powerful tool that allows you to do just this, by dynamically transforming your data. For example, maybe you want to know how much your profits will increase if […]
I can use What If analysis, how can I make this even better? In Part 1 we learnt how to create a simple What if parameter in Power BI. However, you will have more options for analysing your data if you create the parameter tables yourself. This lets you not only work with nonlinear incremental […]
Employees in the UK are struggling to deal with a major IT skills gap, with the average UK office worker spending more than half an hour a day struggling to figure out how to work their tech or IT systems. For most office workers in the United Kingdom, dealing with things like spreadsheets, presentations and […]
At time we are all faced with people who are displaying anger and aggressive behaviour. It can be, at best, uncomfortable and, at worst frightening and potentially dangerous. In Ten Tips for Managing Anger and Aggressive Behaviour, we’ll look at ten things that can be done when confronted with this type of behaviour to minimise […]
What is negotiation? And when is the right time to walk away? Ideally, negotiation should be a discussion to achieve the best deal for both parties by working towards a Win-Win result and subsequently maintaining a long-term trusting relationship. However, have you ever regretted paying so much more than you intended for goods or services; […]
There’s a reason why firms spend millions investing in data sets or in curating their own data recovery and organisation methods. Maximising the use of collected business data is an important proofing system required at every stage of your decision-making process . Statistics and an informed look at results will always be your friends. If […]
How to Handle Questions Confidently How do you top off a successful presentation? You need to ensure your audience goes away not only feeling informed but impressed and won over. The end of your presentation gives audience members a window to engage with you and ask questions. For you, this is an opportunity to restate […]
When it comes to bringing a team together and giving them the same ambition, goal setting can be a powerful tool to sketch out time frames, responsibilities, the how and why, as well as the mechanism to measure success. Yet it is more than just scrawling out notes with headings and getting it agreed and […]
How to Deal with Mr. Angry You know Mr Angry, don’t you? The person who doesn’t respect the needs, opinions and feelings of others. The person who never apologises for things, even when they are at fault. The person who seems to take great satisfaction in being right (and making you look bad). Often rude […]
Everyone talks about leaders needing to have a clear direction, a company vision, compelling goals don’t they – but what if these things were overrated and/or not the only answer? Here’s more – what if these sorts of leadership and management books were wrong, and something else was needed to get your team on board […]
Getting The Work Done Willingly And Well! Practical ways to motivate Motivation: the art of getting people to do what you want them to do, because they want to do it. Sounds good? Dwight D. Eisenhower certainly thought so – he said it! Let’s talk about motivation – what can a manager do to motivate […]
While in-house training is an essential part of managing and improving your team, it’s also true that there are practical skills they need you cannot train or provide. It might be that helping your team adapt to the latest practical thinking in their industry, finding a cohesive business consultancy approach dedicated to squeezing productivity out […]
OneDrive for Business is a place where you can store, share and sync your work files. It is an amazing way to make your digital life more efficient and productive, with very little effort. Your files can be updated from any device with OneDrive for Business installed, and OneDrive also allows you to work on […]
BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND ASSERTIVENESS AT WORK: Wikipedia describes confidence as “a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective.” The Latin word from which confidence derives (fidere) means “to trust”, either in oneself or someone in whom you […]
A lot of people out there think that the story of Power BI is too good to be true. Here is a list of the reasons that wE think you should consider Power BI as a self-service and/or Enterprise Business Intelligence Solution. Power BI has mobile apps Microsoft have released mobile applications that are […]
New Managers need to learn and develop certain skills if they are to be successful when leading others and to ensure they help nurture improved productivity, efficiency and performance from their team. Attending an Introduction to Management training course (part of our management training courses London) would be a useful method to up-skill new Managers […]
The ability to give and receive feedback effectively is an extremely important skill for any Manager or Leader. This article will focus on 5 different ways Managers can give more effective feedback to their staff: Ask before giving feedback Some Managers are worried about offending their subordinates when giving feedback so they procrastinate feedback conversations […]
With so much at stake in corporate development, leadership is perhaps the single greatest key in finding the correct decision and then making it count. Here are four principles to help you develop a strong leadership presence and authority. Planning – Finding all the information required can be a challenging process however the best guide […]
The flexible back-and-forth pattern of text conversations is at odds with the literal, efficient and measured approach most professionals have come to expect from business writing in the workplace. Email writing requires a bottom line, results oriented approach. Here are 4 Tips for Powerful Emails which will turbo-charge your productivity and write emails for results. […]
What is the STAR? The STAR technique is a process that helps you to respond efficiently and effectively to those tricky interview questions that ask you to reflect on your experience. It will help you to ace every interview. These types of questions will often begin, “Tell me…?”, “Describe a situation…?” or “Give me an […]
Four Key Interpersonal Skills for Better Relationships The nicest people in our lives have interpersonal skills in abundance. They are attributes that make the toughest requests reasonable, the toughest situations bearable and the scary challenges that we face seem exciting. Below we look at four of the most powerful interpersonal skills for high performing teams […]
Even with the best of intentions on both sides, negotiations can stall as we have seen in recent times with the spluttering Brexit negotiations. Sometimes there are sticking points that initially seem impossible to overcome. There are advanced strategies, however, that high performing negotiators can use to problem solve and get around these roadblocks. The […]
Counterproductive emotions can affect decision-making, performance, and profitability in an organisation. Emotional Intelligence at work means being able to build powerful and trusting relationships with colleagues whilst enjoying greater confidence and security. Using ‘Emotional Intelligence at work’ to Understand Ourselves Before we can work better with others, Emotional Intelligence requires us to look within and […]
5 Tips to “Wow” Your Audience As a presenter, your goal should be to engage your audience, keep their attention and get them to take action or agree with your point of view. You are most likely to keep the audience’s attention if you remember that you – not your props or slides – are […]
For many years, Microsoft Excel has been the tried and tested reporting tool for many businesses. In 2019. more and more organisations are turning to Power BI as an alternative with its strong analytics and reporting functions. With faster visualisations, statistical functions and calculations across broad datasets, it’s obvious that Power BI can […]
Having the right business intelligence at your fingertips is crucial in the drive to become agile and competitive. As businesses grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage data being generated regularly. With a siloing effect and biased reporting structures, it leads to the decision makers in business to make their judgement on data that may […]
Moving to Office 365 and migrating your desktop to the Microsoft Cloud is nearly always a move in a positive direction for any business. There are more applications available, faster and more collaborative ways to work and communicate, slicker and easily accessible portals but has anyone spared a thought for the end user? They must […]
Our FEBUARY Power BI blog had some great insights and tips into creating power bi tooltips – so what else is new for Power BI? Python Visuals In February 2019, Microsoft have announced an update of Power BI where you can now share, publish and view Python visuals in your reports and dashboards. This update […]