Enhance your managerial skills and competencies with training programs designed to improve decision-making, communication, and team management.
There are so many complications and mistakes that can distort our modern-day communication, yet the words we use are not always the instigator of the conflict. Sometimes a simple look or the wrongly assumed tone can cause an unexpected reaction. Here are five common mistakes we make in communication – try to consider how you […]
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 […]
In fact, many questions! One key role of a leader is to help those around you to be the best they can be. To empower people, they need the skill and the will to do their jobs. What happens when someone has the will, but the skill level is lacking? They need some learning and […]
One of the most interesting roles of the manager is the opportunity to build an engaged, motivated team. Too often we rely on successes and wins to energise or revitalise the workplace spirit. The most dangerous attitude in the business world must be apathy, providing a constant threat to efficiency, productivity and ultimately profitability. Though […]
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 […]
Have you returned to the office yet or are you still working from home? Maybe you work in HR or are a manager planning your company strategy to return to the office now that lockdown restrictions have been partially or fully lifted? Whatever your position, the journey back to office working is a complicated one. […]
There has never been a time like it in history, where the explosion of corporate expansion has led to the constant need for great leaders. Where companies have grown in size to match the economies of a small country, the prize of a truly great leader has never been so important nor so highly rewarded. […]
While some staff are starting to return to the office, many organisations such as tech giants Google and Facebook are allowing their staff to work from home until the end of the year. Others such as Goldman Sachs may allow 50% of their staff to work from home forever! But how do you keep teams […]
Delegation: dishing out the jobs, assigning people to tasks, entrusting a task to someone else for which you remain accountable. If done regularly and correctly, delegation can be a beneficial process for all concerned. A manager can empower their team, make them feel trusted and valued, and free up their own time to get other […]
What’s really causing the problem? You solved a problem at work – well done you! But, a few days or weeks later, the problem rears its ugly head again – how? Turns out your time and efforts were misplaced, and what you thought was the problem was in fact merely a symptom or knock-on effect […]
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. […]
After months of remote working, we are probably all familiar with (and tired of!) the many mistakes people make during virtual meetings. From sudden interruptions from children or pets, to awkward clothing mishaps, it feels like we’ve seen it all. But how do we avoid making these embarrassing blunders ourselves?! Ensure you don’t become the […]
Feedback is important, but as the saying goes “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” If you give feedback the wrong way, especially virtually, it can negatively impact your relationships at work to devastating effect! This blog will help you structure and deliver feedback more efficiently and effectively while working virtually, whether […]
Due to COVID-19 a huge number of people are now working remotely. In this new reality, it is becoming a significant challenge to build trust and ensure remote teams work both efficiently and productively together. If you are wondering how to build trust when you can’t even see your fellow colleagues, this article will explore […]
World leaders across the globe have recently chaired their first ever digital government meetings. Many Managers and employees are also leading and taking part in virtual meetings via apps such as Zoom, Teams, Skype or GoToMeeting. A number of staff might be doing this for the first time or the first time in a long […]
(Updated October 2022) It’s approaching 3 years since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic and in this blog originally written back in 2020 you can find some super useful tips should you find yourself managing remote or hybrid based teams. Do you want to support your team, maintain productivity and drive business performance during […]
But What Do I Actually Say? Giving Effective Feedback At work, people are supposed to be busy – setting some effective goals should help to ensure that! So, your staff members are getting on with their jobs – do you think they would like to know how they are getting on? How about providing some […]
As a business leader there are so many intricate tangents and sideshows that can divert your attention from the art of managing your business. Make no mistake the details are important they are the finesse to the standards you have carefully shaped and polished to assemble your brand into its best light. Yet sometimes we […]
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; […]
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 […]
helping with that vital step up into management As part of our Public Schedule portfolio, STL offers our Introduction to Management Course (part of 2 day and 1 day management training courses) to a wide range of organisations, from IT and Banking to Sporting Facilities and TV Stations. Their HR/Learning and Development departments select this […]
In fact, many questions! One key role of a leader is to help those around you to be the best they can be. To empower people, they need the skill and the will to do their jobs. What happens when someone has the will, but the skill level is lacking? They need some learning and […]
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 […]
Effective Communication Skills. 3 tips to address Conflict We usually don’t chose who we work with and conflict can occur in the workplace due to differences in personality, culture and working style. The ability to deal with conflict is a critical soft skill for Managers and staff of all levels to ensure teams work productively, […]
How we help organisations improve team performance As part of our portfolio of management training courses, STL offers a Team Performance Management Course to a wide range of organisations, from IT and Banking to Sporting Facilities and TV Stations. Their HR/Learning and Development departments select this course because they have identified a clear need within their […]
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 […]
Did you know that in a recent survey conducted by a leading British University, Organisational Skills came out as the 3rd most important skill sought by employers in the UK? Organisational training skills are amongst the most transferable and valuable in any marketplace and they allow professionals to plan, prioritise and achieve as part of […]
Introduction: One of our most precious commodities is ‘time’. We often find ourselves believing that we don’t have enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks we have. This post examines this mindset and provides three tips for better time management; how to prioritise effectively in order to achieve what’s important whilst learning […]
When interviewing candidates, we tend to follow a tried and tested recruitment pattern rather than recruiting based on attitudes and personality. We look for the person with the closest match to the skills and experience to the job description. We could broaden our perspective on how we recruit people, by looking at the approach that […]
Delegating tasks successfully frees up valuable time for you time, helps you to develop your people, enables your to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, and motivates members to perform. Poor delegation or a lack of it can slow work down, demotivate your team and cause negative conflict. Here are 4 Habits for Successful Delegation […]
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 […]
Finance for Non-Financial Managers is a popular training course for professionals of all levels that need to improve their financial acumen and improve their ability to interpret a company’s financial statements and use this information to make sound business decisions. It’s the nature of finance that invariably there will be spreadsheets involved. If you need […]
Case Study: Change Management “I don’t know how to tell my team to change” and “I don’t know how to implement change with my team” were both comments on a recent Change Management training course at STL By the end of the day they were much more positive and confident. What helped? As often happens […]
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 […]
I don’t need this, do I? Did you know that you can improve your memory with mind-mapping? And why would you? Sometimes we can’t remember what we went into the bedroom for, the name of the person who we’ve known for years in the supermarket, or some dates we set aside for meeting with people […]
Company Profile Delegates on the Conducting Successful Meetings Course run by STL mainly hold key stakeholder positions, in addition to management, team leadership and director-level posts. They came from a variety of different industries including accounting, banking, pharma, a sporting goods manufacturer and tech. Business Requirement Many of the companies that sent delegates on ‘Conducting […]
When our teams and departments need to make efficient decisions, it can be challenging. Decision-making is compounded by complexity, political interests and conflicting personalities. With more at stake, productivity can slow down and consensus can seem a long way off. Positions harden, alliances form and people compete as discussions move in opposite directions. Below are […]
Performance Management In this post we will provide a definition for Performance Management and guidance as to how to ensure it is used effectively. What is Performance Management? “A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such it establishes a shared […]
What is Management? As you might expect a simple Google search brings up many definitions to help answer the question, ‘What is Management?’. For the purposes of this post, we’re going to focus on the one below. It’s a good one and one of the most widely quoted. “Management is the art of getting things […]
One of our most precious commodities is ‘time’. We often find ourselves believing that we don’t have enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks we have. This post examines this mindset and provides some tips as to how to prioritise effectively in order to achieve what’s important whilst learning to identify, and […]
Project management requires adaptability and creative thinking. You have to problem-solve on the fly and will find yourself trying to keep many plates in the air throughout the day. Despite this turbulence, there are still Do’s and Don’t’s that should inform your workplace decisions. You need to balance the ability to be flexible with the […]