Posts Tagged ‘Management Development’

Negotiation – a key management skill

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Negotiation is a key skill. Most of us practice negotiation almost every day whether it be in agreeing the time our children should come home, selling or trading in our car or ‘haggling’ in a marketplace on holiday. In the main we use our skills and the processes of negotiation sub-consciously.
Negotiation is an interactive communication process that takes place whenever we want something from someone else or another person wants something from us. By developing negotiation techniques we can enhance our effectiveness, i.e. achieve what we aim to achieve more often. Through negotiation training we can also improve our inter-personal and communication skills.
We are running a two day programme called “negotiation – raising your game’ in Edinburgh in September.
By the end of the workshop participants will;
• understand the basic negotiating concepts underlying all negotiations.
• develop an understanding of total package negotiation using an analytical model, casework and exercises
• analyse, experience and learn to manage the team roles in the negotiating process.
• develop and practice the use of skills required in successful negotiations

Skills and techniques are developed by working through real life case studies. Participants have the benefit of getting feedback on areas of strength and opportunities for improvement from the programme leader, other participants and can self review through watching a video of their negotiation practice.
Please get in touch if you would like more information.

Management development and leadership development

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

ARE THEY WORTH THE MONEY?

I have just had a really interesting discussion with one of my colleagues about the value of management development and leadership development in times of eceonomic turmoil.

It has long been recognised that security and as a result possibly job security is a hygiene factor. A basic need that we, as human beings, all have. Due to the recent economic downturn there are many, many people who fear that they will lose their jobs. As a result of job insecurity the fundamental trust relationship between employer and employee and the engagement the employee has with the business may be de-stabilised. If you accept this hypothesis then nothing the manager or leader do will change and the ultimate impact is on performance.

You can imagine that I don’t accept this view. You may be familiar with the saying that ‘people join a company but leave their manager’. I believe the same to be true in this case. Even in times of uncertainty for the organisation managers’ and leaders’ have a key role in creating trust and developing the environment for all employees to perform to their full potential. In supporting everyone to give of their best should help the business through difficult times.

I believe that management development, leadership development and business coaching are even more critical right now in helping leaders and managers to improve individual and business performance. Our world of work has cahnged and will inevitable evolve further managers and leaders will always play a key role in helping their team navigate change.

Kim

Transfer learning for better results

Monday, July 27th, 2009

One of the good things, I think, that has come from the credit crunch is an increase in the popularity of business coaching. I’ve spoken to a few of our clients to try to understand why they are choosing to invest more in coaching now when spending is often reigned in and most state that it’s because 100% of development activity is focused upon the individual client and delivers results for them as well as their business.

The current economic climate has required many businesses to change – often requiring them to deliver the same or better results with less resource. Many of our clients have given very positive feedback about the value of exploring different approaches and scenarios as well as planning how they will implement their response to confidential issues.

Sustainability is really important to us at The Advance Consultancy and although it sometimes goes un-noticed I think that the coach plays a vital part in helping the individual learn new tools and frameworks to shape their thinking, visioning and planning in a way that increases creativity and gives courage to take appropriate risks.

It’s great that today’s business leaders are realising that coaching is a very effective process for increasing skills and effectiveness within the workplace and delivering results.

Kim

Organisational Culture – it could be affecting the success of your business?

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Welcome to my new blog where I aim to stimulate some interesting discussion and debate around leadership development, management development and business coaching in general.  I’m going to kick off with Organisational Culture as this is something we’ve been heavily involved with over the last few weeks.

First things first, why would a business want to assess its organisational culture?  Well, typically the businesses that come to us have recently undergone a period of change and are now trying to refocus on the behaviours and culture that will drive success into their new structure: there is a massive amount of research indicating that successful businesses consciously manage their desired culture.

Although this is not a new concept in the business arena it does seem that many businesses leave their culture to chance. We firmly believe that there are many tangible benefits in terms of increasing employee engagement and alignment. There are some businesses that have demonstrated a close link between their culture and their business success.  Feel free to read an overview of our approach to Organisational Culture on our website. In the coming months, as we progress our assignments we will be adding case studies of the work that we do and also feedback from our clients.

In the meantime, I am looking for case studies of businesses and leaders who actively manage their corporate culture if you can help please post a comment with a link to your research or contact me directly through the website .I hope to be able to analyse these (alongside our own experiences) and write a summary report. I will happily send anyone who contributes a copy of our report. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks

Kim,

The Advance Consultancy

The Advance Consultancy – Leadership Development, Management Development & Business Coaching

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Welcome to the blog!  Please bookmark it in your favourites if you are interested in the latest updates from the world of leadership and management development.  I’ll also be updating everyone on business coaching news and the dates for our next human resource networking events.

If there are any other bloggers who would like to link up, please leave your URL in the comments section and I’ll add you to the blogroll.

Kim, The Advance Consultancy