Is this You?

You need your team to work together, use initiative and get results fast – especially when things are tight BUT…

• You don’t have a big training budget to waste
• You’re sick of people using HR speak… jargon words like “organizational alignment”, “balanced scorecard”, “robust engagement strategy,” “corporate culture” “competency management”, “talent management”, “emotional intelligence,” “work/life balance”, “empowerment”……. I could go on! (Do people in HR and consultancy spout words like this as it makes them look as if they know what they are talking about?) We prefer to talk about things that can be measured – “skills”, “results”, “actions”, “profit,” “share price”, “ROI” and “market share”
• You can’t justify sending people away on courses
• You don’t want to pay for expensive visits from executive coaches
• Every pound, dollar or euro spent has to make an impact

We offer a refreshing solution!

Big Difference Consulting offers a new, refreshing approach to getting your people working together, moving in the right direction. It’s fast and low-cost. And it works just as well for a small business as it does for large blue chip organisations.

What we offer is High Performance Coaching – in person,  by phone or using  SKYPE. This means:

It’s available from your own premises at times to suit you – wherever you are in the world!

You don’t have to send people away from work – so there is no disruption.

Costs are kept down

We also give you a number of unique FREE EXTRAS:

How We Work

We talk with you first to agree the areas on which coaching will focus for you and your team, and agree overall objectives. (We don’t charge for that.)

In the first one-to-one coaching session, we help each team member identify what they need to get from coaching – their coaching objectives. We conduct six one hour coaching sessions by phone or SKYPE at three week intervals. During each session the team member works on his/her issues and agrees to carry out specific actions before the next session.

Following each session, we send each team member a written confidential summary. We also:

Email team members FREE learning materials that will help them achieve their goals

Refer team members to FREE online learning resources

Recommend other learning references

Invite team members to take part in FREE online webinars – 30 minute online discussions that focus on particular issues that may be useful for them at work.

In addition we provide FREE unlimited email support. Each team member may email us regarding issues they are working on and will be guaranteed a reply within 48 hours.

Most people enjoy the whole process – they feel inspired, enlightened and motivated to make changes that produce results at work and for themselves.

It’s confidential

What happens in a coaching session is completely confidential. We provide you, the sponsor, with a report at the end of the programme summarising the progress team members have made towards meeting their objectives with recommendations for future development.

What really makes the Big Difference?

Yes, our coaching team are all highly qualified and experienced NLP certified executive coaches. They are also accredited users of personality profiling tools such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs), Firo-B and Belbin. What really makes the difference though is that they have many years of experience in delivering results in a wide range of organisations across the world. This means that they can do much more than just coach. By drawing on their experience of what has worked in other organisations, they can shorten learning time and help people produce dramatic results quicker.

How to boost your team performance even more quickly!

Using short team training bites…. at your premises. Why waste time and money sending people on courses?

Most of our clients have found that supplementing one-to-one coaching with short, intensive, tailored training bites is a good way to turn the team’s performance around even quicker. We find that within a couple of training bites, teams start working together in amazing new ways. Things that may have seemed impossible a few days ago now start happening. People come alive and start applying their brains to driving their departments and your organisation forward.

We deliver each 3 hour tailored training bite for your team at your premises. This is how we work:

Our training bites are practical, highly-interactive, fast-moving and challenging. They are tailored to focus on the real problems and issues you and your team face.

And the beauty of them is that they are delivered at your premises, at a time of your choosing. Which means you don’t have to send people away from work, and the costs are kept down.

Good coaching is powerful and produces amazing changes in the way individuals and teams work. Click here to read what CIPD concluded in its survey “Does coaching work?”

Results

The average improvement across all measured criteria was 22.7%. The most dramatic improvements were in Inter-team relationships, Meetings, Innovation, Training and development and Objectives which all scored an improvement of a 33% or over.  Procedures and organisation, Information, Leadership, Communications and Relationship with clients all showed considerable improvements of between 20 and 27%, closely followed by Planning at 17.5%. Productivity and Quality also showed improvements, although at a lower level.

Contact us for a quotation.

To get everyone pulling together in the right way, a skilled facilitator can be invaluable. We provide highly-skilled facilitation services to a range of organisations in this country and abroad, helping teams formulate objectives, launch new initiatives and implement new ways of working. Skilled facilitation is also invaluable to obtain public reaction to new services and initiatives.

Camden PCT – Public Reaction to the NHS Constitution

Big Difference consultant Howard Exton-Smith has facilitated nearly 30 deliberative research events on a range of health and social care issues at Department of Health, National NHS, SHA and PCT levels, so he has a good grasp of their respective interests and responsibilities.

Howard designed and led a series of events to explore the reactions of residents of the London Borough of Camden to the proposed NHS Constitution. (The purpose of the Constitution is to safeguard the core principles and values of the NHS and clarify rights and responsibilities of staff and patients.) Howard developed questionnaires, prompts, timings and support materials and briefed a team of facilitators.

The facilitators guided the discussion and recorded the feedback on computer-based templates which were later analysed to produce the Final Report submitted to the Department of Health.

Post-event evaluations indicated high rates of engagement and satisfaction with the management of the consultation.

Berkshire East PCT – Launch of Staying Healthy

Big Difference was commissioned to design and facilitate a workshop to raise awareness and create engagement for Berkshire East PCT’s Staying Healthy initiative. Staying Healthy aims to reduce hospital admissions through a wide range of health promotion and education activities.

Following detailed discussions with the Director of Public Health and her senior team, we designed the workshop format and produced pre-workshop activities, group work, presentations and materials. The highly interactive workshop was attended by a broad range of people, including GPs, nurse managers, project managers, public health specialists and commissioning managers.

The workshop succeeded in creating project work plans with milestones timelines, KPIs, structures and processes and individual action plans.

Comments from participants:

The workshop enabled thinking out of the box and defined more positive ways of working and thinking

It broadened partnership working

Delivered a much better and clearer understanding of the sub-projects and people priorities

Kept to time in a very acceptable manner. Well controlled

Good cross-fertilisation of ideas and ways to make them happen with measurable outcomes

Helped us get to know key people

The facilitator made it run very smoothly for us

It was useful to meet colleagues working on other public health projects

We worked up project plans, milestones and KPIs

The facilitator kept us to time

You’re in Charge^™ is a 4-day intensive residential learning event for 15 – 20 people offered at senior and middle manager levels. It is run both as an open and an in-company programme. It is led by three highly experienced training facilitators. 

What makes You’re in Charge™ unique?

Unlike conventional training courses in which everyone follows the same timetable whatever their skills and needs might be, You’re in Charge^™ allows each delegate to design and participate in their own unique learning programme. Each participant:

takes complete control of their personal development

prioritises what they need to work on, and

chooses the sessions they need to attend

Participants are able to:

• take time out for personal reflection and study using a wide range of learning tools, DVDs and books that we provide in a learning centre
• receive individual coaching, counselling and support
• complete personality profiles to increase their self-awareness

• work on personal breakthroughs in dealing with significant relationship and work-related issues
• experiment with new ideas, methods and approaches
• let go of outdated attitudes, working practices and ways of thinking
• plan how they are going to implement their new learning in the workplace

What areas does You’re in Charge™ cover?

Depending on participants’ needs, training covers areas such as:

Leadership, motivation and team development

Managing change

Blocks for Effectiveness

Interpersonal skills and assertiveness

Problem-solving, decision-making, creative thinking, planning & organising, time management

Strategic thinking

Presentation and facilitation

Influencing and persuading

Coaching and mentoring skills

Life planning

Customer Service

Oral and written communication

Achievement focus and continuous improvement

Corporateness

Developing people, performance management, training, coaching and mentoring skills

Responsibility & integrity

Networking skills

Tough conversations

Trust and credibility

Managing conflict

How does it work?

The You’re in Charge^™ 4-day intensive residential learning event is delivered by three highly-experienced training consultants at a venue of your choice.

Before attending the event, participants undertake a 360 degree performance feedback diagnostic at their place of work.

On the first day we work with each participant to design a unique programme tailored to meet their individual learning needs. The rest of the programme comprises a combination of learning seminars, individual study, Support and Challenge Groups and personality profiling.

Activities and learning continue into the evenings throughout the event.

On the final day of the event delegates produce detailed action plans.

Style

You’re in Charge^™ is practical, highly-interactive, fast-moving and challenging.

All discussion is focused on people’s experiences at work. Dealing with their real problems and issues, they will be encouraged to think about insights they are gaining, and how they can apply them at work.

During each session participants will be encouraged to think about improvements in the way their organisation operates.

Each delegate  receives a folder of handouts and learning materials to take away with them at the end of the event

How You’re in Charge™ fits in

You’re in Charge^™ can be used as a stand alone training event or as part of an integrated development process. It can be invaluable for:

• promoting organisational change
• supporting the business strategy, and
• helping managers work on their personal learning goals

Helping participants implement what they have learned

You’re in Charge^™ incorporates a range of integration activities to help participants transfer their learning to the workplace. These include:

Individual coaching sessions

Personal action plans

Support and Challenge group meetings

Programme review workshops following the event

Participants are encouraged to identify activities, assignments and projects to help them tackle important organisational issues back at work.

Further follow-up, coaching, training and support can be offered.

Who has used it?

Organisations who use You’re in Charge^™ include:

STFC (Science & Technology Facilities Council)

Northern Rail

Euro Star

Argos

BSI (British Standards Institute)

CERN (Switzerland)

Somerfield

RCUK (Research Councils UK)

Kwik Save

What participants say about it

From day one after the You’re in Charge^™ course, I had a completely different attitude, one which I owned and I chose. This has made a HUGE and immediate difference both to my relationship with my Director (lots of positive feedback to this effect) and how I approach work/life in general

I am more structured in how I plan and prepare to deal with business and have changed my working environment to enable a greater focus to close out issues.

You’re in Charge^™ has had a huge impact on me and has continued to influence my chosen style in many aspects of my job. My monthly meetings with my team have improved. The most positive impact is around the whole area of time management.

My team see a more organised manager with a tidier desk who is delegating and empowering them a lot more.

The fundamental change that has occurred in my working life since the course is that I feel much more in control of my own destiny.

I have received plenty of positive feedback from my line manager who has commented on my improved communication and prioritisation of tasks.

My Support and Challenge Group have helped me immensely. I am much more confident at approaching people and generally networking with strangers.

Certainly I have gained confidence within certain meetings and my listening skills have improved.

Since the You’re in Charge^™ course I have looked more closely at the communication channels my team and I have with other parts of the business.

I do feel that You’re in Charge^™ has increased my confidence due to my new found ability to stop ‘making stories’ in my head about people

How much is it?

The cost per delegate compares very favourably with standard management training courses which do not offer the unique benefits of You’re in Charge^™. Please contact us for a quotation.

The underperformance of middle managers is an issue – for senior management.

If senior managers are going to be able to drive change down through the organisation and make the right, strategic decisions for its future direction, they need to be free from the pressures of day-to-day implementation. Implementing policy should be fairly and squarely the role of middle managers. In so many cases, however, that responsibility is passed back up the line to sit on the shoulders of senior management.

The effort that they need to exert getting alignment to the organisation’s aims and maintaining a consistent approach not only results in high stress levels for senior managers, but impedes their ability to manage strategically. They are forced to get involved in the nitty-gritty of policy implementation and in doing so, are prone to take their eye off the ball in terms of future planning – the effects on the organisation can be disastrous.

Middle managers in a squeeze

We often find that middle managers in an organisation see themselves as victims. They can be squeezed between the demands of their bosses and the demands of their team who work for them. So often they end up behaving as “messenger boys (or girls)” having to deliver to their teams unpopular instructions received from on high, absolving themselves of any personal responsibility in a vain attempt to gain “brownie” points with them. They are also prone to deliver messages up the line in which they absolve themselves of all responsibility for not achieving targets and pass the buck to their teams similarly in a vain attempt to gain “brownie” points with their bosses.

Middle managers’ strategy of avoiding responsibility, while being perfectly understandable, does not in fact garner much respect with their bosses. Similarly, passing the buck up the line for difficult decisions does not generate much credibility in the eyes of their team members. On the contrary, it tends to dilute their power and authority.

Senior managers need middle managers to be leaders

Senior managers need their middle managers to become true leaders. This entails their taking responsibility for organisational performance both UP and DOWN the line. Middle managers need to identify and align with the organisation’s goals and objectives and take ownership of them. And it is their responsibility to get everyone on board to achieve them.

Solutions that may not work particularly well

Senior management and HR and Training departments often think the solution is to send their middle managers on a course, or perhaps run a training programme in-house. While training can often be of value, we believe that learning skills out of context or in a vacuum is not the most effective course of action.

We believe an effective solution needs to meet these criteria:

The whole team be involved

Changing attitudes should be regarded as just as important as imparting new skills

The team needs to take responsibility for the design of the solution.

Senior management need to be involved

The focus needs to be on the real issues facing the team

Individual needs need to be addressed

The solution needs to more than produce abstract learning – it needs to produce actual, quantifiable results for the organisation quickly

What is FASTIMPROVE™?

FASTIMPROVE™ is a targeted development programme that produces impressive results quickly. The programme typically runs at our your premises over a five months period. It offers a carefully-structured combination of the following:

Intensive Group Training Sessions

One-to-one Coaching

Support and Challenge Groups

Meeting facilitation, job observation and diagnostics

Organisational Outcomes

Organisational Outcomes agreed with our clients include the following:

People dimension

More proactive approach to working

More taking personal responsibility

More and better decision-making

More motivated workforce

Greater sense of ownership

Higher energy levels

Reduced staff turnover

Staff challenging each other constructively

More open communication with consistency and clarity of messages

Less personal stress at work

More striving for improved performance

Improved cooperation between departments

More flexible management and workforce

Less risk averse attitudes

Less workplace stress

Increased job satisfaction

Fewer destructive conflict situations

Closer, more satisfying relationships within the organisation

External dimension

Enhanced relationships with stakeholders and contractors

Expanded horizons and ability to meet competitive pressures

Improved customer-focus

Better understanding of the environment in which the organisation operates

Performance and Quality dimension

Improved project quality

More creative solutions

More effective working

More efficient use of resources

Fewer errors and problems identified earlier

Reduced costs and higher profitability

Financial objectives met

Future dimension

Greater clarity on goals and objectives

Greater sense of organisational direction

Enhanced long range organisational performance

Greater understanding and acceptance of the need for change

The Nuts and Bolts

1. Intensive Group Training Sessions

We conduct short, intensive group training sessions – five ½ day sessions with a gap of about 4 weeks between each session. During the first session, we work with the team to decide the priority areas to address in the programme. We involve senior management in this process. Training inputs are tailored directly to the team’s needs and may include combinations of the following:

leadership, motivation, team building, change management

interpersonal skills, counselling and assertiveness

problem-solving, creative thinking, strategic planning and project management

training, coaching and mentoring skills

communication, facilitation, presentation, interviewing, influencing and negotiation skills

The training sessions are practical, highly-interactive, fast-moving and challenging. Each session involves experiential learning in which participants literally learn by doing. All discussion is focused on participants’ experiences at work. Dealing with their real problems and issues, they are encouraged to think about insights they are gaining, and how they can apply them at work.

To reinforce learning, participants are given relevant handouts to take away with them at the end of each session. They are also directed to online learning resources and materials.

During each session participants were encouraged to think about improvements to the way they work, both individually and as a team.

Towards the end of each session delegates produce team and individual action plans.

What really makes a difference in the Group Training Sessions is that the participants are working on a one-to-one basis with the trainer/coach. This means that he/she already has in-depth knowledge of their needs and the team issues and can structure the input appropriately.

2. One-to-one Coaching sessions

Each participant receives five 2 hour sessions with a gap of about 4 weeks between each session. The focus is on particular areas where the person needs to improve performance. Objectives are agreed and coaching is focused on achieving results. At the end of each session, the coachee agrees specific actions to undertake before the next session.

Following each session, the coach sends the person a confidential written summary of what happened in the session, progress on objectives agreed previously and new actions the coachee had agreed to undertake.

Participants are invited to contact the coach between sessions to discuss any particular problems or share successes should they wish.

Outline feedback of coachees’ progress is provided to senior management.

3. Support and Challenge Groups

To enable participants to operate as part of a learning community, we help participants establish Support and Challenge Groups (often known as Action Learning Sets) of about four participants. We do this at the beginning of the programme. Participants are advised to work with others who will support them, while providing challenge, ideas and coaching. We encourage them to select a mix of people from different functions and parts of the organisation.

Throughout the programme, and subsequently, participants are expected to continue to work as part of their learning community and take responsibility for people in their group who are ‘stuck’ or failing to confront important issues.

The groups meet regularly throughout the programme to carry out various development assignments and learning reviews. Between each group training session, they meet at least once face-to-face and then keep in touch by phone and email.

Participants work on team-based projects and assignments whose purpose is to provide them with:

a safe forum for supporting each other in developing their skills and knowledge individually, in their department and in the organisation as a whole;

support and reinforcement in implementing organisational improvements and personal changes in behaviour

opportunities to practice what they have learned in the Group Training Sessions;

a sense of organisational unity and commitment of purpose

opportunities to get to know and work with fellow managers from different functions and parts of the organisation

We help clients appoint internal Support and Challenge Group coordinators and provided guidance and support throughout the process. During the first hour of each Group Training Session (i.e. after the initial one), participants in each Action Learning Set have the opportunity to make a brief presentation on progress they have made, difficulties encountered, successes and lessons learned.

4. Meeting facilitation, job observation and diagnostics

We find that these are invaluable in helping the team produce results quickly and we make them available to the team. For example, team members often find it useful for a facilitator to sit in on one or two team meetings and advise. Participants can request that the coach observe him/her at work and provide useful feedback. A range of team and individual diagnostics is offered – including Belbin, Myers-Briggs and Firo-B.

Reporting

Participants complete course evaluation forms at the end of each Group Training Session which are copied to senior management. We provided continuous feedback to senior management during the programme and produced a final report with recommendations at the end.

In addition, we provide longer-term results evaluations after 3 months, 6 months and a year.

Why FASTIMPROVE™?

We named the programme FASTIMPROVE™ because it does what is described on the tin. In fact this way of working has produced such dramatic results that we are now working with a number of organisations, tailoring similar programmes for them.

Questions and Answers about the FASTIMPROVE™ Programme

Q: How many managers can attend?

To allow the maximum of attention and interactivity, we find we get the best results with smaller groups – 10 managers or possibly up to 12 at a push. We are able to cater for larger groups using extra trainer/facilitators. We train and coach larger groups of managers but split them into cohorts of up to 12.

Q: Why do we need to use you when we have internal trainers and coaches?

We applaud organisations who have internal trainers and coaches and indeed work with them to improve their skills. In our experience, however, there are often strategic reasons for supplementing the work of internal staff with highly skilled external trainer/coaches to work in a targeted way to deliver a result quickly. The advantages are as follows:

People often tend to open up quicker about the real issues that concern them with an external coach/trainer.

An qualified external coach/trainer is more likely to have the depth of experience to produce a result quickly in more challenging situations.

An external person can often offer greater perspective, value and short cuts from insights gained from working with other organisations.

Reporting (confidential summaries for the coachee and reports for line management), is an important part of the process. We find that the quality of reporting is likely to be higher using a professional external coach.

There is an enormous benefit in the coach, who has built up a relationship with a whole team, being able to offer other services such as group training sessions, on-the-job observation and meeting facilitation.

Q: Our management have or are studying for professional qualifications including MBAs. Shouldn’t they be enough?

Professional qualifications are useful in equipping management with theoretical frameworks in which to operate. We find, however, that targeted training and coaching interventions can be far more effective in producing positive changes in both individual and team performance.

Q: Couldn’t we just hire an external trainer for a few days?

Yes, you could. But you may find they don’t have the depth of experience and maturity and knowledge of the team to produce real change. And we find that training on its own isn’t enough. It needs to be backed up by other elements such as coaching, working on real projects, meeting facilitation and job observation.

Q: What if our managers are too busy to let them take time off for training?

Yes – taking managers away from their job can have an impact on performance. That is why we have designed a programme that provides short chunks of training delivered in-house at times that fit in with the team’s work requirements. In those sessions, managers get the opportunity to work on the real issues they face at work.

Q: Why should senior management be involved?

If middle managers are performing well, the senior management team will be major beneficiaries of this programme. To ensure that the programme runs in the optimum way, it is important to involve senior management at every stage of the programme – from training needs analysis to evaluation.

Q: How can we be sure that your coach/trainers will fit in with our organisation and understand the problems that our people face?

Our coach/trainers are mature, highly-experienced professionals with a track record of success in a wide variety of organisations.

Q: Isn’t this type of training a luxury?

On the contrary, we don’t know of any organisations who can afford the luxury of not having middle managers who can perform effectively. Any organisation whose senior management team have to spend a lot of their time “down in the engine room” rather than “up on the bridge” is going to suffer a lack of strategic direction. Senior managers in this situation don’t have enough time and energy to identify and seize opportunities which will help them steer the organisation to success.

Q: Don’t the benefits of this type of intervention take a long time to show?

Even we have been surprised at how quickly the results happen. For example, a recent programme completed for one of our clients showed immediate improvements in ratings of over a third in team performance for:

Inter-team relationships

Quality of meetings

Innovation

Training and development, and

Objectives

Team performance improved by between 20 and 27% for:

Procedures and organisation

Information

Leadership

Communications, and

Relationship with clients

We will agree success measures with you to demonstrate how the investment you have made in the programme will be recouped many times over in the effect on your bottom line.

Q: We work in the field of international aid. Isn’t this approach more business-oriented?

Many of our team work in international development. We have found that the approaches used in this type of programme are very relevant to development organisations, particularly those who are growing and support a wide range of projects. In addition, we have used this style of intervention successfully in a wide range of cultures and settings.

Q: How much is the investment required in a programme like this?

On a per delegate basis, costs compare very favourably with sending people on external courses – and of course, the organisation benefits much more from the results that this type of programme produces. The benefits to the bottom line usually more than repay the investment in a short period of time. Our clients receive much more than they could ever get through sending their people on external training courses – and for a much smaller investment.

Q: How do we know you’re not exaggerating the benefits of the Programme?

Don’t take our word for it. Here are some comments from recent participants in the programme.

“There has been a better understanding. We are better connected and more on the same wavelength – the benefit of not being on the back foot.” “The bits I have practiced have really worked.”

“Coaching previously was dealing with my weaknesses. Now it’s building on my strengths.”

“Coaching has helped me change old habits which I know are not helpful. It has helped me reflect more and avoid making some mistakes. It has showed me how to change.”

“Coaching has produced a big change. We’re more customer-focused and teamwork driven. People are talking to each other. They are able to ask for help, from the top down to the bottom.”

“We understand each others’ way of thinking, actions, goals, jobs and personal characteristics.”

“This programme has refined what I had and might have forgotten. It has got me out of the box. It has improved communications and introduced clarity.”

“The effect of this coaching has made us more businesslike.”

“We want to use the right terminology to get our points across. I say my bit, you say yours and the whole workshop stays focused on the objectives of the day. This benefits the company.”

“Coaching has helped me realise that developing others helps me. We can now communicate effectively what’s on our mind.”

“The team as a whole has made a concerted effort to communicate better, reduce the number of emails. Each team member is able to present their needs.”

“I realise now that being a leader is not just about telling people what to do – it’s more about listening to them and supporting them. I am getting feedback from the guys in how I can help them. I can understand their issues.”

“I’ve got a heap more than I expected but it’s been hard work.”

In our work in the UK and other countries, we find that many organisations suffer breakdowns in communication caused by people working in their own “silos”. The result is that people tend to lose a sense of common identity. They are unable to support each other in ways that could help the organisation achieve its objectives more easily. Resentments build, morale suffers and productivity slips. We have developed a powerful, highly effective solution. It’s called….

Belbin Team Roles – High Performance Team Development Programme

This is a powerful, unique, innovative team development programme that combines the Belbin Team Roles model with drama and goal-setting.

It’s designed to improve understanding between all departments and to enable them to work more effectively together and is built around the Belbin Team Roles Model. We like using Belbin as it is easy to understand and can be of practical use quickly.

Dr Meredith Belbin developed his model after conducting extensive research on effective teams since the late seventies. He discovered nine clusters of behaviour that individuals adopt when participating in a team. These became known as the Belbin Team Roles – and the model is now used by over 40% of the UK’s top 100 companies, the United Nations, the World Bank and thousands more organisations internationally to enhance individual and team performance.

Belbin’s 9 Team Roles

All nine Belbin Team Roles are equally valid and appropriate within the team and are important for the success of the team.

Click here for a brief description of the 9 Team Roles

We find that people are fascinated to discover their own Belbin Team Roles and explore their unique contributions and allowable weaknesses. During our Programme, they are able to explore ways of maximising their effectiveness while minimising weaknesses. Just as important, they are able to understand better their colleagues who might have a different team role preference.

Mixed Team Seminars

In the first part of the programme we work with mixed teams from across your organisation. The aim is to:

• get people from all levels and different parts of the organisation working together
• promote mutual understanding and cooperation
• break down interdepartmental barriers
• engender a sense of working as a unified team

Each session contains a mix of people from various departments and includes people from a range of levels.

Each participant completes a short, simple Belbin self-perception online questionnaire before attending. During the course, each participant receives an individual Belbin profile showing their preferred team roles and also roles that they should avoid, together with paragraphs explaining the roles in practical terms.

The morning session focuses on giving participants and understanding of the nine Belbin roles and helping them to understand their profile.

During the afternoon, participants work in teams with observers to develop two short dramatic sketches – the first to highlight current team communication and performance issues, and the second to show how the organisation could work in a better way in the future.

During the feedback session, participants analyse how they worked together as a team, looking at task and people skills and the elements of high-performance team working.

Towards the end of the day, participants take part in action planning sessions where they pool their ideas for improving the way the organisation works as a team. The ideas are later collated and presented to management. which generated large numbers of practical actions that their organisation is now taking forward to improve the way they work as a team.

We generally find that literally hundreds of practical ideas are generated spanning areas such as:

• Communication
• Decision Making and Consultation
• Equipment
• Induction Process
• Inter-departmental Relationships
• Health and Safety
• IT
• Leadership Style
• Meetings Performance Planning
• Promotion
• Rules and Procedures
• Security
• Training
• Understanding each others’ roles and sharing ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXz8EyzBtd4

On 13 April we organised another free all-day learning event with lunch included at the beautifully-located Lane End Conference Centre. The event was entitled The Right Mix. The focus was on:

• Leadership for the 21st Century
• Group Problem Solving
• Building a High Performance Team
• Influencing through Building Rapport
• Developing Confidence

Sessions were led by some of the country’s top trainers – including Karen Kimberley, Phil Hawthorn and Julian Dodson. Participants got a taste of a number of experiential learning activities and took part in some engaging discussions.

It was a fun and stretching day where participants could work with our people and try out some new activities and new ideas for themselves. They were also able to network and exchange ideas with other professionals and consider what might work for their organisation/people.

What people have said about these events:

• Good balance of exercises and mix of practical and academic made it a success
• Great mix of topics and activities, enhanced by different styles of presenters
• Format of the day was well structured, very enjoyable and informative
• It made me stop and think
• Liked interaction with others
• Informal atmosphere – achieves greater results
• Creative team-based exercises were great
• Refreshing ways of looking at mundane / regular / daily business functions

If you would be interested in attending similar events in the future, click here to go on our mailing list.