Author: Graham Cook

We’re often asked for our opinions about ‘leadership styles’, and in this sound bite world we’re often considered to be rather verbose in our response. But there’s a reason we’re somewhat considered in our response to questions like “What leadership style works best when….?” or “How should a leader respond when….?” The ... Read more...

Maximising Leadership Opportunities on an Experiential Leadership Programme   by Roger Greenaway, Reviewing Skills Training One of the main challenges in designing leadership training courses (especially short ones) is to create enough opportunities for each individual to have several turns as leader. Courses for developing teamwork skills ... Read more...

International Facilitation Week (17th – 23rd October 2016) is hosted by the International Association of Facilitators to promote and engage facilitators all over the world about the power of facilitation. I have noted over the years that in many of the organisations I encounter, the prevalent approach to encouraging, supporting, and facilitating ... Read more...

After numerous studies we’re finally getting to the point where employability skills are less contentious, there’s a degree of acceptance about what these skills are, and just how important they are. It’s taken some time to get to this level of acceptance, and it may be argued that it is partially due to a misinterpretation of what the term ... Read more...

We all carry role labels, every day of our lives. We are father, mother, parent, leader, manager, teacher, facilitator etc etc. We move seamlessly between these labels: we leave the office where we have been a manager, to commute as passenger, to enter the store as customer, then to arrive home to adopt a whole range of entirely different labels... Read more...

Many projects and teams work across different departments, sites and even different countries.  Throughout this process, many teamworking challenges can arise and barriers surface that might impact on the success of the project.  Just as with other initiatives, success is critical, and just because many different people are working on the... Read more...

This week is the beginning of Learning at Work Week (16th - 22nd May 2016), and the theme is Connect. Here are three more things any manager or leader can do with their teams this week to promote connected-ness and learning: 1.      Connect with your team Use random imagery (a bunch of postcards, some images from the ... Read more...

My late father-in-law, whenever he discovered something new or succeeded in solving a problem, used to announce, “Every day’s a school day”. I guess he grasped the concept of lifelong learning well before it become a buzzword.In the light of this, and whilst I absolutely support the need to keep the importance of learning in the pubic eye, ... Read more...

What is the one thing that almost all leaders will tell you that they don't have enough of?   In my experience, it is time. Shifting pressures to deliver results faster, more flexibly and with fewer resources has led to a culture of being busy that is now so entrenched in most organizations that it seems to be used to judge a persons ... Read more...

Becoming a Leader of Learning The difference between a manager and a leader is often defined in terms of a manager being focused on the here-and-now, whilst a leader having more of their focus on the future. If this is accepted then the role of the leader must be accepted as having a strong component that relates to learning - both their own in ... Read more...