Facilitation Skills

Don’t be defensive minded; use smart thinking to underpin your career success. In this article we highlight five essential skills which can help you to stay on the front foot.

I heard a story the other day (it may be apocryphal) about an irate BBC manager who walked into his office one morning and noticed that every single member of his staff was reading The Guardian. He flew into a rage. His exasperation, however, wasn’t caused by his disapproval of that particular publication but by […]

Problem = something difficult to deal with or solve; question or puzzle set for solution
Opportunity = favourable time or condition; good chance
What are your problems?
As soon as you start thinking about the exact nature of your problems you’ll recognise that they come in two rather different shapes. In the first instance, you will tend to […]

Does reaching consensus have to be so difficult? Anthony Landale reports on a new approach that might just help teams to reach decisions fast and harmoniously. 
Intolerant attitudes. Lack of respect for others. The ‘me first’ society. You can take your pick as to why people find it so hard to rub along together. But wouldn’t […]

Collective intelligence has been called the process of enhancing the group IQ and, as such, it is an extremely attractive proposition for managers and leaders. But how do you mine this intelligence? In principle we know that we can achieve more when we work together with others - but in practice how can we make […]

Wasting too much time in meetings? Need your meeting to reach agreement about ways of working? Need to get a fast decision on strategy or tactics?
Many people hate meetings. Why? Because they frequently take up so much time and achieve so little. So what would team leaders, project managers and departmental heads give for a […]