For Managers

These ideas are for managers who wish to develop people.

  • Accelerating Learning

    Children learn so fast. Here are some thoughts about how we can keep doing this. The implications for people and organisations are staggering.

  • Appraisal

    This suggests several alternative ways to appraise staff and a process for managing this.

  • Appreciation

    Genuine appreciation is a simple and powerful way to develop and motivate staff and create positive change,

  • Appreciative Inquiry by Kendi Rossy

    This describes a very positive and energising way to manage change that starts from what is working well to help people build their future together.

  • Attention!

    Attention is wonderful to receive and rewarding to give, but there is not much of it around in our busy lives and work. This gives a few ideas about how to give and have more.

  • Authenticity

    This article is about the power of being authentic and the impact we can have just by being ourselves.

  • Building Effective Relationships that Work

    This describes what we can do that will build relationships that work and what to avoid. These principles are universal and apply in and out of work.

  • Building the Organisation Team

    How to build teamwork in an organisation within and between teams.

  • Building understanding between groups

    This design helped three interest groups in Education understand each other better and have an open discussion.

  • Change management questions and answers

    This answers some questions on managing change raised by a change manager.

  • Civility at Work by Tom Terez

    This contains twenty simple things anyone can do to make work more enjoyable and more effective.

  • Coaching

    Brief note on the how and why of coaching.

  • Coconsulting

    This is a very simple, quick and effective way for people to help each other. It will improve effectiveness and morale and stop problems escalating.

  • Coconsulting – introduction

    This introduces people quickly to the practice of "coconsulting". Two people take equal turns listening to and supporting each other. The introductory session can be both rewarding and great fun.

  • Conference Design

    How to design and facilitate a rewarding conference

  • Conference using Appreciative Inquiry

    This conference used appreciative inquiry to help people develop their team working, learning and customer service. It was positive and successful.

  • Coping with change

    Brief notes on how to cope with and manage change.

  • Counselling Skills Training

    A small multidisciplinary group of managers learned counselling skills to help their subordinates develop and build their team. They also built their own team.

  • Creative Organisation

    This gives some ideas on what makes an organisation creative and how personal and organisation development can help.

  • Design of Learning Events – Principles

    This describes the principles that lead to effective learning events such as away days or courses.

  • Developing the plateauxed manager

    This gives some ideas on how to develop the older manager who may feel or be stuck in her/his career. It also discusses alternative career paths to the conventional "vertical" one.

  • Developmental Culture

    This describes some of the features of an ideal culture to support development and some things you can do to create one.

  • Developmental Meetings

    How to run developmental meetings to improve the how you work together.

  • Effective and Efficient Decision Making

    How to make decisions that balance effectiveness, ownership and efficiency.

  • Eliminating Work

    How to eliminate work and make space to think

  • Extending Team Building

    Have you considered building team work between pairs of people or within systems. Both can produce good results.

  • Feelings at work

    People's feelings can stop them doing effective work. Sharing feelings effectively can transform blocked situations quickly and dramatically.

  • Guide for managers – Practical ways for managers to develop their people.

    This guide describes simple practical activities, in bullet points, that managers can use to develop their people.

  • Guide to team working-Practical ways to help your teams work better

    This guide describes simple practical activities that managers can use to help their teams develop.

  • How to have more effective meetings?

    This gives some simple ideas you can use straightaway to make your regular meetings more effective.

  • Idea Ping Pong – a simple way to get ideas to flow

    This is a very simple way and effective way to generate good ideas. It works well in pairs or very small groups

  • Influencing Skills

    These are the vital skills we all need to gain the co-operation of others in the long term.

  • Involving Employees

    Simple and effective ways of involving employees that create motivation and commitment to change

  • Large Group Development Day

    This article describes the structure, process, planning, what happened and the outcomes of a development day for a large administration department.

  • Levels of human communication

    There are five levels of communication that people use. We overuse being critical and judgemental and underuse sharing feelings. Sharing feelings helps us solve problems.