Focal Point Training Blog

Classroom Training – outdated learning or vital support? by Heather McIntosh

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:46:00 GMT

Recent CIPD research accuses learning and development professionals of hanging on to “outdated” methods, such as classroom training.

But before ditching this in favour of what might be perceived as more flexible technological approaches, it is worth considering some of the benefits of the ‘classroom’ learning approach.

E-learning has long appeared to be on the cusp of dominating employee training, as it provides a platform that cannot be beaten for convenience and affordability and many organisations have incorporated it into their offering for that reason.

But many still value classroom training. It offers a personal interaction with a learning facilitator, networking with other participants and colleagues and can therefore be dynamic and thought provoking.

In fact many people simply learn better in a classroom setting. Most of us thrive on discussing a topic with other people, working through real life work issues and exploring potential solutions. Typing a message or post to somebody isn’t the same as verbalising a point of view and having to learn the skill s of actively listening to others, challenging and questioning, receiving feedback and gaining acceptance and agreement. The classroom setting allows for real time discussion and provides interaction that isn’t easily duplicated, even with the most advanced of technology.

And when classroom training is tailored to the organisation, it brings a peer group together and ensures a consistency of approach and an opportunity for collaborative working and team building, which you just can’t get with many other learning interventions.

When asked in the survey what methods are most likely to work, most learning and development professionals pointed towards training that is integrated into the normal course of their jobs. And this of course is the key point. No learning intervention works unless it is relevant, meaningful and critically that it is reinforced back in the workplace. Half of respondents (52 per cent) said that “in-house development programmes” were amongst the most effective ways of delivering training, while almost as many (46 per cent) cited “coaching by line managers”.

The “coaching by line managers” is a good example of where online learning would not be effective. Ensuring line managers have the skills to coach effectively is key to getting results from coaching and these skills are best developed through face to face interaction and practicing with others.

Labelling classroom training as outdated is a sweeping and ultimately unhelpful comment. It depends on how it is used and how it is supported back in the workplace. The interaction it provides is not easily replicated with any other form of learning and for that reason alone, it will always have a place in L and D provision.

For some pointers on how a tailored approach with pre and post course support can bring tangible results to your business click here.

Building effective working relationships – the balance between rights and responsibilities by Stella Chandler

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:08:00 GMT

In many aspects of our lives, but particularly in work we hear a lot about people “knowing their rights.” Overall, this is a good thing as it reflects an increased awareness of how we should be treated and how we should treat others.

But it is easy to forget the other side of the coin. This is understanding our responsibilities. In order to be fair in our dealings with other people, we do need to understand our rights, but also fulfil our responsibilities.

Do we really know what they are when we step through the office door?

As an employee, our rights are...
 To be paid
 That our employer exercises reasonable care of us
 To have access to a grievance procedure
 To have mutual trust and confidence

To balance these, our responsibilities are...
 Duty of obedience; to accept a manager has the right to ask us to do something providing it is reasonable, safe and lawful
 Duty to adapt; to accept changes are needed in workplaces
 Duty to exercise care; of ourselves, our colleagues and our employer’s property
 Duty of fidelity or good faith; that our actions are in the best interests of our employer at all times

We are all operating in an uncertain climate at the moment, where there is often a lot of mistrust between employees and their employers, so being reminded of these rights and responsibilities from time to time can be a very useful way of ensuring we are building strong working relationships, which are based on trust.

One of our clients saw the benefits of this approach and last month we ran a highly interactive session for thirty team members on this very subject. The participants welcomed the opportunity to discuss openly the balance between having rights and understanding their responsibilities. One team member commented that it was useful to remember that there is a dual responsibility when you work for someone and the challenge is for both parties to live up to them.

As Bill Maher, the American comedian said “We have a bill of rights. It is about time we had a bill of responsibilities”...

How to Energise your Team Meetings! by Tracy Powley

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:39:00 GMT

Teamwork is the glue that holds businesses together. And team meetings are one of the key ways to ensure good team work.

But what happens when it all gets a bit staid, a bit monotonous, in a bit of a rut?

How do you inject some energy back into them?

Five Top Tips to Energise your Team Meetings

Rotate the chair
It does not have to be the manager who runs a team meeting – involving all team members in chairing a meeting is a great way to develop their skills and to increase ownership of the discussions and actions.
Open with the positives
Especially in this tough market, people can find it hard to keep motivation levels up. Start with asking everyone for one thing they have been particularly pleased with or proud of that week. It sets a really positive tone for the rest of the meeting and recognises effort and results.
Ask everyone for input
Ensure everyone gets the chance to participate – not just the most vocal people. Give people things to think about beforehand or go round the room asking for everyone’s thoughts on a topic
Use creative thinking techniques
Use team meetings to tackle problems or hurdles. Brainstorming or using techniques like De bonos 6 thinking hats can help people to look at things from a different angle and bring a spark of creativity that may otherwise not be tapped into.
Ensure you agree an action plan
If people can see progress being made as a result of the meetings they will find them so much more motivational. Allocate responsibility to individuals to drive each action and make sure there are timescales agreed on each.

When your people look forward to their team meetings and want to make the time to be there you will know you have got it right!

For more guidance on working creatively have a look at our creative thinking workshop
For details of our programme on team work for the Aged care channel click here
For more ideas on team work have a look at our article

Or look at our team health check sessions

Ten Top Tips for using Linked In by Janet Harvey-Mott

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:52:00 GMT

I recently attended a Linked In training course to ensure I’m making the best use of its capability. The facilitator, Mark Williams known as Mr LinkedIn (mark@etn-training.co.uk) is one of only 3 Trainers in the world to have been previously accredited by LinkedIn and the only one from the UK. He explained in plain language how to use (and not use) LinkedIn, the benefits, the dangers and potential of this fast-growing networking facility.

Currently there are 150+m users worldwide (c 9m in the UK) and this is increasing at approximately 1m per week (40k/month in the UK). See www.mrlinkedin.wordpress.com for more breakdown on these impressive statistics.

Like many people, I have been on LinkedIn for some time now, so my main objective for attending was to ensure my profile was fit for purpose and ensure I am making the most of the opportunities! One of my primary reasons for using LinkedIn is to enable potential clients to view my profile and determine if I have the credentials to train their work force.

With more and more potential clients using Linked in as a vetting tool, this is becoming key for many people.

10 key things I discovered;

The importance of using key words in your headline (so people can immediately see your area of expertise as well as for optimisation purposes)
Ensure you include vital information such as email/contact details clearly in your summary
Ensuring recommendations are from the right people- people who can genuinely recommend you
Look at whether you can expand your specialities (to aid optimisation again)
Add buttons so that people can follow you and find you through other means eg twitter
Ensure you engage with people before you ask them to connect and personalise your invite – why should someone connect with you if they know nothing about you or how it might help them?
Use the statistics available to see what traffic you have to your profile
Explore other tools such as LinkedIn Signal to gather market intelligence (including outside of your network). Look under the News tab to find this.
Join appropriate groups to access information, current hot topics and access new contacts
Include a suitable business-like photo (not a holiday snap!)*

*If you don’t include a photo and you ask someone to connect that you met some time ago, how will they remember who you are?

If you are on LinkedIn, you want people to find you, that’s the whole point! Investing some time making sure your profile is effective could pay dividends.

For more blogs and guidance on using social media appropriately click here

Seven Steps to controlling business finances in a tough market by Mike Dawson

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:46:00 GMT

We are into an exciting New Year but one fraught with risk.

Our economy, shown by the recent GDP figures, is marginally contracting and we might be facing a double dip recession although the Government are forecasting very modest growth this year.

The crisis in the Eurozone rumbles on and if this is not sorted out we face the very real risk of another credit crunch. We might be comforted that our banks are not as exposed as others on the European mainland but should a European bank fail then we will not be immune from the fallout. Europe would be plunged into recession and this would damage us all.

On the brighter side we have the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration and the Olympics and I believe that these will give a boost to moral and encourage growth here in the UK so let’s not be too gloomy!

Whatever side of the coin you look at there is no denying this year is likely to very volatile. For the business owner this is very challenging when making plans for the future.

But some key steps can make all the difference:

Budgets need to be very closely reviewed and flexibility is crucial. Don’t be afraid to revise your budget during the year to take account of changes in demand. Monitor actual performance against your budget on at least a monthly basis and don’t just look at income. Make sure you are maintaining your margins especially gross and operating profit.
Keep extremely tight control over overheads.
If you purchase new assets make sure that the potential return warrants the investment.
Credit control is crucial! Make sure that your credit procedures are watertight. Chase up outstanding debtors at a very early stage. You want to be at the front of the queue if things are going wrong. Send invoices at the same time as delivery of your goods or services. Don’t wait ‘for the end of the month’ to send out your invoices.
Thoroughly check out the creditworthiness of new clients.
Keep cash flow under constant review. Perversely there tends to be more business failures as the economy comes out of recession. The reason? Answer; lack of cash to finance a growing order book! Traditionally your bank would help out with an overdraft but the banks are much more conservative now so if you see a need on the horizon speak to you bank at an early stage.
Ensure your managers have the skills to really understand how to analyse figures and business plan accordingly. Without a financial background this can be daunting for many and some guidance can really help.

So, let us all keep our fingers crossed and with proper planning and control I wish everyone an exciting, happy and prosperous New Year.

How to Manage Romance at Work by Tracy Powley

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:39:00 GMT

With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, how do you manage the thorny problem of relationships at work?

Romance at work is widespread – many of us spend a good third of our time at work, so it is not surprising that relationships often develop here.

And it is not all bad! Happy people are more motivated and more productive. Having a partner at work can mean couples have someone who can share the stresses and understand the strains.

But there are potential dangers. Most companies recognise it is unworkable, not to mention draconian, to try and ban interoffice relationships.

Better to focus on the risks that might arise, such as unwanted romantic attention, relationships between line manager and team member, managing the fallout from a broken relationship, considering how to manage confidentiality concerns.

Some companies have a specific Relationships policy, which will give guidance around what is appropriate and inappropriate for family relationships, as well as romantic ones. For example, ensuring managers are not involved in the recruitment of a close family member. This sort of policy can offer clarity on romantic relationships, such as whether the company tolerates relationships between line manager and employee, without it being solely focussed on romantic situations.

A Conflict of interest policy could broach similar issues, without it being seen as an attempt to “ban” relationships.

Relationship breakdowns are one of the trickiest areas to manage, particularly if one of the couple brings a claim of harassment, because of their ex partner’s behaviour at work. In this situation, the employer could be partly liable and needs to take steps to make it clear this is not acceptable behaviour. Your harassment policy will be vital here.

Most of all ensure your managers have confidence to deal with difficult situations arising from inter office relationships. If a couple’s behaviour is leading to problems - which could be anything from flirtatious behaviour making people uncomfortable to the relationship causing distraction and loss of focus for the people involved – then the manager needs to deal with it.

As always, it is these grey areas which often cause managers most angst. Having some guidelines written into a “Behaviour at work” policy and getting managers discussing these situations and how to handle them can go a long way to ensuring they are dealt with before they get out of control.

If you are interested in exploring the whole subject of Managing Appropriate Behaviour at work, come along to our free seminar run in conjunction with Penningtons Solicitors on the 21st Feb. It will be a chance to ask questions on any aspect of behaviour at work and network with like minded professionals.

Look forward to seeing you there!

And have a happy, conflict-free Valentine’s Day!

Behaviour at work policies – what’s in a name? by Tracy Powley

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:38:00 GMT

There is currently a heated debate raging in the HR community about whether organisations should have a Social media policy. Neil Morrison Group HR director at Random house sparked the debate by insisting that using a social media policy demonstrated a lack of trust in employees. Many have responded that it is about giving people clarity rather than being patronising.

We would agree with that view. Generally people in a work environment want boundaries – they want to know what is expected of them and where the lines are. This extends to many areas of behaviour at work, not just use of social media. Having a policy provides that guidance.

One comment made was that what you call the policy doesn’t matter; you just need to be sensible. We wholeheartedly agree with being sensible – we have been advocating a common sense approach in these blogs for a while – but actually we do think the language you use and what you call the policy makes a difference

Even using the word Policy may distance the people it is meant to relate to – “Guidelines” has less of a dogmatic ring to it. If the content is written in plain language with examples that relate to day to day activities, it will sound less legalese. It’s about ensuring it does what it says on the tin. For example, if you call a policy about appropriate behaviour “Dignity at work” (which many organisations do) does that tell people it is about appropriate behaviour or suggest it is more about equal opportunities policies?

Working a great deal with organisations in this area we were interested to see what terms our clients used – so we have been asking them. We suspected that while we call support in this area Managing Appropriate Workplace Behaviour, managers would use other terms and the results have been very interesting. Many will use the words that reflect the situation as they see it eg dealing with office banter, managing difficult people, conflict in teams. That has been a very helpful insight for us in terms of marketing our support in these areas. But it also underlines that getting the language and terms right when you communicate with your audience is key.

So we don’t agree with Neil Morrison – companies should have policies, but they should think about how to word them and how to communicate them so that they are meaningful.

How to motivate your team in 2012 by Tracy Powley

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:13:00 GMT

As we embark on a new year full of gloomy predictions and worrying economic statistics, many managers will be wondering how on earth they will be able to keep teams motivated and engaged in 2012.

The latest CIPD survey on employee attitudes to pay reinforces that this will be a key challenge for managers. When employees were asked if they felt valued, the net satisfaction score was +4 (compared to +33 in 2008). Over the same period net satisfaction scores have fallen for: 'I am proud to work for this organisation' (+50 to +32); 'I feel motivated to perform well' (+46 to +24); and 'my organisation communicates well with me' (+25 to -6). http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2012/01/employees-discontented-over-pay-shows-cipd-research.htm

What these results clearly show is that it is not all about the money. Most of us recognise the reality of this tough economic climate – but that doesn’t mean that we can’t feel motivated at work.

Research shows time and time again that it is the “intrinsic” factors that really make the difference to how happy and motivated someone is at work – in other words how valued they feel, whether they are recognised for the effort they put in, whether their contribution is noticed, whether they are trusted and whether they have opportunity to take on more responsibility or more challenging tasks. Money can be a good short term motivator, but is no substitute for these other factors.

The good news then is that line managers can make a real difference to how happy and motivated someone is. They may not be able to give them a pay rise, but they have direct control over how much they recognise effort and praise results. They have direct control over how valued they make their team member feel and it is down to them to decide what to delegate and whether to develop someone’s skills by trusting them to take on something new.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to review your management skills, so start by asking yourself these questions…
• How clear are your people about the goals for the company/ team this year?
• Are you and all your managers motivated and committed to the organisation?
• How clear are your team members about what is expected of them?
• How much do you and your managers understand about what your employees want from work?
• Do you ensure decisions are clearly communicated with the reasons behind them?
• Do you and your managers show appreciation and offer regular feedback?
• Do you give time to your people – get to know them as individuals?
• Do you ensure your employees feel listened to?

These are the things that will make the biggest difference to how motivated your people are – and ensure that you are equipped to weather another tough year with a happy and loyal team.

Use and Misuse of Social Media by Tracy Powley

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:41:00 GMT

Hot on the heels of our last blog looking at the perils of employees using social media comes an incident of an employee being sacked for posting defamatory comments about their employer on Facebook.

An employee of an Apple store had written derogatory comments about Apple on his Facebook page, which were then passed to his boss by a Facebook “friend” and co worker.

He was dismissed for gross misconduct.

He bought a claim of unfair dismissal, which failed because Apple had such clear policies around the use of social media. As brand and image is so central to Apple’s success, they particularly made it clear that any derogatory remarks that damaged the brand would not be tolerated.

What Apple also did was to make sure that their policies weren’t just handed out in a document, but were also made part of the induction programme. This crystal clear communication ensured Apple could defend and protect their commercial reputation in this situation.

Once again, the lessons are

have a clear social media policy (see our last blog for some guidance as to what to include)
communicate it to your employees and make sure they understand it
make sure managers are confident in dealing with breaches of any policy

How to increase employee profitability by Heather McIntosh

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:05:00 GMT

Despite a plethora of evidence in wide ranging reports from academics, businesses and consultants over the last few years, the coalition government has set up another taskforce to help increase the understanding of employee engagement and its potential benefits. The taskforce will generate debate, share good practice and ultimately offer employers support via a new website due to launch next year. http://bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2011/Mar/employee-engagement-task-force

But how much more evidence do we need?

Roffey Park’s 2010 research report ‘The human voice of employee engagement’ clearly establishes the crucial role of line managers in the engagement process and states that “…whatever factors are at play elsewhere in the organisation, employees day-to-day experience of work is most heavily influenced by their line manager…”

After a two year study The People and the bottom line’ report published in 2008 by the Work Foundation also established a strong correlation between high levels of employee engagement and high performance and identified that the current low levels in the UK could be costing our organisations dear.

The report suggests that more effective people management strategies could increase profitability by up to £1,500 per employee.

Despite these findings, relatively few organisations put emphasis on developing managers as part of their engagement strategy –rather focusing on more traditional suggestion schemes, recognition awards and corporate buy-in approaches.

The CIPD’s study, ‘Management competencies for enhancing employee engagement’ published in March this year comes to a similar conclusion and highlights the importance of developing the right behaviours. These include

• managers giving the right levels of guidance
• constructive feedback
• appropriate levels of autonomy to staff
• setting realistic but challenging targets
• making time for employees
• treating them fairly
• making them feel valued
• managing individual performance

The current taskforce hopes to present its conclusions in 2012, although whether it will really shed any more light on existing evidence remains to be seen.

What will make a difference is organisations having a renewed emphasis on coaching and developing managers. This is what will bring a significant return on investment and an increase in profits, not waiting for the great and the good to tell us yet again what we really already know – that developing your line managers’ people management skills will improve your bottom line!

What are your employees tweeting about you? by Tracy Powley

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:40:00 GMT

The latest survey by DLA Piper in People Management highlights an area that is posing a real problem for employers – the use and misuse of social networking sites.

Many employers seem confused by the boundaries they should be setting and how to deal with behaviour they deem as unacceptable

The survey highlights how torn employers are in their attitude to social networking sites. On the one hand use of these sites can offer a valuable way of promoting brand awareness and marketing the company. On the other, its use is fraught with the dangers of negative or defamatory comments being posted and the damage that can do.

But is it really that difficult?

We have been advocating a common sense approach for while now and are delighted to see that Acas takes this line in its newly published guidelines, urging employers to “draw on norms that apply in a non virtual setting.” In other words to “treat electronic behaviour as you would treat non electronic behaviour.”

The key of course is to have clear guidelines so people understand what is acceptable and what is not.
For example, it may be fine and indeed you may encourage your employees to network to fulfil business objectives, but it probably isn’t acceptable for people to load up holiday snaps on facebook in work time.

Over a third of employers surveyed felt that they were exposed to risks posed by comments and information posted on social networking sites. So here are some practical steps to help ensure your organisation is protected…
• have a dedicated social media policy
• communicate to everyone in the company so they understand the boundaries
• train your managers in how to deal with situations where they suspect someone has breached the policy

Our support around developing appropriate behaviour at work will help on each of these steps.

Acas has some great guidelines on what a policy should cover, but as a brief overview consider
• The scope – what does the policy cover?
• What is acceptable and what is not
• Monitoring of employees activity on networking sites
• Consequences of breaching the policy (link to disciplinary procedures )

Don’t leave it until you have to deal with a disciplinary issue – taking preventative action could save you a lot of time and hassle.

Where are your ethics? by Tracy Powley

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:33:00 GMT

How many company websites have an impressive sounding set of values proudly listed?
How many of those values include “ethical” and “integrity”?
How many of the staff in that company
a) really understand what those values mean in their role?
b) believe them?

Let’s take the belief issue first. If the latest research by the ILM and Management Today is anything to go by, then a high percentage of employees currently believe their bosses do not use ethics when making decisions. Over half of those surveyed believe their companies put financial goals ahead of ethical considerations.

The lack of trust which inevitably ensues will have a huge impact on performance, motivation and the reputation of the organisation.

It is surely an area that needs attention if organisations are to emerge from this tough market with a loyal and motivated workforce, rather than one which is jaded, cynical and ready to jump ship as soon as it is safe.

Let’s take the understanding issue then. If these values are so important, how do you ensure your teams buy into them and live and breathe them in their day to day roles?

Partly it depends on how those values are arrived at.
What is the process you go through to establish what is important?
Do you involve people at every level of the organisation?
Do you ask people what these values mean to them?
Do you get them thinking about how they demonstrate them in their roles?

For example, what does acting with integrity mean to the senior management team? What does it mean for someone working on the front line? Articulating these specific examples will help to bring them to life and give them meaning.

Once they are identified, ensure they are referred to. Talk about examples of ethical behaviour and integrity in one to ones and team meetings. And make sure your top level managers are visibly role modelling them.

Perhaps then we may start to see values which are more than just a list on a website... values which actually have meaning and build trust.

Breaking the glass ceiling - Coaching for Confidence by Heather McIntosh

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:00:00 GMT

This year’s ILM report ‘Ambition and Gender at Work’ explores the hurdles women face along their career path and the factors that create the ‘glass ceiling’ effect that many women managers encounter. The research found that 73% of women believe there are a number of barriers preventing them from progressing to top levels of management. Alongside the well known obstacles of maternity and childcare-related issues, other critical factors included lower ambitions and expectations.

Compared to their male counterparts, women tend to lack self belief and confidence, with half of women managers surveyed admitting feelings of self doubt, compared to only 31% of men. Women had less clarity about career direction, lower expectations about becoming a manager, and were on average 3 years behind men in moving in to management roles.

The ILM’s recommendations (reinforced by the Governments’ independent review in February this year) focus on a business-led approach, where organisations set their own targets and act decisively if they are to avoid the introduction of government impositions or quotas.

They suggest recruitment practices, talent management and work-life balance policies have an important part to play and place a strong emphasis on training and development.

How can training and development help?

The research suggests employers should target their development spend to both address gender imbalance and maximise the impact of their leadership development by tailoring it to the differing needs of individual managers. Coaching and mentoring were identified as being highly effective ways of encouraging women to realise their leadership potential.

Coaching stands out as an ideally flexible solution which can address the more emotional aspects of leadership development and can be a powerful way to build women managers’ self belief and encourage them to take measured risks.

Mentoring programmes can also be instrumental in raising women managers’ aspirations. Employers should look at using networking and development events to raise the profile and visibility of successful women. They should also identify successful leaders of both sexes to serve as mentors to female managers, providing advice and encouragement based on their own experience and encouraging them to seize career opportunities.

Only by taking such proactive steps to development will organisations help women start to break through that glass ceiling.

Casino Banking - How big a threat? by Mike Dawson

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:14:00 GMT

I thought that I would share my thoughts on a subject which is making headline news as I write.

The debate is around the breakup of the banks to protect the retail depositor from the high risk activities of investment banking, sometimes referred to as ‘Casino Banking’, which implies reckless gambling with our money. There appears to be serious tensions at Cabinet level within our Coalition Government and it will be interesting to see who gets their way!

Emotions can often cloud our judgement, so let’s take an objective look at one of the issues.

A key function in investment banking is the use of derivatives. These are financial instruments that are priced based on the future value of an underlying asset. Let me give an example.

Let’s say that you want to build a Villa in Spain (most unlikely at the moment!) and that this is going to cost you half a million Euros over the next six months. Assuming that you have to buy these Euros with sterling, it’s not rocket science to realise that you run a currency risk should the Euro appreciate against sterling. So what can you do?

1. If you can afford it, buy the Euros now and deposit them in a Euro
interest bearing account and earn some interest until they are needed.
2. Persuade the Spanish builder that you will pay in Sterling (which is
probably not feasible.)
3. Look to ‘insure’ against the possible rise in the value of the Euro
against sterling.

Three looks attractive so, you could enter into a contract now with a bank to sell you the Euros later when you need them, but at an exchange rate that is agreed now. This is called a forward exchange contract and it is a very simple type of derivative.

This transaction is a classic case of using a derivative to hedge against risk. But what about the situation where you aren’t buying a villa at all? Could you still enter into this derivative transaction and, if yes, why?

The answer is “yes” for the reason that you want to gamble on the future value of the Euro against sterling. In simple terms you sell the Euros later for a profit, but you run the very real risk of losing money.

So, derivatives can been used to hedge risk and speculate (or gamble). The “villa” is a very simple example, but if you can imagine a world of very complex derivatives being traded often using borrowed money for speculation, then you can begin to understand where the terms ‘Casino Banking’ comes from!

My own view is that there is merit in the argument that there is far too much speculation in derivatives, often by Hedge Funds, and although it is unrealistic to expect such practices to cease, I do think that their use should be curbed by, if necessary, Government action. It will be interesting to hear the views of others!

How to Have a “Difficult Conversation” by Stella Chandler

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:55:00 GMT

One of the trickiest parts of any job is having ‘difficult conversations’, whether it be with people we line manage, our own manager, a supplier or a customer. Our anxiety can be such that we employ a whole range of strategies to delay the moment when we have to sit down and talk.

I know that I have been guilty at times of prioritising tasks that are well within my comfort zone, rather than tackle a conversation that I am expecting to be challenging and uncomfortable. Yet in most instances, when I do have that conversation, it has gone much better than I anticipated and there have been positive outcomes. So why is that? Well, it comes down to three key words – preparation, preparation and preparation!

Our anxiety is often about the other person’s possible reaction. Will they get angry? Will they be upset? Will they challenge me? With team members for example, the issue may well be something that could be taken personally – problems over performance perhaps – and the receiver’s initial response may understandably be emotional and confrontational.

That’s ok. I have realised that the most important thing is for me to be calm, objective and to be able to evidence my concerns. If I have specific relevant examples to support what I have to say, if I have thought through the range of potential responses and how I will deal with them, if I can be clear about the how we can move forward from the issues under discussion, then there is every likelihood that there will be a positive outcome. The key to success is to be as well prepared as I can be.

Whether as a line manager, with suppliers who have let us down or clients who have not delivered their agreed side of the deal, having the confidence to tackle these conversations will earn you greater respect and lead to more productive relationships.
In all cases I have fallen back on those three big words to help me through – preparation, preparation, preparation!