Blog

5 Tactics to Increase Employee Retention

There’s no getting away from it, the cost to a business of staff turnover is significant. These costs arise through the additional recruitment and training expenses and the associated loss of productivity. It is not uncommon for these costs to be in excess of 25% of an employee’s annual salary. There are also a host […]

10 Steps for an Effective Performance Appraisal

Whether it’s a ‘routine’ performance review, or a more formal performance improvement plan meeting, it can be a foreboding experience, both for the manager and the employee. However, to get the most from these meetings from a business performance perspective and the employees’ personal development, managers need to handle the often sensitive subject areas with […]

5 Steps for Creating a Culture of Coaching

Businesses that gain the most from coaching, and really embrace the philosophy, are the ones that recognise coaching as an essential skill for all their managers to learn. When managers effectively coach the development of team members, the entire business develops in a much faster, more sustained manner.

5 Tips for Coaching Senior Managers

The more senior a manager becomes, the less feedback they are likely to encounter from within their organisation. This lack of feedback and constructive criticism can lead to blind-spots, and it often takes some external input for these problem areas to be recognised and acted upon.

Inspiring Change in Senior Teams

During the middle of last year we were approached by a well established engineering company to help with the performance of their organisation. The business had some ambitious objectives, and to achieve them the CEO wanted to build his senior team from the bottom up.

Why January is Too Late for Employee Retention Planning

Historically, January is the most popular month for job hunting but if you leave your employee retention plans until then, it could be too late to stem the flow of talent. We look at a cost effective way to begin planning your employee retention strategy now, so you can concentrate on improving performance in the New Year, rather than looking for new staff to fill the gaps.

Stepping Up from Manager to Leader: 5 Things to Know

Moving up the corporate ladder from manager to leader is a natural career progression for many people. However, it can be a huge culture shock, and if you’re unprepared for the changes this brings, you may find yourself missing the management role you were so keen to step away from.

Why and how to build your leadership funnel

Whether they know it or not, every organisation has a leadership funnel, it’s just a question of how much emphasis is put on building and developing it…

360 Degree Feedback Surveys: 5 Best Practices

A robust 360° feedback system can bring a host of benefits to a business. Not least improving retention, increasing employee engagement and ultimately, increasing the productivity of employees.

Going Deutsche: 4 Business Lessons from The World Cup

The well known old adage of ‘German Efficiency’ was beautifully demonstrated during a recent ‘low key’ football competition we were witness to (whether we liked it or not!).  However, as we know, more often than not, these kinds of stereotypes are borne out of truth. From football, to motor vehicles, to train travel, the Germans […]

5 Unusual Questions Leaders Should Ask Themselves

A great business leader sets ambitious goals and consistently grows their bottom line. To do this successfully, it’s imperative that they engage the rest of the business in their vision. However, before a leader can engage an entire business, they have to demonstrate that they’re worthy of the following…

Experience Vs Perseverance: Let’s do the Maths

Watching our very own Lauren Steadman cross the finish line at the London World Series, ahead of vastly more experienced and 3 times unbeaten champion, Faye McClelland, it got us thinking – What’s the most valuable performance quality, Experience or Perseverance?

4 Less Obvious Benefits of Employee Wellbeing

The evidence for the tangible, financial benefits of an employee wellbeing programme are well documented. However, there are 4 additional, less obvious advantages which, whilst not having an immediate and obvious benefit to the bottom line, are just as important…

The 7 Levels of Effective Management Development

A successful Management Development programme not only increases performance from staff and managers but ensures there is a robust succession plan in place for the business to continue to grow. Time and again, most notably in a sales environment, high performing employees are promoted to a management position, based on performance in their previous role. […]

3 Essential Workshop Topics for Leadership Teams

It’s no secret that successful organisations invest heavily in developing the leadership skills of their individual senior managers. But often they give less attention to the collective skills of the senior management team and the impact this has on overall business performance. Most senior team members are selected with a great deal of care and […]

The 5 Pillars of Effective Executive Coaching

Executives and senior managers are increasingly turning to business coaches to help develop their careers, improve their own performance and get better results from those that report into them. High quality executive coaching needs skilled, experienced coaches who can quickly build a bond of trust, mutual respect and openness. It needs the experience to know […]

5 Employee Engagement Tips for HR Directors

There’s no denying the importance of employee engagement. Countless studies have reinforced the fact that higher engagement levels lead to higher productivity and ultimately increased profits for an organisation. As well as the obvious benefits to the business, engaged employees possess a greater sense of well-being and job satisfaction. Not only will this have a […]

4 Leadership Qualities for Success

We spend a great deal of our time working with CEOs and senior executives, to help them get the most from their people. One thing’s for sure, every business leader has their own unique personality and leadership style. Over the years, however, we’ve noticed a number of common traits that the best leaders possess. 1) […]

Effective Management Development Starts From the Top

Research suggests that good management is at the heart of organisational success. It has been argued that the UK has some deficiencies in the abilities and skills of its managers in comparison to other countries. As a result, it’s essential that these missing skillsets are identified and acted upon effectively in order for UK organisations […]

Embracing Change: Using Technology to Lead Better

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin The marketplace is changing rapidly. Leaders must adapt to these new challenges and opportunities. With that in mind, here are a few tips on using new technology to your advantage…. Create a more […]

Three Ways Technology is Changing the HR Department

New technology means that HR is changing. Many believe tools like social media and analytics software are at the heart of this evolution. Will 2013 be the year the HR industry makes the leap? HR, Talent Development and Strategy The role of HR and its function in the overall strategy for the business is something […]

It’s not just the management that needs the development

Most organisations recognise the value of a robust management development programme and the figures speak for themselves: High performing companies invest 36% more in management development than lower performing organisations 80% of managers in high performing organisations report that their line manager is effective or highly effective, compared with 39 per cent in low performing […]

Take one for the team – and then another, and another!

By ignoring team orders this past weekend (Malaysian Grand Prix, 2013) Sebastian Vettel reinforced that his own goals are way more important than those of Red Bull. I’m not endorsing his selfish behaviour, the fact he flagrantly ignored his boss or the fact that he risked the team for his own glory but in the interview afterwards […]

8 Principles Behind Successful Executive Coaching

The term “coach” suggests different things to different people. It invariably creates an image of sport – the team coach standing on the touchline, directing and getting involved. Whilst this analogy is understandable, it is not particularly helpful in the context of executive coaching. Nor is a coach a Counsellor, Mentor or Therapist. Each of […]

Get Out of Your Own Way…

It’s not often a phrase hits you between the eyes, especially when you should have seen it coming, but the title of this blog came out of the mouth of my colleague Howard Scott (howard.scott@oneperformance.co.uk) and resonated with me. We were discussing recent case studies and talking about our VISTA Executive Coaching approach from which we have had some […]

Let the Lunatics Take Over the Asylum

We’ve worked with some of the most recognised rapid growth technology firms in the country. Over the years we’ve observed a string of common themes peculiar to these businesses. At best these peculiarities inhibit growth. At worst, they combine until they have a strangle hold on the organisation so it can no longer breath. With […]

Human Resources Blog Post Coming Soon…

Management Development Blog Post Coming Soon…