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What do an Investment Manager, Head of Engineering and Patent Attorney have in common?

August 24th, 2010 by James Arnum-White

 

Well, for a start they are all experts in their chosen professions.  But, my reason for sharing is that they were all delegates at Indigo’s August Think on Your Feet® workshop in London.  Why? Because while they are experts, they need help to sound like the expert they are.

Trust me; with the professional credentials these three experts have between them, it’s not hard to see why they have climbed so high in their professions.  BUT just because you are technically equipped doesn’t always mean you can get your message across with clarity, brevity and impact.   Think on Your Feet® gave them powerful (yet simple!) methods for packaging persuasion.

I am constantly amazed at the dazzling diversity of delegates that we get at this workshop.  This issue of dealing with ad hoc questions, when you need to give an unprepared answer, seems to be the backbone of good leadership style and, ultimately, your own career progression. 

I constantly hear delegates talking about “that rabbit in the headlights feeling”, or leaving a meeting thinking: “I wish I had said that”.   Presentation skills workshops  focus on planned, structured, formal communications.  But with an average of 80% of our daily communication being informal - aren’t we missing something in our training plans? 

Don’t let your on-the-spot communications hold you back.   Be the next expert to sharpen your skills at one of Indigo’s Autumn Think on Your Feet® workshops.

James.
James Arnum-White
020 7924 8760

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Indigo joins Facebook…

July 22nd, 2010 by Robert Fisher

 

Forever keen to keep our clients updated with the latest management thinking and techniques, we are proud to launch our Indigo Facebook page.   

As well as getting bite size updates from us, you will see that, when you become a fan of the page, you can comment and start communicating with other members of the group.  So after your workshop you can catch up and link up with delegates and contacts you may have met at your event.   We will also be publishing all of our most recent Indigo Early savings on this page.  So if you are looking to make your training budget go that bit further, make sure you subscribe to our updates.

Finally, if you would like to get specific workshop email updates, or the de Bono Message, why not choose what areas interest you in our free newsletter service by signing up here.

Of course in all of this technology it is important to stress that we love talking to you.  So if you are fed up with Facebook, tired of Twitter and bored of Bebo - why not call us on 020 7924 8760.

Regards

Robert

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Have your cake and eat it – Nurture the best talent and save money

July 16th, 2010 by Robert Fisher

 

Recent talent research points to fantastic savings that can be achieved whilst ensuring you retain the very best talent in your organisation.  Figures from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, for example, show if a business can increase retention from 50% to 70% it can on average save 15% of its total recruitment spend. How much could you save your company?

The key to making these kind of savings is having a good understanding of who the talent is within your organisation and ensuring you have processes in place to retain them. 

However, research carried out by Taleo suggests that organisations simply don’t have the appropriate data to know who their talent are.  Their research suggests that 82% of HR leaders questioned recognised the importance of having data on talent ‘bench strength’ whilst only 41% of them felt they had access to reliable data on it.

It’s clear that ‘parachuting’ talent in to the organisation is more expensive than ‘growing your own’.  Not to mention the risks involved in terms of cultural fit in bringing people in from outside. But if you don’t know who and where your talent is how can you hope to retain them?

5 Tips For Growing Your Own Talent

1.     Spot your talent early - put in place schemes at all levels within the organisation to spot talent.  Make sure you don’t lose really good talent because you only focus your search from middle management up.

2.     Assess potential not performance - it’s easy to make the mistake of assuming individuals who perform well in their current role will have the potential to progress through the organisation.  To effectively identify your talent, assess key characteristics that research suggests predict potential.

3.     Understand what talent looks like in your world - talent is context specific, whilst there are generic areas which help us to identify potential, this has to be put in the context of your own strategy and challenges.

4.     Keep them engaged - once identified the next thing to focus on is keeping hold of your talent.  Play to their strengths, ‘high potential’ individuals like to be constantly challenged with ‘real’ development opportunities that allow them to show others what they can do.

5.     Coach them to deal with potential derailers - some of the characteristics which make your people talented, if overplayed, can become derailers.  Help your talent to be more aware of these potential derailers.  With greater understanding individuals can recognise and amend their behaviour.

So what are you doing to nurture talent and drive the future of your organisation?

Dan Redland

If you would like to discuss talent strategy and how Indigo Assessment can help, call 020 7924 8760 or email me at DanielR@indigoassessment.co.uk

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How loud is your Leadership Vuvuzela?

July 7th, 2010 by James Arnum-White

 

Indigo’s Robin Ryde is delivering his renowned Thought Leadership workshop in London today. Through a combination of years of research and natural flair for business insight, Robin is at the forefront of the leadership discipline.

If you have watched any of the world cup in South Africa (or any news programme!), you would of heard the Vuvazela in all its glory. Reports tell us it reaches 127 decibels – louder than a chainsaw. And, most significantly, much louder than the human voice.

You are probably asking yourself – how does the Vuvuzela relate to leadership?  Well, during the Thought Leadership workshop Robin talks about one of the fundamental principles of leadership: amplification.   Some leaders do not realise the power and affect their words and actions have on others in their organisation. Because of their position, everything they do is amplified and then analysed.  This is especially true in times of uncertainty.  This amplification effect is not always fully understood.  But to be a great leader you need to embrace it and use it effectively.

So how, as a leader, do you make sure your words and actions make the right impact?  Robin’s workshop gives you practical tools for taking your team on the journey with you. He teaches you to be a leader who can walk into a room, guide their team with their thinking and then leave the room with everyone feeling stronger, more positive and energised to achieve their shared purpose.

To find out how loud your personal Vuvuzela is and to discuss how to engage your team’s hearts and minds, please contact Indigo’s James Arnum-White, on 020 7924 8760.

______________________

If you are looking for Leadership Development?   See Robin’s brand new workshop “The A-Z of Leadership” - CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

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The de Bono Weekly Message - Do you recognise this problem?

July 2nd, 2010 by Robert Fisher

 

The human brain is designed to recognise.  I described in detail how the brain does this in my book “Mechanism of the Mind”.  The leading physicist in the world liked my book and commissioned a team of computer experts to simulate what I had described.  They reported that the system worked exactly as claimed.

So if the brain is a recognition machine, this means that most of our thinking is judgemental.  This has serious consequences - especially in international affairs and Leadership.

 Edward de Bono - June 28th, 2010

For more information about Dr Edward de Bono, or if you would like to learn his internationally renowned Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, or Focus on Facilitation techaniques; simply click on the links, or call us on +44 (0)20 7924 8760.

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What is the secret to writing success? Indigo’s writing expert, Richard Spencer, spills the beans…

June 8th, 2010 by James Arnum-White

An exciting mix of private and public sector clients have gathered at Indigo’s 2-day Writing Dynamics™ workshop in London. Everyone at the event is there to improve their written documents. The great news is that they are in the right place with the right person. Their Trainer, Richard Spencer, is Indigo’s writing guru.

Richard writes for some of the world’s biggest and highest profile companies, including Volkswagen, BT and the Hay Group.

I stole a moment of Richard’s time during a workshop break and set about unlocking the mystery around his award winning writing skills:

So Richard, tell me the secret to your writing success.

“There is no secret recipe. It is actually very simple. Effective planning and knowing your audience is the key to effective and insightful business writing. As a professional writer, I spend 40% of my time planning before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard”

Why is planning so important?

“Effective planning saves you time and ensures your key messages are understood and, most importantly, remembered. It allows creativity to flow and overcomes writer’s block. When you reach the drafting stage, you can then focus your attention on using powerful language rather than getting caught up in re-structuring the document”

And how does Indigo’s Writing Dynamics™ help?

“Writing Dynamics is a hugely practical workshop. It breaks the writing process down into three distinct stages – planning, drafting and editing. Delegates are given practical tools and techniques at each stage. Most importantly, delegates can apply their new skills the moment they step back into the workplace. That is why Writing Dynamics™ is a global phenomenon”

If you are interested in finding out more about Indigo’s public and in-house writing training, please contact us now.

James Arnum-White
020 7924 8760

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All Change - from www.indigoassessment.co.uk

May 26th, 2010 by Daniel Redland

With the economy showing signs of recovery, it is absolutely critical that organisations are fighting fit and prepared for the future.  Businesses need to get a clear view of their new surroundings and reframe their thinking to ensure the future is a healthy and secure.

  

Carrying on doing what has always worked well in the past may have been a useful strategy up to now,  but in the new economy this is simply not going to work.  Many organisations have had to take drastic measures just to survive the recession and, as they raise their heads above the parapet, are finding that life will never be the same again.

 

When we launched Indigo Assessment our plan was to focus on providing high quality, no nonsense fixed fee assessment services delivered by a team of highly experienced chartered Business Psychologists.  What we have found though is a business community crying out for help to understand how to best tackle their new surroundings.

 

This means taking a good hard look at the market you are in and exploring what has changed and what that means to the way it operates.  Understanding what people you have in the business now, the people that you are going to need moving forward and how to meet the challenges you are facing and how to overcome them.

 

We have been working with a number of organisations to help them ‘vision the future’ so that they can plan ahead and put in place clear benchmarks for people requirements moving forward.  This has helped them to take stock of the talent they currently have in the business and ensure they have a clear pipeline of talent to reach their future goals and beyond.

 

My Top 5 Tips for Survival:

  

1.      Explore the future: Use visionary interviews to explore where the challenges that your organisation is likely to face in the coming years, how will the business need to change to meet these challenges.

 2.      Know your people: Carry out audits of the people you have in the business. Have you got the talent required to sustain the business moving forward

 3.      Plan Plan Plan: Make sure you have a clear idea of who your future leaders are in the business.  Spot them early and make sure you retain them.

 4.      Keep it fresh: Make sure your competencies are up to date and reflect the new circumstances you find yourself in. Competencies should be reviewed and refreshed every 2-3 years to ensure they are still reflective of the business goals and strategy.

 5.      Keep it simple: When you put in place competencies or indeed any HR processes keep them simple.  We don’t believe in style over substance here at Indigo Assessment; competencies should be straightforward and easy to use. If you over complicate things, people just won’t use them. 

 

If this situaton feels familiar to you, and you would like to meet with me to discuss ways in which we can help you, simply drop me a line at:

 

Daniel Redland

Assessment Services Director

T: 020 7924 8760

DanielR@indigoassessment.co.uk

www.indigoassessment.co.uk  

 

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Mastering Skills

April 15th, 2010 by James Arnum-White

Watching the Masters golf over the weekend, and putting aside the Tiger Woods controversy, I was fascinated with the precision of the player’s shots.  When going for the hole, they are hitting the ball the length of a football pitch or further, AND getting within inches of their target.  This is a very visual demonstration of the application of skill.

So what is skill? One excellent definition is:  “the learned ability to consistently bring about a pre-determined result”

Implanting this definition into the business world and thinking about Indigo’s range of training workshops, I want to focus you on the key words in this sentence:

  1. LEARNED – Yes there is natural talent at play, but you acquire new skills by breaking down the sets of behaviours that make up that skill and learning how to apply it for yourself. Have you seen a great communicator or creative person at work and thought – how can I learn to be like that?
  2. CONSISTENTLY – At the heart of consistency is practice. Without it, you will never be able to re-produce your best on a regular basis. When you have your moments of brilliance are you ever left asking – why can’t I do that all of the time?
  3. PRE-DETERMINED – Luck… there is only one type when it comes to skill – Labour Under Correct Knowledge. When was the last time you got asked a question and wish you were better prepared to respond with more precision and persuasion?

Indigo’s workshops are extremely practical and based on years of combined Business Leader experience. They help you master the skills of:

  • Creativity – have ideas “on demand” that solve your personal and business problems and help you generate new opportunities.
  • Communication – deliver precise, powerful and persuasive business communication that gets your message heard.
  • Project delivery – get things outside your normal day job done. The successful delivery of projects gets you noticed and is often a fast-track to career success.

Call a member of the Indigo team now to hear how you can master these skills for career progression and recognition.

Tel: +44(0) 20 7924 8760, or e-mail info@indigobusiness.co.uk

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Indigo Assessment Newsletter Service - sign up for free updates….

April 14th, 2010 by Robert Fisher

 

We are thrilled that, after much interested in our new service www.indigoassessment.co.uk, we now have a dedicated free newsletter for this arm of the business.

Please join up and choose your area of interest at http://bit.ly/d1Ov7i

See our full range of services and new training workshops at http://indigoassessment.co.uk/training.html

Regards,

Daniel Redland, Assessment Services Director

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Lean thinking and creative thinking comes to life with Simplicity

April 1st, 2010 by James Arnum-White

Leaders in the public and private sector are being driven to do more with less. On the surface this does not seem to be rational. Surely the best we can hope for is doing the same with less?

Since its introduction in Japan, lean production has been proven to work time and time again. Lean principles are extremely valuable, and can help you do the same with less. But a more modern take on this approach is to adopt creative thinking and lean thinking at the same time.

Dr de Bono’s Simplicity methods allow you to capitalise on cost saving, and also apply the Lateral Thinking™ techniques for serious, well planned and expertly delivered creative thinking.

It is important for all organisations to revisit their core purpose – the reason for their existence. Using Simplicity™, you can then focus on how you add-value, where you add-value and when you add-value to your customers.

During the training workshop, the 10 Rules For Simplicity are drilled home. My two favourite Rules For Simplicity are:

1. Know for whose benefit simplicity is being designed

Is the simpler process going to benefit the system or the operator of the system? How are all the different parties going to benefit from the simplicity? Simplicity for one party may mean complexity and cost for another.

2. Design simplicity using alternatives and possibilities.

By itself analysis can help toward simplicity but is not enough. Analysis can help shed unnecessary features but cannot, by itself, generate new designs. Alternatives and possibilities need to be generated with creativity – and can then be assessed.

Learn how to truly do more with less.

Call Indigo now to bring Simplicity to life.

James (Arnum-White). 020 7924 8760

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