Blog - Page 2 of 12 - Keystone Development and Training Ltd

Boring or Delicious?

December 31, 2018Uncategorizedbusiness, HR, induction, management, managers, performance, training

At this time of year, I tend to withdraw from Facebook. I thought about never returning, but I have a couple of work-related groups on there, so probably will, despite getting little interaction from my ‘friends’. I withdraw because it makes me feel inadequate. It highlights exactly what I DON’T have in my life: No nights out with friends No work’s parties – in fact, no parties full stop! No exciting family evenings out (combination of unwilling teenagers and hubby’s punishing work schedule) No date nights (lack of baby-sitters and hubby’s punishing work schedule) No extended family get-togethers Not just at Christmas – at any time. And whilst I wish I DID have these things in my life, I also realise that these things are just the ‘extras’ in life: the icing on the cake. These aren’t the things that bring happiness (apart from very briefly). They enhance a happy life of course, but they aren’t enough on their own. What really matters is: Being healthy – thankfully I am. Party due to the fact that I Zumba regularly, almost always get my 10,000 steps a day, and cook balanced meals from scratch most days. Of course, this eats into…

Thank You

December 18, 2018Uncategorizedbusiness, design, HR, OD, training, training design

I’ve been working for myself for 12 years now. And for the first 4 or 5, I really did work by myself. I got by. Then, Pam Case, Deborah Dean and Lynda Walkley invited me to a monthly networking group in my village! So I started networking. I met some lovely people who lived near me and a few of them have become friends, which is great and I loved the social side. However, they weren’t the right people for me to talk business with. They didn’t really get what I did or know the people I needed to connect with. So when Rebekah Ayres started a networking group in Liverpool for ‘people’ people I made every effort to go. It was fabulous. I made some more friends there (Hi Simon Jones!) and was able to grow my professional network and meet potential clients through these contacts. I was able to do the same for others. They helped me to gain confidence in who I was and what I did – simply by taking a genuine interest, and being able to have a detailed conversation. They pointed me to useful resources, introduced me to other helpful people and also encouraged…

Effective training doesn’t have to be boring!!

November 26, 2018Blogbusiness, design, management, OD, talent, training

I can say with confidence that the Johnson’s Apparelmaster Academy is a highly effective training programme. Not only did it win the Personnel Today award for Talent Management on 21st November 2018, but the feedback from delegates offers plenty of proof. When Keystone Development and Training Ltd had finished delivering our part of the Academy, I asked for feedback. here are just some of the things that people said: I am more efficient when dealing with problems. People now trust me to sort things out. This has given me so much confidence in my ability. I now feel able to step outside of my comfort zone. Because of the training, I was able to bring an angry and disruptive (but very influential) team member on board to implement a necessary change. My line manager has seen my confidence grow and now gives me more strategic work to do. I’ve been able to adapt my management style and achieve 180% of our target. I am now able to get my production team to work as a team – which is quite an achievement. And in terms of the style and content of the programme, I’m delighted that our brain-friendly approach to…

How to Create an Award Winning Development Programme

November 22, 2018Uncategorizedbespoke, business, coaching, design, HR, management, managers, OD, performance, talent, training, training design

In L&D circles, the fashion is for agile learning; for bite-size sessions, or even micro-learning; for self-direction and curation. Surely no-one still attends workshops? Even worse, 18 month programmes? Well. Yes they do, and there’s a reason for it: They work. They work AS LONG AS the right people are on the programme in the first place, the programme is designed to take them on a development journey, AND those people are given high levels of support and challenge. I’m delighted to have played a supporting role in such a programme for the last 9 months – The award winning Academy at Johnson’s Apparelmaster. The Academy is multi-layered (internal) development programme that I’ve been supporting for the last 9 months. Here I am (on the right) with (L-R) Charlene Howard, Michela Deegan and Jan Fisher-Payne who each manage and deliver a specific stream. I have been supporting the largest group – the Intermediate level. Although my part has ended, the Academy is just half-way through. Twenty-Four people have been through 9 months of structured development, including self-directed learning, five 2-day workshops, telephone coaching and practical assignments. So far, the results have been pretty impressive. I’ve seen the majority of these…

We’re Different

November 12, 2018Uncategorizedbespoke, managers, OD, training

Our family is different to most, in that we have no extended family within a 100 miles radius. This brings challenges as we both work – but all families have challenges. The kids are both in high school and we are firmly into the mum/dad taxi phase of parenting. Every evening, one of them has some activity to attend to… and when you factor in hubbies evening work commitments, my occasional nights away for work and my love of Zumba, our evenings are spoken for. This makes getting out for leisure quite a challenge: Lack of time, lack of babysitters. So we have to think creatively. The kids are old enough to be alone for a couple of hours if we time it right. So yesterday hubby and I went to the cinema in the morning. We have been known to go for a quick drink in the afternoon. OK – it’s not what MOST people do, but our circumstances aren’t the same as MOST people. We have to think around the issue. As I have to in my work: No two clients are the same. What’s simple for one is impossible for another. What’s normal for one is unusual…

Digital Discrimination in Training

October 30, 2018Uncategorizedtraining

Firstly, the irony that I’ve chosen to post this via video doesn’t escape me – but I’d like to point out that it took 5 hours to upload!! I also want to be clear that I’m NOT anti-tech: In fact, I’ve every intention of creating some on-line courses and running webinars as soon as my infrastructure allows it. BUT – we need to be mindful that we aren’t discriminating against a whole bunch of people who can’t participate in virtual events… just as we must be mindful of leaving those out who live in remote areas from live learning opportunities. I’d love to get your reaction on this Video Blog/Rant

World of Learning – How to make learning COOL again

October 21, 2018Uncategorized

This is a short blog post based on the notes I made during this session at the World of Learning Conference in October 2018. It may not be complete or totally accurate – it’s just “like literally” what I took away. This was a fun session delivered with energy by Di McDonald of Like Literally (formerly with Apple, EE, Expedia and L’Oreal). She works with interns and graduates and found that there was a fundamental difference between the way these young people expected to learn, and the way organisations expected to train them. They don’t want to learn from middle-aged people with 20 years experience – they want to learn from people like themselves, who are just one step ahead of them. Di said that 3 things matter: Audience – who they are as a whole person. Working and learning must be integral to actual lifestyle. Brand – learning needs to be sexy so give it a brand – make sure it’s seen as different to normal communications. Make it stand out, give it a personality, a logo. Think like an agency… you want them to buy into what you’re offering. Content – create content quickly, keep it punchy. Provide…

World of Learning – How to Curate Learning

October 21, 2018UncategorizedHR, OD

This is a short blog post based on the notes I made during this session at the World of Learning Conference in October 2018. It may not be complete or totally accurate – it’s just what I took away. This session was of particular interest. Not only do I know the speaker, Mike Shaw, a little, but curation is an increasingly important part of my role, so I wanted to see if there were any tips I could pick up to do it better! Firstly, Mike explained what Curation is: Its about providing resources, not courses and helping people to create their own learning journeys, utilising a wide range of sources. He said that the role of L&D is to provide recommendations, but also encourage people to find their own… this exploration helps to aid the transfer of learning as they’ve invested time in finding and selecting it. Content that is provided on a plate may not always deliver the same levels of engagement. In terms of HOW to curate, he suggested we follow the 3 S’s: Seek, Sense, Share. Seek – Look for content in many places, not just the ‘approved’ ones. Actively seek out views that may be…

World of Learning – L&D as Change Makers

October 21, 2018Uncategorizedbusiness, HR, managers

This is a short blog post based on the notes I made during this session at the World of Learning Conference in October 2018. It may not be complete or totally accurate – it’s just what I took away. Melanie Lepine talked about the VUCA environments that we all operate in, and what this means for the skills our leaders need, including commercial acumen, resilience, emotional intelligence, curiosity and creativity and cognitive agility. This has an impact for L&D. Again themes of curation, blended learning, agile learning and connecting people came through, as did the importance of demonstrating the value that L&D adds – not just to senior managers but also to the people you want to embark on learning. She suggested that to drive change from within L&D we need to: Connect people and with people… AND engage in PR in our own organisations! Link and label content – find/create great contact and explain how it adds value Hold up the mirror to ourselves Be pro-active – don’t wait to be asked by the business for a solution Be agile – we shouldn’t be driven or bound by rigid processes Know what metrics matter to the organisation and deliver…

World of Learning – Key Ingredients of Learning Impact

October 21, 2018Uncategorizedbehaviour, design, HR, managers, OD, training, training design

This is a short blog post based on the notes I made during this session at the World of Learning Conference in October 2018. It may not be complete or totally accurate – it’s just what I took away. I have to say that this session was one of the most insightful and useful – based on transfer of learning, which is a topic that is very important to me. This was an interesting session about an area of learning that matters to me… transfer to the job. Ina Weinbauer-Heidel explained that in most traditional training, 15% of learners get a positive outcome in that they transfer learning to the job successfully; 70% attempt to transfer learning but (for a range of reasons) fail to do so; and 15% don’t even try. So what is the reason for this lack of transfer? Her research identified over 100 factors that influence transfer of learning… she focused on 12 factors that L&D professionals can influence, which she has called 12 Levers of Transfer Effectiveness. These Levers fall into 3 categories: Trainees, Design and Organisation – You can imagine my delight when the importance of training design (not delivery) was highlighted as one…

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