business Archives - Keystone Development and Training Ltd

Being “Better” in 2020

January 2, 2020Uncategorizedbespoke, business, design, development, HR, L&D, learning, OD, training, training design, variety

Here we are, the start of another new year. Many people are making resolutions – joining the gym, doing Dry January, setting ambitious business goals. I have not. That’s NOT to say that I don’t need to make improvements. I definitely need to lose weight (I’m currently a stone heavier than I’d like) and cutting down on the booze can only be a good thing. But you won’t find me reaching for the slimfast, joining Slimming World, hitting the gym 5 days a week, or cutting out the booze entirely. Because if I do that, I’m setting myself up to fail. It’s too BIG a change and it’s actually a bigger change than I need to make, so why make life hard for myself? I DO eat healthily most of the time (just need to watch those portion sizes and evening snacks). I DO exercises regularly – 3 Zumba classes a week most weeks. I DO generally have 4 alcohol free days a week In short, I get it mostly right most of the time. However, I need to be more consistent. I need to me more aware and notice more quickly if I’m straying from good habits. I need…

What’s the Difference between Ronnie Wood and Mark Ronson?

November 27, 2019Uncategorizedbusiness, coaching, design, development, learning, mark ronson, OD, training, training design

A strange question perhaps for a blog on a training design website. And to be honest, now I’ve asked the question, I realise that there are probably many differences. Furthermore, the one I’m going to refer to may not even be accurate – it’s based on my feeling after watching both men appear on Later with Jools Holland. Clearly, both are accomplished musicians, and for both music is front and centre in their life. It struck me that the main difference is that Ronnie Wood wants to PLAY great music, whilst Mark Ronson wants to MAKE good music. And there’s a subtle but significant difference. Ronnie Wood clearly wants to play the best music he can. He wants to entertain a crowd and play – anything, anytime with anyone. He seemed lost without a guitar in his hand and didn’t know what to do with himself when others were providing the music. Mark Ronson is more about putting together the best possible sound – whether or not he’s directly involved. Naturally he can play music and will if he will add value, but if there’s a better musician, or a different sound is needed, he will step back. In the…

Managers Need Inducting Too!

May 10, 2019Uncategorizedbehaviour, business, coaching, HR, induction, management, managers, OD, training, values

It’s funny how in the last week I’ve had three conversations with three very different businesses about how the lack of a manager’s induction causes problems down the line: Inconsistent approaches to people management, having to go back to basics with experienced managers and the HR team getting way too involved way too often as small people problems haven’t been handled properly from the start. We know that a general induction is important for those joining the organisation, but people being recruited into management positions need a separate (additional) induction. New managers need to understand what’s expected of them, what support is available to them, and how to do things properly. People with managerial experience being recruited into a new organisation need an induction on top of the generic corporate one to help them to understand the managerial processes within their new environment. You would hope that they have been recruited because they have the necessary skills and experience, but the way they are expected to manage and report is probably quite different to their previous organisation. They need to know which forms to use when, where to find them, who to contact if… etc. They also need to know…

Why People aren’t Accessing Training on your LMS

April 11, 2019Uncategorizedbusiness, coaching, OD, training

I’ve had a thought floating around in my head for a year or more, and it came to the fore again when I read a LinkedIn post by a connection of mine posing the question “How do we get people to use our LMS?” On-line learning has it’s place of course. There are lots of benefits including ‘just-in-time’ learning which I think we all agree is a good thing. But there are many reasons why people don’t use it. Here are just a few… It’s difficult to use – especially for those NOT based in Head Office, or those that don’t have a desk job, so they don’t. It’s not well publicised – people won’t use it if they don’t know what it is or what it has. It’s impersonal – one-way ‘training’ doesn’t answer all the specific questions we have; it doesn’t re-assure is or motivate us; it doesn’t make us feel special in the way that face-to-face training or coaching does. It’s not engaging – click, click, click…it can be too easy to pay lip-service to the training and not actually take anything in. It’s not being driven – people need support to get into a habit, and…

Creativity in Learning Design

March 3, 2019Uncategorizedbusiness, design, HR, managers, OD, training, training design

Last week, I attended the Manchester L&D ‘Unconference’ – an opportunity for L&D professionals to meet, agree their own agenda and have the conversations they want to have about all things L&D. The first session I joined was all around the question “How can we be more creative in training design?”. It was quite insightful, and here are the summary thoughts that I came away with. Firstly, what do we mean by creative, and why do we feel the need to be creative? We quickly agreed that creative doesn’t mean ‘wacky’. Creativity can be quite serious! Creative training is defined in relation to the topic and the audience. Yes, sometimes creative training may involve crossing streams and building rope bridges: It may involve Lego, singing, or lots of coloured pens; It may simply involve a live demo, detailed case study or expert interview. Creativity in training is simply about providing an alternative way in to the learning – a different way of exploring it from the norm. It’s about providing multiple touch points and appealing to different learning preferences. It’s about getting people off autopilot and grabbing their attention, taking them out of their comfort zone, but only by a…

Is the future of L&D simply being curious and connected?

January 28, 2019Uncategorizedbespoke, business, coaching, design, HR, OD, training

“That’s what I do: I drink and I know things”. One my favourite quotes from my favourite character in Game of Thrones – Tyrion Lannister, played by the brilliant Peter Dinklage. Yesterday, as I took a short but very bracing walk, it occurred to me that my quote would be very similar: “I think and I know people”. After 12 years of running my own business, I’ve got the two off to a fine art. But I always feel under pressure to increase my skill set and prove my ability through qualifications. I don’t have a Level 7 coaching qualification – should I get one (even though I don’t want to be a coach)? I don’t have digital design skills – Should I invest in a course and expensive software if I’m going to stay in business? I’m not an apprenticeship or ILM provider – perhaps I ought to get accredited (even though I’m very rarely asked to provide this)? This feeling of inadequacy was heightened on Friday when I was talking to a freelance trainer just 3 months into her journey. She believed that she needed to have a raft of qualifications in order to be taken seriously, somehow…

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…

Tag: business

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