Articles and Advice
Management, leadership and team development articles and advice
Recommended Reading for Leaders and Managers
We are often asked by leaders which books, videos or articles they should read for their development.
Here are a few we recommend.
Management and movement
Movement and body language are a fundamental relationship we need to consider into today's workplace - Podcast by Sal Jeffries with Toby Buckle Find...
Building Resilience
How to maintain your resilience https://youtu.be/mMYTcvP8894 A short reminder of what to focus on when you need to keep your resilience levels...
The Circle of Influence and Control
The circle of concern, influence and control by Stephen Covey [1] is a resilience tool I often share with leaders when they need to work out what to...
Three easy ways to take control of your emotions
How do you take control of powerful emotions so that you can think more clearly? Here are three science backed ways that are simple but efective.
How to create effective habits
Is there a practical method for building habits that help you succeed? Toby explains in this short...
Emotional Intelligence Tools
Perceptual Positioning is an emotional intelligence technique that gives you insights into how to change your communication in order to get a better outcome, have more influence or simply understand someone else better.
Do leaders need emotional intelligence?
Why does emotional intelligence matter to leaders? Can you increase your levels of it? Does gender make a difference?
Managing & Leading Change
Fast moving change has become the norm in all walks of life with technology leading the rapid changes in how we work and communicate. Managing change is a key leadership requirement.
The five key ingredients for a leader.
I am often asked “what makes a good leader?”
My answer is: leaders are like food, it depends on the time, place and people as to which meal is considered the best. However meals often use the best ingredients
Stop Procrastinating
In order to tackle procrastination there are 5 practical steps. You may also have to challenge the way you are thinking. Here is how.
How do you influence people?
Is it the case that you have to have to be born with charisma to influence with impact? We think not. There are some learnable skills which will help any leader. It is an art you can become better at.
Being present.
Being present is a top principle for leading. We need to be able to give undivided attention and have the ability to make others feel they are only ones in the room. It’s only then that we can communicate really well by taking the time to listen to what people are saying.
Why purpose matters.
Why does purpose make the difference? How do you use purpose and values to lead effectively? Do teams care about purpose?
As a leader you need to slow down.
When I am walking with my young daughters we are often in a rush to get to school or somewhere I want to be.
The focus is getting there quickly, and there is less interest from me in what they are saying and doing and more on trying to get us to go faster.
Why leaders need to be seen.
Staff often won’t come over to ask your help or make complaints. They expect to be asked. They may also have ideas that they will share, but only if they think you want to hear them.
How to be an Absolute Beginner
My Tai Chi teacher often begins classes by explaining how the best practitioners are able to practice moves they have done a thousand times and still retain a state of ‘beginners mind’. This is when they are really aware of what they are doing and how to improve further
Tips for training someone new.
Training people up. Time to read: 1 minute: I have just returned from a great week running some leadership workshops in Dubai. This was the...
What is your real challenge?
What is your real challenge as a leader? Everybody has a different idea of what a challenge is. Discovering what your limiting beliefs are as a leader is a real challenge.
Efficiency V Effectiveness
When I am at my office I often get asked if I want a cup of tea by the friendly co-workers sharing the space. I tend to turn the offer down. I head to the kitchen to make my own tea as an when I need it.
On the face of it this is inefficient as I could be working whilst someone makes my tea.
Setting well formed goals.
By using the following questions you can make sure your goals are well formed and effective. Each level has questions which are worth considering ahead of taking action.
How to have effective meetings.
How do you make sure your meetings are effective. One of the biggest bug bears in organisations is poor quality meetings. How do you make sure they go well?
How to delegate.
Delegation is easier and more successful if you follow this simple check list to prepare what you need to communicate when delegating:
What is real leadership?
I was at a client recently running a leadership training course. During the tea break I went to the kitchen with a couple of the managers to grab a cup of te
Why people need a purpose.
I went mountain biking the other day with some friends, because my mate had organised it and picked a place and date.
Getting out of your Comfort Zone.
I recently tried windsurfing on my local lagoon. I was soon realising it was a lot harder than it looked. I tensed up, wobbled a lot and was so focused on not falling in I couldn’t move.
How does a Leader Set The Pace?
Leading is different to managing. A leaders role is often to set the pace. How do you set the pace as a leader?
Five Emotional Intelligence Skills For Leaders
Be an outstanding communicator, understand the behaviours and intentions of others,build better and more effective relationships, use effective planning and set clear goals.
Are you looking properly?
I recently lost my car key. I had just unloaded the boot and then couldn’t for the life of me find the key. I searched my pockets, likely places I might have put it down and had no joy.
Managing under pressure
Sometimes things don’t run smoothly and you get a few curveballs thrown at you out of the blue. Here are our top tips for keeping on track.