Julian Rawel

Final breakout at thinkingplace #Chesterfield #pizzazz24 - dealing with organisational change to create a place-based approach led by Sarah McKee Cratus Group. This interactive session outlines different organisational change methods. A nice stat - if you can convince 25% of people to change - the others will follow - adds weight to the idea of place innovators or change makers. So two big questions: Is being place led a challenge to traditional organisational culture? What are the creative solutions to this? Would be interesting to hear what Institute of Place Management members think

9

2 Comments

This is a great example of Chelmsford College and a local employer working together to meet local training needs. Feeling proud to have worked with Louise Manning and Laser Electrical to make this happen. There are some simple key takeaways: 1.     The employer was willing to invest in their people and understand the potential return on investment. 2.     We spent time understanding the requirements and invited the employer to be involved in the co-design. 3.     The delivery schedule / times offer the flexibility that the construction industry needs. 4.     We developed a mix of qualifications, delivered in a modular format and maximised our funding streams to engineer value for the employer. 5.     We already had and continue to build a bank of specialist associates that can provide us with capability to deliver certain areas of curriculum. 6. Being prepared to sometimes deliver aspects that might not fit into a qualification, standard or funding steam. Chelmsford College #construction #leadership #training

50

3 Comments

🚀 Unlock the Full Potential of Your Future Business Leaders with the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship at LSBU! 🚀 At LSBU, we are proud to be a leading, award-winning provider of degree apprenticeships. Our Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship is specially designed to combine cutting-edge theory with real-world industry practice, ensuring your team gets the knowledge and skills they need to excel in business management roles. What’s on offer for your organisation? 🌟 ✅ Upskill your new managers: Equip your rising stars with expertise in leadership, business strategy, marketing, and finance—all while they remain embedded in your team. ✅ Develop industry-relevant skills: Covering key areas such as professional competencies, management systems, business ethics, and digital transformation, this programme is designed to future-proof your business. ✅ Work-based learning: Apprentices apply their learning directly in your workplace, delivering immediate results for your business. ✅ Partnering with CMI: Our collaboration with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) ensures a robust End Point Assessment, adding even more credibility to your apprentices' journey. With LSBU’s structured, three-year programme—covering everything from finance and operations to leadership and small business management—you can drive business growth, increase operational efficiency, and cultivate leadership excellence. 💡 Apprenticeship Levy: If your business pays the apprenticeship levy, this training will be fully funded by the levy. For non-levy-paying employers, 95% or even 100% of the costs will be covered by the government, depending on the age of the apprentice. It’s a win-win opportunity for your business! Don’t miss out on the chance to invest in your team’s future and fuel your organisation’s success. Discover more about how this apprenticeship can transform your business by following the link below. Ready to get started? Let’s build tomorrow’s business leaders today! 💼 #DegreeApprenticeships #CharteredManager #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #UpskillYourTeam

13

I begin the week with this Pledge! Please feel free to download and adapt for your company. One idea is to paste this on the Signature Wall and get your employees to sign. For more ideas on Embedding BCM and Developing BCM Culture in your organisation - please get in touch. DBD Training & Consultancy (OPC) Private Limited #bcm #businesscontinuity #businesscontinuitymanagement #businesscontinuityplanning #resilience

7

New podcast from James Reed CBE launched today, and features Heather Melville, OBE. This episode delves into the importance of inclusion in the workplace and how it drives business success. As someone who works at Reed in Partnership and lives with a disability, this episode resonated deeply with me. It’s a powerful reminder that diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords but essential components of a thriving, innovative, and compassionate workplace. I love the opening that talks about diversity being about being invited to the party, and inclusion is having the shoes to dance - supporting the idea that actions are needed that make people feel welcomed, it is not enough to open the door. 🎧 If you haven’t already, I highly recommend giving this episode a listen. It’s a great reminder of why inclusion matters and how we can all play a part in making our workplaces better for everyone. #Inclusion #Diversity #AllAboutBusiness #DisabilityAwareness #WorkplaceInclusion

4

1 Comment

This week Piers Cross invited me to be a guest on his wonderful podcast. Ive worked with Leaders for over thirty years and started to notice certain ‘Patterns’ in certain leaders I was working with. The patterns included: 1. A deep loyalty to their social peer group 2. A need to dismiss and cover up abusive or bullying behaviour amongst senior management and leaders 3. A blind sense of entitlement that made them behave ‘bigger than’ others 4. An inability to ‘relate’ to those who came from ‘different’ backgrounds. *NB: I realise that these patterns are also in ‘other’ leaders too! They often genuinely couldn’t ’see’ from other people’s perspectives. It felt like they’d been ‘wired’ up so strongly and were so entangled in their systems (Education and Family and Class), that they had no capacity to see or understand the ‘reality’ of those who had come from other backgrounds or cultures. These weren’t people who intentionally did harm to others but seemed to following a ‘secret’ (hidden) code. This insight transformed my work as I began to see how the systems were often designed to accommodate this kind of leader. All the talk about changing ‘culture’ was exactly that… “Talk”. The idea of a different (inclusive) culture was a potentially terrifying prospect for some of these Leaders. It would trigger an existential crisis. These leaders were traumatised and leading traumatised organisations and institutions. Which is where the need for ELDERS comes in. Elders are those wise people who sit ‘outside’ the system so they can see it and support the Rites of Passage for leaders and communities. As the saying goes… “You can’t read the label from inside the jar” #eldership #boardingschools #trauma

9

1 Comment

One of the pillars of a successful leadership development programme is firmly basing the development in understanding of ourselves and understanding the different perspectives of others – providing a foundation for leadership behaviours that are challenging, supportive and consultative. Our programmes are grounded in helping delegates build their emotional intelligence; we know from years of research this is a critical skill for successful leaders, and one that we consistently see is underdeveloped in leadership groups at all levels. By focusing on giving leaders technical and functional business skills, organisations risk leaders depending on ‘pushing’ leadership styles that we know to be limited in their ability to build the climate needed to secure long-term employee commitment and discretionary effort.   The impact of my behaviours as a leader sits at the interface between my behaviours, styles, preferences and motivations and the motivations, styles and preferences of others. By helping leaders recognise that others can see things differently to us, it leads to an appreciation for the power that’s unleashed by adapting their behaviours to better engage with and influence others.  #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #EQ #MondayMorningMessages

14

Another module today within the 6-month #intentionalinclusivity programme, Beyond Boundaries. The group developed #skills and techniques for positive #influencing, and explored the concept of ‘power’ in the workplace (good, bad and ugly!). #NHS

29

Practical training that works across all roles and sectors…how often can you say that?

1

A week ago I had the pleasure of Chairing peer2peer Boards at the picturesque Putteridge Bury Campus University of Bedfordshire Business School in #Luton. Our group engaged in an UpSkill session from the Team Engagement section of the Peer2Peer Capability Compass called “Clarify Your Team’s Roles”. Building an engaged team is critical to growth and business success and one of the most difficult parts of running a business or leading an organisation. Without this skill a business will be strangled and growth stifled as more and more more unproductive tasks fall on the owner’s desk. Using the #peer2peer UpSkill session members were helped to recognise over 80 business activities, roles and responsibilities and shown how to prioritise which ones were important to them now and what structures they need to put in place to engage the workforce. With employee engagement in the UK as low as 23% in 2023 (Gallup Poll) it would appear that this is something every business needs to get right. Actively engaged employees lead to less absenteeism, more productivity, more profitability and a better all round working environment, this in turn helps attract the best talent and keep the best talent. This is just one example of how Peer2Peer can help and support you and your team with practical skills and knowledge in order to fast track your business and accelerate growth.

27

10 Comments

From the OD consultant’s tool chest: Recently I attended an Irish Celtic concert. One of the songs contained the phase, “calm seas do not make for a skilled Captain.” That had me thinking about predictors of quality leadership. That is, perhaps during the best of times managers aren’t placed in environments that require innovative leadership, but when faced with adversity forces managers to respond with creative techniques which are more likely to build skills. Although we don’t generally look forward to adversity, but what we learn from those challenges is likely to build our leadership ability. Think of a time when you were faced with “rough seas.” How did you respond? What worked, what didn’t, what did you learn?

10

5 Comments

Labour's vision for a "Golden Age of Lifelong Learning" promises exciting opportunities for professionals and businesses alike. Stephen Morgan Labour candidate for Portsmouth South, recently outlined plans to transform the UK's approach to skills development and education. Key highlights of this initiative include: Transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a Growth and Skills Levy, offering businesses more flexibility in investing in training courses. Creating opportunities for adults to upskill with short, modular courses in new industries and technologies. Addressing the decline in adult participation in education, training, and skills programs, which has fallen by over 350,000 since 2017. What are your thoughts? Do you have training courses that would benefit from easy recongition? How do you see lifelong learning shaping the future of work? https://lnkd.in/eQX3-PJx This is not a promo post, I'm genuinely interested, answers, links, suggestions, even controversial views, please comment.

1

🚀 Future Leaders – Addressing The Skills Gap🚀 Did you know that over 60% of middle-managers reported to have never received management training after promotion?  That’s why we’ve launched our new Future Leaders Campaign , designed to close the middle-management skills gap through targeted apprenticeships. 🌟 Operations Manager Apprenticeship (Level 5) 🌟 Duration: 20 months Funding Value: £9,000 Benefits: 👉 Advanced Leadership Skills: Develop strategic thinking and people management expertise. 👉 Data-Driven Decisions: Learn to analyse data for operational improvements and informed decision-making. 🌟 Team Leader Apprenticeship (Level 3) 🌟 Duration: 16 months Funding Value: £5,000 Benefits: 👉 Practical Management Skills: Gain hands-on experience in leading projects and managing resources. 👉 Financial Acumen: Learn to manage budgets and ensure tasks are completed within financial targets. Why Choose Us? 🔺 Practical Learning: Real-world applications from day one. 🔺 CMI Awards: Industry-recognized credentials. 🔺 Experienced Support: Access to expert tutors and mentors. 🔺 Flexible Training: Blended learning to fit your schedule.   Ready to elevate your organisations leadership skills? Contact us today to learn how the Future Leaders Campaign can help you achieve your career goals and drive organisational success. Find out more and register your interest:  https://lnkd.in/e8E3__kE Email me at: [email protected] #FutureLeaders #LeadershipDevelopment #MiddleManagement #CMIAwards #ManagementApprenticeships #InvestInYourTeam

9

Is it just me but I feel 'coaching and mentoring' is replacing 'training' as an accepted form of, er....training! 'Training' is sometimes regarded as a consequence of 'not being good enough' - a kind of punishment even(!); but coaching and mentoring (coaching especially) is more likely to be received positively by those seeking (or needing) 'development' (not training, definitely not training). I have conversations from people seeking coaching when they actually mean mentoring, and vice versa. Some even need training but would rather call it coaching! Before I get trolled I know there is a difference, a big difference, between training and coaching, especially at executive level, but with 'coaching' being widely accepted (and sought) at all levels, is it clear what that difference is between coaching and mentoring? And will you benefit more from coaching or mentoring? Or a mixture of both, 'coach-ering' perhaps? TSP's Adam Noble explains.

8

What’s the true impact of a mentor? In this video, both Andy Lopata and I, along with other incredible individuals (Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM, Peter Brown MBE, Sally Helgesen, Dr Samantha Hiew, PhD and Jonathan Low Global Speaking Fellow, CSP, ICF MCC), share personal stories of how our mentors stepped in at pivotal moments. From navigating stressful board meetings to receiving life-changing advice, mentors do more than just guide us—they hold up a mirror and help us see ourselves clearly. Whether it’s the six words that shifted my career path (Thanks, Dr Bert Shapiro!) or the honest critique that helped Andy rewrite his book, these moments remind us of the profound value mentors bring. They call out what we can’t always see and push us to go further. Mentoring isn’t just for the start of your career—it’s a lifelong partnership that helps at every stage. Find out more about the power of mentoring in The Financial Times Guide to Mentoring, coauthored with Andy Lopata. #MentoringMatters #Leadership #CareerDevelopment

14

South Cambridgeshire’s four day week has had a big impact, according to research by Salford and Cambridge universities. In October 2023 Michael Gove told them to cease the four day week and suggested in the Sun that staff were skiving on the job. The idea of the four day week is that staff get 100% of the pay for 80% of the work, as long as they are 100% as productive. And South Cambridgeshire found a full year cost saving of £371,500. This is mainly due to permanently filling 10 posts that were previously identified as ‘hard to fill’. The financial saving has been made by not needing more expensive agency alternatives. There has been a 53% increase in the number of jobs advertised externally, and 76% said they were influenced by the four day week. There has been no reduction in the Council’s opening hours, but also longer opening hours on Wednesdays. Eleven measures performed better during the trial, eleven showed no significant difference and two did worse. Of the eleven measures that were better, they were better call answering times, the percentage of emergency repairs, more planning decisions made on time, and the number of days to process housing benefit claims. Also staff turnover dropped by almost 40%. "The trial suggests that a four-day work week maintains the quality of public services as measured by key performance indicators, while attracting new staff and improving workers' wellbeing", explains Daiga Kamerāde, Professor in Work and Wellbeing at the University of Salford The key point here is recruiting staff. As Cllr Mike Davey, Leader of Cambridge City Council, said: “From the outset we’ve supported South Cambridgeshire District Council in trialling the four-day week as they endeavour to find a solution to the recruitment and retention challenges we know councils are facing up and down the country.” Hopefully the new Labour government might be a bit more interested in how the four day week could work. At Happy, we have been doing the four day week for over two years, and nobody has left! Could your organisation do a four day week?

44

2 Comments