The Forshaw Group was presented with the Construction Industry Training Board SME Outstanding Employer of the Year 2015.  Awarded at the Natural History Museum in London for commitment to training and development as a role model for others, inspiring the next generation.  Congratulations!... [full post]

Harvard Business Review has published the results of a global study: 'your employees want the negative feedback you hate to give'!  It found that 70% of respondents prefer corrective feedback; only 43% said they prefer praise/recognition.  In addition, 72% of respondents said they thought their performance would improve if managers would provide corrective feedback and 92% agreed that negative (redirecting) feedback if delivered appropriately is effective at improving performance. Click here to read article  ... [full post]

Mentor Corporate Coaching recently joined Wirral Chamber of Commerce.  Paul Reynolds, Mentor's Director for Merseyside and Cheshire, is featured on the Chamber's website. To view the Case Study click this link.... [full post]

CIPD has published some interesting results from recent research carried out by Oracle. According to the study, 30% of UK staff opt to turn to peers for support at work. Despite just one third of Western European employees feeling engaged most of the time, 56% believe engagement can increase productivity; 37% said it would reduce the likelihood of them looking for work elsewhere, and 35% said it would increase their ability to provide creative ideas to their company. The study goes on to state that 56% stated that their line ... [full post]

Chancellor George Osborne says in his July 2015 Budget speech that it is his ambition to make the UK the world’s most prosperous major economy by the 2030s. Responding to this, the Chartered Management Institute’s Director of Strategy, Petra Wilton, says: “Management is the missing piece in the productivity puzzle. CMI research shows that poor management costs the UK economy more than £19bn a year and business investment in management development has long lagged behind our competitors. We hope the Chancellor uses his forthcoming productivity speech to set out how he will ... [full post]

The graduation session of the 27th public Personal Excellence Leadership Programme took place on 25th June. Congratulations to the graduates, all of whom made significant progress during the 8 weeks. Family, friends and colleagues came to support them as they each gave two talks to the audience. Special mention to Alexandra Tamas of Hosokawa Micron Ltd, who won the Highest Achievement Award, voted for by the Programme participants. Alex is pictured with her husband Michael, also of Hosokawa Micron and a Programme graduate, together with Gillian Wright Fitzmaurice, the Programme Instructor and Managing Director ... [full post]

A new CIPD report shows that workplace conflict can result in situations of threat of, or actual, physical assault at work – 1 in every 25 respondents experienced this.  As managers, we have a key function in defusing tensions early to prevent conflict rather than having to resolve it when it goes too far. According to the CIPD report as many as one-in-ten employees leave their organisation as a result of difficult relationships at work. Managing emotions is one of the toughest leadership skills to master, but it can be ... [full post]