 “On the 5th day of Christmas a Manager said to me…
DO I REALLY HAVE TO DO THESE 1:1’s? 🌟(Sing along to the 12 days of Christmas song!)🌟 … (4) What can I delegate?” (3) How do I give feedback?” (2) Who are my team? (1) I don’t know what’s expected of me!” THE CHALLENGE 1:1’s can take time. Time to schedule, time to prep for, time to run, time to write up etc. And we all know that one of the biggest enemies of Managers is lack of time, right? THE SOLUTION ⛄️ One of the key points of 1:1s are to allow team members individual time with their manager to discuss what’s going on for them. If they feel rushed or like they’re an inconvenience, they simply won’t open up ⛄️ Find a frequency that works well for you both (Newer team member may benefit from more frequent, structured meetings, while more established members may prefer a more relaxed approach.) ⛄️ Doing your regular 1:1s will help with any annual review later down the line REMEMBER ... DO THEM, but do them in a way that works for the you, them and the company! 🎄Keep a look out for further days of Christmas to help develop Manager skills!🎄 #CuriousLighthouse #ManagementDevelopment #12DayOfManagerSkills
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 “On the 4th day of Christmas a Manager said to me…
WHAT CAN I DELEGATE?” 🌟(Sing along to the 12 days of Christmas song!)🌟 … (3) How do I give feedback?” (2) Who are my team? (1) I don’t know what’s expected of me!” THE CHALLENGE Technically, you can delegate anything… the real question is WHY should you delegate it? THE SOLUTION ⛄️ You can delegate to reduce your own workload …but you can also delegate to increase development opportunities. ⛄️ If you are looking to reduce your own workload ensure it’s not just the sludge you’re passing off, or people will see you as having sloppy shoulders ⛄️ If you are delegating to help develop someone, ensure you’re staggering the skill level, and supporting them in the process so it’s not too much too soon 🎄Keep a look out for further days of Christmas to help develop Manager skills!🎄 #CuriousLighthouse #ManagementDevelopment #12DayOfManagerSkills  “On the 3rd day of Christmas a Manager said to me…
HOW DO I GIVE FEEDBACK?” 🌟(Sing along to the 12 days of Christmas song!)🌟 … (2nd ) Who are my team? (1st ) and… I don’t know what’s expected of me!” THE CHALLENGE The biggest challenge here is the perception of what feedback is and is not! (and avoiding the feedback sandwich like the plague!) THE SOLUTION The best advice I can offer in this short space is to consider your purpose and context! ⛄️ Set the context before you start to enable the other person to understand what it relates to ⛄️ Be specific (using vague language like ‘that was great’ or ‘You shouldn’t done that’ are not going to help anyone ⛄️ Be very clear on why you want to change or continue 🎄Keep a look out for further days of Christmas to help develop Manager skills! 🎄 #CuriousLighthouse #ManagementDevelopment #12DayOfManagerSkills  “On the 2nd day of Christmas a Manager said to me…
WHO ARE MY TEAM?” --- (And… I don’t know what’s expected of me!”) 🎄 (Sing along to the 12 days of Christmas song!)🎄 THE CHALLENGE Undefined reporting line can cause havoc with communication and generally getting things done THE SOLUTION 1. Hold meeting with all managers to define split between Technical Management accountability (projects, products etc) and Personal Management accountability (1:1’s, holiday requests, development etc) 2. Draw up a org chart that represents this 3.Hold meeting with team members to highlight this and how it might work going forwards 4.Review regularly 🎄Keep a look out for further days of Christmas to help develop Manager skills! 🎄 #CuriousLighthouse #ManagementDevelopment #12DayOfManagerSkills  “On the 1st day of Christmas a Manager said to me…
I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S EXPECTED OF ME!” 🎄🌟(Sing along to the 12 days of Christmas song!) 🌟🎄 THE CHALLENGE: For smaller fast growing companies, this is usually because they simply haven’t had to think about it before. For larger companies it could be down to lack of development planning around the transition from role to role. THE SOLUTION: If you're the Manager that needs clarity, take the lead on this. Approach the/your boss and ask for a conversation to help define your role and what is expected from you. If you're the boss, take time to consider the key things you want from your line managers and ways you can support them to learn and grow in the role. (Keep it simple, focus on the top 3 things to start with and set milestone review dates to follow up.) 🎄Keep a look out for further days of Christmas to help develop Manager skills! 🎄 #CuriousLighthouse #ManagementDevelopment #12DayOfManagerSkills  As the plethora of perfectly carved pumpkins start to appear on social media, I find myself saying ‘I’m happy for these people, they have creativity, patience and time to spare’..,
But I also find my inner voice saying... ' I bet what they didn't have was a bouncy overexcited 7-year-old wielding a Sharpie and dinner knife in front of them, declaring that the pumpkin only needs half its head, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see the brains falling out! So we set everything up, get ready to carve, the excitement at fever-pitch and then… he’s loses interest and we end up with slightly quirky, rather than a scary looking pumpkin! I had several options: 1. TRY and coerce my Son into creating a more elegant pumpkin masterpiece 2. LIE and create my own ‘slightly better’ pumpkin and take a photo of him next to it 3. BUY a ready-made carved pumpkin and be vague about its creation Or… 4. Let him loose (safely!) with his creativity and equipment and see what we end up with! Being a manager sometimes means we look at others and judge ourselves against their; results, team, awards etc. But when you’re too busy looking at what others are doing you can miss out on the talents of your own team. So, whether your switching off the lights and pretending you're not at home, or out and about with the Zombies, Witches and Batman, (there's always one dressed as Batman!) have a ‘perfectly’ personal Halloween.  Build a boat exercise to reflect on being a people manager - Curious Lighthouse  Last week I opened a Management Development workshop by recounting the events surrounded the saving of the Titanic survivors. (Granted, it wasn’t the cheeriest of openings, but it was certainly powerful!)
The sequence of events that the Captains of the SS Californian and the RMS Carpathia took that night are often overlooked when the Titanic is mentioned. Yet that moment in time followed them for the rest of their lives. The SS Californian The inquiry records reveal contradictory evidence from the crew of the SS Californian. Discrepancies in how  Last week I opened a communications workshop for managers by talking about Honeybees! Yes, you did read that right… Honeybees!
Honeybee’s have communication nailed. They locate flowers for nectar and let everyone in the hive know exactly where to find them. How? They do a waggle dance!  As the kids head back to school, I’m reminded of my own early days in education. A time when, we covered our exercise books to make them last longer (Yes, that is wallpaper from our 1970’s living room!) and I took my ‘words’ to and from school in an empty (but still rather smelly) Golden Virginia tobacco tin!
Times have changed, and whilst I might look back nostalgically, I wouldn’t expect my own Son to do the same now-a-days. So why would any business expect new managers to follow practices that are probably as old as my exercise book! ...  How not to buy a cow ... lessons in L&D by Nikie Forster. Image by Ulrike Leone When I landed my first official job as a Trainer for a large DIY store many moons ago, I was delighted! I learnt on the job, running rousing inductions and traveling the length and breadth of the UK to meet eager (my words not theirs) learners to induct them.
After some time, I realised that if I was going to progress to other forms of training i.e. Management Development, I was going to need to develop my own skills further. Back then the key attributes of a great Trainer were  As a young teenager, my mum would send me on my bike to buy tomatoes from a lady who sold fruit and veg she grew in her garden.
The produce would usually be set out on a stand to the side of the house with an honesty pot to put the money in. But sometimes the stand wasn’t there, and you had to  Several years ago, my mum ventured into her first ever Starbucks store. Nothing particularly interesting about that, however, they were just starting their 'can I take your name for the cup' shenanigans, and my mum answered, 'Ruth'.
Again, not much interesting about this either, until you understand that, a) her name is not Ruth! and b) when I asked her why she had given a different name she replied...  “If you’re telling me I’ve done something wrong, then at least give me enough information to do it right next time!”
Many Managers struggle with giving real-time feedback. The concept of praising and correcting a team member in the moment can feel uncomfortable. More so for ‘Accidental Managers.’ Those who have been promoted to manage a team because they were good at their previous role… which probably involved very little people management at all! In this article we’ll look at what feedback is and is not, and we’ll also introduce a simple four-part model that you can use for positive and constructive feedback. Let’s dive in… Management Development Conversations “Just because YOU think you’re right, doesn’t actually make you right!” This was a conversation I heard between two learners during a Management Development workshop I was hosting.
It opened a really interesting discussion about how much some people hold on to their views in order to prove themselves correct. Even when they start to believe there may be merit in other people’s views. Some of the best Managers I’ve worked with have a talent for being able to step back and take on other people’s opinions. These Managers also happen to be excellent at conversation and communication. Coincidence? I think not!  I love this TED Talk from Celeste Headlee about ‘10 ways to have a better conversation’. Celeste is a radio host and her advice translates beautifully from advice for individuals to advice for business managers too.
The topic of ‘communication’ crops up a lot the Management Development programme I design and deliver, but this different slant on ‘conversations’ is well worth a view with some great points for all. Enjoy!  Get the FULL guide to the '12 Days of different delegates' in one PDF... CLICK HERE
Find out why learners behave the way they do in workshops, and more importantly what you, as there Trainer can do about it.  Props can really help increase curiosity and engage learners in different ways to traditional discussion.
I used this prop during a Mini Masterclass about 'Proactive Management Conversations.' Can you tell what it is and why I might have used it?  This little selfie was taken during a talk (How to take a better business selfie!) at a networking meeting. As well as getting a decent photo, it also highlights the importance of looking at things from the 'other side'.
In my world, I interact with Managers, Trainers and Entrepreneurs regularly, and this 180 topic raises up quite frequently. I'm thinking this little exercise would be a great, quick example of how different things could be in different perspectives! Interested in more training activity ideas....? www.curious-trainers-academy.com/pages/curious-trainers-resources  When I was six, I asked my Dad if I could go ‘Trick or Treating’. His answer? ‘No, it’s begging!’ (Well it was the seventies and Halloween wasn’t really a thing then.) I never asked again.
Fast forward many years to my own Son asking me the same question. My instinctive answer?...  The Mary Rose In 1982 the Mary Rose emerged from the Solent to see daylight for the first time in 437 years. I remember this not because of the significance of the event, but because my mum allowed me to stay home from school and watch it on the TV! I also remember gasping as the...
 In training design, the 'flow' of the session is paramount. It’s like a well edited movie, you shouldn’t notice the edits, just the great story line. But, sometimes interjecting something unexpected can rouse us from our comfortable state and make us sit up and pay attention. This is often referred to as a ...
Today I've been thinking about ‘the logical way of doing things’ versus ‘the reality’. This has been inspired by autumn, and about the leaves on the trees. As a kid I remember being told ...
 Wading through the detritus of garage items, I spotted two bags I recognised, my old training kits. Rummaging through the unsticky post-it notes and hardened blu-tac slabs, I found several training props, including...
 The live on-line Q&A session was starting in 5 mins, and I was frantically making up questions just in-case no one asked any! Self-doubt is not something I’m used to feeling, especially having spent many years successfully running face-to-face training sessions! But here I was, about to hit ‘unmute’ on day one of our 5-day challenge, wishing...
 There are two things I’ve learnt to distrust;
Both promise rewards;
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Nikie ForsterLearning doesn't just happen in a training session. It happens all around us! Follow my ramblings and continue to see the world in a different light! Archives
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