There is something about the summer that brings on the dreaded team away day. As we move through summer, we are getting more and more requests to facilitate these get-togethers. Maybe because it’s too hot to do all the usual things, and because we have been apart for so long, managers decide it’s a good […]
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As a Learning & Development Consultant at =mc I have supported many organisations – from MS Society to the University of Reading to WWF UK – in developing their project management. Probably like many of you reading this, I also juggle several projects in the office. And like some of you, I have the advantage […]
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“Being a manager means I have more on my plate than ever and trying to keep up with my own workload as well as those of my team is a big job. I’ve got too much to do and not enough time to do it all. What can I do?” On our management training programmes, […]
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In the Influential Fundraiser training, =mc uses its powerful five stages of influence model and teaches you the 15 tools you need to learn to apply systematically and sensitively for success. These techniques have been used to secure at least six £1M+ gifts in the last five years, as well as countless smaller ones. The […]
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Working in a matrix should make us more flexible, productive and effective. So why am I finding it long-winded, hard and messy? Matrix management is when reporting operates along both task and people lines. We are hearing from more and more people in the NFP sector that their organisation has developed a matrix structure. This […]
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Working in a matrix should be empowering, agile and developmental. So why am I finding it confusing, hard and messy? Put simply, matrix management is about dual reporting lines. Someone based in a regional office might report to the regional manager – the geographical line – and to the head of their department who’s based […]
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Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of calls lot about providing training and advice for managers in two specific areas. One call, often delivered in a slightly worried and urgent tone, asks for training on managing change. Another, usually slightly more upbeat call, asks for a workshop on creativity and innovation. What strikes me as […]
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Negotiating with others, whether it’s at home with a partner over household chores, or at work with a colleague about help with in a project, is part of everyday life. And reaching an amicable agreement isn’t always easy. People often tell us they walk away from these situations feeling they either haven’t achieved what they […]
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We’ve all been there. After a long day at work, in meeting after meeting, you look at your phone and see that dot. The FEAR begins. The one that tells you there are 87 unread messages. And you are itching to look at them – but you have to get off home. You get in, […]
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Help! It’s all changing! Hardly a week seems to go by these days without someone asking me about change and how to manage change at work. The world is changing, our sector is changing and our jobs are changing. Whether you’re a manager driving change in your organisation, or a member of staff implementing change, […]
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In this blog, =mc Assistant Director and L&D consultant Yvette Gyles shares three top tips for giving memorable, impactful presentations that you can enjoy, rather than dread
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Whether you are a fan of the ‘to-do’ notepad, post-it piles, scrap paper, a bullet journal, or =mc’s Action Sheets – sometimes even looking at the number of things that need to be done can be utterly overwhelming. And make you hate the list that itself seems to be nagging at you. When you’re up […]
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In this blog =mc‘s Director Laura Slater shares practical tips on how to become an outstanding project manager, and introduces the highly effective =mc Systems Model. What skills do I need to be a good project manager?
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Just who is responsible for learning in organisations, and for learning transfer after training programmes? Yvette Gyles, =mc Director, explores the role of accountability in learning. Many of our customers ask us to ensure the training we deliver encourages personal responsibility for learning – but exactly what they mean by that is not always clear. Learning is […]
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In September 2016 Ruth Jobling, Research Advisor at The Brooke, was a participant at their bespoke introductory day on Presentation Skills, run by =mc. For Ruth it was very much ‘just in time’ training – she was booked to put her learning into practise in front of a large audience at an international conference the following […]
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Bad day? How to control your responses, and not let your emotions control you. We’ve all had bad days – and bad interactions with other people. You know the ones – where you feel the prickle of anger or upset, surges of frustration or even crushing levels of disappointment. These sometimes overwhelming feelings are the […]
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We all procrastinate on occasion. But do you ever miss a deadline because you put things off for just a bit too long? Or delay starting on something and then have to rush to get it done, compromising on quality? Or miss an opportunity because you didn’t act earlier? If any of this sounds like […]
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Lead a change process with confidence Managing change is one of the most challenging activities anyone can take on – whether as a senior manager, a team leader, or an HR professional. This intensive 1-2 day programme shares =mc’s practical consulting experience helping a wide range of large and small agencies to develop effective change […]
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Social housing needs skilled managers and strong leadership to lead others through change and protect its social purpose. Housing associations have a core social purpose – to support those in need, ensuring strong communities and to do so in a way that empowers individuals to lead healthy, happy, and secure lives. However, we know from […]
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In the blog below, Learning & Development Consultant Philly Graham shares 5 practical energisers to help bring teams together. Before you read on… if you’re fed up of enforced fun with no clear output from your standard summer away-day we want to hear from you. =mc‘s tailor made away-days for teams are more fun, more […]
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How often do you send your staff on training programmes only to discover that down the line, nothing really seems to have improved or changed, either in skill, practice or results? While you might be able to claim back the money for the course – you’ll never be able to get back the two or […]
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When I joined =mc as a new consultant one of the first things they asked me to do was to write a blog… So I decided that I needed to learn from my past experience of changing jobs. After all I have done this before First I noticed there are two overriding emotions I have […]
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Is your organisation competing in a Red Ocean or Blue Ocean? Put simply, Red Ocean & Blue Ocean are two different ways of comparing the strategy of an organisation in relation to the territory they are competing in. Red Ocean Strategy sees an organisation fighting for a share of the demand in a market which […]
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Dealing with a seemingly never ending to-do list and constant interruptions can seem overwhelming at times – read on to discover ways of thriving in a busy environment with this blog by Yvette Gyles, Director at =mc: Staying productive is tricky. We all have moments in our day when our energy dips, or when […]
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The latest post from our new Learning and Development consultant Yvette Gyles is around what you can do to help out a new colleague. Following on from the post I wrote last week, I’ve been thinking about the support I’ve been getting in my first few days here at =mc. I’ve had great support, and […]
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In this blog, Angela Cluff gives a personal perspective on fundraising appeals, and the impact of statistics versus individual stories on giving. It’s been a busy few days, so good to relax on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand, football on in the background and catching up on Twitter. This caught my eye. […]
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In this blog, =mc’s Director Charlotte Scott shares four ways of ensuring that the learning you’ve invested in is passed on and applied throughout your organisation. If you’ve spent time and money on training and development (or are thinking about doing so), this blog is a must-read! Four Ways to Ensure Learning Transfer Ensuring […]
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In this blog, =mc‘s Principal Learning & Development Consultant Charlotte Scott shares insights on how to engage staff throughout a change process, by first analysing what’s driving the change. How can I engage people in my change? Question: From Charity CEO: We are a growing organisation, and our programme work has grown significantly in the […]
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In this blog, Senior Learning & Development Consultant Laura Slater shares three key ideas for creating a successful career path… How do I build a successful career journey? From Forest Ranger to Learning & Development Consultant in six years is quite a journey. It’s a journey that has taken me to exactly where I want […]
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In this blog =mc‘s Senior L&D consultant Philly Graham shares ideas on why certain projects fail and what you can do to avoid this. Why do projects fail? Depressing though it is, I think we can all say we have been involved in a project that has gone wrong in some shape or form. But […]
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In this blog, =mc‘s Assistant Director Yvette Gyles shares 5 ideas for improving innovation, and how these steps are already helping organisations such as ActionAid. We’re good at coming up with ideas in my organisation – the creative bit – but they never seem to get off the drawing board. Where are we going wrong with our […]
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In my last blog I wrote about the key drivers for change. This blog focuses on a well-established model for change. The most commonly used, and easy to adapt, model is that developed by US management consultant and Harvard Professor John Kotter. Originally developed for business, we have found it useful for charities and other […]
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The 8-step model seems very straightforward when you explain it as in my second blog. But it’s less easy to implement. Let’s go through each step in a little more detail. Step 1: Create Urgency “Orchestrating pain messages throughout the institution is the first step in developing organizational commitment to (major) change.” Rosabeth Moss Kantor […]
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“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” Niccolo Machiavelli – The Prince. Machiavelli’s words, written in the 15th century, have a resonance for us today. They tell us that […]
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Breakthrough Thinking for Non-profit Organizations is based on a simple but challenging idea: “Good performance” is no longer good enough for non-profits. In a world of increasing demands that must be met, non-profits must set and achieve breakthrough goals Bernard Ross and Clare Segal show non-profit managers and board members how to transform their thinking […]
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Over the years =mc has carried out a significant body of research and change work with a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. And we’ve found there are five core reactions to change, that we call the 5Cs. To be an effective change manager you need to understand these five reactions in your colleagues and adopt […]
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt” Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist, and author of The Art of War I’ve written lots about change in earlier blogs, so thought it might be interesting to think a bit about strategy in this one. Let’s first […]
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You may be Good but are you Great? Good to Great (G2G) is one of a series of influential books by US management guru Jim Collins which describes how commercial companies grow from being merely good to great. It has a great and profound line at the start which argues (merely) “good is the enemy […]
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The Learning Leader- what do you in a crisis? Challenging times- especially crises- are a great reality check for ‘learning leadership’- whether you model an adaptive and flexible approach under pressure. The premise is simple when things go wrong and are at least partly out of their control then great leaders can show how quickly […]
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In this blog, =mc Director Charlotte Scott shares practical advice on dealing with organisational change on a personal level. We’re embarking on an organisational change programme and it’s likely my team will have to work very differently. A lot of them are already starting to look anxious and nothing’s happened yet. What can I do? […]
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