=mc Director Laura Slater blogs on the benefits of using the ‘coach approach’ with your teams. Here at =mc we know that stepping into leadership is a big deal. As you become more senior in an organisation, an exciting aspect of moving up is being able to actually set the direction for your team or department – […]
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In this blog, Director, Laura Slater looks at common problems with projects, and gives an overview of =mc’s approach to Project Rationale. =mc’s Systems Model outlines 3 elements in getting your project rationale right. They are: Driver: what triggered this project? Why was it initiated? Was this in response to a need (various departments need […]
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I find it really hard to say no to colleagues’ requests – never mind my manager – and I feel like I’m drowning at times. Help! Ah, yes – you’re not alone. One of the biggest challenges participants talk about on our management training courses is ‘I just don’t know how to say no.’ Like […]
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In this blog, =mc Director Charlotte Scott shares practical advice on how to motivate your teams. I want my team to feel motivated in their roles – what can I do? It’s generally agreed that motivation is a good thing – and a topic all managers think about at some point. Motivated staff perform their […]
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In this blog =mc Director Yvette Gyles looks at 7 key questions to help you work out how best to manage behaviour at work. As a manager, one of the most difficult things to deal with is managing ‘challenging’ behaviour, whether it’s because you don’t have a good personal connection with that person, or they’re […]
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Coming back to work after a Summer break can be hard. And whether or not you’ve been away, the effects of the days getting shorter and nights getting longer can leave you feeling drained. Do you feel like you aren’t working at full power? Then take these two steps to boost your energy… 1. Get […]
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Managing a team and maintaining – or even upgrading – their performance is a big, time consuming job, however experienced you are. Supervision sessions, coaching, advice, support all take up big chunks of your time – time away from your ‘own’ work. So the question is, how can you maximise the positive impact you have […]
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Moving into your first role as a new manager is a big deal. In fact, it’s probably the biggest step you can take in your career. Once you’re on the management ladder, climbing it gets easier with time and practice. But the first step is fraught with challenges and difficulty. With so much change happening […]
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To be an effective leader you need to get people engaged with your ideas and work – whether it’s a senior manager to agree a new way of working, a colleague to help with your project, or support from a funder or external stakeholder. Whatever the situation, bringing people on board is critical to success […]
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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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=mc’s new updated version of the systems approach to project management offers you the solution to a range of challenges whether you’re a multi national humanitarian INGO or small art gallery that needs to see every exhibition as a mini-project. Among the organisations who’ve used the =mc Systems Model are: Project working is becoming the […]
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This article on pitching your idea is adapted from the Strategy Workout book by Clare Segal and Bernard Ross (Pearson 2016). Action 1: Pitching – selling a radical idea Having an idea is only the start of your communications journey. You need to know who can make the decision to back your idea, and then […]
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Following on from a previous article on Emotional Intelligence at Work, we explore why emotional intelligence (EI) is especially important for leaders. What is EI and why does it matter? Emotional intelligence is defined as a critical group of non-cognitive skills, capabilities and competencies which help individuals to control and manage their emotional response to […]
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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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Great managers are an asset to any organisation. They engage, inspire and motivate their staff to achieve results. Their staff feel like valued team members. A ‘bad’ boss, on the other hand, can leave people feeling demoralised. They reduce trust, inhibit creativity and innovation and can set staff up to fail. So just how badly […]
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Making an impact isn’t always easy. In this article, Philly Graham, Senior Learning & Development Consultant at =mc and accredited coach, explains how developing your personal brand can help. What is personal branding? Personal branding is “the process whereby people and their careers are marketed as brands.” The concept of personal branding suggests that success can come […]
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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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Team days, focus groups, planning sessions – they’re all about getting specific outcomes from a finite amount of time. They’re about bring groups of people together – people who might not know each other – to work towards a common goal. A skilful facilitator can be the catalyst for consensus and output. The alternative – leaving the group […]
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It is a truth universally acknowledged (or very widely, anyway) that good time management and prioritising our activities are key to helping achieve high pay-off results. It’s also true that too often it can be difficult to focus and stay on track – especially when things are really busy. At that point it’s all too […]
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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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Fundraisers are worried about donors saying ‘no!’ This article explores the idea developed by =mc directors Clare Segal and Bernard Ross in their book The Influential Fundraiser (Wiley 2010) that there are 9 different ways in which donors say ‘No’ and how to respond. The starting point is that No normally means “ask me a better […]
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Giving good feedback is an essential part of a manager’s role, not only to get the best outputs, but also to motivate and develop staff. It is doubly important when dealing with a performance challenge of some sort. But no one said it was an easy part of a manager’s job. Fortunately, there are a […]
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In any senior manager’s career, the transition from manager to leader can be a tricky one. In any manager’s career, the transition to leader can be tricky. How do you lift yourself up from the operational to the strategic? What are the secrets to providing visionary leadership? How can you inspire and lead change in […]
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In this article, =mc’s Senior Learning & Development Consultant, Philly Graham looks at an important new framework, behavioural economics, and what it can teach us in learning & development. At =mc we are constantly reflecting on what could improve training and development initiatives, especially in terms of supporting real change in organisations. A challenge that is often cited to […]
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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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This article introduces =mc’s adaptation of Kotter’s change model, redeveloped especially for the ethical sector. Discover the benefits of using this approach, and the pitfalls of not. For those of us in the charity, public and arts and culture sectors, it’s now generally recognised that to stay relevant, to improve results, and to adapt to […]
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One good, workable idea often comes from two others being combined. For example, Johannes Gutenburg, the 15th Century inventor of the printing press, combined the idea of the pressure provided by a wine press, with the idea of the imprint put on coins in the city mint. His printing press with moveable type was a […]
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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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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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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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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 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, =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, 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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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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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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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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