Insights Archives - The Management Centre

Impact Report: Transforming leadership with blended learning at Sussex Training Consortium

Endorsed programmes drive Local Authority Leadership Development – in partnership with the Sussex Training Consortium The Sussex Training Consortium (STC) provides targeted, relevant, high quality training for all staff working in 12 Districts and Boroughs across East & West Sussex. It aims to ensure that any learning and development they offer the authorities is not […]

A leadership dinner party – who would you like to meet?

Imagine the scene: a trendy-yet-affordable restaurant in Kings Cross, a selection of delicious tapas to share, bottles of wine, and 10 well-known leaders discussing challenges they face and sharing solutions in how they overcome them. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly at that table? What could we learn? What might inspire us? At a […]

Why I love team away days (now)

There is something about the summer that brings on the desire for a team away day. Maybe it’s because it’s too hot to do all the usual things, managers want us to get together, get outside and have some fun. Or maybe the extra daylight inspires us to dream of a new way of working […]

Why I hated team away days (then)

There is something about the summer that brings on the dreaded team away day. Maybe because it’s too hot to do all the usual things, managers decide it’s a good time to get everyone together, get outside and have some fun. Or maybe the extra daylight inspires us to dream of a new way of […]

Identifiable Victims – ignoring the BIG stuff

Bernard Ross, =mc Director and co-author of the best-selling book Change for Good – using behavioural economics for a better world blogs about why the ‘identifiable victims’ principle is important to fundraisers. Maybe like me you were in one sense glad to see the attention the Thai boys trapped in the cave got. And at […]

The Joy of Effective Project Management – no, really, I mean it!

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 […]

IDEA value chain – how to embed your innovative idea

What’s the Big Idea? Management guru, Peter Drucker, has written extensively on the value of innovation and the need to avoid ‘the temptation to feed yesterday and starve tomorrow’. Third sector, public sector and even social business often have a false sense of ‘playing safe’ by sticking to what has worked in the past. But, […]

Stop listening to your supporters

They’re just trying to rationalise. (Tell you rational-lies!) Fundraising consultant Bernard Ross gets serious in part two of this #BlogOff, fighting the ‘no’ corner in the battle of whether you should listen to your supporters – or not. Read the opposing view from Dana Segal here. Fundraisers are an emotional bunch. They care a lot […]

Should you listen to your supporters?

In this #BlogOff, fundraising consultants Bernard Ross and Dana Segal go head to head offering different answers to one important question: Should you listen to your supporters? Dana says YES… It’s been a few weeks since the recent GDPR influx to my inbox; proclamations of love and a desire to keep in touch came from organisations […]

Delegate don’t drown!

“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, […]

Social proof… it’s essential to influence… let me prove it to you!

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. You […]

Keeping on track and stay in control – structure your negotiations for success

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 […]

Do you suffer from FOLO (Fear Of Logging Off)? 5 ways to switch off

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, […]

How to handle your worries about change

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, […]

Case study: Partnership skills – encouraging a collaborative approach to data culture at UNICEF UK

UNICEF UK (UUK) is part of UNICEF’s global network. It raises money for their work with children and children’s rights worldwide. Accurate, up-to-the-minute information – data – is a key element in UNICEF UK’s very successful fundraising operation. And how that data is managed across the organisation is increasingly significant to their work. Challenge Supporter […]

Problems with Presenting? Get a grip!

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

Management is for softies – but it gets solid results: Bob’s story

When we put together management training, we like to involve potential participants in the design. This co-creation approach has some real benefits – participants are engaged early on, and we can understand exactly what their management challenges are and ensure the training is tailored to meet their needs. We also find out what their teams […]

Leave me alone! How do I know I’m making progress when my to-do list just won’t go away?

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 […]

19 years after NAFS – is the learning still useful?

In this guest blog, National Arts Fundraising School alumna Fiona Mason, now a freelance writer, arts consultant and Development Manager for Pacitti Company, shares her story since attending the School. It’s a bright, crisp November day in 1998 when I arrive at the country house hotel outside Bath, Gloucestershire, for the National Arts Fundraising School […]

Case study: Engagement Strategy Development at Anthony Nolan

Anthony Nolan is the leading UK charity working in the areas of leukaemia and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It recruits individuals to a national donor register and carries out research to help make bone marrow transplants more effective. Their vision is to save and improve the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. To succeed in this ambition, […]

Stop ‘asking donors for money’ right now!

=mc Director Bernard Ross bucks against the latest fundraising trend… and with good reason. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been transported back into the arts and culture world of the 1970s. To be honest it’s not all bad. I mean I could live with the bad hair, the purple nylon velour loon pants, and even […]

Creating the Fundraising Ninjas at Northern Broadsides

In this guest blog, Kay Burnett, Creative Projects Development Manager at Northern Broadsides shares her experience on the National Arts Fundraising School. Right – Kay Burnett on NAFS 2017 Working for a company that has a small core of four full time staff means that we all wear many different hats. So, when the issue of […]

The appraisal is dead. Long live the appraisal.

=mc Assistant Director and L&D specialist Yvette Gyles blogs on the pros and cons of appraisals… A few weeks ago I was having dinner with a number of ex-colleagues, all in HR and working in the City in various commercial and professional services companies. Ever one to take advantage of a situation, I seized the […]

Case study: Building sustainability at Age Exchange

Age Exchange was formed in 1983 as a specialist reminiscence charity, and over the years has developed new ways of working to reduce loneliness and isolation. For the past 15 years, due to a growing older population, the charity has expanded its work with people who have found themselves as carers for older relatives and […]

Managing Project Stakeholders

Help! I need to manage my stakeholders and I don’t know where to start. As a project manager it’s important to know and understand who your stakeholders are and how to manage your relationships with them. People can make or break a project so handling your stakeholders well is essential. At =mc we define stakeholders […]

Getting people on board – the elevator pitch

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 […]

Crowdfunding, Gift Horses and their Dental Work

I was recently sent an interesting report on crowdfunding by a participant on the National Arts Fundraising School – and specifically a scheme that’s been successfully run in Plymouth. At first the results look really impressive – and the follow up up report reinforces this. But after an interesting debate at the school I decided […]

Fundraising Adventures – Arts to Education

Guest blog: Caroline Notman, Director of Development & Alumni Relations, St. Aloysius’ College The National Arts Fundraising School will be in it’s 30th year come 2018, having trained over 1,300 fundraisers helping them to raise £300M+ for their organisations. One of the most rewarding parts of running the School is hearing from past Alumni, how […]

Case study: Delivering change at Into Film

Into Film is a national agency working throughout the UK to engage children and young people in film and cinema. Their focus is educational, supporting teachers and educators to achieve a wide range of learning outcomes using film. The programme includes a network of extra-curricular film clubs, resources to use in clubs and in the […]

What skills do I need to be a good project manager?

In this blog =mc‘s Learning & Development Consultant 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?

Do you need to influence your manager?

Watch what you say… If you want to have a good relationship with your manager, the best thing to do is to perform your job well. But there will be times when you need to actively influence him or her – to get help or resources, to get buy-in for your ideas, or to raise […]

Legacies: an untapped income stream for UK arts organisations?

In this guest blog, Meg Abdy, Director at Legacy Foresight shares insights on legacy fundraising for arts organisations. Legacy Foresight and Arts Quarter LLP recently teamed up to research legacy fundraising in the UK arts community, building on previous surveys in 2010 and 2012. We looked to explore current levels of investment in legacy fundraising – both […]

Project planning tools

=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 […]

So you think you’re clever? Three things you can learn from email scammers

As fundraisers we often think we’re very clever – using sophisticated techniques from marketing, from neuroscience and from psychology to share and organise our powerful and engaging messages. When we’re feeling down about our low response rates – clearly the failing of our unsophisticated audience – we can always go into our spam folders to […]

Valentine’s Day? Donor love? Be over it…!

=mc Director Bernard Ross blogs on which charities are deserving all the love, and which are pushing donors away this Valentine’s Day. I hate Valentine’s Day. I mean I can live with the schmaltzy overpriced commercial nonsense: genetically modified, scentless roses at £5 a stem, cards that range from diabetes-causing sweetness to jaw-dropping crudeness, and opportunities to […]

Pitching Ideas

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 […]

Need an energy boost? Check your batteries

Now you are back at work after the festive break, do you feel like you aren’t working at full power? Then take these two steps to boost your energy… 1. Get focus To boost your energy you need to focus on the right things for you. One way to think about this is to consider […]

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

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 […]

Whose job is it anyway? Accountability in learning

Just who is responsible for learning in organisations, and for learning transfer after training programmes? Yvette Gyles, =mc Assistant 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 […]

Your Demon Boss: do you really have the worst manager ever?

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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