Be honest! Held up to the light, would you see holes in your cv?
Watching Stuart "The Brand" Baggs sink deeper into the lavish coat of varnish applied to what was a demonstrably modest achievement brought joy to millions in the closing phase of BBC TV's The Apprentice.
For some, perhaps who have encountered a particularly searching job interview, it must have been a heart-warming example of schadenfreude.
While modesty is not a feature one would apply or expect to find in the average resume, to stray far from the truth when it comes to putting yourself on the line in the expectation of persuading a potential boss you're best prospect since bread was sliced, verges on recklessness.
Apart from possibly the best value of this year's crop of pushy TV candidates and comparing Baron Sugar's careful one-liners with those blundering gags Bruce Forsyth has made his own on Strictly, young Mr Baggs was the reason many of us watched fascinated, waiting for his inevitable come-uppance. His welcome appearances among the losers' last threes in Sugar Towers' boardroom amounted to a lesson in how not to go into interview. Inappropriate familiarity with the interviewer merited its icy response; a dodgy achievement in his application set in motion the slow-motion car-crash for his prospects - to the quiet satisfaction of all but the ambitious lad's nearest and dearest.
TV is an entertainment medium, not a manual on how-to-do-it - that's best left to experts like those of Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk. Entertainment-value was without doubt the reason young Stuart's sojourn was extended beyond most expectations, encouraging countless followers to indulge weekly in a searching love-hate relationship. We enjoyed his outrageous claims, watching the basilisk reaction of the pitiless peer as the would-be serial entrepreneur dug himself, Inspector Clouseau-like into a series of yawning lion-traps. Few candidates offer gold-plated deals in return for the £100k salary up for grabs with such panache. His script might have been filched stright from M Hulot or Mr Bean
So Stuart packed his bags for that last lonely taxi-ride into showbiz oblivion. And we'll miss him. But he will not have perished from our screens in vain Recorded for posterity is a case-study in how-not-to-do-an-interview. He may not have been able to add winning The Apprentice to his cv - but he does undeniably have the starring role in this training exercise.
Allow me to use my Yule Blog to wish the compliments of the season to all my readers.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Say what you Mean
Don't put it around but - strictly between you and me - have you noticed that this WikiLeaks thing is coming out with stuff we've been saying for years? Apart, of course, from the later sensitive disclosures that must surely be dangerous in the public arena.
But of the thousand items of gossip, overheard or hacked into between diplomats, there have been many that accord with what most of the people I know have always instinctively believed. The attitude of our American cousins to the rest of the world; the opinions of our political masters of each other's weaknesses and the passing thoughts of royalty comes as a breath of fresh air to a climate of secrecy and deference.
Anyone who has knocked about the world to any degree would not have been amazed to discover some of the regimes with whom Great Britain plc trades require incentives to broker a deal; that what national leaders say on their twin lecterns about each other is nor necessarily what they share among advisers afterwards.
Free speech, with the important provisos to safeguard security and those whose personal safety in the national service requires secrecy, is not only the cornerstone of our liberty but a healthy escape valve against frustration and anger at inept leadership and pettifogging regulation.
There is much to be said for plain speaking so long as it is responsible. And what applies to diplomacy applies equally to our day-to-day dealings.
WickiLeaks provides a timely warning about email communication. Confidentiality just one watchword of the one-day interactive communication workshops we at Focus for Change conduct in the battle to preserve clarity in the workplace where the laid-back familiarity of texting can all too easily lead to misunderstandings.
Clear speaking is important throughout the recruiting stage and beyond. An ill-spelt, ungrammatical communication of any kind is a turn-off for a prospective employer - when did you last really look at your cv? Emails are becoming dangerously infected with text-speak not much short of insulting.
Say what you mean and mean what you say is clearly the basis of all relationships.
As my old aunt used to say, if you can't speak well of somebody, don't speak at all!
But of the thousand items of gossip, overheard or hacked into between diplomats, there have been many that accord with what most of the people I know have always instinctively believed. The attitude of our American cousins to the rest of the world; the opinions of our political masters of each other's weaknesses and the passing thoughts of royalty comes as a breath of fresh air to a climate of secrecy and deference.
Anyone who has knocked about the world to any degree would not have been amazed to discover some of the regimes with whom Great Britain plc trades require incentives to broker a deal; that what national leaders say on their twin lecterns about each other is nor necessarily what they share among advisers afterwards.
Free speech, with the important provisos to safeguard security and those whose personal safety in the national service requires secrecy, is not only the cornerstone of our liberty but a healthy escape valve against frustration and anger at inept leadership and pettifogging regulation.
There is much to be said for plain speaking so long as it is responsible. And what applies to diplomacy applies equally to our day-to-day dealings.
WickiLeaks provides a timely warning about email communication. Confidentiality just one watchword of the one-day interactive communication workshops we at Focus for Change conduct in the battle to preserve clarity in the workplace where the laid-back familiarity of texting can all too easily lead to misunderstandings.
Clear speaking is important throughout the recruiting stage and beyond. An ill-spelt, ungrammatical communication of any kind is a turn-off for a prospective employer - when did you last really look at your cv? Emails are becoming dangerously infected with text-speak not much short of insulting.
Say what you mean and mean what you say is clearly the basis of all relationships.
As my old aunt used to say, if you can't speak well of somebody, don't speak at all!
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Retiring? Best Talk it Over!
It's always tempting to wade into the swamps of lively argument - especially when fired with opposing opinions on the economic and financial difficulties we all share. After all, whatever our circumstances, our view of common sense is not necessarily that of our neighbour. Or, come to that, our partner.
But, as the TV commercials always say, it's good to talk!
Which makes all the more mysterious the silence of couples as they face each other at a restaurant table or, as I was recently, sitting together on a tourist coach.
There we were, my wife and I swapping opinions - yes, she has some and is never slow to voice them - but above all sharing the visual wonders of snow-capped mountain and azure-blue lake, remarking on this; comparing that in what we regard as companionable exchanges. Yet around us, as we passed through stunning scenery, many of our fellow-travellers - the majority, if not all, senior citizens - sat two-by-two staring straight ahead, mute as trappist monks.
Face-to-face each was perfectly friendly, often forthcoming - the way strangers can be and conscious that what they might be reluctant to reveal about themselves nearer home falls on unjudgmental and impartial ears.
Surely we agree an experience shared can more than double the pleasure.
An important aspect of the retirement planning programmes Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk is the interactive exploration of relationships that can produce some surprising results. The end of a career is the beginning of a new and rewarding phase of life as we shall be discussing on December 2nd in our Open Executive pre-retirement seminar at Westwood Park.
It's a fact that many couples discover the person they married all those years before has changed. Having been separated throughout each day, retirement means time spent together. They may share the home, but not always the same interests.
One of the factors that makes retirement planning essential is the realisation that serious consideration must be given to readjusting lifestyles. The knowledge that things are going to be different reduces the shock of discovering he or she is a different person. The prospect of years of shared harmony is much more likely if there is a recognition of each other's needs.
It was the Duchess of Windsor, who clearly enjoyed her space, who is famously quoted as declaring: I married for love - but not for lunch!
Now there was a woman with opinions!
But, as the TV commercials always say, it's good to talk!
Which makes all the more mysterious the silence of couples as they face each other at a restaurant table or, as I was recently, sitting together on a tourist coach.
There we were, my wife and I swapping opinions - yes, she has some and is never slow to voice them - but above all sharing the visual wonders of snow-capped mountain and azure-blue lake, remarking on this; comparing that in what we regard as companionable exchanges. Yet around us, as we passed through stunning scenery, many of our fellow-travellers - the majority, if not all, senior citizens - sat two-by-two staring straight ahead, mute as trappist monks.
Face-to-face each was perfectly friendly, often forthcoming - the way strangers can be and conscious that what they might be reluctant to reveal about themselves nearer home falls on unjudgmental and impartial ears.
Surely we agree an experience shared can more than double the pleasure.
An important aspect of the retirement planning programmes Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk is the interactive exploration of relationships that can produce some surprising results. The end of a career is the beginning of a new and rewarding phase of life as we shall be discussing on December 2nd in our Open Executive pre-retirement seminar at Westwood Park.
It's a fact that many couples discover the person they married all those years before has changed. Having been separated throughout each day, retirement means time spent together. They may share the home, but not always the same interests.
One of the factors that makes retirement planning essential is the realisation that serious consideration must be given to readjusting lifestyles. The knowledge that things are going to be different reduces the shock of discovering he or she is a different person. The prospect of years of shared harmony is much more likely if there is a recognition of each other's needs.
It was the Duchess of Windsor, who clearly enjoyed her space, who is famously quoted as declaring: I married for love - but not for lunch!
Now there was a woman with opinions!
Monday, 11 October 2010
Hello! Help! Can you hear me?
Had occasion to ring social services the other day. Not something we have occasion to do often - they seem to have enough on their plate without casual inquirers interrupting their endless case-conferences.
But on this occasion when we did call, answer came there none. Another department - the result was the same. Had some virus infected their telephone exchange? What if we had a weeping child in danger? Where would we go? To whom should we turn?
Not apparently that day to what some people I know irreverently call the SS, clearly.
Can there be anything worse than frustration?
You have a need which urgently wants fulfilling. You have taken all reasonable steps to be self-sufficient, sort it yourself, but the task for some reason is beyond you. Your last desperate recourse is to the public service that brings reassurance, expertise and closure to your problem.
Ring, ring - there's no answer.
These difficult days provoke all kinds of unworthy speculation. Have they all already been victims of the cuts?
Are they all on strike?
Perish the thought!
But what price customer service? Nobody's recording your call for training purposes; nobody's getting back to you. You've hit a big, unbreachable telephonic wall.
Public sector or private, unless the organisation you need to talk to is prepared to talk to you - in office hours, I grant you - there's no point in its existence.
Customer service - as our Focus for Change (www.focus4change.co.uk) courses insist with an emphasis on service - not only greases the wheels of communication but make both life and work worthwhile.
But on this occasion when we did call, answer came there none. Another department - the result was the same. Had some virus infected their telephone exchange? What if we had a weeping child in danger? Where would we go? To whom should we turn?
Not apparently that day to what some people I know irreverently call the SS, clearly.
Can there be anything worse than frustration?
You have a need which urgently wants fulfilling. You have taken all reasonable steps to be self-sufficient, sort it yourself, but the task for some reason is beyond you. Your last desperate recourse is to the public service that brings reassurance, expertise and closure to your problem.
Ring, ring - there's no answer.
These difficult days provoke all kinds of unworthy speculation. Have they all already been victims of the cuts?
Are they all on strike?
Perish the thought!
But what price customer service? Nobody's recording your call for training purposes; nobody's getting back to you. You've hit a big, unbreachable telephonic wall.
Public sector or private, unless the organisation you need to talk to is prepared to talk to you - in office hours, I grant you - there's no point in its existence.
Customer service - as our Focus for Change (www.focus4change.co.uk) courses insist with an emphasis on service - not only greases the wheels of communication but make both life and work worthwhile.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Retire? Heck No!
Now she's become a pensioner, feisty Ann Widdecombe claims she has retired.
Well she may have retired from her seat in the House of Commons. But she's pursuing new ventures as a treasured national eccentric as, among other things, a TV celeb, game to follow in the elephantine footprints of John Sergeant who used to report her speeches, on the floor of BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.
Ann's doing just what the pre-retirement seminars of Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk urge delegates to do; if you've got it - flaunt it!
Not that everyone wants to be on television. But everyone reaching that stage of life at the conclusion of a career can evaluate and decide how they want to spend their third phase and ensure it's fulfilling and rewarding.
Few of us enjoy or would want to have experienced a high-profile persona. But all of us nurture ambitions given full rein to flourish without the discipline imposed on a working life; to contribute to the community, to take up and develop a new interest or even to become one's own boss to put the skills and experience of a lifetime to further good use are among the many challenges open to the newly-retired.
In fact, retirement is not a term the leaders of our interactive one-day courses approve of.
They call it "freelancing".
Our next executive open pre-retirement seminar takes place at our Mayfair, London, venue on October 14.
Why not book your place now by emailing info@focus4change.co.uk and share this exciting view into your future?
Well she may have retired from her seat in the House of Commons. But she's pursuing new ventures as a treasured national eccentric as, among other things, a TV celeb, game to follow in the elephantine footprints of John Sergeant who used to report her speeches, on the floor of BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.
Ann's doing just what the pre-retirement seminars of Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk urge delegates to do; if you've got it - flaunt it!
Not that everyone wants to be on television. But everyone reaching that stage of life at the conclusion of a career can evaluate and decide how they want to spend their third phase and ensure it's fulfilling and rewarding.
Few of us enjoy or would want to have experienced a high-profile persona. But all of us nurture ambitions given full rein to flourish without the discipline imposed on a working life; to contribute to the community, to take up and develop a new interest or even to become one's own boss to put the skills and experience of a lifetime to further good use are among the many challenges open to the newly-retired.
In fact, retirement is not a term the leaders of our interactive one-day courses approve of.
They call it "freelancing".
Our next executive open pre-retirement seminar takes place at our Mayfair, London, venue on October 14.
Why not book your place now by emailing info@focus4change.co.uk and share this exciting view into your future?
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Accentuate the Positive ...
For all its faults I yield to no one my admiration for the BBC; despite the sniping that seems of late to be persistent. A small confession: what education I've gained was enhanced by radio programmes that stimulated the imagination and touched the curiosity button school didn't quite excite.
But like some others I'm increasingly concerned about Aunty's news coverage; or rather the way she tells it. Maybe she's suffering an identity crisis, a hangover from the May elections.
Any old hack will tell you the emphasis given to the treatment of a news story - the spin - is designed to influence the way the TV viewer and radio listener is informed. That's why it's vital to be able to trust sources of information - and to use more than a grain of common sense when we hear or see something that on the face of it doesn't seem quite right.
That said, we do seem to be enjoying an era, however brief, of good news from around Westminster way and everybody knows good news is unattractive to news editors. I know, I've been one! Reporters can be much more confident of getting their well-honed piece into the bulletin if it has the misery quotion. Even the good news has a habit of hitting the'but' buffer.
Listen to the Today programme on Radio Four and hear how the story remains the same but over time shifts in emphasis significantly. A case in point recently was David Cameron's idea to help council house tenants increase their mobility.
The story began that positively, a benefit to people wanting to move to maybe get a job but fearing they might have to drop to the bottom of another authority's housing list. Come the end of the programme an hour later the closing headlines turned the story negative as an attack on a tenant's right to their council home for life and the opportunity now enjoyed to pass it on through the family.
Manipulation of facts doesn't reside solely with news media. Helping executives in particular to prepare cvs and resumes Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk consultants have wide experience on the wise choice of words which appeal to interviewing boards. Often candidates are too close to their career histories to accurately convey the best possible light on their achievements or where their strengths lie.
A general curriculum vitae, designed to show succinctly the career path of an applicant, needs care in its construction. Enough, you might say, to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting! The functional cv is vital when the candidate needs to detail their career, under function headings which more readily demonstrate their expertise - particularly good where job titles fail fully to represent responsibilities, or when seeking a change of direction.
Either way, the cv is your shop window. Be sure it's an attention-grabber!
But like some others I'm increasingly concerned about Aunty's news coverage; or rather the way she tells it. Maybe she's suffering an identity crisis, a hangover from the May elections.
Any old hack will tell you the emphasis given to the treatment of a news story - the spin - is designed to influence the way the TV viewer and radio listener is informed. That's why it's vital to be able to trust sources of information - and to use more than a grain of common sense when we hear or see something that on the face of it doesn't seem quite right.
That said, we do seem to be enjoying an era, however brief, of good news from around Westminster way and everybody knows good news is unattractive to news editors. I know, I've been one! Reporters can be much more confident of getting their well-honed piece into the bulletin if it has the misery quotion. Even the good news has a habit of hitting the'but' buffer.
Listen to the Today programme on Radio Four and hear how the story remains the same but over time shifts in emphasis significantly. A case in point recently was David Cameron's idea to help council house tenants increase their mobility.
The story began that positively, a benefit to people wanting to move to maybe get a job but fearing they might have to drop to the bottom of another authority's housing list. Come the end of the programme an hour later the closing headlines turned the story negative as an attack on a tenant's right to their council home for life and the opportunity now enjoyed to pass it on through the family.
Manipulation of facts doesn't reside solely with news media. Helping executives in particular to prepare cvs and resumes Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk consultants have wide experience on the wise choice of words which appeal to interviewing boards. Often candidates are too close to their career histories to accurately convey the best possible light on their achievements or where their strengths lie.
A general curriculum vitae, designed to show succinctly the career path of an applicant, needs care in its construction. Enough, you might say, to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting! The functional cv is vital when the candidate needs to detail their career, under function headings which more readily demonstrate their expertise - particularly good where job titles fail fully to represent responsibilities, or when seeking a change of direction.
Either way, the cv is your shop window. Be sure it's an attention-grabber!
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Sweets for my Sweet ...
To enourage its staff to think greener - to turn off unused computers, switch off unwanted lighting, all the familiar messages, a West Country council it appears hands out chocolates. And it fessed up to spending over the past three years as much as £17,626 on similar treats.
It's well above my pay-grade to suggest that the panjandrum in charge of the Incentives Department has a sweet tooth. But it must not have escaped the notice of the majority of my blog-followers that biscuits and sweets - and occasionally something a little more exotic - are on offer in civic meeting-rooms, along with the five-a-day piece of fruit.
I'll admit I'm not averse to pocketing the odd pen laid temptingly for the seminar alongside the marketing brochure. But when it comes to public authorities using public funds to offer each other gifts it does occur to me as it must to others that the dire warnings attached to the economic message have still not hit home.
The party's over. Time for leadership to impress on staff that savings on what might have been considered essential enhancements to the working environment like interesting pot-plants and regular floral tributes to the public sector have to go.
Leadership has been a repeated theme in the news recently - from government and the Church right down to our level in the community. Like never before industry and commerce, struggling out of the mire of recession, looks for strength in its decision-makers to lead the way.
An old boss of mine used to say that any fool can run a business in good times - it takes a leader to guide it through choppy waters to success.
Focus for Change www,focus4change.co.uk examine leadership issues at all levels in our tailor-made workshops, designed to bring out the best in management in situations where conflicting demands of the job has fragmented the team. Because all our interactive workshops are written to specific needs, they are successful in bringing out the special qualities of the leader and determine how best to repair relationships. Restoring confidence in the workplace makes a real difference not only in efficiency but to staff retention.
Economies of the nice-to are not so hard to swallow. Especially when the need-to gets results.
Anyway, as we all know, too many sweets aren't good for you ...!!
It's well above my pay-grade to suggest that the panjandrum in charge of the Incentives Department has a sweet tooth. But it must not have escaped the notice of the majority of my blog-followers that biscuits and sweets - and occasionally something a little more exotic - are on offer in civic meeting-rooms, along with the five-a-day piece of fruit.
I'll admit I'm not averse to pocketing the odd pen laid temptingly for the seminar alongside the marketing brochure. But when it comes to public authorities using public funds to offer each other gifts it does occur to me as it must to others that the dire warnings attached to the economic message have still not hit home.
The party's over. Time for leadership to impress on staff that savings on what might have been considered essential enhancements to the working environment like interesting pot-plants and regular floral tributes to the public sector have to go.
Leadership has been a repeated theme in the news recently - from government and the Church right down to our level in the community. Like never before industry and commerce, struggling out of the mire of recession, looks for strength in its decision-makers to lead the way.
An old boss of mine used to say that any fool can run a business in good times - it takes a leader to guide it through choppy waters to success.
Focus for Change www,focus4change.co.uk examine leadership issues at all levels in our tailor-made workshops, designed to bring out the best in management in situations where conflicting demands of the job has fragmented the team. Because all our interactive workshops are written to specific needs, they are successful in bringing out the special qualities of the leader and determine how best to repair relationships. Restoring confidence in the workplace makes a real difference not only in efficiency but to staff retention.
Economies of the nice-to are not so hard to swallow. Especially when the need-to gets results.
Anyway, as we all know, too many sweets aren't good for you ...!!
Monday, 12 July 2010
Plan Now - Buy Later
My butcher, who faithful followers of this blog will have already met, is currently inviting customers to join his Christmas Club. Now!
With the barometer threatening to climb above the 30 mark and that area between the shoulder blades sticking irritatingly, it's hard to imagine temperature values dipping within a month or two among frost and snow. But the butcher is thinking strategically, if optimistically, ahead.
After all, in an era of savage but necessary spending cuts, with the promise of worse to follow, who knows how we'll be keeping the feast. Scenes of Dickensian squalor matched perhaps by Dickensian charity come to mind, with the seasonal rescue of needy families by reconstructed Scrooges.
So embracing much-maligned prudence and putting away a regular little sum with the butcher - confidently expected to withstand the advances of supermarket promises to shop lest we drop - is an assurance that preparation for an inevitable future event should be its own reward. And offers a relatively painless solution to what might otherwise be less than comfortable.
A bit like retirement, really.
Now that most of us face the prospect of working longer, at the same time being forced to consider how best to employ our enforced leisure when retirement comes around, needs careful preparation and planning.
Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk helps all kinds of workers within a few years of retirement to make plans designed to make those years of freedom - years of choice - everything they hope for.
Finance has never been more important when it comes to considering the next phase of life and one of our independent financial advisers - we use a number who explain the issues clearly making no attempt at the hard-sell - takes time to provide ongoing support for individuals attending our interactive pre-retirement workshops.
Whether delivered in-house among the universities, local authorities, the NHS, manufacturing companies, professional practices or our open senior executive courses in London or at an Essex mansion, the emphasis is on an holistic approach. Our experienced course leaders are keen to identify and address delegates' hopes and concerns raised by the prospect of this major life-change.
Delegate couples often admit they have learned things about each other they can exploit in the best possible way in their shared new life and the discussion which is an important part of the process opens the door to challenges and opportunities ensuring what could still be 20 or more years in retirement - we prefer the word 'freelancing' - fulfilling and exciting.
I think a couple of pounds each week should be sufficient to make sure of that Christmas chicken ...And with interest rates what they are, can you think of a better way of saving?
With the barometer threatening to climb above the 30 mark and that area between the shoulder blades sticking irritatingly, it's hard to imagine temperature values dipping within a month or two among frost and snow. But the butcher is thinking strategically, if optimistically, ahead.
After all, in an era of savage but necessary spending cuts, with the promise of worse to follow, who knows how we'll be keeping the feast. Scenes of Dickensian squalor matched perhaps by Dickensian charity come to mind, with the seasonal rescue of needy families by reconstructed Scrooges.
So embracing much-maligned prudence and putting away a regular little sum with the butcher - confidently expected to withstand the advances of supermarket promises to shop lest we drop - is an assurance that preparation for an inevitable future event should be its own reward. And offers a relatively painless solution to what might otherwise be less than comfortable.
A bit like retirement, really.
Now that most of us face the prospect of working longer, at the same time being forced to consider how best to employ our enforced leisure when retirement comes around, needs careful preparation and planning.
Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk helps all kinds of workers within a few years of retirement to make plans designed to make those years of freedom - years of choice - everything they hope for.
Finance has never been more important when it comes to considering the next phase of life and one of our independent financial advisers - we use a number who explain the issues clearly making no attempt at the hard-sell - takes time to provide ongoing support for individuals attending our interactive pre-retirement workshops.
Whether delivered in-house among the universities, local authorities, the NHS, manufacturing companies, professional practices or our open senior executive courses in London or at an Essex mansion, the emphasis is on an holistic approach. Our experienced course leaders are keen to identify and address delegates' hopes and concerns raised by the prospect of this major life-change.
Delegate couples often admit they have learned things about each other they can exploit in the best possible way in their shared new life and the discussion which is an important part of the process opens the door to challenges and opportunities ensuring what could still be 20 or more years in retirement - we prefer the word 'freelancing' - fulfilling and exciting.
I think a couple of pounds each week should be sufficient to make sure of that Christmas chicken ...And with interest rates what they are, can you think of a better way of saving?
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Making Friends and Influencing People
Customer care, like hospitality, is at the heart of making people feel they matter.
Efficiency, especially in an era of changing employment patterns, relies heavily on staff retention - which makes customer care among colleagues at all levels in the workplace essential for smooth operation.
Is there anything worse than being ignored? Try making eye-contact with a poorly-trained shop assistant. In most cases it's merely a matter of manners. In commerce and industry it can be a serious problem demanding swift resolution.
Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ hears frequent case-studies of inter-personal disasters aired among delegates to its customer care workshops, one of the company's extending portfolio of interactive seminars conducted for organisations in both the public and private sector.
The causes are many and varied; staff shortages leading to short cuts, the increasing use of casually-crafted emails - or people in just too much of a hurry.
A highly-regarded musician friend opened a letter the other day from the human resources department of the university where he has been an eminent tutor for many years to be told the library ticket essential to his work would not be renewed. Shocked, he was told that so far as the bureaucrats were concerned, he was no longer employed!
An extreme case of cumputer error, worsened by the lack of a ready apology. He had a long wait for confirmation that he did indeed remained employed by the university where he has worked for 22 years.
The other side of the coin presented me with a textbook example of customer care, successfully achieved and without a public relations consultant in sight!
It happened on a hot day in Croatia at Pula's small and under-developed airport. We began boarding the plane for home, but were turned back to the departure gate. There was a delay, the public address system announced, baldly. Why and for how long we asked among ourselves. Rumours quickly spread among anxious families quietening children.
Then the captain arrived and called us round him like a Scout leader addressing his patrol. A bird had been struck by one of the engines on landing, he explained. Initial tests registered no damage, but he decided to stay on the safe side and call for a specialist inspection. He had been advised the nearest engineer was hours away in Istanbul, but had been able to locate suitably qualified inspectors much closer.
He apologised profusely. He added he wanted to get home for the weekend too and won the sympathy of passengers earlier in classic grumbler-traveller mood.
We reached our destination safely, everybody had a bird-strike story to tell the folks back home and the charter airline collected congratulatory messages on its crew's oustanding customer care.
Put into the picture in that spartan waiting-room, everyone knew that we mattered.
Efficiency, especially in an era of changing employment patterns, relies heavily on staff retention - which makes customer care among colleagues at all levels in the workplace essential for smooth operation.
Is there anything worse than being ignored? Try making eye-contact with a poorly-trained shop assistant. In most cases it's merely a matter of manners. In commerce and industry it can be a serious problem demanding swift resolution.
Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ hears frequent case-studies of inter-personal disasters aired among delegates to its customer care workshops, one of the company's extending portfolio of interactive seminars conducted for organisations in both the public and private sector.
The causes are many and varied; staff shortages leading to short cuts, the increasing use of casually-crafted emails - or people in just too much of a hurry.
A highly-regarded musician friend opened a letter the other day from the human resources department of the university where he has been an eminent tutor for many years to be told the library ticket essential to his work would not be renewed. Shocked, he was told that so far as the bureaucrats were concerned, he was no longer employed!
An extreme case of cumputer error, worsened by the lack of a ready apology. He had a long wait for confirmation that he did indeed remained employed by the university where he has worked for 22 years.
The other side of the coin presented me with a textbook example of customer care, successfully achieved and without a public relations consultant in sight!
It happened on a hot day in Croatia at Pula's small and under-developed airport. We began boarding the plane for home, but were turned back to the departure gate. There was a delay, the public address system announced, baldly. Why and for how long we asked among ourselves. Rumours quickly spread among anxious families quietening children.
Then the captain arrived and called us round him like a Scout leader addressing his patrol. A bird had been struck by one of the engines on landing, he explained. Initial tests registered no damage, but he decided to stay on the safe side and call for a specialist inspection. He had been advised the nearest engineer was hours away in Istanbul, but had been able to locate suitably qualified inspectors much closer.
He apologised profusely. He added he wanted to get home for the weekend too and won the sympathy of passengers earlier in classic grumbler-traveller mood.
We reached our destination safely, everybody had a bird-strike story to tell the folks back home and the charter airline collected congratulatory messages on its crew's oustanding customer care.
Put into the picture in that spartan waiting-room, everyone knew that we mattered.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Thinking the Unthinkable
It's only a few weeks since David Cameron, beating the drum for a Conservative revival in the face of economic meltdown, declared that we're all in this together.
Depending on your politics, this was a Henry V moment - " God for David, Britain and St George" - or "typical Tories: 'I'm all right Jack'"
Cynicism is all very well when it comes to playing politics but surely scepticism is the healthier choice. There's not much doubt that the country has responded, if not exactly rallied, to a leadership claiming positively to tackle a situation which all agree is pretty dire and which is bound to have a significant effect on our cherished standards of living.
Recognition calls for a change of attitude; hostility, no matter how deep-seated and tribal, is purely negative and so is not an intelligent option.
In a way the example has been set by the Lib-Dems with their decision to share the pain of implementing the necessary financial stringencies agreed upon as the best way out of the current crisis. Of course agreement on the present coalition model was a pragmatic move to create an alliance many of its culturally left-inclined footsoldiers find unpalatable. Time will tell whether such apparently uncomfortable bedfellows will togther accomplish in times of economic turmoil the 21st century equivalent of what Churchill's coalition achieved in wartime 60 years before.
Their leaders, today given a share of government - a taste their predecessors could only dream about, have thus far responded with fitting gravitas in terms of the national interest. Cometh the hour, cometh statesmanlike responsibility?
While work remains in progress in Westminster, at the coalface where the majority of us labour it is just as important to recognise the part each of us have to play - employee or boss. Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ continues to support many whose careers are being forced into new directions in the economic storm.
Outplacement and accompanying career counselling provide a valuable and effective rescue package at a time when prospects look bleak. Delegates from public and private sector organisations find in our workshops and seminars that refreshing cvs and redirecting skills and experience opens the door to new and exciting possibilities.
And come to agree that perhaps redundancy - and the necessity for thinking the unthinkable - was not such a bad thing after all.
Depending on your politics, this was a Henry V moment - " God for David, Britain and St George" - or "typical Tories: 'I'm all right Jack'"
Cynicism is all very well when it comes to playing politics but surely scepticism is the healthier choice. There's not much doubt that the country has responded, if not exactly rallied, to a leadership claiming positively to tackle a situation which all agree is pretty dire and which is bound to have a significant effect on our cherished standards of living.
Recognition calls for a change of attitude; hostility, no matter how deep-seated and tribal, is purely negative and so is not an intelligent option.
In a way the example has been set by the Lib-Dems with their decision to share the pain of implementing the necessary financial stringencies agreed upon as the best way out of the current crisis. Of course agreement on the present coalition model was a pragmatic move to create an alliance many of its culturally left-inclined footsoldiers find unpalatable. Time will tell whether such apparently uncomfortable bedfellows will togther accomplish in times of economic turmoil the 21st century equivalent of what Churchill's coalition achieved in wartime 60 years before.
Their leaders, today given a share of government - a taste their predecessors could only dream about, have thus far responded with fitting gravitas in terms of the national interest. Cometh the hour, cometh statesmanlike responsibility?
While work remains in progress in Westminster, at the coalface where the majority of us labour it is just as important to recognise the part each of us have to play - employee or boss. Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ continues to support many whose careers are being forced into new directions in the economic storm.
Outplacement and accompanying career counselling provide a valuable and effective rescue package at a time when prospects look bleak. Delegates from public and private sector organisations find in our workshops and seminars that refreshing cvs and redirecting skills and experience opens the door to new and exciting possibilities.
And come to agree that perhaps redundancy - and the necessity for thinking the unthinkable - was not such a bad thing after all.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Home and Away - Coping with the Cup
The butcher is advertising 'World Cup Sausages'
And we did order the 'Pizza of the Champions' when out for an Italian; although it was hard to forecast any results from the toppings - not even Italy's!
Now Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ does not include among its many and varied workshops anything relating to cooking. But it does take sensible eating seriously, just one small but very important aspect promoting health in the retirement programmes it conducts for organisations on clients' premises as well as for senior executives in open courses at Westwood Park in Essex, the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall and in Park Street, Mayfair, where the next is due to take place on June 24th (places still available).
To return to football, is it 2,000 or 20,000 fans said to be making tracks half-way round the world to wave the flag of St George? However large the British division of the barmy army, can it be true that each supporter has life so arranged as to enjoy freedom from the work lasting up to three weeks away?
Can there really have been so many complacent housewives happy to forgo the family holiday and condone the expedenditure of so much hard-won cash in the face of the hard times promised just around the corner?
The mystery surrounding where these travelling fans find the funds for jaunts to exotic away stadia is a bit like asking where flies go in winter-time. What is certain that while the flag is being bravely waved away, back home Great Britain plc's most important fixture revolves around the means to fill the places left empty, however temporarily, by absent sporting envoys. Could be some companies, already coping with smaller teams of fewer people are even now ready to fly a red cross - as a sign of distress.
Absenteeism does nothing to help companies fight their way through the recession and even without the periodic hype of football - the religion of a dysfunctional society - it's a problem departmental managers face no matter what the season.
Focus for Change workshops throughout the year successfully address the underlying symptoms of absenteeism in the workplace, making a real difference both in the public and private sector.
Note to bosses: After the World Cup - Wimbledon fortnight!
And we did order the 'Pizza of the Champions' when out for an Italian; although it was hard to forecast any results from the toppings - not even Italy's!
Now Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ does not include among its many and varied workshops anything relating to cooking. But it does take sensible eating seriously, just one small but very important aspect promoting health in the retirement programmes it conducts for organisations on clients' premises as well as for senior executives in open courses at Westwood Park in Essex, the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall and in Park Street, Mayfair, where the next is due to take place on June 24th (places still available).
To return to football, is it 2,000 or 20,000 fans said to be making tracks half-way round the world to wave the flag of St George? However large the British division of the barmy army, can it be true that each supporter has life so arranged as to enjoy freedom from the work lasting up to three weeks away?
Can there really have been so many complacent housewives happy to forgo the family holiday and condone the expedenditure of so much hard-won cash in the face of the hard times promised just around the corner?
The mystery surrounding where these travelling fans find the funds for jaunts to exotic away stadia is a bit like asking where flies go in winter-time. What is certain that while the flag is being bravely waved away, back home Great Britain plc's most important fixture revolves around the means to fill the places left empty, however temporarily, by absent sporting envoys. Could be some companies, already coping with smaller teams of fewer people are even now ready to fly a red cross - as a sign of distress.
Absenteeism does nothing to help companies fight their way through the recession and even without the periodic hype of football - the religion of a dysfunctional society - it's a problem departmental managers face no matter what the season.
Focus for Change workshops throughout the year successfully address the underlying symptoms of absenteeism in the workplace, making a real difference both in the public and private sector.
Note to bosses: After the World Cup - Wimbledon fortnight!
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Let's Hand More Help to the Jobless
We knew it was coming. Ever since the recession began to bite, the repeated word from Westmintser was that jobs have got to go.
Private sector employers, fighting to maintain their markets, continue to pare staff numbers already cut to the bone. Now begins the equally painful and inevitable process of culling throughout the public sector.
For a workforce engaged in local government, traditionally sheltered from economic storms, the prospect of across-the-board redundancies is fearsome.
But the support of outplacement services can really make a difference, offering hope in place of despair, crucial in alleviating the pain pointing to positive outcomes for staff seeking new employment opportunities.
Yet a recent survey of public sector employees conducted by Hays' Career Transition Services and reported in HR Magazine http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/ finds nearly 75 per cent of those questioned said there was no current support from their employer when they are being made redundant or help from management in beginning their search for another post.
No wonder they agree that outplacement services should be compulsory. After all, such expert and sensitive assistance not only provides a lifeline to affected staff, but colleagues holding on to their jobs are reassured to know their employer cares.
Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ working with many public sector organisations including local authorities, the NHS, universities and colleges, offer counselling and advice on cv and interview preparation as well as establishng outplacement support.
Over the years the company has a proud record in helping countless people from all kinds of occupations with all kinds of skills back into the workplace.
Private sector employers, fighting to maintain their markets, continue to pare staff numbers already cut to the bone. Now begins the equally painful and inevitable process of culling throughout the public sector.
For a workforce engaged in local government, traditionally sheltered from economic storms, the prospect of across-the-board redundancies is fearsome.
But the support of outplacement services can really make a difference, offering hope in place of despair, crucial in alleviating the pain pointing to positive outcomes for staff seeking new employment opportunities.
Yet a recent survey of public sector employees conducted by Hays' Career Transition Services and reported in HR Magazine http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/ finds nearly 75 per cent of those questioned said there was no current support from their employer when they are being made redundant or help from management in beginning their search for another post.
No wonder they agree that outplacement services should be compulsory. After all, such expert and sensitive assistance not only provides a lifeline to affected staff, but colleagues holding on to their jobs are reassured to know their employer cares.
Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ working with many public sector organisations including local authorities, the NHS, universities and colleges, offer counselling and advice on cv and interview preparation as well as establishng outplacement support.
Over the years the company has a proud record in helping countless people from all kinds of occupations with all kinds of skills back into the workplace.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Say it Like it Is!
It's been a tough time for fliers - frequent or occasional.
The ash cloud, combined with complications prompted by the BA strike creates a dilemma for travel planners. Do you chance a flight? Or be damned to it and take some other form of transport!
You can't argue with nature - that always takes its course. But you can query why a group of people can't cobble together an agreement, especially when leaders on each side of the dispute claim their arguments are perfectly reasonable.
It's often a question of communication. And Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk (click on workshops) know a thing or two about communication, working with organisations anxious to adopt smarter working practices. The NHS, emergency services, companies and professional practices benefit from our one-day seminars, part of a wide range of interactive workshops led by the company's expert presenters.
To convey clearly meaning and opinion is a gift too precious to be left to politicians of whatever stripe or level. And it's crucial at the present time of job insecurity.
Think how many times you switch off a TV film or a play because the actors mumble unintelligibly?
The latest translation of the Bible into pidgin is for people with Jamaican background. Hopefully the cost was met by a charitable organisation and not by taxpayers. West Indian friends have no problem understanding the traditional form, though they'll no doubt enjoy a rapped-up version of the Good Book.
But what's the point? In the British Isles we're lucky the Queen's English - OK, so it has a US twist - is recognised throughout the world as the language of commerce and communication.
Yet scarce resources are devoted to maintaining interest in national tongues spoken by a relative few, for instance Welsh. The cost, out of the hard-hit education budget in the principality's schools could be properly included among the cuts the new Chancellor and his team are being forced to consider between the nice-to and the need-to.
People fearful of losing such an important part of their heritage can preserve it as a leisure activity. Taking it from a crowded curriculum would surely better serve the ambitions of pupils looking for a career beyond the valleys where, in the cause of political correctness, the two languages unnecessarily go side by side in public places.
Good communication is an essential tool in business where relationships are crucial to success. In the office, the shop-floor, hospital ward and among the many levels of public service the ability of individuals to clearly understand each other is the first principle of professionalism.
Ambiguity is the enemy of good practice.
The ash cloud, combined with complications prompted by the BA strike creates a dilemma for travel planners. Do you chance a flight? Or be damned to it and take some other form of transport!
You can't argue with nature - that always takes its course. But you can query why a group of people can't cobble together an agreement, especially when leaders on each side of the dispute claim their arguments are perfectly reasonable.
It's often a question of communication. And Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk (click on workshops) know a thing or two about communication, working with organisations anxious to adopt smarter working practices. The NHS, emergency services, companies and professional practices benefit from our one-day seminars, part of a wide range of interactive workshops led by the company's expert presenters.
To convey clearly meaning and opinion is a gift too precious to be left to politicians of whatever stripe or level. And it's crucial at the present time of job insecurity.
Think how many times you switch off a TV film or a play because the actors mumble unintelligibly?
The latest translation of the Bible into pidgin is for people with Jamaican background. Hopefully the cost was met by a charitable organisation and not by taxpayers. West Indian friends have no problem understanding the traditional form, though they'll no doubt enjoy a rapped-up version of the Good Book.
But what's the point? In the British Isles we're lucky the Queen's English - OK, so it has a US twist - is recognised throughout the world as the language of commerce and communication.
Yet scarce resources are devoted to maintaining interest in national tongues spoken by a relative few, for instance Welsh. The cost, out of the hard-hit education budget in the principality's schools could be properly included among the cuts the new Chancellor and his team are being forced to consider between the nice-to and the need-to.
People fearful of losing such an important part of their heritage can preserve it as a leisure activity. Taking it from a crowded curriculum would surely better serve the ambitions of pupils looking for a career beyond the valleys where, in the cause of political correctness, the two languages unnecessarily go side by side in public places.
Good communication is an essential tool in business where relationships are crucial to success. In the office, the shop-floor, hospital ward and among the many levels of public service the ability of individuals to clearly understand each other is the first principle of professionalism.
Ambiguity is the enemy of good practice.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Spare the Rod ...?
You don't have to be a boss to be a bully.
Power over people is not restricted to uncaring colleagues with a sadistic streak. Teacher-bashing is a popular pastime for many 'apprentice adults' who find their lessons boring and reserve their respect only for those they have cause to fear.
Politicians talk about the fractured society. And surely what begins in the home as the neglect of standards or over-indulgence leaches into the wider society - to the nursery, the school, the college and the workplace.
Personal discipline is a burden when aggression is sufficient to grasp your own way.
It's no secret that many dedicated teachers quit a profession desperately in need of their continued inspiration. Daily confrontations with young people in need of the skills necessary for useful, fulfilling lives have left them frustrated - sometimes physically and mentally damaged.
Yet in a society obsessed with health and safety it's hard to understand why some of these classroom victims of violence seem not to have claimed sanctuary within its creeping legislation.
Strategies to stamp out bullying is an important part of a broad portfolio of workshops Focus for Change introduces for organisations determined to free staff of behaviour that seriously interferes with efficiency in the workplace www.focus4change.co.uk Assured of confidentiality and armed with proven methods, concerned managers are able to tease out and deal with the underlying reasons that prompt inappropriate behaviour.
Evidence of bullying in adulthood strongly suggests its origins in the lack of discipline in childhood. Some studies insist that measured punishment for minor misdemeanours has a place both in the home and the classroom. Tough love is part of the learning process which leaves children undamaged and better able to control the instincts that tempt unacceptable behaviour.
Would we, by using a few old-fashioned methods, become a more comfortable and balanced society, with mutual respect restored between generations and among workmates?
Power over people is not restricted to uncaring colleagues with a sadistic streak. Teacher-bashing is a popular pastime for many 'apprentice adults' who find their lessons boring and reserve their respect only for those they have cause to fear.
Politicians talk about the fractured society. And surely what begins in the home as the neglect of standards or over-indulgence leaches into the wider society - to the nursery, the school, the college and the workplace.
Personal discipline is a burden when aggression is sufficient to grasp your own way.
It's no secret that many dedicated teachers quit a profession desperately in need of their continued inspiration. Daily confrontations with young people in need of the skills necessary for useful, fulfilling lives have left them frustrated - sometimes physically and mentally damaged.
Yet in a society obsessed with health and safety it's hard to understand why some of these classroom victims of violence seem not to have claimed sanctuary within its creeping legislation.
Strategies to stamp out bullying is an important part of a broad portfolio of workshops Focus for Change introduces for organisations determined to free staff of behaviour that seriously interferes with efficiency in the workplace www.focus4change.co.uk Assured of confidentiality and armed with proven methods, concerned managers are able to tease out and deal with the underlying reasons that prompt inappropriate behaviour.
Evidence of bullying in adulthood strongly suggests its origins in the lack of discipline in childhood. Some studies insist that measured punishment for minor misdemeanours has a place both in the home and the classroom. Tough love is part of the learning process which leaves children undamaged and better able to control the instincts that tempt unacceptable behaviour.
Would we, by using a few old-fashioned methods, become a more comfortable and balanced society, with mutual respect restored between generations and among workmates?
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
No Way to Run a Railway ...
Or anything else, for that matter!
In a week when five major banks were lambasted for their cavalier attitude to two million customers' complaints, I muse on the day my local rail franchise failed miserably to convey a few hundred frustrated commuters to the capital.
Focus for Change, among its wide portfolio of interactive workshops and seminars http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ offers valued courses in customer care and communications. Nowhere among them is included a suggestion that it's best to remain discreet about shortcomings and shy in offering explanations.
With that rather endearing British phlegm on display when those united in any kind of misfortune bond in the spirit of Dunkirk, we climbed aboard a train that was to take us part-way on a 50-mile journey. Sure enough, buses promised by explicit notices posted around the departure station waited at the destination and we were bowling happily through unfamiliar spring-refreshed countryside to a rural railway platform on another line, there to find a train to complete the trip uninterrupted by engineering works.
A thirty-minute wait was entertained by robotic warnings that unattended belongings would be destroyed and that this was designated, for our safety and convenience, a non-smoking station.
With leisure to ponder these repeated strictures you have to wonder just how safety might be compromised by casual contact with smoke. The robot might better be programmed to fear for our health and convenience. But then, it's only a robot!
As first one scheduled train then another some time later was cancelled, customer satisfaction degenerated into universal irritation with no explanation forthcoming of how not one train but two came to be wiped from the timetable by some unseen and uncaring Fat Controller. Tempers were not helped by three empty out-of-service expresses thundering by on the opposite track heading non-stop to their coastal terminus, each heralded by a helpful direction to anyone straying to that empty platform that these trains were not stopping, so to stand well clear.
Rumours gained ground that, having been abandoned at this wayside stop, we were going nowhere. Ironically in a city far away even sporting pensioners were making lively tracks towards the Marathon's finishing-post. Here, though, philosophical good-nature was well-stretched - especially by travellers whose haul-along luggage suggested this was but the first step in a long-haul journey to exotic places - until somebody in the crowd cried: "Buses in the car park will take London passengers to another station!"
Another coach, another journey through sunlit villages in their Sunday best, another rural platform and an on-time (hurrah!) train that completed our 50-minute commute in three hours.
Throughout that wait explanation came there none. Customers (er, passengers) waited in vain for reasons why their arrangements and onward connections seriously unravelled.
Somebody needs refesher courses in Customer Care and Communication. We at Focus for Change have proved helpful announcements have a wonderful way of winning understanding, tolerence and even sympathy n the most exacting of unexpected circumstances.
But I have to say the crumbling Victorian halt where we found no transport of delight would make an ideal location for a revival production of The Ghost Train!
In a week when five major banks were lambasted for their cavalier attitude to two million customers' complaints, I muse on the day my local rail franchise failed miserably to convey a few hundred frustrated commuters to the capital.
Focus for Change, among its wide portfolio of interactive workshops and seminars http://www.focus4change.co.uk/ offers valued courses in customer care and communications. Nowhere among them is included a suggestion that it's best to remain discreet about shortcomings and shy in offering explanations.
With that rather endearing British phlegm on display when those united in any kind of misfortune bond in the spirit of Dunkirk, we climbed aboard a train that was to take us part-way on a 50-mile journey. Sure enough, buses promised by explicit notices posted around the departure station waited at the destination and we were bowling happily through unfamiliar spring-refreshed countryside to a rural railway platform on another line, there to find a train to complete the trip uninterrupted by engineering works.
A thirty-minute wait was entertained by robotic warnings that unattended belongings would be destroyed and that this was designated, for our safety and convenience, a non-smoking station.
With leisure to ponder these repeated strictures you have to wonder just how safety might be compromised by casual contact with smoke. The robot might better be programmed to fear for our health and convenience. But then, it's only a robot!
As first one scheduled train then another some time later was cancelled, customer satisfaction degenerated into universal irritation with no explanation forthcoming of how not one train but two came to be wiped from the timetable by some unseen and uncaring Fat Controller. Tempers were not helped by three empty out-of-service expresses thundering by on the opposite track heading non-stop to their coastal terminus, each heralded by a helpful direction to anyone straying to that empty platform that these trains were not stopping, so to stand well clear.
Rumours gained ground that, having been abandoned at this wayside stop, we were going nowhere. Ironically in a city far away even sporting pensioners were making lively tracks towards the Marathon's finishing-post. Here, though, philosophical good-nature was well-stretched - especially by travellers whose haul-along luggage suggested this was but the first step in a long-haul journey to exotic places - until somebody in the crowd cried: "Buses in the car park will take London passengers to another station!"
Another coach, another journey through sunlit villages in their Sunday best, another rural platform and an on-time (hurrah!) train that completed our 50-minute commute in three hours.
Throughout that wait explanation came there none. Customers (er, passengers) waited in vain for reasons why their arrangements and onward connections seriously unravelled.
Somebody needs refesher courses in Customer Care and Communication. We at Focus for Change have proved helpful announcements have a wonderful way of winning understanding, tolerence and even sympathy n the most exacting of unexpected circumstances.
But I have to say the crumbling Victorian halt where we found no transport of delight would make an ideal location for a revival production of The Ghost Train!
Friday, 16 April 2010
Keep calm dear, it's only an Election!
It's like having belligerent relatives coming to call. Or cats in a sack.
The General Election Campaign might be a feeding frenzy for the 24-hour media - but it does precious little to mend the temper of the electorate like you and me.
Go into any town or village and the mood is predominantly anxious and care-worn. Tempers are on remarkable short fuse. Good news is thin on the ground and fresh concerns arise in their battalions - the bust economy, crooked MPs, global warming, the ever-present terrorist threat and now, volcanic ash blowing around the atmosphere, all line up to threaten the wellbeing of our ordered lives.
Simply ring a customer service number and you get curt short-change. There's impatience at the post office; shopkeepers tut-tut irritably as customers carefully count out coin.
We're finding it all very stressful.
But we must neither lose our nerve - nor allow ourselves to join the angry brigade.
Stress is a useful alarm system, natural equipment to deal with the challenges that are a normal feature of life outside the cotton-wool box many of us would prefer to inhabit. Properly managed stress is an essential part of our mental armoury prompting us to overcome difficulties and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
The many strategies of stress management are daily put to good use by members of emergency services attending the specialised inter-active courses presented by Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/
We work currently with two county fire services and, along with out anti-bullying programmes, the NHS among organisations using our many workshops and seminars.
If you have a strategy of your own for remaining placid and patient during the coming stressful days, pass it on! You have the freedom of the blog!
The General Election Campaign might be a feeding frenzy for the 24-hour media - but it does precious little to mend the temper of the electorate like you and me.
Go into any town or village and the mood is predominantly anxious and care-worn. Tempers are on remarkable short fuse. Good news is thin on the ground and fresh concerns arise in their battalions - the bust economy, crooked MPs, global warming, the ever-present terrorist threat and now, volcanic ash blowing around the atmosphere, all line up to threaten the wellbeing of our ordered lives.
Simply ring a customer service number and you get curt short-change. There's impatience at the post office; shopkeepers tut-tut irritably as customers carefully count out coin.
We're finding it all very stressful.
But we must neither lose our nerve - nor allow ourselves to join the angry brigade.
Stress is a useful alarm system, natural equipment to deal with the challenges that are a normal feature of life outside the cotton-wool box many of us would prefer to inhabit. Properly managed stress is an essential part of our mental armoury prompting us to overcome difficulties and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
The many strategies of stress management are daily put to good use by members of emergency services attending the specialised inter-active courses presented by Focus for Change http://www.focus4change.co.uk/
We work currently with two county fire services and, along with out anti-bullying programmes, the NHS among organisations using our many workshops and seminars.
If you have a strategy of your own for remaining placid and patient during the coming stressful days, pass it on! You have the freedom of the blog!
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
If at first you don't succeed ...
Just yesterday proved once again that jobs can be won the second time around.
A client, rejected after an interview procedure which failed to make an appointment clinched the high-powered executive position on a national professional body after successful coaching by one of our Focus for Change counsellors http://www.focus4change.co.uk/.
It's not uncommon for organisations to review an interview process which has failed to produce a successful candidate, advertise the post again to make a final selection. Again it's usual for unsuccessful candidates, having undertaken grooming for the interview, submit their application again - and win the job.
It's astonishing in this time of change with so many redundancies taking place organisations of all descriptions are unable to fill crucial posts - particularly at middle-management level.
Recognising the potential of existing staff and the importance of retaining them they can prefer to promote internally. But despite a good track record and confidence in the excellent job they're doing existing staff often lose out - because they fail to market themselves at interview.
This prompts an increase in our one-to-one grooming and mentoring services, preparing staff not only to move up but to recognise the need for forward thinking should they achieve the new post.
Preparation for interview is vital.The secret is in the correct planning. Having put so much energy into the application many candidates still fail the final fence. If the appointment is to an internal post it's vital to know the corporate plan for that department or subsidiary. If applying from outside it's necessary to research the organisation thoroughly. In either case interviewers must be clear on what the candidate feels he or she can bring to the post, with a vision of its future.
Image and body-language speak volumes in the first moments of an interview. So is careful speech and a confident manner in this final and crucial bid to achieve the goal of another post; a good career move.
Preparation pays - what's your tip for success? Share it with us.
A client, rejected after an interview procedure which failed to make an appointment clinched the high-powered executive position on a national professional body after successful coaching by one of our Focus for Change counsellors http://www.focus4change.co.uk/.
It's not uncommon for organisations to review an interview process which has failed to produce a successful candidate, advertise the post again to make a final selection. Again it's usual for unsuccessful candidates, having undertaken grooming for the interview, submit their application again - and win the job.
It's astonishing in this time of change with so many redundancies taking place organisations of all descriptions are unable to fill crucial posts - particularly at middle-management level.
Recognising the potential of existing staff and the importance of retaining them they can prefer to promote internally. But despite a good track record and confidence in the excellent job they're doing existing staff often lose out - because they fail to market themselves at interview.
This prompts an increase in our one-to-one grooming and mentoring services, preparing staff not only to move up but to recognise the need for forward thinking should they achieve the new post.
Preparation for interview is vital.The secret is in the correct planning. Having put so much energy into the application many candidates still fail the final fence. If the appointment is to an internal post it's vital to know the corporate plan for that department or subsidiary. If applying from outside it's necessary to research the organisation thoroughly. In either case interviewers must be clear on what the candidate feels he or she can bring to the post, with a vision of its future.
Image and body-language speak volumes in the first moments of an interview. So is careful speech and a confident manner in this final and crucial bid to achieve the goal of another post; a good career move.
Preparation pays - what's your tip for success? Share it with us.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Work on - or Change your Life? It's Your Choice!
We're expected now to disregard that magic 65th birthday - and work on.
That finds a positive response from many who regard retirement as a double-edged sword.
Miffed at being dismissed for so long as reaching its sell-by date, Grey Power is actively courted by government in the national drive for economic recovery.
Far too fit for the scrap-heap, the edict that older workers should no longer be forced to retire at the traditional birthday is a welcome gift.
Some value security and, using the right to appeal, stay on. Others prefer the freedom to seek new horizons, examine alternative challenges and and consider options in lifestyle planning. Focus for Change continues to present the options with their in-house and open executive retirement planning programmes.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission recognises what could amount to thirty years of inactivity - virtually an almost endless holiday, courtesy of health care and expanding opportunities - is unattractive to men and women determined to live their longer life to the full.
Research shows the state retirement age - to be extended over the next few years to cut government spending - is considered by more than half older workers to be too young. In its survey of 1,500 people aged between 50 and 75 the Commission found 62per cent of women and 59 per cent of men wanted to continue working beyond the present default retirement age http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/)
They recognise the likes of Joan Bakewell, champion for the elderly at 75 and Katharine Whitehorn, dispensing wise words in the media, well into her eighties, are dynamic examples of iconic older folk.
Had he retired at 65 David Dimbleby would not, six years later, be presenting demanding TV series. Betty Driver would not be celebrating her 90th birthday behind the bar at the Rover's Return. And the mental dexterity of octogenarian Nicholas Parsons hosting radio's Just a minute encourages us all.
Delegates on our retirement planning courses have a mixed view of their right retirement. Some are keen to continue work, others look forward to embracing a new lifestyle.
Ready to retire? Working on? What do you think?
That finds a positive response from many who regard retirement as a double-edged sword.
Miffed at being dismissed for so long as reaching its sell-by date, Grey Power is actively courted by government in the national drive for economic recovery.
Far too fit for the scrap-heap, the edict that older workers should no longer be forced to retire at the traditional birthday is a welcome gift.
Some value security and, using the right to appeal, stay on. Others prefer the freedom to seek new horizons, examine alternative challenges and and consider options in lifestyle planning. Focus for Change continues to present the options with their in-house and open executive retirement planning programmes.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission recognises what could amount to thirty years of inactivity - virtually an almost endless holiday, courtesy of health care and expanding opportunities - is unattractive to men and women determined to live their longer life to the full.
Research shows the state retirement age - to be extended over the next few years to cut government spending - is considered by more than half older workers to be too young. In its survey of 1,500 people aged between 50 and 75 the Commission found 62per cent of women and 59 per cent of men wanted to continue working beyond the present default retirement age http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/)
They recognise the likes of Joan Bakewell, champion for the elderly at 75 and Katharine Whitehorn, dispensing wise words in the media, well into her eighties, are dynamic examples of iconic older folk.
Had he retired at 65 David Dimbleby would not, six years later, be presenting demanding TV series. Betty Driver would not be celebrating her 90th birthday behind the bar at the Rover's Return. And the mental dexterity of octogenarian Nicholas Parsons hosting radio's Just a minute encourages us all.
Delegates on our retirement planning courses have a mixed view of their right retirement. Some are keen to continue work, others look forward to embracing a new lifestyle.
Ready to retire? Working on? What do you think?
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
The CV - your Passport to Success
I was - well, yes - horrified to discover the cost of creating a jobseeker's cv could be as much as £499 plus VAT! That such a vital tool in the struggle to catch the attention of a potential employer should be such a financial burden at a time of deep insecurity is nothing short of shocking.
You may have been watching the BBC TV show Jobless, about four families and the efforts of the laid-off breadwinner to find new jobs.
It was a bleak story of frustration, insecurity and fears doubtless shared by many viewers and which will sadly become familiar to many others in the months to come as casualties in the fight against the recession increase.
The best chance of returning to the workforce is an effective cv - passport to the successful interview.
One of the fathers featured was offered a cv service demanding more than £500 from his unemployment benefit.
The Curriculum Vitae needs to be a carefully constructed document, designed to showcase the skills and experience of the individual for whom it is prepared with a format that should almost at a glance present the qualities and required qualifications and experience. It should answer most of the questions a prospective employer might have in order to select for interview this application from the host of other hopefuls.
Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk have for many years been creating cvs for jobseekers, successfully supporting a vast range of clients from executives and academics to workers from the shop-floor.
Anyone can write a cv. But it takes experience, application of the right words and understanding of the requirements both of the likely employer and the jobseeker to craft a powerful and effective document with the potential to progress through the interview to secure the goal.
And it really doesn't cost the earth.
Does yours work for you?
You may have been watching the BBC TV show Jobless, about four families and the efforts of the laid-off breadwinner to find new jobs.
It was a bleak story of frustration, insecurity and fears doubtless shared by many viewers and which will sadly become familiar to many others in the months to come as casualties in the fight against the recession increase.
The best chance of returning to the workforce is an effective cv - passport to the successful interview.
One of the fathers featured was offered a cv service demanding more than £500 from his unemployment benefit.
The Curriculum Vitae needs to be a carefully constructed document, designed to showcase the skills and experience of the individual for whom it is prepared with a format that should almost at a glance present the qualities and required qualifications and experience. It should answer most of the questions a prospective employer might have in order to select for interview this application from the host of other hopefuls.
Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk have for many years been creating cvs for jobseekers, successfully supporting a vast range of clients from executives and academics to workers from the shop-floor.
Anyone can write a cv. But it takes experience, application of the right words and understanding of the requirements both of the likely employer and the jobseeker to craft a powerful and effective document with the potential to progress through the interview to secure the goal.
And it really doesn't cost the earth.
Does yours work for you?
Monday, 8 March 2010
Stress: Don't Suffer it - Manage it!
Stressed out? Hot and bothered? Can't cope?
You hear it every day. And you may be among the one in five who suffer from stress at work, accounting for more time off than a cold.
And when there is so much insecurity, talk of redundancy and voluntary severence particularly in the public sector, it's no wonder so many of us feel more than a bit jumpy.
To be brutally honest, as a buzz-word 'stress' can be pretty meaningless. It might better translate as challenge or just being forced to do something we'd rather put off for later.
Yet as many as 13.5 million working days are lost each year to stress according to the Health and Safety Executive -not a comfortable statistic for an ailing economy.
It's rated the number one reason for going sick with a cost to Great Britain plc reckoned at nearly £4 billion.
However real stress, the stress capable of inducing serious illness, is the psychological response to pressure or events that seem threatening. Often involving change.
What's more, like the common cold, it can be infectious through close contact with stressed-out carriers.
But the good news is that short-term stress can be a positive element in our daily lives.
Because too little can indicate life without purpose; skills and talent going to waste. A reasonable, tolerable amount of stress helps pump up the necessary adrenalin fix to sharpen responses.
Stress-release mechanisms, understanding personal limitations and acquiring the ability to switch off, relax and recover from uncomfortable situations are among the subjects covered in Stress Awareness workshops created by Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk which have reduced sickness and increased efficiency for emergency services and other organsiations.
Interactive one-day courses, tailored to suit the particular circumstances and led by two experienced facilitators highlight practical approaches, identifying personal triggers and developing effective strategies to deal with stressful situations.
As one firefighter said: "I found the workshop stimulating and helpful; my life has changed dramatically. I had thought I was dealing with stress in a positive way but can now see some actions were having a negative effect on my kids."
You hear it every day. And you may be among the one in five who suffer from stress at work, accounting for more time off than a cold.
And when there is so much insecurity, talk of redundancy and voluntary severence particularly in the public sector, it's no wonder so many of us feel more than a bit jumpy.
To be brutally honest, as a buzz-word 'stress' can be pretty meaningless. It might better translate as challenge or just being forced to do something we'd rather put off for later.
Yet as many as 13.5 million working days are lost each year to stress according to the Health and Safety Executive -not a comfortable statistic for an ailing economy.
It's rated the number one reason for going sick with a cost to Great Britain plc reckoned at nearly £4 billion.
However real stress, the stress capable of inducing serious illness, is the psychological response to pressure or events that seem threatening. Often involving change.
What's more, like the common cold, it can be infectious through close contact with stressed-out carriers.
But the good news is that short-term stress can be a positive element in our daily lives.
Because too little can indicate life without purpose; skills and talent going to waste. A reasonable, tolerable amount of stress helps pump up the necessary adrenalin fix to sharpen responses.
Stress-release mechanisms, understanding personal limitations and acquiring the ability to switch off, relax and recover from uncomfortable situations are among the subjects covered in Stress Awareness workshops created by Focus for Change www.focus4change.co.uk which have reduced sickness and increased efficiency for emergency services and other organsiations.
Interactive one-day courses, tailored to suit the particular circumstances and led by two experienced facilitators highlight practical approaches, identifying personal triggers and developing effective strategies to deal with stressful situations.
As one firefighter said: "I found the workshop stimulating and helpful; my life has changed dramatically. I had thought I was dealing with stress in a positive way but can now see some actions were having a negative effect on my kids."
Monday, 22 February 2010
Coping with bullying
The spat between Downing Street and the government-sponsored bullying hotline provides rich entertainment value for the uncommitted general public.
But more seriously it highlights problems that without timely and sensitive conciliation can escalate into physical and mental difficulties and interrupt the smooth running of any operation.
Focus for Change developed its Bullying and Harassment programme to train champions within public sector organisations in response to real-life case histories.
Conducted by qualified counsellors with a record of effective communication in the confidential resolution of issues, the Focus for Change workshop is designed to restore fractured relationships.
Their experience, based on listening and questioning - without advising - in the majority of cases successfully promotes the restoration of the harmonious atmosphere and co-operative efficiency frequently at risk when conflict disrupts the workplace.
But more seriously it highlights problems that without timely and sensitive conciliation can escalate into physical and mental difficulties and interrupt the smooth running of any operation.
Focus for Change developed its Bullying and Harassment programme to train champions within public sector organisations in response to real-life case histories.
Conducted by qualified counsellors with a record of effective communication in the confidential resolution of issues, the Focus for Change workshop is designed to restore fractured relationships.
Their experience, based on listening and questioning - without advising - in the majority of cases successfully promotes the restoration of the harmonious atmosphere and co-operative efficiency frequently at risk when conflict disrupts the workplace.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Say it Clearly - Say it Correctly
The tongue that Shakespeare spoke has changed radically over 400 years but written and spoken English is an important tool in the commercial armoury. And while it is clearly true the language and the way it's used develops, the basic rules which define the speaker or the writer remain.
It's hard not to judge someone guilty of careless talk.
Don't you just hate it when somebody pronounces the letter 'h' as they would hash? Where does that come from? Until fairly recently only an Irishman would call a bank haitchessbecee!
Now so many people want to sound like byegone Cockneys who thought they're being polite! Ho no!
Likewise many people talk about being 'afraid to say' which makes no sense. Because if they were really afraid they wouldn't say whatever it is that frightens them. The correct and time-honoured phrase is 'I'm sorry to say'.
And there's the final 'k' stuck now for no reason on to the end of words like anything or something. Ask the speaker to spell the word and the chances are the errant 'k' would be missing.
Truth is we don't listen to ourselves, selling ourselves short when it comes to job interviews or pressing for promotion. Care is of primary importance in communication of all kinds, just one of the factors we stress in our Focus for Change Communication courses www.focus4change.co.uk
A shoddy email arrives from a competitor, offering effective communication seminars might have been written by someone with only a basic grasp of English. I'm no pedant, but the poor grammar and careless composition it reveals loses any integrity that company might have.
It's good to remember when preparing for that hard-won job interview - careless talk costs [the chance of] jobs!
It's hard not to judge someone guilty of careless talk.
Don't you just hate it when somebody pronounces the letter 'h' as they would hash? Where does that come from? Until fairly recently only an Irishman would call a bank haitchessbecee!
Now so many people want to sound like byegone Cockneys who thought they're being polite! Ho no!
Likewise many people talk about being 'afraid to say' which makes no sense. Because if they were really afraid they wouldn't say whatever it is that frightens them. The correct and time-honoured phrase is 'I'm sorry to say'.
And there's the final 'k' stuck now for no reason on to the end of words like anything or something. Ask the speaker to spell the word and the chances are the errant 'k' would be missing.
Truth is we don't listen to ourselves, selling ourselves short when it comes to job interviews or pressing for promotion. Care is of primary importance in communication of all kinds, just one of the factors we stress in our Focus for Change Communication courses www.focus4change.co.uk
A shoddy email arrives from a competitor, offering effective communication seminars might have been written by someone with only a basic grasp of English. I'm no pedant, but the poor grammar and careless composition it reveals loses any integrity that company might have.
It's good to remember when preparing for that hard-won job interview - careless talk costs [the chance of] jobs!
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Boredom? It's all in the mind!
Hard to believe, but scientists say we really can be bored to death!
Specialists from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College, London, say studies show people who complain of high levels of boredom turn to unhealthy comfort foods, smoke and drink more heavily.
The survey, conducted over 25 years among more than 7,500 civil servants aged between 35 and 55, found that those who said they had no interests doubled the risk of dying through stroke and heart disease than those who found life entertaining.
There is always the danger in later life of moving into retirement with not much in prospect over the next twenty or more years apart from gardening, a bit of DiY or perhaps the long-haul holiday. Planning a whole new and fullfilling lifestyle ensures longer active living.
Our Focus for Change retirement planning courses www.focus4change.co.uk emphasise the importance of taking up new interests and challenges, as well as exploring the possibility of self-employment for those anxious to drive their experience and skills into new and rewarding avenues.
Boredom is not a word heard around our delegates!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
New Year - New Opportunites
From all of us at Focus for Change welcome to 2010 and the New Opportunities it promises.
What a start to the New Year! News comes from one of our Christchurch, Canterbury, delegates who recalls having redundancy counselling on a www.focus4change.co.uk programme a year or two ago and, acting on the advice, changed career and went on to follow her dream.
"I set up as a gardener - my life's ambition" she writes. "I took the RHS first level qualification in horticulture and have just picked up the type of project I have always wanted.
"So thank you, Di, for your probing, gentle and imaginative sessions - they put me on the garden path I sought"
We're always delighted to hear of similar life-changing experiences.
So what have you been doing since we last met? Add your success story here or drop us an email to info@focus4change.co.uk and help us keep in touch with our growing community.
Shivering UK may have yet to shake off the Recession. But the coming months will see our Associate team carrying the good news of change for new and existing clients to staff affected by organisational restructure, impending retirement and many other aspects connected with today's employment climate.
Steadily developing our client base with local authorities, NHS, the emergency services, universities and colleges alongside organisations in the private and professional sectors, we find today a substantial number who postponed programmes last year, gauging the impact of the financial storm are in the process of reinstating seminars and workshops, often with increased delegate numbers.
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