Please see below for the latest entries in the BCF Group blog.
The modern workplace presents some tough challenges.
Work is fast-paced, teams are typically hybrid, burnout is high, and retention rates are low.
Managers are on the frontline of these challenges.
And increasingly, more organisations are looking to create a coaching culture to ease the pressure they face.
Read More
No matter how well a course is put together on paper, it is only as effective as the person delivering training.
Whether it is in-house training or for an external audience, trainers only have one opportunity to make the right first impression and convince delegates the course is worth their time and effort.
So, how can you begin your course with the right impact?
Read More
Whether you have in-house trainers or provide training courses to your clients, you need tutors who can bring it to life and engage delegates from the first moment and maintain their interest.
To help with this, we’ve revamped our Train the Trainer courses to make them even more practical. And we have added a camera technician to the second day of the programme to help your trainers master their training delivery.
Read More
Empathy has become an increasingly critical skill.
Leaders must be able to put themselves in the employee’s shoes and understand their motivations, challenges, ambitions and feelings to build trust.
Empathetic leaders inspire, influence and connect.
But how do you develop your empathy skills?
Read More
Many people’s first taste of management comes because they are high performers.
Their excellence earns them a promotion, and they are thrust into their new leadership role without management training to help them survive and thrive.
It creates risks for the organisation and the individual. What can we do about it? And how can accidental managers help themselves?
Read More
What makes a great leader?
Attributes could include excellent communication skills, active listening, transparency, empathy, emotional intelligence, having a clear vision and a willingness to make hard choices.
But what about being aware of their weaknesses?
Are leaders expected to be flawless? Or is it better they know they are not perfect?
Read More
Emotional intelligence – also known as EQ - is increasingly viewed as a must-have leadership skill.
A high level of emotional intelligence sets a leader apart from their peers, helping them coach their teams, manage stress, deliver feedback and collaborate.
But what exactly is it? How do you know if you have good emotional intelligence? And can you be too emotionally intelligent?
Read More
How good are your leaders at making difficult or complex decisions?
Procrastination and indecision costs.
So, what if we told you there was a simple thinking tool we explore during our leadership and management training courses that can make the decision-making process easier, explore different ways of thinking and remove some of the unconscious biases that can impact decisions?
Read More
Being in charge during a crisis is tough. But at some point during every leader’s career, they will be faced by one.
But how can leaders better manage their emotions and understand how they respond to different pressures?
What happens if you need to lead your team through a long-running crisis? And how can they overcome communications barriers?
Read More
So, you’ve got a decision-making framework in place for when the worst happens. And you have your incident response and crisis communication plan in place.
But what leadership style approach work best?
Leaders will have their natural style. But they should also consider using parts of different styles during a crisis.
Read More
What happens when you are in charge during a major crisis or incident at work?
Crisis communication training and emergency response testing will massively help. It will enable you to communicate with compassion and authority to everyone affected internally or externally.
But what else do leaders need to respond effectively and lead their organisation through a crisis?
Read More
The way we work has changed dramatically. The days of being in the office every day are a distant memory in many organisations. Instead, colleagues may venture in a couple of times a week or maybe just once a month. Some employees remain fully remote.
And there continues to be much debate around the benefits and disadvantages of hybrid and remote working.
But is it having an impact on training? Well, the statistics suggest it is.
Read More
Studies show that more diverse organisations outperform their rivals.
But there is a problem. We all have different learning styles, and unless they are accommodated, training can be viewed as more of a burden than a benefit, diluting its impact.
Our online courses have been created to meet the needs of these different styles.
Read More
You try to roll out a training programme, but people keep telling you they are ‘too busy’ for the training. Frustrating, right?
The good news is there are many solutions, including training at the moment of need.
But what if the real reason is something else and that ‘too busy’ is just an excuse? Could it be they don’t see the value in the training being offered?
Read More
Are you noticing a reluctance from your leaders and managers – and their teams – to take part in training and skills development?
Don’t worry, it is a common problem. And often, people blame it on being too busy.
So, what’s the solution?
Read More
Develop your leadership skills with a crucial lesson from Ted Lasso: be curious, not judgemental. Discover how curiosity can create energy in your team and foster a culture of learning and transparency.
Read More
While communication is often categorised as a soft skill, leaders can no longer pay lip service to the ability to communicate effectively.
Leaders need strong communication skills to share their vision, express ideas, convey information, persuade, influence, inspire, inform and show they care.
But how do you become an effective communicator? What does good communication look like in the workplace? And how can you avoid communication mistakes?
Read More
Can being positive in the workplace ever be toxic?
Essentially, toxic positivity is the belief that no matter how dire a situation becomes, people should maintain a positive mindset.
And, while it starts with good intentions and attempts to create a healthy culture, it leads to issues being downplayed and swept under the carpet.
Read More
Soft skills are having a rebrand.
The ever-growing importance of the skills that help us better interact with people in the modern workplace is seeing them increasingly referred to as 'power skills'.
Initially coined by Udemy Business, the term is used with increasing regularity to describe interpersonal skills.
But does that rebrand work?
Read More
Difficult conversations are an inevitable and necessary part of leadership and management. But they can be a cause of great anxiety and worry.
And because of that, there can be a tendency to put them off and avoid them altogether. That’s not healthy for the individual or the organisation.
So, how can your leaders better deal with difficult conversations?
Read More
Did your first line managers plan to get into management?
Many people’s first taste of management comes because they are high performers - it’s a reward for excellence. And it means they often begin the roles without management training to help them survive in the deep end.
The term ‘accidental manager’ has been coined to describe those in this situation.
So, how can your organisation better help them make that transition? And how can accidental managers help themselves?
Read More
During the past few years, working life has gone through seismic change. Recently, as economic pressures grip, some organisations have backtracked on this new way of work.
Yet, many other organisations realise being flexible is crucial to attracting and retaining the best talent. And costs less than a big pay rise.
Even if it turns out there is a gradual move to more time in the office than at home, hybrid working is here to stay.
How can organisations make it work better?
Read More
Weird question? Maybe a little abstract?
What if we told you those monkeys are problems? And that the more people leaders manage, the more problems they are likely to carry.
So, how can leaders break the cycle of taking on other people’s monkeys? The answer lies in business coaching techniques.
Read More
How worried are your leaders about ‘quiet quitting’? The phrase has spread like wildfire this year, fuelled by a popular TikTok video. Now the internet is full of advice on solutions and how to combat it.
But is it something leaders and their organisations need to solve?
Read More
Psychometric testing is big business. There are endless options out there gauging everything from psychological fitness to cognitive ability, skills and performance.
Many companies now use it as part of their recruitment process. But what role should it play in your business coaching?
Read More
What do the line manager of the person being coached and the organisation get to hear about the coaching? And how do you manage expectations about the feedback from the sessions.
Confidentiality is at the core of the coaching relationship, according to expert coach Tienie Loubser. He says that for the process to be successful, the person receiving coaching needs to feel they are in a place where they can speak freely without reprisals or judgements.
Read More
The term 'performance coaching' reflects the way business coaching has changed. It has moved away from being regarded as a way of helping underachievers get better, and is now about helping people who are already performing well improve further and achieve their potential.
Read More
Here’s an intriguing business coaching question. Let’s say one of your leaders is coaching a team member. And the person they are coaching suggests a way forward the leader knows will not work. In fact, the leader is convinced it is the wrong option. Do they panic and tell them not to do it? That is probably the most natural reaction. But is it the right one?
Read More
Everyone is different. And teams consist of lots of contrasting people. So, when people coach and lead teams, they encounter different personalities. Your leaders will work with extroverts, introverts, those who are open to change, and others who struggle to adapt, to give just a few examples. To be successful, they need to identify them, understand them, and tailor their approach.
Read More
Business coaching is increasingly viewed as a vital way for leaders to nurture their team members, improve morale and develop better relationships. This, in turn, leads to better performance, improved retention and a healthier and happier workforce. One of the many aspects it covers is how leaders can introduce coaching to their teams and run their sessions. And we felt this was a topic we should cover in our regular business coaching and management training blogs.
Read More
The power of coaching is increasingly recognised. Business coaching can boost productivity and morale. It can change the mindset of those you work with and help you create a team that doesn’t need micromanaging. And it can aid leaders as they steer their organisations through change and reach new heights. But there is a question that keeps coming up – what skills do you need to be good at coaching?
Read More
Having a narcissist in your management team can be a nightmare. Many of us will have been led by one at some point in our careers - someone whose self-belief is far greater than their abilities and whose leadership style creates a toxic environment. But it is not always easy to identify them. What behaviours should you look out for, and how can you change leaders with narcissist tendencies? To tackle some of these questions, I caught up with Tienie Loubser, an independent executive coach.
Read More
Many of us now only work in the office a couple of times a day at most. Others have not set foot in the workplace since the start of the pandemic. Yet, modern employees typically want more coaching. They want to be developed and strive to reach their best. To tackle the disconnect, we believe that leaders should adopt 'in the moment' coaching.
Read More
Business coaching is a powerful tool. It can motivate and empower employees, helping them think differently about their work, become more creative, solve problems and adapt to change. But not all coaching is equal, and leaders often fall into the trap of solving the problems and challenges their team members face rather than empowering them to find the solutions themselves.
Read More
What is a learning culture, how do you get one, and where do you start? These are just some of the questions we explored with our expert business coaching and management training tutors Tienie Loubser and Kirsty Waite during our recent webinar. And we thought it would be helpful to capture some of their tips and advice in one of our blogs.
Read MoreThe BCF Group have evolved from the Business Coaching Foundation, which was established in 2001. We have leadership development and business coaching at our core. Having representation from global learning leads, executive coaches and talent development specialists, we deliver accredited people development programs.
Find Out MorePlease see below for some related courses and qualifications which you may be interested in:
The ILM Level 7 Qualifications for Senior Level Coaches and Mentors are designed for senior leaders/managers (or those working in a training and development role) who are regularly coaching or mentoring at a senior level.
It is for those executive coaches who wish to accredit, validate or enhance their skills with an internationally-recognised executive coaching qualification.
Based on our extensive work and experience with leaders, both in the private and public sectors, this ILM Level 5 Coaching and Mentoring programme has been designed to develop the capability of leaders to positively impact the performance of individuals and teams.
This programme has been created to sharpen a leader's skills - enabling them to balance control, commitment and empowerment through productive conversations with individuals and teams.
This two-day accredited management training programme brings together the key leadership skills you need to be an effective manager so you can return to the workplace, deliver tangible results and help your teams reach their full potential.
It covers problem-solving, decision making, workplace communication and leading, and motivating teams effectively, among much more.
This course has been designed for those who are new to management or who are about to take up a management position.
Run over a single day, the course covers a wide range of topics to give new and inexperienced managers a good understanding of the foundations needed to begin their journey as a manager.
It includes modules on communication, managing your team, managing yourself, delegating, setting objectives, planning and personal development.
There is no secret to becoming a successful trainer.
You need to equip yourself with the essential skills to deliver an engaging training session, meeting the needs of both the business and the delegates.
We can guide you through the training process, ensuring you leave the programme with the relevant skills to achieve tangible results.
Whether you are new to training, or wishing to refresh your skills, this course will guide you through the full training cycle and give you the skills you need.
Even before the coronavirus lockdowns, more workplace communication was taking place remotely through video conferencing software.
Whether your organisation uses Zoom or Teams, the flexibility offered by these formats means they are here to stay.
And that means the skills needed to communicate on them effectively have never been more important.
Please use the form below to get in touch.
Alternatively, please call us on 0844 800 3295.
© 2024 BCF Group Limited. All Rights Reserved.