Barry Winbolt's Blog
Happy New Rabbit
4/01/2011 · Leave a commentThe start of a new year and whether or not you have enjoyed the extended break you might need some help getting back into gear, so here are a few thoughts that might act as prompts.
Legal aid going?
16/11/2010 · Leave a commentProposals to cut legal aid are aimed at reducing the number of civil law cases and discouraging a culture of litigation. But perhaps people in dispute will begin to look for other ways to settle their differences, mediation for example.
Pause or rewind?
12/11/2010 · Leave a commentRemember when video recorders came along and for the first time we could pause the action to answer the phone or make a cup of tea? What a boon that was.
But at work it is almost as if the opposite is true, there doesn’t seem to be a pause button for email, mobile phones, and multiple demands.
So here are five tips to help you reclaim your day by pressing the pause button.
Christmas Crackers?
6/11/2010 · Leave a commentThe season of good cheer manages to have the opposite effect on a fair few people, apparently. One concerned employer, a large international organisation, has asked me to present a session to help staff cope with, as they see it, the added pressures associated with Xmas.
New training titles
5/11/2010 · Leave a commentTraining linked to staff development improves performance, supports staff and meets organisational needs. Requests for training titles seem to go in waves or trends. Here are three topics for managers and staff that have been updated in response to recent, increased demand.
Therapists out of step
31/10/2010 · Leave a commentIn an article that is both challenging and fascinating Douglas LeBier says that many therapists have not kept pace with social trends. The result is that often people are not helped at all by their therapy and some end up more troubled than when they began treatment.
Conflict: Agenda for Managers
24/10/2010 · Leave a commentWhen a dispute between employees becomes visible it usually falls to a manager to intervene but few are confident in doing this so they’ll often ignore the conflict in the hope that it’ll go away, downplay the seriousness of the disagreement, or approach it ineffectively.
Research by OPP charts the costs and benefits of conflict, and a guide from CIPD identifies the behaviours that will help managers recognise and proactively manage disputes at work.
Newsletter Relaunch
22/10/2010 · Leave a commentMy newsletter is being relaunched using a new distribution method after an extensive redesign over the summer months (techy stuff). There is a list of topics waiting to be discussed and you’ll notice that news will be more regular, more thought-provoking and as useful as ever. it would also help if you could suggest ideas or workplace subjects you’d like to see covered. Tell your friends and colleagues, and get them to sign up too.
Managing challenging times
21/10/2010 · Leave a commentWe can do little about global events but we can do something about how events affect us personally. With a requires a pragmatic stance linked to robust psychology we can learn the skills that will help us weather the troubles without becoming incapacitated by worry, or sucked into the doom and gloom.
Trust at work
14/10/2010 · Leave a commentIn difficult economic times the relationship between employees and employers is often tested. Trust suffers and staff turnover increases. But it need not be so. Creating an ethical company is low cost and high-reward.