NEWS

Communication key to boosting morale at work -HR director at M & S

Levels of employee engagement have increased at Marks and Spencer despite recent job losses and store closures. HR director Tanith Dodge said the retailer’s latest employee survey revealed higher scores in staff attitudes towards the company, their manager and their job. Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of the scores were positive despite the announcement of 1,200 job losses, 27 store closures and the capping of the company pension scheme in January this year. Read full article here.

September 2009

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Generation Crunch: Young Face Crisis in Hunt for Work

Read the Guardian article by Polly Curtis and Patrick Barkham on the crisis facing Graduates as they face the toughest battle for many generations in their search for jobs. Read full article in the Guardian.

January 2008

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Learning styles in training and IT specialists and engineers

In an article on learning styles, posted on the British Computer Society's website, Salama Shah, Director of Beyond, made an excellent observation:

“Industries such as IT and engineering are beginning to understand the benefits of personal development courses alongside upgrading technical skills. The performance levels of a self-aware, communicative, emotionally intelligent and a positive team are far greater than a group of technically brilliant, yet socially challenged, individuals”.

Salma Shah, Director of Beyond

To read the full article, click here.

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Train to Gain grant funding for London-based businesses

For organisations with 5 - 250 employees

In London, Leadership and Management Specialist Advisory Service is available to businesses employing between 5 and 250 people. The service includes funding to help businesses develop leadership and management skills. Training can include 1:1 coaching or mentoring and can be for development of general management skills.

Read full details about how Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) can get the skills needed for business success ...

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS in London, click here for details

For further information about how to book training or schedule a meeting with our Train to Gain broker, telephone Veronica on 0845 054 2870 or email her at: vb@executive-solutions.co.uk

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High impact, tailored training solutions for business success

In October 2008, Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd was one of two companies in the Spotlight on the website of MSD UK. Read the full business profile by following the link: http://www.msduk.org.uk/Pages/ExecutiveSolitions.aspx

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Launch of interview skills training for secondary school students

Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd has launched a programme of interview skills and cv preparation. In this phase of the programme, Trainers are preparing students for interviews for employment, job placement and entrance to college or university. Read the full press release here:

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Lead on GREEN issues in your business

Are you keen to display leadership on the environment and greening your business? Then find out about free support if you are based in London and run a small business.

Contact SmartWorks Programme Manager to find out more.

Email:charlotte.high@globalactionplan.org.uk

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Confidence is the bridge to success in life

Confident people feel good about themselves, build better personal relationships and are more successful at work. They are confident when interacting with others, whether speaking in front of a group, over the telephone or at a job interview. Read full article by Veronica Broomes in Dignity (Spring 2008 edition), the journal of ATD Fourth World.

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Right to request time to train laws imminent

England 's 22 million workers are set to be given new rights to request time off for training, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has said. The scheme is expected to enable around 300,000 people a year to receive skills training who otherwise would not. Read the full article on the website of The Best of

Ref: http://newsletter.thebestof.co.uk/278/43/Static/4

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Staff retention boosted to 92% with training and development

Online retailer Furniture@Work claims to have cut its employee attrition rate by almost 90% in just 12 months -thanks to a training and development scheme.

Furniture@Work head of HR Stephen Jeffers, who joined the company last June said the proportion of staff leaving had dropped from 69.1% in the year to June 2007 to just 8.4% the following year since he hired two in-house trainers to teach employees customer service or sales skills. Read full article on Training Zone website.......

© Training Zone 9 June 2008

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Skills investment will offer retail boost

'Investing in skills will strengthen UK retail' is the message being given from John Lewis Partnership chairman Charlie Mayfield and skills minister David Lammy as they meet with top retailers and MPs today.

The pair will urge retailers at Retail: A skilled future, to continue to invest in training during the current tough economic climate in order to maintain long term competitiveness. Along with Skillsmart Retail, they will also lay out their vision of a partnership between the retail industry and the goverment. For full article, click here.

© Training Zone 9 June 2008

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Denham says act now to plug skills gap

UK’s Skills Secretary John Denham has urged employers to act to prevent skills shortages as he announced the fourth competitive bidding round for National Skills Academies.

Warning of the dangers of missed opportunities for thousands of workers in key sectors of the economy where the country is facing looming skills shortages, employers were urged to think strategically about ….. click here for full article.

© Training Zone 9 June 2008

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 Why drive your customers to this?

Fed-up customers desert rude shops

 by Sarah Hills

We may have ditched corner shops for huge out-of-town centres and online stores, but we still demand good old-fashioned service, a poll reveals.

Nearly 60 per cent of people ditched a shop or other company last year because they were treated badly. Frustrated customers named automated phone systems, surly staff and a lack of personal services as the top reasons for leaving.

Banks and utilities companies came in for the most stick, with 20 per cent of users switching providers. Home phones and Internet businesses fared little better -17 percent of customers ditched one provider for another, the poll says. Some 58 per cent of Britons switched at least one company because of poor service –an eight per cent rise on 2005, the annual Customer Service Satisfaction Survey found.

The biggest gripe was being kept on hold for too long, with 81 per cent saying it left them frustrated.  Other complaints ranged from late deliveries to dealing with unhelpful employees -17 percent of shoppers said they stopped using a high-street retailer because of rude staff. In contrast, only six percent said they dumped a hotel or airline.

Consultants Accenture, which carried out the survey, said: ‘Expectations are rising and companies standing still are losing ground.’ But there was some good news –Britain rated above average in the global customer satisfaction stakes.

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© Metro, Tuesday, January 8, 2008 (page 24)

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Shoppers desert rude stores

Monday, January 7, 2008

Some 58 per cent of Britons switched at least one company because of poor service – an eight per cent rise on 2005, the annual Customer Service Satisfaction Survey found.

The biggest gripe was being kept on hold for too long, with 81 per cent saying it left them frustrated. Other complaints ranged from late deliveries to dealing with unhelpful employees – 17 per cent of shoppers said they stopped using a high-street retailer because of rude staff.

In contrast, only six per cent said they dumped a hotel or airline.

Consultants Accenture, which carried out the survey, said: 'Expectations are rising and companies standing still are losing ground.'

But there was some good news – Britain rated above average in the global customer satisfaction stakes.

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Effective communication in the workplace

Effective communication in the workplace seems to be of even greater importance when employees are choosing to work on either side of core hours, job share or even to work from their home base. How can they ensure that effective communication in the workplace st they remain part of the team and are not sidelined? While email, telephone and remote access to workplace servers are the main tools used to keep in touch, some managers are reluctant to have employees work from home. Their fear is that the employee would not be as productive as when based in the office.

What some organisations do not communicate to staff is the significant benefits to companies from having fewer employees at a permanent place of work.

Read the HR Zone article about one perspective of flexible working...... or cut and paste in your browser the address:

http://www.hrzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=177267&d=1063

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December 2007

Can you afford the bill for poor customer service?

Recent news indicated that one of the major water companies was fined several million pounds when the water industry regulator Ofwat's inspection of their records revealed that the level of customer service was poorer than reported by the company. Read the BBC's articles about the £12million and £20.3 million fines paid by two of the UK's large water companies ............

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November 2007

Following our participation October at the annual finance conference of London Housing Federation, we participated in another exhibition towards the end of November, this time at Canary Wharf. We were represented also with three members of our team at a procurement event held at the British Library Conference Theatre in London. Representing Executive Solutions (Training) at this event were trainers Veronica and Janet and Market Researcher Asha.

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October 2007

In early October, Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd was represented at the exhibition held at the Annual Finance Conference of the London Housing Federation. The occasion attended by scores of finance executives from more than 35 London-based housing associations and social landlords saw our company meeting delegates and discussing training offered in communication skills and Information Technology. IT training can be done through our collaboration with corporate IT trainer Marie Bowler who heads the training company Advantage IT.

Veronica Broomes, Training Director	Marie Bowler, Corporate IT Trainer (Advantage IT)

Executive Solutions (Ltd) at the London Housing Federation's Finance Conference

How much does team conflict cost your business?

Read: Hamilton gives us all feud for thought, article by Sathnam Sanghera in the Business Life section of in the October 6, 2007 edition of The Times

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September 2007

Pay the price when you ignore these three key principles of communication

Lessons from Northern Rock

Three key principles of effective communication and customer care were ignored in the first 48 hours of the recent panic in the UK's financial sector. The result –customers voted with their feet. The disconnect between official statements and customers’ actions were classic in demonstrating that ACTION speaks louder than words. Follow this link to read full article…

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Stakeholder consultations in the built environment

“We have had to put a team together and we have done this democratically by

talking to all the neighbours, heritage groups and so on.”

Read Will Hurst’s article in BD, The Architects website, about challenges

associated with revamping one of England’s most iconic post-war buildings.

To read full article in the 21st September 2007 edition, you can cut and paste

in your browser the following link: (http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3095748&origin=BDweekly)

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Are you communicating with your customer?

Recent research reveals that more demanding customers are forcing companies and managers are forced to react faster, review their customer service practices and ensuring better trained and more customer focused teams. Read about how companies can attain and maintain their competitive edge through more effective training for teams.

Full article can be read on Management Issues website or cut and paste address in your browser (http://www.management-issues.com/default.asp)

Management Issues

03 Sep 2007

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July 2007

Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd launches blog

Tips from Canary Wharf is a blog from Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd.

Timed to coincide with the publication of another tips guide 'Speaking with Confidence' the blog shares tips on speaking. Readers are invited to contribute their own tips -in addition to commenting on those shared by Veronica.

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Challenging the 7% theory

Finding the Words

"Reality TV shows like Dragons' Den and The Apprentice are portrayed as showcasing business talent. But for Vince Stevenson it's the way that these intelligent, high-flying contestants fall when faced with an audience that highlights a serious business issue.

The business world is finally waking up to the fact that communication skills are at an all time low."

Follow the link below to the Training ZONE website to read the full article by Vince Stephenson

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=170504&d=680&h=0&f=0&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y

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Training quality and management input -findings of new report

According to BTSR chairman Stephen Whittle, “Those companies that scored highly across the board are those where there is interest in, recognition of, and input to the learning and development of staff at the very highest organisational levels.” 

Read full article on Training ZONE or cut and paste the link below in your browser.

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=171073

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May 2007

“Workers who are gaining skills are more engaged. They want to put their abilities to work, so they look for ways to be more useful.”

Dan Bobinski

Management Issues (4 May 2007)

Click this link for Dan Bobinski’s article about the benefits to employers from investment in their workforce. Or cut and paste the link below in your browser

http://www.management-issues.com/2007/5/4/opinion/workforce-training-requires-workforce-investment.asp

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January 2007

Affiliate membership of Chartered Institutes

As part of ongoing plans to ensure services of the highest quality to clients, Executive Solutions has become an Affiliate member of two chartered organisations.

From January 2007, we are Proud Affiliate Members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD)  

and Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

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Warning from Leitch Report to Employers:

Make Greater Investment in Skills

“Employers should have greater input into training if Britain is to plug its skills gaps and remain competitive”. That’s the conclusion of Lord Leitch after a review of British businesses which began in 2004.

Read the article in Training Zone.

Click here or cut and paste the web address below in your browser.

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=162742

UK companies lack the gift of the gab

According to research by Crystal Interactive published in Management Issues (26 October 2006), executives in corporate UK do not do enough talking and listening to staff, especially junior employees. "Organisations that are better at internal communications are far more likely to get new ideas from staff. Indeed, some 90 per cent of the best communicators' ideas come from staff compared with the corporate average of just 20 per cent.  Click here to read the full article……

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Training employees in SMEs

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 11:51:03 GMT

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Incredible, but true

-25% of UK workers have considered leaving their job because of poor training opportunities or career prospects

In the 1st September 2006 issues of Small Business News from Microsoft BCentral publication, employers were urged to train workers. Some 25 per cent of workers in the UK have considered standing down from their job because it does not offer sufficient opportunities to develop either through training or career prospects.

According to City & Guilds (C&G), the results of the survey of 1,200 adults by the awards body showed should cajole employers in to investing more in their staff or face the possibility of losing out on them. Small businesses are especially remiss about training staff.

C&Gs' spokeswoman Judith Norrington said: "Training and career development is one way that an organisation can instil loyalty into its staff and ensure that they are not losing valuable staff as this can have a detrimental impact on its brand and productivity." Ms Norrington also explained that the psychological benefits of training schemes on employees and improving a company's performance.

GOOD COMMUNICATION -the most important quality of a good boss

How do you rank yourself?

 In a recent report from UK’s Investors in People, good communication was ranked as the most important quality of a good boss. Ruth Spellman, chief executive of Investors in People in the UK, said: "The fact that almost a third of employees would like a new manager should make bosses sit up and take notice. Click here to read about the findings in Management Issues report, 21 August 2006 …………

August 2006

DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES KEEP STAFF LOYAL –Click here to read Training Zone article (7th August edition) about survey findings from the Hilton Group ……….

Or cut and paste the link below into your browser

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=158017

July 2006

Articles from Management Issues

6th July 2006

Training's dirty little secret -Wayne Turmel

Click here to read what Wayne Turmel has to say about ‘Training’s dirty little secret’. Alternatively, cut and paste in your browser this address http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=turmel&id=3378

The seven deadly sins of (not) listening

Management Issues 29 Aug 2005  -Dan Bobinski

In the 29th August 2005 edition of Management Issues, Dan Bobinski presented his version of the seven deadly sins of not listening –an often forgotten or never acquired aspect of effective communication. Read how you do not understand some messages because you are second guessing the speaker or rehearsing or response. Click here to read more about how to avoid this pitfall.

Or paste this link into your browser http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=3262

Poor conflict management costs business billions

26 May 2006   -CSR & Governance

The importance of effective communication to business success was discussed once again in the article ‘Poor conflict management costs business billions’.

Read more about the challenge of conflict which may be found in an unhappy customer to a disgruntled director. To find out more about how businesses are dealing with this challenge and finding ways of preventing its occurrence, click here or paste the link below in your browser.

http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=3262

Working Smarter –A challenge for UK businesses?

In the 8th May 2006 online edition, Management Issues highlighted the warning issued by Sir Christopher Bland, Head of UK’s telephone giant BT, that UK companies must work smarter to compete with economies in Asia.

To read the full article in Management Issues, just click the link below:

http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=3198

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Tel: +44(0)845 054 2870
Email: sales@executive-solutions.co.uk

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Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd

Registered in England & Wales

Company Number: 6219890
Registered Office: 17 Ensign House, Admirals Way, Canary Wharf,

London E14 9XQ, United Kingdom

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©  2006 - 2008 Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd

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