Inspiring People - Expression for Growth

15Nov 2019 by Lucy Clarke No Comments

Feel the fear of presenting…and do it anyway!

Business Storytelling, Inspiring People, Presentation Skills

Feel the fear of presenting…and do it anyway! Top 10 Tips for success. Within the field of ‘Presentation Skills’ (for want of a better descriptor), I have noticed at times, the deep discomfort that some people have in this area. I am not talking about those who are ‘new to presenting’. I am also talking about some people - senior and experienced leaders, whose job it is to engage their businesses and motivate their teams. Their ‘deep fear’ of presenting dramatically affects their approach to this necessity – some avoiding it at all costs, some experiencing massive stress in the build up to an ‘event’, and others simply doing a lack-lustre job. The impact on them, their teams and their organisation is huge…and in some cases presents career-limiting barriers as they are considered unable to communicate…

28May 2019 by Lucy Clarke No Comments

Leadership….a much over-complicated skill

Inspiring People, Leadership

I am lucky enough to have worked with leadership teams from large international businesses for over 25 years, and if I am completely honest ‘what leadership is’ mystified me for a long time; walk into the business section of any library, and there are large number of very impressive pieces of work about leadership. In fact, there are institutions that specialise in leadership. Leadership is big business. Leadership is a mystery But leadership is also a mystery to many and too difficult to access and apply, because is it just that…a mystery. It is also true, that poor leadership causes so much angst in our society (from our politicians to our CEOs, our middle managers to our teachers, and so many more)…surely we can think of it in simple terms,…

21May 2019 by Lucy Clarke No Comments

Business storytelling – a story about telling stories

Business Storytelling, Customer Relationships, Inspiring People, Presentation Skills, Selling, Virtual Meetings

Make an impact and stand out from the crowd to deliver your message I have been involved in helping others be the best they can be in front of groups of people for the past 25 years, and in my view, this core business skill is underrated, usually poorly executed, and probably one of the most significant ways you can make an impact on your colleagues, customers and stakeholders. It’s a question of; “what kind of impact do you want to have?” Is it lunchtime yet? Think of all the presentations that you have been in the audience for. Now, think of all the ‘virtual’ presentations that you have witnessed. Then, think of all the conference calls you have been part of. Be honest - how many of them stood…

14May 2019 by Lucy Clarke 1 Comment

Becoming a salesman

Customer Relationships, Great Questions, Inspiring People, Selling, Winning Habits

A story of a headmaster, the engineer and disappointment Imagine the scene; a budding mining and explosives engineer in his mid-twenties. The phone call to his proud father, a respected head teacher of a well-known school. “Dad, you know that career track I have sunk the past 8 years of my life into? The one where I get to run my ‘very own’ coal mine? Well…I’ve quit. I am going to be a salesman…..” The silence was deafening, the disappointment palpable…..I remember it like it was yesterday and that moment was 30 years ago. Sales people get a bad rap…deservedly so. So….what is really interesting about this tale is WHY? What is it about the ‘sales profession’ that so many people dislike? (I think I can actually hear you responding…

20Apr 2019 by Claire Winn No Comments

Inspirational Leadership is a mystery to many, rare to observe and magical when it happens.

Inspiring People

Becoming an inspirational leader and understanding and applying the behaviours in your role, everyday, will make a big impact on your business. Leadership is a mystery to many and too difficult to access and apply, because is it just that…a mystery. However, it is an important skill. It is also true, that poor leadership causes so much angst in our society (from our politicians to our CEOs, our middle managers to our teachers, and so many more)…surely we can think of it in simple terms, and help the ‘every day leader’ succeed. Most of us are ‘everyday leaders’ – only a few of you will have saved the world, launched a multi-billion-dollar company, led the masses into battle, or created and led a political movement. However, we can all learn to be great leaders. Our leadership…

08Apr 2019 by Claire Winn No Comments

A motivated, inspired workforce is the single biggest factor in driving business performance.

Inspiring People

Connecting, adapting, motivating and inspiring people is an essential business skill, which is missing at so many levels in so many organisations resulting in a big impact on productivity, employee performance and ultimately profit - the bottom line for any business. These ‘soft skills’ are so often undervalued. In fact, to many, the ‘soft stuff is the hard stuff’ – as managers and leaders in our workplace today we become adept at processes, systems, strategy and priorities…but so often forget the impact we are having on those around us. Knowing how to connect, emphasise and create a deep and meaningful rapport with our teams is a key motivational factor and is fundamental to our success in our jobs, and life itself. Emotionally Intelligent behaviour will count far more than how smart we are, or what grade…

25Mar 2019 by Lucy Clarke No Comments

It’s time to re-think webinars

Customer Relationships, Inspiring People, Virtual Meetings

Technology is improving; travel budgets are shrinking; people’s time is becoming increasingly scarce. Those three factors are leading more organisations to hold virtual meetings and training sessions, instead, or in complement to, face-to-face meetings and workshops. Great, right? …right? I'm not bored at all....!! Well, maybe not. If you’re like most of us then you’ve experienced terrible webinars and dysfunctional virtual meetings. Let’s face it: many things can make webinars uninspiring, boring and dull. Most often, it’s when they are treated as a ‘one-way’ communication tool. This is demoralising for everyone involved: the people ‘receiving’ the message get bored and find distractions elsewhere; the person ‘transmitting’ the information gets little feedback from the group and feels isolated and frustrated. These types of webinars rarely achieve desired outcomes and are often…

04Feb 2019 by Lucy Clarke 1 Comment

An outcome focused first approach to delivering results

Creating Connection, Inspiring People, Programmes, Selling, Uncategorized

Top 10 tips when recommending development solutions As Stephen Covey said “start with the end in mind”. So why do so many people say “I need a training course for….” At Expression for Growth we start with the end in mind and are passionate, curious and respectful as we seek first to understand, and then check our understanding, ahead of recommending any solutions to organisations we engage with. Here are our top ten tips to doing this successfully: Define the desired results (behaviours, engagement, commercial results).Identify the problem/s to resolve e.g. what results are not being met?Ask questions to a variety of people to understand what is going on; the good, the bad and the ugly!Understand the behaviours that exist. Why are they not doing it, what makes it so…

28Jan 2019 by Lucy Clarke No Comments

Creating a collaborative environment

Commercial Collaboration, Creating Connection, Inspiring People

Inspire, enable & support each other as we learn every day In a recent post I shared 5 top tips to build agility, aka our core strength. This post shares a very practical approach to creating a collaborative environment to inspire, enable and support each other as we learn every day. Picture a traditional wedding cake; it has many layers, is often the same taste on every layer, it is heavy and it is a traditional style and structure. Now let’s consider other types of cake, like cupcakes. What emotions do cupcakes conjure up? Variety of flavours, colourful and bite sized; yum yum! Training at work can be viewed like the old style wedding cake, a big event for a large group of people, a big meal, some speeches (some…

21Jan 2019 by Lucy Clarke 1 Comment

A strong core, by being constantly curious and courageous

Inspiring People, Well-being, Winning Habits

Strong Core Like all organisms we must adapt to the changes in our environment, or die! Previously I have shared my views and antidotes to the impact of mass disruption upon our world - our new upside down world. We can all get locked into things that we know. But it takes courage to have freedom, to leave the past, be present in the now and explore the possibilities of the future. So I wanted to explore our attitudes to agility. Let’s consider, what does agility mean? It could mean agile working, lean six sigma, black belts, sit ups until your stomach screams or maybe yoga. One thing is for certain, to have agility we must have core strength. Let’s imagine, what happens as a result of having agility, by…

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