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Wednesday 29 February 2012

Creating an Adaptive Workforce


Due to various internal and external pressures, companies today are forced to be more responsive to shifting market needs; more flexible in how they operate; more focused on their core competencies; and more resilient to external threats.

Developing a workforce that is adaptable to change has become essential. According to the Global Human Capital Study , however, only 14 percent of HR executives state their workforce is very capable of adapting to change.

The Study identified three critical success factors to developing an adaptable workforce:

The ability to predict future skills: Successfully anticipating future business scenarios enables organizations to know what key competencies to target in advance of critical market shifts. Only 13 percent of organizations interviewed believe they have a very clear understanding of the skills they will require in the next three to five years.

The ability to locate experts: While predicting future skills is important, so is the ability to apply existing knowledge and skills to new challenges. Expertise location is cited by respondents as critical in identifying and allocating resources to address new opportunities and threats. Only 13 percent believe they are very capable of identifying individuals with specific expertise within the organization. Companies are using a variety of techniques to improve their expertise location capability. More than 50 percent of companies that rate themselves as “very effective" in locating experts use some form of employee directory while only 39 percent of all respondents report using them.

The ability to foster collaboration: Once the experts are located and identified, collaboration is the next step to foster innovation and growth. According to the study, only 8 percent of companies believe they are very effective in fostering collaboration across the enterprise. Surprisingly, technology is not the deterrent to effective collaboration, with only 28 percent of companies indicating this is a significant factor. Instead, organizational silos (42 percent) are the leading barrier of collaboration in an organization, followed by time pressures (40 percent) and misaligned performance measures (39 percent).

Therefore its important that you and your organisation put procedures in place now rather than later to make sure you are able to make the most of the volatile markets we find ourselves doing business in .

Mark De Stadler
Dale Carnegie
Performance Consultant

Monday 27 February 2012

Inspiration is in others


On Friday I met with a very special lady, Lizzie Thomas who happens to be one of our Dale Carnegie trainers. The conversations with Lizzie are always interesting as she's very insightful, leaving you in a better place almost every time....viewing things differently, infected with her enthusiasm.

So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say: Thanks Lizzie, it's an honour to have met you and you'll continue to be an inspiration to me!

"Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be. "
Jose Ortega y Gasset

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Tuesdays with Morrie


Have you ever read a book which has little pearls of wisdom in it that you just love? Well I am currently reading such a book. It's called Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and it is based on a true story of a college student reconnecting with his college Professor when he finds out he is dying. I have heard I will need the tissues as I can only imagine how sad it may get but at the moment it is an inspiring read.

I am about half of the way in but I wanted to share some of the things Morrie has said which I have loved:

‘So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.’

‘The most important thing in life is to give out love, and to let it come in.’

During his discussion about death:

‘Do what Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, ‘Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?’

On material possessions:

'Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do you won’t be dissatisfied, you won’t be envious, you won’t be longing for someone else’s things. On the contrary you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back.’

I love what Morrie says and I truly believe that he has a valid point. Just think...... if everyone gave out love and devoted themselves to the community around them what a wonderful world this would be.

So what can you do today, who can you become to be that small difference in the world?

Helen

Monday 20 February 2012

Inspirational Lady

“The Greatest Love of All” is the song I always sing on karaoke.

“I Will Always Love You” is the song that reminds me of the time my Nan moved to New York, 14 years ago.


“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” is the song that is guaranteed to get me up on the dance floor.


If someone asked me to name my favorite Whitney song, I do not think I could…could you? She really was an inspirational lady, as every celebrity and person who has paid their respects has mentioned. And the more I heard how Whitney had inspired actors, members of the public and singers such as Britney Spears and Mariah Carey, I started to think a) who has inspired me and b) have I ever inspired anyone.
There are 2 people who have inspired me in my life time. My mum has shown me that hard work and work life balance does pay off, and that you can achieve if you try. The other is Richard Branson, he has inspired me that no matter your background, if you believe in your dreams and are prepared to take the risks, you can achieve beyond your original dreams, and become one of the most successful people in the World.

It took me a lot longer to answer b, as I can think of many stories where I have influenced others but not inspired. Then I overheard a conversation between my mum and aunty, when I realized that I have in fact inspired my 2 baby sisters. They have seen what years of hard work and determination can achieve, and as they approach their last year of being a teen, and first year of the 20s, they are following their older sisters footsteps and are on track to achieving great success (if I do say so myself…Carla & Kirsty do not let me down). The feeling and smile that I have a result of knowing that I have inspired and helped my sisters to being successful and happy, is one that I cannot explain.

If you want to become an inspirational person like Whitney and myself, then come down to our free seminar on 7th March, where we can help turn you into an inspirational leader.


Stephanie Fletcher

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Living for Today

A great weekend spent visiting friends in Jersey reminded me of how important it is to live in the present...... That might sound a strange thing to say as surely it's impossible to do anything but live in the present. That said it's amazing how often people focus all their energy on living in the past or only living for the future. Those of us with a disposition to living in the past will tell stories of what we did and 'how great it was back then' where as those of us with a disposition towards the future will say things like when I achieve 'X Y Z' I'll be happy.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't enjoy a little reminiscing about good times in the past or think about things we want to work for in the future! What I'm talking about is seeking to engage fully with what we do and the people we meet each day in order to get a greater sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. It took a walk along a cold and windy beach with my friends their kids and 8 month old black Labrador to remind me of something that I'd forgotten.

I learnt the importance of living in the present from a Dale Carnegie Master trainer back in 2003 he was explaining the importance of being 100% present as he described it when interacting with the people around us and to get the group to understand he wrote up on a flip chart the days of the week and asked us to think of each day of the week as representing 12 years of our lives (This assumes we live on average to 84). He asked the group to identify which day of the week they were physically living on; as I write this now it's pretty late on Wednesday night for me. The question he asked was did we focus our energy on where we physically were or was our mind filled with thoughts of past or present...... Where are you? & Where do you focus your Energy?

Whether we're spending time with friends and family, at work in a meeting, on the phone to a client, working on a project, playing sport or just relaxing. The way to get the best of that moment is to commit yourself 100% to where you are now, who you're with and what you're doing.

I consider myself lucky that I love what I do for a living and have a great team around me and friends and family I want to spend time with yet I know I have a tendency to live in the future and not in the NOW! A black Labrador reminded me of the importance of living for Today....... I hope this has encouraged you to do the same.

What's happening right now is LIFE ...... Make Sure You Give It Everything Today!

David Anderson
Managing Director
Dale Carnegie London

Monday 13 February 2012

Stop, collaborate and listen.

“I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.” - Dudley Field Malone

For those of you who haven’t heard of him, Dudley Field Malone was an attorney, politician, liberal activist and actor. If you have heard of him, then I would like to congratulate you for utilizing the wonderful world of Wikipedia. Don’t pretend you didn’t.

While his name may not register, I would assume that like me, the quote itself may have struck a chord with you. As individuals we all have areas in which we are very opinionated, passionate and keen to put across our point of view. In fact for some, were keen to put across an opinion regardless of the topic of conversation. I too am guilty of this as only this morning I found myself in an unnecessarily passionate debate about the working conditions of a job occupancy I no longer hold in a company I no longer work for.

The point is that while it’s fine to voice an opinion, we have to make sure that in doing so we don’t prevent ourselves from listening to an alternative point of view. We’re often so focused on ensuring our message is absorbed by everybody else that we neglect the opportunity to view things from a different standpoint. The reason I love the quote above is because it implies that whenever we communicate our own thoughts we learn absolutely nothing. We can only speak what we already know. It’s by listening to the insights of others that we are guaranteed to learn something new and ensure we can broaden our own views by knowing more about the subject in question.

At Dale Carnegie, we encourage and develop the concept of Active Listening. We coach people on not only how to absorb information we hear but how to act appropriately on it. The benefits of such a concept are far reaching and if you would like to know more, please visit our website or give us a call.

Brett Mills

Friday 10 February 2012

Communication is Fabio-less

120 days and 7 hours before Euro 2012 kicks off England manager Fabio Capello decided to leave his post with immediate effect.

Despite often being referred to as a poisoned chalice due to the intense pressure to succeed as well as the media spotlight following you at every turn, it seems however these were not the reasons behind his sudden departure.

A breakdown in communication with key figures within the FA appears to be the straw that broke the camels back. It is amazing to think that there can be such a major lack of communication in the higher echelons of the English governing body of football.

I work for a company that helps improve the performance of companies by improving the performances of its people.

There are five key drivers that lie at the heart of everything that we do and one of those is enhancing and strengthening communication skills.

If you would like to find out more about this or the other four key drivers as well as the solutions we offer to individuals, teams and companies please feel free to attend any of our free course previews and seminars.



Amar Garcha

P.S. Keeping the importance of good communication at the front of my mind, I would like to thank Brett for the title of this post.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Stop worrying about the future and live in the PRESENT !


To often I hear how some of my close friends fear what the future my hold, and how this fear has them in a constant state of general. The conondrum that everybody on this planets suffers is the fact that we cannot predict future nor when we might find our selves infornt of the perly gates .

Therefore simple message today is dont be afraid of the future.Its with the present that we build the future. time will come for everything.nothing is stationary we should be happy when we are sad beacuse we know it wont last forever.dont think too much just enjoy what you have given.

I will know leave you with a beauitful quote from George Carlin …….

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,
but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and
smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees
but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more
problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too
little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our
possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and
hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to
life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but
have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer
space but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air,
but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold
more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less
and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small
character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of
two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one
night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer,
to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the
stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time
when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going
to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to
you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your
side.

Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you because that is the only
treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all
mean it.

A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep
inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday
that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak
and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

Mark De Stadler

Monday 6 February 2012

Can't see the wood from the trees




Popular saying....



A few weeks ago I found myself in a situation where I was so busy with the detail that I lost track of the priorities. Emails, proposals, admin, meetings...so much things to do, so little time.



Sometimes we get stuck in the 'doing' and forget that in order to progress it's important to think of the future and plan. If you find yourself in a similar place, make time to articulate your vision/ objectives, set up a strategy and implement it without delay.



And remember: "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing" - Dale Carnegie







Corina Balaneanu

Friday 3 February 2012

Love is .....????

Friday was a bit of a milestone for a group of new candidates to become Dale Carnegie Trainers. It was the first event where they were directly exposed to the demands placed upon those that we grant the right to support people who wish to change their lives in our programmes and seminars.


There are 10 core competences in which they must excel and, when running through these, the PowerPoint slide is designed in such a way that the 10th, and more important, competency is at the centre of a circle; at the heart of all the others. This 10th competency is human relations.
For those of you that have read How to Win Friends and Influence People it will apparent that the degree of shift in behaviour needed to be consistent in the application of the thirty principles, is significant for most of us. The overriding message of all these principles is to treat other people as you would wish to be treated yourself. Any debate or discussion following this topic to its natural end is; that to become such a person requires total selflessness. We have to be totally committed to the growth and development of another.


If another's' behaviour is going to shift permanently then their soul must shift too. Without this shift of the soul, being or spirit, the behaviour shift becomes contrived by each human interaction; by thinking and acting on 'Ah, which principle will I use on him or her'.
With all the reading I do on this subject and especially when reflecting on what Dale Carnegie himself says about who we should be for others, then love is appropriately defined as 'being committed to the spiritual development of another'.


Thus to be a superb Dale Carnegie Trainer one must love, not in a romantic sense of course as that is ultimately self serving, through being totally selfless and focussed on others.
Now isn't that how you would like to be treated?




David Pickering

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Successful Entrepreneurs

I have recently been reading about entrepreneurs and how they started up as I find people really interesting, especially those who have achieved personal success, in whatever way they view it. It’s all to do with having an ‘ology’ you see!

I love to read their stories and how getting there wasn’t all plain sailing, glamorous or indeed easy. Having ups and downs is very much part of business and it’s reassuring to read that it happens to the best of them.



It was interesting to read why they decided to start up their own business. Toni Mascolo, co-founder of Tony & Guy Hairdressers loved building things...whether it was collections of coins or a family business. After fighting to keep the Toni & Guy name he built up the international business we now know.





Jenny Irvine of The Pure Package was brought up on a farm and has always been self sufficient. Her love of quality healthy food and wanting to make a difference to people prompted her to start up her gourmet diet food delivery service. She strived for success, but to her success was being happy and having time to be with her loved ones, thus eventually creating a business that didn’t rely on her day to day.

Whatever the entrepreneur’s reason for creating their business or businesses, there appeared to be a common denominator. The majority of the people I read about, including Richard Branson, set goals. They set short term achievable goals, mid term goals and some of them long term goals. Apparently Richard Branson always carries a notebook with him with his goals written down – whether you like him or not you can’t fault his success.

For one person to say they wrote down their goals and read them every day is one thing, but for 90% of the successful entrepreneurs to do this must mean it actually works.

A common feeling was that if they are not written down then they are harder to achieve as there is no focus, consciously or subconsciously. One entrepreneur looked at his long term goals every day, morning and night and achieved them all within one month of his deadline. And they were not small goals either, unless you consider buying a house, car and having a significant amount of cash in the bank a small goal.

At Dale Carnegie we believe in setting goals and visions both personally and in business. Whether your goal is financial, a change in lifestyle, a holiday of a lifetime or even getting that new promotion you so desire they are well worth setting. You can set them for three months time or a years time, whatever works for you, as long as they are meaningful and achievable with belief and in the cases of the entrepreneurs, good old fashioned hard work.

So go on, write down a few goals and start the journey towards them......you will feel over the moon when you achieve them.

Helen