If you are interested just give us a call for a free, no obligation discussion about how it might work for you.

Impact SmartSourcing

If you don’t then you are one of a kind.  Most, if not all, find the prospect scary and some nerves are a quite natural human reaction.  The trick, to adapt a lovely quote, is to to accept your butterflies but just try to get them to fly in formation. 

How do you do that? 

Here’s some checkpoints:  

• Do your preparation
• Know your subject, rehearse, be organised
• Take slow breaths – makes you feel better
• Take glass of water (mouth may go dry)
• Keep calm
• Encourage some interaction with the audience
• Act as though you are assured and confident
• Remember: first minute sets the tone:
• Breathe!
• Talk consciously slowly – give yourself time to think

Are you happy that your organisation is meeting its health and safety responsibilities? 

If you can answer ‘yes’ to these questions then you are well on the way; if not then we can help you get there….. 

We are currently nearing completion of a programme – run by John Carter – on behalf of the National Skills Academy for Financial Services helping colleges and other organisations in Further Education to better engage with employers and develop long-lasting and profitable relationships.

There have been more than 200 attendees to the various sessions and feedback has been universally positive with a 100% satisfaction rating.

Today saw particularly glowing comments from a workshop in Gloucester: “We have had such fabulous feedback from the employer engagement workshop that you recently ran for us, members are asking for it to be run again …  They particularly want you.”

The workshops focus on concepts such as the elevator pitch for punchy and consistent marketing, the use of the GROW model for structuring fact to face employers dialogue – and a whole heap more.

Contact us at jcimpact@btinternet.com for further details.

The best advice I would give a job-seeker is to spend some time identifying what makes them stand out from the crowd. 

When there are numerous applicants for a role then the ones with skills, knowledge and attributes that stand out have the best chance of getting to the interview stage.

Of course identifying what makes you special - your unique selling points to use marketing jargon – is difficult.   Natural modesty makes it a challenge for most.  But if we look into what we have achieved – what we are most proud of – there tends to be some clues.

Ideally those examples are work related, but sometimes our out-of-work endeavours reveal more about us.  

On one workshop someone said that they had built a canoe from scratch!  At first it felt a faintly comical answer but in fact the achievement told us much about the builder.  They had displayed project management and practical skills as well as persistence and attention to detail – all of which are the kind of qualities that many employers would be looking for. 

So for any job seekers I would advise: think long and hard about your special qualities.  Consider what you’ve achieved that makes you most proud and you will probably find the answers.  And then think of examples to back up your words.  Learn them by heart: those USPs should feature prominently in your CV and your interviews.  

It is based around a deeply held belief – and research backs us up - that the deepest, longest-lasting and most natural learning comes from undertaking well chosen activities and scenarios   So our training reflects this.  Technically it’s called ‘accelerated learning’; learning from experience.

If you want to know more about what we do and why we do it then a good book to read is ‘The Accelerated Learning Handbook’ by Dave Meier.

The blurbs suggest that the book “challenges your traditional assumptions about learning and show you how to implement a contectual, enjoyable and proven approach to workplace training”. 

I immediately liked the book – partly because I learned so much from it and also because it confirmed that our principles, philosophies and methods can lead to stunning results. 

Indeed one major corporation conducted side by side training tests, comparing conventional training methods to accelerated learning methods.  The accelerated learning groups scored over 400% better – and in 20% less time.

Our training workshops – and the book – are both worthy of further investigation….. 

John Carter    

It surprises me how many organisations – looking to sell their many and varied wares to potential customers – fail to have a joined-up approach to their marketing.

It seems critical to me that all members of the team talk about the organisation and their products and services in a consistent way, emphasising what makes them different and worthy of doing business with.    But, in my experience, very few spend much time on this.

The way to construct this consistent message is to create an elevator pitch, so-called because it’s based around the scenario that a potential customer gets in a lift with you and asks you words to the effect of ‘what to you do?’

The assumption is that you have until they get out of the elevator (or lift) to hook them in to wanting a further conversation with a brief but snappy overview of your organisation.  I guess it could also be called a networking pitch because the more likely usage is at networking events or when cold calling. 

Anyway, we recommend the following structure to creating an elevator pitch:      

WHO – Describe who you are and who you work with (preferably in same business/sector as listener)

WHAT – State your value as key results or impact

WHY – Unique benefits that your organisation brings.  Show what you do that is different or better than others

GOAL – Describe your immediate goal.  Include a time frame.  Make it clear what you are asking of them.

The structure that we endorse is, in turn, based on excellent free guidance from Harvard Business School at this website.  

www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/ 

Take a look – it has much to offer. 

Of course that pitch has to be both structured and flexible so that it always contains the key messages but can tailored to suit.

But however you create a consistent message there is great value in going through the process. It’s undoubtedly painful.  Your brain will hurt. But it forces you to think deep about your USPs and to place benefits above products in your promotion.  All in all, well worth doing for lots of reasons….

John Carter

I’ve recently being delivering workshops, mainly in the South West, designed to help those working in employer engagement within Further Education to build stronger relationships with businesses. 

When we focus on the initial face to face meeting I share a few models and tools that can be used to diagnose issues and pinpoint solutions.  But somewhat to my surprise, it’s the same model that is always best received – and it’s typical usage isn’t even in employer engagement.

It’s called GROW and it is a simple yet powerful framework that is often used in structuring a 1-1 coaching session, but can also be used with Employers.

Using GROW the discussion works chronologically through four areas:

Goal – Define in some detail the aspirations of the organisation. What do they want to achieve in short and long term?  Be precise in the desired outcomes.

Reality – Document the current situation – comparing the aspirations with the current reality.  This naturally leads to a gap analysis which highlights development needs.

Options – Consider obstacles and options and construct a detailed action plan.    

What next? – Ensure agreement and commitment to next steps

GROW’s success lies in its simplicity – it can provide structure but with flexibility. And you can use it without having to refer to notes.

Anyway, for whatever reason it’s proving incredibly popular.  Which is why I am sharing it…

07717 281006 or jcimpact@btinternet.com for further details

You sensed that a few times they had started to look at health and safety, but didn’t know where to start and so had put it back down the priority list.  So it remained nagging away at the back of the mind of their Managing Director.

I gave them the same advice that I give to almost every organisation that I deal with.  Start in three main areas.  Keep it simple.

Health and Safety Policy

Write a Health and Safety Policy and make sure your employees know what’s in it.  You can get a template off the excellent Health and Safety Executive website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/).  Once it’s done, keep it up to date.

Risk Assessment

Undertake an assessment of the possible hazards.   Document what they are, what you are currently doing to minimise the chances of them happening and  log the actions you will be taking over the coming months.  Again there is a easy-to-use template to follow on the HSE website. http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Then – and here’s the challenge – implement the action plan.   Easy to write but few organisations in my experience get to it.

Train and raise awareness

Finally, raise awareness of health and safety responsibilities and provide suitable training to employees on safety at work.  Do it and log that it has been done.  Work procedures are great because they offer evidence that guidance is being given.

Doing these basics diligently creates a strong foundation.  We support organisations in these, and many other, health and safety areas but the HSE website http://www.hse.gov.uk/ offers a great point of reference.

Available from Impact

Innovative workshops - skilfully facilitated by a training and development professional with 25 years experience in business and extensive senior management experience – that work through practical scenarios and will equip attendees with the skills and confidence to meet up to their real life management challenges.

Content tailored to the client.  Already one of our most popular courses. 

07717 281006 or jcimpact@btinternet.com for further details

Read more: Management Challenges – overview