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“What’s the dress code for tomorrow’s meeting?”- A question that I now hear on a regular basis as my sales team prepare to meet with potential clients across the UK.  It’s also a question that I had seldom heard before the start of 2011.

Until recently, we always wore business suits to any meeting, irrespective of what sector the client we were visiting worked in.  Looking back it was inflexible, but it was safe.  “You can’t go wrong with a smart suit” my old boss always used to tell me, and I never even thought that this mantra could be wrong.  Like putting on a school uniform, we therefore donned our smartest suit and boldest tie and headed off without a second thought for what the client might think of our attire.

Demonstrating such inflexibility is strange really, especially when one considers that a key part of Phoenix’s approach is based on understanding our clients and designing solutions that really reflect their culture and values, as well as their learning objectives.   Equally, we put a great emphasis on preparing for every meeting and finding out as much about the potential client’s business and yet no matter what we knew about them, we never thought to change the way we were dressed.

One of my first experiences of ill-matched dress codes arose when a colleague and I turned up at a Computer Games company wearing suits.  Within seconds of meeting our t-shirt wearing hosts, I could detect some clear indifference and there was a distinct feeling that we were ill matched in every way.  No matter what we had to offer from a learning & development perspective, it was a battle we were never going to win.  Needless to say, we didn’t get the business.

Now, the decision on what we should wear is an important part of preparing for any meeting.  Where guidance is needed, we’ll ask the client who are often surprised by the question but are equally very pleased that we’ve taken this level of interest in them.

So while a suit is still a safe option, I’d urge you to take the time to consider who you’re meeting and reflect their culture and values at the earliest opportunity.  Of course, the suit still has a key role and can really make you look the part but dress codes evolve like everything else and you don’t want to be left behind. After all, how often do people wear bowler hats to meetings nowadays?

Know anyone that loves the sound of their own voice?

I recently went away on a trip of a lifetime & during the backpacking stage of my travels I met some incredibly interesting people.  One guy in particular gave me real reason for blogging.

A superb story teller, incredible intonation and engaging to say the least. The problem was that others rarely got the chance to speak for any longer than a few seconds, because every time they tried, said guy would quite quickly visualise his own related experience and take over with an “oh yeah, I’ve done that or I’ve been there too” and proceed to interject telling his own story.  You can imagine the eyes rolling, signalling the degree of annoyance.

Fair play to the guy for his self-confidence, however the moral of my story is if you don’t demonstrate a certain amount of self-awareness, you could quite easily have the direct opposite effect to what you are trying to achieve i.e. instead of engaging your audience, you disengage them.

We all do it, the point is to recognise it and strike that balance between talking and listening.

I cycle all year round, I cycle to work, I cycle to the pub, to see friends, to the cinema. Sometimes I cycle just a few miles a day, sometimes eighty or more.  It’s an exhilarating pastime, but at times, a frustrating one.  When I first started riding a bike in London I was terrified.  I found driving in the City daunting enough, but on a bike, sharing the roads with cars, lorries and buses was like nothing I’d ever experienced.  Like many adults that turn to cycling, I hadn’t ridden since childhood, I knew nothing of bikes, of v-brakes, of rear derailleurs and bottom brackets; of chainwhips and star nuts.  I was uninitiated, confused and a little nervous.  I did almost everything wrong.  I bought the wrong bike, the wrong clothing, the wrong lock.  I couldn’t change gear properly, I couldn’t fix a puncture, I rode in the gutter and my bike handling skills were awful.  I was knocked off and knocked out by a black cab, I spent 4 hours in A&E, I had my top lip stitched back together.   I didn’t ask for help, but I wasn’t offered any.

Unfortunately this is the default position.  You buy a bike and off you go.  A good shop might give you a quick run down on the correct use of gears and brakes, might make some suggestions around what other kit you’ll need, many won’t.  Cycling is enjoying an unprecedented boom in London and the UK.  The big cycling chains have all opened new branches in London over the past few months and are reaping the benefits.  Yet I’ve never come across a shop that advertises what training and support is available, let alone offers any sort of training to their customers.  Of course this isn’t their job, but it wouldn’t hurt them to point out to new cyclists that there are resources available, and places you can turn to, places like the CTC?  These days even TFL have got in on the act, although they don’t make things particularly easy – requiring form filling and the (ever empty) promise that someone ‘will be in touch with more information.’

I gleaned my knowledge from trial and error, cycling forums, the inestimable Sheldon Brown (RIP) and manufacturer sites like Park Tool.  All very useful for understanding more about bikes themselves, less useful for understanding how to ride safely in a busy city like London.  This is where training would be invaluable.  Perhaps there’s an assumption among new cyclists that you don’t need to learn how to ride a bike in a city environment, that training is somehow unnecessary, or only for children.  Or perhaps they simply aren’t aware that there is help out there if you can take the time to look.  Sadly the lack of training usually results in people riding badly, something I see every day, whether its scattering pedestrians as they ride blithely across busy zebra crossings; risking death by riding on the inside of buses and HGV’s; cycling in the dark with no lights or reflectives or cruising through red lights.  The vast majority of these cyclists seem totally unaware of the potential consequences of their actions.  It’s this that I find so frustrating.  Not only are they endangering themselves and others, but their basic lack of ‘cycle-sense’ does nothing to encourage harmonious relations between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.  I’m sure much of this poor cycling stems from a ignorance, a lack of skills and perhaps a lack of confidence, all things that effective training always looks to address.

I’m not advocating compulsory cycle training, but perhaps if the cycling industry, government and local authorities were a little more vocal in promoting training we could reduce accidents and fatalities and ultimately encourage more people on to two wheels?

Written by James Ashburnham – Relationship Manager

Image by baby-tooth via Flickr

One of the real secrets of business success is the ability to be well organised. Don’t be fooled by those that say it’s possible to achieve great things in business without being organised. The best leaders and those who leverage the effects of others to best effect are those who are best organised. So here are some top tips to ensure that you are organised to maximize the effect you have in business.

• Separate tasks by importance and timescale. Those tasks which are both important and urgent should always be done first and before those tasks which are simply important or simply urgent.
• Use your diary to schedule tasks as well as meetings. Most people just use a diary for meetings but the best use it to also schedule those urgent and important tasks and ensure that they get done.
• Set clear goals. Without these, how will you know when you have succeeded? The goals should be clear, unambiguous and visible. Take a moment each day to reinforce the goals you have and also to make sure that each task you complete moves you closer to achieving at least one goal. If you take an action that does not move you closer to achieving a goal then ask yourself why you took such action. It’s probable that you have wasted effort.
• Schedule quiet time. Depending on when you perform your best work, early or late in the day, and ensure that you are in the office before or after most people. This is quiet time which makes it the most valuable time to do important work. There are likely to be no interruptions, phones ringing or emergencies that demand your attention. Use this time wisely.

If you follow the above four points consistently and regularly then you find that you have more time which in turn will mean more opportunity to make a difference to your business.

Well another year has passed and it’s time for a new set of New Year resolutions that you won’t stick to past the end of the first week.

I’ve heard this comment many times over the last couple of days and have been guilty of saying it to others as well.

Statements like that seem a bit negative really, why won’t your friend be able to abstain from drinking, why won’t you be able to lose that couple (in your dreams, more like a stone) of pounds that you have gained over the last six months and why won’t you be able to look after yourself more and get fitter? The answer to all of these questions is, of course, you can if you really want it enough.

There a couple of things that I really want to achieve over the next six months or so, I know I can do it but I don’t want to tempt fate by telling everyone what they are just yet… I have decided to be one of the people who actually wants to achieve something first before I tell everyone what it is I am trying to achieve. I have made the mistake too many times before of telling people what I am going to do only to end up with egg on my face.   Having said that I don’t have the best track record with resolutions, maybe that is because I kept telling everybody what my resolutions were and they kept telling me that I wouldn’t stick at it past the first week. Isn’t it funny how if you keep telling someone something, eventually they will believe it!

I suppose what I’m really talking about here is setting myself a couple of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART) goals.

Someone once told me that ‘the difference between lots of activity and lots of productivity is a good process’.

SMART is a good process and like many of the leadership and management tools and processes, the most work comes up front. I find that coming up with a really Specific goal is actually pretty hard.

In order to make SMART work there are some things that need to be considered:

Specific – “What is happening or where are you currently?” “What exactly do you want or need to achieve and why is it important to you?” and “What difference will achieving it make?”

Once you have identified the goal you want to work on, using the remainder of the SMART model will really help to support you in making it happen and keep the negativity at bay. There are a couple of quick and simple ideas for each of these:

Measurable - Make sure that your goal is tangible; can you see, feel and quantify the difference?

Achievable - Do you have the resources that you need to make this happen? E.g. learning to drive, do you have access to a car to practise in?

Realistic – In the ‘real’ world opposed to  the ‘happy clappy’ training world is this a practical goal?  My advice would be to have lots of small check points along the way as opposed to one massive goal. Taking this approach has a dual purpose. 1. It is easier to measure small steps and every time you reach one of the milestones you have achieved something. 2. You will keep both the internal and the external negativity at bay.

Time Bound – So when are you going to start and when will you need to achieve your goal by?

Ok, got all of that?  Now, all we need to do is start doing it rather than just talking about it.  One of the things that I really want to achieve this year is….

See, already I nearly gave the game away and told you about my resolutions before I had even started.

I’m off now to rewrite some of my resolutions.

Good luck to you all, I promise to tell you later about mine if you tell me about yours.

Most people in business want to be a success, but how do you become one of the favoured high fliers who seem to have the world at their feet?

Here are five tips to help you join the select band who reach the very pinnacle of organisations.

Tip #1 – Become a Protégé

Pick someone at the top of the organisation who people respect, and approach them for advice. The vast majority will be flattered to be asked and this gives you some valuable one-on-one time and also a chance to present your ideas. When a position becomes available, guess who they will have in mind?

Tip #2 – Influence effectively

The best people know how to get people to work for them. The trick is to use the right medium. If you want to maximise the probability of succeeding in persuading someone to do something for you then speak to them face to face. If you can’t do this then ring them and speak to them. If you want to minimise your chances then send them an email.

Tip #3 – List your goals and do not share them with anyone

These goals are the ones that you desire to attain the most, so regularly review them until they become embedded in your brain. Do not share them – others will decry your efforts or work actively to discourage you. You don’t need this kind of help.

Tip #4- Have a sense of humour

Bad days are inevitable so develop the habit of not taking yourself too seriously. As long as this is not overdone it shows that you are actually human.

Tip #5 – Do your own filing

Being prepared and organised. This means creating your own filing system that works for your brain. It needs to work in such a way that you can lay your hands on information and documents easily and quickly. This means faster than anyone else. Time spent hunting for such information and documents is time wasted.