Everyone brought food along to share, creating a wonderful fare of British, Brazilian, European & Caribbean delights. A special mention goes to Eddie’s first attempt at a cheesecake which turned out brilliantly & went down a treat!

We played lots of games throughout the afternoon including French cricket, egg & spoon & sack races which were a lot of fun & caused lots of laughter.

All in all it was a great day & will definitely become an annual fixture on the Phoenix calendar.

To see more pictures follow this link

Mike Brearley, ex – England cricket captain and now President of the Pyscho-analysts society, talking about leadership.  The actual title was “Leadership – Theory and Practice” I focused straight away on the prospect of an “almost childhood hero” talking about leading my real childhood heroes into cricketing battle against the Australians in the 1980’s.  Brearley was/is regarded as one of the most intelligent and astute cricket captains of all time,  using what are broadly termed “man management” skills to get the best out of his team of hugely talented but hugely diverse characters and personalities.  Sports like Cricket and Rugby often produce teams made  up of a wide variety of personalities and social background.  (I am sure there are other examples but those two sports stand out for me as the prime examples.)  Cricket captains also have to contend with managing players who have to go out and perform fundamentally on their own but as part of a team.  So pulling them all together is a massive challenge, as well as having to deal with the tactical aspects of the game.

My colleague and I turned up on the night, anticipating Brearley describing how he managed to get the best out of Botham, Boycott, Willis, Dilley et al and win the Ashes in amazing circumstances in 1981.  A lecture containing cricket anecdotes that could be passed on in a superior manner at our local club or even better at Lords, so we could be overheard sounding knowledgeable.  (Maybe I am just speaking for myself).  I think maybe twenty per cent were in our camp.  Obvious cricket fans, waiting for one of the most successful captains to tell us how to do it!

As we found a spare couple of seats, I remembered the whole title of the event – The Freud Memorial Lecture, Michael Brearley, Leadership – Theory and Practice.  Not Mike Brearley talks cricket!  The depth of the occasion struck me.  We were going to be listening to a genuine expert, not just in cricket, but in Psychology.  He is a psycho-analyst, not just an ex cricket captain.  Brearley spoke for about forty five minutes, mentioned cricket about five times, but mentioned Jung and Freud about fifty five times.  It wasn’t what I expected but it was extremely interesting, fascinating and challenging.  I work with managers and leaders almost every week, I consider myself to know about management and leadership, but what came out of the lecture for me was that I know very little beyond the practical issues involved.  What Brearley alerted me to was the depth of the subject and all the issues that lie behind the day to day “stuff” that revolves around management and leadership issues.   He talked widely about narcissistic leaders and the reasons for their decisions, he discussed decision making amongst managers and “self image”.  He explored “sophisticated bullying tactics” and how leaders try to cope.  He also discussed how leaders don’t simply lead, as in the dictionary definition (from the front) but position themselves all around and amongst the team. One element of the discussion focused on “born leaders” and there was some research, from Canada I believe, that examined traits in children and how they related to their future roles.  The trait most associated with children who went on to be the leaders was generosity and not what you might expect, i.e. confidence or positivity.  That would certainly be one conversation that I would bring to the training room to help managers and leaders think about what is really required to be successful.

All of these subjects were hung off the back drop of Jung and Freud’s theories and ideas, which added the depth and interest and the challenge.  I left feeling much more knowledgeable and “expert” not as I had expected being able to recount cricket stories but by being able to link leadership and management theory and practice by understanding and quoting Brearly’s expertise and knowledge.

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

Whilst running training courses, it is always nice to have a series of anecdotes or stories to highlight key learning points.  For all the models and structures that surround a subject like sales, I often find an actual example of what a sales person has done, works really well.  It is by showing and highlighting what not to do that sales people start to see how techniques and skills can really help them.  Fortunately, sales people in all sorts of environments provide me with an endless stream of examples of “what not to do”.

Possibly one reason as to why these mistakes and errors creep in could be pressure.  As pressure grows on sales people, techniques get pushed aside and sales people start to use what I term “street sales” techniques.  These revolve around getting a sale as quickly as possible. The results can be catastrophic not only for short term business but for long term as well.  However much pressure a sales person feels that they under, they should always use solid techniques to achieve a sale.

It is not just pressure that leads to poor sales technique; over confidence can lead to some terrible mistakes.  Experienced sales people often get into routines and do not change their approach, “because it worked once”.  Poor training is a major factor as to why sales people start using random tactics.  If you are not pointed in the right direction how do you know what to use?

So what do sales people do, that in a training room one can laugh and say knowingly “I would never do that”.  All of these are true and some more disastrous than others but the common denominator being that each sales person had no idea of what they were doing in terms of damage!

• A sales person once phoned me and asked to speak to Mr. Osborne, I politely told them it was Mr. Osmond, he said Osbourne, I said again, no Osmond, O.S.M.O.N.D, to which he replied, “yea, whatever”. That was an obvious example of someone thinking I just want to sell to you, so his brain is moving quickly to where he wants to be. Unfortunately he has let the cat out of the bag and verbalised that feeling. Lesson: get the customers name right and take your time. He now has no chance of ever selling anything to me.
• I walked into a car showroom and told the guy I needed a bigger car because we had twins and needed more space. To cut a long story short, he showed me a Ford Galaxy and sat me in the front seat. He then proudly demonstrated the front and back parking sensors, returning to me, pronouncing that parking sensors are now standard on Galaxy’s. As a sales trainer, I felt like saying to him, “what in my conversation has led to think that I need help with my parking?” Lesson: don’t tell someone what you think is good about your product. Tell me what will help me. All I needed to know was whether my double buggy would fit in the car.
• I was buying a digital camera for my office recently and asked the assistant for a camera that was light weight and easy to use. He got me a camera off the shelf, which fitted the bill perfectly. As I was just about to say that all seemed fine and could I buy it, he told that “the other excellent thing about this camera was that it had sepia mode and sports mode”. Now I was starting to think that I was about to pay for things that I simply did not need. Lesson: do not over sell, tell the customer only features that can be of benefit to them.
• When I walked in a clothes shop, with two of my children, I was somewhat surprised by an assistant who greeted me with the phrase “Alright big fella” Quite an extreme example, but over-familiarity with a customer does not sell. I wanted to know where the jeans were. He thinks he’s getting on well with me. Lesson: earn the right to be familiar, by being solid and professional, you can develop a business relationship before you are their best mate.

Some are more extreme than others but these examples show how easy it is for sales people to slip into bad habits, thinking they are increasing the likelihood of making a sale.  Beware!