In this two-hour World Without Email online workshop, you will have a chance to think about how email has gone beyond a form of messaging to become embedded into the work itself, leading to a constant source of distraction. You will think about the benefit of ‘Deep Work’ and options for email-free working practice.

A question we will explore on this course: Is it who people are, or is it what they do? And how could this distinction help us to understand the best way to move forward constructively? On this one-day workshop, we will explore different approaches to better understand and work with people whose behaviour we find challenging.

This half-day workshop is designed for leaders or managers who are keen to create a cohesive team where teams of multi-generational people can thrive. This session will provide opportunities to collaboratively share challenges and discuss how to overcome them.

This one-day time management training course explores the need for reflection, planning, organising, setting goals and responding to day-to-day activities and demands. It also looks at deciding which activities that give you the biggest return at work and in life. You will consider what methods of time management are possible in your situation and learn how to make time management a daily practice. Effective Time Management is now CPD Certified.

This course will explore the role of the chair in getting the best out of meetings. The day will provide information on carrying through the role of chair and will consider some of the difficulties that can confront “the person in the chair”.

Do you need help in unlocking your true potential? Are you struggling to achieve all that you are and can be? Do you want to raise your performance and confidence levels? This comprehensive one-day workshop will help you to feel more confident and less stressed, will enhance your working relationships, and give you the tools to manage your time more effectively.

Do you sometimes feel you are terribly busy, hectic even, but are not as productive as you’d like to be? This free taster is for you. In this 1 hour session we will cover a range of techniques to improve your productivity, including how to use 321Zero effectively and how to focus by using the Pomodoro technique. This is a highly interactive session, using Zoom, that will give you proven methods to be more productive in 2025.

This workshop is designed for anyone leading a project or aiming to create change, calling on techniques from traditional project management and Agile as well as from good leadership and management practice.

Asana is project management tool that allows users to create and manage projects easily. There's a free basic version, plus paid-for premium and business plans. By the end of this course, learners will be able to set up and effectively manage a project using Asana.

Make the Most of the New Office 365 Features

Office 365 subscribers will know that Microsoft regularly unfurls new features and updates for the software’s constituent apps. But given the frequency of these updates, there’s a chance you either haven’t caught up or are yet to take full advantage of the exciting new additions. Here’s a look at some attention-grabbing features to have shown up in recent months.

Do You Make it Easy For Your Customers to Give Compliments?

Sitting in the reception of Central & Cecil Housing Association, one of our clients, I flicked through the information leaflets. Alongside the pamphlet on how to make a complaint was a more unusual one – a Compliments Guide. Yes, Central & Cecil had taken the trouble to create a guide to how let their people know when they’d done well.

I have run Happy Ltd now for 22 years and employ around 30 people. Three years ago we employed 35 but, as staff have left, we have turned to using freelancers instead of recruiting a permanent replacement. However this has nothing to do with how easy it is to dismiss permanent staff. We are turning to freelancers because, in the current market, we cannot be sure of the level of demand. I have often been at events where fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners complain about red tape and employment law. Last time I asked the examples they gave were “the minimum wage”, “maternity pay” and even “holiday entitlement”. These are not unfair burdens. These are the basic requirements of running a decent business. I am delighted that we have regulations like this because it means decent businesses cannot be undercut by those prepared to do anything to make a buck.

We are monitoring the current Coronavirus outbreak very closely. Here is our current policy regarding our training centre, our online learning programme and what to do if you are not able to attend.

6 New Features in Excel 2019 That You May Not Know About

The latest update to Excel 2019 includes six new functions: CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, MINIFS And MAXIFS, IFS, SWITCH and XLOOKUP. In this blog, Edmund, one of our Office experts, explains what you need to know about them.