Monday 28 January 2008

Brain Training Games? Stick to the real thing…

Before you rush out to buy that new Nintendo DS in order to develop your brainpower and increase your thinking age, you might want to consider whether the brain training games live up to the hype.

A recent study has shown that there is no real proof that the brain training games made popular recently by Nintendo and Dr. Kawashima really have any effect at all and those of us who spend hours staring into a tiny screen, forcing our hands into an arthritic state from clamping the pointer too hard could be wasting our time altogether.

Cognitive neuro-scientist at the University of Birmingham, Dr. Jason Braithwaite said; “There is no conclusive evidence showing that the continued use of these devices is linked to any measurable and general improvements in cognition. While practice at any task should lead to some form of improvement for that specific task, it is not clear that this improvement reflects anything other than a basic learned process for that specific task.”

This leads me to consider how we might be able to improve our brain power and increase our intelligence. For me it’s simple, stick to the same old principles that have helped us over the centuries. Hard work and determination combined with a drive to learn and absorb knowledge at every given opportunity.

Books for a long time have been my staple for learning. I might not always agree with the author, but this only serves to increase my thought process and hopefully help me to see things from an alternative perspective. I often encourage myself to read something that challenges my own thinking and wipes away some of the cobwebs of my mind.

Then of course we have the process of learning from training events, schooling and universities. A lot will say they struggle to learn in these environments. However, it is my belief that when carried out correctly and in keeping with learning needs of all participants, this form of learning cannot be beaten.

The trouble with these methods of learning? Well, they’re not much fun are they (although I’d challenge that point and encourage you to attend a training event that I put together). Latest developments in E-Learning and the more recent ‘serious gaming’ (a combination of business simulations and computer generated learning events) show an encouraging step towards something ‘sexy’ in the training world. However, it is still too early to say whether these methods will eclipse the tried and trusted methods of development. Better I say to incorporate them into a holistic approach to learning and continue to stretch the boundaries of thinking around making learning fun.

You might by now be thinking that I have strayed somewhat from my initial topic of ‘brain training’, surely I can tell the difference between increasing skills and knowledge and training your brain? Well, I’m afraid I can’t. Training your brain is about challenging your thinking, keeping your mind active and learning new ideas.

I suspect the true reason people have welcomed these games with open arms is that they are seen as ‘easy’ a ‘quick fix’, a bit like belts that exercise your stomach while you sit and eat cake or essays that you can download from the internet and hand in to your teacher. The trouble with this approach is that it simply doesn’t work. If you want success, you have to put in the time and effort.

Of course all of this is subjective. I don’t think there’s any harm in these games at all and if it encourages people to learn, then more is the better. I’m sure that brain training games do provide a much needed element of ‘thinking time’ and combined with the other methods mentioned above must surely encourage your brain to memorise and at least challenge thought patterns to some extent and if not? Well, where there’s no harm there’s no worry.

Anyway, I’m off for a few challenging rounds of bowling on the Nintendo Wii…Well, you’ve got to get out every now and then haven’t you?

Andrew is the Managing Director of Trainer Bubble, who provide business consultancy in areas such as leadership, coaching and effective business development. You can discover more about the wealth of services offered by Trainer Bubble's Consultancy here.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

The Manager as Coach

In my role as consultant, I am often asked whether all good managers are effective coaches and if so, does this lead to the opposite being true.

To answer these questions with any great authority, it is important to define what is required of a manager when performing the role of coach. In order to do this, it is best to examine all management activity of which there are three key areas: Managing, Leading and Coaching.

These three activities are complimentary and are required to help a good manager achieve their business objectives, by enabling a team to perform at their best. You could refer to these skills as the legs of a stool on which a good manager sits.

When leading; the manager creates and shares a vision of the future with their team and ensures that their activities are consistent with bringing about that change.

When managing; they deliver results to the organisation by controlling the work of the team and agreeing and monitoring such things as budgets, timescales and quality levels.

When coaching; they support team members in their learning, to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to successfully deliver their job responsibilities and goals.

It is important to note that these three elements overlap because some of the processes and skills that are used in one area are also used in another. There may be times when the manager needs to use coaching skills to help their team understand and take ownership of quality levels or times when management of budgets requires strong leadership and vision.

Problems arise when the manager is not clear about which approach is appropriate in a particular situation. For example, if a coaching approach is used when deadlines are tight or a crisis has arisen, precious time may be lost. If a management approach is used when a team member has made a mistake, the learning opportunity will be missed and the mistake may be repeated.

All this boils down to the simple fact that coaching is incredibly important to a manager’s role and to be truly effective, they should acquire this valuable skill. However, if they neglect the requirements of management and leadership, they will ultimately fail.

So, to answer the original questions; Are all good managers effective coaches? I suspect so. Does that make all effective coaches good managers? Not unless you can sit on a one legged stool!

This Article is adapted from our training course 'Coaching at Work', which is available from our website at Trainer Bubble.

We also provide business consultancy in areas such as leadership, coaching and effective business development. You can discover more about the wealth of services offered by Trainer Bubble at our website Trainer Bubble Services

Thursday 10 January 2008

Is Learning and Development Finally Coming Home?

Recent developments in America suggest that learning and development could be resurrected from the dark, dusty recesses of human resources into a bright new future.

Ever since 1994 and the merger between the Institute of Training and Development and the Institute of Personnel Management to form what in 2000 became the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, there has been no argument about which area was the dominant one. Factors concerning the development of employee skills seemingly became secondary to the rising importance of Human Resource Management.

I was recently provided a glaring example of this by an acquaintance in a senior learning and development role at one of the largest organisations in the UK. With a sad, but knowing look in his eye he presented me with the yearly objectives for the HR department. Not one of them related to employee development in any way. When you consider that the company employ over five hundred people in roles that are directly related to learning this is truly amazing, although hardly isolated.

Most HR Directors will argue that they’ve always had one eye on the learning needs of the workforce, but with all due respect to diversity laws, this is a two-eyed job. In the same way that sales is the only department of an organisation that generates revenue, learning and development is the only area where we can expect the process of developing our workforce to be the uppermost concern.

Learning and development is increasingly noted as the most important factor of HR. Driving up the skills of the workforce and ensuring that employees have the necessary skills to perform the role and, perhaps more importantly, the skills to progress throughout the business is becoming a no-brainer when compared to the often bureaucratic functions of HR, which serve to ensure the business is ‘ticking over’ and doesn’t get embroiled in any legal issues.

Another colleague of mine who owns a recruitment consultancy highlighted the importance of learning and development from the prospective employee’s point of view recently. Often before the subject of money is raised, the first concern of the individual is, ‘What development can I expect?’ and so it should be. In fact when discussing the value of development, there are two key viewpoints we should take into account.

The employee – understands more than ever the value of their own development. Often requires a business to fill the gaps in their education and provide hands on experience in a real environment. Realises that to succeed in the business world they must gather as many skills as possible.

The employer – understands the value of a continually skilled workforce. Knows that if the business is to succeed then it needs an educated and motivated team behind it. A team willing to challenge current thinking and hungry for success.

So, businesses that ignore the value of learning and development do so at their peril.

This isn’t a knew theory, but somehow we thought we could achieve it through an HR department that in all fairness cannot possibly be expected to manage the important role it has to play in overseeing the needs of the workforce and still rise to the vast challenge that development presents.

The good news is that in America there seems to be a turning tide. Many of the large organisations there are developing the role of Chief Learning Officer (CLO), whose role on the board of directors has been provided at the expense of the HR Director who may well have applied for the new position of Head of HR, which reports to, you guessed it, the CLO.

The CLO is skilled in all aspects of learning and development, with a key focus on; coaching, training, motivation and project management, which shows an obvious leaning towards the development of the workforce in order to drive the success of the business. In my mind this is the correct focus and ensures that the organisation is focused on continuous improvement rather than fighting fires.

Although the UK has yet to put in place many CLO’s (currently five in the FTSE 100), there is little doubt that we are likely to follow suit. After all, it was the US that brought HRM to us all those years ago!

Andrew Wood is the Managing Director of Trainer Bubble Ltd. who design and develop training resources and course materials for download from their website. Visit them at
www.trainerbubble.com to access a wealth of resources including a large section of free material.

Thursday 3 January 2008

E-Mail Success - By Wolfgang Halliwell

I returned to work today after a 2 week Christmas vacation and opened my inbox with some trepidation. After a similar break last year I had returned form holiday with over 400 e-mails awaiting my attention. It took me a couple of days to deal with these so I vowed there and then that this would never happen again.

One of my New Years resolutions at the beginning of 2007 was to take control of my e-mail inbox. Today would prove one way or the other whether the action I took worked.

I opened my inbox and found only 32 items awaiting me. Thirty minutes later and my inbox was empty. Complete success!

So, what did I do to achieve this? The good news is that this is not rocket science and a few simple steps have achieved this result. The action I took in 2007 included:

  1. Always remembering to set my out of office message when I was away for more than a day.

  2. Unsubscribing to newsletters and update services unless I really needed them.

  3. Agreeing a few ground rules with colleagues about when and when not to use e-mail.

  4. Using the telephone a lot more to avoid those unproductive games of e-mail tennis.

  5. Delegating or redirecting some of my e-mail to other people when appropriate.

None of this took very long to do but the results have been really spectacular for me. If you suffer from an overfull inbox you might find some of the techniques I have listed are of some help.

Of course, there is also a need to manage your e-mail once you have got it, but that is the topic for another posting.

This article relates to our training course material, 'Managing E-Mails', which you can find on our website by clicking here.

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