In the dynamic landscape of today’s professional world, the journey from employee to manager can be swift and exhilarating. However, it often comes with a critical caveat – many individuals find themselves in management positions without the essential training in people skills, motivation, and leadership that is vital for success. This phenomenon has far-reaching consequences, including high turnover rates, plummeting morale, and a general sense of upheaval within a company. So, how can we safeguard against this perilous pitfall? The answer lies in investing in an Emerging Leaders Training Programme.

Equipping Your Leaders of Tomorrow

An Emerging Leaders Training Programme is a strategic initiative aimed at coaching individuals with high potential for leadership roles. It serves as a launchpad for those who are poised to take the reins, offering them a curated curriculum that encompasses a wide spectrum of skills and knowledge crucial for effective leadership.

The Recipe for Success: Skill Sets in Focus

1. People Skills:

One of the foundational pillars of successful leadership is the ability to understand, communicate, and empathize with team members. An Emerging Leaders Programme hones these ‘people skills’, fostering an environment of trust, respect, and collaboration.

2. Motivation and Engagement:

Keeping a team motivated and engaged is no small feat. Emerging leaders need to grasp the nuances of what drives individual team members, and how to create a cohesive, high-performing unit. This training programme provides the tools and techniques needed to keep morale high.

3. Conflict Resolution:

In any workplace, conflicts are inevitable. Effective leaders don’t avoid them, but rather, tackle them head-on. The programme equips emerging leaders with conflict resolution strategies, ensuring that disputes are addressed constructively, leading to stronger, more cohesive teams.

4. Strategic Thinking:

Leadership isn’t just about managing day-to-day operations; it’s about charting a course for the future. Emerging leaders learn to think strategically, making decisions that align with the company’s long-term vision and goals.

Fostering Employee Retention and Morale

The repercussions of untrained leaders are often felt in the form of high turnover rates. When employees feel disconnected, unsupported, or undervalued, they’re more likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. An Emerging Leaders Programme helps stem this tide by creating leaders who are not only skilled in their roles but are also adept at providing the support and mentorship that team members crave.

A Culture of Stability and Growth

A company’s success is deeply intertwined with the stability and growth of its workforce. A well-structured Emerging Leaders Programme signals to employees that their development and well-being are valued. This, in turn, fosters a culture of loyalty and commitment, resulting in a stronger, more resilient organisation.

The Ripple Effect: Impact on the Bottom Line

Investing in an Emerging Leaders Training Programme may initially seem like a cost, but in reality, it’s a strategic investment that pays dividends. Reduced turnover, increased employee satisfaction, and a more streamlined, efficient workflow all contribute to a healthier bottom line.

Conclusion: A Future-Focused Approach

In a rapidly evolving professional landscape, the importance of nurturing capable leaders cannot be overstated. An Emerging Leaders Training Programme is not just an investment in individuals; it’s an investment in the future of your company. By providing your emerging leaders with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need, you’re setting the stage for a prosperous and harmonious workplace. So, let’s embark on this journey together, and build a future where leaders are not just managers, but visionaries.

At Robin Lines Associates, we’ve worked with organisations such as Service Now, Vistry Homes, Endress + Hauser, CPL Aromas, Yamaha, and Quest Software to deliver tailored Emerging Leaders Programmes and Academy solutions, ensuring the long-term security of their management teams. If you want to hear what we can do for you, don’t hesitate to Contact Us.

The post Nurturing Tomorrow’s Leaders: The Power of an Emerging Leaders Training Programme appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Much of our life is spent working in teams, but all teams are comprised of individuals, and all individuals have their own unique strengths, weaknesses, needs, wants, motivations, etc. A great head coach at a football club improves a team’s performance by identifying how best to harness the potential of individuals. When we watch a movie with fantastic acting performances, what we’re watching is the result of a casting director identifying the right people for the roles, coached on set by a director who knew how to get the very best out of them.

For the individual, working with and learning from great coaches instils traits, attitudes, and practices that remain with them for life, offering a considerable advantage in competitive fields.

The same very much applies to one-to-one coaching in the business world. Those who invest in coaching are making an investment in their future, and one which will provide them insights and opportunities that can give them a significant head start over peers who haven’t benefitted from those experiences. Why?

Focus, Direction, Clarity

Work is stressful and often challenging. It’s stressful because so much of what we do feels out of our hands. Businesses that were performing well a few years ago have been hit by the double-whammy of a global pandemic and record inflation. Now many of those businesses are struggling, and those struggles trickle down to the individuals. When our employer feels the pinch, we do too, which manifests in fears and anxieties.

In some respects, these outside factors feel “bigger” in the modern age. Technology makes it difficult to switch off. We live in a world that is so much more aware of what’s going on minute by minute that our downtime often becomes more work time. We don’t take a break, and instead spend our supposedly private time glued to our phones and laptops, trying to find our way through the fog.

An experienced coach, one who has lived through boom-and-bust periods before, can help you switch off. They can teach you strategies for coping with unknowns, dealing with stresses, and encourage you to focus on the things you can change, not the ones you can’t. They’ll help you focus your efforts in a positive direction and aid you in finding an achievable way forward.

Accountability

It’s much easier to accomplish something when somebody else holds us accountable. While some people are phenomenally self-driven, many of us struggle to realise our goals when the only person we’re accountable to is ourselves. Life is short but offers the illusion of time. Putting something off until next week or next month doesn’t seem like a big deal when we have so much time left. It’s also very easy to make excuses to ourselves. Something else came up, we didn’t have time, we weren’t feeling our best, we needed a rest, etc.

That’s not to say there isn’t some truth in the excuses we tell ourselves, but excuse-making and procrastinating are habit-forming. When you’ve put something off once, and there was no immediate penalty, there’s no compelling reason not to put it off again, and again… And again…

However, that illusion of time eventually catches up with you when you realise how much time you’ve wasted. When months or even years have passed by without taking genuine steps towards your goals, the consequence is often demoralising. Maybe you try and rush it through, or more likely you try and convince yourself it wasn’t that important anyway and give up.

Those who work with coaches are less likely to waste time and more likely to succeed at their goals. Undertaking coaching is an investment, and we all tend to do a lot better when we make such commitments. Moreover, a coach will help you identify where you can find the time to make those little changes that snowball into real changes.

Learning For Yourself

Almost anyone can teach something, and almost anyone can learn something from them. However, there is a difference between learning by receiving information and learning for yourself. Think about the subjects you are most interested in and compare how much you know about those subjects to the ones that you’re not that interested in.

Chances are if there’s a particular subject that interests you, then you seek out more information about it regularly, and often without realising it you learn about other subjects at the same time. For example, somebody with an interest in the space programme likely knows more than they think about physics, astronomy, engineering, evolution, Cold War politics, etc., because of the way all of those subjects intersect.

When we take the time to learn about something for ourselves, we end up with a much more expansive knowledge about both the subject we’re interested in and related subjects. When somebody just tells us a fact, we gain less overall knowledge because the focus is so much narrower.

A great coach knows this because that’s how they’ve learned so much themselves. Consequently, a coach isn’t there to give you all the answers. They’re not there to solve your problems or tell you what to do. What they will do is teach you how to find answers, how to solve problems, and how to work out what to do for yourself. In doing so, you gain a substantial advantage over those whose knowledge is limited by only learning from being told.

Interested in Coaching?

If you want someone who has the experience to help you see through the fog in these trying times, to offer the benefits of accountability, and to set you on a path of exponential self-motivated learning that will benefit you throughout your life, Robin Lines Associates provides a complete, tailored programme of bite-sized coaching sessions that can equip you with the skills, knowledge, and traits to outperform your peers and achieve your goals.

Visit Robin Lines Coaching for more information.

The post 3 Major Advantages of One-to-One Coaching appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Part of the reason is that New Years’ Resolutions encourage a narrow focus on a goal without a plan to achieve that goal. While it’s possible to achieve something by ‘dumb luck’, most of the time, that isn’t how the world works. We need more than a goal but a roadmap for getting there.

If you were planning a road trip from New York to Miami, you wouldn’t just set off from Manhattan and drive south hoping for the best because that approach introduces all sorts of potential problems. Without planning such a journey, you could easily find yourself fifty miles from anywhere without food, water, or fuel. You’d also likely find the trip incredibly dull because you wouldn’t have established any milestones to afford you a sense of accomplishment along the way.

When most of us adopt a New Years’ Resolution, that’s effectively what we’re doing; setting a destination but making no plan for how we get there. Without a roadmap, the best we can do is try to ‘wing it’, which rarely results in success. Such resolutions also lack specifics, such as a deadline; even if we set a deadline, it becomes too easy for us to keep shifting it further away.

Ultimately, our New Years’ Resolutions lack accountability. It’s easy to tell yourself you’re going to do something, but it’s even easier to come up with a hundred reasons not to do it and to make excuses for ourselves.

Let’s imagine, for example, that you set a goal of reading twelve novels by the end of the year at a pace of one novel a month. By the end of January, you’ve read a couple of chapters. You can tell yourself that’s fine; you were busier than expected and didn’t have the time, so you’ll catch up in February. Once February is finished, and you’re even further behind your goal, you’ll just tell yourself the same thing again until, eventually, you’ll reach a point where the goal seems unobtainable. Still, it doesn’t really matter because you’re only accountable to yourself, so you can make an extra effort next year instead.

When it comes to a simple thing like reading more, it doesn’t particularly matter whether you reach the goal or not. However, some people set career goals. How many times have we said, “This year will be my year!” and by the end of the year, it wasn’t really your year? On December 31^st, you’re still in the same position you were on January 1^st. We can, and we do, make the same excuses: ‘I was busier than I expected’, ‘I didn’t have the time’, ‘Things didn’t click for me’, ‘I’ll do it next year’.

Once again, that early burst of determination and excitement hits the wall of reality, and because you’ve not planned ahead, you haven’t got a ladder to help you get over it. Similarly, because you’re not accountable to anybody else, you can reason yourself into acceptance of the situation even if, deep down, you know that you’re missing out on something that could improve your life, well-being, and happiness considerably.

Those effective and permanent beneficial changes to your career path are rarely a case of saying, ‘I’m going to do X’ and then just doing it. To overcome this cycle of ambition giving way to acceptance, you might want to consider investing in yourself by investing in individual coaching services that will not only provide encouragement and support but help you with drawing up a roadmap for achieving your goals. Importantly, a coach offers accountability. You’ll have somebody there for each step of your journey to question and challenge you positively so that you can’t simply brush off each setback with a comforting but defeatist line.

If you’ve noticed that you struggle to find the ladder to help you get over the various obstacles life throws at you, and you’re tired of simply settling then consider contacting us, or visiting robinlinescoaching.com to see whether we might be able to offer some vital assistance along your career path.

Don’t feel the need to settle when a simple investment in yourself today can reap huge rewards in the coming years.

The post New Years’ Resolutions: Planning Ahead for Success appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

For many, however, this is a difficult task. With so much conflicting information and a lack of understanding of the core issues, it has too-often felt confusing at best, or insurmountable at worst, to learn how we can be more environmentally aware. With that in mind, we’ve recently launched a range of new programmes on our e-learning platform to help individuals and business leaders get to grips with the fundamentals of sustainability. Our goal is to give everyone an opportunity to get started towards building a sustainable future.

Our courses are all CPD-certified with an award upon achievement. They can be studied in your free time, include interactive and engaging activities, and help learners gain valuable skills, confidence, and knowledge to enhance their future work, life, and take a step towards building a better future for all.

Social Responsibility of Businesses in Relation to Sustainability

Social responsibility in business is becoming increasingly important, not only for the environment but also to consumers looking to buy from responsible companies.

This course covers a variety of topics including what corporate social responsibility is, a definition of greenwashing and why the triple bottom line is more important now than ever before.

• The definition of the term ‘corporate social responsibility’
• Why social responsibility in businesses for sustainability is important
• Reasons why businesses might take action to improve their social responsibility
• The definition of the term ‘triple bottom line’
• How the triple bottom line can impact on sustainability
• What the term ‘greenwashing’ means
• How greenwashing impacts on society
• Organisational implications of greenwashing

Principles of Sustainable Energy Management

The move away from fossil fuels to green energy sources such as wind and solar power has been underway for several years. However, there is still a long way to go to reduce carbon emissions.

This course has been designed to explain what sustainable energy management is, ways to manage energy usage and energy conservation techniques that can help reduce carbon footprints. Learn how to set energy saving targets and how legislation and international agreements might have an impact.

• The definition of the term ‘sustainable energy management’
• Legislation and international agreements relating to sustainable energy management
• Energy conservation techniques
• How renewable energy sources contribute to sustainable energy management
• How to monitor energy saving
• Ways of managing energy usage
• How to set targets for energy saving

Principles of Sustainable Transport

The environmental impact of transport whether for leisure or business contributes greatly to air pollution and global warming. Companies are coming under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprints and find more sustainable transportation methods.

This course covers what is meant by sustainable transport, types of leisure travel and sustainable fuel. It provides an understanding of the impact of global transport, ways to promote sustainable methods of transport and the barriers that might prevent it.

• What is meant by ‘sustainable transport’
• Sustainable methods of transport
• Why it is important to reduce transport vehicles
• Vehicle fuels that are not derived from petroleum
• Factors to be considered when assessing the sustainability of alternative fuels
• Economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable fuels
• Economic, environmental and social benefits of reducing the use of vehicles
• How organisations use and interact with transport systems
• The environmental impacts of transport
• Incentives that organisations can offer to reduce staff usage of transport
• Incentives that can be offered to the public and transport providers to reduce vehicle use
• Schemes to penalise vehicle use
• Barriers that may prevent the public from reducing vehicle use
• Different types of leisure travel
• Sustainable options for leisure travel
• Carbon dioxide emissions of different types of transport for a specified journey
• The impact of the carbon dioxide emissions of different types of transport
• Ways to promote more sustainable methods of transport

Principles of Waste Management

Millions of tonnes of waste are produced by businesses and homes in the UK every year. The way this waste is dealt with has become increasingly important with recycling and waste minimisation plans being implemented in many companies.

Looking to learn more about waste management? This course covers different types of waste and how they can be recycled or disposed of safely, the benefits and relevant legislation.

• Different types of waste
• Characteristics of different types of waste
• Factors which may affect how much waste an organisation produces
• Main pieces of legislation relevant to waste management
• Types of public and private sector organisations that play a role in waste management
• Why it is important to manage and minimise waste
• How waste can be used
• How to promote responsible waste management
• Methods used to dispose of reusable or recyclable waste
• Methods used to dispose of waste that is not reusable or recyclable
• How to dispose of waste safely

Principles of Sustainable Communities

Sustainable communities are part of a growing trend towards becoming more environmentally aware and responsible, combining more green spaces with eco-friendly energy sources.

Want to know more about sustainable communities? This course provides a definition of a sustainable community as well as the local and global benefits of them. Learn how to create a sustainable community and about the support available to help community members.

• The definition of ‘sustainable community’
• What makes a community sustainable
• The local and global benefits of a sustainable community
• Resources that could support community development proposals
• Sources of support for implementing sustainable development in communities
• How to engage with potential sources of support for development proposals

Principles of Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

There is an increasing focus on improving environmental performance for both individuals and companies. This course provides an understanding of sustainable development goals, the benefits of an environmental management system and how organisations can help prevent pollution.

• The definition of ‘sustainable development’
• Human and global issues that impact on sustainability
• Common reasons for the delay on climate action
• Benefits of sustainable development
• Organisational impacts on the environment
• Environmental impacts on organisations
• Benefits of environmental management systems
• How to calculate carbon footprint
• How organisations can manage and reduce carbon footprints
• How individuals can reduce their carbon footprint at home
• The definition of ‘resource efficiency’
• Benefits of using resources efficiently
• What circular sustainability is in relation to using resources
• Organisational responsibilities for the efficient use of resources
• Consequences that may occur if organisations pollute the environment
• How organisations can help prevent pollution
• How an organisation’s management structure can support environmental sustainability
• How an organisation’s employees can support environmental sustainability

The post Our New Sustainability E-Courses appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

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We have partnered with The Skills Network, a leading provider of technology-enabled training and skills solutions, to deliver a comprehensive suite of learning materials to help people supercharge their futures.

Our offer is centred around two fundamental principles – convenience and choice. More and more, people want the freedom to develop their skills, independent of the workplace. They want the opportunity to learn in their own time, at their own pace, and in the comfort of their own homes.

Through our courses, users gain this flexibility, while having the option to choose from a range of programmes enabling them to learn new skills, grow existing ones, or simply refresh themselves. Furthermore, while some online courses charge hundreds of pounds and ask for significant time commitments, our programmes are inexpensive, short-courses, that allow the learner to properly tailor their learning experience around their free time and developmental needs.

By providing our modules in such a fashion, both individuals and organisations can confidently purchase only the courses that are relevant to their needs.

Over the next few months’, we will be adding more options to our library, growing our offer as our learners grow their skills.

Right now, you can study areas such as:

• Leadership and People Management
• Customer Service
• Finance and Accountancy
• Selling and Prospecting Skills
• Negotiation and Influencing Skills
• Business Development

All programmes are currently priced at £42 (inc. VAT), include all necessary learning materials and are CPD Certified.

To see our current range of courses, click here (opens in a new tab). Each course has a description and a demo, so you can feel confident that the material and teaching method is appropriate to you before you commit.

If you require more information, you can Contact Us.

The post Introducing Our New E-Learning Portal appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

With that in mind, we wanted to offer a few pieces of advice for anybody currently lacking confidence in their work.

Be Patient With Yourself

If you’re used to working in an office environment and now find yourself at home, it is perfectly natural to feel somewhat out of sorts. Remote working can be a lonely experience if you’re used to a busy office. Transitions can take time to get used to, and even after a couple of months’, you may feel like you’re not at your best. Try not to worry about pushing yourself; just focus on what you can do.

You’re Not Slacking Off if You Take Some Time for Yourself

One of the primary concerns managers tend to have about people working remotely is that they might be slacking off. With the copious temptations of the modern home, it’s easy to imagine somebody bingeing Better Call Saul on Netflix or a dozen funny cat videos on YouTube. While that may be a legitimate concern for some managers, you shouldn’t feel bad if you take a bit of time each day to unwind. If you’re already anxious, stressed or lonely, a chapter of a novel or a quick comedy clip on YouTube might be what you need to re-centre yourself.

Protect Your Work Time

While you should definitely factor in some ‘me’ time, you also need to be protective of the time you have. There is a tendency for others to see someone working from home as not really working. Your family and friends may think you have time for a chat, or household chores, or an online video game; particularly if you are taking five minutes to sip a cappuccino while watching cat videos.

What you need to do is assess what must be done each day, sort tasks in order of priority, and work through them in order of priority. When you are working, you need to minimise distractions. This might mean putting your phone on silent, closing your email client or simply shutting the door to your workspace. Let your family and friends know when you’re going to be busy and unavailable.

Get Comfortable

Not many of us have invested in the expensive chairs you often find in modern offices. We don’t tend to have water coolers, air conditioners or lots of plants. The reason why office managers invest in these things is that comfort improves productivity. If you’re uncomfortable, then those niggling frustrations of sore backs, boredom or heat/cold tend to fester and impact how productive you are.

While it’s unfeasible to spend a small fortune on acquiring all sorts of new equipment for a short-term situation, you can still take steps to make your work environment more comfortable. Try using cushions on otherwise uncomfortable chairs, use slideshow functions to change your desktop wallpaper, listen to music that stimulates your mind and try to think how you can personalise your workspace to make it a pleasure to be at.

Keep in Touch With Colleagues

Make sure your colleagues know how they can reach you, and ensure you know how to reach them. In remote work situations, it often pays to be more forthcoming with communication that you might typically be. Ask yourself what your colleagues and managers might need to know, and make sure that they do. By being proactive about keeping everyone in the loop, you will likely find that others adopt similar policies. Consequently, the remote workspace not only feels less lonely but also more productive.

Make an Effort in the Morning

When you don’t have to try hard, it’s easy to sit at your computer in a dressing gown with personal grooming put off until later. However, if you make a similar effort in the morning to what you would do on a typical work-day, you may find that you put yourself in a more productive frame of mind. You needn’t go so far as to put on a suit, but try not to start the day off too casually. Think about what you want to do today, how you would generally start the day, and dress and groom accordingly. What we do in the morning has a significant impact on our mindset for the whole day, so start the day as you mean to continue.

Ask for Feedback from Leadership

It’s a lot easier to feel comfortable with what we’re doing when we know whether we’re doing it right. Leaders may assume everything is fine if they don’t hear from us, but we may take their silence as a sign, something is wrong. Instead of wondering, or panicking, reach out to your leader and ask. You’ll either receive some good advice on how to improve your performance, or you’ll gain the confidence to know that you’re doing well. Either is a good thing.

The post Improving Productivity and Morale while Working Remotely appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

These days it can feel as if you’re always in the office. With cell phones pinging notifications about texts and emails no matter where you are, you’re always within reach. The urge to respond to that email from a client or that inquiry about a project can be too great. However, you should never neglect your important private time.
 

Work Smarter

One of the simplest ways to maximise your family life is to maximise your working hours. Make sure you take time to plan each day and make good use of calendar apps to remind yourself of important dates.

It’s also a good idea to learn what shortcuts you can take to make work-life flow easier. For example, spending some time to create templates for Word documents or PowerPoints might seem like a huge time sink now, but it’ll save your hundreds of hours in the future.
 

Don’t Bring Work Home

Sometimes a project unavoidably requires more time. You should, however, avoid bringing work home as much as you can. Turning your home into another office space prevents you from ever truly settling. Bringing projects home can also be habit-forming. You want to avoid getting into the routine of clocking off from one office only to enter another.

If you find you’re constantly bringing work home, then you might benefit from using the Time Management Matrix to better prioritise your tasks.

Leave Work Worries at Work

You should aim to make your home a work-free zone and that includes worries and stress caused by work. It’s common for people to ask their partner’s “How was your day?” but try and limit such conversations to a simple “Not bad” or “Fine”.

The reason for this is if you get home and begin letting off steam about the client that irritated you today, or the computer programme that crashed three times, that anger and irritation will play on your mind and cause disruptions to enjoyable socialising or family time.
 

Set Clear Boundaries

Freelancers and small business owners especially often have difficulties with setting boundaries. You want to be reachable by your clients so as not to lose business. However, being ‘too available’ can result in you writing emails when you wanted to spend time with the kids.

You might want to consider setting an Out of Office note on your email letting a client know when they’re likely to receive a reply. Redirect work calls to voicemail with a message indicating your working hours. Try and keep to this as much as possible. It’s not rude, it’s expected.
 

Make the Most of Your Home Life

When you’re at home, make sure you’ve always got something to keep your mind away from work. Whether it’s a hobby, blasting aliens in a video game, binge-watching the new season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix or spending thirty minutes on a treadmill.

The more active you can keep your mind at home, the less inclined you’ll be to check your voicemail or email, and the easier it will be to set boundaries and separate your two lives.

Make non-work plans and stick to them. Even an “I’m going to play my next six games on Football Manager” is a better plan than “I’ve not got a lot to do, let’s check my phone.”

The post Separating Work and Family Life appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

It sounds like yet another business buzzword or phrase, but Growth Mindset has its origins in education. Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, wrote in her book, ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’ that there are two types of mindset. There are those with a Fixed Mindset which assumes that our character, intelligence and creativity are static givens. In contrast, there are those with a Growth Mindset who view challenges as opportunities, failure as a chance to grow and everyday life is a bounty of prospects to stretch our existing abilities.

Most of us have both mindsets. There are times when we believe we cannot do something, either because experience has taught us that we will probably fail or because of a simple lack of belief. Dweck, who worked with a number of children and adults, discovered that believing that your abilities are rigid creates an urgency in proving oneself repeatedly.

This urgency causes people to overthink situations. They second-guess themselves at every opportunity. Instead of believing they can do it, their mind is filled with questions – will I succeed or fail? What if I look stupid? Will I be accepted?

The Growth Mindset, however, accepts that you might fail, you may look silly, and sometimes you will be rejected. None of these things is bad unless you decide it. Every failure, rejection or moment of sounding a bit daft is an opportunity to grow and improve. Your characteristics are not carved in stone; they are mutable, and you can develop.
 

View Challenges as Opportunities

If you go into something believing you will fail, you will probably fail. When you second-guess yourself, you cloud your mind with unnecessary negativity. Stop that. Even the most foreboding of challenges is an opportunity and when presented with something outside your comfort zone, tackle it head-on. You will be surprised at how much you can learn.
 

You Don’t Fail, You Learn

When things go wrong, which they will from time to time, stop seeing it as a failure. Instead, collect yourself and your thoughts and analyse what went wrong and how you can improve next time.
 

Enjoy the Journey More than the Destination

Life is a journey, but you don’t want it to end yet, right? Too often we prioritise the end to the point we fail to appreciate the process of getting there. No matter how difficult, mundane or repetitive the task, try and take joy in doing it. Even something we have done a thousand times has the opportunity to teach us something new.
 

Cultivate a Sense of Purpose

Much like when building your Personal Brand, you should have a sense of purpose. Think about your long-term goals and how you can achieve them. You will almost certainly need to grow along the way.
 

Remember Actions Reap Rewards, Not Traits

It does not matter if you aced every test in school or were the greatest player on the sport’s team. Unless you put in the effort, you will not reap the rewards. Be a Lionel Messi, not a Nicklas Bendtner.
 

Cultivate Determination

Seeking approval from others is limiting. The most important person to seek approval from is yourself. Those with a keen sense of determination are more likely to seek their own approval.
 

Always Move the Goalposts

Achieving a goal is great, but what’s next? If you wish to continue growing, you must have a new goal. Perhaps you hit all your sales targets this month? Brilliant! Add 5% to the figure and go again. You should never be accepting of the same result for too long.
 

Take Your Time

You spent most of the first two decades of your life in education for a reason. Learning takes time. Just as you cannot learn a new language in an afternoon, you cannot expect to become the thought leader in your field in a week. Keep at it and think of the long game.
 

Chip Away At the Fixed Mindset

When you start seeing the results of your Growth Mindset, you will realise how the Fixed Mindset is a large boulder tied around your waist. Though you may never be able to cut the rope, you can hack away at the stone to make yourself grow that much faster.

The post Developing a Growth Mindset appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Whether working in an office or at home, the chances are that there are days when you do not feel productive. It is easy for our minds to wander, or for us to put off more difficult tasks in favour of simpler ones. However, in doing so, we often create even more work for ourselves. Streamlining your productivity is an important step to success. Today, we outline a simple system for improving your time management skills.

Start By Taking Notes

To improve our time management skills, we first need to identify how we are misusing time at present. Begin by taking notes of everything you do in a day over the course of a week or two, and this means everything. Jot down the time you spend on work, chat, getting a coffee, surfing the web and even staring blankly at your screen hoping that inspiration or motivation strikes.

The goal is to lay out how you are currently using your time. Once you see how much time you waste on unproductive things, you should be motivated to do something about it.

Focus on What’s Important

You need to begin assigning a priority and an urgency to your tasks. A simple way of doing this is the Time Management Matrix.

We want to start breaking unproductive habits, such as getting through easier but non-urgent tasks. The longer you leave an urgent task, particularly one that will require a significant time investment, the more overwhelming it seems. Although some people work more effectively to deadlines, many struggle to focus as pressure begins to afflict the mind and cloud judgement.

Plan Your Day

Some prefer to do it first thing in the morning; others prefer to do it at night. Whichever you prefer, make sure you are heading into each new work day with a clear plan that puts urgent, high-priority tasks first. You might want to create a checklist to give yourself a visual cue that you are getting through your work or to simply feel a sense of accomplishment as you tick tasks off.

One method you might consider is to use your calendar and treat each task as an appointment. You should also allow time for interruptions while making a conscious decision to keep these to a minimum.

Plan to Think

A time plan should include time to think and reflect on the task before you. Studies have shown that 20% of our thoughts contribute to 80% of our productivity. Work that performed regularly might be second nature, but you need to allow some time to have conversations or plan tasks that are less familiar.

Consider the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a method of maintaining focus on tasks. It is based on evidence that the human brain is only capable of peak-focus for 25-30 minutes at a time. Therefore, you would work for twenty-five minutes, take a five-minute break, and then resume what you are doing. One major benefit of this method is learning how long tasks generally take and allowing for better time management. You can start to think of tasks in the number of sessions needed, as opposed to a number of hours.

Another advantage to adopting the Pomodoro Technique is realising how much you can do in twenty-five minutes. You might be surprised! With a timer ticking down, you might even be spurred on to finish part of the task before your next break.

Phone: Off or Priority Only

One of the most useful devices on your desk is also one of the biggest distractions. Little beeps and flashing lights; mobile phones demand attention. Most modern smartphones allow you to limit notifications to priority only. This means that your boss or an important client can get through, but sales calls or non-pressing messages get silenced. Treat is as a digital Do Not Disturb sign and stop allowing your phone to intrude on your workday.

Email: Ditto

How much time do you spend reading or replying to emails that can wait? In the same way that you prioritise your workload and your phone contacts, you should prioritise your emails. If a message flashes up that is not from an important client or colleague, do not feel drawn to reading it. This might take some training and self-control, but unimportant emails are a time-stealer.

Consider Using an App

There are a variety of applications out there that can help you manage your day and collate your thoughts. Microsoft OneNote, Evernote, SimpleNote, Jotterpad, etc.

These apps have varying features, so I cannot recommend the one that works for you, but many allow you to create notes, plan your day and move tasks about to keep on top of things. Ensuring that you remain organised is key to good time management, and these applications might help.

Always Plan for Me Time

A major point of streamlining your productivity is to give yourself more personal time. You do not want to be working all the time because you want to reap the benefits of your work. Once you get organised, you will soon see that saving ten minutes here and fifteen minutes there adds up to a lot more personal time for you to enjoy with friends, family or simply by yourself.

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