The ambient office
 The office environment has gone through a number of facelifts over the years and it’s not easy to say which the ideal format is. In the 60’s and early 70’s...
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Can HR be inspirational?
Can HR be inspirational? When you think of the word inspiration, you might associate it with political leaders such as Gandhi, Churchill, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela; you might think of...
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How can HR support innovation?
Innovation is one of the primary ways of gaining competitive edge over your rivals and many companies may look to their HR Departments...
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Family friendly relocation
In the course of reviewing Head hunter candidate profiles, I sometimes come across unsuccessful relocations being attributed to the employee's partner being unable to settle.
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HR Unplugged?
The 80’s and 90’s saw a string of bands react against heavily produced albums by bringing out recordings of live, ‘unplugged’ performances.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Whistle while you work
As you are working now, can you hear music? Whether you can or can't, do you think you should be able to listen to music in the workplace?
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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A stitch in time
‘A stitch in time saves nine’ is an English idiom meaning that an early repair saves a lot of work later on. Although Poland has been partially insulated from the financial fallout, the after-shocks of the economic quake continue to rumble on, particularly for multi-nationals and their key suppliers;
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Remote working
On a freezing cold, winter’s morning with difficult travel conditions, it makes a lot of sense to work from home. Of course, the idea of remote working has been around for donkey’s years but it’s only over the last few years that it’s really taken off.
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Unconferences
If you are weary of the same old, tired format of training seminars and business conferences with long winded, boring speakers then an ‘unconference’ might be the answer!
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate
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2010 HR Predictions
With the New Year just starting, it’s time to dust down the crystal ball and look into the future. What are likely to be the significant issues affecting HR in the next twelve months? Here are some suggestions.
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I’ll drink to that!
As Christmas draws near, many companies will be organising their work's 'do' or Christmas party. This may be at the place of work or more likely, off-site at a restaurant or function venue. Catering may comprise a buffet with light refreshments and hors d'oeuvres or a full, sit down meal.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate
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Christmas Crackers
Christmas crackers are a traditional part of the British Christmas and are used to decorate the table. Crackers are made of cardboard tubes wrapped in coloured paper.
This week's lesson will be of a slightly different character: language knowledge in the form of interesting, funny or intriguing reading text accompanied by an appropriate language activity divided into three distinctive levels of language proficiency.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Lasoń-Kurzela - Head of Language Training, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Accelerated Learning
Do you use accelerated learning techniques in your company training? If not, you might want to try some. Accelerated Learning techniques originated with the work of Bulgarian psychologist, Lazenov with his concept of suggestopedia.
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Happy sheets
Happy sheets are an informal term for post-course evaluation questionnaires. Whilst it may seem reasonable to gain customer feedback about course effectiveness, course evaluations can have a number of shortcomings.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate
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Sick buildings
Can a building be sick? Apparently yes, if it has Sick Building Syndrome. A syndrome is a combination of illnesses. Obviously, in reality, the building doesn’t get ill but employees certainly do. The problem is that many of the dangers are not visible or as obvious as the risks seen on a building site
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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What do management consultants do?
What do management consultants do? Not a lot, some might answer!
A popular definition of a management consultant is, it is someone who borrows your watch, tells you the time and then charges you. So if that is the case, why do companies continue to hire them?
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Gobbledygook
Gobbledygook is a word to describe nonsense and meaningless language particularly regarding red tape, unintelligible instructions and corporate language.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Dress sense
If you have good dress sense it means that you have good taste in clothes and you can match different items, colours and accessories well, but is it possible for a company to have good dress sense? Most companies, to some extent, stipulate what employees should wear even if it’s just implied through unwritten, expected behaviour...
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Cultural awareness
For people working in a country other than their own, apart from the obvious language difficulties, understanding the culture is also very important. People need to become sensitive to differences concerning customs and behavioural norms so that they do not cause offence and damage working or business relationships.
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Time to shelve off the shelf training
Remarkably, I still get asked to 'knock together' a quick training programme. A company approached me with a request for a sales course. 'OK', I said, what are the objectives and who are the target group?'
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Food for thought
‘An army marches on its stomach.’ This is a reported quote of Napoleon. He wasn’t talking about crawling on the ground but the fact that food is important. In an army’s case, it would ensure health, energy and morale.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Assessment centres
These days, especially for more senior positions, assessment centres are used as a means of selection. This is a much more elaborate method of selection than the straightforward interview and will undoubtedly take more time and cost more so what does it involve and is it worth it?
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Welcome abroad
How should a company welcome its new employees? Some people still favour a sink or swim approach but luckily for employees, these people are in the minority. Starting a new job with unfamiliar faces and surroundings can be very daunting, so some form of guidance can be most helpful.
Author: George Sandford - Learning Associate, ACT Advanced Corporate Training
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Supplier partnerships
In the current economic climate, many organisations have simply frozen all recruitment and employee development activity. That means that recruitment agencies, consultancies and training organisations could all be given the cold shoulder
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Generation Y
One of the hot topics and issues doing the rounds at the moment is the concept of Generation Y. This describes people born after Generation X which is later than 1981. The general contention is that this generation is different to its predecessors in a number of ways that are problematic for employers.
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