Training Blog

As a regular speaker and trainer, I have long known the benefits of recording your own work to review and improve presentation skills. However, the new generation of digital voice recorders appear to have the potential to add a new dimension to the seminar world. It is now possible to record many hours of broadcast quality material on removable media such as XD cards or memory stick. I thought that it might be a good idea to give my guidance on the ideal digital voice recorder.
 

• Sufficient memory to record a whole days seminar (using removable media)


• Stereo, broadcast quality recording


• Compatible with Dragon Simply Speaking Preferred version 8

 
Of course, if anyone finds such a machine can they please let me know!

Sunday was a 32 degree day in East Midlands and so I took the opportunity to read the last 150 pages of my Harlan Coben novel whilst sitting in the sunshine with a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio. It isn´t often that I find the time to do that, as any self-respecting entrepreneur will testify to. However, the results of total relaxation in the sunshine were quite liberating.
 
Apart from the obvious chilled sense of relaxation gained, I found that by evening my brain was in a hyper productive mood. I then read a relatively simple book on Seminar Selling which stimulated a further set of ideas in the same vein. As we do engage in leadership & performance training, seminars are a key component of our product offering. Not only did I find that I was coming up with highly innovative seminar subjects but also equally innovative ways to market them. I can´t quite recommend moving my business to the Spanish sunshine just yet but it is well worth noting the beneficial effects of sun and relaxation. I firmly believe that every hyper-busy entrepreneur should find the time to completely chill in the sun (if that makes sense…). It might just be the most productive thing they can do!

If you are familiar with the Merrill and Reid descriptions of people styles; Driver, Amiable, Analytical, Expressive, you will no doubt know that the majority of IT staff fall into the analytical category. In terms of behavioural motivation, this would be Analytical Autonomising measured using the Strength Deployment Inventory. I thought I´d share a brief thought on how to excite an otherwise slightly reserved group.
 
At lunch today, I took I took reserved silence to mean that Andy, my web developer, was deep in thought over a complex algorithm that would blow away the average boffin when I noticed that most of my suggestions were receiving a rough ride like "no, won´t work". On delving further it turns out that he was faced with a double-whammy problem; a brewing server nightmare coupled with the need to spend money. If you are at all familiar with the mindset of the analytical, you will realise that either of these are enough to cause meltdown.

 
Once I had determined the problem, the solution was obvious. I took the decision to spend the money and methodically went through the process to ensure no errors. Andy can now only be described as ´excited´ at having two brand new servers to twiddle with and has returned to his normal self. Who says that the practical, pragmatic approach of the Driver isn´t attractive to a Green?

Our small team frequently goes out to lunch to take a break from our frenetic environment. What we´ve found is that putting three or four heads together over Kentucky Fried Chicken (sorry Colonel, KFC – we all still know what it means – it´s still mangled chicken carcass deep fried in three week old fat) is actually one of the most creative times we have.
 
When I compare this to distinct brain storming sessions in the office, the KFC route always works far better. It gets me thinking that maybe there´s a rational. Perhaps the provision of food revitalises a flagging brain, perhaps our office is not conducive to creation or maybe, just maybe, the Colonel wasn´t joking about his secret ingredients!

I was having lunch with my wife yesterday (yes, I must be one of those new, sensitive husband types – all enquiries by email in completely confidence…) and we were discussing how to get our ´just´ teenager to remember important things; well anything actually.Well here´s two suggestions:
 
Automated SMS Reminders
We are setting her up with an eppointments.co.uk account that allows her (and us) to set text reminders using a web-based programme from our PC. Given that most teenagers spend more time with a phone glued to their ear than actually talking to their parents, this might just do the trick. We´ll set up simple reminders like "Feed the Guinea Pigs, Cruella" or "It´s Friday evening, so don´t even try to kid us you´ve got no art homework".

 
Her own blog
We discussed the idea of blogging with her and she is really keen to ramble on about all sorts of rubbish. It´s not so much a change as a different medium. But… how about if we set up her blog so that it has key reminders on in bold, red for instance? Just an idea.

We´re recruiting a few positions at the moment to work in our offices in Derby. Most of them are temporary, covering acute requirements over the summer period. I placed a number of ads on Reed.co.uk using their free recruitment service called freecruitment.

 
Freecruitment is a great service (especially because it´s free) that works well, is easy for the user and allows you a great deal of space. However, the response can be a bit perplexing when you are specifically looking for local staff. Although you must select a geographical area based upon a town, job hunters can obviously search at every level up to national. Here´s what happens…
 
For my simple Graphic Design person, I´ve had responses from:

• Nottingham (just the one!)


• London


• Glasgow


• Poland
• India

 
I´m in no way prejudice against distant applications but let´s face it, how many small businesses are going to employ someone on a 2-month contract from India at a salary of below ?15,000. Although my response has been good, I am finding that it is taking quite some time to respond to everyone to decline their application. My solution – why doesn´t freecruitment introduce a select option so that employers can restrict their advert to people JUST searching on their local area?

The last two days I´ve been searching for Graphic Design support for my business. We´re looking for someone who is creative and thinks out of the box to produce brochures, magazine layouts, website layouts, innovative imagery etc and so it all falls into a category of visual communication. So, you´d think that someone applying for the post would apply their creative expertise to their CV.
 
Todate, the best CV has been ´pleasantly´ laid out in pure black and white, with the worst being a bland list in 12pt Times New Roman (don´t call us…). Maybe my brain works a bit too hard but I don´t think it´s a huge conceptual hurdle to realise that a creative CV for a creative post is always going to land you a better response. Maybe my ad just sucked and so I´m recruiting from the bottom of the pile.

The debate over what really constitutes an entrepreneur has raged for many years. Strangely, some seem to believe that you only need to have your own company to be classed an entrepreneur but then this includes groups such as owner-managers where the firm has been passed through generations. In reality, these people may not be remotely entrepreneurial in spirit and so we need to consider a tighter definition.
Equally, when considering a definition, should we consider whether the entrepreneur is successful or not. Someone may have a desire to set up their own business but not actually be remotely innovative and consequently fail. Does this person still qualify as an entrepreneur?
Probably the best definition I have heard was from an finance professor at Manchester Business School, being:
An entrepreneur is someone who pursues business objectives regardless of resources.
This suggests that an entrepreneur is someone who finds a way, doesn´t let obstacles prevent them from achieving, takes risks in the interest of business or wealth creation or…. recklessly embarks on projects without the proper resources! I guess the debate remains open.