Articles and News

People have an amazing capacity to collaborate and generate creative solutions. Yet so much gets in the way of this natural human ability. This article sets out the seven principles of RapidConsensus™ (a programme that we offer) that allows you to mine the collective intelligence and knowledge of a group. These principles have been distilled [...]

Mind Map and pointers as to when better facilitation would be beneficial

x
x
x
Facilitation can save time, help generate better ideas and bring a group of people together. Here are some underlying principles and a guide to best practice:
x
x
x

Be objective – you (the facilitator) need to be neutral. Take a step back from your own feelings and the detailed content, to be able to focus purely on the [...]

The world has moved into a new era in the last 30 years. Instead of the Industrial Age, we are now living and working in the Information Age; the pace of both technological and cultural change is faster than ever before. Successful businesses have always been the ones run by people who create new products [...]

Illumine Training, the management and personal skills development training company, officially launched its ‘Illumine Guide to Learning’ app today. The free app, created specifically to make business professionals and students more effective and efficient in how they learn and absorb information, is the distillation of over 16 years experience of training businesses and students.
The easy [...]

Business cannot function without language. Spoken and written, language is intrinsic to the success of a business; we use language to communicate, store and retrieve information, thoughts and ideas. Obvious perhaps, but it goes further than that; the way we use language says something about us as individuals and about the organisations we work in. [...]

Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP is an approach to inter-personal interaction which encourages people to actively use the mind, body and emotions to run their life more successfully, and communicate with others in an enhanced and effective manner. It is said that becoming skilled in NLP will allow you to:
- Achieve better success at things you [...]

Sensory memory and short-term memory work in cooperation in order to help the brain store information for later recall. When information is first received by means of one of the five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell), it is retained for a very brief period of time in the sensory registers. The amount of [...]

Employee engagement and motivation are vital for any business to thrive. An engaged employee will be willing to work harder for your company and is less likely to leave. According to Scarlett Surveys, “Employee engagement is a measurable degree of an employee’s positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, which profoundly influences their [...]

Every business needs engaged and motivated employees in order to thrive. All business managers know that employees who are motivated are less likely to have time off for stress related issues, are likely to be vastly more productive and less likely to resign and move on. Something that can prove difficult is empowering employees to [...]

This article is written by the developers of the PassionWorks!™ engagement model. PassionWorks!™ is at the heart of our Employee Engagement and Passionate Leadership courses. It is based on in-depth research into the nature and components of passion – or engagement – at work. That research led directly to a new definition of passion at [...]

To open up an interesting conversation with your team and to check-in on each person’s PassionFlow!™ (PF) as well as the overall team’s PF, try the following activity:

Draw our PassionWorks!™ Model on a flipchart.
Next, ask each person to think about what phase they think the team is in, predominantly. What is the primary phase at [...]

It has long been recognised that a certain amount of challenge is a good thing. This is true in both the business and academic worlds. Challenges serve the useful function of motivating workers and learners to strive for excellence. This leads to such positive behaviours as time management, developing new levels of efficiency, and delegating [...]

It is no coincidence that students just beginning to learn to read are offered short, simple sentences of only two or three words each. This practice reflects the general understanding that the level of complexity inherent in a piece of writing will affect the reader’s ability to understand it.

The ability to write in an informative and authoritative manner is vital for businesses. The advent of such sites as Twitter with its 140-character limit, promotes writing that is immediate, brief, and somewhat informal. In this ‘Twitter Age’, much business writing has been influenced by this brevity, which can sometimes lead to cut corners and [...]

Many of us in the business world are required to make presentations, whether we are delivering to a customer or colleagues.
We may also feel that verbal communication skills are not one of our best attributes, it is something that you will be required to think quickly about and use on-the-spot. It is easy for us [...]

Spontaneous speaking is an essential skill for leaders, managers and front line staff who want to engage their audiences.
Say the right thing at the right time… speak off the cuff… improvise… we can’t help but admire those who have the ability to be spontaneous – and rightly so. If you want to become [...]

Talking to your boss, a colleague or customer…
Creating a podcast…
Being interviewed…

Good verbal communication skills are important in business, so that you can communicate effectively with people in a wide variety of situations. In some cases you may be dealing with people in other countries, people with different cultures, varying ages and with different levels [...]

WARNING: This article contains the top 3 ways to avoid creative thinking!
Clive Lewis, Founder and Managing Director of Illumine Training looks into this very important, but widely ignored subject from the perspective of a senior manager and business leader.
I looked at the first question above and was reminded of the single question, two hour philosophy [...]

Stop for a moment and consider the most successful companies of the last 50 years. Do you know what made them successful? Their employees and the fact that the company heads tapped into the creative thinking of those working for them. The more you use the talent at your disposal, the better your company will [...]