Rapid Business Improvement - tools for consultants (consulting)

Ready made materials for trainers

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:34:00 +0000

www.rapidbi.com/ © This article is copyright RapidBI 2006, 2008 – it may be copied providing the authors are credited, and direct links maintained

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Looking for ready to use training materials and courses?

Ready to use “off the shelf” training resources

Are you looking for ready made training course materials?

As time goes on it is getting increasingly difficult to write material from scratch. Not that writing is difficult – but that the time to do so is becoming more and more difficult. Training solutions are needed this week, with little time to prepare effectively.

In addition it is not only trainers that are asked to design and deliver training courses, but HR and line managers.

With our ready made training materials it is all here for you, a complete kit:

Facilitators guide with icebreakers and how to lead training sessions

Leaders guide – step by step what to do and say

Participant packs & handouts – ready for you to print and hand out

PowerPoint slides ready for you to brand & customize

Certificates – ready to print

Activities, exercises and other resources as required

Most of our ready made & ready to use courses are half day duration, some are one day. They are easy to shorten or make longer as you need.

Ready made and ready to use training course materials & trainers notes

Mike Morrison is director of RapidBI, an organizational effectiveness consultancy. He has been involved in HR, OD and strategic development for over 20 years. He can be contacted via

How to Select a Training Provider

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:10:00 +0000

How to choose and buy training from an external provider

Training is increasingly being seen as an optional spend. With more and more being... http://rapidbi.com/management/how-to-select-a-training-provider/

History of Coaching - A True Insight into Coaching

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:20:00 +0000

History of Coaching

Coaching is everywhere. It is the hot topic of management, leadership and people development. This article explores the history of coaching through the... http://rapidbi.com/management/history-of-coaching-a-true-insight-into-coaching/

Harvard Yale Written Goals Study - fact or fiction?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:15:00 +0000

3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined

Or so the written goal study story goes regarding personal effectiveness and performance...

The Dangers of Social Networking - Duplicity

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:14:00 +0000

Social Networking destroyed my confidence

Some months ago we published a humorous piece on "

Should Staff Work Their Full Notice Period?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:51:00 +0000

How to maintain performance when a person is working their notice period

As an employer we want the employee to stay... http://rapidbi.com/management/should-staff-work-their-full-notice-period/

Harvard Yale Written Goals Study - fact or fiction?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:57:00 +0000

3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined

Or so the written goal study story goes...

For a long time I have heard of the 1953 Harvard study or the 1979 Yale study on the effects of written goals of graduates on the long term performance or people. many coaching, training and personal development providers quote one or other as the reason why we should each have written life and performance goals.

Many often quote it as being:

Pecha Kucha or the 20x20 presentation technique

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Pecha Kucha or how to get your point across in less than seven minutes?

Do you want your audience to be hooked from the off? Then... http://rapidbi.com/management/pecha-kucha-or-the-20x20-presentation-technique/

Hidden Dangers of 25% budget cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:57:00 +0000

In tough times we need to make tough decisions

How to cut 25% budget without spiting your face.

With public sector organisations all over the UK (and others) facing mandatory cuts of 25% budget cuts across... http://rapidbi.com/management/hidden-dangers-of-25-budget-cuts/

Business Intelligence

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:19:00 +0000

What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

Business Intelligence ranges from data about an organization's performance, through to customer purchasing habits, industry, market and/or competitor analysis.

Once a strategy for Business Intelligence data collection has been developed, the systems provide a rapid approach to having this data for business focused decision making. Measure the wrong things or fail to take into account changes or trends and the data you have is worse than... http://rapidbi.com/management/business-intelligence-bi/

What is Jelly? - co-working for lone workers

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:18:00 +0000

Jelly - A Semi-Weekly Work Together

Today I received an interesting tweet about "#Jelly". This got me interested and I stared a little research. In essence, Jelly is a way for people that work on their own to... http://rapidbi.com/management/what-is-jelly-co-working-for-lone-workers/

History of SMART Objectives

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Introduction to SMART objectives and SMART Goals

Management by Objectives is often credited to Peter Drucker in his 1954 book... http://rapidbi.com/management/history-of-smart-objectives/

Organizational Development & Organizational Effectiveness

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sat, 29 May 2010 17:03:00 +0000

OD Culture and needs assessment

What is Organizational Development?

Organization Development (OD) is a complex strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, culture and structure of organizations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges. Organizational Development methods are employed to improve Organizational Effectiveness (OE).

Performance improvement is a key reason for... http://rapidbi.com/management/organizational-development-organizational-effectiveness/

Top 50 HR blogs in the world

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:23:00 +0000

RapidBI listed as one of the Top 50 HR blogs in the World

Today whilst traveling back home from running workshops across the UK all week I picked up on a twitter thread about top HR Blogs. With Jon Ingham congratulation several people for their blogs. Low an behold RapidBI was one of them! Thank... http://rapidbi.com/management/top-50-hr-blogs-in-the-world/

Porter's Five Forces - Competitor Analysis (Michael Porter)

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:07:00 +0000

Michael Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Michael Porter's five forces is a model used to explore the environment in which a product or company operates.

Five forces analysis looks at five key areas mainly... http://rapidbi.com/management/porters-five-forces-competitor-analysis-michael-porter/

Training Needs Analysis TNA - sample templates

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sat, 22 May 2010 08:54:00 +0000

Training Needs Analysis TNA - sample templates

The links below will provide access to a sample TNA form and an example how the same data can be used for developing personal development plans.

TNA Sample data collection form and Sample Output for PDP use

The original article published in TrainingZone is... http://rapidbi.com/management/training-needs-analysis-tna-sample-templates/

The Perfect Training Room Of The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:16:00 +0000

Anatomy of a training environment

Times are changing, as should the use and technology within a training room, but what technologies could be used to create an effective learning environment?... http://rapidbi.com/management/the-perfect-training-room-of-the-future/

20 Tip Checklist - Training Room/ Venue Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:16:00 +0000

Basic Requirements of a Training Room/ Venue

Often I get asked by new trainers what are the basics I need from a training venue. So here is my 20 point checklist of the basics (in no particular order)...

Access to public transport

Additional stationery if required, eg paper, pens, highlighters etc

Air-conditioning/ fans/ heating that's easily adjustable

Catering - appropriate provision of refreshments/... http://rapidbi.com/management/training-room-venue-basics/

Brainstorming - Making it work in light of new research

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:14:00 +0000

Group think limits brainstorming benefits

In an article:

"Collaborative fixation: Effects of others' ideas on brainstorming" by: Nicholas W. Kohn, Steven M. Smith in Applied Cognitive Psychology (29 March 2010) an insight into the real effectiveness of brainstorming is given.

The abstract summarizes the thinking very well:

Three experiments examined whether or not fixation effects occur in brainstorming as a function of receiving... http://rapidbi.com/management/brainstorming-making-it-work-in-light-of-new-research/

Model and Theory - Urgent Vs Important

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:49:00 +0000

Time Management Prioritisation

Management model - time and priority management - Urgent... http://rapidbi.com/management/model-and-theory-urgent-vs-important/

Creativity and Innovation Models - applying in practice

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Creativity and Innovation Models

There are many approached to creativity and innovation, however many users look at the technique and not the process or barriers.

In our brief article on the 4-As (Aim Assess Activate & Apply) we looked at how this process could be easily used to help develop the innovative... http://rapidbi.com/management/creativity-and-innovation-models-applying-in-practice/

Training Needs Analysis Template - Call Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:43:00 +0000

Training Needs Analysis/ Assessment - Call Centre Agent

Purpose of Training Needs Analysis (TNA)

The company considers a Call Centre Agent as a valuable asset that could help best deliver the services that the client expects

Training Plans and Training Plan Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:55:00 +0000

Sample Training Plans and Templates

As organizations change their structure more and more managers are being asked to develop training plans. With many of these organizations not having a centralised training function or resource this is leading to a plethora of formats of training plans in organizations and sectors.

To help those managers in the position of writing a training plan, we have developed a short series of articles providing a range of structures - one of which will... http://rapidbi.com/management/training-plans-and-training-plan-templates/

ASTD, SHRM and CIPD to Merge - Shock news in the world of HR

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:27:00 +0000

Team Leader Mentoring

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Morrison) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:13:00 +0000

Using Mentoring to Effectively Develop Team Leaders

Team leader and middle management mentoring is... http://rapidbi.com/management/team-leader-mentoring/