Don’t dismiss or underestimate roleplaying in learning new communication skills.

There’s real power in ‘being’ someone else - even for 5 minutes.

We all produce work and we all do that from a place. And where we work matters.

What difference would it make to you to think about where you work from and how that effects your focus, your commitment and your output?

A story of managing change, finding freedom in new places and spicing up Saturday afternoons

I look forward to going there and I LOVE the feeling of having been there. And once I’ve been, I feel lighter.

What are you doing to meet your audiences’ needs? How would you rate your connection with them? And what happens when you don’t get them and they don’t get you?

The short answer is that you look a bit daft and it teaches you to laugh at yourself. Here are two occasions when I did not do my homework about who was sitting in front of me.

“That was a slow shuffle through hell – let’s do this again” said no-one ever. Are you a facilitator, teacher or trainer? Here’s how to use laughter to look after people’s energy and, equally importantly, your own.

Learning doesn't always have to be so serious. Here's how to get more engagement, more focus, more fun and more oomph into learning programmes and go from yuck to yay.

“The best course in leadership the school offers” is how it’s often referred to at The Hotelschool The Hague: a five day outdoor programme in The Ardennes, Belgium.

Twelve young leaders are thrown together to complete a range of assignments, 2 night time hikes with overnight camps, a bunch of new leadership theory and not a lot of sleep. Having gone as a co-trainer on a retreat here’s what I learned…

Time to move on: Time for new learning, time to get unstuck, time for a new job. Here are some techniques to help create and manage change.

As a qualified coach when I’m working with someone there are 3 tools that have the biggest impact.

You’ve probably heard of the fear of missing out (FOMO) but what about the joy of missing out (JOMO). Do you know about the great benefits of JOMO?

“People are worried about why you’re not going out” Martin said. I was then a 22 year old student and my friend was disappointed I was yet again not joining the crowd downtown on a Thursday night.

But I had plans.

The steel covers from man holes got stolen making the walk home a bit dicey, “anti-trouble emulsion” was sold in chemists and mutton was on every menu. My first few days in the city had been educational but I was ready for something different.

I had an appointment to meet someone new. At an interview. The conversation was flowing, we were laughing together and it looked like a good match. Then Jayne paused. “Wow. You really don’t know what you’re doing, do you?"

I smiled and nodded “I really don’t. That’s why I placed the advert.”

What kind of coffee do I want? Where are the canned tomatoes? How do I cross the street? Life is full of “big” questions that can send our brain into overdrive. Here’s how to take care of your brain when you're dealing with new stuff.

Newness is exhilarating. It’s an adventure. And it’s exhausting. But it doesn’t have to be.

I recently wrote about my recent experience at a networking event, that women were holding themselves back and that we need to talk about confidence. In this follow up blog I’m going to share 10 ways that can develop your confidence (whether you’re a woman or a man).

This means that the next time you’re given a brilliant opportunity you’ll reply with gusto “Why of course, I will be there with bells on - just try and stop me!”

Are you woman? Read this. Men, do you know any women? Show them this article. It could change their career.

I was recently at a breakfast networking event on the topic of listening. You know, that part of communication that we understand makes all the difference but that can be maddeningly challenging. And I learned something shocking: Sisters are screwing it for themselves.

Spiderman keeps his identity secret in order to protect those he cares about, he learns how to develop his newly found superpowers and he meters out justice with a certain discipline. Spiderman has values.

This is the third and final blog about my reflections on the recent conference I attended, Brave New Learning, in Amsterdam. Here, I explore values and how two young women used peer led projects and community engagement to make a real difference through education.

Spiderman learned that with great power comes great responsibility and that he had to achieve a balance between these two competing issues. This blog looks at ways we can achieve more balance in adult education.

I recently attended the conference Brave New Learning in Amsterdam. This is the second blog reflecting on it and explores two brilliant forms of accessible, adult education and whether online education is really for everyone.

What would Spiderman do if he had to design a learning and development programme? Be honest - this question has kept you up at night. Spiderman is known for his creative thinking, balance and superhuman strength: just some of the same things I learned at the conference Brave New Learning last week in Amsterdam.

In the first of three reflective blogs, I learned how creative, playful learning can be used to engage folk, get them thinking and inspire them to craft amazing solutions to knotty problems.

Mentoring can take many forms and shapes. Here, two females born into very different worlds decades apart show the power of learning from one another.

Miranda is 7 ¾ and Stephanie is 84 ¾. This mentoring conversation might seem as likely as Depeche Mode singing about building a set of Ikea book shelves but these two females both learn from each other.

Mentoring is having someone in your corner to help you develop personally and professionally. Here are three tips to keep in mind.

1) Careful with the steering: learning is a process of trial and error. Be gentle with yourself as a mentee.
2) Get your go to place ready: when your head is full and you need a break this will provide you with the space to do that.
3) Find your sanctuary person: find a person who gives you unconditional support to help you through the tough stuff.

Why one little piece of punctuation shapes how we see people, what women can do to be seen as more professional in the workplace and why Hemingway would have had a tough time on social media.

Exclamation marks. Love them or hate them, to exclaim or not to exclaim: that is the question. Because although it’s a teeny tiny thing it punches above its weight. It’s powerful.

Great questions to develop rapport, the Dalai Lama telling it like it is and the mighty power of a handwritten card.

Right up there with the fear most people have for public speaking is walking into a room full of strangers and talking to folk you’ve never met in your life. You know the deal. Your boss is keen that you network at that event, get the word out about a new product and come back with a host of leads.

Here are real, practical ways to successfully network and be a good asset to others in your network.

We are all public speakers. Whether it’s show and tell at school, being put on the spot at work to “just say a few words” or facing a sea of expectant faces from a stage. Here are ten top tips to help you.

It covers a range of topics from storytelling to the power of pauses, and why clarity, editing and learning the needs of your audience are your best friends when you’re preparing what you’re going to say.