When most of the current management generation graduated, they were courted by their potential employers during a traditional university ‘milkround’, attending a series of interviews and assessments with a few well-chosen organisations, before finally accepting the best offer. Technology has already transformed how we work in 2018, but the differences will be far more stark by 2028.
The outdoors is back! When Acorn first started out back in 1995 the majority of the programs we ran were outdoors based. Whether that be leadership development, or coaching courses, we used the outdoors in some way. Then in 2009 the recession hit, companies had to tighten their belts, and they couldn’t justify money on…
In the latest in our leadership series we focus on future-proofing your leadership capability from within, expand on some of the financial advantages to promoting internally, and suggest more ways to develop your high potential future leaders, making sure that your company doesn’t get caught out when the status quo is challenged.
At Acorn, we have many years of experience of accelerating bid team performance, whether accelerating the alliance of a number of companies coming together, or optimising the diversity of ideas within a single business. Common to all situations is the need for the bid team to create a key differentiator from its competitors.
UK firms need to be in a position of strength to thrive rather than survive, and high productivity is crucial to competing in the coming new world. Mike Pezet shares his view on how effective coaching and development helps line managers build their understanding, confidence and ability to lead and engage employees.
The training and development of your staff costs money – a lot of money – so it needs to add real value to your business. Acorn focus on making sure all our training and coaching is practical, realistic and in line with business goals. We also make sure you get the best value possible from your training and coaching investment.
The success of safety improvement in the last 20 years or so has valuable lessons for other aspects of the organisation. Dealing with quality issues, slippage of project costs and schedules, and how to foster innovation to compete with other businesses are all areas ripe for the deliberate application of safety thinking.
Despite the economic recovery now becoming mature, and many sectors being finally ‘on the up’, the economic pressure on projects is ever present, with tighter margins and an increased need to deliver the product on time and within budget. Project performance is equally if not more critical than it was several years ago.
Based on our experiences in the graduate sector, here we share our advice for designing successful graduate programmes that will retain and develop your new talent as quickly as possible.
Acorn’s 20 years of experience of working with complex projects within the construction and infrastructure business leads us to believe there to be three key issues that impact project success.