Collaboration
We often talk about collaboration being a key factor in high functioning and high performing organisations, and for good reason writes Acorn associate Becky Viccars
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Clear, Kind Leadership
A solid foundation of trust is absolutely imperative for creating a cohesive and high performing team, writes Acorn associate Becky Viccars in our latest Insight article.
Cumbrian Charity COAT to Close
Over recent years, Acorn have been immensely proud to support the Cumbria Overseas Aid Trust (COAT) as our chosen charity, and it was terribly sad to hear that the charity has decided to close after nearly 40 years supporting communities in some of the poorest regions of the world.
Green Light for Kier and HMP Glasgow
We are delighted to see confirmation that Kier have been awarded the contract by the Scottish Government to deliver a major new prison project, HMP Glasgow.
Succession Planning for SMEs: Securing the Future of Your Business
Succession planning is often overlooked by SMEs, but for businesses operating at this level it’s absolutely essential to develop their future leaders.
The Benefits of Outdoor Management Development
Acorn’s outdoor management development (OMD) programmes offer a unique and powerful way to enhance leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Unlike traditional indoor and classroom-based training, OMD helps participants break free from the constraints of the office environment, encouraging deep connection, fresh perspectives and creativity.
RACER Update July 2024
Acorn is in the latter stages of their collaboration and team coaching work with the RACER team at Nuclear Waste Services in west Cumbria and the findings of the Collaboration Questionnaire continue to underline the progress made by this high performing team.
Kinamba Community Project Update – April 2024
Kinamba Community Project Update – April 2024 We were thrilled when a brief newsletter arrived with us this week from Meg at the Kinamba Community Project about a visit to the GITISI secondary school where a number of children from the Project are studying. The school is a secondary boarding school and one of the…
Don’t Let Bad Apples Spoil Your Team
Do you ever wonder just how many perfectly good barrels of fruit get spoiled by just one ‘bad apple’? The bad apple analogy is well-known and generally accepted, but how often is this off-the-cuff remark taken seriously and acted upon in the workplace?
Recognition for Team Contribution, Regardless of Role
Whilst the majority of Acorn’s work is with individuals and teams at the forefront of an organisation’s activities, we were recently included in an internal communication piece which demonstrated a company’s culture of collaboration and enhanced teamwork cascading through the business.
RACER Team Pushing to the Finish Line
Acorn’s involvement in the Repository Asset Care Enhancements and Remediation (RACER) programme for Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) is scheduled for completion in the summer and as covered in our last update, the trajectory of this project continues to rise.
Mining for Conflict to Cultivate Effective Collaboration
Conflict in high performing teams can be healthy and help stimulate creativity and innovation. In this article, we look at the types of conflict, the importance of trust and ways to help ensure conflict remains constructive.
ROI: The Collaboration Questionnaire
How can a management development company like Acorn demonstrate return on investment and team improvement through the lifespan of a coaching programme? The Collaboration Questionnaire provides evidence that’s hard to ignore.
Dip-a-Day December, Done!
The thought of taking the plunge into the chilly waters of the Lake District at any time of year may leave many of us cold but for Acorn’s Pippa Mitchell the idea of ‘Dip-a-Day December’ was a heartwarming challenge she couldn’t refuse.
Rwandan Epic – Mud, Sweat and Gears
The Rwandan Epic proved a real challenge for Acorn’s Keith Longney and his cycling partner, Nathan, with more than just the elements to contend with.
Acorn’s Visit to the Kinamba Community Project
In late October 2023, Acorn’s Keith, Claire and Pippa travelled to Rwanda to fulfil a long-held ambition to visit the Kinamba Community Project, an organisation they have been supporting for the last four years.
Authentic Leadership
Leadership shapes the performance of any organisation. Who you are and what you do determines how successfully you lead and others follow.
Update on the NWS RACER Programme
We’re at the end of the second year of Acorn’s involvement in supporting the Repository Asset Care Enhancements and Remediation (RACER) programme for Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) and there’s plenty of positive progress to report.
COAT Making Strides to Get Legs to Africa in 2023
COAT Making Strides to Get Legs to Africa in 2023 Acorn have supported the work of Cumbria Overseas Aid Trust (COAT) since 2017, both with financial contributions and offering our time and assistance for more practical activities, such as the necessary admin that comes with running a charity. COAT – previously known as Carlisle Overseas…
Bid Winning and Joint Ventures
Acorn’s experience of working with joint ventures and bid winning teams spans over 20-years and stems back to our early involvement within PFI’s across sectors like rail, construction and defence. More recently we have worked within the UK’s nuclear sector, helping companies with various bids for Sellafield.
Charlotte Norris Joins the Acorn Team
Here at Acorn we are always keen to hear from experienced coaches and consultants interested in joining us and, from one such inquiry, are absolutely delighted to welcome Charlotte Norris to our team of associates.
Silver at the European Quad for Keith Longney
Acorn’s Keith Longney has made a successful return to quadrathlon racing with a second place in the Masters 60 classification at the European Championships competition in May.
The 30-Minute Meeting Challenge
How can we reduce meeting time, keep focus and ensure the right people are present and engaged? Should you even attend and stay in a meeting?
Acorn Working with Kier SLT on HMP Glasgow
Acorn have been appointed to support a senior leadership team from Kier Construction on the construction of HMP Glasgow, new modern and fit-for-purpose prison will replace the largest prison in Scotland.
Supporting NIS Leaders to Deliver the Business Plan
Acorn are delighted to be working once again with NIS Integrated Engineering, the North West-based advanced engineers who are part of the NIS Group which includes NSG Environmental.
Leadership White Paper – Belief
This second paper by Mike Pezet shifts focus to programme design, delivery and the programme ‘ingredients’ which Acorn believe enables learning to transfer into tangible, productive workplace action.
Leadership White Paper – Development of Purposeful Leaders
Whether leaders are ‘born’ or ‘made’ is an age-old debate. When people are asked this question, generally the response is ‘leaders are made’. Ask whether they see themselves as a leader and the response is often ‘I’m in the role but wouldn’t say I’m the ‘leader’’.
More Positive News from the Kinamba Community Project
We were delighted to receive an update this week from Meg Fletcher at the Kinamba Community Project with news on latest happenings at the project in the Kigali region of Rwanda.
Update on the Sellafield HAWTT Programme
Update on the Sellafield HAWTT Programme Since being appointed in Q4 2021 to support the Higher Active Waste Thermal Treatment (HAWTT) programme, good progress has been made with the joint venture teams commissioned to deliver the objectives of Tranche 1 (PCM) and Tranche 2 (sludge). To recap, in its strategy published in March 2021, the…
Acorn Appointed to Support RACER Programme at LLWR
Acorn Appointed to Support RACER Programme at LLWR Acorn Coaching & Development have been commissioned to support a new major programme for Nuclear Waste Services at the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) site in west Cumbria. The Repository Asset Care Enhancements and Remediation (RACER) programme will give Nuclear Waste Services increased capacity to support current…
The Gibraltar Race 2022 – PraRiPra Edition
The Gibraltar Race 2022 – PraRiPra Edition Bruised, battered and completely exhausted isn’t exactly everyone’s idea of how to return after a few weeks away from work, but then Acorn’s Keith Longney knows exactly what he’s letting himself in for and that the Gibraltar Race Raid isn’t going to be anything like your typical vacation.…
Update on Josepha and the Kinamba Community Project
We were delighted to receive an update this week from Meg Fletcher at the Kinamba Community Project with news on latest happenings at the project in the Kigali region of Rwanda.
Acorn appointed to support Sellafield HAWTT programme
Following-on from the successes of our leadership and team coaching work at the Sellafield and Low Level Waste Repository sites in west Cumbria, we are delighted to have been appointed to work with the Higher Active Waste Thermal Treatment (HAWTT) project.
Hybrid Working: A review of current research
Once in a generation, we have the opportunity to reimagine how we work. Thanks to the development and extensive roll-out and take-up of COVID-19 vaccines, the coming year presents such an opportunity.
Official Loch Ness Kayaking Record Achieved
In November 2020, Acorn’s Keith Longney and long-standing friend Peter Hart set a new official Guinness World Record for kayaking a two man kayak the length of Loch Ness, setting a new record time
Impact – a White Paper from Acorn Coaching
In this fifth and final paper on Acorn’s guide to Team Coaching we consider Impact and Learning and their role in shaping team performance. If Primary Purpose describes the planned destination, then Impact is about sensing and adapting to reality as the journey progresses.
Team Members – a White Paper from Acorn Coaching
In this fourth paper on Acorn’s guide to Team Coaching we look at the critical factors affecting how and why Team Members best contribute to and/or derail effective teamwork. In doing so we highlight opportunities to build beneficial, and discourage unhelpful, behaviours. Our purpose here is the ongoing engagement and development of team behaviours that contribute to the purpose. People are enabled to get the job done by creating the right conditions for team working.
Structure – a White Paper from Acorn Coaching
In this third paper in this series, we look at structures that will support the team’s purpose. We will again see that the primary purpose and the mutual theme of enabling teamwork determine our approach. “What we want it to be like around here” shapes “how we do things around here”.
Primary Purpose and Leadership – a White Paper from Acorn Coaching
In this the second paper in the series, we turn our attention to the importance and impact of Primary Purpose and Team Leadership in creating an effective team. The Primary Purpose is important in that it has caused the team’s existence. Within this dimension of our Team Coaching model, the team and its leader have to lay the foundations of the twin imperatives; achievement of the primary purpose and developing effective teamwork.
Creating High Performing Teams – a White Paper from Acorn Coaching
It just so happens that this has been written at a time of turmoil for society and organisations alike. The pandemic has turned normal life on its head and made every-day work interactions difficult or even impossible. However, it has given people a very clear and uniting challenge that has focused attention and driven real collaboration and innovation.
Creating ‘Kinship’ in a Corporate Environment:
For the last three years, Acorn Coaching and Development has hosted an annual gathering of senior leaders from the UK division of an international corporate. There was a need for the company to leverage the expertise and latent leadership within its leadership team to increase the rate and impact of change to keep ahead of external changes and emerging markets.
Supporting Josepha and the Kinamba Community Project
Supporting Josepha and the Kinamba Community Project Having supported Zambian student Izzac Nkhata for 4 years through university, Acorn are now sponsoring Josepha, a 7 year old girl from Kigali in Rwanda. We will be contributing to Josepha’s education through the Kinamba Community Project (www.kinambaproject.org.uk) and our sponsorship will cover teacher’s salaries, school uniform, materials…
Experience is everything!
Over the last 12 months we have designed and delivered considerably more outdoor experiential learning programmes than at any point in the last decade, created at the request of our clients and a number at the request of the participants themselves.
Bid Winning – Acorn’s Tips for Successful Tendering
Tendering for projects or to become part of a supply framework can be a lengthy and daunting process. The time involved can be considerable with no guarantee of new business or contracts. Here we offer some guidance to help when compiling your next bid to help ensure your pitch hits the mark.
How to Engage Employees in a Sustainable Way
Faster, better, more of it! Clients frequently tell us they are under increasing pressure to do more with less; to deliver increasing productivity with ever diminishing resources. In this article we share current key challenges and issues to consider and offer some practical steps you can take to enable your business to succeed through tough times.
Acorn’s Tips for Being More ‘Mindful’ at Work
In the current recession with downsizing, restructuring, global competition and technological advances we find ourselves busier than ever. We respond to increasing and changing work demands by multi-tasking and working longer hours. Over time this impacts adversely on our well-being: as we become more stressed we become less productive; our performance deteriorates and we may even burn-out.
Team Coaching, not Team Building
Team building has been a lucrative offering for training companies for decades. Any product manager knows that as a product moves through its lifecycle maximising profit depends on adjusting the marketing mix; so does this mean that ‘team coaching’, a term that is being increasingly used, is merely team building in new clothes?
Why Personal Coaching Pays
Over the past two decades, Acorn has provided coaching support internationally to wide-ranging industries and organisations, from construction to media, pharmaceutical to nuclear. Each industry and each individual organisation faces its own set of unique challenges, and coaches offer higher value to clients when they are aware of the impact of these challenges.
Ten Things to Know about the Art of Collaboration
The Cambridge Dictionary defines collaboration as ‘the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing’. In this feature we discuss what collaboration means in terms of output – rather than process – and offer ten things we consider useful to hold in mind when creating any collaboration.
What will the major challenges be in 2028?
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!
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…
How to fuel your Leadership Pipeline from within – and why it makes financial sense
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.
How to Accelerate Bid Team Performance
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.
Increasing Productivity in the Economic Downturn
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.
Getting the Most from Your Training Investment
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.
Why your safety managers could be doing more for your business than you realise
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.
Creating and Embedding a Collaborative Culture for the Lifetime of a Project Team
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.
Designing successful graduate schemes
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.
Project Start-up and Delivery
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.
Acorn’s Top Ten Tips for Successful Projects
Acorn have worked in project-related businesses for over 20 years, gathering cross-sector knowledge from diverse industries from nuclear to defence, pharmaceuticals to construction and infrastructure. Supplementing our knowledge with research, we have summarised the key issues occurring within major projects, offering possible solutions.
The Leadership Deficit: How healthy is your leadership pipeline?
Key industry sectors are facing a worrying shortfall in leadership capability as they move into a period of activity following economic challenge. Understandably, many businesses stripped out or froze their investment in personnel as they sought to reduce overheads in the face of a declining or static balance sheet.
Acorn’s 5-step plan to evaluate training effectiveness in the workplace
Can training and development programmes really be measured and evaluated in a tangible way? This is probably one of the most commonly asked questions prior to making a commitment to any large investment and to an organisation-wide project. Training can be evaluated but, more importantly, we believe it SHOULD be evaluated.
The Gibraltar Race 2017
4 bikes, 7 countries, 8000 kilometres in 14 days – Keith Longney recounts his adventure from Bulgaria’s Black Sea to the Rock of Gibraltar.
Delivering high performance in the nuclear sector
The nuclear industry is arguably the world’s most challenging business sector where the demands upon companies and the issues they face are more acute because of the nature of the work being undertaken and the high profile of the sector itself.