Bridging the communication gap: How Think on Your Feet® transforms technical experts As a technical expert, I’ve often found myself in the challenging position of explaining complex solutions to non-technical audiences. Whether it’s during a meeting with stakeholders, a presentation … Continue reading
Combat information overload and unlock your team’s potential
Get your message across, supercharge productivity and spend less time in meetings Information overload is a significant and growing challenge, impacting both individuals and organisations. It slows down cognitive functions, affects mental health, disrupts decision-making and reduces productivity. The constant … Continue reading
Miscommunication – how much is it costing you?
Do you ever feel like miscommunication is slowing down progress or causing unnecessary complications in your business? You need to be able to Think on Your Feet® and master clear, confident communication. Think on Your Feet® is a proven program designed … Continue reading
Effective stakeholder communication and engagement
Effective stakeholder communication is the backbone of business success, but it comes with hurdles that can derail projects, strain relationships and jeopardise long-term goals. When they attend the Stakeholder Engagement™ and Think on Your Feet® workshops, our clients tell us … Continue reading
How do you survive delivering projects, when you aren’t a Project Manager?
Delivering projects when you aren’t a formal project manager presents unique challenges. Without the training or authority that typically comes with the role, you may face several obstacles that can impact the success of the project. Fundamental project management training … Continue reading
Neurodivergents: Assemble! Superpowers for staff. How ‘Six Hat’ thinking boosts engagement with neurodivergent workers
According to the National Autistic Society, 45% of neurodivergent people have lost or left their job because of challenges due to being misunderstood. In today’s diverse work environment, embracing neurodivergence is both an ethical imperative and a strategic advantage. … Continue reading
The rise of communication overload in the modern workplace
In today’s hyper-connected work environment, communication is at an all-time high. According to the latest State of Business Communication Report, the volume, pace and channels of communication are increasing, making work synonymous with constant communication. The report reveals that: 88% … Continue reading
Did your team really understand what you just said – and what you expected?
We’ve all been there – in a discussion with your team – you were sure you were being clear, yet they heard something else? They either didn’t get it or didn’t want to get it! One way to deal with … Continue reading
Transform your graduates into effective communicators, get their documents seen, read and remembered.
Experts often describe graduates’ written work as clunky and long-winded, lacking clarity. The excessive back-and-forth on what to edit, change or remove between graduates and their senior colleagues wastes valuable company time. This poor writing not only confuses peers but … Continue reading
Foster stronger, more effective teams with the Insights® Discovery program
Insights® Discovery is the perfect model for understanding yourself and how you might be perceived by others. Within the team environment it allows us to recognise strengths and preferences of behaviour within each team member. It shows factors that are … Continue reading
Talk less, say more. Why business globalisation means clear verbal communication is critical to your success.
Effective communication is the bedrock of successful professional relationships in the globalised business world. For business professionals working with English as their second language (ESL), mastering clear verbal communication is not just an asset – it’s a necessity. Being able … Continue reading
Are you ready to revolutionise the way you tackle meetings?
Six Thinking Hats® is a game-changing tool that has transformed decision-making processes for businesses around the world. Why Six Thinking Hats®? Developed by Dr. Edward de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats® framework simplifies thinking by breaking it down into six … Continue reading
Why creativity is your most important business asset
Creativity is not just about artistic endeavours, it’s a strategic tool that fosters growth, competitiveness and sustainability. Several businesses have struggled or ultimately failed due to a lack of creativity, innovation or adaptation to changing market conditions. While it’s not … Continue reading
Charity Challenge (May 2024 – London) – Think on Your Feet®
We had a fantastic Think on Your Feet® workshop in London this week. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to making it a fun and engaging couple of days! Picture this A room filled with eager minds, each armed … Continue reading
How Willy Wonka showed us that AI can’t always get it ‘write’!
On the 24th February this year, hundreds of excited children queued up waiting to see a spectacularly advertised ‘Willy Wonka Experience’ in Glasgow, Scotland. Their parents had paid the princely sum of £35 per ticket and all were expecting great … Continue reading
CASE STUDY – The Skilled Presenter™ – Controlling Nerves in a Challenging Environment
John experienced significant challenges in communicating as he transitioned from the military to civilian life. For many years, he struggled to communicate effectively and confidently in face-to-face interactions, often feeling extremely nervous and emotional, even to the point of tears … Continue reading
Presenting to an audience that is not an expert like you
Gilly Meek, Accredited The Skilled Presenter™ Trainer You’ve been invited to present to a non-technical audience. Excited to share your expertise and insight, you open PowerPoint® and start building your slides. You include lots of information and data, as you … Continue reading
When you need to get technical – do people really understand you?
In every industry, there are technical teams with specific skills. These teams have various internal stakeholders, (executive teams, managers and other employees) and external stakeholders (customers, providers and the public)… …success or failure hinges on the team’s ability to clearly … Continue reading
Once you’ve made your mind up… changing it can be really difficult… or can it?
In business, changing your mind can be seen as a weakness and that you have a lack of clarity or direction. People who change their minds can be considered unreliable or indifferent. Changing your mind in business, known as pivoting, … Continue reading
Why learn how to use the Six Thinking Hats®?
Six Thinking Hats® is a practical business thinking and decision-making tool, developed by Dr. Edward de Bono. The concept involves wearing metaphorical ‘Hats’ of different colours, each representing a different perspective or way of thinking. Why learn it? Being able … Continue reading
How Lateral Thinking enriches team creativity and collaboration
Virtually every business in the world promotes ‘teamwork’. Teams play a crucial role in generating profit, gaining market share, enhancing customer service, increasing engagement and securing a competitive edge—all contributing to organisational success. Teams are the social ‘bond’ that blend … Continue reading
Think on Your Feet® when storytelling – utilising the Think on Your Feet® techniques to tell a story
People are more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped in a story. The flow of your narrative and the strength of the images you position, will help your listener recall what has been said and remember it. As humans … Continue reading
Ensure your sales team can confidently think on their feet
Sales can be a challenging profession and the way businesses sell is constantly changing. Effective communication is a cornerstone of success for sales professionals. Our clients tell us their sales teams consistently face communication challenges that impact their ability to … Continue reading
How to engage your audience and perform with impact whether online or in-person!
Why should your presentations be more dynamic, engaging and persuasive? Whether you’re giving sales pitches, leading meetings or presenting research findings – the ability to present dynamically can set you apart and open up opportunities for growth. Dynamic presentation skills … Continue reading
Collaborative Writing
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer With the introduction of hybrid working, we are spending less time in face-to-face conversations. So when you send that business report – you may not have a chance to talk someone through it. Having great writing … Continue reading
Why creativity is essential for strategic thinking
Before beginning a strategic thinking or strategy development activity, we often spend excessive time and effort on determining the rigorous analytical, solution-oriented processes and skills needed. These methods are crucial and should not be discarded. They help us understand an … Continue reading
Allowing people’s creativity to flow when writing for business
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Creativity in business enhances success. It fosters engagement, teamwork, innovative ideas, product and service enhancements. Breaking old thinking habits and work patterns. But how often do businesses actually promote creativity in their business writing? In creative … Continue reading
Plan, Perform, Practice – the three P’s of dynamic and persuasive presentations
Many psychological surveys rank public speaking as a greater fear for us than death. Rather than run from our presentations – we need to harness those fears. Here’s our three P’s of dynamic, persuasive presentations: Plan Probably the most important step, … Continue reading
Overcoming the most common regulatory writing issues
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Regulatory writing is essential in ensuring compliance and safety, but it comes with its own set of challenges! We spoke to Richard Morris, a Writing Dynamics™ trainer at Indigo, about some of the common regulatory writing issues … Continue reading
Overcoming writers block
We’ve all been there, that moment when you need to finish off a report, but for some reason tidying your office or making that cup of tea seems to take precedent. Anything to put off getting the writing done! Writer’s … Continue reading
The magic ingredients behind great Project Managers
As you start working in projects, it’s tempting to think that all you need to do is buy some expensive project management software and – snap! – the project will be an overnight success! Sadly – while there is a … Continue reading
Too much to read and remember?
We all face the challenge of business reports that remain unread, emails that don’t get dealt with, time-sensitive documents that don’t get the attention they deserve. We all have to read, absorb and recall more written information than ever to … Continue reading
The do’s and don’ts of presenting
The pandemic presented many challenges to the way we live and work. The birth of the beloved online meeting meant that a lot of the skills we had honed and perfected before, were simply lost or substituted for other skills. … Continue reading
Creative leadership
As the saying goes, ‘In calm water, every ship has a good captain’. It’s only in turbulent times that leaders need to show what they are made of. With financial storms looming, what can leaders do to keep their organisations … Continue reading
Indigo is proud to sponsor the YES22 People Choice award – but who will win?
“We are proud to have sponsored the YES People’s Choice award for over a decade now.” said Robert Fisher of Indigo. ”Having a brilliant mind and amazing ideas is at the heart of this competition – translating ideas into something … Continue reading
Be more John Wayne – the lost art of brevity.
I have always talked about clarity and conciseness as an entry point into good, professional communication. Lots of management books tell us that managers with good communications skills, are often more effective leaders. ‘John Wayne in pinstripes’ was a term … Continue reading
Agile decision-making
Although the Agile model was developed with software design in mind, two of its principles have been widely adopted by businesses in all sectors: Valuing individuals and interactions over processes. Responding to change over following a plan. These are appealing, … Continue reading
Design thinking
The business world has been abuzz with the concept of Design Thinking over the last few years – and with good reason. This non-linear, iterative process is a great way to avoid the trap of rushing in to solve a … Continue reading
Sur/petition – focus on value creation
“Sur/petition: creating value monopolies when everyone else is merely competing” Edward de Bono Competition is based on the idea of different individuals or companies striving to win a part of the same thing. Dr Edward de Bono suggests an alternative: … Continue reading
Converting from academic to business writing
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Remember those good ‘ole university dissertations when you were 150 words short of the minimum word count? What did you do? You added in words to extend sentences and paragraphs to get you over the line! … Continue reading
Are all graduates masters of verbal communication?
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer When organisations develop Graduate Recruitment Days, you can almost guarantee that at the top of the assessment criteria is ‘communication’! Naturally, all employers are looking for an intake of new talent who can ‘hit the ground … Continue reading
Graduates, the new innovators of change?
From an organisational development context, he has created and implemented a new leadership behavioural framework and set of associated flagship leadership development programmes.
Leading your teams to support strategic thinking
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Many people see the role of strategy creation to be that of senior leaders. It’s pertinent that they position the future state of the business, the Vision, the Why? Yet developing the strategy (what we will … Continue reading
Projects – maximise your potential
By Trish Thirley, Master Trainer Project Management A common question on our project management workshops is, “With masses of competing demands for my time, how can I maximise my potential?” I’d recommend the following three key ‘focus points’: Start slow … Continue reading
NHS staff get 30% off all Indigo public workshops.
Indigo is pleased to offer 30% off public workshops, for all NHS staff! We think our NHS is something to be proud of. We think it’s important to show our continued support for this outstanding organisation and its people. It … Continue reading
Forget the “Big Resignation” – what about “the Big Presentation”?
Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer When taking on a new role, client or job, you will likely be asked to make “that big presentation!” You know the one… the career-defining introduction, the presentation that ties your stomach … Continue reading
Hybrid meeting challenges and how to overcome them
The pandemic changed the way we work and changed it fast. After that initial scramble to source the tech and make sure everyone is supported to work remotely, we are now looking at ways to integrate hybrid working into the … Continue reading
What to do when resources are cut from your project
In the current climate, nothing is certain. Project management is all about dealing with this uncertainty and risk. Projects deliver the future so you need to be flexible, agile and deliver the right outcomes (repeatedly). To do this, you need … Continue reading
Walking in the shadow of a giant. My career with Edward de Bono.
Edward de Bono – 19th May 1933 – 9th June 2021 It is with great personal sadness that I report that Dr Edward de Bono, a man of infinite talent, brilliance and a close personal friend of mine, has passed … Continue reading
Leaders can do more with less
Leaders have opportunities to use creative thinking every day. Whether they’re making improvements, cutting costs or solving problems, they have to go beyond what has been done before. The constant need to do more for less demands creativity from … Continue reading
