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better thinking | better communication | better projects

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About Richard Evans

Richard Evans is Head of Marketing and Operations for Indigo Business Services, a UK based training and development company operating internationally. Indigo is a Distributor for Edward de Bono Limited; and exclusive UK Distributor for MDC Training and the Think on Your Feet® suite of training solutions. Richard has been a Chartered Marketer for over 18 years, having worked for a diverse range of commercial, not-for-profit and charitable organisations.

Empowering public sector workers to communicate with clarity, simplicity and confidence – under pressure

Think on Your Feet® to manage diverse audiences, simplify complex topics and respond effectively in high-pressure situations. Effective communication in public sector roles is challenging due to the complexity of the environment, the audience and the work itself. Our public … 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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

Supporting Young Scientists – Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019

Indigo are proud to champion university teams through our ongoing Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019. Jack Fleet was a member of the University of Manchester’s winning YES19 team, Larvita. ‘Our business idea was a vertical insect farm producing … Continue reading

Charity Challenge (February 2020 – Manchester) – Think on Your Feet®

We delivered another great Think on Your Feet® workshop in Manchester this week.  Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. Due to its success we ran our third charity challenge. … Continue reading

Charity Challenge (January 2020 – London) – Think on Your Feet®

Here at Indigo we’ve had a busy start to 2020.  We delivered another busy Think on Your Feet® workshop in London. Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. The charity … Continue reading

Sponsoring The Engineers And Scientists Of The Future (YES19)

The final of the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES19) global competition was held on Tuesday 10 December at the Royal Society, London. Teams of postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers went head-to-head to compete for a prize fund of £15K. Every year … Continue reading

Too busy to think?

The decision is made – two weeks later you have to backtrack! How many times has that happened to you, either as the person making the decision or as a part of the team bringing it to life. This happens … Continue reading

Essential soft skills for graduates

Most newly employed graduates have the sector-specific knowledge required to hit the ground running, yet many lack the fundamental practical core skills that prevent them actually doing the job and reaching their full potential. These transferable skills, used across the … Continue reading

Indigo Business Services Named Best Training & Development Consultancy 2018 – UK.

RICHMOND, UK, 18 December 2018: Indigo Business Services Named Best Training & Development Consultancy 2018 – UK. By Corporate Vision Magazine’s Small Business Awards. Indigo Business Services Limited is a leading international training consultancy that helps organisations gain competitive advantage … Continue reading

When your mind goes blank, when writing…

You’ve got a great idea. You need to sell your idea. Your fingers hit the keyboard. Your mind goes blank? Absolutely nothing! Your mind goes blank. You’ve got writer’s block. This happens to all of us at times. So how … Continue reading

Waterfall or Agile? How will you manage your projects?

Research shows that the majority of projects spend more time and money than estimated, and many also fail to meet customer needs accurately too. This means delivering poor customer value, and low confidence in project success. Many organisations are struggling … Continue reading

Classic Lateral Thinking™ in action: Plastic bottle tops that double as Lego blocks.

This article, first published in March 2010, has become topical again with all the discussion regarding implementing a plastic bottle tax to tackle waste and ocean pollution. With a little Lateral Thinking there could be more innovative ways to solve these challenges… …bottle caps … Continue reading

Indigo Business Services Named Exclusive UK Distributor for Think on Your Feet®

RICHMOND, UK, 30 August 2018: McLuhan & Davies Communications, Inc. has appointed their exclusive UK distributor, Indigo Business Services Limited. Indigo will be the sole provider of their suite of business-communication workshops in the UK. “From September 2018 our 17-year relationship … Continue reading

Engaging stakeholders

The skills required to understand, engage, manage and communicate with stakeholders. By Trish Thurley, Indigo Master Trainer and Richard Evans Stakeholder management can be the difference between success and failure for anyone who has to deal with other people. Who … Continue reading

The (ugly) truth about workplace communication.

Excellent verbal and written communication-skills is a standard requirement in today’s workplace. Communication plays a vital role in your company’s success and productivity. And ignoring it can be dangerous. Download our FREE infographic: The (ugly) truth about workplace communication. It reveals the … Continue reading

Three challenges Managing Projects™ helps to solve:

The frustration of never-ending projects that drag on and drag you down. Stops ‘risk’ from being a chore, making it your best ally for saving time and effort. Avoids the pain and humiliation of failure, by ensuring success. Tips Use … Continue reading

My day is just meetings, meetings, meetings…

Does this sound like a familiar problem? Too many of us find ourselves spending many hours a day in meeting after meeting, which all too often fail to reach any sort of positive outcome, even after hours of debate. The … Continue reading

Research: Supporting the management of change

Change is something that we are all experiencing more often. Any kind of project will initiate some kind of change, whether that’s a change to the way you communicate with clients to a restructure of a team. It’s important for … Continue reading

Listen – to be more influential

Experts say the ability to express yourself verbally often reaps influence. There is evidence (Journal of Research in Personality) that being an effective listener is also as important. Effective listening is two-way, it: Prevents miscommunication. Confirms understanding of the message. … Continue reading

Understood and remembered – add structure and IMPACT to everything you say…

‘Brain fog’ – that’s what happens when you get asked a question you know the answer to, where your response is unclear, often a little confused and long! There can be many reasons for this: An intimidating audience (your team, … Continue reading

Reducing project failure… an article for Project Sponsors

Projects are a great way to manage change. But with more and more projects clamouring for the same resources, some are likely to fail. Add increased pace, increasing levels of complexity and ambiguity, and achieving project success becomes extremely difficult. … Continue reading

Project management for non-project managers

Project management, a profession for some – for others, it’s a requirement as well as their day job, no matter what role or level of seniority. As a marketer I manage projects on a daily basis, having never been project … Continue reading

The three P’s of dynamic, persuasive presentations

Public speaking is a top fear for many people. It’s okay to be afraid as long as you try to keep that fear at bay when you give a presentation. Here’s our three P’s of dynamic, persuasive presentations: Plan Probably … Continue reading

Good writing leads…

I had a discussion recently with someone who didn’t think writing was a leadership skill, rather, something to be learned by new hires versus the old hands. I found this interesting. Only recently I’d heard of a senior executive being … Continue reading

Improving how your graduates write

Madison Abernethy recently graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada, where she developed strong interests in marketing, media and corporate communications. Throughout University she was plagued by writer’s block. She admits that 95% of her designated writing … Continue reading

Top tips – communicating with difficult stakeholders

Stakeholder management can be a challenge, you often need to juggle between positive and negative groups or individuals. A logical way to build good relationships, especially when communicating with a difficult stakeholder, is by using techniques learnt on our Internationally … Continue reading

Selling your ideas – stakeholder communication

Our blended, computer simulation based, Stakeholder Engagement (including Simulation)™ defines a stakeholder as ‘anyone that can affect what you are trying to achieve.’ Engaging and communicating with these groups is core to business and project success. These include colleagues, customers, … Continue reading

Selling your ideas – cutting though the noise…

Guaranteeing clarity of your message is becoming harder because of increasing disruption and distraction in today’s business environment. You still need to get people to read, see, listen and understand what you are trying to say. How can you be … Continue reading

Will your idea work?

So, ‘innovation is a part of your culture’  and you have accepted that ‘change is inevitable…’ You have set your focus and generated fresh, fast and on-demand ideas, so what next? Do you just pop them in a box somewhere … Continue reading

Ideas on-demand: fresh ideas, fast = competitive advantage

Our article ‘Is innovation a part of your culture?’ looks at how many organisations want to be innovative or creative, yet the people at the top of the organisation cannot often elaborate on how or if this happens. In this article we … Continue reading

Change – is inevitable…

Change in business is constant. The 2016 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, in Davos, focused on ‘employment, skills and human capital’. It found that successful organisations need to ensure their employees have the skills to be able to innovate, evaluate … Continue reading

Before starting a project…

We’ve heard from our clients that no matter what the individual’s role, they will have projects to look after. Large or small, simple or complex, these individuals are often not project management qualified. This is presenting a challenge for organisations … Continue reading