41 Brain courses in Bristol

An insightful, enjoyable and experiential programme to help you analyse data and information and make a balanced decision based upon sound commercial reasoning. It will enable you to identify options, make decisions and take actions based on a thorough analysis combined with instinct and intuition to make a positive effect on profitability. This programme will help you: * Identify ways to analyse data and sort relevant from irrelevant information * Develop analytical and numerate thinking, and consider the financial implications of a decision * Make decisions based on sound commercial reasoning - a mix of intuition and analysis * Select from a range of tools to analyse a situation and apply these effectively * Understand how costs and profits are calculated * Use tried-and-tested techniques to manage and control your budgets * Appreciate the fundamentals of financial analysis * Focus on the bottom line * Identify the basics of capital investment appraisal for your business * Evaluate results and seek opportunities for improvement to your business 1 THE COMMERCIAL ENVIRONMENT * What do shareholders and investors want? * What do managers want? * Profit v non-profit organisations * Investor expectations 2 FINANCIAL AND NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATION * Risk and reward considerations * Drivers of commercial decisions 3 RUNNING A BUSINESS * A practical exercise to bring financial statements to life * Different stakeholder interests in a business * The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 4 WHERE DO I MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE ORGANISATION? * How can I contribute to an improved business performance? * Key performance indicators - measuring the right things * A 'balanced scorecard' approach - it's not all about money! 5 A 'BALANCED SCORECARD' APPROACH * Analysing and reviewing my contribution to the business direction * What is the current focus of my commercial decisions? * Developing the business in the right way - getting the balance right! * Where should/could it be in the future? * Do my decisions support the overall vision and strategy? 6 MAKING COMMERCIAL DECISIONS * Left-brain and right-brain thinking * Convergent and divergent thinking * Analysis and instinct * Interactive case study exercise - emotional and rational decisions * Reflection - what is my style of making decisions 7 LET'S CONSIDER THE CUSTOMER! * Identifying target markets * Differentiating propositions and products * Customer service considerations * Marketing considerations and initiatives * Pricing strategies and considerations 8 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS * The external environment * The internal environment * LEPEST analysis * SWOT analysis * Forecasting * Group activity - analysing markets and the competition * How do these improve your decisions? 9 COMPARING PERFORMANCE * Analysing key financial ratios * Ways to compare performance and results * Break-even analysis 10 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNTS AND BUDGETING * Managing income and expenditure * The budgeting process * How does this link to the profit and loss account? * Managing and controlling a cost centre/budget * The role of the finance department * Different ways of budgeting * Incremental budgeting * Zero-based budgeting 11 UNDERSTANDING THE BALANCE SHEET * Purpose of balance sheets * Understanding and navigating the content * What does a balance sheet tell you? * How do you affect your balance sheet? * Links to the profit and loss account * A practical team exercise that brings financial statements to life 12 BUSINESS DECISIONS EXERCISE * How does this improve your decisions? * A practical exercise to apply new knowledge and bring commercial thinking to to life * The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 13 WORKING CAPITAL * Why is this important? * The importance of keeping cash flowing * Business decisions that affect cash * Calculating profit 14 CAPITAL INVESTMENT APPRAISAL * Capex v Opex * Payback * Return on investment * The future value of money * The concept of hurdle rate 15 LESSONS LEARNED AND ACTION PLANNING * So what? * Recap and consolidation of learning * The decisions that I need to consider * Actions to achieve my plan

Facilitation Skills Training

When staff are new to sales it can seem daunting, especially when they have targets to meet. If the staff you need to promote your products and services get it wrong then it can knock their confidence and negatively impact how your customers see you as an organisation. This programme provides staff with the basic skills they need to sell. This course will help participants: * Profile customers * Research and identify potential new customers * Use the consultative sales process * Build effective rapport with customers * Identify customer needs through effective questioning and listening * Position products and services effectively * Close the sale or gain commitment to further action * Manage their customer portfolio to maximise sales 1 INTRODUCTION * Aims and objectives of the training * Personal introductions and objectives * Self-assessment of existing sales skills * Overview of content 2 KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMERS * Who are your customers, and what do they want from you? * What are your strengths, compared to your competitors? * Who are your new potential customers? * How do you communicate with new customers? * What do you need to know about your customers before you start to sell? * Making the initial approach * Planning your pipeline - keeping the customers coming 3 THE FOUR-STEP SALES PROCESS * Overview of the consultative sales process * Key benefits of using the consultative sales process * Focusing on behaviours not targets * The behaviours of a good salesperson * Common pitfalls and mistakes * Personal strengths and weaknesses 4 BUILDING RAPPORT * First impressions - Mehrabian theory of communication * Short cuts to building rapport * Looking out for clues as to how the customer is thinking * Looping back to keep the conversation flowing * Acknowledging past communication * Dealing with emotions such as anger * Setting the agenda to keep control * Getting past gatekeepers 5 QUESTIONING AND LISTENING * How to ask open questions to uncover information * Left brain questions * When closed question can be useful * What stops us listening? * The four levels of listening * How to develop your listening skills 6 PRESENTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO CUSTOMERS * When to present * Using benefits not features * Making it personal * Using reciprocity * The tendency towards the middle * Using consistency 7 GAINING COMMITMENT * Testing the water * Dealing with objections using ACLEO * Asking for the business * Getting referrals * Ending with a personalised close * Following-up 8 MANAGING YOUR CUSTOMER PIPELINE * Spotting opportunities for cross-sales * Managing your portfolio * Maximising sales proactively * Review meetings * Customer satisfaction measures and surveys * Mystery shopping 9 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER * Skills practice * Personal learning summary and action plans

When used effectively, questioning is a useful teaching and learning strategy. During this workshop we will discuss how questioning can be used effectively to assess, challenge and stretch pupils progress.

In today's dynamic business environment, Managers need to evaluate different courses of action and make decisive decisions.

Our *NEW* Mini First Aid Baby Proofing class is our second class, designed for parents and carers of babies and children over 3 months. It can be taken after our 2 hour Baby and Child First Aid class, or in isolation for those parents who are starting their weaning journey, or have a baby on the move!

The 2-hour Baby & Child First Aid class covers CPR, Choking, Bumps, Burns, Breaks, Bleeding, Febrile Seizures and Meningitis & Sepsis Awareness and will give everyone who attends the peace of mind they deserve.

We communicate daily in many ways, including email, phone, text, Zoom, Teams, Google Meets, Slack, and even that old-fashioned thing, what was it now... oh yes, talking face-to-face. But, when we look at communication closely and really drill down into what we are doing in conjunction with how our brain works (neuroscience), how internal, organisational, and social politics control what we believe we can say, how hierarchical positioning impacts our honesty and how the lack of psychological safety means we say what we know others want to hear rather than what they need to hear…. It is oh so complicated! This workshop not only explores the concept of excellent communication, but we also want to hear what you believe it is too. We also delve into how organisational culture influences our perception of speaking up. Factors that hinder open and honest communication, and we work collaboratively towards removing these barriers to achieve a communication style that fosters trust and transparency, creating psychological safety.   This workshop is particularly relevant to our Emotional Intelligence workshop (EI and Me). We firmly believe that developing emotional intelligence is the key to unlocking Clean Communication, a skill that is crucial for all of us, regardless of our roles and responsibilities, so that we thrive in our professional environment. If you want to see if we are correct, why not have us facilitate a workshop for you and see what you get by the end of it?  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LENGTH 2 Days NEXT COURSE START Enquire for more information COURSE DELIVERY Self-Paced Online, In Company -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUITABILITY - WHO SHOULD ATTEND? WHO SHOULD ATTEND AND WHY? Who? - Perhaps think of this another way… who shouldn’t attend to ensure we can manage Clean Communication? There’s your answer. Why? - Every person needs to understand what we are saying above about how we get trapped in this organisational formatting which changes how we communicate and how it prevents us from communicating cleanly. EVERY organisation has this, despite what our values profess. And 'Values', that’s a whole other story. TRAINING COURSE CONTENT * Using the 'Moccasin Approach'® to clean our personal and organisational communication * LaPD’s Communication Cycle and what we must consider. (Can you work out what the ? represent above? * Accountability and Responsibility raises its head in Communication. It has to. * Bias, unconscious bias and its impacts on our communication. * The conundrum of communicating with others and their styles (The TRAP). * How would my perfect Manager/Leader communicate with me? * Nonverbal communication (body language), rapport, Clean Communication. * Negative communication can go viral (Self-Fulfilling Prophecy). * Reflections, findings and goals (individual and team). * Meeting our workshop objectives by listing five areas for development. COURSE DELIVERY DETAILS This Workshop is usually one day in duration, focussing solely on how we communicate with each other. It can also be a two-day event incorporating aspects of Emotional Intelligence (EI) with group, and individual activities to allow discussions about the various communication we need in your organisation. When you consider the content we deliver, we are sure you will understand why we always prefer to deliver our workshops, courses and programmes face-to-face. Face-to-face workshops and courses can be held at a location of your choice or, if you wish, a central UK location, at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham, located directly across from the Birmingham New Street train station. We can deliver our workshops, courses and programmes online, although this will mean splitting elements into manageable learning events to suit the online environment.

This intensive one-day training programme has been developed to help those involved in producing specifications create high quality documents in an organised and effective way. The programme explains the primary purpose of specifications and the importance of understanding the context in which they are used. It focuses particularly on how to develop and structure content and write requirements that are clear and concise. The methods and techniques presented will provide a practical foundation course for those new to the topic whilst offering new insights to those with more experience. The objectives of the workshop are to: * Review and discuss the role and purpose of specifications * Present a structured approach for organising and producing specifications * Explain each of the key steps involved in creating effective specifications * Review some methods for assisting in defining requirements * Explain how to define the scope and develop the structure for a specification * Present methods to assist the writing and editing of specifications * Review how specifications should be issued and controlled 1 INTRODUCTION * Course objectives * Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 SPECIFICATIONS IN PERSPECTIVE * The role and purpose of specifications * The impact of specifications on commercial performance * The qualities of an effective specification * The five key steps of 'POWER' writing: prepare-organise-write-edit-release 3 STEP 1: PREPARING TO WRITE * Defining the purpose the specification; integrating the specification and contract * Deciding how to specify: when to specify in functional and technical terms * Getting the right people involved at the right time; engaging stakeholders * Applying procedures for writing, issuing and controlling specifications 4 STEP 2: ORGANISING THE SPECIFICATION CONTENT * Scoping the document: scope maps, check lists, structured brainstorming * Clarifying requirements; separating needs and desires * Dealing with requirements that are difficult to quantify * Useful techniques: cost benefit analysis, Pareto analysis * Deciding what goes where; typical contents and layout for a specification * Creating and using model forms: typical sections and sub sections 5 STEP 3: WRITING THE SPECIFICATION * Identifying and understanding the readers needs * Choosing and using the right words; dealing with jargon * Important words; will, shall, must; building a glossary * Using sentence structure and punctuation to best effect * Understanding the impact of style, format and appearance * Avoiding common causes of ambiguity; being concise and ensuring clarity 6 STEP 4: EDITING THE SPECIFICATION * Why editing is difficult; how to develop a personal editing strategy * Key areas to review: structure, content, accuracy, clarity, style and grammar * Editing tools and techniques 7 STEP 5: RELEASING AND CONTROLLING THE SPECIFICATION * Key requirements for document issue and control * Final formatting and publication issues; document approval * Requirements management: managing revisions and changes 8 COURSE REVIEW AND ACTION PLANNING * What actions should be implemented to improve specifications? * Conclusion

Many organisations find that project teams struggle to create and maintain effective plans. Estimates are often overly optimistic and risks go unmanaged until the inevitable happens. Resource managers also find it hard to forecast the likely loading on their departments and requests for support are not provided in a consistent format. This programme has been developed to address these needs in a very practical, hands-on format. Case study work can be based on simulations or on the organisation's current projects for maximum benefit to participants. The aim of this training is to develop and enhance participants' planning and risk management skills in order to maximise the success of project work undertaken by the organisation. The principal training objectives for this programme are to: * Provide a structured, integrated approach to planning and risk management * Demonstrate practical tools and techniques for each stage of planning * Show how to organise and involve relevant people in the planning process * Explain how to use the plan for forecasting and pro-active project control * Identify ways to improve planning, both individually and corporately The course will emphasise the importance of participative planning techniques that improve the quality of plans whilst reducing overall time and cost of planning. The course will encourage discussion of internal procedures and practices and may be customised to include them if required. DAY ONE 1 INTRODUCTION (COURSE SPONSOR) * Why this programme has been developed * Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 PROJECTS AND PLANNING * Why plan? The benefits of good planning / penalties of poor planning * Planning in the project lifecycle; the need for a 'living' plan * The interaction between target setting and the planning process * Team exercise: planning the project 3 PLANNING THE PLAN * Defining the application and structure of the plan * Impact of planning decisions during the project lifecycle * Using available time to create an effective plan 4 DEFINING DELIVERABLES * Assessing the context; reviewing the goals and stakeholders * Developing the scope and defining deliverables; scope mapping * Understanding customer priorities; delivering value for money * Case study: defining the project deliverables 5 CREATING THE WORK BREAKDOWN * Building the work breakdown structure * Detailing the tasks and sub-tasks; structured brainstorming * Defining task ownership; the task responsibility matrix 6 CREATING AND USING A LOGICAL NETWORK * Developing the logical network; task boarding * Determining the critical path and calculating float * Accelerating the plan; concurrent programming and risk * Individual and group exercises DAY TWO 7 DEVELOPING RESOURCE SCHEDULES * Deriving the Gantt chart from the network * Developing the detailed resource schedules * Calculating the expenditure profile ('S' curve) 8 ESTIMATING TASK DURATIONS AND COSTS * Understanding estimates: effort, availability and duration * Estimating tools and techniques * Application of estimating techniques during the project lifecycle 9 CASE STUDY * Developing the project plan * Refining the project plan * Team presentations and discussion 10 MANAGING RISKS AND REFINING THE PLAN * Awareness of contractual issues associated with risk * Identifying and evaluating risks; deciding ownership * Managing risks: determining levels of provision and contingency * Controlling risks: maintaining an up-to date risk register 11 PLANNING FOR PRO-ACTIVE CONTROL * The earned value analysis (EVA) concept and its predictive value * Deriving the measures needed for cost and delivery performance * Practical issues associated with implementing EVA 12 USING AND MAINTAINING THE PLAN * Tracking progress and updating the plan * Publishing and controlling the plan 13 COURSE REVIEW AND TRANSFER PLANNING (COURSE SPONSOR PRESENT) * Identify ways of implementing the techniques learnt * Sponsor-led review and discussion of proposals * Conclusion