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The cutting edge of leadership and management innovation, in brief
Whats Included

Hot Topic
& Checklist

A key topic for great leadership, right now.

High performance
management

The latest ideas and fresh thinking from around the world.

Innovation
leadership

New findings on building the innovative enterprise.

Expert
Viewport

Guest expert shares their latest insights on the future of leadership

Recent Hot Topics
Research

Organising and Managing Innovation Portfolio

The success of a company largely depends on its ability to innovate. Innovation becomes especially relevant in light of the rapidly changing environment. At the same time, chief executives struggle with managing innovation initiatives: while being aware of innovation efforts that go on within their organisations, they fail to grasp the scope of these activities.

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KnowledgeBrief

May 2012

‘Burning the Midnight Oil’: Making Productivity Personal
Research

‘Burning the Midnight Oil’: Making Productivity Personal

Organisations are being forced to do more with less and so work-life balance has become a utopian ideal. How should we redress this balance? Psychologists believe that we explain our own and others’ behaviours differently. When others falter, we often see the cause in the person’s ‘internal’ personality; but when we slip-up, we blame external or situational factors. Such a view protects our self-esteem, making it is easier to blame external factors than suffer personal recrimination (HBR).

KnowledgeBrief

April 2012

Rethinking Creativity and the Creative Team
Research

Rethinking Creativity and the Creative Team

Creativity is a ubiquitous management buzz word, often hyped as the silver bullet for unleashing competitive advantage. Yet, few leaders (and practitioners) really understand the concept, its process and its practical applications: how should organisations create the creative team? Are creativity and innovation synonymous? To rescue the term from eventual management fad status, researchers are beginning to explicate the foundations of creativity at work – in short, what it is and what it’s not.

KnowledgeBrief

March 2012

Talent Management: A Network-Centric Approach
Research

Talent Management: A Network-Centric Approach

Highly successful and innovative organisations employ various talent management (TM) practices to build “vibrant networks” and “engage marginalised, hidden and underutilised employees”. To achieve this, network-centric approaches can integrate with traditional, individual TM approaches:

KnowledgeBrief

February 2012

Corporate Reputation
Research

Corporate Reputation

Corporate reputation reflects stakeholders’ view of an organisation’s competence, integrity and reliability. It shapes access to customers, capital and talent, and can soften or amplify crises. In a social media world, reputations shift quickly, so it must be managed with evidence. Research shows performance tends to drive reputation, so programmes should begin with clear definitions and fit-for-purpose measures tied to strategy and audiences (Jeon and Nolan, 2024; Bigus, Hua and Raithel, 2024).

KnowledgeBrief

January 2012

Leading a lean revolution in performance improvement
Research

Leading a lean revolution in performance improvement

Many businesses have been subjected to latest fad in performance improvement over the years, each promising to be better than the previous one. From ‘management by objectives’ to TQM through to knowledge management and six sigma, there has been an ongoing quest for the performance holy grail. Whilst there are specific techniques that every manager should have in their repertoire (such as statistical process control or creative problem solving), it can be argued that the essence of leading improv

KnowledgeBrief

November 2011

Whole System Methods
Research

Whole System Methods

Many of the pieces of research in this month’s scan highlight the need for companies to develop their capability to handle complexity. Arguing the case for such investments can be challenging as many senior managers whilst used to the idea of businesses and markets being complicated are often far less comfortable with the idea of complexity. A complicated system can be very intricate and detailed, but it is essentially predictable. Whereas a complex system is one that is so complicated, interact

KnowledgeBrief

October 2011

Lessons Learned
Research

Lessons Learned

Project management teaches you that no plan survives first contact with reality. Deadlines will always sprint ahead, budgets shrink, and stakeholders multiply like rabbits. Communication is key—because when things go wrong (and they will), you’ll need to explain it again. Flexibility is essential; rigid plans snap under pressure. Finally, if you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen—because no one remembers the good days, just the one you forgot to hit 'save'.

KnowledgeBrief

Lessons Learned

Early Project Closure
Research

Early Project Closure

Projects may close early due to various factors, such as budget constraints, shifts in organisational priorities, or changes in stakeholder requirements. Other reasons include the project no longer delivering expected value, technical feasibility issues, or risks outweighing benefits. Additionally, market conditions, regulatory changes, or resource availability may render a project non-viable. Here, early termination minimises further costs and redirects resources to more strategic initiatives.

KnowledgeBrief

Early Project Closure

How we can help

Become a Leader Your Employees Want To Follow

Become a Leader Your Employees Want To Follow

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Creating a Happier and Healthier Workforce

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Better Management Training, Better Results

Better Management Training, Better Results

Our professional development courses are available to individuals or teams. Funded via the apprenticeship levy, the UK’s government apprenticeship scheme.

Essential Training to Grow Your Small Business

Essential Training to Grow Your Small Business

You can now get the same leadership, management and customer service training as the world’s most successful companies – funded via the government apprenticeship levy.

Maximise your Apprenticeship Levy

Maximise your Apprenticeship Levy

The Apprenticeship Levy, now in its third year, can on the face of it appear complex and inflexible and is often overlooked as a solution to recurring HR and L&D challenges. The good news is, the Levy doesn’t have to be disruptive at all.

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"Knowledge Brief has great content and is detailed in the area I am developing in. The system is very clear and easy to use and navigate. Thanks to my skills coach, for his support and guidance. I applied my course knowledge and experience, using team performance, leadership styles, and the Eisenhower matrix to manage tasks effectively."

"The apprenticeship has greatly enhanced my understanding of strategic work and how different areas of the organisation operate. It has boosted my confidence to ask questions and take on senior-level tasks. Studying has pushed me out of my comfort zone, showing me my capabilities and improving my overall performance."

"The support has been timely and professional, and since starting, I have increased my knowledge through the online platform and workshops, boosting my confidence and covering subjects like business understanding, communication, and operational plans, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would recommend it."

"As a result of this apprenticeship, I have gained confidence at work, developed key skills in project management, communication, and technical processes, improved my performance through focused feedback, and am now better prepared to contribute to the team's goals and tackle future challenges."

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"This journey has strengthened my strategic vision, stakeholder management, team and organisational influencing skills, and, most importantly, my confidence in communication, with structured learning and the tailored guidance proving invaluable in giving me direction and purpose as a senior leader."

"This course improved my performance by helping me create strategies, demonstrate values, develop my team, identify growth areas, and gain leadership principles like communication, conflict resolution, and strategic thinking, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to strengthen their leadership abilities and make an impact."

"We’ve just gone through annual reviews and if I look at ratings from last year to this year, we have more excellent performers in our leadership team."

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