Making Conversations Count

Making Conversations Count

~ for effective, motivating appraisals
~ to deal with under-performance issues effectively 
~ for more successful client conversations

Helen Bailey, director of PINNA, is hosting a seminar to share with you the key to effective conversations… ‘Conversations that Count’

 WHY

• Research shows 90% of people leave appraisal interviews less motivated and less aware of what is expected of them than before the interview.
• Managers avoid confrontation - avoid the conversations they need to have at the time they need to have them.
• Pleasing clients means minimising or eliminating the expectation gap - the difference between their expectations and your delivery.

Find out through PINNAs ‘Making Conversations Count’ seminar how you can have different, appropriate and more productive conversations.

WHERE, WHEN and COST

The seminar will be held at Leyland Golf Club, Wigan Road, Leyland PR25 4UD (within one mile of junction 28, M6) on Monday 11 August 2008.

• 4.30 pm Registration
• 5.00 pm Seminar
• 7.00 pm Buffet  

Cost £25 + VAT
To register your place contact Sandra Penswick at sandra@pinna.co.uk

Jack Rowlands, Director, PINNA Ltd.

Chetham’s Success 2008

Congratulations to Jim Molyneux and Peter Moores, both students at Chethams School of Music, for reaching the finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year. Members of the Manchester Business Network will remember Jim from December 2007 when he played at the Christmas event.

Chethams can feel proud of their achievements, and particular congratulations go to Peter Moores, the 12 year old Trombonist, who was judged the eventual winner of the competition, earning the title BBC Young Musician of the Year.

Well done.

Helen.

‘Managing Absenteeism’ - The Solutions

Learn how to grasp the problem and manage absence proactively by joining us on  

Wednesday 30th April at 8.30am

Mere Golf & Country Club   Chester Road   Knutsford   WA16 6LJ 

As an employer you don’t need to be reminded that sickness absence is an expensive problem for UK industry.  The annual cost to the economy is £13 billion and employees take, on average, 8.4 days sickness absence per year at a cost of £850 each.  This trend is continuing to rise. Whilst it is a big problem, it is also the trickiest for employers to tackle.

Occupational Medicals and Mace & Jones are jointly hosting a seminar that will help you to address this costly issue. Both companies have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with you and will be able to remove some of the myths that surround this difficult area.  With the current focus on sick notes and medical reporting, you will have the opportunity to hear from Dr Bharat Nanavati, a qualified occupational health physician and a GP.  He leads the Occupational Medicals team that specialises in treating back, neck and shoulder pain – some of the main reasons for sickness absence.  Dr Nanavati is able to bring a unique perspective to the subject and, through case studies, will be able to give sound advice on how OH intervention can help decision making. 

Mace & Jones will discuss how best to address the HR issues arising from OH intervention and discuss the basic policies and procedures that need to be in place to avoid the pitfalls. We know that your time is precious so we want to keep things short, simple and straight to the point.  That’s why we’re starting at 8.30am prompt, delivering some short presentations and case studies and finishing at 9.45am.   We do believe this seminar will be extremely helpful to your business. 

To reserve your place – or register additional HR colleagues – simply contact Samantha Kinnear at Mace & Jones via fax on 0151 243 9549 or email sam.kinnear@maceandjones.co.uk and she will send written confirmation to you. 

Numbers are strictly limited so please do reply early to guarantee your place.

Speed Camera Alert

“Increase in penalty points for failing to furnish information about the driver”

Buried deep in the new Road Safety Act 2006 - all 63 sections, 5 schedules and 135 pages of it - is a short, almost imperceptible 4-line section, section 29, which amends the existing ’speed camera’ law and which will have potentially far-reaching implications for owners of vehicles who fail to comply with the statutory requirement to provide information concerning the identity of a driver when an offence has been committed and caught on camera.

The law itself is not new - but the doubling overnight of the consequences of breaching it is! Until this amendment, which came into force in September 2007, the number of penalty points imposed in a case where the registered keeper of a vehicle failed to provide information was 3. The new law now doubles the penalty points to 6, effectively overnight. There is no change in the likely financial penalty to be imposed but, for most motorists, it is, and always has been, the points that matter. Accumulate 12 penalty points and your licence, unless your lawyer can argue ‘exceptional hardship’ for you, is at risk - a 6 month disqualification will follow.

Until this change, motorists who, whether by accident or design, failed to respond to the request for information (strict time limits apply, both for the police and the registered keeper of the offending vehicle) would sometimes take 3 penalty points ‘on the chin’, reasoning that, at that level, the penalty is no worse than the penalty for the motoring offence itself (typically, speeding or a traffic light offence) and could sometimes, in the case of seriously excessive speed, be substantially more lenient and that, on that basis, the system provided no incentive to co-operate. Whether that was a justifiable approach or not is now academic - the change of law means that if you deliberately, or by inadvertence or misunderstanding, commit TWO of these offences within a three year period, your licence is at risk. The ‘old’ law, itself characterised as draconian by civil libertarians, not to mention the motorists’ lobby groups, now seems almost liberal by comparison. It is (literally!) twice as important now that you seek expert advice - don’t be caught out by a failure to understand the law, the time limits, the availability of a statutory defence, or by a lack of awareness of other entirely legitimate challenges to the speed camera procedure.

For further information on all motoring offences please contact either Isaac Mirza or Peter Grogan on 0845 402 0001 (JMW Solicitors). 

Would Your Business Like a Profile in the Olympics in 2012?

Fairview Studios in North Cave have been hitting the sporting scene. Earlier this month Jackie Herd, a partner in the family Audio/Visual production business became the National Carraige Driving Champion. It is a tough and thrilling sport which reflects the fine tuned partnership needed between horse and driver. Negotiating the three phases of the competition requires skill, determination and co-ordination. Just like running a successful business really.

This week the production team faced the elements at The British Eventing Breeding Championships at Twesledown to film  Double Gold Medalist and reigning European under 21 Champion, Amy Young. Fairview is making a promotional DVD to help Amy find sponsorship. Despite being soaked by torrential rain and having to hide behind bushes to catch the perfect shot we got some great footage.

Did you know that Eventing is at the top for bringing home Gold Medals.

Amy is on the World Class Peformance Training and is tipped by Team manager Yogi Briesner as being on track to represent Britain for the Olympic Games in 2012 and beyond.

Eventing is exciting and a sport the whole family can enjoy. Set in some the most lovely locations in the country, it has a healthy outdoor active image which the whole family can enjoy. People from all walks of life get involved.  It takes some 100 plus volunteers a day to run an event with all sorts of different jobs, so no expereince required. Eventing reflects some of the key skills required in successsful business.

Partnership, Skill,  Dedication, Team work, Focus and much more.

Golf is another of our favourites, we have just completed a DVD course guide for Elsham Golf course. Working with our associate company Maloy Edwards we have created a guide to playing each hole featuring professional Golfer and Trick Show artist David Edwards. The DVD also features hints and tips from Elsham’s own professional Stuart Dewar. It is a lovely DVD showing the impressive course at Elsham which is such a a fabulous haven for wildlife. This is another great marketing opportunity reaching customers when they are in pursuit of pleasure. Each hole will be sponsored by a local company.

David Edwards Golf Trick Shot Show and is in great demand for corporate and private events all over the world. David is witty and charming and his show puts the icing on the cake for any event.Any business that would like a profile in the Olympics in 2012 would do well to look at Equestrian sport. Now is the time to start to raise your profile and Fairview can help. The sport is uncluttered in marketing terms and has a great deal of potential.

Fairview Marketing 01430 425217  info@fairviewstudios.co.uk  www.fairviewstudios.co.uk

The (un)Common Sense of Business

Do you want to kick-start your business into 2008? Are you committing the 7 Deadly Sins of Business? 

Your business is very important to you, it’s very personal to you.  You work hard, you nurture it, giving it all your care and attention and putting everything into it. But somehow it is not the healthy, growing, robust enterprise that you expected. How can this be? Are you unwittingly committing the 7 Deadly Sins of Business? Think you may be - then ask yourself the following questions. 

• 1.         Do you know where your business is going?
• 2.         Are you doing the same as everyone else?
• 3.         Are you using the power of multiplication? 
• 4.         Do you really know your customers? 
• 5.         Have you got a handle on your numbers? 
• 6.         Are you communicating effectively? 
• 7.         Are you trying to do it all yourself?   

Improve your personal and business performance by avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins of Business.

The (un)Common Sense of Business  

A six session course over 3 months (each session lasting two hours), delivered by Delia Butler of Ology Business Coaching. 

Regular coaching calls throughout the course and a range of materials provided during the workshop - proven to generate a lasting change and long term benefit for you and your business.
Date:                27 November 2007
Time:               8.30 – 10.30am
Location:          Broadstone Knowledge Mill, Broadstone House, Reddish, Stockport, SK5 7DL

To Reserve A Place

Cost Effective Document Management

Being unable to lay your hands on information quickly can be a risky business. Particularly come 24^th October. You, like all businesses, will have 40 days in which to fulfil an individual’s request for their personal information*, held either electronically or in hard copy under the Data Protection Act changes. Failure to do so could land you with heavy fines, or prosecution. 

Get in a position to comply with the 40-day rule: Immediately review your filing systems and processes for document management and storage to ensure they are rigorous and comply with these changes. Or, just call us 01925 293200. We promise you, it will be cheaper, quicker and more effective if you do. Because Invu is the most easy to use, cost-effective document management system on the market, and promises a full return on investment within 6 months. 

To request a free demonstration at your office or, if more convenient, over the web, call 01925 293200 or email me at sromeling@it4group.co.uk 

www.it4group.co.uk

* Relating to information post 1998.

Virgin Vie at Home launch new online website.

Shop online for our fabulous new cosmetics, jewellery and

the NEW! Homeware range. 

 

The press is loving our Homewares and is describing it as

Designer Chic at affordable prices.

 

Have a look now on www.myvirginvieathome.co.uk/web/angeliquelansley

and register with us, introduce your friends and family to our website and

you will earn 10% on anything they spend for life!

 

The money will be deposited in your account for you to spend next time you log on.

 

If you need further information please email me on angelique@lansleydn18.fsnet.co.uk

or call mob 07715 420304

Looking To Promote Your Business

Fastsigns will help you to get your message across with quality designed signs and exhibition graphic solutions.

Visit us at www.fastsigns.com/855 or we can advise you with a free on site survey.

Come and see a range of sign ideas in our showroom @ 630 to 642 Chesterfield Rd, Woodseats.

Looking To Reduce Your Transportation Costs?

If you are looking for ways of reducing your costs and improving transport efficiencies in your logistics operations while complying with all the latest regulations, look no further.

With over 20 years’ hands-on experience of the industry, logistics consultancy Progressive Logistics can help.

Contact Chris Metcalfe at Progressive Logistics Ltd  on  01606 851472 or visit www.progressivelogistics.co.uk for further information and the latest Newsletter.