|
|
|
|
|---|
Carshaw has a deep understanding of how and why teams work together effectively - and when they don't! This includes being able to diagnose those areas of teamwork that require some development. Carshaw has used a wide range of team building activities over many years in developing the capability of groups of people. This range of activities includes indoor, desktop and outdoor (non-macho) activities. Team Leader TrainingThis highly effective and much-acclaimed group training for supervisors and team leaders is very motivational. The impact of these developmental programmes is enjoyed not only by participants but also by their managers. All programmes are delivered to agreed content, time frame and outcome. Typical programmes range from 8 to 24 modules spread over weekly, two-weekly or monthly events. We can usually demonstrate exactly how much progress trainees have made as a result of their programme by the use of selected survey instruments. Team Development ActivitiesTeams in the workplace sometimes need a boost to their performance by working together on appropriate team building activities. Carshaw works closely with the client to find out what kind of development is required and then devises a programme of activities to deal with those needs. These activities may include a combination of suitable indoor and outdoor activities as required. Although all the activities are challenging, none are so challenging as to be dangerous; they are designed to be enjoyable by people of all ages. The degree of development by each team can be measured as required. Depending upon the client's needs, programmes may range from one to four days duration. Team ActivitiesIndividual team activities can be arranged for any group according to demand. Activities range from half an hour to half a day or a whole day. Flexibility is achieved by offering these at any time of day on any day of the week. Although the activities can be quite challenging, they are primarily for enjoyment and a sense of achievement by the group. A wide range of varied activities is available; they often work well in combination. 
Leadership in the workplace is mainly about how people are managed as opposed to the processes and systems that are managed. Leadership is about getting people to do what needs to be done without the downside that comes from the overuse of positional power. When effective leaders say "Follow me", their people do so with belief, energy and conviction. When ineffective leaders do so, there can be a lot of inertia or a dogged compliance linked to feelings of uncertainty or resentment. The main difference between effective and ineffective leaders lies in a range of personal and interpersonal abilities. The more effective leaders generally use a more "selling" style than a "telling" style. Carshaw uses a range of survey instruments to establish the effectiveness of leaders and devises developmental activities to address any perceived needs. Those same instruments can be used to track progress and demonstrate accomplishment. Leadership Development WorkshopsThese workshops are totally customised for leaders of people in the workplace who have a desire to improve their effectiveness. These practical events are totally customised and deal with one or more issues raised during survey(s). Because they are developmental in nature, they take place regularly over a period of time decided by the client. 
Problem-solving and decision-making follow essentially the same process. It depends upon whether the situation is complex or relatively simple. Simple (or "closed") problems can be handled in a straightforward manner and there is usually one (or more) solution that removes the problem. Complex (or "open") problems, on the other hand, have usually been around for some time and a simple solution is rare; some improvement in the situation is all that can be expected. Complex problems require the use of a wider range of creative tools and techniques and greater skills on the part of the problem-solver(s). The quality and timeliness of decision-making have a marked impact upon how effectively an organisation is managed and how well its people perform. The decision-making process is simple enough: The Steps of the Decision-making Process * Initiate Decision We all use this process (or something similar) on a regular basis and often without thinking very much about it. So why is it that so many decisions don't get made or those that get made are often viewed as poor or ineffective decisions? There are many reasons for this, some of which include: * No decision was made at all (the problem was ignored) Carshaw offers three structured solutions: Stepwise Decision-MakingThis is a step-by-step workshop to guide people through commonly-occurring workplace problems and to deal with situations where one or more solutions will solve the problem and remedy the situation. Participants then take their own problems through the process, helping each other along the way as appropriate. Decision-making and Problem-solvingThis workshop looks at more involved problem situations and explores both the "closed" and "open" variations. It explores the difference between symptoms and underlying causes and can involve a high degree of detective work. A range of simple tools and techniques are applied to problem scenarios. Participants are encouraged to bring their live problem situations that require addressing. Complex Problem-solvingA complex problem is usually one that has been around for some time, often involves people and working relationships, and may have arisen as a result of earlier problems not being resolved properly. A popular choice - by way of example - is staff absence. In this workshop the more advanced problem-solving tools are used. It also includes an element of negotiation coupled with making proposals and presentations. This is particularly suitable for groups who are involved in in-house improvement projects of various kinds. This workshop equips participants with the highest levels of problem-solving skills. It usually requires a high degree of customisation and there may be a need to carry out pre-workshop surveys. Problem areas that have been successfully addressed include the following: a) Organisational problems General and specific staff absence b) Sales/Marketing Problems Not enough customers The real benefit of Carshaw's problem-solving is that it can be used by the people in the organisation who have the appropriate experience and the solution is usually ready to implement with little or no other work being needed. With Carshaw you get real solutions to real problems! 
Of the management systems used in organisations today, three that provide customers, clients and staff with reassurance and confidence include the Business Excellence Model, Investors in People and ISO 9000. These may operate alongside or in conjunction with other management systems dealing with health and safety and environmental matters related to the organisation. Business Excellence ModelThis is a standard of excellent organisational performance and a highly structured scheme whereby any organisation can measure how its operational performance compares with the best around. It is both a national and international standard of organisational excellence with a range of award categories. Carshaw can help organisations large and small to assess their scores in three different ways: a) by proforma scoring individually or in groupsThe scores for each of the 9 sections of the model can then be related to the critical success factors of the organisation and a detailed improvement action plan can be derived. Spin-off benefits of working through self-assessment include a clearer understanding of the purpose and goals of the organisation, plus better teamwork, greater commitment and improved levels of communication. Investors in PeopleThis is a national standard of organisational quality recognised throughout the UK where it has been actively sponsored by the government. It is based upon a planned approach to: Setting and communicating organisational goalsSo that What people can do and are motivated to doThe standard has a strong common-sense appeal and has a simple structure and an uncomplicated assessment process. It has been successfully applied across a wide range of private and public sector organisations ranging from very small to very large. It has gained broad acceptance and is highly prized my the winners of the award. ISO 9000This is a standard about which there has been quite some controversy in the last 20 years or so. In the UK, the vast majority of larger organisations have achieved this standard and have applied some pressure on their smaller suppliers to achieve it also. Most smaller and micro businesses have failed to see any value to them in acquiring and maintaining systems and procedures to meet this standard, other than meeting a condition of supply for one or more larger customers. Part of the reason why ISO 9000 gained unpopularity among smaller firms was because they felt that the performance of any supplier's products or services would not be any better even if they have ISO 9000. The latest revision of the standard (ISO 9001:2000, see below) should specifically address this latter point. The new customer focus of the standard also addresses the concerns of the smaller businesses highlighted in the first paragraph. (For smaller firms in the UK that wish to achieve ISO 9000, there is usually some form of assistance available through local business support agencies.) Larger organisations that currently have ISO 9000 will be faced with revising and extending their management system to comply with the new standard. Naturally, this will need to be verified through internal audit, surveillance visit and re-assessment. Carshaw offers qualified and experienced support in the implementation, maintenance and auditing of ISO 9000 management systems. In addition, the Carshaw style of Internal Auditor Training has proved popular and effective, resulting in the ability of newly-trained auditors to demonstrate their competence. ISO 9001:2000The 1994 standard expires in December 2003. The latest version of this standard - ISO 9001:2000 - is based upon 8 fundamental quality management principles (available free from www.iso.ch). The new standard applies to the WHOLE organisation (rather than selected parts) and the customer-facing activities are specifically included. All the organisation's integrated processes need to be defined and documented, plus they need to have specified objectives and process measures. Measures of customer feedback also need to be in place. The new Standard also specifies the need for a quality manual plus 6 mandatory procedures. It all needs to hang together and operate like a joined up management system to bring about continual improvement. Internal Auditor Training (ISO 9001:2000)This training has a very interactive workshop style that covers all the essentials of auditing. What makes it unique is that: a) it deals specifically with auditor and auditee behavioursEveryone completing this training needs to demonstrate that they have performed at least one live audit to the trainer's satisfaction; for this they receive a certificate of competence. ISO 14001:1996 Environmental Management SystemOrganisations are increasingly requiring to demonstrate effective concern for their environmental performance - often because of pressures applied through the supply chain. As with ISO 9001, many larger customers are now demanding that their suppliers have some independently-assessed environmental management system. ISO 14001 provides such a system. In simple terms, ISO 14001 requires an organisation to: (* An impact is any change to the environment - whether adverse or beneficial - wholly or partly resulting from business activities - products and services) The organisation needs to explain - in writing - how it goes about controlling its impacts on the environment, provide evidence of doing it, recording what has happened and learning from the experience. All businesses cause changes in the environment because they deplete energy sources and raw materials (often both are not renewable) and they generate products and waste materials. Identifying and assessing the significance of environmental impacts is a critical stage in the organisation's preparation for ISO 14001. This is usually achieved following a preparatory environmental review and the assessment itself must use methodology that is robust and technically sound. Everything else follows from this. The requirements of ISO 14001 include:
There can be little doubt that everyone wants good customer service, whatever it is that they are buying. Even the "customers" of local support agencies and charities who pay nothing still expect a good level of customer service. The standard of customer service expectations is constantly and relentlessly rising. Any commercial operation that fails to track these changing demands risks losing (or not attracting) customers without warning. The vast majority of organisations that supply goods and services believe that they provide a very good or an excellent service. If they use criteria, measures and indicators that are generated totally within their own organisation, they will gauge themselves against those standards. If you want to gauge your own level of customer service against a benchmark of excellence, send for our FREE "Excellence in Customer Care - Internal Survey" via the Sample Questionnaires. However, without direct customer or client input to those measures, they can be falsely reassured. This is why, when the customers of those organisations (who rate themselves so highly) actually rate these suppliers' customer service levels, they give an appreciably lower rating. This leads to the most important rule of customer service: Customer service is good (or very good, or excellent) only when your customers actually say it is.The implication of this is that every organisation that wants to establish its true level of customer service needs to ask its customers what they think. Organisations who are serious about customer service do this already - some quite regularly. Those who don't care what their customers think (whatever the reasons) don't bother to ask. Imagine a situation where customers receive goods and services from a range of suppliers and these fall into two broad groups - those who ask what they think and those who don't. What is the difference in impression created by the two groups and do you believe it matters? For many years Carshaw has been involved in measuring customer satisfaction levels in various ways. These include surveys and audits (in any combination): * Telephone surveysAll of these are customised to match the individual client's requirements. You can decide what you want to ask (and in what ways) and how many responses you would like at whatever frequency. If you are not sure what to ask, we can use our experience in this area to help you. Organisations that carry out regular customer satisfaction surveys gain incredibly valuable feedback that they can use to adapt and improve their levels of service. Those that don't keep wondering why they have constant battles to maintain or improve their customer base. If you have not asked your customers lately what they think of your service, you can send for a very short FREE survey form entitled "Customer Satisfaction Survey" via the Sample Questionnaires. You can adapt and modify this simple form to suit your needs. If you are not sure how to implement a system for ensuring a high level of customer service, send for our one-page guide "Implementing Customer Care" via the bulletin board. Customer service is the major means of differentiating an average or mediocre supplier from a good, very good or excellent one. You know what kind of suppliers you prefer to deal with, don't you? Internal Customer CareThis is the attention given by people in any organisation to how well they provide their service to their own internal customers within the same organisation. Why is it important? Very simply, the people who provide the client-facing or external customer care depend heavily upon the quality of the service and support from others within the organisation. While the quality of external customer service relies upon how well the client-facing staff perform, they cannot perform consistently to their peak if there are regular failures in the internal systems or procedures that they rely upon. Carshaw understands that good internal customer care depends upon: a) co-operation and teamworkWe have the experience of diagnosing just where the problems may lie when internal customer service is not as good as it needs to be. Having pinpointed the problem areas, we also provide structured solutions that have an enduring impact. These solutions can take the form of : * Selling the benefits of internal customer careThese solutions can be applied separately but they are more likely to have an enduring effect when used in an appropriate combination as part of an improvement programme. 
Most people in the workplace operate to a level of productivity that is strongly influenced by their levels of technical ability, self-esteem and motivation. However, when the pressure is on to perform better, some believe that increasing only the technical ability will have the desired effect. Experience shows that people with adequate technical abilities regularly underperform because of how they feel about themselves, their situation or one or more of the people with whom they interact. Over the years, Carshaw has amassed the ability to measure virtually all aspects of workplace performance and has developmental solutions to address most of them. Our own personal effectiveness is deeply influenced by the thoughts that we have, that give rise to the ways that we communicate and behave, that in turn dictate the nature and the extent of the influence that we have upon others. Most of Carshaw's tools to improve performance in this area deal with how people feel about themselves coupled with their level of enthusiasm and energy. These tools include: * Personal effectiveness audits & surveys 102 Ideas for Greater Personal Effectiveness by Alan Shaw This booklet describes the actions, communications and behaviour of highly effective people plus the thoughts and feelings that generate them. These tried and tested ideas - used in combination with each other - enable us to have much greater impact and influence on those around us in either a social or work environment. 
Modern selling methods in the UK involve a thorough understanding of buyer behaviour (what motivates different people to buy), coupled with subtlety in the application of sensitive yet structured questioning. Professional selling has moved away from using many of the traditional methods that involve closing techniques and handling objections although it is still important to recognise buying signals. Carshaw's focus on selling is directed towards business-to-business trading rather than selling to the general public. We have found that in this marketplace there is now a crucial emphasis on communicating certain key leadership characteristics of the seller. Traditional selling techniques, by contrast, are given a low importance rating by people in industry and commerce according to recent research. A summary of this research was published in the July 1999 issue of 'The Achievement Report', with the title "The Importance of Leadership Skills in Modern Sales Effectiveness". Copies are available on request. It is also available in text form on this web site in Sample Questionnaires. When the decision-makers in industry and commerce need to make an important or sizeable purchase, they actively look for certain key characteristics in the people from whom they wish to buy. These key characteristics include: * Honesty and credibilityIs this an isolated finding? Absolutely not! A prominent UK sales recruitment specialist was recently quoted in the national press as saying, "Companies these days are looking for people with the qualities of character and initiative to succeed in a sales environment, rather than people with traditional sales training or sales experience." Among those personal characteristics they list: * Being always dependableIt is no coincidence that the list is remarkably similar. Carshaw sales training and coaching workshops are always customised for clients and deal with "live" situations where possible. There is precious little input of theory and participants learn mostly by doing. Not only that, but where all the participants are from the same organisation, these workshops can be used to raise the standard of performance for everyone there. The training is based upon sound sales and marketing experience in the business-to-business arena (still Carshaw's current marketplace) coupled with the latest understanding of buyer behaviour and modern professional sales methods. One feature of this training is the remarkably effective "SHINES" structured questioning technique. While the selling process itself can be so important, it is also crucial to recognise that many business people in the UK are turned off by overt salesmanship. They do not like the feeling of "being sold to". Yet they still have needs, wants, desires and expectations that need to be fulfilled while still needing to feel in control of the situation. We excel at helping people to handle this kind of situation. In understanding the buying processes that occur in the minds of purchasers, it is important to recognise how both the irrational and the rational play a part in making the final decision. Also, our training concentrates upon those vital first few minutes in face-to-face selling where most sales are made or lost. In addition to improving the effectiveness of sales people, Carshaw is also in tune with many of the other modern business-building strategies, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. For details of the "Grow Your Business" seminars in the Midlands, please contact us via Contacts. Selling skills are not the sole province of sales people. Managers of people nowadays are increasingly required to "sell" their requirements to staff rather than just tell them. Too much "telling" and not enough "selling" creates a build-up of antipathy and resentment that convert in curious ways to reduced motivation, lowered effectiveness and poorer productivity among staff. It also creates a range of indirect and compliant behaviours that generate the "us and them" gap. One way that we have found most effective is to help managers develop these "selling" skills as a means of improving the general levels of performance of their staff. Achieving significant improvements in this "selling" ability is within the grasp of virtually every manager who wants them. Tailored in-company training can be sensitively arranged to take into account any specific requirements. If you would like to discuss what is involved, please get in touch. 
In order to be productive nowadays, people in the workplace need to have an appropriate level of software skills. Everyone who operates a PC is capable of producing documents with a word processor but everyone does not operate to anything like the same standards of quality, efficiency or productivity. This sub-optimal performance goes on day after day, week after week, month after month, not only with word processors but also with databases, spreadsheets, presentation packages, graphics software and internet software. The total amount of time and energy that is wasted must be enormous. At Carshaw, we believe that everyone owes it to themselves to gain a level of mastery with software to enable them to achieve their goals efficiently. This means that, whatever the software package(s) being used, everyone should make the best use of the inbuilt capabilities of the software, including any short-cuts and highly productive keystrokes. For example, experience shows that relatively few people at work make full use of templates for their routine operations. Past training also indicates that the use of the "fill handle" in Excel is used only by the minority. So the focus of the help that is offered by Carshaw is upon achieving improved productivity with the software that people use routinely. What we do is to find out what people are doing well already, what they are not doing well and what they cannot do at all. We then find out just what people need to do - currently or in the near future - and provide some guidance on the efficient ways to achieve them. During this process, we invite people to work on their own files (rather than just on training files) so that they can see the real improvements in their work. Our keyword is productivity, and that implies that we help with the movement of data between different software packages to produce some rather novel applications. One interesting application that we devised recently was to get Excel to read data from Pegasus to provide a structured analysis of the client's customer base and create a monthly debtors list (you can request a copy of the full write-up via the message box). We believe that re-keying data should be a punishable offence with serious penalties because it totally undermines productivity. Modern software packages are so much more user-friendly and there is a usable degree of compatibility of file formats that few people seem to realise. In the UK, use of the internet is growing rapidly but then so too is the misuse and inefficient use of it. We are helping local businesses in Staffordshire to make much more efficient use of the internet by holding regular short evening sessions at the Staffordshire University Lichfield Centre (equipped with 100 networked PCs all with fast Internet access). Sessions are hands-on, very flexible and are arranged by popular demand. If you are interested you can leave your details either in the bulletin board or send for outline details via the message box. While you are there, you might also like some hints and tips on other applications or improved productivity (please give us advanced notice of what else you might want to cover). 
Carshaw employs many different types of survey instruments (over 400) in helping the people in Client organisations to improve various aspects of their workplace performance. Many of these instruments are commercially available; others have been developed and tested by Carshaw to address specific client requirements. There are a few FREE SAMPLES of Carshaw survey instruments available to you via the Sample Questionnaires These are some FREE survey instruments that you can request and use freely with our approval (if requesting by e-mail, please specify your word processor if it is other than Microsoft Word for Office 97): * How much common sense (at work) do you have?These survey instruments are used in several ways: a) to highlight areas for potential improvement Summary of the Types of Survey Instruments used by Carshaw Services * Personnel Relations Surveys (Leaders, supervisors, co-workers, etc) 
Included here are some typical examples of where Carshaw has worked with a client organisation over a period of months (or years) to achieve significant improvements in the areas being addressed. References and case histories are available for these and other improvement projects. Examples of Improvement Projects
3 June, 1998 To whom it may concern This letter is to confirm that Alan Shaw of Carshaw Management and Quality Servuices has been an Associate Trainer & Consultant to the Management Training Team, Training Services, since 1993. During this time he has undertaken a range of training and development activities throughout the whole of the London Transport organisation. The focus of this work has been in behavioural and performance improvement at both an individual and a team level, particularly in customer care, the pursuit of excellence, managing change, team building, stress management and problem solving. Alan is very competent at what he does and customers and delegates find him personable and presentable, projecting a professional image at all times. Yours faithfully Diane Whelan MA DMS MIMgt Grad IPD Management Training Manager Training Services To whom it may concern, I have known Alan Shaw since 1990. Since then, he has undertaken various training and consultancy assignments in organisations for which I have worked. His work has focused on improving both individual and company performance and has consisted of coaching, developmental workshops, and management systems development. Alan is undoubtedly a skilled trainer and consultant with a broad experience base. He works closely with his clients to ensure he understands their needs and responds flexibly to their input. Yours faithfully, Nigel Cook Human Resources Executive.
Carshaw Management and Quality Services 4 Hutchinson Close Etching Hill Rugeley WSI5 4DP 8 June 1998 To Whom it May Concern Re Mr Alan Shaw 1 have known Alan for many years. as a friend, colleague and co-trainer. I have always been impressed by his professionalism. He is an excellent facilitator, allowing all trainees to participate fully in any event he runs, whilst ensuring his training is pertinent, comprehensive and enjoyable. Alan is very easy to work with. He operates well as a team member and as a team leader. He considers all points of view and contributes relevant and useful information. Alan's breadth of knowledge, broad experience and comprehensive resource base make him an excellent choice as a business consultant and trainer. On occasions when I have been in need of a person to take over some of my work, I have had no hesitation in handing over to Alan. Yours sincerely Kent Parson Senior Consultant
Carshaw Management and Quality Services 4, Hutchinson Close Rugeley WS15 2RG 5 June 1999 Dear Alan, I confirm that, since 1992, you have been a regular visitor to our premises. During that time you have helped us to develop our business in many different ways by providing a qualified consultancy and training for the benefit of all our staff and our business. Your empathy with the day to day concerns of our type of business is invaluable. With your help, we are actively engaged in the pursuit of excellence in our business operations, and we feel that we are able to work together on our business development at a pace which suits our style of work. The results speak for themselves. With your help we won the Coach Industry Supplier of the Year Award 1999 for the excellence of our customer care. This has opened some doors for us that were previously closed. We have so far this year had our highest turnover ever. We find that you have a very open and approachable manner that enables us to work together as colleagues and we look forward to a longer and more rewarding partnership in the future. Yours sincerely. William Bradburn Managing Director
Alan Shaw Carshaw Management and Quality Services 4, Hutchinson Close Rugeley WS15 2RG 15 June 1998 Dear Alan, It gives me great pleasure to be able to provide this testimonial for you. I can confirm that you have worked with our Company since 1992, primarily working with our Team Leaders. You have continued to support them through many changes in not only a training and developmental role, but also as an important motivator to each of them individually. The work that you have done has concentrated on both behavioural and performance improvement at both an individual and a team level, with a lot of the work being directly focused on live issues in the work place. You have also provided excellent support and guidance for me and other managers. You demonstrate that you have our interests at heart. Throughout our relationship you have always promoted a professional, approachable and empathetic image which has fully supported our business needs. Yours sincerely Annette M Grigg (Mrs) Human Resources Manager 
Extract from Client List
Page Index  Last updated: February 3rd, 2003.
|