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Writing Effective Goals Developing goals begins with creating well designed and written goal statements; specifying the aims, objectives or targets you want to achieve. These goal statements deal with various aspects of your life such as career, personal, financial and so on. An Action Plan should accompany every goal statement, specifying the strategies needed and …
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Some people are always in trouble at work. They may be competent, hardworking and productive, but performance reviews tend to rate them as no better than average, and they seem to make a career of irritating managers. This may be due to politically ineptness, where difficulties are experienced in adjusting their behaviour to fit changing …
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Throughout your working life you are more than likely to be required to work in teams. In order for teams to work, there are certain traits that are required. Trust is one of the preferred traits. Research shows that when there is a certain level of trust between two people they will work better with …
Providing Feedback How often do you praise someone for doing a good job or subtly point out to someone when they aren’t doing something correct or in the most efficient way? Feedback is often vital for a person to grow in both personal and in professional aspects. Feedback is the 2 way flow of specific …
Key Behaviours for Effective Goal Setting With the 2021 New Year, many of us are now setting our goals, resolutions, hopes and dreams. This year plan your approach to ensure success. Your ability to achieve your goals will depend greatly on your approach: o Visualise the outcome: imagine being at the completion point of your …
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It’s that time of year again, we all do it, how many New Year’s resolutions have you thought of so far? It’s often the same for many people: take up a hobby, become healthier, lose weight, get a better job or promotion…. You may manage a few of these but the truth is that change …
The definition of management Management can be defined as “the attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising, leading and controlling organisational resources.” There are two important aspects to this definition: 1. The work towards the attainment of organisational goals 2. The four functions of management including: planning, organising, leading …
Present Day Managers In recent times organisations have restructured and downsized, the traditional pyramid of organisations has become flatter. The ranks of the middle managers have been reduced and many of the duties formerly carried out by the middle managers now fall to supervisors. In turn, the work team now does many of …
Learning for the Modern Adult In modern Australia today many of us are left with limited free time to undertake another qualification. We find that although a lot of our potential clients want to do a qualification, it is just not feasible in their busy, busy lives. Introducing the Pivot Institutes’ Online Learning System. Pivot …
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Persuasion is generally an exercise in creating a win-win situation. You present a case that others find beneficial to agree with. You make them an offer they can’t refuse, but not in the manipulative Godfather sense. It’s simply a good deal or a position that makes sense to that particular person. There are techniques that …
What does your body language say about you? At every moment in time the subconscious mind speaks to us through our bodies, in a language that is as refined, systematic, and complete as verbal language. Becoming fluent in body language can help you to think more effectively and increase your awareness of yourself and others. …
Done properly, delegation can be very empowering. It is a key leadership function that builds on the valued friendship, cooperation and support of the work team. When fully empowered, members of a work team have a great deal of autonomy and work out many issues for themselves. If it is a high-performing team, it will …
Ensuring that you competently perform your job is part of every job description. How can you ensure that your employee’s perform as expected or even go above and beyond in your role and exceed your expectations? There are five steps to ensuring you give you give your employees all the tools they need. Although the …
Coaching is a highly personalised form of learning that aims to unlock and enhance the learning ability and performance of others. It is concerned with designing and facilitating change and continuous improvement; by understanding and encouraging a person’s strengths, as well as recognising and overcoming challenges. It helps the person to help her/himself to bring …
Performance Management involves the translation of organisational strategies and targets into practical and realistic performance goals for every role and person. It takes place between a team leader and team member and is guided by the organisation’s Performance Management process. The following steps provide a guide that team leaders may use to assist a team …
Work instructions come in various strengths. How strongly you make a request depends on the situation and the team member/s. Emergencies and dangerous situations, for example, require prompt action. They call for clear, decisive instructions. You may not even have the time to explain them. At the other end of the scale are situations where …
Working at Heights is a high risk job. If you are required to work at heights as part of your job role, it is crucial that you have undergone the appropriate training and are deemed competent before attempting to work at heights. In one year, 2010-2011 there were 7,730 serious injuries reported resulting from a …
Often feuds are caused by differing opinions stemmed by different personalities. Our personality shapes our behaviour, so if we want to better understand the behaviour of someone in an organisation, it helps if we know something about his or her personality. When psychologists talk of personality, they mean a dynamic concept describing the growth and …
Listening is a critical skill in any leadership setting for two reasons. First, listening allows the leader to collect information which can help the individual, team or organisation to succeed. Second, listening and respecting confidentiality allows the leader to create trusting relationships with others. Are You Listening to Win? Consider the following: Do you try …
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, there has always been a huge emphasis on education. From being sent to bed at 8pm on a ‘school night’ to being forced to do your homework before the TV could be switched on. As children we’d always be asked ‘and what do you want to be when …
As we bid farewell to 2020 and say hello to 2021, now is a great time to make changes. Whether it is a change to benefit your lifestyle, appearance or kicking your nasty habits the start of a new year is the best time to do it. New Year’s Resolutions have been around for centuries; …
Being a manager in a resource strapped extremely busy organisation, has its unique challenges that not every manager faces. There are however always ways you can improve your working day to move more quickly towards achieving your goals. Procrastination is the biggest eater of our time in the workplace. Procrastination is our remarkable ability to …
How can obtaining a Cert IV in Training & Assessment be beneficial to you? Firstly it is a requirement that any individual who trains as part of their job role, whether internal or external training, must have a minimum of Cert IV in Training & Assessment. The qualification provides participants with the skills and knowledge …
Pivots Online Learning System is a Moodle (Open Source Course Management System (CMS)) based online learning site. This opens our students to a world of online learning which they can access at any time and any place. Since the development of POLS, completing a course with Pivot has never been so easy! The option for …
What is Manual Handling? Manual Handling is any task which involves moving something by lifting, pushing or pulling etc. For example, lifting objects or pushing trolleys or even working in a constrained awkward position. It is known to many as the daunting task that many of us are forced to attend training for annually. But …
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The role of manager to is to achieve the objectives of the organisation through people. A leading function of management is influencing others to work towards achieving those objectives and results through other people therefore a major responsibility in this role is to motivate staff.
Businesses often have so much going on that it is necessary to sit down and plan for the future. A fantastic method to monitor and control plans is by preparing Action Plans for businesses. This promotes good management of companies. It is not only pointing out specific key areas that need improvement but also enables …
Effective communication is often the key to success. It is therefore vital that the words you speak are interpreted to give the same message you intended. “Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood” Freeman Teague, Jr. However, often unknown to the speaker, words can be misheard and the wrong message received. The following …
Management can be defined as “the attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising, leading and controlling organisational resources.” There are two important aspects to this definition: The work towards the attainment of organisational goals; The four functions of management including: planning, organising, leading and controlling.
A hallmark of an effective manager is their ability to delegate. You cannot effectively manage and lead without delegation. Delegation is where you give responsibility and authority for a task to another individual which both useful and intimidating at the same time. Delegation can be a major challenge for some individuals who may be reluctant …
Time can be thought of as the most valuable resource we have. It is not like money (although both seem to be a limited resource). It cannot be stored in the bank for later use. We cannot ‘make’ more time, but most people, even those with good time management skills can benefit from time management …
Is Modern Technology Taking over in the workplace? In recent years, it’s becoming more likely to have mail in your email inbox than in your letterbox. With the internet taking over, is it for the better? According to recent studies up to 75% of a company’s property can be recovered through email. All emails are …
In today’s extremely competitive environment continuous change is a given. Long gone are the days when employees could continue doing the same job the same way they always have. Employees’ today are required to adapt constantly to incorporate change into their organisations. Change is going to be a permanent fixture in most organisations. Change can …
It has been argued that non verbal communication has more meaning than verbal communication itself with most studies claiming that 55% of all communication is non- verbal, 7% spoken words and 38% tone of voice. But what is non verbal communication? It consists of one’s body language, facial expression, tone of voice, hand gestures, posture …
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Many of us dread the sound of the alarm clock going off at 7am, with the only quick movement before 9am is pushing the snooze button for 10 more minutes. But with many employers opting to follow the Japanese, our lazy mornings may be a thing of the past. Health and wellbeing has been highlighted …
When we think of safety at work often we may think of it as a burden, extending the time it takes to a task to do it safely, signs & notices that nobody reads… But with the shocking number of work place fatalities, work related disease and work related illnesses, it is an area which …
Even the most organised and methodical of people find it difficult to balance their professional and personal lives in harmony. It is becoming more and more difficult to separate the two due to increasing hours, increasing commitments and increasing everyday pressures; which are leaving so many people today immobilized by stress with no tools as …
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It would be desirable for all staff to show up to work with a professional, understanding and non- discriminative attitude but unfortunately this is not always the case. Workplace conflict causes a great deal of stress to many people every day and can often result in lawsuits and changing of workplace; but it does not …
Social media is undoubtedly the way of the future, and can be an extremely useful tool in advertising for many businesses. Many business people are scratching their heads wondering how to incorporate this relatively new phenomenon into their marketing strategies. There are a few pitfalls that many professionals encounter that can negatively affect the profitability …
It can be hard to stay motivated when you have been working the same role for a long period of time, feel dissatisfied with your job history or lack the motivation to strive for higher success. Stop doubting yourself! Set yourself some goals, and strive to make them a reality. Many have long procrastinated the …
It is a real talent to command a room; to automatically be given the respect and attention of strangers is a rare gift few receive until they are skilled and adept. Some trainers that we inevitably encounter throughout our lives evoke many negative emotions, although their teachings are totally forgotten.
In the corporate world both management and leadership are vital to a business’s success, but is there much of a difference between the two? Undoubtedly the two are strongly linked as many people in positions of power demonstrate both managerial and leadership characteristics.
Stressed due to work pressures? Don’t worry you are not alone; almost 65% of Australians reported that they thought work contributed considerably to their levels of stress. Stress is one of those unavoidable things that affects all of us throughout both our personal and professional lives. It is a matter of how you deal with …
It is time for New Year Resolutions and commitments to achieving new goals over the next 12 months. Here at The Pivot Institute we see the year in terms of how we always see it: thorough planning and preparation to ensure that we make the most of the year.