Top tips

New research sends clear message to team leaders

How micro habits are key to the environmental mission of our new charity partner, Take 3 for the Sea

If not, you might be part of a hybrid strategy that’s about to fail.

As employees return to the office, they’re expecting more flexibility in their social contracts with employers. How can HR help?

Change is inevitable. And as the hybrid workplace becomes a new normal for many organizations, it brings specific benefits and challenges to managing uncertainty and successfully implementing change initiatives.

Our recommended titles for you this World Book Day

6 things managers and executives can do

How you can gain instant insight from colourful MBTI type resources.

How to use research to create MBTI solutions: this post looks at leadership accountability gaps

John Hackston explores recent OPP research. 

Which MBTI book will you add to your collection this World Book Day?

Get the most from the MBTI assessment when coaching individuals.

Research based tips for more effective email communication between different MBTI personality Types.

How do different MBTI Types use and feel about email? We explore some recent research to see what we can learn

Looking for an easy to implement icebreaker? Bingo!

Cycling-inspired tips for team and leadership development

The power of persuasion in the context of MBTI Types - how do they differ?

What should we look out for in 2016? Here are our predictions...

Aidan Millar explores how coaches can help clients flex between operating with their natural MBTI preferences and outside them when necessary. 

Why do managers leave their jobs? We've looked at the research to bring you a summary

Quick fixes are great, but what about a long-term solution to managing stress?

No-one likes open plan offices, so what can we do about it? Check out this research-based advice.

The employment market seems to be improving, which is good news for jobseekers but not necessarily for employers; having more jobs available means that there are more opportunities for workers to leave. All the more important, then, that managers don’t give their people that extra incentive to start looking elsewhere. Here are five of the most common ways in which managers can (and unfortunately do) alienate their staff.

In my previous blog post, I set out five top tips for increasing the impact of team coaching based on my experience as an OPP Consultant. I’m aware of the increasing pressure on clients’ budgets and the need to ensure that investment in team coaching inspires permanent change and makes a lasting difference to performance. With this in mind, I offer five more tips.

As an OPP Consultant, I work with many teams across a wide variety of sectors and industries. I was recently talking to a client, herself an L&D practitioner, who asked me about my approach to team coaching – in  particular what my ‘top tips’ were for ensuring that the work had impact and made a real difference to how the team functions. This got me thinking about the key elements involved.

Well, not necessarily. But it is true that her demise could have been attributed to an all-too-common Sensing blind spot: a failure to quickly and accurately recognise how facts and present realities connect to a bigger picture – and often, a very meaningful one.

Whether you need to hire staff for your own business, or you conduct interviews on behalf of a client, it’s important to get the most out of every job interview. As a business psychologist, I have studied selection methods carefully and practised them throughout my working life. Here are some tips on how to maximise the effectiveness of your next interview.

It’s that time of year again... having reflected back on 2014, many will now be looking ahead to 2015 and identifying their self-improvement resolutions and goals for the year ahead.  Although I don’t personally set New Year’s resolutions, goal setting helps focus my intention, effort and actions. It seems timely to reflect on how we set goals, as many in organisations will be in the midst of reviewing performance against targets or key performance indicators (KPIs) and engaging in personal development planning for the year ahead.

Visits to our Personality Matters Blog were at an all-time high in 2014, and we covered a wide range of topics in our weekly posts. Over the last 12 months we've talked about the best MBTI-based books and the various resources available for L&D teams. We’ve promoted Movember, and we’ve chipped in to the Paul Flowers furore. We've continued to thrive as thought leaders in a diverse range of workplace psychology issues, from recruitment and assessment centres to polarity management. But what are the top five posts that readers have returned to again and again?

Staff retention is a major issue for many organisations. Some environments are feeling the effects more than others - call centres, for example, are practically haemorrhaging employees. Consequently, HR professionals need to find more effective ways to retain talent. Our blog post offers ten top tips for engaging with staff and keeping them on board.