Organisational success depends on many key elements, though one remains constant – people. Whether you are involved in public service, local government, manufacturing or client services, people are ultimately what make your organisation a success.

Traditionally the development of people has been based on developing skills, knowledge and experience around function. However, a growing body of research maintains that a great deal more is required than this traditional one-dimensional method. The research shows that there are at least four different dimensions to human development at work, namely:

• know the function
• know self
• know others
• know the dynamics

All four dimensions are necessary for optimum human performance and consequent business success. We call this the ‘four dimensional performer’ and use it as the basis of our Human Dynamics development programme.

Design

Pendragon Human Partnerships’ Human Dynamics programme was developed by Mike Fisher and Rob Chappell. Although they both work in the field of human development, Mike and Rob come from very different working backgrounds.

Mike Fisher started as a human resources manager and diversified into training and development, work psychology and psychometrics, career and life coaching, business management and organisational development. He now works with a diverse range of organisations, helping them align their business and people strategies through facilitation, conference and training techniques.

Rob is primarily a psychotherapist. He runs his own counselling practice while also working in psychometrics and workplace psychology. He has a background in the management of community development, partnership-building and major renewal and urban regeneration projects. He is a skilled participatory planning facilitator.

These diverse backgrounds come together in the field of human development through the common belief that the modern workplace needs a very different sort of approach for its people. They state:

“Simply knowing how to do the job or having the right skills is no longer enough. To perform in today’s dynamic, potentially stressful and necessarily less hierarchical workplace, we need to bring our whole person to work”

We named the programme ‘Human Dynamics’ because we believe the phrase captures some sense of the way we think about and approach the problems of the present day workplace.

‘Human’ highlights the fact that first and foremost we are interested in people. They are the fabric of every organisation – and the vitality, creativity and culture that can drive the business to greatness.

‘Dynamics’ reinforces the notion that this is not about static theory or the application of preconceived ideas to workplace problems. It is about motion, discovery and the continual interplay of human drives and understanding. It is all about relationships.

Delivery

Based on this perception of the present day workplace, our approach will never be ‘one size fits all’. We will work with you to discover what makes your business unique and what your organisations’ issues really are.

This may take the form of ongoing dialogue with you. For example, inviting your managers and staff to complete questionnaires or to be interviewed. Alternatively, permitting us to shadow your workers may reveal the daily reality of your business.

Only then can we design a package that suits you perfectly. This may take the form of a one-off training session, psychometric and personal coaching, ongoing programmes of work, planning processes or communication events.

Most of our workshops are delivered by facilitators such as Mike Fisher and Rob Chappell, so that delegates are offered a broad range of theoretical approaches, dynamic interplay and a creative tension provided by the two working together.

This allows us to keep the process fluid and responsive to the needs of your particular group. What we are offering is a dynamic process that can freely adapt and evolve in the fast-changing work environment. Perhaps we should add that taking part is also fun. In fact if people aren’t enjoying it, then it probably isn’t working.

Put simply, you and your people are at the centre of everything we do – indeed, you should expect no less.

Types of Training Interventions

• Driving teams from within
  Participants gain the skills they need to influence their teams. They learn who they are, how teams operate on a human level and the most important message of all – ‘we are all leaders’ (you may not actually be the manager but you are equally responsible for team performance). By finding your own strengths and the ability to drive those around you, you can help lead the team to perform.
  
  
• Uncovering the secret life of a team
  This session concentrates on the life of teams and groups as entities in their own right. Participants gain insights into the psychology of groups and the hidden processes and dynamics that happen in teams. They learn how to recognise these dynamics and how to influence them.

• Finding the ‘I’ in team
  Intended as an introduction to Human Dynamics, this workshop focuses on the individual, their relationships with others and with the team as a whole. It offers insight into why this might be problematic and how it might be improved. Individuals gain insight into their own behaviour and relationship style as well as learning how to recognise these in others. Participants learn to adapt their own styles of building and maintaining relationships and how to interact with their colleagues. They gain insight into the mysteries of human behaviour and powerful tools for change.

• Increasing motivation
  When people’s motivation starts to decline, they tend to look outwardly for the change. This session teaches them look inwardly and support outwardly. Participants will identify personal motivators and fears as well as their own and others’ communication and working styles. They will start to identify and understand the psychological contract and how it affects individual motivation. As well as developing an understanding of group dynamics, they will learn how this can inject energy when it is right and sap energy when it is wrong.
  
  
• Bridging the gap between ‘established’ and ‘new’ employees
  This session helps teams develop an understanding of people’s differences and the need for diversity in all its forms. By understanding the strengths and limitations of different behavioural types, teams can quickly bridge the gap with new members, not by indoctrinating them but through acknowledging that their arrival has changed the team dynamic.
  
  
• Developing cross-departmental communication
  When we accept that ‘silo working’ exists in all organisations, we can start to concentrate on building bridges, not breaking them down. This session helps teams understand each other’s cultures and why they exist. It creates awareness of group thinking and an understanding of communication networks. By the end of the session, people will develop strategies for building more cross-functional communication and internal customer service.

• Developing new or restructured teams
  This session is intended as a route into the very heart of what it means to be a team. By beginning to consider the human aspect of teamwork, learning to have some empathy and understanding for ourselves and others and gaining some knowledge of the overall dynamic, individuals become part of a collective which can begin to come together to work as a single entity.
  
  
• Developing high performance teams that need to maintain momentum
  Having established trust and high functionality in a team, the next logical step is to consider how it might transcend the sum of its parts. A team that can tolerate separateness, genuine diversity and the high performance of its individual members is one that is well on the way to becoming truly great. These sessions are an opportunity to glimpse into the future and build action plans that will breathe new life into old teams.
  
  
• Developing cross-functional/virtual teams
  These sessions look at the dynamics of larger/dispersed groups and at what happens when different teams have to work together. We examine what can go wrong when we communicate with each other and why some issues never seem to get resolved. They offer practical techniques that will be instantly effective and help the larger task group to examine ways in which it might work together as one super-team.
  
  
• Top teams strategy and vision
  These truly inspirational sessions can unlock the potential for spontaneity and creativity in both individuals and teams. They offer simple and easy-to-use techniques that can generate wholly original ideas or build on existing concepts. They also represent an opportunity to explore what really makes your organisation tick and to build on all that is healthy, vibrant and unique in your team.
  
  
• Developing underperforming teams
  Conflict and differences are a normal part of the life of any group but they can often be painful or destructive for a team to accept. These sessions uncover some of the possible causes of conflict within teams and some of the destructive dynamics that can occur when conflict is not addressed. There is a chance to look at ways in which differences can be tackled constructively and how diversity can be the lifeblood of a truly effective team.
  
  
• Problem-solving and decision-making
  All business managers have to make difficult and sometimes high-risk decisions but often, regardless of the complexity of the situation, they are made without the benefit of any structured process or problem-solving techniques. This session works with people to develop their awareness of emotional intelligence and the part it plays in making decisions. It also assists in building a suite of problem-solving and decision-making techniques that can be used in many different scenarios.
  
  
• Mentoring and protégés
  These sessions, specifically calibrated to differing needs and experience, are designed to assist existing, new and potential mentors and protégés by facilitating better people development. The session demystifies the role of mentoring and helps managers to take it on with confidence. It also provides managers with a framework on which mentoring skills can be developed and implemented.
  
  
• Personal development (MBTI) workshops
  This workshop is intended as an introduction to the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) tool. Run over two days and comprising theoretical and experiential material, it gives participants a basic grounding in MBTI. It also highlights the use of MBTI as a tool for personal development and to improve influencing and communication skills. The theoretical material is illustrated with games and exercises that enable delegates to see ‘type’ in action. Delegates leave the sessions with greater knowledge of both themselves and their colleagues. With the building blocks and inspiration to improve their ability to communicate effectively they are able to get the best from themselves and those around them.
  
  
• NLP For business
  NLP ties together all the strategies of excellence into a science of ‘personal achievement’. It works predominantly with the unconscious or subconscious mind, which is capable of carrying out two million different activities simultaneously. This is the brain’s powerhouse; a computer has yet to be built that can match its capabilities. This session works with the participants to release this power and create useful techniques for personal success. The description that best sums up the whole concept of NLP is:
  If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always got. So if what you’re doing isn’t getting you what you want, do something different!
  
  
• Emotional literacy
  This session helps participants to develop an understanding of what emotional intelligence is and how it contributes to hard business outcomes. It enables them to start exploring the role emotions play in their own performance and identify some personal goals. This will enable them to use their emotions more effectively for personal and organisational success.
  
  
• Communication and influencing
  Every specification for every job seems to contain the phrase ‘excellent communication skills’ and, in truth, most of us believe that we have this essential quality. Why is it then that communication, or lack of it, is cited more often than any other factor in the success or failure of the human systems in which we play a part?
  We offer one- or two-day workshops that, while designed to meet your specific needs, generally contain several key factors. Through the use of psychometrics such as DISC or MBTI, participants are helped to discover the strengths and limitations of their own communication styles and learn how to adapt to those of others. They learn to defuse conflict, often before it arises, and to get the best out of every communication.
  
  By learning to mobilise the latent potential of their emotional intelligence – listening effectively and developing empathic and authentic relationships with those around them –participants begin to become high-level communicators who will enable your business to thrive.
  
  
• Managing people through change
  Woody Allen is famously quoted as saying: “The only certainties in life are death and taxes”. Another constant that he overlooked is ‘change’. The key to success is our ability, as individuals or as groups, to adapt in a constantly changing world.
  
  This one-day practical change management training course is intended to equip managers with the tools and techniques needed to introduce change effectively and at a pace their organisation and their teams can absorb seamlessly.
  
  The workshop is suitable for managers/directors who are responsible for organisational or strategic change within their business. Through individual profiling and a basic grounding in concepts of group dynamics, they will be equipped to help their teams embrace change rather than resist it. It will also assist them in understanding how best to involve their teams in the process while successfully negotiating the limits to that involvement; to create ground rules for the management of change processes.
  
  
• Stimulating creativity
  Where do you get your ideas? This is a question often asked of highly original thinkers. Most will offer some equivocal or unfathomable response. In fact what they are able to do is make new connections between incongruous ideas or concepts. Although this workshop will not transform delegates into Leonardo DaVinci overnight, it provides some exciting techniques through which to generate original ideas. Applicable to many situations and presented in a lively and highly enjoyable real-time format, these techniques can provide the basis for genuinely outside-the-box thinking.
  
  
• Management through leadership
  The traditional image of the effective leader is of the genius with a thousand helpers, leading by sheer force of personality and charisma, an individual with drive and talent making timely and brilliant decisions. Effective though such people may be, research shows that the really great leaders are quieter and more complex individuals. Using concepts formulated by Jim Collins in his seminal work Good to Great, combined with ideas from the world of psychology and psychometrics, this one- or two-day workshop equips managers with tools and competencies to motivate and lead their teams more effectively, to make the best possible decisions and to begin to become truly great leaders.

• Developing the customer relationship
  Nowhere are relationships more important than with your customers, whether they are sitting at the next desk or on the other side of the world. This one-day workshop explores the anatomy of human relationships and what can go wrong with them. It gives participants new ways to process customer feedback and to employ their whole person in forming strong, lively and empathic relationships with the people most important to your business.
  
  
• Dealing with conflict
  Communication is easy when we all agree but what about those occasions when we don’t - when tempers fray or we seem to be unable to reach a compromise? This workshop aims to uncover some of the underlying causes of conflict between individuals and in and between groups, offering new insights and techniques for dealing with it. It helps participants to see conflict not necessarily as a destructive force to be avoided, but on occasions as a dynamic that can be harnessed and can actually reflect the diversity and energy of the business. It would be a dull world where everyone agreed all of the time!
  
  
• Assertiveness
  The art of assertiveness is getting what you want by raising an eyebrow - not the roof. Maybe we can’t teach that in a day, but with a little practice, who knows? This one-day workshop aims to give practical hints and tools to help delegates deal with tricky situations. Using tried and trusted techniques, and combining insights from Transactional Analysis and other disciplines, this has proved to be one of our most popular courses.

Tel: 01454 410000 • E-mail: enquiries@pendragon-hr.com • Web: www.pendragon-cs.com
Pendragon Human Partnerships, Annwn Court, Shepperdine Road, Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, BS35 1RL

To download the full Performance Development through Human Dynamics brochure in PDF format - click here