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Ian Kirkby
- Feb 18
- 1 min
Leading Remote Teams - Building Trust and Boosting Productivity
Aspire MCL has long argued that inspiring leadership and high-performance, 'healthy' boards and teams offer one of the few sources of sustainable competitive advantage in today's rapidly changing business world. Why? Because this combination is both incredibly powerful and very rare. It is not that business leaders fail to appreciate the potential benefits of such a combination, it is that they are too often unwilling to invest the resources necessary to properly cultivate
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Ian Kirkby
- Feb 16
- 1 min
Leading Remote Teams
Although a return to the office later this year is looking likely, many businesses have stated that they will allow teams to keep working from home. Still others will adopt a hybrid approach where a team is split between those present in the office and those connecting remotely. This LinkedIn article gives some useful tips on leading remote teams: http://bit.ly/AspireMCL022 The importance of good communications and a more emotionally intelligent approach to working with other
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Ian Kirkby
- Jan 22
- 1 min
Belbin Team Roles
Belbin Team Roles is a great tool for helping to ensure that people are suited to the nature of the work required. It can be used to complement SDI 2.0, or DiSC, and 'The 5 Behaviours of a Cohesive Team'. SDI 2.0 and DiSC help us to understand individual motivations, preferred work behaviours and reaction to stress/conflict, whilst 'The 5 Behaviours' provides a framework to guide overall team dynamics. Here is a short overview which shows what an understanding of team roles c
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Ian Kirkby
- Jan 18
- 2 min
New SDI 2.0 Online Assessments - Special Offer!
■ As a leader, do you know how to bring out the best in each of your team members? Do you know what drives them to do their best work? SDI 2.0 will help you understand and tap into these drives. ■ How well does your team collaborate? Do good ideas flow freely or do people tend to work in silos? Are they riven by conflict? SDI 2.0 introduces people to the skills needed to work better together. ■ Have you ever thought about what it’s like to be on the receiving end of you? Do y
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Ian Kirkby
- Jan 5
- 1 min
World's First Relationship Intelligence Online Platform
SDI 2.0 is a simple but practical tool that helps leaders and teams interact more effectively. By understanding our own and others' motivations and preferred behaviours better, we generate better ideas, have more healthy debates about issues, coach and mentor far more effectively, reduce personal conflict, boost engagement, and much more besides. Get in touch to find out how SDI 2.0 can propel your business to the next level. #leadershipdevelopment #teambuilding #sdi20
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Ian Kirkby
- Dec 21, 2020
- 1 min
Using SDI 2.0 to Build Leaders and Teams
Delighted to have become a Certified Core Strengths Partner for SDI 2.0. This is a great tool for building leaders and teams. I used its predecessor, TSDI, regularly and to good effect. Here's a short video that will explain how SDI 2.0 can help you become a more effective leader and build cohesive and dynamic boards/teams: #leadershipdevelopment #teambuilding #psychometrics #SDI20
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Ian Kirkby
- Nov 11, 2020
- 1 min
Podcast Interview
Ian was delighted to have been interviewed by Chris Kirkby (no relation) of 'The 23' on leadership traits, boosting organisational health, building great teams and coping with the increasing mental demands of leading in the modern world. This is a useful summary Aspire's approach in these areas and has some good, practical tips you can start to apply immediately. Here is the link: https://bit.ly/AspireMCL11-1 #leadershipdevelopment #organisationalhealth #teambuilding #boarddy
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Ian Kirkby
- Oct 1, 2020
- 2 min
Do you Trust your Leaders?
Do your employees trust your leadership? Does it really matter? An all too common answer to the first question is ‘probably not’, but the proven answer to the second is ‘definitely!’ An extensive Gallup survey showed that only one in 3 employees strongly agree that they trust their organization’s leadership* But why does it matter? There are many reasons why trust is essential not only to good leadership but to good teamwork. Pat Lencioni’s ‘5 Behaviours of a Cohesive Team’ r
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Ian Kirkby
- Sep 30, 2020
- 2 min
Online DiSC Assessment and 1-2-1 Coaching Session for only £350*!
DiSC offers a suite of personal development learning experiences that deepen understanding of motivations and behaviours. The personalized insights the assessment produces are great for making workplace interactions at all levels more effective and enjoyable. The result is more engagement and collaboration that sparks a sustainable cultural improvement in your organization. DiSC has 5 distinct applications with assessments tailored to provide rich insights in specific areas.
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Ian Kirkby
- Sep 2, 2020
- 2 min
It Starts with good Leadership!
The business benefits of having engaged employees (basically those who are excited about and committed to their work), have been well known for decades. However, progress towards improving the state of play in this area has been lamentably slow. I am convinced that a key reason for this is that too many managers lack the leadership skills necessary to motivate their teams. It is not that they are inherently bad people (mostly!); they just don't know how to lead. Add to that t
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Ian Kirkby
- Aug 21, 2020
- 1 min
Client Recommendation
Always nice to receive a 'well done' from a client. Thanks to Richard Johnson, associate director at MSD Pharmaceuticals, for this: "Ian coached me through ‘High Performing Teams’ sessions, as well as on an individual basis. Ian has proven to be very adaptable and has guided me through areas including Coaching, Senior/Executive Leadership, and Success in Interviews, drawing upon his experiences which add valuable colour to the discussions. I leave each session with clear acti
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Ian Kirkby
- Jul 13, 2020
- 1 min
How to Lead in Crises
Following my interview with The Leaders' Council for a national podcast on 'Leading in Crises', I have written an article which expands on the discussion. It has 7 practical steps for leaders to take and can be found below: The podcast is here: https://bit.ly/AspireMCL #leadingincrisis #leadershipdevelopment
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Ian Kirkby
- Sep 4, 2019
- 1 min
Leadership Style Assessment - Secret Group
The latest addition to Aspire's Secret Facebook Group is now available to subscribers. It is a leadership style assessment that will tell you if you prefer to adopt an autocratic, democratic or laissez-faire approach to leadership. You can also use it with your immediate teams to get 360 degree feedback. If you would prefer a more in-depth analytical tool, or would like to use it further afield, please get in touch with me at iank@aspiremcl.co.uk or call me on +44 (0)1522 700
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Ian Kirkby
- Mar 5, 2019
- 1 min
How to Gain Influence
Here's a short LinkedIn article with a good tip for influencing your boss (and there's a wider application): https://goo.gl/2ttbi7 Everyone has different motivations/behavioural preferences. If we learn what they are, we can work more effectively with our bosses, peers and teams. Aspire MCL uses TSDI and Everything DiSC to facilitate this. they are simple (hence easy to remember) and practical. They can be learnt in a day's workshop and instantly brought to bear on live busin
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Ian Kirkby
- Feb 18, 2019
- 1 min
New Brochure
Aspire MCL's new brochure is now available! It gives a short overview of our services along with testimonials and high-level overviews of some of our preferred tools. Contact Ian on +44(0)20 3904 7501 or email him at enquiries@aspiremcl.com for your e-copy. We promise not to spam you! #LeadershipDevelopment #TeamBuilding #OrganizationalHealth
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Ian Kirkby
- Jan 31, 2019
- 1 min
How Effective Leadership Boosts Business Performance
Here's a guest blog I recently wrote for the Fruitful Group on the above subject (good summary of the business case): https://goo.gl/hks31h #ExecutiveLeadership #ActionCentredLeadership #LeadershipTraits #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #OrganizationalHealth #Effectiveness
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Ian Kirkby
- Sep 14, 2018
- 1 min
Planning Vs Agility
Planning and agility are often seen as opposites. However, as a recent HBR article (https://goo.gl/wMpCnD) explains, both are necessary. Taking the HBR article a bit further, it is really a question of balance, and that balance is dictated by the following factors: Task - relative importance and complexity, time available, etc. Team as a whole - capabilities, composition, maturity, etc. Individuals - development needs, etc. Wider environment - corporate culture, senior stakeh
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Ian Kirkby
- Aug 10, 2018
- 2 min
What do Exceptional Leaders do Differently?
There is no shortage of material about the traits of good leadership and some of the pointers and lists can be helpful for assessment and development. However, it is not uncommon for someone to possess many of these traits but still be uninspiring as a leader. What makes people willing to follow one person but not another in similar situations? There are many factors to this of course, but in decades of study and experience, I have found that the most inspiring and effective
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Ian Kirkby
- May 8, 2018
- 1 min
What Successful Executives Do Differently
Another telling survey has shown that between 50-60% of new executives fail within 18 months of their first appointment (HBR – The 4 Things Successful Executives Do, 7 March 2018). The same survey showed that 61% said they were not prepared for their new role and 76% received no or inadequate help from their organisation to make the step up. On a more positive note, here's what the survey identified as the key traits of the successful 40-50%: - They had a wide-ranging perspec
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