Products

Welcome to our growing range of management tools, games and e-books designed to help you to become a more effective manager. Follow the links to find out more.

There's more from our colleagues and associates here.

Seven Ways To Figure Out What You Want™
Red Stuff Handbook™
Hollow Square
Rigger
Making It Happen
New Ideas Toolkit
Prisoner’s Dilemma

Seven Ways To Figure Out What You Want™

This is a workbook for those who would like to find out what they really want. It's also for those who know what they want and would like to check.

It contains 7 straightforward exercises designed to stimulate your thinking and start the process of deciding what is really important to you.

The exercises cover:

Starting small
Deciding what you don't want
Making your wishes come true
Scoring your life
Using the time remaining
Paying attention to your senses
Following your joy

Although primarily aimed at individuals, Seven Ways is a creative resource that can be used by teams to generate new solutions to old problems.

What you get

A standalone 30 page workbook with full explanation in pdf format

Just £47, This information is essential reading for anyone who is stuck in that ‘I don't know what to do’ or ‘I don't know what I want state’. People pay me hundreds of pounds a day to run this as a workshop but I wanted to put it within the reach of everybody and that's why I've priced this at an affordable £47.

Instant Access…order now

Seven Ways To Figure Out What You Want™ is a PDF ebook. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - it's just over 28 thought provoking pages and you can work through it and be clear about what you want in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll begin to figure out what you really want.

Yes, please!

I want to download Seven Ways To Figure Out What You Want™
I understand that my investment is £47

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £47

You’ll then be taken to a secure, PayPal, payment page. All you need is a credit card. You do not need a Paypal Account. Complete the forms and follow their instructions to make your payment. Once you have paid, you'll get a confirmation email with your PDF ebook, “Seven Ways To Figure Out What You Want™” attached.

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The Red Stuff Handbook

Everything you wanted to know about the mechanics of starting a small business in the UK

Developed to support our very popular Start Your Own Business/Be Your Own Boss workshops the Red Stuff Handbook is a detailed guide to the mechanics of setting up a new business.

The Red Stuff is your lifeblood - tax, VAT, expenses, using an acountant, which legal structure to use etc. this handbook answers the twelve most pressing Red Stuff questions when you are leaving a job and thinking about going out on your own.

Who is this for?

It isn't for people who just want the theory and don't want to use it. Only purchase this product if you want fast, practical help with the mechanics. It's for people at the transition stage who have been curious and concerned about the mechanics and want to arm themselves with some information and answers before talking to other professionals. It is, for example, an ideal handbook to work through before you start talking to accountants.

There is a full and detailed description here and you can buy it there or come back here to get it.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £47

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Hollow Square

This game can be used to help teams understand the impact of communication between those who develop plans and those who have to implement them. It also highlights helpful and not so helpful behaviours when planning, assigning or completing tasks. Teams that regularly work on problem solving will find the game useful for alerting them to factors that encourage or restrict effectiveness.

It can be played at several levels of complexity.

The game

You divide your group into a Planning Team and an Operations Team. The Planning Team have 20mins to prepare a briefing that will enable the Operations Team to carry out a specific task - the building of a hollow square.

The Operations Team then have to carry out the task working from the briefing they have received without any further input from Planning.

At the end of a time limit both teams review the performance against the task, quality of briefings, assignments and instructions plus the wider implications for their work situation.

In the more complex version teams can be chosen to reflect their real work roles or their level of attention to detail! A longer version can be played with Planning allowed to intervene halfway through the process.

Typically, the game promotes an active discussion about behaviours, assumptions made by both teams, quality of delegation and actions to improve communication.

What you get

You get a full description of the game, handout masters for Planning and Operations together with a list of review questions and suggestions for learning points.

You may copy these for use within your organisation as long as you retain the copyright note.

Instant Access…order now

The Hollow Square Game Pack is a PDF document. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - you can work through it and be using it with a group in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll understand how to help your teams to improve their communication.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £47

You’ll then be taken to a secure, PayPal, payment page. All you need is a credit card. You do not need a Paypal Account. Complete the forms and follow their instructions to make your payment. Once you have paid, you'll get a confirmation email with your PDF copy of “Hollow Square” complete with instructions attached.

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Rigger

This game can be used to help teams understand skills, behaviours and techniques that work in a high pressure situation. It is particularly good at emphasising the differences between a team that takes time to plan and a team that rushes into the task. It is highly practical so aids communication and learning about managing practical problems. Teams that regularly work on problem solving will find the game useful for alerting them to factors that encourage or restrict effectiveness. It can be played at several levels of complexity.

The game

You divide your group into small teams (3 - 6 works best). They have 45 minutes to construct a model oil rig platform in response to a customer briefing and using only the materials you supply.

At the end you allow the teams to “stress test” their prototype and judge the results using a clear set of criteria including safety and cost.

The game can be run anywhere with a few easily available household items.

Where could I use Rigger?

Applications include:

Team building
Project launch meetings
Forming new teams
Helping functional teams appreciate the bigger picture

Time: As little as 45 min to 1 hour or up to half a day with the more complex version.

What you get

This kit includes:

Facilitators instructions on how to run the game
Team Brief
Customer Specification to pick a winner
Your shopping list
Review questions
Suggested learning points
Suggested variations for added interest

You can copy these for use within your own organisation as long as you retain the copyright note

Instant Access…order now

The Rigger Game Pack is a PDF document. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - you can work through it and be using it with a group in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll understand how to help your teams to improve their communication.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £47 ( VAT)

You’ll then be taken to a secure, PayPal, payment page. All you need is a credit card. You do not need a Paypal Account. Complete the forms and follow their instructions to make your payment. Once you have paid, you'll get a confirmation email with your PDF copy of “Rigger” complete with instructions attached.

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Making It Happen

This 33 page guide and workbook is for those who would like to find the easiest and most enjoyable way to make their goals happen.

It contains practical exercises and useful advice designed to help you find your motivation, overcome procrastination and begin to make your future into reality.

The exercises cover:

Finding out what drives you
How to put off procrastination
Getting the best feedback on your performance
Asking for help (and getting it)
Mapping out the future
And finally, the Acid Test
It also includes First Aid: for when you don't make it happen.

Although primarily aimed at individuals, Making It Happen is a creative resource that can be used by teams, in workshops or by managers one-to-one.

What you get

A standalone 33 page workbook with full explanation.

Just £24 This information is essential reading for anyone who knows exactly what they want and need to make it happen. Is it worth £24 to make your dreams come true?

Instant Access…order now

Making It Happen is a PDF document. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - you can work through it and be making it happen in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll understand how to help your teams to improve their communication.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £24

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New Ideas Toolkit

Welcome to the New Ideas Toolkit, 20 pages of tools and techniques to help you generate thousands of new ideas.

Creativity comes from making new connections between diverse ideas, connections that have not been made before. By definition, therefore, this is very hard to do with the kind of list based, logical, convergent thinking that we use most of the time.

New ideas come from divergent thinking and it is often messy, random, non-linear and noisy. The tools in this toolkit will help you to indulge in this kind of messy, random, non-linear and noisy thinking that you need to do in order to make creative connections.

These techniques can be used with teams, boards, or on your own when you need a fresh perspective. They are suitable for a short intervention or a meeting held for the specific purpose of generating new ideas.

What you get

You get a 20-page toolkit with tools ranging from Classic Brainstorming to Morphological Matrices and beyond.

Each tool comes with clear instructions on how to use it along with suggestions for timing, materials and when it might be suitable. We've also added Power Tips based on our experience of using these tools to help groups generate ideas.

This toolkit will be a valuable reference guide and source of ideas for years to come.

You may copy these for use within your organisation as long as you retain the copyright note.

Just £24 This information is essential reading for anyone who needs to create new ideas. What would a breakthrough idea be worth to you today? I'll bet it's a lot more than £24!

Instant Access…order now

The New Ideas Toolkit is a PDF document. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - you can work through it and be making it happen in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll understand how to help your teams to improve their communication.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £24

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Prisoners’ Dilemma

This is a classic trust game for teams, designed to demonstrate the concept of ‘win/win’.

It is based on the Prisoners’ Dilemma in which two criminals who are arrested after a crime are immediately separated into two police cells. The police know that they committed the crime but have no evidence.

Each prisoner is approached individually and told that if they confess and implicate the other person, they will get a significantly reduced sentence.

The dilemma for each prisoner is as follows:

If I confess, I get a reduced sentence and my colleague gets a full sentence.
If I trust her/him not to confess and keep quiet, but s/he confesses, I get the full sentence.
If I confess, I get a reduced sentence and my colleague gets a full sentence.
If I trust her/him not to confess and keep quiet, and s/he does the same, we can both walk free.
Of course, if we both confess, we both get the full sentence!
Unfortunately, we cannot communicate now we are in the cells and I do not know whether he will honour any agreement we made before we were arrested.

The rules of the game are designed to reflect this dilemma with appropriate win/win, win/lose and lose/lose scoring.

What you get

The kit includes:

Organiser's instructions on how to play the game
Hand out template - Guidelines for participants (2 teams)
Scorecard template (2 teams)
Hand out template - Guidelines for participants (3 teams)
Scorecard template (3 teams)
Organiser's script/handout template - Key points arising from The Prisoners' Dilemma Game

You may copy these for use within your own organisation as long as you retain the copyright note.

Instant Access…order now

The Prisoners’ Dilemma is a PDF document. So as soon as you buy it you can start to benefit. We designed this as a quick read too - you can work through it and be making it happen in just a few short hours.

So as soon as you read it, you'll understand how to help your teams to improve their communication.

Buying and Download Instructions

Use this button - it's £12

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