Learning Centre

At the beginning of May, we brought a panel of experts together to explore where we stood with the current crisis. Since this session, we have seen significant shifts in the way we live and work.

Lockdown has lifted and we now have greater freedom for working, travelling and social interactions.

But, how has the world been changed and what have we learned over the past 4 months? Which direction are we now heading in?

Our expert panel will be returning to the BGP Response Programme once again to provide you with access to the latest thinking.

Confirmed panel members:

Marketing: Jonathan Wagstaffe (BGP Alumnus, Visiting Fellow Cranfield University)
Leadership: Professor David Denyer (Cranfield University)
Economic Outlook: Professor Joe Nellis (Cranfield University)
SMEs and Entrepreneurship: Dr Stephanie Hussels (Bettany Centre)
Government Support: Ruth Cozens, Growth Hub (SEMLEP)

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The Covid-19 pandemic that spread across the world in the last few months created a global crisis unlike any we have experienced in modern times. This crisis created an environment of fear, ambiguity and uncertainty, one where Emotional Intelligence is even more critical to navigate life and work successfully.

This webinar with Dr. Frances Johnston, will help participants to use self-awareness and empathy to support themselves to greater resilience during this stressful time and to lean into their relationship skills to connect with and lead others.

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In partnership with Jonathan Wagstaffe, Growva.

A few weeks back Jonathan delivered a fascinating webinar which gave us great insight into how companies can adapt their sales and marketing communications during the current crisis. He provided us with some great examples of companies getting communications right and those getting it very wrong!

Now that we are moving beyond the initial shock of the pandemic, it may be a sensible time to adjust your communications strategies both inside and outside of your business.

Jonathan will be providing advice on ramping up your sales and marketing activities to help you bounce forward and add value to your business in the coming months.

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In partnership with Zena Everett, international executive coach and sought-after speaker with her Crazy Busy™  and Crazy Busy for Leaders™ sessions.

It’s hard to stay focused with everything that’s going on at the moment, not least because we are turning into zoom zombies. Being productive is not about putting in more hours, it’s about prioritising and executing on the tasks that have the greatest impact. Our brains are in survival mode, making prioritising and concentrating even harder than usual. If you want your team to stay engaged and motivated, you have to give them engaging and motivating work to do. Good managers will use this time to help their teams adapt and grow, developing new habits and working styles when working remotely that will energise them long after the crisis has past.

Content:

• Prioritisation and daily focus: chasing antelopes not field-mice
• Beat Parkinson’s Law and Student Syndrome - intensive bursts of deep work, shorter deadlines, more regular check-ins, not check-ups
• Increasing collaboration and giving people the opportunity to solve problems and make a real impact
• Building trust by improving feedback
• Managing the work flow – improving communication, reducing bottlenecks, controlling distractions

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In partnership with Becky Boston, Emphasis HR & Training Ltd.

As we move into the next phase of lockdown, there is a great deal of uncertainty about how employers will adjust to the new guidelines that have been laid out. In particular, there is likely to be a great deal of interest in how people can safely return to work and the implications of avoiding public transport.

We are extremely fortunate to be joined by Becky Boston, Co-Founder of Emphasis HR & Training Ltd., once again. Becky will be providing guidance in the following areas:

• Working and travelling safely
• Flexible/home working
• Annual leave
• Short time working/redundancy
• Employee wellbeing

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'Re-inventing my business model now and planning for the bounce forward phase later'. 

Let's hear from the entrepreneurs. How have businesses managed to adapt to the unprecedented times? How have they used key principles that could be applied to your business?

In this session, we hear from a wide range of businesses and learn how to move forward into the next phase of the crisis.

The panel:

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A ​panel discussion with experts from Cranfield University, SEMLEP and British Business Bank

The world has changed since the UK went into lock down on the 23rd of March. But, what have we learned so far and where are we on the journey through the crisis?

We will be discussing our current position with an expert panel from  Cranfield University, SEMLEP and British Business Bank, providing you with access to the latest thinking.

The panel:

Marketing: Jonathan Wagstaffe (BGP Alumnus, Visiting Fellow Cranfield University)
Leadership: Professor David Denyer (Cranfield University)
Government support: Emmanuelle Clement (Growth Hub, SEMLEP)
Economic Outlook: Professor Joe Nellis (Cranfield University)
SME and Entrepreneurship: Dr Stephanie Hussels (Bettany Centre, Cranfield University)
Finance: Lewis Stringer (Senion Manager, UK Network - East & South-East Midlands, British Business Bank)

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Since the 26th March, we have run 16 free webinars and 4 workshops as part of the BGP Response Programme. Across the series, we have been joined by almost 1400 participants.

As a result, we have gained a lot of useful and actionable advice from our expert community. In this session, we will be summarising this advice into bites size pieces of information. We will also be reflecting on why we started the BGP Response Programme and evaluation how we delivered a purpose in the "survival" phase.

Dr Stephanie Hussels and Sabrina Sommer will take stocks, identifying the key lessons that will be relevant for the coming weeks and months. 

We will summarise what you need to know about

• Managing your (virtual) team.
• How to manage meetings effectively - how to communicate and sell in uncertain times.
• What is important in terms of cash-flow management and employee management. 
• And much more...

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Most of us do not tend to perform better under pressure (Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry 2015) but those who thrive are able to deploy a good repertoire of coping mechanisms which help to build resilience and the capability to ‘bounce back’ in stressful situations.

Whilst it is important to look after our cognitive and emotional well-being, especially as business owners in the current COVID – 19 pandemic, the physical dimension is also an often neglected but critically important component of performance.

Dr Veronica Burke will talk about:

• How physicality impacts upon performance

• Mental workload and the importance of variability

• Stress and cortisol control

• The impact of exercise

• The life balance matrix

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Debra Charles is CEO and Founder of Novacroft, a 300 strong team of specialists in smart technology and customer care. An expert in integrating people, processes and technology to help transform organisations to be fit today to thrive tomorrow, Debra is passionate about harnessing technology to make a meaningful impact on society. Today 32m people use Novacroft’s products and services.

As a visionary, Debra sees both the global opportunities and perils that will evolve as we move toward and go beyond 2030. In 2018, Debra co-founded The Kindness Movement, which is dedicated to encouraging kindness in school children across the world. Debra believes in leaving a legacy that promotes the softer skills that will be increasingly important differentiators between humans, robots and artificial intelligence systems of the fast-approaching Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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Navigating the energy industry in a pandemic: Crisis management and changing imperatives - a perspective from Centrica. Richard was appointed Chief Executive, Centrica Business and joined the Board on 1 December 2018. He is also a Non-Executive Director of EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Group Limited (representing Centrica). Richard has worked in the energy sector for 35 years at BP plc, most recently as Group Chief Operating Officer for Global Business Services and IT.

Prior to this Richard spent seven years as CFO for BP’s Downstream division which includes customer-facing businesses, refining and marketing and the P&L for BP’s oil trading activities. He previously held a number of senior commercial roles both in the UK and in North America including head of the Natural Gas Liquids business based in Houston and the Commercial and Industrial Marketing business for Europe. He also held positions in trading, exploration and production, petrochemicals and in group functions. He has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Manchester and a Master’s degree in Management from Stanford University (Sloan Fellow).

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“Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king” has probably never been more relevant . Martin Spiller, Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University and Director of Systemagic, provides his thoughts and advice on how to approach the current climate, how to manage cash, his approach to cutting costs and more importantly the need to bring in cash and adding the side hustle as quickly as possible.

In this thought-provoking webinar, Martin will be outline his approach on how businesses can survive and then ultimately build to thrive in difficult times.

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In the last couple of weeks, businesses in the UK have been completely shaken by the impact of COVID-19. How business owners respond to the challenges that they now face will be based on the nature of the business, their financial position and the financial assistance that the government can provide.

In their April Session, Richard Parsons, BGP Counsellor and Founder/CEO of Stratifi and Paul Addison, Director of Haines-Watts, provided insights into all things related to Insolvency, focusing on the following topics:

• Understand your options
• Learn what’s possible
• Create the best possible position
• Vital don’ts and do’s
• Protecting yourself

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As a follow up to Smith & Williamson’s last webinar titled “Coronavirus – managing your business cashflow”, this webinar will highlight some of the actions that businesses can take in relation to their employees.

Smith & Williamson will provide an overview of the Job Retention Scheme and practicalities associated with this process, including employment law considerations. Equally, they will provide guidance on how to best adapt to employee wellbeing during this period within a flexible working environment. David Yewdall, John Manis and Barrie Brown from Smith & Williamson will participate in this webinar together with employment law specialists, Sarah Chilton and Beth Hale, from C M Murray LLP.

This webinar will cover:

• Job retention scheme
• Employment considerations and practicalities
• Employment law interaction
• Employment wellbeing.

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John discussed why you need to look at your organisation right-now and take stock if your structure is built for success, moving out of the crisis. 

The focus on accountability rather than ego and titles is encouraging to reflect, what is working and what isn't.  He focussed on the following key tasks for a business leader:

1. Create clarity in your business, not power and hierarchy.
2. Implement the right structure first, people second.
3. Identify the 5 critical roles that you need each person in your business to be great at everyday.

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Mental and emotional resilience is always an important skill in life, but right now it is even more crucial that we learn how to build inner strength and develop our capacity to bounce back. 

In this session, Kathrin Gerrard, Mindfulness trainer and Yoga teacher by choice - to counteract her busy IT consulting job -  looked at how mindfulness practices help develop our resilience. She gave the background on and how our nervous system influences our ability to respond in times of stress and practical exercises how to counteract the fight-or-flight instincts.

The session includes some practical exercises, as well as the theory on why they work and how they help us become more resilient.

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This is not the time to prioritise selling, it is about building relationships, supporting each other, and being authentic. 

Jonathan Wagstaffe from Growva covered in his webinar not only the psychological background on how customers needs have changed, but also how to adapt too it. 

He gives us detailed practical examples on how to communicate to make an impact, especially during the Coronavirus crisis. 

1. How to do marketing communications outside the business
2. How to do communications within the business.
3. How to sell at an uncertain time.

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Creating High-Performing Teams is the goal of any leader, but while many managers claim they have succeeded, it is a hard job to get it right. And that is even when the team is physically together all the time.

Ben Hunt-Davis, MBE and Jamie MacPherson from Will it make the boat go faster Ltd provided insight into four core areas:

• Team Goals
• How to get the best out of me
• Team Rules
• Building Beliefs

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With information and guidelines changing daily, navigating through these uncertain times is certainly challenging. Accessing accurate and up-to-date information may simply be adding to your ever-growing list of challenges as a business owner.

In her April Session, Becky Boston, BGP alumnus and co-founder of Emphasis Ltd, provided updated insights and answered questions on the following matters:

• the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant calculation
• everything you need to know about furloughing staff
• managing mental health remotely

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As many of us settle into home-working routines, quality communication has become more important than ever. Despite this, workers frequently come away from online meetings feeling frustrated with a sense that they may have wasted their precious time.

John provided insight into a framework for a well-run meeting that will increase communication, accountability, team health and results: virtually and face-to-face.

Topics he covered were:

• Aligning your people to achieving the company vision.
• Focusing on the priorities and 'rock's' that make a difference.
• Tackling key issues.

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As a business owner, you may be wondering how to complete a cash flow forecast during these uncertain times. Martin Spiller, Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University and Director of Systemagic, has looked at this question through the lens of former US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld. He suggests that business owners should work out their cash flow by examining the ‘known knowns’, ‘known unknowns’ and ‘unknown unknowns’.

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Many businesses will already be feeling the financial impact of COVID-19, and there is a particular concern around effective cash flow management. This webinar highlighted some of the actions that businesses can take to ease some of the financial burden, including a section on loan schemes and financing. Also focusing on taxes, the session covered topics such as:

• The extension to the Time to Pay arrangements.
• Opportunities to maximise cash flow through VAT payments on Account and Bad Debt Relief.
• Corporation tax payments on account and Research & Development tax relief.

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In the last couple of weeks, businesses in the UK have been completely shaken by the impact of COVID-19. How business owners respond to the challenges that they now face will be based on the nature of the business, their financial position and the financial assistance that the government can provide.

In their March Session, Richard Parsons, BGP Counsellor and Founder/CEO of Stratifi and Paul Addison, Director of Haines-Watts, provided insights into all things related to Insolvency, focusing on the following topics:

• Understand your options
• Learn what’s possible
• Create the best possible position
• Vital don’ts and do’s
• Protecting yourself

View webinar

With information and guidelines changing daily, navigating through these uncertain times is certainly challenging. Accessing accurate and up-to-date information may simply be adding to your ever-growing list of challenges as a business owner.

In her March Session, Becky Boston, BGP alumnus and co-founder of Emphasis Ltd, provided insights and answered questions on the following matters:

• When and how to furlough employees.
• What to do with employees on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).
• How to manage remote workers.

View webinar