Why Exercising is no Longer an Option?

Summer in its midst with its intolerable heat and various events such as outings, parties, weddings, and holidays that involve food and drinks, make this time of the year an excess in relaxation time which aches our bodies, kills our mood and affects our health. Meanwhile going to the gym or doing any kind of exercise is like serving a hard labor sentence. In order to show you that exercise is no longer an option but a necessity that should become a lifestyle, we have compiled 5 reasons to motivate you to turn exercise into a habit:

To read the full blog log on ideasgrp.com or like our facebook page on facebook.com/ideasgroup

How can we discover our blind spots?

In one of my introduction exercises during my last workshop, I have asked the participants to represent themselves in a simple symbolic picture, showing what is the best thing they are known for. For example, a ‘+’ sign would represent a positive person, a smiley face would represent a happy person etc… and to my surprise, there was a high number of people who, actually didn’t know what to draw, or scratched a picture which wasn’t at all representative of their characteristics. People sometimes tend to think that they are fully aware of all their good behaviors, qualities and virtues. Few are the ones who actually acknowledge their little mistakes or what we call vices. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in my last mentioned example, as the majority of the 40 attendees, couldn’t tell me that ‘one thing’ that differentiates them from their other colleagues. Over and above all, what intrigued me was how challenging to have all the team in agreement with the symbol each one chose. In fact, and as per the JOHARI window, a person is represented by four quadrants as follow:
to read the full blog go to www.ideasgrp.com/blog

Why most training interventions fail

In today's business environment, efficiency is the ultimate goal to save resources and reach effective operational cycle. Training is used among other means to help reach that purpose.

American companies spend as much as 200 billion dollars on training interventions (Carnevale, Gainer, and Villet 1990). Most of that budget is considered a waste and most importantly it does not achieve the desired objectives. As a result, businesses have diverted their focus to measure training effectiveness, and its Return on Investment.
Although researchers have tried continuously to find the magical equation to calculate training effectiveness, yet it is still an area of continuous debate. There are two schools of thought in this regard: For example, Philips (1990) devised a methodology to quantify training results and called it Training ROI. At the other bank of the river, DeSimone, Werner, and Harris (2006) stated that training effectiveness is a "relative" matter. Given both schools of thoughts, the fact remains that the squandered resources on training remain an area of business concern.

Taking a closer look into such matter, it is valid to ask why most training interventions fail? Such question was legitimized by Cromwell & Colbs' (2004) finding that "not more than 15% of learning transfer to the job, after attending any training". Such finding is astonishing!
From my experience in training management, and as a trainer for 10 years now, the reasons for training failure are:

1. Training is not designed for specific purpose. Generic training has no specific objectives to accomplish.
2. Training not related to trainees' daily work. Concepts addressed in training are not paralleled to the trainees' daily work functions and not applicable to what they do and therefore irrelevant to their need.

to read the full blog go to http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog

Overcoming stage fright part 2

In Part 1 last December http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog/blog-entry/overcoming-stage-fright we wrote about 5 tips extracted from our stage fright section of our “Public Speaking and Presentation Skills” workshop:
1. Realize how your audience really feels
2. Visualize success
3. Change your physical state so that you affect your mental state
4. PPP- Practice Practice and Practice
5. Arrive early

Here are 5 more tips to help you overcome stage fright

6. Mingle with your Audience
Prior your speech try to talk to your audience in any subject. The effect of mingling is tremendous

to read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

The power of Gratitude

I came across an inspiring quote sent to me by Charbel Khoury at Atlantis financials From The Secret Daily Teachings:

“It is when you no longer feel the need for money that money will come. The feeling of needing money comes from the thought that you don't have enough, and so you continue to create not having enough money. You are always creating, and when it comes to money, you are either creating the lack of it or the abundance of it.”

And Charbel explains after the quote the importance of gratitude in one’s life. Here I couldn’t just stop without sharing with you the importance of gratitude and the wonders it has done to my life.

to read the full blog log on to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Let us remember 2010

Now that 2010 is over, let us remember some of the major events that have happened in the course of the year. Hoping to learn from our successes and mistakes and make of 2011 an amazing year.

We have compiled the below event in 6 different categories: Natural disasters, air crashes, economy, achievements, miscellaneous and left us in 2010.

To read the full blog go to wwww.ideasgroupblog.com

Overcoming stage fright

Does your heart pounds, your hands shake, your forehead sweats, your mouth goes dry and your stomach feels like a blender on high speed every time you are about to speak or present to a group?

Well the good news is that you are in the majority, and that almost everybody shows the same symptoms when they are asked to speak or present to a large group. Even the most experienced speakers still feel stage fright at times.

The other good news is that with simple techniques you can use stage fright to your advantage.

Below are 5 tips extracted from our stage fright section of our “Public Speaking and Presentation Skills” workshop:

To read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com