Toxic team dynamics are behavioural or communication patterns which destroy a healthy workplace. Key signs of a toxic team are:

• Lack of productivity and progress
• Leaders draining time dealing with conflicts and relational issues in the team
• Low morale
• Passive aggressive behaviour like talking behind people’s backs, complaining, game playing and teasing
• At it’s worse people in a toxic team can experience mental health issues like stress and depression because it’s not a nice place to work

When Andy Cohen Wray begin learning NLP 18 months ago, none of us knew where it would take him. Working for Heathrow Airport at the time, Andy was a keen sportsman and had done some hurdling competitions, deep in the back of his mind though was an idea. Fascinated by the psychology of sports people, Andy had a dream to run his own business, coaching runners and professional athletes to get their minds in shape for their best performance in the sport they loved.

Beware the boundary violators - we all know them, the space invaders and the time suckers. They waste your time, make you feel uncomfortable and seem to make you say and do things you don’t want to.

 A lot of people have issues with setting and maintaining boundaries with others. Boundaries are the physical, mental and emotion ‘line’ between us and other people. Some people’s boundaries are too rigid and they push people away and some are too sloppy and this allows other people to violate their boundaries and get into their personal space. The good news is that once you are aware you can do something to enforce your boundaries and teach others to treat you appropriately. Here’s some top tips:

People often tell us they find asking other people for their time, help and support difficult. This is particularly tough when asking a loved one to help out, it can feel like grovelling, being demanding or disrespectful depending on how you think.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a collection of techniques that help people do more of their good ‘programmes’ and change their unhelpful ones. The techniques get your conscious and unconscious mind working together for you, making it much easier to make changes than by will power alone ...

Helen was a well qualified, competent L&D Manager in the retail industry. Having reached the top end of middle-management she was looking to move up to a Director position but was disappointed not to get promotions on two occasions ...

It can be hard as a manager, leader or HR professional when people do behaviour that is troublesome or difficult to know how best to handle it. We usually suggest that you spend some time trying to ascertain what’s behind the behaviour before deciding, but this can be easier said than done ...

There’s a reason Christmas Eve is the most common time of year for people to fall ill. Exhausted with the pressure of organising and burning the candle at both ends, most of us roll into the festive season and our bodies take the opportunity for a break - and make us ill. Avoid that this year with a bit of thought and careful planning.