Duration: 20 minutes

Agile working is becoming a common feature of the modern workplace, with professionals increasingly undertaking much of their work away from the traditional confines of the office. Our e-learning module will demonstrate how agile working can reduce costs, improve productivity and provide employees with a better work-life balance.

Duration: 30 minutes

Part one in a series of four modules on the subject of change management, this title serves as an introduction to organisational change and how it can be best navigated from a managerial position.

The concept of workplace change and the common reasons behind it is examined using established models, and we look at the effect that organisational culture can have on the change process.

Duration: 20 minutes

A job application is not simply a matter of providing information to a potential employer. It is essentially an opportunity for you to persuade an employer you are the person they are looking for.

This e-learning module will explain the various sections of a job application in more detail, giving you plenty of useful hints and tips along the way.

Duration: 30 minutes

Conflict is an inevitable ingredient in any workplace, but it can actually be regarded as a good thing sometimes – it can show that people are engaged and committed, and it may help to drive positive change. The most effective and efficient workplaces are not necessarily those where conflict doesn’t arise, but those where conflict is handled constructively. This module will look at the causes and types of conflict that can arise in the workplace. We’ll demonstrate best practice approaches to resolving issues, and show everyday measures that can help to prevent future disharmony.

Duration: 20 minutes

It’s estimated that up to 75% of us experience some degree of anxiety or nervousness when we’re addressing a crowd. This e-learning module has been designed to provide you with the skills needed to deliver a presentation confidently and professionally.

Duration: 30 minutes

Measuring organisational performance has become increasingly important, and there are two key reasons for this. Increased competition across markets and market sectors has led organisations to focus more keenly on results. Demands for accountability can now come from a wide range of stakeholders, such as the general public, the media and shareholders.

Duration: 20 minutes

We outline the importance of mental toughness in the modern workplace and explain how, by employing various strategies and techniques, the learner can improve their personal resilience. We also demonstrate how to recognise stress among team members and look at steps to foster a less tense working environment. A multiple choice knowledge check is included to reinforce the learning so it can be applied in the workplace.

Duration: 20 minutes

Developing people in the workplace has been designed to demonstrate the importance of promoting personal development, and the role that managers can play in helping to plan and manage an individual’s professional progression.

Duration: 30 minutes

Build on earlier learning by further examining the key areas in which the successful leader must develop. We look at the practicalities of building and maintaining an effective team, including the areas of performance management, feedback and coaching.

Duration: 20 minutes

This module looks at how you can write good minutes for your meetings in an easy-to-read style, describing how agendas and minutes are related and demonstrating appropriate formats and templates. The module can be used in conjunction with the modules on Meeting Skills and Effective Writing which can also be found in the Learning Pool Foundation Skills range.

Duration: 20 minutes

Most business people would not put being able to write well at the top of their key skills list – and yet writing is still the primary communication medium in most organisations. Being able to write effectively saves time, effort and frustration.

Over the course of this module, the learner will be instructed as to how to write effective letters, briefs and emails, and we’ll demonstrate the power that good writing has to persuade and influence others. We’ll cover the areas of clarity, structure, punctuation and etiquette, and look at which situations are best suited to either a letter, email or phone call.

Duration: 20 minutes

Email has changed the way that we do business, but lately we’ve been hearing more about the problems of email stress and overcrowded inboxes.

This module explores aspects of email stress and offers practical advice to help you use email more effectively. Upon completion of the course, the learner will have the confidence to manage email more comfortably and thus help to reduce stress levels across their organisation.

Duration: 30 minutes

The Civil Contingencies Act defines an emergency as an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK. It’s a classification that can take in everything from floods and gas leaks to a flu pandemic, but it’s clear that a well-organised business should have a broad plan in place should such situations occur. It will also look at how business continuity management helps to ensure that an organisation’s core services are maintained during an emergency or incident.

Duration: 30 minutes

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability of individuals to recognise their own and others’ emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and to use this information to guide thinking and actions. Studies have shown that people with high levels of emotional intelligence have greater mental health, exemplary job performance and more potent leadership skills.

Duration: 20 minutes

Facilitation is the term that we use to describe tasks that are assisted or any activity which makes tasks for others easy, and it’s become a key feature of the modern workplace. The facilitator requires a very specialist skill set with which to guide a group through a process, keeping things on track to achieve the agreed objective.

The Facilitation Skills module will help you to develop these skills, which include identifying when facilitation is appropriate, developing working agreements and managing the dynamics of a group discussion.

Duration: 45 minutes

We look at the benefits of financial competence, explain the difference between cash and profit and between financial accounting and management accounting. We also look at the purposes and structure of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and a cash flow statement, and how to use financial statements to discover how a company is performing.

Duration: 20 minutes

Social media has presented organisations with a range of new opportunities to spread awareness and gain opinion, making it possible to reach millions of potential customers with just a few keystrokes.

Duration: 30 minutes

In order for an organisation to provide excellent products and services, staff need to perform to the highest of standards – but how will we know when we’re performing well, and how can we identify possible areas for improvement? This is where effective professional feedback comes in.

Our module will outline the importance of feedback, and illustrate how to seek, receive and use feedback to improve your workplace performance. We’ll also examine the skills needed to give feedback to others and what we have to do to ensure a constructive and valuable experience.

Duration: 20 minutes

A healthy lifestyle can have many benefits in terms of our physical and mental wellbeing. However, a combination of busy working schedules and time spent deskbound or in front of the television has meant that many of us are no longer in as good shape as we might be.

The Healthy Lifestyles module explains the benefits of physical activity and a balanced diet, as well as examining ways of maintaining a healthy weight.

Duration: 30 minutes

In order to become successful and confident in business negotiations we first need to develop influencing skills, which in turn are informed by our assertiveness levels.

Our influencing, assertiveness and negotiation module will equip learners with the skills and knowledge required to prevail in negotiation. We’ll provide practical examples and will use a range of popular theories and models to illustrate key areas of learning. The result is a best practice guide that includes everything from preparing for a meeting to closing the deal.

Duration: 20 minutes

Information is vital to every organisation and, when used effectively, can bring huge benefits. However, we also have the responsibility of protecting such data, and must consider the value and sensitivity of all information that we deal with. Information should be protected at a level appropriate to the potential impact of its loss or damage.

This module provides a comprehensive guide as to why information is important, the different forms that it can take, potential risks and the actions that you as an employee can take to safeguard company information.

Duration: 20 minutes

We live in an information age, where data is a key business resource and managing information is a crucial managerial skill. Our e-learning module will examine why information is important and our role as a manager, as well as provide a framework model with which to effectively analyse information. Users will learn how to develop and support the effective use of information within their team, and how to apply tools and processes designed to improve levels of information management.

Duration: 30 minutes

Job interviews give you a small window in which to convince a potential employer that you are the best person for the job.

This e-learning module will explain the importance of interview preparation, as well as providing helpful hints and tips on interview questions and how to combat nerves.

Duration: 20 minutes

This module helps learners develop an improved understanding of how innovation and change are realised within a business environment. We’ll look at some background to the topic, and offer the tools to identify opportunities for innovation.

Duration: 30 minutes

Identify the most important factors in achieving high customer satisfaction in the modern marketplace. We showcase practical techniques that any employee can utilise, and use real-world case studies to illustrate how high standards of customer service help businesses to grow. We look at the areas of environmental scanning, customer retention and assessing client satisfaction and provide useful tips that learners can apply in their job.

Duration: 30 minutes

We review the traditional sales process from beginning to end, with a view to identifying areas for improvement – whether this is internal to an organisation or a personal undertaking by a salesperson seeking to gain an extra edge. This module explains the sales process right from prospecting and initiating contact, to getting past gatekeepers and delivering a polished pitch, through to overcoming objections and closing the sale.

Duration: 30 minutes

This module will help learners to manage the recruitment process. We demonstrate how human resource planning works in a business environment, and show managers how to plan and implement recruitment in line with legal and organisational requirements.

Duration: 20 minutes

Over the course of 2015/16, an estimated 11.7 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety in the UK; it’s become the number one cause of long-term absence in the UK. As you might expect with such a prevalent issue, many organisations are taking steps to ensure that employees are properly supported and that any negative effect on business operations is kept to a minimum.

Duration: 20 minutes

This e-learning module examines the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and explains the steps which the learner can take as a leader to improve and develop their professional self. We guide the learner in evaluating their own performance, identifying the most suitable learning style for them and setting short – and long-term goals.

Duration: 30 minutes

Do you sometimes feel that you have too many tasks on your ‘to do’ list? Even when we’re getting on with one task, there can be the nagging awareness that there are other things that we’re neglecting. This can lower our performance and, at worst, it can make us feel anxious and stressed.

This module will demonstrate a clear and concise approach that will help us to prioritise our tasks and ensure that we’re making the best use of our time and energy. The content is interactive and engaging, and a downloadable priority grid template is included so that the learner can immediately apply their new skills to their own professional circumstances.

Duration: 30 minutes

Distractions, interruptions, poor planning and inefficient processes – there are many features of modern working life that can conspire to damage our productivity and leave us overwhelmed by competing deadlines.

Managing Yourself and Your Time will show you how to plan your working day more effectively, through prioritising, delegating, controlling your environment, understanding yourself and identifying what you will change about your habits, routines and attitude. You’ll complete a series of activities as you progress through the module, and you’ll be encouraged to draw up a plan of action that will help boost efficiency and limit interruptions.

Duration: 30 minutes

Meetings are an inescapable part of professional life and can serve a valuable purpose – from resolving issues to motivating employees. It’s important, therefore, that we know how to structure our meetings effectively.

The Meeting Skills module will provide the learner with the skills they need to plan a meeting, identify objectives, prepare an agenda and put an appropriate structure in place. We’ll also demonstrate how to use control techniques to improve the productivity of meetings, and the best approaches to summarising agreement and minute-taking.

Duration: 30 minutes

The Performance Appraisal suite is made up of three modules. The guide for employees will help members of staff prepare for their meeting and make a full contribution to proceedings, while the managers’ guide provides instruction as to how to plan, prepare and carry out an effective meeting. The final module focuses on the interview itself, and uses video clips of performance appraisal scenarios to illustrate best practice.

Duration: 20 minutes

Personal resilience is, essentially, the ability to bounce back from difficult situations. It’s a quality that can prove crucial in a professional setting, where stress, adversity, knockbacks and tight deadlines are often all too common. This module gets the learner thinking about their own level of resilience and how it can be improved upon. Included are various tips and techniques for stress busting, relaxation and visualisation.

Duration: 20 minutes

Most of us find the thought of giving a presentation rather nerve-racking; if this sounds familiar, however, don’t worry. This module will act as a practical guide to developing the skills needed to impress an audience.

This module will provide instruction on everything you need to know to get it right – from recognising the type of presentation you need to deliver, through to combating last-minute nerves and dealing with unexpected hitches.

Duration: 30 minutes

Project management is a key managerial skill. It involves the planning, scheduling and controlling of activities designed to meet specific objectives within an agreed timescale and budget.

This comprehensive e-learning module will take you through the stages of the project management process and provide practical exercises and information to improve your project management skills. A short assessment section is included.

Duration: 30 minutes

This module provides helpful advice and practical examples of various questioning techniques, for use both in recruitment interviews and more general situations. We look at the most effective approaches to questioning (including open, closed, probing and funnelling queries), questions to avoid and the benefits of purposeful listening.

Duration: 30 minutes

Effective risk management (the process by which risks are identified, evaluated and managed) is essential for any business that wishes to achieve its strategic objectives and improve outcomes for both employees and customers.

This e-learning module will help the learner to identify risk as either a threat or an opportunity. We’ll look at the different roles and responsibilities that exist with regard to risk, and outline the nine categories into which risks can be grouped.

Duration: 20 minutes

Self-development is about taking responsibility for one’s own personal and professional development. It’s an area which, in an age of CPD, PDP and lifelong learning, has become increasingly important to both individual and organisation.

The Self-development e-learning module will familiarise the learner with the different terminology and features of personal advancement and will arm them with the skills to assess, formulate, execute and review their very own career development plan.

Duration: 30 minutes

Discover the skills required to analyse complex problems and plan solutions, with an emphasis on creative and rational decision-making. We’ll examine the multifaceted difficulties that can arise in a professional context, and provide the means with which to apply decision-making techniques in assessing possible solutions.

Duration: 20 minutes

This module is designed to increase your confidence when it comes to using the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. We explore some of the most common mistakes and issue tips on how to improve your writing skills.

The topics covered include the correct use of punctuation (specifically the use of apostrophes, colons, semi-colons, parentheses and quotation marks), tricky spellings and commonly confused words, using an online dictionary or spellchecker and other key points which will help you to communicate your message clearly, effectively and professionally.

Duration: 30 minutes

Pressure, in some circumstances, can help us to perform to a higher level and achieve our goals. When the pressure becomes excessive, however, stress occurs.

Our Stress Awareness module is designed to give you an overview of stress awareness at work. We’ll explain why stress occurs and how it can manifest itself physically and psychologically, and offer practical hints and tips on how to cope with the ever-increasing demands of the modern workplace. A 12-question knowledge check section is included.

Duration: 30 minutes

Carrying out a risk assessment where necessary is a legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is a criminal offence.

This module has been designed to provide an overview of risk assessments. By the end, learners will be able to define risk assessment and identify the key principles. They will understand the difference between a hazard and a risk and will recognise which risks require assessment. They will also be confident in undertaking the risk assessment process.

Duration: 30 minutes

It’s extremely important that a process is in place for the recruitment of new employees, and that this process is followed closely. A procedural framework will help to ensure equality of opportunity, general fairness, best practice and legislative adherence. This suite of two modules explores the recruitment and selection process, including all required actions and the main dos and don’ts.

By the end of this course, the learner will be equipped to follow a best-practice recruitment process with confidence, from the initial stages of the post becoming vacant to making the offer of employment and managing the induction process. We demonstrate how to go about advertising the post, and cover the shortlisting phase and the interview stage in detail.

Duration: 20 minutes

This module will review how personal experiences, stereotypes and cultural environment can influence decisions and actions even without you realising that they have. One area where ‘unconscious bias’ play out is in the workplace, where they can influence decisions on recruitment, promotion and performance management if left unchallenged.

Duration: 30 minutes

In this module, we explain the concept of the macro environment and look at the impact that external factors can have on an organisation. Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental considerations are addressed in turn, as we demonstrate the various challenges that affect modern business.

Duration: 30 minutes

Understanding the Importance of Marketing guides the learner through the increasingly crucial role that marketing plays in modern business. We look at how marketing has evolved to include the phenomena of social media, and provide up to date and practical advice on how to devise and execute an effective marketing campaign of their own.

Duration: 20 minutes

A job description sets out the duties and accountabilities of the post, whilst a person specification defines the attributes that are required to undertake the role successfully; both are important components of the recruitment process.

This e-learning module will teach the learner to write concise and effective job descriptions and person specifications. The process of job evaluation is explained, and users are given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the guidance notes and templates typically favoured by modern organisations.

Duration: 30 minutes

This module will explain what you need to include within your CV, problems you may face and how to present your finished CV. We will also look at the importance of tailoring your CV for each specific job.

We will help you build your CV as you progress through the module, so you may wish to have a blank Word document open and any information you want to include to hand!