Knowledge archive
Video: Leveraging the High Performance Model
Define what differentiates high performing people in a given role from average ones.
White paper: White space for pioneers
How to make exceptional performance the norm across your whole team by distilling the techniques your sales stars are already using.
Think Again article
Think Again – how good leaders can avoid bad decisions. Andrew Campbell and Jo Whitehead, of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, provide insights from their newly published book, co-authored with Sydney Finkelstein of Tuck School, Dartmouth, USA: Think Again – Why Good Leaders make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You.
White Paper: Sales Research
Every sales team will have some superstars who consistently perform better than average sales people. There is evidence to suggest that in most organisations these people have adopted different behaviours and strategies from their average performing counterparts. What if you could make the sales performance your ‘stars’ achieve completely standard across the whole team?
Case study: Re-vitalising Centro
A stakeholder survey found Centro to be old-fashioned and slow to respond to change. It needed to revitalise and fast. A complete restructure followed, creating a new Operating Board team which needed to work together and understand how each individual’s strengths could help them to achieve the organisation’s objectives. Find out how Vybrant helped Centro to leap ahead!
White paper: Changing culture in organisations
Organisational culture is a combination of shared beliefs and practices. It’s “the way we do things around here”. Whilst there are many texts and models around organisation culture itself, and a plethora of material on transformational change, there are fewer clear guides to navigating cultural change. This whitepaper aims to be just that. Read more....
New sales training for Wella AG
Vybrant will be helping Wella AG (Wella) to design a body of new sales training to add to their existing resources. The training will be based on Vybrant’s 3D selling technology, which brings additional dimensions to the sales process. The programme will then be run and rolled out
Vybrant clients give their feedback - 2009
Vybrant clients tell us what they really think
We've just collected some really honest feedback (independently gathered) about the value our customers think we bring. If you would like to view a more detailed report, you can request one here. We'd be delighted to show you how we achieve such great feedback.
Transferable Incompetence?
Have you ever wondered why CEOs are able to hop so easily from one company to another? If you were brought up on McClelland, Boyatzis, Schroder et al, you'll smugly reply that it's because they have developed strengths in a number of transferable management competencies - and to some extent, you'd be right. But has it ever occurred to you that that can only really work if the environments are roughly similar - not necessarily the economic, technical or business environments, but the management environment needs to be roughly the same.
The new adult learning
Readers who follow our thinking avidly, or have worked with us on change, will know that we use a body of research about what makes personal change work in order to make organisational change happen. One of the contributors to that research, Dr. Michael Merzenich, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, says that the brain's ability to change - its "plasticity" - is lifelong. Which raises the interesting question, if we can change, then why don't we?
The Long Tail and the Blockbuster in B2B relationships
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of technology magazine Wired argued in his book “The Long Tail”, that demand for media was moving inexorably from the head of the distribution curve to the tail. As consumers gained more and more choice and markets became fragmented, the few products that sell a lot lost market share to the greater number that sell modestly. A great example of this is Amazon, the king of niche products. It's easy to spend hours browsing through the books for one particular niche.
Research: the top 4 L&D priorities for 2008
Vybrant collected responses from 200 senior HR professionals - find out what's on the cards for some of the UK's most aspirational HR Directors this year.
What makes a great writer?
Penelope Trunk argues that the internet has created more great writers than any other generation, because people must communicate well and persuade others to listen to their point of view. The ability to self-publish has created more writers who are able to communicate well outside of a classroom setting, it's true - but does that make them great writers?
Rethinking sales rewards in a recession
There is a well developed body of evidence to tell us that compared to the population as a whole, those people who enjoy careers in sales and who are good at selling are competitive, to some degree, and have a liking for monetary or material rewards.
Re-engineering the sales force
Many organisations are not highly differentiated through product or service and therefore must be differentiated through the quality of their sales force if they are to succeed.
Decentralisation: the keys to success
Tim Hindle, author of “The Economist Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus”, recently pointed out in The Economist that centralisation has only been popular since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and that decentralisation is again the order of the day.
Communicating with the new "Digital Natives"
Vybrant collected responses from 200 senior HR professionals - find out what's on the cards for some of the UK's most aspirational HR Directors this year.
White paper: Key Account Management for Pharma
Download our practical guide to KAM in pharma companies, including models for process reorganisation, skill development and communication.
Vybrant client news: Centro wins national award
Vybrant client, Centro, is recognised with national award.
Who's coaching who?
Christmas special: a new way to organise coaching.
July 2008: What We've Been Up To
From Key Account Management development at a major pharma to a High Performance programme at Pizza Express, find out What Vybrant got up to in July 2008 straight from the Vybrant News Desk.
White Paper: The New Tools of Engagement
This research paper provides insight from Talent Management professionals in major organisations, together with existing research and statistics, to provide a comprehensive picture of the way forward for those organisations truly committed to achieving competitive edge through people.
Co-opetition and Frenemies
Somewhere between friends and enemies lies the new co-opetition, a status all leaders should be developing.
Pay & Rewards - the Vybrant Way
Communication... and accurately linking reward to performance. Find out how...
Leadership Development - the Vybrant Way
One size certainly does not fit all. In fact our view is that although there are certain well recorded best practices in leadership development, programmes need to be very carefully tailored to the culture and aspirations of the organisation, and to the individuals concerned...
Change Management - the Vybrant way
Equip leaders and managers to go through change and most importantly, to lead their people through it...
Recruitment & Retention - the Vybrant way
The businesses of the future will be the ones who have created sustainable competitive advantage – ensuring that they have the edge when it comes to rewarding performance...
Training the Digital Natives
Know about Digital Natives? Know what you're going to do about digital natives? Read on...
The Opposable Mind: when good ideas come in twos (or even threes)
Why 'opposable mind'? What can leaders learn about creativity by holding two thoughts at the same time...
Case study: Why business managers (unlike leopards) can change their spots
How did Vybrant develop a field force, to prevent encroachment by local suppliers, erosion of sales and margins and eventual decline?
Case study: How real life helped the managers dream up great ideas
A global investment bank identified 'a lack of new thinking and ideas coming from middle managers'. Investigations showed that the problem lay not in creativity or innovative thinking, but rather in getting the ideas a wider hearing in the organisation...
Case study: Why the pharma company was recruiting for mediocrity
'I have some great people... and some who are average. How can we find more of the truly great people?'. Sounds familiar? Read on...
Case study: How the first time managers learnt to lead
An innovative first line manager programme improves performance and reduces stress and attrition.
Case study: Why the new joiners didn't want to stay
Vybrant help an organisation retain talented newbies, when all else (including reward) had failed...
What we're proud of in 2007
We're entrepreneurial and proud of it. Here's our run down of the most exciting activities we've done in 2007.