I fancy a pint (not a rare occurrence) but I just don't know where to go. Perhaps I've just moved to the area or I'm just looking to go somewhere new.

10 or 20 years ago, my best bet would be to accost local passers-by and ask for recommendations and directions.

Well, that's no longer the case!

Thanks to my handy iPhone (I could have an Android device but for the purposes of this I don't) I can now download a smorgasbord of apps that will tell me everything from where the local is to what beer they sell to whether or not they're showing the England game.

I'm using pubs as an example but you can use geo-location apps to find pretty much anything. You could be designing the next big one after coming on our iOS App Development Training.

Geo-location apps are this decade's answer to tour guides and indecision and come in variety of shapes, styles and sensibilities.

I'm going to try as many as possible to work out which one is best for finding my way to a decent boozer, for telling everyone that I'm at a decent boozer (with an obligatory sepia-toned snap of my beverage as an accompaniment) and for various other decent boozer-related information and activity.

I'd like to point out that there are plenty of other things you could be doing with some of these apps aside from abusing your liver; like eating or dancing or something else constructive, it's just that I chose an activity close to my heart.

So for each app I'm going to rate it out of 5 for Usability (how easy it is to use), Choice (how many options it provides), Information (like opening times, WiFi connection etc) and Review System (how good the system for leaving/reading a review is, if there is one at all).

True leaders lead whether they've been given an official position of power or not.

On our Leadership Training Course, you'll learn that it takes more than just a title to be a leader; it takes courage, passion, empathy, confidence and a whole lot more.

Being able to lead effectively when you're not a designated leader is tough.

It's a fine line to tread between being helpful and being arrogant or egotistical, and this is especially the case with how your boss or superior will react to you taking some of the reigns.

With that in mind, I thought we'd take a look at how to lead upwards, without encroaching on your manager's territory.

This is the sort of advanced people management skill that will really give your career a boost in the long-term.

Understanding Yourself

Analyse your skills

If you're aware of where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you'll be better equipped to deal with others, and dealing with others is the fundamental goal of leadership.

Is communication something you're comfortable with or does it need working on? Are you a confident talker or a thoughtful listener (or both)? Do you lead with charisma or are you reserved?

Asking these questions, and others, of yourself will allow you to get to grips with who you are in a professional capacity, and only then can you begin to lead others.

Delegation is about letting employees make decisions and work on their own initiative. To be successful, employees must have the resources to complete a delegated task. This may mean providing training, tools and support.

Managers can delegate authority however they cannot delegate responsibility, this is important. Although an employee is responsible for meeting deadlines, goals and objectives, the Manager is still ultimately responsible for the success of the delegated task.

Delegation Benefits

• Employees may do a better job when they feel personally accountable, even though responsibility ultimately rests with the individual who made the delegation.
• Delegation can make an employee's work more varied and therefore motivate the employee.
• Managers have more time to innovate and plan.
• When delegation involves training and mentoring, the organisation will benefit from a more highly skilled workforce.
• Employees will learn to be better decision makers given more responsibility.

Delegation Drawbacks

• Managers may lack the knowledge or motivation to delegate.
• Managers may choose the wrong tasks to delegate.
• Managers may not communicate the task effectively, providing inadequate direction.
• Some managers get stuck in the belief that "if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself."
• Managers may:
  • Lack trust in their employees
  • Fear being seen as lazy
  • Be reluctant to take risks
  • Fear competition

Any of the above may result in incomplete or incorrectly completed tasks.

The manager is ultimately responsible for delegation and must take responsibility for:

• Delegating the wrong task
• Delegating to the wrong person
• Not providing proper guidance.

The employee is ultimately responsible for:

• Doing the task incorrectly when given adequate resources, guidance or training.

'He was a wise man who invented (management)'!

It might not seem apparent at first, butManagementandPhilosophygo together likeKant and the Categorical Imperative.

Management, among other things, seeks to provide a structure to get the best from people, to understand business and make people (customers, staff, bosses) happy.

Philosophy, among other things, seeks to provide a structure to get the best from life, to understand the world and make people (society, individuals) happy.

So can managers learn anything from the great philosophers? Certainly.

If you'd like to learn how to be a great manager, why not try ourManagement Skills Courses?

This post will be part of a series called'Management Lessons From Philosophy'we'll start with the ideas of the ancient philosophers from Greece and work our way up to the modern thinkers, exploring everything that can be applied to management along the way.

This week we begin with the man who started it all:Plato.

"The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living"

The Godfather of everything philosophical, Plato isthe manwhen it comes to wise one-liners that make you re-evaluate, well, everything!

With this quote he is arguing that to make the most of life, one really needs to inquire and seek knowledge, both about the world and oneself.

Some of the training courses that look at SMART objectives in more detail include Management Skills for New Managers, Leadership Skills Training, Performance Management Training & Appraisals Training.

Goals, aims and objectives are often confused.  All describe things that you want to achieve, however I see goals and aims as broader, more aspirational intentions whereas an objective is a narrower more defined task you need to achieve in order to meet your long term goals and aims.

All managers and leaders must be able to set effective objectives for their staff, whether they are to achieve project or task objectives, personal development objectives for people to grow in their role or performance standard objectives aligned with a competency framework, values or behavioural guidelines.

When setting objectives for your team you will need to ask yourself:

• What are my team’s targets and goals for the coming period?
• What standards do I need the team to maintain / improve?

Effective personnel management is one of the hardest tasks for any manager but it's also one of the most important.

Managing large teams can feel like a never ending task. The minute you think you have a grasp of the team's availability and capabilities, something changes and it can feel like going back to square one.

You need to approach the different aspects of personnel management in the right order, at the right times, for the best chance of success.

In this post I outline my 5 Steps to Effective Personnel Management. Read through and see how they compare to your processes.

Throughout history there are certain figures who stand out as naturally great leaders. It is always useful for managers to focus on the qualities that made these people great and try to emulate them.

You can learn how to develop these qualities and much more on our leadership and management courses.

We recently gave some tips for managing a start-up but in this post we will focus on the more general skills that can apply to anyone in a leadership position, whether your business is just getting off the ground or you're an established manager with years of experience. And we'll be having some fun with it too... hopefully.

John F. Kennedy - Aspire to Greatness

JFK was perhaps the most youthful, vivacious and daring president there has ever been (and we're not just talking about his extra-marital exploits here).  While this sometimes got him into trouble (*nearly caused the apocalypse) he will be remembered as the man who dreamed of putting a man on the moon, reversing the centuries-old persecution of African-Americans and bedding Marilyn Monroe!

Dare to dream like JFK. Aim for the stars and still land on the moon, aim for Mila Kunis and still land on...actually, I think we'll leave that analogy there. Aspiring towards greatness instills a confidence in your employees in both you, and themselves. Be like JFK. Be remembered. Be great.

So you have your Twitter account, you can see who you are following, you can see who follows you and you can see which of those you are following are following you.

Great, but now you want to know:

• Who is not following you back?
• Who has recently stopped following you?
• What are your contacts tweeting about?
• Who is a useless twit?

Those interested in building up their online presence using social media may be interested in our one day Social Media course. There are loads of Twitter applications out there that can answer these questions for you, here are just a few of my favourites:

1. TwitterCounter: THE number 1 stats site for your Twitter account.
2. My Tweeple: My Tweeple lists your follower and those you follow with their bio snippet attached, this is really useful if you want to contact them outside of twitter as their website or LinkedIn account is usually listed.
3. FriendOrFollow: Who are you following that’s not following you back? Who’s following you that you’re not following back? A very concise and visual tool.
4. ChirpStats: To find out when someone has unfollowed you, simply follow @chirpstats on Twitter and then it will message you every time you are unfollowed.
5. Refollow - Allows you to filter out unimportant follows and group together different types of useful people you follow. It's a great way to manage your followers and friends.