Professional Development Tips

Practical, relevant articles and tips designed to help you be more productive in the workplace and improve your communication, customer service and business skills.

Why Writing Skills Matter in an AI-Driven World

As AI tools become increasingly popular for business correspondence, there's a growing temptation to rely on them entirely. While AI can help refine communication, strong writing skills remain essential for professional success.

Are you eligible to claim a 20% Bonus Tax Deduction on Training? 

The 2022-23 Federal Budget Announcement included incentives for small businesses to upskill employees by introducing the Skills and Training Boost. 

How to manage your time and increase productivity with Office 365

Time management is something we've all addressed at some point in our careers. Everyone you meet has some insightful piece of advice on how to manage your time.

10 Must Have Professional Development Skills

On paper, you might look perfect for the job. You have all of the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil the role. However, do you have the soft skills needed for professional success?

Why invest in your employees in the new year

Each new year brings with it new learning and development trends. One of the key trends for 2021 is investing more in employees. But what exactly does that mean and why should you invest in your employees in the new year?

How to excel at moments that matter in life: think like an actor

Think like an actor when you have to perform at work.

How to change careers at 40

If you maintain a flexible and enthusiastic mind-set in the beginning, you’ll find opportunities to let your talents shine down the track

How a Talent Growth Mindset Accelerates a Company’s Growth

A growth mindset will move an organisation forward and position the business, its brand and its people for growth, profit and success in the future.

3 Mental Blocks Hindering Your Success!

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to our own success is us. Not that we don’t give things a go or don’t have the talent or resources to succeed. More often than not, we do. But our brains have sneaky ways of preventing us from following our dreams—or even achieving daily goals.

Five Stages of Rapport That Will Help You Close More Sales

Rapport helps you increase sales, but building that rapport can be challenging. Learn the 5 stages of building rapport to help you increase sales.

What if remote working is your new norm?

Remote work has many positives but there are also some downsides and to maximise success when working from home, you need to bolster your ways of working to ensure you achieve results and balance your needs and the needs of your team.

6 Signs of Poor Time Management

Many of us know we could manage our time more effectively. But it’s difficult to identify the mistakes we're making and the areas to improve on.

Customer Service vs Customer Care - what's the difference?

We can forgive you for thinking Customer Service and Customer Care are the same thing. The two terms are often used interchangeably, however, there is a difference between the two.

As leaders, building trust through conflict

Showing your employees that they can trust you, can take the anxiety out of the situation and eliminate this behaviour. But how do you prove to your staff that they can trust you?

7 Must Have Skills for Admin Staff

From personal assistant to office manager, admin roles and people vary. Nevertheless, there are several must-have skills that all admin staff should have to succeed.

Boost your confidence and motivation with SMART goals

How often do you hear people talking about how they'd like to be more confident or wishing they felt more motivated? Probably more often than not, if research on workplace motivation in Australia is anything to go by. However, did you know that a simple thing like setting goals can help raise self-confidence and increase motivation?

It's your career – You drive!

Just like any other journey a career takes planning, communication and active involvement to ensure you get there. Discover our 5 steps to to active drive your career.

Tips for dealing with stressful situations

Stress can affect your wellbeing, reduce your ability to do your job effectively, and may have detrimental effects on your emotions and behaviour. Learn how to deal with stressful situations by memorising the four A’s.

Why you should welcome customer complaints

Discover 4 reasons why you should welcome customer complaints.

5 Microsoft Power BI Success Stories

You’ve heard that Power BI is great, but what’s so great about it? Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft. It provides interactive visualisations and intelligent capabilities with a simple interface. It consumes and displays data as dashboards, which it shares with the people who need them. Power BI helps organisations make informed decisions. Here are 5 success stories to demonstrate the power of Power BI.

The secret of future proofing your people and your business

It is anticipated that the next 10 years will bring dramatic change to the job market with a rapid advancement in technology, automation and artificial intelligence. What will this mean for you? How will your organisation adapt, survive and ultimately succeed within such a dynamic environment?

Not all stress is bad

In day to day life, the term "stress" is often used to describe negative situations. This leads many people to believe that all stress is bad for you, and this is not actually true.

Using positive language in customer service

Words have power. Even when unpleasant news is conveyed, the impact can be softened by using positive language.

8 Tips for Improving Writing Skills

Writing is part of your everyday business life regardless of the type of work you do. Whether it's emails, marketing letters, proposals or web pages, writing will be your most common and frequent form of communication today, especially emails.

A Transformation is Coming

Some exciting changes are coming to the Odyssey Training's website early 2021. We will be merging our sister company Leadership Direction's website with Odyssey Training.

Must Have Holiday Checklist

The holidays are almost upon us and the mad scramble to get everything done on time seems unachievable. Discover our Must-Have Holiday Checklist written by Odyssey Training to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and when you get back from your well-earned break, everything will be in order!

If you're using email – Make It Count.

Anything you write in an email can be retained for future reference, forwarded on to others, and used as a record of communication.

4 Ways to Build Business Resilence

The pandemic has essentially forced organisations, to realign their priorities. Virtual communication will continue to play a vital role in facilitating remote working. But how does that benefit business resilience?

Why use Microsoft Teams

The Australian workforce is moving more comfortably into working remotely. Companies are searching for the best ways to keep teams in touch with each other. The one tool that a team can absolutely not go past is Microsoft Teams.

How to Analyse your Problems using the "5 Why's" Technique

From running a team of employees to seeking new opportunities for the business, leaders must manage multiple projects at once. To ensure you get the most from time management tools, there are three important skills you should build on.

Time Management Skills Every Leader Should Endeavour To Master

Why You Need Transparency In Project Management

Project transparency is simply open, honest, and direct communication between all involved in a project. We know that projects need to achieve strong results and within a set timeframe. But did you know that the best way to make sure a project succeeds is through transparency?

Increase your employability with upskilling

Upskilling is easily the best way to improve your employability, particularly in the current COVID-19 climate. However, it is also a great way to improve your outlook. So what are the key things you should know when it comes to upskilling?

Why more companies should invest in Adobe InDesign

You may have heard about Adobe InDesign. It is the industry-standard software for designing and publishing documents across digital and print media. Moreover, do you know why we need it?

What you can do to better cope with change

If there is one constant in life, it's that everything changes. Change is inevitable.

Do away with the do-over….

Have you ever been in that situation where you walk out of the room and wish you hadn't just said that? Or worse still, you walk out of the room and that's when you think of the perfect response to get your message across.

Why project management is so stressful and what we can do to get better at it

If you've ever managed a project before you'll understand the stress that can accompany the role.

Why are people so frustrating?

Have you ever wondered why some people you work with just don't do things the way you do? It's frustrating isn't it? What if I told you that there is a very good reason for it.

3 Tips to Deliver Great Customer Service During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we live our lives and conduct our business. It has forced us to be creative with how we offer our services to customers so that we retain them and stay profitable.

4 Ways to Avoid Lousy Conversations & Master Connective Communication

At a time when we have sophisticated communication tools curiously designed to bring us all closer together, why is it we seem to be moving further away from each other? Why don't we communicate as well as we could?

Create a Workspace that Works

Working at home brings business and personal aspects of life together under one roof. This can be both rewarding and distracting until you are able to separate business and personal tasks.

Important update for our Training Community

At Odyssey Training, your health, safety and wellbeing is important to us.

Remote Working, Working for You.

Some people are happy to work remotely, while others aren’t so sure. So, what’s the real down low of working remotely during COVID-19?

7 Admin Tips That Can Save Your Business Hours

To help you gain control on your administration, here are seven essential tips that can save your business hours.

How to build a network as an introvert

Introverts often find some situations drain them of energy, such as networking. As a result, they tend to avoid those situations. If this is you, here are some tips to help you network, despite this personality quirk.

Online vs Face to Face Training - Which should You Choose?

Which is better? The answer is not so simple. There are pros and cons to either delivery method and these really come down to your own personal needs and preferences. It's worth weighing up the two options and even worth experiencing both so you can decide what works best for you.

Why you need to be able to write well + how fast do you type?

At the heart of all good writing is the goal of persuading people to think. The writer’s goal is to provoke thought in their target audience.

How to Calculate Employee Engagement Rate + Improve it!

Retaining top performers is vital for business success. Fortunately, there is a tool that can help you—employee retention rate.

5 More Microsoft Power BI Success Stories

Here we bring you another 5 stories of success. How 5 organisations used Power BI to boost their effectiveness.

The trouble you can get in for lying on your resume

Nearly everyone has done it before—telling a little white lie on their resume. The consensus among job seekers is that it’s harmless. But is it really? Just how important is it to be honest on your resume? And how much trouble can you really get in to?

Are the wrong people being promoted in your organisation?

Organisations frequently choose the wrong individuals for leadership roles and pay for it in the form of poor engagement and high staff turnover. When the right people are promoted, the result is harder working staff thus higher retention rates.

5 Employee Engagement Stats You May Not be Measuring

Employee engagement is the level of commitment, passion and loyalty an employee has toward their work and organisation. The more engaged an employee is, the more effort they’ll put in. There have been a good deal of metrics developed to determine how engaged employees are. However, there are some important ones that are often overlooked. Ones that are crucial for a broader picture.

What to do when people don’t support your next career move

Career change is scary. And you want those around you to support you. The reality is though, you’re most likely to face some resistance. Most people can’t help themselves. They have concerns and feel the need to voice them. But that doesn’t mean you have to take their concerns on board. It also doesn’t mean you should dismiss them either. That will only create more resistance. So, what should you do when people don’t support your next career move?

The Future of Performance Management

Organisations spend a lot of money on performance management. Nonetheless, most leaders have no idea what their employee’s needs are and staff have even less of a clue on what their leaders want from them.

6 Wellness Trends for the New Year

People want to feel good on the outside and the inside in all aspects of their lives. To achieve this, they are actively seeking balance and a sense of harmony. As a result, in the new year we’ll see many organisations working to better meet employee needs.

5 ways to boost your motivation during the holidays

No matter how hard you try, there’s no escaping the fact that the holidays are here again. Christmas carols assault your ears as you shop and you can’t remember what anyone wanted for a present.

The Skills You Need In The New Year To Succeed

Predictions for the next 10 years include more emphasis on personal responsibility for career success and people working smarter, not harder. There are some basic soft skills you must develop to ensure you don’t get left behind.

Top 5 festive team-building ideas

The festive season is the perfect opportunity for team building. Team building not only increases employee morale, it also helps to develop skills like communication, problem-solving and collaboration.

To be a great leader, you have to start by leading yourself

Becoming a leader can be exciting, but it can be frightening too. Everything you’ve done so far in your career has led you to this point. However, the experiences and skills that landed you this new job will not be what allows you to succeed.

Want to achieve your goals? Here are 4 habits to adopt

Goal setting is essential to living a life with purpose and meaning. Goals give your life direction and focus and help you stay motivated over the long term. Goal setting also provides you with a benchmark for determining whether you are succeeding or not.

6 Ways to Be More Persuasive

A persuasive speaker is skilled at steering others towards an action or to support their own opinion. This can come in handy in a multitude of situations, from arguing with a colleague to haggling down a price. The key to developing this skill is rhetoric.

Do you have toxic co-workers? Here’s how to deal.

Toxic co-workers are in nearly every workplace. From the colleague who often takes credit for your work to the office gossip, there are many types of personalities in a work environment. You won’t want to be office besties with everyone, but toxic co-workers can ruin an otherwise awesome job.

5 Ways To Become A Better Presenter

The number one fear of most people is public speaking. Presenting is tough. And public speaking isn’t an inherent talent—it’s a skill that you have to develop. To help you make a lasting impression as a skilled presenter, here are some helpful hacks.

The Importance of Resilience

When things go wrong, it’s resilience that gets you through the hard times. What’s more, is that it will make you even stronger than you were before.

How multitasking affects productivity and your brain health

In this busy world we live in, multitasking has become a key buzz word. Many people believe multitasking is a great way to save time.

How well do you influence people?

No matter who you are, where you work, or what your professional goals are, achieving more influence in the workplace is critical for success.

What kind of problem solver are you?

Employers need staff who will get things done. They want people that when faced with a problem, actively solve it. And they prefer staff who are part of the solution, not people who are part of the problem.

How To Improve Your Public Speaking

The ability to communicate a message well is a critical skill for anyone who wants to make an impact on others. Even in this technologically dominated age, public speaking is still the most effective way to move, persuade and inspire people.

7 Negotiation Skills you need to Succeed

Negotiation involves two or more people finding an acceptable solution to a shared problem. Successful negotiators control the process and come away with a result they are satisfied with.

How Stress Affects your Body

We’ve all been there—late for an important meeting, called to the boss’s office without notice or missed a vital deadline. The brain sends a signal out to the rest of your body, indicating something is wrong.

10 Pieces of Career Advice you Should Ignore

When it comes to career advice, there’s no shortage of "experts" ready to offer their services. Everyone will have their own take on the dos and don’ts of what it takes to have a successful career.

Right Brain vs Left Brain

Your brain is command central of all you think, feel and do. The human brain is divided into two halves, or hemispheres. Within each half, particular regions control specific functions. The two sides look very much alike, but there’s a vast difference in how they process information.

The Importance of Being Assertive in the Workplace

Assertive communication is direct and respectful. But if you communicate in a way that's too passive or too aggressive, your message may get lost in the reactions of others.

Practical Ways to Deal with Difficult Customers

Even if you have an award-winning product or service, someone is bound to find fault with it. In this age of technology and social media, the negative experiences of customers can echo throughout the Internet. Therefore, it’s critical for customer support teams and team members to carefully consider how they respond to customer complaints.

7 Things Resilient Staff do Differently

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from, as well as grow and thrive during challenge, change and adversity.

Best 10 Project Management Apps to improve your business

Here are our top picks for apps to help you manage projects while you're away from the office.

7 Strategies to Handle and Resolve Conflicts

There are many reasons conflicts surface in the workplace. Likewise, there are a variety of conflicts that can show up.

Three ways to manage interruptions and distractions at work

Do you start the day with a realistic to-do list then get distracted or spend too much time dealing with unnecessary interruptions? Here are three ways to catch those time stealers before they get away with your precious time.

The Four Step Writing Process

A framework you can work from when writing any type of document.

Four reasons a company should invest in staff

Whether or not to invest in staff training and development is a contentious issue for many companies.

Top 5 Customer Service Challenges and How to Resolve Them

With the amount of competition among all industries, customer service is integral to a company's survival. To help you gain insight on how to approach customer service challenges, we’ve picked out the top 5 challenges and the best ways to resolve them.

Three good reasons to love your complaining customers

Have you ever made a complaint as a customer or client? How were you feeling at the time? Were you happy with how your complaint was handled?

Three ways to overcome communication barriers by asking better questions

Have you ever struggled to get people talking? Or, once you've got them talking, ever grappled with how to keep control of the pace or direction of the conversation?

The importance of positive self-talk

Culturally in Australia, we use incredibly negative language on a regular basis. Don’t believe it?