The Ascento Blog

As the new football season gets underway, managers across the country are facing a familiar challenge: how do you get ...

For as long as online search has existed, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has helped businesses get found. The goal ...

Concerned about changes to leadership apprenticeship funding in 2026?

Are you leading like a Faithful, or behaving like a Traitor?

Act now to make the most of Level 7 funding before the January 2026 deadline - and explore Level 6 as a long-term ...

In 2025, the UK government introduced significant changes to the Apprenticeship Levy. The Minister for Skills, ...

Many UK businesses still believe that apprenticeships are just for school leavers or manual trades, but the reality is ...

Acas has recently published new guidance aimed at helping employers and employees better understand neurodiversity in ...

Marketing tools and techniques are constantly changing, and as a business owner, it’s easy to feel like you’re always ...

Investing in your team's professional development is a strategic move that will positively impact any business. Having ...

No doubt you have heard of AI by now, but should you be using it in your marketing strategy?

In today's rapidly evolving job market, upskilling and reskilling have become essential for individuals and businesses ...

The last few years have seen seismic shifts in employee behaviour due to various social, political and economic ...

Challenges in leadership are more significant than ever. With 85% of businesses feeling the effects of the ‘great ...

The looming and ever-growing skills gaps are a worry for businesses across the globe. As global talent shortages ...

Employees are at the heart of your business. Without them, you’d be unable to achieve most of your goals. That’s why ...

Employee satisfaction has always been an essential part of a business, impacting engagement and retention. In fact, ...

Employee engagement is an integral part of what makes a successful business. A survey conducted by Harvard Business ...

Across the UK, many organisations are facing ongoing skills shortages, pressure on productivity, and the challenge of ...

Becoming a team manager is a great achievement and a significant milestone in your career that’s definitely worth ...

When defining what makes a good manager, the ability to make tough, strategic decisions is always high on the list. In ...

With more than six million employees in managerial roles across the UK, line managers are an essential aspect of ...

The requirement of good communication is a given in any workplace. In a managerial position, this is essential for the ...

As with any role in the workplace, it’s important that any newly hired or recently promoted manager is trained to deal ...

New managers can only thrive in an organisation when they have the support to naturally develop them into influential ...

Apprenticeships can be beneficial for both employers and employees. For employers, they provide you with an opportunity ...

There are some common misconceptions when it comes to apprenticeships. People often think of them as an option for ...

Most people want to progress in their careers. They want to take on more responsibilities, continually develop their ...

Do you have plans to transform more of your staff into leaders? If so, there are specific skills they’ll need to ...

Every business needs leaders. They’re the heartbeat of an operation, invaluable to providing strategic direction and ...

Traditionally, most businesses would look externally to recruit new employees. Nowadays, many hire from the inside. In ...

Digital marketing can play an important role in the growth and success of a business. This is because it allows you to ...

Your digital marketing team has a key role to play in the overall success of your business. Not only will they plan ...

In a recent survey, 59% of businesses named upskilling as their top priority in 2021 and beyond. So, what is upskilling ...

Digital marketing courses are ideal for professionals to fast—track their understanding and gain hands-on skills in ...

More and more jobs require digital skills for employees to be successful in their roles. However, a recent study found ...

We’re living in the digital age. More consumers are turning online and more businesses are investing in ...

It’s crucial that your employees have a comprehensive understanding of marketing and the relevant skills needed to ...

What is Crisis Management?

If you’ve seen us mentioned in Business Live, Insider Media and other regional publications, Ascento has now become ...

The Importance of the new Apprenticeship Roadmap The road to a quality apprenticeship has been released as a new guide. ...

According to a new McKinsey survey of 100 executives* from various industries and across different locations, nine out ...

According to Personnel Today, the number of employees reporting mental health worries is up 24% since May 2020, ...

'A Plan for Jobs’ Extended Following on from the recent Government Budget 2021, it was announced that extra money was ...

The hard work of leaders, tutors and staff at Ascento Learning and Development has been recognised within a recent ...

Further to todays Written Ministerial Statement by Secretary of State for Education announcing the expansion of the ...

One of the biggest adaptations organisations have had to make as a result of Covid-19 is the mass migration of staff ...

As we find ourselves in the middle of the second national lockdown in 8 months and with countless industries and whole ...

1. Have a dedicated workspace

I have left my November Blog contribution until now as we look forward to the new democratically elected US president ...

As part of the economic response to coronavirus, the government has launched ‘A Plan for Jobs 2020’ with a total ...

During most of August, I was on leave and enjoying the remains of the summer heat and the last of the lighter evenings. ...

It has been made crystal clear by the PM and the government, that the get back to work message sits clearly on the ...

As we emerge from lockdown, we wait to see what the real and practical effects of the COVID 19 crisis are having on our ...

The Truman Show is one of my favourite and most terrifying childhood films, and I imagine if you’ve seen the film ...

Firstly, I need to address that the research for this post and the topic of the post, might just make this my favourite ...

Writing this at the end of a sunny week in June, it’s easy to think that the auto-reset function on our society and ...

I've got this wrong. It's not the V, U or L of economic recovery that might occur. It's the worst of all worlds, it's a ...

In my last blog called “Unprecedented times require realistic expectations of what the future may be like”, I commented ...

Last week I explored the first set of strategies to positively impact your business during a time of crisis. As the ...

Having been a student of Business and Economics for too long to mention, I have never been in a position to observe and ...

Most of us will be aware of all the support being made available to businesses and individuals amid the current ...

Little did I appreciate when I posted my last blog with John Maynard Keynes as its main protagonist that I would be ...

I’ve been Amazon shopping again this week. I love books and love browsing in a bookshop, but I have to admit when it ...

2020 is now here and has come with many promises in regards to social media marketing. With new technologies, platforms ...

Delivering innovation for your organisation is about spotting and keeping creativity and entrepreneurship. In my ...

If you are working with third party agencies, you might worry about losing control over a side of your business, or ...

In my first year at University, I read the brilliant book by Rosabeth Moss Kanter called “When Giants Learn to Dance”. ...

I’m going to start with a bold personal statement, Branding and more specifically, using your brand elements for ...

Following my previous three contributions regarding both the requirement to demonstrate increases in productivity and ...

High levels of productivity cause huge personal welfare issues amongst all staff, which then overspill into family, ...

In this post, we'll look at how you can get more engagement on Instagram. Since the photo and video-sharing social ...

Google Analytics is a free website analytics service offered by Google that gives you insights into how users find and ...

Welcome to the final post in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Since its launch over two years ago in ...

Over the summer break, we sat on the beach and by the pool and for the first time since last October when I was last ...

Welcome to the penultimate article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Over the course of this series ...

This is the 16th article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our previous piece, we talked about which ...

This is the 15th article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Along the way, we’ve uncovered everything ...

Welcome to the 14th post in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Throughout the series we’ve covered ...

This is article number 13 in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. We’ve talked in-depth about all aspects of ...

Welcome to the twelfth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Throughout this series, we’re breaking ...

All too often I hear or overhear a generic complaint in organisations across all staff in that they feel they are not ...

As I’m sitting here writing this article, it’s cloudy and wet outside and has been all week, as we have a yellow ...

This is the eleventh article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. With each post, we’re trying to increase ...

Economists regard productivity gains as the most important driver of rising living standards over the long term. ...

Here's a recording of our recent webinar 'Marketing research and audience profiles'. We hope you find it useful.

Here's a recording of our recent webinar 'Making Marketing Measurable' with Simon and Oliver. We hope you find it ...

Welcome to article number 10 in our eighteen part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Our goal with this series is to ...

Welcome to the ninth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In this series, we’re exploring ...

This is the eighth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The UK Government launched the levy ...

Welcome to the seventh article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The levy is a new initiative from the ...

Many people dream of owning and running their own business, being their own boss, not being beholden to the whims and ...

Search is continually evolving. We know this. We know search changes and we know that Google like to keep all of us on ...

So, you will all have heard of Emotional Intelligence (EI). It’s been around a while now, actually since Daniel ...

This is the sixth article in our 18 piece series on the Apprenticeship Levy. The one thing you should never do with ...

This is the fifth article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Along the way, we’ve learned what the ...

In my last article, I comprehensively worked through the key components of strategic thinking and how it can operate ...

This is the fourth article in our 18 piece series on the Apprenticeship Levy. So far, we’ve explored what the ...

“Alexa, play my ‘concentration’ playlist", would be something that I might say to my Amazon Echo as I prepare myself to ...

I once worked with a colleague who always put a block in their diary across Monday morning. No one could disturb them, ...

This is the third article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our last post, we talked about whether ...

This is the second article in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In our first post we talked about the levy ...

This is the first article in an 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. In this series we’ll be exploring what the ...

Health warning. This may upset your boss who attempts to micromanage you and only believes in presenteeism.

If you’re pondering this question right now within your organisation you would be forgiven for coming to a quick ...

Analytics are usually a polarising topic, stereotypically we have two elements- the ‘numbers people’ and then the ...

This is the final post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re ...

This is the nineteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time ...

This is the eighteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time ...

This is the sixteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time ...

Whilst the media continues to cover the current snow storms hitting the UK and, rightly, highlight the plight of many ...

This is the fourteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time ...

This is the thirteenth post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time ...

This is the twelfth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time ...

This is the eleventh article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and today ...

This is the tenth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time ...

This is the ninth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all ...

This is the eighth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all ...

This is the seventh article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and it's all ...

We’re now up to the sixth in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. Last time we ...

This is the fourth post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be ...

This is the third post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be ...

This is the second post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be ...

This is the first post in our series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties. In the coming weeks, we’ll be ...

Having spent the last few days at the Inbound 2017 conference in Boston MA, I was fortunate this morning to attend a ...

May 1st 2017 brings great new opportunities for employers looking to invest in their workforce. I was recently asked to ...

Having been to various events and held many meetings over the last few weeks it's time to share some of the frightening ...

Instagram is quickly becoming a go-to staple for many of its users. With 600 million monthly users and 400 million ...

RESULTS ANNOUNCED

For many managers one of the greatest challenges is being able to balance the needs of the organisation, with the needs ...

Registration is now open for the apprenticeship service The much-awaited digital apprenticeship service is now open for ...

Finally, the long awaited apprenticeship consultation has been evaluated and the Government has published its rules ...

Last time we talked about the digital apprenticeship service and how you need to start planning now. If you have not ...

As a levy paying employer you will need to register for the digital apprenticeship service in order to manage and ...

You’ve started paying your levy via HMRC and have funds building up in your Digital Service apprentice account: What ...

The greatest shake up of Apprenticeships and how they are funded in England is fast approaching. Consultations with ...