• Business development
• Creativity & innovation
• Healthy orgainisation
• Motivation
• Public speaking anxiety
• See yourself differently
• Uk economy

The UK economy has come out of recession, after figures showed it had grown by a weaker-than-expected 0.1% in the last three months of 2009.

The economy had previously contracted for six consecutive quarters - the longest period since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955. The UK had been the last major economy still in recession.

Europe's two biggest economies - Germany and France - came out of recession last summer. Japan and the US also emerged from the recession last year. The weak level of growth took its toll on the value of the pound, which fell against both the dollar and the euro on the money markets.

I can’t help but feel this good news is tinged with our typical British negative slant, “It’s good but it could be better”. I am in no doubt that because of the snow and January’s inevitably slow start, we may see the economy return to negative growth in the first quarter but there are encouraging signs and here are a few.

1 – House prices rose again in January, 1.2% compared with the previous month. This increase at the start of 2010 has pushed the annual increase to 8.6% with Nationwide’s chief economist, Martin Gahbauer, predicting that year-on-year prices would move above 10% in February.

2 – UK unemployment fell in January, for the first time in 18 months.

3 – Speaking with marketing and communication agencies, who have noticed a significant increase in sales as organisations start investing in new marketing strategies in preparation for the upturn.

4 – Organisations are recognising the need to motivate their staff for the year ahead. Many customer-facing employees have had over 2 years of negative stimulus and this has taken its toll. We are now seeing an increase in organisations investing in Sales Development and Teams & Leadership experiences with motivation running through as a theme.

The good times are very close and 2010 will present lots more opportunities to grow your business, so make sure your employees are skilled with the correct mindset to maximise this opportunity.

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