Know Your Business News End 2026 the right way – check out our commercial ...

Article

End 2026 the right way – check out our commercial training

From hiring with confidence to mastering management, LinkedIn to managing sickness absence and First Aid to tackling poor performance, we’ve got the right training course for you!

Check out training taking place during October and November, there’s a great range of topics available. We’ve even started planning for 2027 and you can view the current training schedule here

FEATURED TRAINING

Hire with Confidence: Practical Interview Skills for Managers
Date: Tuesday 13th October
Time: 10am to 11.30am
Price: £50 +VAT members / £65 +VAT non-members
Venue: Online
Delivered by: Realise HR

This practical and engaging 90-minute online workshop is designed to help managers feel confident, prepared, and equipped to run effective interviews that bring out the very best candidates.

You'll learn how to:

  • Prepare thoroughly before an interview to ensure a smooth and professional process
  • Build rapport and create a positive candidate experience from start to finish
  • Ask insightful, competency-based questions that uncover skills, behaviours and potential
  • Listen actively and assess responses consistently and fairly
  • Avoid common interviewing pitfalls and unconscious bias
  • Make confident, evidence-based hiring decisions

Whether you're new to interviewing or looking to refresh your skills, this session will provide practical techniques and real-life examples that you can apply immediately.

The result? Better interviews, smarter hiring decisions, and a positive experience that strengthens your organisation's reputation and helps attract and retain great people.

Ideal for: Managers, team leaders and anyone involved in recruitment and selection.

Outcome: Confident managers who can identify the right talent and represent the organisation professionally

Book here

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mastering Management – ONLY TWO PLACES REMAINING
Date: Tuesday 6th October 2026
Time: 9:30am to 4.30pm
Venue: J36 Conference Centre, Crooklands LA7 7NU
Price: £250 +VAT members / £299 +VAT non members

Unlock your Leadership potential with ‘Mastering Management’
Are you ready to take your management skills to the next level and lead your team to success? Join Coach Tim in our immersive ‘Mastering Management’ workshop, specially designed to equip you with all the tools you need to excel in your new role.

Find out more and book here

Effective management of sickness absence
Date: Wednesday 21st October 2026
Time: 10am to 1pm
Price: £75 + VAT members, £95 +VAT non members
Venue: Penrith RUFC, Winters Park, Penrith CA11 8RQ
Delivered by: Cumbria Employment Solicitors

Whether it is staff who have a poor sickness record due to sporadic days off sick here and there or someone on long-term sick, such absences all have an impact on a business, on productivity and sometimes on the morale and attitude of other staff.

This practical and “can-do” training will use hand-outs, sample letters and real examples:

  • Provide practical tips and guidance to minimise avoidable absence
  • Give clear advice and techniques for tackling repeat short-term absences
  • Explain the process for handling long-term absence, including dismissing fairly when appropriate
  • Look at alternatives to the usual sickness absence processes

Book here

Emergency First Aid at Work
Date: Tuesday 3rd November 2026
Time: 10am to 4pm
Price: £140 +VAT member / £175 +VAT non member
Venue: Castle Green Hotel, Kendal
Delivered by: Skills Shop

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where someone is ill or injured, you’ll know how important it is to be able to administer the right first aid.

What does Emergency First Aid at Work cover?

  • First Aid responsibilities
  • Reporting incidents and near misses
  • Assessing an incident
  • Managing infection
  • Dealing with an unresponsive casualty
  • Performing effective CPR
  • How to use a defibrillator (AED)
  • Treating for hypovolaemic shock
  • Choking
  • Dealing with minor bleeds
  • Dealing with minor burns
  • Help someone having a seizure
  • Treating minor injuries
  • Treating anaphylactic shock

Book here

LinkedIn Unfiltered: Be Seen to Succeed - Building the right foundations
Date: Tuesday, 10th November
Time: 10am to 11.30am
Price: £50 +VAT members / £65 +VAT non-members
Venue: Online
Delivered by: Impact Growth Academy

LinkedIn rewards credibility. The platform's own algorithm is far more likely to surface profiles that look complete, active and trustworthy — and the people who land on your page make up their mind about you in seconds, on exactly the same signals.

This session walks through the building blocks of LinkedIn: what each part of your profile is actually for, and how to make it communicate your message and your service properly, not just fill a gap. Live, on screen, we'll go through the purpose of your photo, your banner, your headline, your About section, your Experience and your Services — why each one matters, and what it needs to say to work for you professionally.

By the end, you won't just know what's not working on your profile — you'll understand what a credible one looks like and how to build it yourself, so it becomes a page worth sending people to.

Because however good your outreach is, if the page behind it doesn't back you up, the introduction is wasted before it starts.

Book here

LinkedIn Unfiltered: Be Seen to Succeed - LinkedIn for Leads and Sales
Date: Wednesday, 11th November 2026
Time: 10am to 11.30am
Price: £50 +VAT members / £65 +VAT non-members
Venue: Online
Delivered by: Impact Growth Academy

Your profile is set up. Now it's time to make it work for your business.

In this session, Leanne shares exactly how she uses LinkedIn to find potential clients, build relationships and generate paid work — not theory, but what she actually does. We'll look at the real difference between free LinkedIn and Sales Navigator and whether it's worth paying for, how to find the right companies and the right decision-makers, and how searches, filters and lead lists actually work in practice.

We'll cover how to use your Services Page to receive enquiries and send proposals, the difference between your personal profile and a Company Page, and how to use content and engagement on your newsfeed to reach people who aren't already following you. Leanne will also show you how she starts real conversations — through messages, voice notes and video — and how to build a simple weekly LinkedIn routine you'll actually keep up with, including a live demonstration of a genuine search for potential clients.

Book here

Leading under pressure: preventing burnout, overload and decision fatigue
Date: Wednesday 18th November 2026
Time: 10am to 1pm
Price: £60 +VAT members / £75 +VAT non-members
Venue: Online
Delivered by: Thrive Training Collective

Leadership in smaller and growing organisations can become increasingly pressured, reactive and isolating. Operational responsibility, staffing challenges, workload pressures and constant decision-making often sit with the same individuals, creating long-term risks around burnout, communication, culture and organisational resilience. This practical workshop focuses on helping leaders recognise overload earlier, manage competing priorities more sustainably and develop healthier approaches to leadership, delegation, boundaries and decision-making whilst maintaining organisational accountability and direction.

Key content

  • Recognising burnout and overload in leaders and teams
  • Managing competing priorities and constant pressure
  • Decision fatigue and reactive leadership
  • Boundaries, delegation and sustainable workload management
  • Leading more clearly through uncertainty and change

An ideal training course for:

  • Business owners
  • SME leaders and managers
  • Team leaders and supervisors
  • Growing organisations
  • New or developing managers

Book now

Tackling Poor Performance
Date: Wednesday, 25th November 2026
Time: 9am to 12noon
Price: £75 +VAT members / £95 +VAT non-members
Venue: J36 Conference Centre, Milnthorpe
Delivered by: Cumbria Employment Solicitors

Practical Steps to Prevent, Address and Manage Performance Issues with Confidence
Poor performance rarely appears overnight, yet many managers feel uncertain about how and when to intervene. Left unaddressed, performance concerns can impact team morale, productivity, and organisational outcomes.

Tackling Poor Performance is a practical and engaging programme designed to give managers the confidence and skills to address performance issues early, support improvement, and navigate formal processes effectively when required.

Early intervention is the key to successful performance management. By addressing issues promptly and constructively, managers can often resolve concerns before they become formal matters.

Participants will leave with a practical toolkit to identify, prevent, and tackle poor performance, using informal interventions wherever possible and managing formal performance processes effectively when necessary.

Equip your managers with the skills to address performance challenges early, support employee success, and foster a high-performing workplace.

Book here

Remember we offer a Training Needs Analysis service so you can prioritise training needs to address skills gaps and deliver the best results for your business. To find out more email Lesley Robinson, Head of Business Growth and Support – lesleyr@cumbriachamber.co.uk