I recently sat for 9 long hours on a plane. I read a really good book from start to finish, but 9 hours is a long time to be sat on your backside, especially following 3 hours bottom numbing in the departure lounge, and 90 minutes of inactivity on public transport getting to the airport […]
All too often managers phoning our advice line ask for legal support with their ‘difficult person’. And all too often in training sessions am I asked to provide managers with my most amazing insights into how we should manage the difficult people in our teams. I think that delegates think they are asking me to […]
Is it time for a productivity review? We all spend much of each day striving to be effective and productive. But how many of us have a clue about our actual level of productivity? If you could rate your productivity in the past 60 mins what score would you give out of ten? Go on, […]
Almost every organisation I come into contact with admits to needing training for some or all of their managers in how to manage employee performance. Employers know there is a lack of skill to confidently and competently manage performance. Their employees know that their under performing colleagues are seldom properly managed. And their managers themselves often […]
It only happens in the summer months I am sure. Does everyone go a bit loopy and clap happy? This week I have read about a square running tack, a mad woman with a chocolate cake on her head and an employee whose claim to fame was to still have all his teeth. It’s a […]
Clients often come to us about an employee who has potential but who is, in fact, bone idle, or with an employee who is endlessly late, but it’s always someone else’s fault, or an employee who is endlessly negative about the organisation and its managers, but who can’t see that all is not as bleak […]
A survey recently suggested that 63% of small business owners worry about how to terminate the employment of their under performing employees. Sound familiar? But its not just small business owners, is it? In my experience there will be just as many managers in the larger organisations who either don’t know how to go about […]
In recent weeks, during various training sessions, discussions have turned to how to successfully give staff the feedback they won’t necessarily want to hear. I’m sure that many of you know the ‘sandwich’ technique for giving feedback – some call it the ‘burger’ – anyway, in essence, its about giving some positive feedback at the start and […]
Just today, I read of the sacking of two security officers attached an electronic tag on a prosthetic limb, the offender simply removed the limb every time he fancied breaking curfew, or just going out to break the law! It’s a similar failure to engage brain that infuriates me in business – as there is […]
‘Thursday is the new Friday’ was the explanation given to me last week when we were out drinking in Central London and yet another cocktail was being pushed into my hand. He continued ‘if you’re going to have a hangover, why let it ruin the weekend when you can have it at work on a […]
