Digging around the roots. If you’ve ever transplanted a tree, or spent time digging up deeply rooted brambles, you’ll get what I’m talking about here. If you haven’t, I’d recommend it. There’s a lot to be learnt from nature*, and a bit of ’17th century Peasant work’ as my son described it. It does a […]
Don’t remove a fence until you understand why it was put there. Chesterton’s Fence.
Using a coat-stand to take down a fence. I once knew a Chief Executive who told me that the most important thing that came with their job was the office coat-stand. The reason? It was because the coat-stand allowed them to permanently wedge open their office door. They had wanted to unscrew the hinges and […]
Because, that’s the way we’ve always done things around here…
An expression that is usually followed up with something along the lines of… “is the most dangerous thing you’ll hear”. You may have heard it quoted by serious people or even seen it on posters or painted on the walls of more ‘progressive’ organisations. It’s a powerful statement that has many layers of meaning, but […]
How to Spot the Decoy Effect in Business Case Options Appraisals.
Coffee Choices and the Decoy Effect. Have you every bought a coffee and been ‘bedazzled’ into getting a bigger or frothier one than you’d planned? “It just seemed sooooohhh much better value to have the Maximo Grande Frothiata…”. Basically you’ve had your behaviour ‘modified’ by the retailer using a process called Decoy Pricing or the […]
Why isn’t the Retail Sector doing more ‘Nudging’ of Hand Sanitisation?
Is anyone else thinking about Behavioural Nudges and Hand Sanitisation? If you’ve ventured to the supermarket since COVID-19 you’ve probably experienced some version of the ‘Hand Sanitiser Station’. The good, the bad and the ugly. My experiences have ranged from the pathetic – empty bottles of disinfectant spray lurking behind the crisps – through to […]
The Atomic Theory of Meetings. Atoms and Meetings are made of mostly NOTHING.
Atoms and meetings are surprisingly similar. Just like in science, where atoms are the basic building blocks, for organisations meetings seem to fulfill a similar purpose. Organisations wouldn’t exist without them (apparently). Unfortunately many meetings aren’t as remotely useful (or interesting) as atoms, but there are startling similarities. Let me explain. Basically there are 3 […]
Florence and Semmelweis knew it over 150 years ago. “Wash yer hands you Filthy Animal” #COVID-19
Public Handwashing Facilities. I have an idea… How about we make handwashing a very public activity. Put the wash-basins, water, soap and drying facilities in a very public space, so that everyone can see what’s going on? There’s the obvious impact of peer pressure that might come into play here, but I can also see […]
COVID-19. Will Lady Macbeth style Hand-Washing at Sports Stadiums become the long term ‘norm’?
Now wash your hands, please. Forming an orderly queue at the rugby/football stadium toilets to wash your hands has become quite a thing. Well, according to Twitter, where it’s being mentioned a fair bit at the moment. From a personal viewpoint I’ve attended rugby based ‘mass gatherings’ at stadiums for many years, and I can […]
Trojan Mice in 900 Seconds
Be careful what you wish for… After blathering on about Trojan Mice for ages people have actually paid attention. Thank you Paul Taylor for the mentions in this post ‘The Complex Problem with Big Change Programmes’ and ‘People Aren’t Sick of Change, They are Sick of Change Programmes’. There’s an important point in Paul’s posts. […]
Regulation, Inspection and Audit. It really, really shouldn’t hurt… and ‘behaviour begets behaviour’.
Imagine a situation where you can measure the psychological and physiological effects of a visit from the Regulator. That’s what this fuzzy image shows. It’s actually heart beats per minute of the registered manager of a care provider, and the impact of a notice to visit from the Regulator. The ‘spike’ happens when the ‘regulatory […]
What's the PONT 