Now that’s a statement that might cause a few recruitment consultants and career coaches to splutter into their skinny macchiato. Surely its all about winning and trumpeting your success, isn’t it? Admitting to failure, and claiming it as some sort of achievement is a pretty alien concept. In many organisations the approach to failure is […]
Idea Antibodies – Do some organisation have an autonomic immune response that kills ideas?
I’ve just met an old friend who told me they had moved jobs because the old organisation was ‘sucking the life out of them’. As an ‘ideas person’ they were fed up of constantly having their ideas; dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or worse, buried in bureaucracy. They were getting out before their spirit was […]
Dysfunctional organisations can turn a good person bad.
You may have heard the proverb “if you sup with the devil you need a (very) long spoon”. The idea is that if you mix with bad people you should be careful not to be influenced by them and start behaving badly yourself. It’s a very old sentiment that was mentioned as far back as […]
Self Organised Workgroups – Keystone Cops or Well Oiled Machine?
Recently my kids held a ‘garden party’, which has reversed many of my expectations. The end result has been a much neater garden; some repaired power tools and an enhanced reputation for me as a really cool dad. I’d like to say it was down to my supreme leadership, but actually I had very little […]
Engaged or actively disengaged employees. Where do you focus energy?
Here is a guest post from my good friend Ena Lloyd. A better biog will follow once I get some decent internet connection in Tuscany. Thanks Ena….. I also attended the IdeasUk Employee Engagement network meeting, hosted by the Wales Audit Office in Cardiff, where it was great to meet colleagues not only from the […]
Three Very Different Organisations, Five Common Words. IdeasUK Employee Engagement Network Meeting.
Last week I had the great joy of attending an IdeasUK Employee Engagement network meeting in Cardiff, hosted by the Wales Audit Office. The three organisations presenting workshops were incredibly different yet, I picked up on five common themes: Longevity, Trust, Evidence, Belief and Passion. Question: Are these the key elements of success for any […]
Fun at work is allowed……….employee engagement at Admiral
A quick post on my day out at the Engage4Success event hosted by Admiral Insurance in Cardiff. One of the most significant things I heard about was the Admiral approach to employee engagement. They are a hugely successful company, based largely on having engaged employees. Have a look at the impressive history of the best workplace […]
What’s eating the Trojan Mice?
Last week I posted about setting free Trojan Mice and argued that when faced with complex situations we need to carry out multiple ‘safe to fail’ pilots (rather than large single option solutions) . All very fine, but once you’ve set the Trojan Mice free, how do you give them the best chance of success? Learning […]
What's the PONT 