All Blog Posts (30)

We are currently running a LinkedIn poll to see how many hours are being worked on average per week by the employed or self-employed.  We are also interested to hear whether this has changed as a result of the current economic climate (either increasing or reducing the number of hours worked).  You can tell us about this using the optional comment feature on the poll if you wish.

We will be sharing the results of the poll in a later blog post and will also provide a breakdown based on…

I have been amazed at the attempts to rationalise the behaviour of the groups of people responsible for destroying large parts of London during the recent riots.  This reminded me of my brief foray into Chaos Theory a few years ago.

Chaos Theory dictates that it is possible that a very small occurance can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events. I think rationalising the riots as some sort of reaction to a…

Dan made some very compelling points, one of which was:

“Find the bright spots in your organisation, and then replicate them. Start obsessing about success – not…

Recently I saw an interview with the Chief Science Officer of a famous Weight Loss service provider.  The interviewer probed his female guest to explore how committed her company was to helping their clients to achieve long-term weight loss.  He was interested in finding out that if "yo-yo" dieting actually suited the company as it meant that clients built a long-term dependency to its services. This reminded me of a recent conversation with a coronary heart surgeon at a networking event.  I…

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has revealed the key to what drives sustainable organisation performance with the publication of its two-year action research and engagement programme.  Tracking the progress of six organisations undertaking change programmes, as well as drawing insight from the 11,000 practitioners in a dedicated network through round table events, polls and online discussions, the research draws conclusions around sustaining performance through…

I attended an event today which was themed around delivering "amazing" customer service.  The opening speaker talked about general principles and how complaint handling was the biggest driver of perceived customer service. However, the constant references to "The Customer Service Department within your organisation" seemed alien to me. Okay, maybe this is a personal values thing and maybe the fact that as the owner of a small company, I…

According to John Kotter, the second step in planning and leading a successful change process is to create a team to guide the decision making about the change. Members of the team should balance leadership with management skills, should be the ‘right people’ in terms of peer group credibility and trust, and who have (or can make) time available to focus on effective teamwork and guiding the change project.

When working with clients we often get asked "How big should a guiding team…

Today I attended a briefing hosted by Ernst and Young's ITEM Club supported by the Entrepreneurs Forum in the North East of England.  There was some interesting information shared regarding the state and outlook for the North East economy as well as a look at the national UK picture.  I could not help but draw parallels between what was being presented and John Kotter's 2006 book, "Our Iceberg is Melting".  In this book (which is a fable) a colony of penguins discovers its iceberg is falling…

Albert Einstein has long been considered a genius by the masses. He was a theoretical physicist, philosopher, author, and is perhaps the most influential scientists to ever live.

Visit http://www.dumblittleman.com/2010/03/10-amazing-lessons-albert-einstein.html for some excellent insights from the great man himself.

We set up this poll and wanted to get your input on it. After you vote, you'll be able to see results and analysis of how different types of professionals answered the question.

As a manager/leader, which of the following employee behaviours causes you the most concern in your organisation?

Take poll:

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/79439/xkbum