Getting it Wrong at Comet?

It is so very easy to get ‘management’ wrong.  Very wrong. Take this example from electrical retailer Comet.  My Brother in Law is looking to buy a micro HI-Fi and has been to compare models and prices in Comet and Empire Direct.  As he walked into the Comet store he was met by a sales [...]

Committing to 121s

I have had a some interesting conversations in the last week or two with managers about 121s. There are a couple of issues that are probably worth a reminder. The first is that you should be scheduling 121s well in advance with your team members and then do all in your power to keep to [...]

Something for Nothing in Halifax

Would you like to learn a management tool that is guaranteed to: Save you time Increase levels of trust in your team Improve communication Make you a noticeably better manager Get more done – more quickly Accelerate the professional development of your team, and Reduce the pain of performance reviews? Then come along to a [...]

How To Motivate and Engage Front Line Managers

This is the title of an interesting post over at BNet and one that is especially pleasing for me as they reference one of my posts as a potential answer. The BNet post, and a recent conversation with a Progressive Manager have led me to do some more thinking on the matter. The truth is [...]

What Gets Measured Gets Done – recognition and reward

‘What Gets Measured Gets Done’ gets my vote for the single, most dangerous, least accurate, management ‘truism’ of them all! Suppose we changed the expression to ‘What Gets Recognised Gets Done’.   What difference would that make to the way we do our business? First of all managers and leaders would have to think about what [...]

Some Great Advice for Managers

David Maister says “Great managers give lots of responsibility early, are available to help, set and enforce high standards (on things other than just financial results), demand participation by all team members and set a high personal example.” How do do you stack up?

Listening, 121s and Tom Peters

I have been an avid reader of Tom Peters since in Search of Excellence.  Must be almost 20 years! He put a post on his blog today that for me captures the purpose of weekly 121s.  It is about establishing a relationship in which you can listen respectfully- and in which the person you are [...]

Fish Keeping, Management and Developing People

My fascination with fish has (until now) been a pretty well kept secret. Only family and a few close friends get to know about my fishy obsessions… But I have to share this blog post that talks about fish-keeping and management! “The fascinating thing about the koi is that if you keep it in a [...]

Strategy and the Fat Smoker

  Strategy and the Fat Smoker is the title of David Maister’s new book scheduled for publication in the US in the New Year.  He sums up perfectly the challenge facing progressive managers and their team members in working on behaviour change: “The primary reason we do not work at behaviors which we know we [...]