121s – Common Objections

When I am talking with managers about the benefits of doing 121s they usually resist the idea and offer a range of objections:

I don’t need 121s – I speak with my staff ALL the time!
I would never have enough time to meet with each member of staff for half an hour every week.
What would we [...]

Connecting with a Vision

This post first appeared on my other blog ‘Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in the Community‘ but I have reproduced it here because it contains some insights on working with ‘Vision’ that are relevant to the progressive manager.  Apologies to those of you who have got it for the second time!
Our Vision for Leeds is an internationally [...]

How to Manage Whelmers

A whelmer is someone who we manage at work who neither overwhelms us with their professional expertise. enthusiasm and commitment, nor underwhelms us with their lack of talent and commitment.
They inhabit the middle ground of mediocrity.
Whelmers are a problem because they act as cultural magnets, performance benchmarks in the organisation.  They are the experts in [...]

Another Politician on to the Professional Speaker Circuit

Clearly Ken had been working on a Boris Victory Contingency Plan…

Manager or Cox?

These days I am 6ft 4″ and carry a few extra pounds.
However there was a time when I was 5ft 4″, skinny as a rake and sought after by rowing crews as a cox.  Yes the small person who sits in the back of the boat – barking a very limited range of orders and [...]

Highlights from the World HR Congress

‘Because so many organisations will be competing for the same resources, the (HR) profession will have to manage a marketplace which has changed from one where employers choose to one where potential employees choose.’
Florent Franceur – WFPMA President
I know it is not much of a highlight – but at least it has the virtue of [...]

WOW – Watch Out for the Whelmers…

Chip Conley has written a great book called PEAK – How great companies get their mojo from Maslow. In it he gives grave warning of the dangers of whelmers.
According to Chip there are three types of recruit in your organisation.
There are the over-whelmers – those people that ‘over-whelm’ you with their energy, skill, passion [...]

More From Tom Peters

Tom Peters was back in London recently.  Here are some highlights…
“Remember. You are the only human being in the world who can help this particular customer at this particular moment in time.”
“The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution.”
“Brand inside is more important than brand outside for sustained success.”
“Make [...]

6 Word Management Essays

I was sent this by a PMN member who knows that I am a bit of a mangement geek. It is a bunch of essays on management – all just 6 words long! I think they speak volumes about different approaches to management:

Seek understanding, give support, find results
Look, [...]