Blog Archive
2008
Dave Ulrich told last week’s HR Leadership Alliance of Warren Buffet’s latest investment in GE and Goldman Sachs. Why? Not simply because of their performance, but because they are known to have excellent leaders.
Anyone who attended last week’s HR Leadership Alliance in London will know what I’m talking about. This is a phrase coined at the conference by HR Guru Dave Ulrich, who gave some fascinating insights into the role of HR in business today.
Halloween has come and gone and there may have been more than a few HR people feeling like the Grim Reaper than usual at this year. Slashing costs and making redundancies is never easy at the best of times – and never more so than now in the knowledge that it won’t be easy for people to find new jobs, particularly in the manufacturing, construction and, dare I say it, corporate finance sectors.
Steering through the economic crisis without being the victim of major headcount reduction, budget cuts and major restructures is going to depend on smart thinking, innovation and agility for every single organisation, and every single function with that organisation. And when push comes to shove, it’s going to be all about how you sell yourself, both to your customers and your employers.
I was very interested to read an article in The Times that seating layouts at school make a huge difference to learning. Round (or oval) tables work far better than typical classroom layouts.
We know this from our work with leadership meetings. As soon as people sit in auditorium rows, they expect to be talked at and not interact. This style is fine for cinemas as you are there to sit, listen and watch – but not for business interaction.
We’re proud to support the celebrated writers’ group 26 for their inaugural annual speech, which will take place at the magnificent British Library at on 16 October 2008.
The Olympics have been over for just over 24 hours and I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms. You couldn’t be anything but awe-struck at the monumental spectacle that Beijing has produced over the past fortnight. Terrific performances by so many athletes from so many countries, superb TV coverage (well done the BBC), incredible opening and closing ceremonies in an iconic venue, and flawless execution by the organisers.
McDonald’s UK HR Director, David Fairhurst, has recently pledged to continue to invest in training and recruitment (Personnel Today 22 July) to help the fast-food chain cope with the economic downturn. A brave statement, considering the widespread budget-cuts that are afflicting businesses as fears of a recession grow daily.
Congratulations to my colleagues Glenn and Louise for coming up with a great idea at our summer social / team-building exercise this week.
As The Times publishes its Times Top 100 companies to work for, it comes as little surprise that the focus of this article by Sue Leonard is on the costs that can be saved by keeping your staff happy. And keeping your staff happy has as much to do with employee engagement and maintaining personal and career growth opportunities as it does paying them a good salary.
I recently went on holiday in the Outer Hebrides, beautiful islands off the west coast of northern Scotland. The weather was perfect, so I was fortunate to be able to go on a visit to St Kilda, a further 50 miles off the coast of Harris, and on the very edge of Europe. It has only recently become possible to go, with specially adapted fast boats that take two and a half hours compared to nine hours before.
Our website now features a new section dedicated to new positions on offer in our rapidly-growing team. Over the last year we have seen a significant increase in interest in our proposition, and in tandem with ongoing product development (not to mention numerous tweaks, adjustments and improvements to the programme) we’re firing on all cylinders.
We’re an interesting and eclectic team of people with a combination of skills ranging from strategic communications, event facilitation, creative and multi-media design, organisational change, marketing and project management – fun to work with and keen to retain the ‘family’ culture as we grow, utterly dedicated to making this pioneering approach work for our clients to achieve the best possible results.
Have a look at the Careers section of the site, and if you think you or anyone you know fits the bill, get in touch!
Martin and I recently ran a couple of workshops at the CiB conference in Brighton, which focused on employee engagement. How I am beginning to resent that phrase ‘employee engagement’. I would much prefer to use the term ‘connectivity’. Perhaps that’s a subject for another day.
I’m in the middle of Allan Leighton’s book on Leadership, which is refreshingly honest and down to earth. It gives some fascinating insights from some of the captains of industry on the qualities of a good leader, illustrated through their own stories, drawn from their own experiences. Sir Philip Green, Surinder Arora, Stuart Rose, Jacqueline Gold, Richard Baker, Justin King, James Dyson….the list goes on.
And then John Maeda has something to say in his book ‘The Laws Of Simplicity’….
To make anything simple, you need to apply ‘thoughtful reduction’; that’s why the iPod has fewer features than rival media players. Where you can’t reduce- and too much reduction destroys the value of your product – you have to hide complexity; which is why Google has almost nothing on its home page. But for your simplified product to succeed, it has also to appear more valuable than more complex products, something you achieve with classy materials and clever marketing; which is why Bang & Olufsen’s remote controls are heavier than you’d expect.
Right team….let’s look at our paper stock…..
I wish I had been a fly on the wall at the recent Management Today lunch discussion between some of the UK’s top corporate leaders (Adam Crozier, Royal Mail, Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP, David Brennan, AstraZeneca, Val Gooding, Bupa, Lord Crisp, ex-NHS, Paul Coby, BA, Jane McKenzie, Henley College, Miranda Kennett, First Class Coach and Ian Powell, PwC).
Hmmmm, having a bit of writers’ block today, but I’ve found a great quote…
“Australian Aborigines say that the big stories—the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life—are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush.”
Robert Moss, Dreamgates
Today is World Storytelling Day, which started in Sweden in 2003, and is a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling. It is celebrated every year on the Spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the first day of Autumn equinox in the southern. On World Storytelling Day, as many people as possible tell and listen to stories in as many languages and at as many places as possible, during the same day and night.
Each year, many of the individual storytelling events that take place around the globe are linked by a common theme. The 2008 theme is Dream.
We are always delighted to hear of great business stories, so today’s the day for sharing them!
Nice article in Personnel Today about Storytelling as a tool to create emotional buy-in for training and development departments. Well, we’re not exactly a ‘training company’, but they’re right in explaining why this approach is so powerful. This topic is becoming ever-more prevalent in business circles, and for good reason…
Communications consultancy CHA has recently published a report which highlights some fairly worrying news about the disengagement of employees and why they don’t seem to find their work worthwhile or meaningful.
“We don’t do average.
Average is middle of the road,
and middle of the road is
where you get run over.”
Another great one from the
eminent clothing brand Howies.
Its products? Its market share? Its all singing, all dancing logo? Well, they do have something to do with it but it’s the people that decide whether a company succeeds or fails. So, should we be looking closer to home for better results?
Ernest Hemingway once claimed that his best story was written in six words: ‘For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.’ Perhaps this takes clarity and simplicity to the extreme, but what a way to spark the imagination! The Guardian challenged some contemporary authors to put forward their own six-word stories, which are worth a read.
Our own work focuses on making an organisation’s strategic story clear, simple and memorable. Imagine writing a strategic story in six words – anyone up for having a go?!!! I’d love to see what’s out there!
My attention was recently drawn to a particular blog from the MD of Waitrose. Apart from being most entertaining, it was a great example of leadership role-modelling, not to mention an excellent tool to bring the MD closer to his employees and customers as well as providing a great platform for health and nutrition for both customers and employees alike.
What makes a good leader? And more importantly, why? Here are seven ‘top tips’ for leaders who want to inspire their people, courtesy of The Practice of Leadership…
It’s a sad farewell to Sir John Harvey-Jones who died this week aged 83. Probably one of our best known captains of industry, Sir John was a great storyteller as his 1990’s TV programmes on failing businesses will testify.
John Gapper’s excellent article in the Financial Times talks of the lessons that Barack Obama can teach business leaders.
Among these is is that storytelling is crucial to business. “Many CEOs stand or fall by their ability to frame a story” says Gapper, “not only for investors or analysts about how they are turning a business around but for employees to engage them in making it happen”.