Insight test – how much do you know about insightful working?
GARY KLEIN, PhD, is a research psychologist famous for his part in founding the field of naturalistic decision making, and is a Senior Scientist at MacroCognition LLC. He was one of the leaders of a team that redesigned the White House Situation Room. He is the author of Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We […]
Is diversity now being fully embraced by organisations?
In today’s marketplace organisations must embrace new thinking, action and innovation. To achieve this, diversity must be key to driving operational strategy. Diversity is the key to variety, whether in new markets, overhauling work processes or new products and innovations. It has progressed as a part of companies approach to strategy, yet arguably it has […]
When can I discuss things ‘without prejudice?’
Employers often want to chat with employees “off the record” so that they try and negotiate an agreed departure by persuading an employee to leave both quickly and amicably, and therefore save the need to carry out the full dismissal procedure. Often such chats are seen as a less formal route and if a deal […]
Take regular walks at work – but don’t relax
Who is Dan Pallotta? Dan rose to prominence after an highly-viewed TED talk criticising the fact that charity donors pile pressure on charities to give 100% of their donation to the cause, which prevents them building essential infrastructure to be more effective. Harvard Business Review is carrying an interesting story from Dan Pallotta. Dan advocates […]
Compassionate management: the softer side of leadership
Corporate dinosaurs beware – a fresh, new management style is on the rise and taking hold among today’s most enlightened business leaders. Across the globe, advocates from LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner to Ford executive chairman, Bill Ford, are recognising the impact of compassion in improving the way they relate to and engage with their employees. […]
Top 10 leadership articles from February
21st century leadership is a tough nut to crack, and a whole different ballgame for many leaders who have built-up notions of success based on the latter half of the 20th century. Science and psychology are bringing new insight to bear and it's essential we get rid of pre-conceived notions about what makes a leader […]
There are three types of burnout. Which one affects you?
New research suggests there are three different types of burnout, each of which is related to a specific detrimental coping strategy. Overload burnout – the ‘always-on’ employee who never gives up and works toward success until they become exhausted. The coping strategy is emotional venting. These people will complain about organisational hierarchy, inefficient processes etc […]
Five tips for effective fleet management
Fleet management is a growing business: Berg Insight suggest that the number of fleets deployed in Europe will grow from 1.5m units in 2009 to 4m in 2014. Due to the scale of fleets, marginal gains can often result in significant cost savings for businesses. And the latest developments in the industry, such as cloud-based […]
Firing people – it’s never personal
Firing people is part of doing business and dismissals happen a lot more than resignations. It's time we dropped the euphemisms. There are lots of phrases in business that describe the same thing. In my world, they’re called ‘letting people go’, doing ‘managed exits’ or ‘releasing people’. But is the reason there are so many […]
Breaking through the leadership development fog
Although current economic news is finally sounding a more positive note, the challenges of the past five years have provided a stern test of leadership for many businesses which continues today; this week the CIPD suggested that wage rises would remain below the rate of inflation unless and until productivity improves. A 2012 review by […]
Leadership vision for the future – faith, hypertext and clarity
Last year, there was a fire in the warehouse right next door to TelecityGroup’s Paris operation. This was a massive conflagration – I’ve still got some footage of it on my phone – which threatened to close down all the businesses in the vicinity. The firefighters who arrived on the scene advised our staff to […]
Interview: ex-Direct Line HRD Mark Martin on HR tech and the future of HR
Mark Martin's most recent role was as Group HR Director for Direct Line Insurance Group PLC. Prior to that he was HR Director at RBS Insurance, HR Director at T-Systems UK and HR and Board Director at T-Mobile. During his time at RBS he was responsible for the implementation of seven HR technology systems, including […]
Embracing employee engagement in 2014
Employee engagement may have been the new ‘buzz word’ from America just a few years ago but now businesses large and small are buying into it in some shape or form. However, in many companies it still seems to be a side project or a matter on the agenda, rather than an intrinsic part of […]
Do we still need managers?
We will always need managers – but we can become much smarter about defining what they do. The case of Zappos In November 2013, Zappos, the online retailer launched a bold management experiment. Its CEO, Tony Hsieh, announced that the reporting hierarchy and job titles would be abolished, and replaced with a self-organizing model called […]
Leadership – too much, too soon?
As we get into the swing of 2014, it’s a different business landscape than that of the start of 2013. The news agenda is a lot more upbeat, with positive statistics around economic growth, decreasing rates of unemployment, and UK businesses successfully leading the way with entering into new markets. Recruiting leaders – tough nut […]
Finding your “Why” – the crucial starting point of employee engagement
No leadership team will commit time and money to a plan to increase employee engagement unless they believe it will improve performance. So the first question any HR professional should ask themselves before committing to an employee engagement survey is, “What are we looking to achieve?” This simple but thought provoking question sets the context […]
Protected beliefs and the case of the democratic socialist in the DWP
The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) prohibits direct and indirect discrimination and harassment in the workplace on the grounds of religious or philosophical belief. Prior to the Act coming into force, the Government made it clear that the Act was not intended to cover political beliefs. However, a recent Employment Tribunal decision has cast doubt […]
HR thought diversity – different people, different approaches
We conducted a study on the thought diversity of 2,195 HR professionals. Thought diversity refers to the different ways a person can approach an issue. The perspective they use to approach the issue determines how they understand that issue and the possible range of their response to the issue. For example, a person focusing on […]
Ethical leadership – do things right, do the right thing
Andrew's insight in this article is based on three years spent with the Royal Navy, examining their attitudes and. From this experience he wrote a book, Royal Navy Way of Leadership. Work is all about execution. It’s about getting things done, meeting the deadline, collecting the money, changing the organization. The discipline is there every month […]
Emotional Quotient – the key to balanced leadership
The recession may finally be on the way out, according to recent quarter-on-quarter figures from the Office of National Statistics. What does the future hold for business, in this new economic phase and how can HR professionals recognise, nurture and develop business leaders? There’s no doubting that we are in need of strong business leaders […]
