Legal Insight: How do you control social media usage in a BYOD world?
Media reports and a growing number of employment tribunal cases have revealed just how naive but also cruel and sometimes defamatory people can be when it comes to communicating online. But if social networking does get out of hand, it can generate potential problems and liabilities for employers. Social media buffs can use the […]
Living Leader Learnings: How do I get my team to take me seriously?
The challenge The manager of a production team at an animal feed manufacturer asks: “Six months ago, I was promoted to a management position within my team, replacing the manager who was also promoted to the level above. Soon after I took up my new position, I noticed that team members were still going […]
Blog: What are your staff non-verbals really saying to customers?
What do your employees unwittingly communicate to customers about how important they are to the company? Despite the focus on customer service, customer experience and more recently customer engagement, the following examples of employee behaviours are still common – and of course impact how customers feel about the company: 1. It’s Too Much Trouble I was […]
In a Nutshell: Four tips for creating a positive company culture
Hilti, a major supplier of fastening and demolition systems to the construction industry, takes the idea of company culture very seriously and devotes 10 million Swiss francs and 30,000 working days per year to building and nurturing it. But Eivind Slaaen, the firm’s head of people and culture development, believes that, when you get down […]
Academic Insight: Charles Handy on leadership, work and well-being
Charles Handy, an author and philosopher who specialises in organisational behaviour and management, is described as a storyteller. Over the years, he has written a number of books that contain rich tales and showcase his ideas on the meaning of life, business and purpose. Here, he opens up the floodgates and asks each of […]
Living Leader Learnings: How can I stop older colleagues putting me down?
The challenge A team manager at a law firm asks: “I am a manager in a family-run firm of lawyers. I joined the company a year ago and my first impression was that everyone was really nice. However, since then, I’ve noticed that lots of comments are made about my age and perceived lack […]
How to cope with Friday the 13th (and other superstitions)
Fear of the number 13 is so common that there’s actually a word for it: Triskaidekaphobia. Many employers are affected by peoples’ fear of this number and have had to change their practices to accommodate it. For example, buildings often avoid naming a 13th floor, while airlines report that every time a Friday 13th […]
Blog: Is an anti-bullying policy enough?
Recognise This! – Bullying is a cultural issue that cannot be addressed through a policy in the employee handbook. Have you ever been bullied at work? To some, this is a sensitive question to ask. Some don’t want to acknowledge having been bullied out of fear it will make them seem weak. Others, perhaps, […]
News: National Grid boss publicly accused of sexual harrassment
The boss of National Grid was yesterday publicly accused of ruining the fledgling career of a female employee because of a failure to satisfy his “sexual demands”. The allegation was made by an audience member at Marks & Spencer’s annual shareholders meeting, of which the Grid’s chief executive, Steven Holliday, has been a non-executive director […]
Talking Point: What’s happened to business ethics?
It seems that every time you open a newspaper at the moment, there’s a new business scandal. The fall-out from Barclays Libor-rigging fine continues to be an ongoing story. The scandal has already claimed the scalps of the bank’s chairman and chief executive – and who knows how many more may follow? Barclay’s leadership […]
Blog: Why is it still a novelty when women get a seat on the board?
“Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Long-Time COO, Becomes First Woman On Its Board Of Directors.” That was the breathless announcement coming from CNBC this week. thi As my daughter always says, “Really”? Here we are in 2012 and to make mention of the fact that she will be the only WOMAN to me just sounds so dated. […]
Heathrow: Ensuring staff actions line up with corporate values
I think it was Napoleon who said that Britain was a nation of shopkeepers. It’s certainly true that we know a thing or two about queuing – it’s pretty much a national past time. So it seems strange that we could get it so wrong at Heathrow Airport. It’s not as if it’s something […]
Talking Point: How professionalised is the HR profession?
As the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development prepares to mark its centenary next year, the event raises an inevitable question: how has the HR profession changed over the last 100 years and where is it at in professionalisation terms today? Compared to some of the newer professions such as information technology or facilities management, […]
Blog: Lessons from JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon – Admit your mistakes
“We know we were sloppy. We know we were stupid. We know there was bad judgment. We don’t know if any of that is true yet. “Of course regulators should look at something like this, that’s their jobs. So we are totally open to regulators and they will come to their own conclusions. But we intend […]
News: Work days lost to sickness fall again as presenteeism rises
Only days after the Foreign Secretary told Britons that they should work harder, official figures revealed that more employees were going to work when sick due to growing concerns over job security. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, William Hague warned the coalition government’s business critics that there was “only one growth strategy: work […]
Green Office Week: How to promote workplace change
This week sees the start of the fourth ‘Green Office Week’, which is intended to encourage workers across the country to implement simple, practical, step-by-step changes in order to help make their workplaces more environmentally-friendly. Our aim in launching the event was to champion a ‘bottom-up’ approach to encouraging behavioural change by using it as […]
Talking Point: Taming management beasts
Horrible bosses may be driven by ego and a desire for self-promotion. But in my experience, 99% are striving to do their best under enormous pressure to produce results. They genuinely care about staff and take their people management responsibilities seriously. Unfortunately, the pressure that they are under can generate situations where it is […]
Blog: Company culture according to GE’s Jack Welch
Recognise This! — Jack Welch puts company culture ahead of results. Do you? When you hear the name “Jack Welch,” what do you think of first? “Neutron Jack,” famous for an (often misunderstood) employee differentiation method that resulted in the bottom 10% of performers being let go annually? A powerhouse industry captain who helmed […]
Blog: Boris and Ken – Lessons in leadership
There is something worrying about the struggle for mayoral rights in London, between past and present: Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. Perhaps journalist Rachel Sylvester packaged up the problem in the neatest way when she wrote: "It’s not supposed to be about you, Boris and Ken." But, at the moment it is. It appears that […]
Footballing lessons: Is anyone bigger than the company they work for?
Debate-worthy issues between bosses and their employees don’t often turn up in the world of sport, but just recently there have been some fascinating headlines about the behaviour of football players and how the people they work for have dealt with it. For example, there was the case of John Terry, who was stripped of […]
