How to transfer accountability when giving autonomy: Part 2
Learn how to transfer accountability alongside autonomy with five practical strategies. This part-two guide explores why “do” and “tell” leadership approaches undermine responsibility, and how to empower staff to feel genuinely accountable for their work.
Onboarding senior leadership – making the right first impression to ensure success
Effective onboarding for senior leaders and board members is critical to organizational success. Poor onboarding processes risk compromising corporate governance, business culture, and reputation. Implementing a structured onboarding program helps new executives understand company values and their strategic role.
Do you see onboarding as a two-way street?
Effective onboarding should be a two-way dialogue rather than a one-way training process. Beyond teaching tasks and processes, organizations must invite new employees to contribute their perspectives on cultural fit and engagement, creating a foundation for mutual growth and enhanced business outcomes.
Do recent legal decisions mean employers can discriminate on the basis of religious discrimination?
Recent CJEU decisions in Achbita and Bougnaoui establish nuanced rules on religious dress at work. While neutral dress codes may be permitted, discrimination based on customer preferences is prohibited. The cases show employers must balance legitimate business needs against employees’ religious freedoms within EU law.
What the heck is wrong with meetings? [PART 2]
Employees waste about a day per week in unnecessary meetings. Blaire Palmer explores why standard meeting formats fail and offers alternatives, starting with defining clear objectives and understanding attendee needs rather than simply calling a meeting to exercise authority.
What the heck is wrong with meetings? [PART 1]
Workers spend roughly one-third of their week in meetings, with about half that time wasted—costing businesses significant salary and opportunity expenses. This first of two articles explores outdated meeting assumptions and reveals how meetings could become spaces where diverse perspectives create real value and drive organizational change.
Internal comms: lessons from the ad industry
Internal communications professionals can learn valuable lessons from the advertising industry to improve employee engagement. Research shows that effective internal comms correlate with 47% higher shareholder returns and save businesses thousands in wasted time clarifying messages. By adopting behavioral insights and emotional appeal techniques from consumer marketing, organizations can transform their internal communication from mediocre to impactful.
Three examples of organisational failure to give up the illusion of control
Organizations often maintain control illusions through silent conformity, but this illusion collapses when gaps between stated policies and actual operations are exposed. Three real cases reveal how managers sustain false assurance despite disconnect between narrative controls and workplace reality.
Are your employees seen but not heard?
Employee voice is becoming increasingly complex due to technology, new employment models, and workforce diversity, yet many organizations aren’t adapting their internal mechanisms to hear all employees. Beyond traditional channels like unions and staff forums, workers now use social media platforms to express concerns publicly, risking alienation when employers fail to listen. Forward-thinking organizations recognize that listening to diverse voices, from frontline workers to gig economy employees, drives innovation and reveals valuable business insights.
How to break down persistent silos and connect your organisation – does training help or hinder?
Research shows organizational silos persist because traditional talent development programs fail to create real impact—only 29% of HR leaders report employees act on training skills. Breaking down silos requires mapping organizational relationships, developing connecting skills like coaching, and rethinking how talent development programs are designed to foster collaboration.
“Use their language, not language from an HR text book.”
Hannah Thomson, newly appointed People Director at Travelodge, brings extensive HR experience from John Lewis, Avis, and Safestore. She prioritizes meeting the company’s 10,000 employees across 544 hotels to understand their challenges and develop career paths, positioning Travelodge as a great place to work.
It’s sales & marketing, not sales versus marketing – creating more collaborative teams’
Marketing and sales teams often clash over presentation development, with marketers spending hours perfecting brand messaging only to have sales teams heavily modify their work. Adopting conversational presenting techniques that encourage collaboration and audience engagement offers a solution to reduce wasted time and improve business outcomes.
5 viewpoints on anonymous employee feedback + 2 tools you can use
Employee feedback drives business results, but organizations debate whether anonymous feedback mechanisms are effective. Explore five contrasting viewpoints on anonymous feedback’s impact on workplace culture and trust, plus discover two tools to implement feedback systems in your organization.
“As a manager of flexible workers, it is important to put trust in your team.”
Managers of flexible workers must build trust in their teams and focus on results rather than presence. To overcome adoption fears, organizations should shift from presenteeism culture to outcome-based performance measures and provide employees with the right tools and flexibility options.
Mission impossible: how to ensure that no employee suggestion is left behind
Employee suggestion schemes fail when organizations lack faith in their ability to deliver change. Success requires a credible campaign with clear evaluation criteria, stakeholder involvement, and commitment to implementing ideas—not just collecting them.
Evidence-based agony aunt: starting difficult conversations
Learn how to start difficult conversations effectively using neuroscience and psychology. Expert advice reveals that managing your own mindset and emotional state—rather than announcing difficulty—prevents defensive reactions and creates better outcomes.
Evidence-based agony aunt: “I want to give more responsibility to people. How do I get them to step up?”
A neuroscience expert explains how trust triggers oxytocin production in the brain, making people more trustworthy and accountable. To delegate effectively, start by genuinely trusting your team members, even if you need to break tasks into smaller chunks initially.
It’s National Storytelling Week! But has corporate storytelling lost the plot?
Corporate storytelling often misses its potential by focusing only on grand business narratives. Personalized, local stories that reveal leaders’ authentic experiences and values drive real change and build trust far more effectively than polished corporate messaging.
Return to work interviews: making them work better
Return to Work Interviews (RTWIs) significantly reduce absence rates when consistently completed, but many organizations struggle with implementation due to managers lacking training and confidence in discussing sensitive health issues with staff.
8 winning tactics for creating gold medal teamwork
Learn eight proven tactics for building gold medal teamwork: establish trust through personal connections, share knowledge generously, maintain transparency, and align your team around a clear vision and purpose. These strategies—proven by Olympic success—strengthen both team performance and individual achievement in any organization.
