News: Police forces consider canning G4S shared services deal
Three UK police forces are reportedly evaluating whether to drop joint plans to outsource 1,100 back office jobs to G4S following its Olympic security staffing debacle. According to the Guardian, the chief constables of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire police met yesterday and agreed to rethink the move. It was stated only last month that […]
News: Olympics troops sleep on chairs, while civilians get luxury cruise liner
While thousands of civilian workers will be housed in luxury cruise liners during the Olympics, military personnel drafted in following the G4S staffing debacle are sleeping on chairs and camp beds in makeshift accommodation. Photographs of Royal Navy troops from HMS Northumberland, which were published on Twitter by ‘CombatCameraman’ and have since gone viral, show […]
Talent Spot: Eivind Slaaen, Hilti’s head of people and culture development
For Eivind Slaaen, head of people and culture development at Hilti, creating the right company environment is imperative. But the irony is that, although developing culture is at heart of what his department does, such activity is considered a line management issue rather than an HR one. “I have HR colleagues who struggle with […]
Book Review: Management in 10 words by Terry Leahy
This book by the recently retired chief executive of Tesco is worth reviewing simply because he is among the most successful leaders of his generation. As Terry Leahy tells us early on, Tesco was struggling to compete with more successful retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s when he joined the company’s board. […]
Is it time to get out of HR?
The route to the top in HR is fairly standard – you work your way up from HR adviser, spend some time in an HR specialism like comp and bens, acquire line management experience and impress the big bosses while doing it all. The shortage of HR representation at board level is well documented. But […]
CEO Insight: Stinkyink’s John Sollars on staff motivation and development
Across the office and warehouse, I have a team of about 16 people. And I think the thing that I am most proud of is the way that I have been able to help them develop and ‘improve’. Small businesses can find it hard to set concrete goals for employees’ performance because they need to […]
The art of influencing and making your ideas stick
1. Steve Martin on influence & communication Steve Martin is fascinated by the science of decision making and the power of influence. He explains: “I’m not interested in what people tell me they want to do; I’m interested in how they act.” He also states that information alone as an attempt to influence clients, […]
Blog: Exclusive HRzone survey – What’s your leadership style?
Successful, high performing organisations don’t just happen. They are created and sustained by leaders and managers who build cultures that enable the talent, energy and skills of their workforce to thrive. From my experience working with some of the best global leaders, I know there are five clear roles that managers and leaders need […]
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, […]
Talent Spot: Stephen Kelly, chief people officer at Logica
In the opinion of Stephen Kelly, chief people officer at Logica, HR has a huge influence on whether a business is successful or not, which makes it a great field to be involved in. “People build brands and brands build people,” he asserts. And Kelly has been lucky enough to put his stamp on some […]
In a Nutshell: Five tips to motivate yourself and others
For Gill Crowther, HR director at the registry for all .uk internet domain names, Nominet, a key part of the job is trying to ensure that people love coming to work. The way to do this, she believes, is to give them roles that play to their strengths, but are also challenging. But her […]
How to get a seat on the board
The diversity of the workforce should be reflected at the most senior level. It’s true that almost all businesses need an ultimate decision maker, but the reason most companies are run by boards is that people able to look at problems from different angles tend to come to better decisions than any individual could. […]
Blog: The importance of seeing the why in what we do
As a school girl, I was pretty horrendous at meeting deadlines for handing in homework. At the time I didn’t realise the more I was rebuked and reminded I was going to ruin my future, the more resistant I was to doing the work at all. Luckily I scraped by. Progressing to the world of […]
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 […]
News: Whitehall shared service centres fail to deliver expected savings
Shared service centres have failed to deliver expected savings for Whitehall and, in some instances, have cost taxpayers more than they saved, a report has revealed. A study published by the Public Accounts Committee found that, of the five central government departments which signed up to the programme in a bid to cut costs by […]
Blog: Leadership/management lessons from the Diamond debacle
We know that former head of Barclays bank, Bob Diamond, was leading the financial institution during the period in which the well-documented Libor rates or interest rates for inter-bank borrowing, were being manipulated. It has now come to light that Diamond had absolutely no idea it was going on. Surely, if he was at the […]
Barclays and the value of succession planning
The Libor rate-rigging scandal has resulted in the men at the top of Barclays, chairman, Marcus Agius, and chief executive, Bob Diamond, falling on their respective swords. But inevitably any changes to the senior management team have a direct impact on the business, potentially leaving it feeling rudderless and having a negative effect on staff […]
News: Coaching industry under threat from cowboys
The key challenge facing the coaching industry is the number of untrained individuals who describe themselves as practitioners, which is generating confusion in the marketplace. The sector has now become a nearly $2 billion industry, with around 47,500 professionals practising their craft on a global basis. These are the key findings of a survey commissioned […]
In a Nutshell: Five tips for being an effective manager
As chief executive of the Institute of Leadership & Management, Charles Elvin is responsible for setting the UK’s largest management body’s agenda and striving to improve skills through a focus on qualifications. But he is also a fan of the management style of former Tesco chief executive, Terry Leahy. When asked how that style […]
Talent Spot: Gill Crowther, HR director at Nominet
By the time Gill Crowther, director of HR at Nominet, had finished university, she already knew that she wanted to work in HR. She had studied engineering, but the fact that she seemed to be very good at getting people to help her with her studies gave her a “moment of revelation” that management […]
