Blog: The 10 most effective ways to lose your team’s respect
Sometimes the best way to eliminate bad habits in leadership is to see them parodied. So in that spirit, here are the ten quickest ways to ensure your team are demotivated and your leadership is always in question: 1. Always over react, rather than not react So something has gone wrong and you’re not […]
How to administer pay cuts in times of austerity
Last week, Reuters reported that the Spanish royal family, surrounded by high unemployment and scenes of public workers striking, had offered to take a pay cut. The move is intended to reduce the €8.3 million annual cost to Spanish taxpayers of keeping them by some €100,000. Leading the way is the Spanish King, Juan […]
Christina’s Counsel: Managing attitude problems remotely
The challenge An HR client recently asked me for advice about how to tackle a situation that may become more commonplace as managing staff remotely increasingly becomes the norm. A manager raised concerns about a team member who worked some 75 miles away in a satellite office. Until recently, the office had been manned […]
Blog: The power of story-telling
“Once upon a time …” You say those words to any child and they visually go into a trance. These were the words that were always used to tell a story. When my children were small, my wife would give them their bath and I was the story teller. I would come into the […]
Talent Spot: Philippe Ferrie, head of HR at Vallourec
When a global company has a decentralised culture, it can be hard to persuade people to accept standardisation that is handed down from head office, even if it makes their work lives easier. This was the situation that Philippe Ferrie, worldwide employee relations coordinator at Vallourec, found himself in when the company chose to implement […]
Talking Point: Is it better to outsource training or offer it in-house?
Although employee performance may have improved over the last two years, individuals are still not working to their full potential, a recent poll of HR directors revealed. With the economic climate as it is, however, it is clear that employers must ensure that they get the most out of the talent they already have. […]
How to tackle your first 100 days as HR director – Part 1
We live in a rapidly changing world in which the political and economic outlook for the next 12 months is very unclear. In this unstable commercial environment, uncertainty about the future feeds a growing sense of urgency in the here and now. As a result, judgments are made much more quickly. This means that […]
News: Shop floor workers make better leaders than general managers
Bosses who have experience of working on the shop floor make better leaders than career general managers, research has found. A study conducted by London’s Cass Business School and the University of Sheffield, in which academics analysed every Formula One race – almost 18,000 – that had been staged over the last 60 years, […]
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. […]