TV Review: The Apprentice Week 3 – Stick to your guns
Lord Sugar took us back to his (Levi) roots last night, to weave his sauce-ery at St Catherine’s docks and introduce the candidates to this week’s task: to create a new condiment – manufacture it, bottle it, brand it, sell it. Sounds simple enough. Not for this lot who managed to get themselves into a […]
Case Study: JT bases leadership development scheme on ideal boss profile
JT (formerly known as Jersey Telecom) has introduced a leadership development initiative centred on an aspirational profile of a senior manager in a bid to encourage proactive organisational change. The company undertook a rebranding exercise last year as part of a new five-year growth strategy intended to take it beyond its civil service background, beyond […]
Blog: How one company coped with tragic loss
Recognise This! – Your values and your culture can sustain you through horrific loss. What would you do if you were tapped to be the CEO of an organisation that had just lost every single member of the top two tiers of leadership in a plane crash? Culture can carry your organisation through great […]
Seven ways for HRDs to boost their influence at the top table
The easiest way for HR directors to make a big impact at the top table is to have big responsibilities – ideally, bigger than most of the people you work alongside. This means taking on the type of role that grabs the limelight and, to a large extent, the organisation relies upon. Functions such […]
Five characteristics of an effective leader in times of crisis
The Bradford Bulls rugby league club is an organisation in crisis. Mounting financial pressure has painted its leadership into a corner, forcing it to make a desperate request to loyal supporters to put their hands into their pockets and dig deep to help fill a £1 million black hole. And the pressure is on because, […]
Blog: Using transparency as a tool to rebuild employee trust
"I am sorry, but we have already identified someone for that role.” The next question was, “how could that be, the job was just posted on the Internet?” What my friend had just found out is a little dirty secret in some organizations. Sometimes when jobs are posted, and even when they are not, […]
Blog: Are you an inspirational leader?
Inspiration is the best way to engage people! Or does it make you squirm? You may be an HR Professional, leader or manager relying on HR to help move your business forward. When discussing strategy with people of different roles at many levels, I have often been met with a perplexed look when I have […]
Blog: Three tips for changing company culture
Recognise This! – Proactive culture change and management is strategy. Company culture is much in the news these days, a development I am very excited to see as it shows more and more buy-in to the importance of culture as something that can be created and, yes, proactively managed. A round-up of articles that […]
Olympian Insight: Steve Backley and Roger Black on what HR can learn from sport
Ahead of former Olympic medal winner (javelin throwing) Steve Backley’s keynote speech at learning and development conference TrainingZone Live on 15 May, we caught up with him and his business partner, fellow Olympian (400 meters sprint) Roger Black, to talk training, leadership and the upcoming Games. 1. What are the main leadership lessons that businesses can […]
Public sector jobs cull to lead to “tectonic shift” in UK labour market
More than one in seven public sector jobs will be lost as a result of coalition government budget cuts, leading to "a tectonic shift" in the nature of the UK labour market, according to the CIPD. The organisation cited the Office for Budget Responsibility‘s latest employment projections, which indicate that the public sector workforce is […]
Best Practice: Five pointers to ensure flexible working works
A flexible working project at Wakefield Council has slashed costs and significantly boosted staff productivity since the first phase was introduced two years ago. The Council’s ‘Worksmart’ transformation programme is based on a property rationalisation initiative, introducing citizen-focused service guidelines and enabling all 2,500 employees to work more flexibly. Rationalising office space has saved […]
Employee wellness programmes: Proving their worth and paying their way
It’s a known fact that happy and engaged employees are more likely to be productive and loyal. Valuable assets to their employer, they can also help to generate a positive environment for their colleagues, time and resource savings for the HR team and positive financial savings for their employer. Several strategies exist to try […]
Blog: Five ways to get demotivated staff committed to their employer’s future
Effective leaders and managers need to have enthusiastic followers. Since people are the organisation’s key source of competitive advantage, you need every single employee to be fully committed to taking the company forward and doing everything they can to make it a success in the future. Unfortunately, the recession forced many companies to alter […]
How to build a positive corporate culture
Every organisation has a culture, which is based on who its people are, what they say and how they act. But wise companies recognise the potential and power that fostering the right culture can generate. Strong, positive cultures are the basis of successful organisations because they tap into workers’ collective energy and define common […]
Living Leader Learnings – How do I stop a valuable employee from dominating meetings?
The challenge A divisional team leader for marketing at an FMCG manufacturer says: “I head up the Divisional Marketing team of 12, and whilst they all have different strengths one is particularly dominant. For example, during meetings I feel this individual dominates to the point that others cannot get their point across. However, when […]
Best Practice: Four tips to help HR become more business savvy
If HR professionals want to gain in credibility, they must evolve from simply being deep subject matter experts to becoming business leaders with a people specialism, the CIPD has warned. Although three out of five HR practitioners questioned for the organisation’s latest report agreed that the profession needed to increase its understanding of business issues, […]
Blog: What makes you happy in your work?
We All Want Happiness! Today the sun is shining and the hope of a beautiful spring and lovely summer are in the air. Most of us know the feeling of happiness and wellbeing that comes with a lovely sunny day. The day made me think about happy days at work, and the happy […]
EU Parliament votes in favour of binding female boardroom quotas
The EU Parliament voted in favour of introducing binding quotas for women at the top table at the same time as a report revealed that UK progress on appointing females to executive board-level positions had been slow. The vote by the EU Parliament followed a consultation that was launched last week by EU Justice Commissioner, […]
Diplomat and influencer: The emerging ‘head of talent’ role
A perfect storm is brewing in the talent management arena due to the cumulative impact of demographics and global mobility challenges. The problem is that, despite record levels of unemployment and ongoing economic difficulties, there is still a shortage of leaders, and specifically, people with the skills required to help large companies meet the demands […]
Blog: Do we encourage a dependency culture at work?
At just aged six, my son is already learning to be independent. He washes and dresses himself he can run his own bath get his own drinks, breakfast and little things like that. At the weekend I took in him for his swimming lesson, and afterwards I told him to have a shower which […]
