Blog: Punk rock HR – Top 10 HR tips from music
Discover 10 punk rock-inspired HR tips covering relationships, motivation, innovation, and strategy. Learn unconventional business lessons from iconic music artists to transform your leadership approach and workplace culture.
News: Seeking part-time zombies
Wish.co.uk is hiring part-time zombies for its Zombie Manor House experience in Warrington, requiring candidates skilled in groaning, shuffling, and scaring people. Auditions take place June 28 at Pineapple Studios in London, offering flexible hours and competitive pay for “bright, responsible, rotting individuals.”
Talent Spot: Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam
Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam, shares his unconventional path from aspiring lawyer to HR professional. After initially rejecting his father’s career in industrial relations, Doolin discovered his passion through a university lecturer and has spent 34 years building expertise across Ford, the RAC, investment banking, and logistics.
Performance psychology in action
Performance psychology combines business, sports, and positive psychology to help employees and teams reach peak performance. Organizations like Google, Microsoft, and IBM use these mental skills training techniques to improve motivation, stress management, and self-confidence in high-pressure environments.
Blog: Lessons from The Pitch: 9 steps to building a top notch team
Watch advertising agencies compete under pressure in AMC’s The Pitch to learn nine essential steps for building effective teams. The show reveals how successful team management requires diverse personalities, clear leadership, and strong communication to solve problems and achieve results.
Blog: Steve Jobs and valuing the ‘B’ players
Steve Jobs’ demanding leadership style motivated top performers but alienated B players, who constitute the majority of organizational capacity. While A players are crucial, B players are essential for grinding out the work that enables stars to succeed, making their engagement and support vital for long-term success.
Talent Spot: Lisa Sarjeant, HR director at the CIPD
Lisa Sarjeant is HR director at the CIPD, Europe’s largest chartered professional HR body, where she sits on the executive team and shapes organizational strategy. She has been with the organization since 1990, witnessing its evolution through mergers and gaining its royal charter in 2000, while her own role has expanded to include oversight of facilities and HR.
Blog: Would you win top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show?
Cleve West won best in show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the second year running with his garden celebrating Brewin Dolphin’s 250th anniversary. His success resulted from passion, teamwork, meticulous design, attention to detail, and exceptional plant care—offering lessons in leadership and project management.
Blog: 10 recommendations for boosting employee engagement
Discover 10 practical recommendations for boosting employee engagement in your organization. This guide clarifies what employee engagement really is—a daily commitment and cultural mindset, not just a survey or HR initiative—and provides actionable strategies for sustainable improvement.
Blog: What impact does office politics have on people’s work lives?
Office politics directly affects 95% of workers, with significant business consequences including 70% leaving jobs due to workplace manipulation, increased absenteeism averaging 4.5 days annually, and measurable team underperformance—yet most cases go unreported due to managerial cover-ups.
TV Review: The Apprentice Week 5 – The value in being a team player
Week 5 of The Apprentice saw two teams design fitness programmes, revealing crucial lessons about teamwork. While Sterling’s “Groove Train” benefited from collaborative input, Phoenix’s “Beat Battle” suffered when PM Duane dominated decisions, sidelining teammates Laura and Nick. The episode underscores why being a team player—listening, empowering others, and building trust—matters more than individual confidence alone.
Blog: Boris and Ken – Lessons in leadership
The London mayoral race between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone reveals a critical leadership failure: both candidates prioritize personal ego and political attacks over serving the public good. Outstanding leadership requires focusing on developing others and team performance, not individual achievement and rivalry.
Blog: How well would you do if ranked by former employees?
A Glassdoor survey showed Tim Cook has a 97% CEO approval rating, but the real question is how leaders would be rated by their own former employees. The gap between how managers view themselves and how their staff actually perceives them can be as wide as the Grand Canyon.
Olympian Insight: Steve Backley and Roger Black on what HR can learn from sport
Olympic athletes Steve Backley and Roger Black share key leadership and team-building lessons for HR professionals, emphasizing clarity of vision, accountability, and alignment across teams—insights applicable to modern workplace challenges.
Blog: The Goldman Sachs resignation – Three lessons on corporate culture
Greg Smith’s Goldman Sachs resignation letter sparked important lessons about corporate culture: leaders must proactively manage culture rather than let it drift, translate stated values into actual hiring and promotion decisions, and build resilient cultures that can withstand individual employee actions while adapting to employee needs.
Living Leader Learnings – How do I stop a valuable employee from dominating meetings?
A dominant high-performer can undermine team dynamics and create meeting challenges. Instead of managing behavior during meetings, invest in one-to-one conversations with quieter team members and reframe the top performer’s role as supporting colleagues’ success.
Seven secrets to managing change effectively
Successful organizational change requires clear vision, visible leadership alignment, employee engagement, and honest communication. These seven principles help manage transitions smoothly and transform potential fear into positive organizational outcomes when properly implemented.
Blog: Harnessing employee emotional intelligence to boost productivity
Employee emotional intelligence significantly impacts workplace productivity and team performance. A JCA study of 12,400 workers found emotional intelligence has declined since the financial crisis, making it essential for employers to assess and develop this skill through psychometric tools, business simulations, and 360° feedback.
Christian worker sues after alleged bullying by Muslim colleagues
A Christian airport worker at Heathrow Terminal 3 is suing for unfair dismissal after claiming she faced religious bullying and harassment by Muslim colleagues. Employed for 13 years as a perfume saleswoman on a freelance basis, she was dismissed in July following complaints she says were unsubstantiated. The case, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, raises questions about religious discrimination and worker protections for self-employed staff.
Blog: How to turn volunteering into team-building
Employer-sponsored volunteer programs create authentic team-building experiences while supporting communities. By participating in meaningful service work together, employees bond naturally, gain new perspectives on coworkers, and strengthen organizational culture in ways traditional team-building events cannot achieve.
