“Soft skills” – just that name makes you think of pink and fluffy, everybody being happy clappy and nothing getting done! Reality couldn’t be further from that image. It takes high strength of character to talk to people and explain your decision that worked out badly, to apologise, to ask for the extra effort that the organisation needs. It is much easier to hide behind hierarchical status and fudge the issues. Unfortunately, performance is the casualty, along with the people’s mental health! Enjoy the video.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Employee engagement
Cybersecurity
Do you ensure your computer systems are protected? Do you spend money on firewalls and expertise to keep the data you store safe? This is a necessary expense these days, necessary but not sufficient. Watch the video.
Continue readingLack of Investment
Are you struggling to get investment in your business? Do Lenders not think the Risk/Reward ratio is satisfactory? Then do the other thing! Watch the video.
Continue readingThe Two Types of Change
We all know that change is hard to do. The best laid plans often crumble in the face of a lack of willingness, both overt and covert. How do we make change more likely to succeed?
Continue readingManaging Individuals
Do you manage Individuals or do you manage a cohort of Human Resources or Units of Labour? The problem with human beings is that they have feelings and a brain. They sense when they are cared about and when they are not. If you don’t manage your organization with your people in mind, they won’t work with your organization’s needs in mind either. The odds are that you haven’t experienced a team working, with their brains and good-will, releasing voluntary effort. If you had, you wouldn’t need to watch this video!
Continue readingAccountants and Pornography
You’ve heard the phrase ‘steeped in culture’? Maybe that resonates with a concept of an intellectual approach to life for you, the arts, literature and performance. But we are all steeped in our own culture. The culture of our peers, our workmates, our family. That culture directs your attention, develops your interests or censors them. What do you think of this story? What has their culture blinded them to?
Continue readingDull, menial jobs? NO! Just dull, menial managers!
How many times have you heard that you can’t expect people doing dull, menial jobs to be engaged in their work? I suppose it’s just as well that there are people stupid enough, that we don’t care about, to do them? Total twaddle. The people that say this have no idea what they are talking about, and I find it insulting! Enjoy the video!
Continue readingThe Definition of Engaged Employees
Are you interested in the employee engagement phenomenon? Do you believe employee engagement can lift your organisation’s performance substantially? To start down this path you need to have a working definition of engaged employees.
Continue readingThe Employee Experience
What do I mean by Employee Experience? Why is it important? Did you know that half your new recruits start looking for their next job within a month of starting with you? Their experience of working for you is critical, as is their induction process. How do you get it right? Enjoy the video.
Continue readingHow to improve Employee Engagement
You can’t have missed the chatter about employee engagement. It has become THE thing to have in the last decade, so you might be wondering what are the drivers of employee engagement? My interest in this started in 1978, when we called it espirit de corps, involvement and stickability. In that time I have done a lot of research, both academic and in the real world with the people I managed. I learnt a lot of things that should work, but don’t and some things that work that are counter-intuitive. The only thing more complicated than a human being is more than one human being! People believe that employee engagement makes a 10% difference at best. That’s because they have had poor advice. Employee engagement, done properly, will double your performance, double your profit. Enjoy the video and please share it!
Continue reading