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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
21 Feb 2015 - 17:25

null Beware the Hippo

The most dangerous animal in Africa  is not the lion or rhino or even the bull elephant it is the hippo. This animal causes the  deaths of more people than all the others put together. The hippo is a very large animal, it is not carnivorous but it can quickly turn from mild mannered to aggressive, it submerges itself grazing on the river bed and surfaces without warning causing... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
12 Feb 2015 - 11:49

null You don't want to know the answer

Effective leaders ask good questions but too many people in charge don't ask questions. After all if you don't ask the question you can always deny knowledge. The Americans call this plausible deniability; we call it wilful blindness and selective deafness. "I didn't know some of my very senior managers were walking away with £million pay offs. I didn't ask the details of individual... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
12 Feb 2015 - 11:05

null An Organisation in denial

"They denied that there had been a problem, or if there had been that it was as big as was said. If there was a problem they certainly were not told. They were no worse than anyone else. They had won awards. The media were out to get them". They were more concerned with the reputation of the organisation than they were in discovering what was really going on. The leadership did not expect... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
05 Feb 2015 - 13:13

null The End Game

It takes a leader to transform a service(s) to build, to innovate to inspire but what happens when the task is to dismantle, to scale back, to down grade? Is it still leadership if you are dismantling the empire rather than building it? When the dynamic talk of creating a fitter, slimmer more efficient organisation is replaced by talk of no longer providing services, no longer employing... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
27 Jan 2015 - 11:11

null Should you tell the Boss

Should you tell the boss if you don't have enough work to do? May be the reorganisation has left you in a bit of a limbo, maybe your new boss doesn't know how best to use you or doesn't know much about what you and your team do. You could of course use this opportunity to spend more time with your team, take it in turn to shadow each of them for a day, move to weekly team meetings, offer more... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
26 Jan 2015 - 11:45

null The Tudors are trending

 First their was the prizewinning book Wolf Hall now there is a critically acclaimed BBC adaptation. The central character is Thomas Cromwell who is undergoing a modern day rehabilitation of his reputation. He is no longer the cold blooded,cynical manipulator behind the throne of  Henry V111  or rather he is but to modern audiences being a ruthless pragmatist is a recognised... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
26 Jan 2015 - 11:39

null My wife's driving is inceasingly alarming

"My wife's driving increasingly alarms me but attempts to discuss it with her meet with her hostility". These are not my words I hasten to add but those of a husband seeking advice from a problem page. "A trip with her at the wheel feels uncomfortable and erratic boarding on the reckless at times". "She shows scant regard for the speed limits is easily distracted and makes me very nervous".... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
16 Jan 2015 - 14:02

null Why not make a drama out of this crisis

The president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, David Pearson, spoke on various BBC news programmes last week, to discuss the crisis in the NHS. On the BBC’s Breakfast show last Thursday, the GP interviewed before Pearson had used the opportunity to get a simple message across that the government had failed to train and retain enough GPs. As a result, surgeries could... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Jan 2015 - 12:26

null An Unreliable Witness

If you listen to senior managers particularly in organisations where things have gone badly wrong it's not difficult to see why they might be unreliable witnesses.   I want to put the record straight. The politicians and the journalists have past judgment, my former colleagues have distanced themselves and even those I trusted most have spoken out against me.    ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Jan 2015 - 11:59

null Reasons to be fearful

There is never much sympathy for senior managers from the rank and file who view the higher ups as detached, over confident and over paid. If the general public have a view on the reduction of management posts in the public sector it is probably that there were too many in the first place and government ministers have picked up on popular disapproval of large redundancy payments for senior... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Jan 2015 - 11:29

null In difficult times what type of manager will make it to the top in 2015

These are difficult times for public sector managers some people think the business can do ok with a lot fewer of them. Managers must deliver savage budget reductions, cut services, make people redundant and keep the remaining staff motivated whilst their wages are frozen. When this has been achieved they will find themselves working for smaller and very different organisations and they will... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 Jan 2015 - 12:29

null Mouse Tap

The headline read Cold snap and mouse tap boost profits. I read and re read the article but could find no further reference to "mouse taps". Since the article was about finance was a " mouse tap" accountancy terminology, I googled it but all I got was did you mean mouse trap. Then it clicked the article was about increased on line sales boosting profits, more people using their... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
05 Jan 2015 - 12:51

null What's in a name

Lenny Henry was recently the guest editor on Radio 4 Today programme. He followed this up with an article in the Guardian describing the experience and continuing his campaign to address the under representation of black people in the creative industries. He doesn't use the expression  "black people" on one occasion he refers to a person of colour but throughout the article he talks of... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
31 Dec 2014 - 11:52

null 2015 What's the worst that could happen

At the start of a new year it's fun to speculate about what the future holds. More elected mayors, more power to the cities, more budget cuts, more  services outsourced, more contracts to place, more scope for corruption, more bankruptcies and emergency takeover squads.    Elected Mayors with the power to make our cites work,  to cut through the bureaucracy, the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
30 Dec 2014 - 14:40

null The Silver Slipper Specification

Cinderella had very small feet. This fact is rarely mentioned in the telling of the story but it is the only logical explanation. If her feet were average size then the glass slippers would have fitted most young women who tied them on. Of course it could be that Prince Charming knew all along who his attractive and mysterious dance partner was. The "who so ever these slippers fit I shall... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
30 Dec 2014 - 12:32

null The medium and the message

 As we get excited about the potential of social networking and the social media for local government how do we ensure the message is not lost in the preoccupation with the medium? A recent example would be the US presidential debate on TV aired live in the US and covered worldwide. The TV, the medium for carrying this debate encourages the viewer to look at body language, tone of... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
23 Dec 2014 - 16:11

null Christmas message from the Boss

  The Boss traditionally uses his Christmas message to thank staff for their hard work and support over the last 12 months. Not this year. He used the social media to thank staff but he was very critical of senior managers claiming many had lost their humanity, they had forgotten what public service was all about and they no longer seemed able to inspire optimism in their staff. He... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
19 Dec 2014 - 15:02

null Pot holes

It is nearly  5 years since my boss came back from a budget meeting and said this level of cuts is no longer about reduced services it about a totally different county council. At the time most of us didn't believe it was possible to take nearly 50 percent out of the budget yet that is what happened. Libraries and day centres were closed, grants to voluntary groups were cut, services... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
19 Dec 2014 - 14:26

null The powerful make things happen or do they?

Tony Blair complained that he pulled levers and nothing much happened. It's a common complaint by leaders in a democracy that they have status and authority but not enough power to make things happen. Margaret Thatcher thought  it was the dead hand of the civil service that stifled radical change and the trade unions, she was determined to reduce the power of both. In local government... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
17 Dec 2014 - 12:44

null Tis the season to give and receive

Five more years of austerity, it sounds grime. More services out sourced, more redundancies, more service reductions, it sounds inevitable. But here is  a reason to be jolly, corporate Christmas parties and lavish presents from new business partners. What better start to the festivities than a weekend in London, a posh dinner dance and an overnight in a swanky hotel. Just think how... See more
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