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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
15 Jul 2021 - 14:15

null  Is this a safe place ?

  How safe is your work place ? No I’m not taking about working with dangerous machinery or hazardous chemicals.  I’ m not referring to the risk of falling objects, flying objects or sharp objects. I’m not thinking about the risk of being shot, run over, attacked, falling from a great height, being electrocuted  or drowning. I’m asking if you feel that your team or organisation is a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
15 Jul 2021 - 14:07

null We know there is life on Mars

“We know there is life on Mars because we sent it there” , NASA’s former chief scientist. 
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
07 Jul 2021 - 10:41

null Are organisations inevitably hypocritical?  

 Writing in defence  of hypocrisy would be like  expressing sympathy for the devil, you’re not going to convince anyone that it’s anything other than despicable. And yet hypocrisy exists in every organisation for a very good reason. It occurs whenever decisions and actions are inconsistent or conflict with previously stated ideals, values or performance measures. This... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
28 Jun 2021 - 11:13

null Stress and Burn out 

Looking back it’s clear I didn’t cope well with stress. I didn’t even recognised I was stressed. I don’t know to what I attributed the frequent headaches  so sever I came home from work and went straight to bed, or the development of a pronounced  stutter, something I had not experienced before or since. When I changed job the headaches and stutter went away. But I still ended up... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Jun 2021 - 10:44

null Giving work Purpose and Meaning

The worst job I ever had was working in the social security office, before computerisation, matching post to case files. Every morning I was given a long list of names to locate their files. The problem was that the filing cabinets were bursting so files were piled on top of cabinets in wobbly towers. Files could also be “ out” meaning on someone’s desk . There was no guarantee the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
23 Jun 2021 - 13:14

null So you think you are good at recruitment 

You know the argument about whether drivers should have to retake their driving test at regular intervals well the same reasoning applies to recruitment interviews. The roads have got a lot busier since you passed your test and over time all of us pick up some bad driving habits. Well some managers never had any recruitment training they have just done it ever since they became a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
23 Jun 2021 - 13:04

null The unfairness at the heart of the recruitment process. 

There is an unfairness at the heart of the recruitment process which rewards those who are good at interviews above those who are good at the job. The surprise is not that the traditional interview results in some bad appointments it’s that it ever results in some good ones! HR have tried to shift the emphases away from the focus on the interview by introducing an Assessment Centre... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
09 Jun 2021 - 15:30

null 360 degree feedback 

“ Don’t ask what I think of you I might not give the answer you want me to. “  Oh Well- Fleetwood Mac. 
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
03 Jun 2021 - 12:49

null On Boarding getting employees on board and keeping them on board 

On Boarding is management jargon for getting new employees familiar with the way we do things round here. It’s not just about the routines, tasks and knowledge it’s learning about the organisation’s culture. It can also mean learning about the organisation’s unofficial culture the way we really do things round here.  On Boarding is more than just induction. Induction is what ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
01 Jun 2021 - 14:43

null The chaos theory of leadership

Do you assume the motivation behind the ambitious manager is the desire to make a difference or the craving  for power , status and rewards that go with it? Maybe it’s always a mixture of both but for those who adopt the chaos theory of leadership it’s defiantly the latter. For the overconfident, extremely ambitious the aim is to get the top job and to keep it as long as possible. To... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
28 May 2021 - 18:21

null It’s editing Jim but not as we know it. 

I wrote - Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise is 90 or the original actor to play him is.  But that’s not what appeared in print.    https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/leadership/leaders-can-learn-captain-james-t-kirk/   I write occasional articles for several professional journals. One in particular runs 2 or 3 new articles on its web site every day. That requires a lot... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
21 May 2021 - 15:27

null Funny names list

It started harmlessly enough just a casual observation to a colleague about some clients names that got turned into a list, circulated and added to. The list was titled Funny Names. As the Funny Names list became more widely circulated there were growing concerns from some employees that the names were predominantly of Asian and non Anglo Saxon origin. This sparked a  fierce internal... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 May 2021 - 15:41

null Unconscious Bias the Baby and the Bath Water 

I met up with a former colleague  last week who keeps in touch with  their ex team members on social media and was beginning to regret it. A picture of a child’s soft doll  with bright clothes, a black face and fuzzy hair was being shared with the words , “Let’s see how many shares we can get before this is removed”.  He was shocked and disappointed. As a manager he had championed... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 May 2021 - 15:29

null Light my fire 

Her name was Heather and she was a swim wear model. She wasn’t the most obvious choice for a conference speaker. She stood at the front of the stage and spoke to an audience of about a thousand senior managers and board members. She spoke for approximately 45 minutes without notes. She was serious and funny, honest, angry and interesting. She talked about the accident in a very matter... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 May 2021 - 15:26

null Doing as little as necessary and Just enough is never enough. 

Doing as little as necessary sounds like a skivers charter. Where as Just enough is never enough could be the motto of a demanding manager. The first is about a radically different way of operating the second is about learning from mistakes so that next time we do better than just survive.  In the news paper today I read about an innovative award wining partnership based on a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
04 May 2021 - 14:09

null Relaxed and informal should not led to overfamiliar and discourteous. 

It was Saturday night in my favourite curry house  and who should come in but a small group of people including a well know comedian from the t.v. This is a very low key establishment in the back streets of Birmingham  full of students and locals not an upmarket eatery. At first people take little notice and allow the party to order their food. But before they have finished eating a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Apr 2021 - 05:50

null “I’d tell you if you were doing something wrong”

All to often the first time the boss says how much they value your contribution and appreciate your commitment is at your leaving do! This seems consistent with a resent survey which found 80% of employees felt their manager did not give enough feedback. HR are familiar with the scenario where a manager wishes to terminate an employees employment due to an unsatisfactory probationary... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
22 Apr 2021 - 10:12

null What is it?

Jimmy Hendrix was a master of it, not so most managers. Employees want it, although not everyone enjoys it. There is a skill to giving it, get it right and both the individual and the organisation benefit. What is it? 
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Apr 2021 - 21:30

null The Good Fight, the N word and HR

  Over the Easter weekend I watched the latest episode of The Good Fight on Netflix. It’s a US t.v. series set in a law firm. What’s different  about it is its topical ,political ( US politics ) and likes to confront ethical issues head on. In the new series the small African American Chicago based law firm that made its name by taking on cases of police brutally and its money by... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Apr 2021 - 10:49

null It always worked in the past

The ancient Chinese believed  eclipses of the Sun were the result of a dragon attempting to eat it. To prevent this from happening everyone went out into the street and banged pots and pans to scare the dragon away. It worked every time!  We allow ourselves a rye smile at the naivety of our ancestors. But if you lived in those times and didn’t believe this explanation would you be... See more
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