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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
02 Oct 2020 - 11:35

null All or Nothing 

Reading the biography of a very successful leader is often disappointing if you are seeking to learn how to replicate their success. Interviews with those who worked closely with such leaders often come up with interesting stories but no really usable tips. Friends and family  simply tell of the contrast between the private person and their public persona. So I had high hopes that... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
01 Oct 2020 - 10:48

null Your team doesn’t need you when they’re winning

You earn your money as a manager when the team are going through a difficult patch. When performance dips, when morale is rock bottom and confidence low that’s when your experience and know how is supposed to make the difference.    Jose Mourinho apparently told his opposite number on the Chelsea bench that he should not be so quiet and miserable when his team is losing nor did he... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
29 Sep 2020 - 14:15

null A Hard Rain 

When Bob Dylan wanted to warn people of the increased risk of a nuclear war he wrote a song , A hard rains a -gonna fall, which tells of the destruction from the fallout of The Bomb. When the PM’s chief advisor spoke of a hard rain hitting the civil service it was a threat of a different kind. But the aim was the same destruction. In this case destruction of the relationship between... See more
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Blair McPherson
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22 Sep 2020 - 13:24

null Showing you’re annoyed is not the same as making staff scared of you  

Alex Ferguson claims he used his notorious hairdryer treatment no more than 6 or 7 times in his long and successful career. The accounts of former players would indicate it was a lot more but may be the truth is that it was used sparingly in order to maximise its impact. The point is All his players had heard of and probably witnessed one of these fearsome verbal assaults. No one... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Sep 2020 - 11:35

null The Understanding Manager

Everyone wants a supportive manager some one who recognises your value to the team and acknowledges your skill and work ethic, some one who is sympathetic when some difficulty in your personal life makes you less effective than normal, someone who is understanding when your naivety or passion gets you into trouble. But if you are that manager how do you determine whether your... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
11 Sep 2020 - 06:27

null Simply the Best 

If you ask a highly successful manager, a great leader what it is that makes them so effective don’t expect to get the answer that those who work with them would give. Even the best often lack insight and don’t see themselves the way others see them. They see themselves as paternalistic looking after and out for their staff. Those  who worked for them describe a strict Victorian ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Sep 2020 - 06:03

null Vanity Projects 

A project that is not justified by cost and effort and whose purpose is to make the instigator look good. The most famous was the USA race with the Soviet Union to put a man on the Moon the cost of which could not be justified but was intended to demonstrate capitalism was better than communism  and the USA was the greatest.  Putting a man on the moon was an extortionately... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
02 Sep 2020 - 07:00

null The hole in the donut

These managers never seem to focus on the perfect circle. Instead, their first comment calls attention to the inconsequential mistake. They ask for trivial back-up data that you failed to bring with you to the presentation. They imply that maybe you have misunderstood the politics surrounding the situation and therefore have written the email with a more aggressive tone than... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Sep 2020 - 14:06

null It’s Complicated 

He drove the car, a reluctant participant in what was a sectarian assassination. First he finds the librarian he fancy’s is the wife of the man they murdered. Then he takes a job working on her farm just to be close to her. Him and his dad, the only Catholics on the estates, get burned out when their house is firer bombed. Homeless and hiding from his “ friend” the shooter, who he... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Aug 2020 - 09:01

null Ginger Rogers’ Annual Appraisal

  Annual appraisals do more harm than good and now it’s ok to say so. Many large companies have dropped Annual Appraisals replacing achievement and reward with support and coaching. One to One formal monthly supervision, the norm in some specialisms is now being rolled out across whole organisations as part of the performance management revolution.   After all Ginger Rogers did... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
20 Aug 2020 - 13:17

null It’s your dream job but there is a catch

It’s your dream job. You have said so publicly and often, which hasn’t gone down well with previous employers. It’s high profile with a very competitive salary. But it’s only for nine months! It doesn’t matter how successful you are in this period at the end of it you will be gone. Your replacement has already been named by the incoming chair. This is not the best time to be joining... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
18 Aug 2020 - 09:33

null Boxing Clever

” Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the mouth.” Mike Tyson was not known for his wit and wisdom but his ferocity. His comment was therefore probably just a statement of the obvious that when it came to the fight whatever cleaver tactics his opponent had in mind they were still going to get hit very hard. Yet the comment is memorable because in life so many carefully... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Aug 2020 - 14:41

null Statistics don’t tell the whole story

  Statistics  may never lie, though everyone knows they can be economical with the truth. Everyone being managers and members. LA leaders and chief executives struggle to persuade the local media and a sceptical public that the authority should not be judged solely on it league position.   Using a football analogy helps explain how things may not be as simple as the league table would... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Aug 2020 - 11:32

null The best organisation are like enthusiastic gardeners 

 If HR are were to adopt a gardening metaphor it would be weeds  are just flowers in the wrong place.  This is not what a manager who has been asked to consider someone on redeployment wants to hear. Nor is it the response a manager with an incompetent or “difficult” team member is hoping for. The implication in both cases is that the manager just needs to... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
15 Aug 2020 - 13:02

null Don’t Oversimplify 

     
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Aug 2020 - 13:36

null Managing a budget is too often like dieting 

Following on from his successful book “The Food Myth” Tim Spector has written , “ Spoon-Feed: Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food Is Wrong”. On reading it I was struck by the similarities between dieting and budgeting. Between loosing lbs and losing £s. Between cutting down and cutting. Between crash diets and dramatic budget cuts. Between the the special diets promoted by... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Jul 2020 - 12:23

null Out of touch managers

  In the years immediately after England won the World Cup the then manager  Alf Ramsey could do no wrong in the eyes of his players but as the winning team was replaced by a new generation the manager’s word was no longer law. At the start of an England training session Alf brought the new younger members of the squad together and suggested they get a hair cut. They just... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
22 Jul 2020 - 10:35

null A faint air of menace 2

We need to talk about how we talk about Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the work place because the subject still has a faint air of menace about it. If people are reluctant to talk about diversity for fear of saying the wrong thing then organisations will have a tick box approach to diversity which looks impressive but doesn't  change the culture. This all to common superficial approach... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
09 Jul 2020 - 11:32

null Alien Encounter 

If aliens from a distant and previously unknown planet landed seeking asylum and only to be allowed to integrate into society, HR would have no problem adapting equality and diversity policies to include Little Green Men. After all colour, race and sexuality are already covered.  From HR to all staff In view of recent “new arrivals” there maybe a need for some minor tweaks to... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Aug 2020 - 05:56

null Heated arguments in the Team Meeting

To anyone observing it was a very heated argument. One member of the team was criticising another and not holding back. The other responded with a few well chosen remarks of their own. Voices were raised. It looked and sounded ugly. The boss did not intervene. So is this what is meant  by a dysfunctional management team? Not according to the boss.  According to the boss this type of... See more
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