It’s big and it’s scary, it’s in the room and ignoring it won’t
make it go away. An Elephant in the Room is an expression to
describe a big topic everyone is ignoring, pretending it doesn’t exist
because it is too scary or too difficult to deal with. Racism like
sexism, ageism and homophobia-discrimination is a big, scary topic.
The killing of George Floyd and the subsequent...
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Your blogs - Blair McPherson
Blair
McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Jun 2020 - 20:57
null Big and Scary
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wrote a new blog post
10 Jun 2020 - 10:04
I WAS AT ONE TIME THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF RESOURCES IN A LARGE
COMPLEX ORGANISATION. FINANCE, IT, PERSONNEL AND TRAINING FELL WITHIN
MY REMIT. THIS LINE MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT REFLECTED THE THINKING AT
THAT TIME THAT THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED IN AN ORGANISATION WERE RESOURCES
IN THE SAME WAY AS MONEY, EQUIPMENT, BUILDINGS AND INFORMATION. IN ONE
SENSE THIS WAS POSITIVE AS IT PLACED A...
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wrote a new blog post
09 Jun 2020 - 09:53
Human Resource staff make people behave and they don’t like it. They
are the ones that tell you that even if you think the jokes are funny,
you still can’t tell sexist, racist or homophobic jokes. This is one
function that goes all the way to the top. The HR people, the
compliance people, are telling everybody how they have to treat each
other and a lot people don’t like it,...
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wrote a new blog post
09 Jun 2020 - 09:47
When this pandemic is over you will know a lot more about your
staff/ managers . A crisis brings out the strength in some and the
weaknesses in others. It will not necessarily have been the most
experienced or knowledgable who remained calm and inspired confidence.
It will not necessarily be those with the formal qualifications who
showed themselves able to adapt quickly to the new...
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wrote a new blog post
05 Jun 2020 - 10:44
Before you know what you are doing you’re expected to know what you
are doing, so you have no choice but to wing it. It happened to me. As
part of a cost cutting senior management restructuring I found my self
with a new job title, an increased span of responsibility and a range
of services I had no previous experience of. I was confident my people
management and budget management...
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wrote a new blog post
22 May 2020 - 14:23
The interesting thing about management is that pretty much everyone
thinks they could do it and do it better. It’s not rocket science.
That is why so many people think they understand it. But it’s not easy
which is why so many don’t progress. There are lots of things to
learn. The moment you stop learning you get left behind because of the
pace of change. I started in management 30...
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wrote a new blog post
18 May 2020 - 11:11
What has the coronavirus crisis told us about residential care? It
has told us that residential care puts older people at far greater
risk, which is ironic since the biggest reason for admission is the
perceived risk of remaining at home.
Life expectancy in residential care for older people is 2 to 3 years
and often less. Residential care for most people over 80 is not a
...
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wrote a new blog post
14 May 2020 - 10:34
The characteristics of effective leadership are the same in normal
times as they are during a crisis. The difference is that during a
crisis there is a temptation for leaders to do too much, to get over
involved, to become to narrowly focused and neglect their role in
anticipating the challenges further down the road.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review identified the
...
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wrote a new blog post
13 May 2020 - 12:56
Even a successful management team needs their talent pool rejuvenated
at regular intervals. Move too slowly and inevitably performance
declines . Move too fast and the instability and loss of expertise
leads inevitably to declining performance. Building on success
requires decisive often ruthless intervention.
You can only hold on to your more experienced and talented
...
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wrote a new blog post
08 Jul 2020 - 11:38
Tony Soprano has never read a management book. Yet he
successfully manages a diverse workforce in a very competitive and
treacherous business environment. Tony doesn’t work long hours his
meetings are short, measured in minutes not hours. He rarely gets
involved in the day to day operation of the business he leaves that to
his captains telling them ,” It’s your job to make...
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wrote a new blog post
09 May 2020 - 11:12
The poor make bad choices the first being their parents, the second
being where they were born.
www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
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wrote a new blog post
06 May 2020 - 11:23
null The Balloon Debate
Did you ever have a balloon debate at school? One day my younger
brother came home from primary school and as we sat round the tea
table told us that he had won the ballon debate. This was a new one on
us older kids so he explained that it involved being the last one to
get thrown out of an air ballon. This turned out to be not as
dangerous as it sounded but just as violent. A group...
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wrote a new blog post
28 Apr 2020 - 10:02
null Make HR your Friend
The best advice I could give any one moving into their first
management post.
There are lots of articles about why people hate HR and very few
on why you should befriend at least one person in HR. The job is about
people management as much as managing the budget and most managers
find that the people they work with cause them more problems than the
budget. Whether it’s...
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wrote a new blog post
27 Apr 2020 - 10:46
In this case the sidelines could be the chief executive’s blog, the
senior managers road show or even the team meeting. There is getting
your instructions across, vocal encouragement and unhelpful criticism.
It doesn’t help to keep saying the same thing but louder or more
earnestly like the typical tourist abroad. It undoes the good feeling
if you praise some one for their effort and...
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wrote a new blog post
25 Apr 2020 - 11:54
One asks permission the other seeks forgiveness.
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wrote a new blog post
20 Apr 2020 - 09:17
When good fails to turn into great. When the sum of the parts isn’t
greater than the whole. When a talented senior management team never
quiet reaches the heights expected. Then people look at the leader.
What’s missing? It’s the Don Revie effect. What they might have and
should have been.
Revie’s psychological flaw was his insecurity reflected In his
numerous and well documented...
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wrote a new blog post
16 Apr 2020 - 10:59
The governments of the world conspire to keep the news of the end
of the world from their populations. This is the premise of a
Hollywood disaster movie. Fear of panic , mass hysteria and the
complete breakdown of law and order persuades governments around the
world to keep the impending doom an official secret. The worlds
greatest scientists race to come up with a plan to save...
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wrote a new blog post
14 Apr 2020 - 21:29
null Talent v Character
What’s surprises me is that managers so readily recruit on
talent and then spend all their time addressing defects in the
individuals character when it is so much easier to coach skills and
impart knowledge.
www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
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wrote a new blog post
11 Apr 2020 - 15:04
Are people looking at a lot more pornography during the lockdown or
our providers just assuming they want to? Never mind bored house
wives, it’s sexy students and shameless girls that
fill my junk mail inbox. Some commentators have speculated that at the
end of lockdown there will be a surge in divorce applications and a
baby boom might there not also be a new audience for porn?...
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wrote a new blog post
08 Apr 2020 - 12:41
What has this Pandemic told us about how people behave in a
crisis and how the authorities should manage that behaviour. Panic
buying causing unnecessary shortages, having a big last night out
before the lockdown officially starts and ignoring social distancing
to go for a walk in the countryside whilst the weather is good, these
all appear examples of selfish, irresponsible...
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