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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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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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
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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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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If HR staff had thought bubbles above their head when in conversation
with managers then you would be able to see when they were thinking ,”
you really shouldn’t be telling me this”.
1) You can’t stand one of your team
If you tell a member of HR you can’t stand an individual in your
team how is it going to look if at a later date that individual
submits a grievance against...
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If it’s no longer about money, about budget cuts or being more
efficient. If it’s about being practice led rather than finance
driven, if it’s about effectiveness rather than cost then one outcome
of the response to Convid might be to finally make a reality of the
integration of health and social care.
If hospitals are not to be overwhelmed then patients need to be
moved to nursing...
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A crisis is exciting. Crisis management is a series of boring
meetings to plan for something that may never happen. There are so
many immediate and obvious challenges facing an organisation that very
few senior managers/ chief executives/ board members get excited about
joining the working group. Which explains why the person appointed to
chair the group is someone who wasn’t...
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Statement by leader of the council in intro to top job advert. First sentence.
What skill, wizardry and determined delivery could you add to
iconic Cambridge, our international city of considerable magic?
I don’t think they are looking for a former graduate of Hogwarts.
Maybe it’s the wizardry that football correspondents refer to when
describing a player capable of mazy runs...
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We hacked the system to show how vulnerable it was to hackers. We
broke into the gallery and removed the priceless art work to show how
weak the security was. We inserted an operative to show how easy it
was to infiltrate the organisation.
A Tiger Team is set up to test ones own defences. A bit more
aggressive than a mystery shopper or unannounced inspection /audit but
with the...
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Senior managers need the ability to hold an audience, to dominate a
room, to make people feel comfortable, as opposed to uncomfortable,in
their presence. It’s a skill and like any skill it can be learnt and
with practice and coaching improved. So it is surprising so many
senior managers neglect this aspect of their role. However things may
be about to change.
This area of...
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How do you know your organisation’s absence management strategy is
working? You might assume it was a reduction in absenteeism but this
might be masking a problem with leavism.
The issue of presenteeism, where employees attend work when ill
rather than fall foul of the strictly enforced absence policy or in
the case of senior managers concern at being seen as lacking in
stamina and...
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I have never seen it written into a management JD or identified as an
essential requirement in a person specification but recent events have
confirmed the need for curiosity amongst senior managers. I am
referring to the inquiry into the behaviour of a rogue consultant in
the NHS and the failure of those charged with protecting patients to
ask questions. But it could just as easily...
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Not all managers play by rules. The recruitment procedures are
designed to ensure candidates are not discriminated against and
managers can’t slot in their favourites. The process is designed to be
fair and transparent. However the focus is often on the selection
criteria and the interview. The candidates application form is
measured against the person specification for the post to...
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They use to call him Frank Sinatra because he always did it
his way. Trying to explain the importance of following the correct
procedures whether that be in recruitment, tackling absenteeism or
taking disciplinary measures was a frustrating experience. Old blue
eyes didn’t ask for advice and didn’t take it. Either that or he
would go round the HR team until he receive the advice he...
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Under what circumstances is it ok for HR to go the full Morse on an
anonymous letter and how do you ensure clumsy attempts to identify the
culprit don’t come over all Inspector Clouseau
Recently an NHS Trust was in the news for the lengths it had gone
to identify the author of an anonymous letter. These included engaging
a finger print and hand writing expert. The controversy arose...
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At university I had a lecture who supervised one of my placements and
believed students were a good judge of their own performance. I was
tipped off in advance by a student in the year above so at the end of
my placement I was not surprised to be asked what grade I thought I
should receive. I had prepared my answer and my rational in advance. I
confidently stated my performance...
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It’s brutal, wrong and dangerous. It’s cheating but if you can get
away with it, bending the rules is all part of the game. This is not
new no but it’s is a new and disturbing low.
Blair Mcpherson former Director, author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
