Entries with tag public sector .

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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
01 Aug 2023 - 13:12

null Have you watcher Maternal (ITV) ?

  If you’re not desensitised then you’re exhausted by your anger and outrage at a failing system.    The post pandemic NHS. The affect Covid had on doctors, the affect of on going staffing shortages. The unreasonable demands placed on doctors. The cost to their mental health. A similar drama could have been written featuring paramedics, nurses, social workers, fire officers,... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
16 Jul 2023 - 11:10

null Learn,Unlearn and Relearn 

I wrote a book with the title Unlearning Management. It was made up of short one and two page articles, using typical management scenarios to advocate a move away from traditional management styles. The focus was on people management. The aim was to explain how modern managers spend their time and what organisations were increasingly looking for in appointing and promoting managers. It’s as... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 Jan 2023 - 11:59

null Upside down 

We’ve got it all wrong the Private sector should be learning from us not the other way round. For the last 30 years we have had it the wrong way round. Like discovering some famous modernist painting has been hanging upside down in the Louvre ever since they paid a kings ransom for it. For decades the public sector has been told it needed to be more like the private sector . We were urged to... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Jan 2020 - 18:36

null Hire and Fire with Impunity

In 2011 the Harvard Business Review published the findings of 10 years research into management effectiveness. The headlines read, USA managers are the best , and as is so often the case the reaction was to the headline rather than the detail of the research. To some commentators and management consultants this was further support for their view that management skills in the U.K. ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Jan 2019 - 14:49

null Bullies are not bad people

Your boss may be a bully but that doesn’t make them a bad person. We have a problem of bullying in the public sector and we’re not going to solve it by treating it as just a few bad people. Getting rid of these individuals or putting more safe guards in place that reduce the ability of managers to abuse their power won’t  work. Even if it were that simple it wouldn’t work because the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Jul 2017 - 10:55

null You bear responsibility but as part of a team

  When crisis and scandal hit a high profile bank (HSBC) the board dismissed some senior managers but despite calls for his resignation not the chair of the board. When asked if he should have taken  responsibility as chair of the board and leader of the organisation he( Doulas Flint ) replied , " You bear responsibility but as part of a team". Does this also apply in local... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Jul 2017 - 22:12

null Ghosts at the top table

Who am I? The better I am at my job the less people notice me.  Most of the time I'm invisible. A career based on facilitating someone else's vision. A true professional supporting a big ego. I'm a ghost at the top table. Who am I? Blair McPherson www.blairmcpherson.co.uk See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Jun 2017 - 18:05

null Look under the bonnet and sprinkle the magic

  What type of person would  punch a puppy ? Would you eat your own dog food ?  Well you might if you realised it meant doing something detestable but good for the business and you might try out something new on yourself first. These are two of the more unusual and in my experience less common examples of management speak. Have you recently been encouraged to... See more
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Blair McPherson
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22 Mar 2017 - 02:51

null The difference between management and leadership

Management, as managers are fond of saying, isn't about being liked but I say leadership is. Human nature is such that if staff don't like you they won't like what you say. If staff don 't like you they will mostly deny you the opportunity to influence their thinking. Leadership is all about influencing thinking.  Management is about getting people to do what needs to be done. Managers... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Mar 2017 - 10:53

null International Women's Day

  The Black Panthers, the Vietnam war, Bob Dylan and the woman's liberation movement, this is the New York scene in the Late 60's early 70's. The story is set in the open plan office of a weekly magazine, the editor, deputy editor and all the journalists are white males, all the researchers are female. It soon becomes clear that the women do all the leg work, come up with the most... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
01 Mar 2017 - 11:05

null Confrontational leadership

  A kick up the backside or arm round the shoulder. Delivered at the right time, in the right way both are recognised managerial responses. Some people respond better to one than the other. Managers may be predisposed to confrontational management or supportive management. Supportive management is presented as a good thing, although staff often complain there isn't much of it. Supporting... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Feb 2017 - 11:56

null Managing Maverick Managers

  Name me one TV cop who isn't a maverick. Wouldn't  we all like to stick two fingers up to senior management on occasions, to follow our professional instincts rather than inflexible procedures , do what we think is right rather than blindly follow instructions, do the job the way it should be done rather than hit arbitrary targets and struggle to stay within an unrealistic... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 Feb 2017 - 11:11

null Three strikes and you're out

  February 6th is national "sickie" day, so called because traditionally absenteeism is at it highest at this time of year. Employers in the public sector have in recent years being getting tough on high levels of sickness leave and copying the strategies used by the private sector. If you work in the public sector you may not be aware of what happens to your counter parts in the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
03 Mar 2017 - 01:04

null More people with a business background would be good for local government, Not

  Donald Trump US president is appointing people with a business background to key posts in his administration because he believes government would be better if it was run like a business and who better to do this than people who have run successful businesses. For a number of years management gurus have told us the public sector should learn from the private sector about how to be... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Jan 2017 - 12:47

null Let's do a deal

    Donald Trump the new US president with a business background has appointed people to his senior posts on the bases that they are good at "doing deals". Is this a new and worrying tend in the public sector  which we are likely to follow? A worrying tend because doing deals in the commercial world is a rather murky business where ethical and moral considerations are... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 Jan 2017 - 17:14

null Make my day punk

If only you were in charge you could sort this mess out. You know what needs doing and you know how to do it. But how long before you turn into Dirty Harry the Clint Eastwood anti hero  who is the epitome of ruthless policing and never hesitates to cross professional and ethical boundaries in his quest to get justice.  In senior management team meetings perfectly reasonable and... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
21 Oct 2016 - 13:24

null The Mad Hatter's tea party

It was a large table set for many places. The mad hatter and the March hare sat together. Alice went to sit down. The mad hatter and the March hare shouted,"no room". Alice said " don' t be ridiculous there is plenty of room". The mad hatter looked at his watch and shouted "tea time, all move round". Alice asked , "what time is tea time?" To which they replied in unison," it's always... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
09 Oct 2016 - 06:20

null The nature of the game

The relationship between a local authority director and their chief executive is like that between a premiership goal keeper and his manager. We all know how much a manager values a safe pair of hands and a new manager likes to bring in some of his own players who will play the game the way he likes to play it. The new chief executive comes with a reputation. Already one of the directors who... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
04 Sep 2016 - 06:22

null Disrespecting the Professionals

  If the world was to explode the last thing to be heard would be an expert explaining why it wouldn't happen. The type of thing Michael Grove might say although it was in fact said by the late Peter Ustinov.   When did we become so anti professionals? This government doesn't listen to teachers, doctors, nurses or social workers. The last government didn't listen to professionals... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
20 Jul 2016 - 10:57

null Dry stone walling

Can a leader take a group of misfits and make them into a strong, effective unit, a sort of "Dirty Dozen" only not by focusing their aggression but channelling their independence of thought. More like the characters in The Big Bang Theory. The approach has been referred to as Dry Stone Walling.   Take irregular shaped individuals the ones who don't fit into the organisations neat breeze... See more
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