It was Dan's idea, it can't be wrong, can it? Dan hired that person, they must be Ok, it's everyone else that just need time to adjust. Dan's the leader, so must know all of the answers, doesn't he? Let's be honest, it's possible that Dan is in fact always correct and infallible, it is however unlikely. Before we go on What I if told You that you r...

The other week I had a really interesting discussion over a coffee with potential client. They had been working internally to find a way to really drive and push a continuous improvement culture into their organisation and were looking for someone to help out. We talked about what their current challenges were and what they want to achieve, they sa...

When we promote people to their first management or leadership position it's very rare that we have actually trained them in advance for that position, it's equally rare that we train them at all for the new position there are in. Almost universally we promote people who were really good at the role they are in, they were a great accountant or engi...

Work groups are characterized by the least amount of interdependence. They are based on organizational or managerial hierarchy. Work groups may meet periodically to hear and share information. Teams are highly interdependent - they plan work, solve problems, make decisions, and review progress in service of a specific project. Team members need one...

I've never understood how being busy, having a full calendar somehow became a badge of honour, I'm so important that there is no time, it wouldn't surprise me to hear someone say they were actually booked 25hrs in one day! It's a madness that seems to be getting to epidemic levels. What does your calendar look like? Is it full of really important m...

I was at a meeting the other week when one of those annoying corporate sound bites was used to shut someone down, you know the ones that seem to sound right but when you stop and think about it a little they make zero sense at all. We've all heard and probably, unfortunately, used them from time to time but this one is one of the dumbest ones I can...

Solving problems can be challenging, that is after all why they are called problems. It gets harder though if it is something completely out of left field, something that is completely new to you and just leaves you stumped. It can be stressful at times, especially if you have a bunch of people all depending on your decision. Thankfully, you are pa...

I have been working with a couple of people of late who are just struggling to get things done, they have so much on their plates that there is just more to do than there are hours in their working week. The result of that is that they are stealing time from their personal lives to try and get things done in their work lives and feeling guilty abou...

The phone is ringing and you know it is going to be another unhappy customer, the only question is what are they going to complain about? Their product is late, there are defects in what they got, they got the wrong thing, there were too many or not enough. Every time the phone it is a complaint, another fire to be put out, another thing that you n...

With the year almost over a friend of mine got an email from his with a sheet of paper attached asking him to put together his 5 objectives for 2021 and remember they must be SMART! Smart being a SMART Goal which is about being Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Time bound. I hate this he said, what is the point, what the heck am I suppos...