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Empowerment

22 July, 2017 by James Lawther 7 Comments

saxophone

A problem with motivation My youngest daughter (8) is learning to play the saxophone. I’m very jealous, I’d love to be able to play the saxophone. It sounds like so much more fun than management meetings and PowerPoint. Yet no matter what I do, she doesn’t practice. And because she doesn’t practice she will never […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: command and control, management style, motivation, pride in the job, video

The Project That Couldn’t Fail

15 July, 2017 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Plan to Fail

Trite management sayings Managers love clichés. They pick them up as they gain experience and seniority. The most popular are those that prove their superiority and make others feel small. A couple of my personal favourite statements of the obvious are: “Fail to plan and plan to fail” and “Poor Planning leads to P### Poor Performance”. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: ballistic model of success, command and control, culture, Dilbert, political will, project management

Thought Walks

7 July, 2017 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Brainstorming doesn’t always cut it Sometimes you have a problem that requires an imaginative solution. The standard management method for adding a spark of creativity is to brainstorm the problem. But brainstorming doesn’t always work. The ideas can be a little tired, you may not get something really new. Random thoughts There is an argument […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: brainstorm, innovation, video

Not Invented Here

29 June, 2017 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Mixing Ideas

Nothing comes from nothing I sat in a meeting the other day, it was a nightmare… Two guys were trying to extol the benefits of automation to a team of sales managers.  The tension was palpable.  In one corner stood a bunch of consultants trying to explain the latest and greatest thinking in operational improvement.  […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: culture, human nature, innovation

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

25 June, 2017 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

What does that mean? It sounds like management claptrap. Let me repeat it, and attribute it. Culture eats strategy for breakfast ~ Peter Drucker Anybody who has worked in a large organisation will know that we prize strategy above all else. It is an intellectual pursuit, highly valued in the boardroom. We hire consultants to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accountability, culture, fear and anxiety, group think, management style, strategy

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