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W.A.I.T.

26 January, 2014 by James Lawther 4 Comments

listening skills

In his book To Sell is Human Dan Pink puts forward a simple idea.  Whatever your walk of life you sell things: My wife sells doing the dishes to me I am selling ideas to you You sell projects to sponsors Every day we try to coax, cajole and convince people to do something for us. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: communication, Daniel Pink, do as I say, human nature, management style

Should You Punish Mistakes?

2 January, 2014 by James Lawther 22 Comments

Should You Punish Mistakes? Bob Hoover's plane

If somebody made a mistake that nearly killed you, would you punish the mistake? In 1989 there was an air show at Brown Field in San Diego. The test pilot Bob Hoover was taking thrill-seekers for flights in his Shrike Commander, a small, piston-powered, passenger plane.  The passengers were known as “Hoover’s Heavers” — more often […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: aviation, blame, error proofing, video

4 Ways to Change Behaviour

26 December, 2013 by James Lawther 11 Comments

There are 4 ways to change people’s behaviour: The first is the stick: Beat people until they do what you want. The stick works, but people hate being controlled, they will rebel — sooner or later.  Repression is not a great strategy. The second is the carrot: Provide an incentive.  Incentives work beautifully, until you remove […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: conformity, customer behaviour, group think, human nature, incentives, motivation, political will, reinforcing behaviour, video

The SMART Goal Myth

19 December, 2013 by James Lawther 20 Comments

I have been on a leadership course. I’ve learnt that if I want to improve my team’s performance I must set them all SMART goals.  A goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound — I bet you’ve been on the same course. A good SMART goal is something like: “increase sales rates from 15% to 22% by […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, management style, objective setting, SMART goals

Getting it Right When it all Goes Wrong

4 December, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Sometimes it all goes wrong, there is a calamity, a disaster or a screw up. Shit happens. There is only one sensible response when it all goes a bit Pete Tong; understand why and then do something to stop it happening again — it works even better when done quickly. This is not a revelation. My father […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accountability, blame, communication, fessing up, management style, trust

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