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Is it Five O’Clock Yet?

1 August, 2014 by James Lawther 2 Comments

5 o clock

It’s Friday.  The weekend is nearly upon us, be honest, work is not uppermost on your mind at this precise moment in time. So to help you slide into the weekend here are 5 articles you really should read.  Think of it as management education…  Not wasting your time surfing the web. 1.  Can Japanese […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: blame, leadership, management style, motivation, performance management, targets, Toyota, wasted intellect

Watch Your Back

17 July, 2014 by James Lawther 3 Comments

An apocryphal tale ~ a story of doubtful authenticity ~ There was a football tournament, a very important one, something a bit like the World Cup… The first match England played Italy.  The Italians won comfortably.  The English were left humiliated and strong action was demanded.  So the coach was fired, he was accountable, someone else was given […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: blame, learning, management style, performance management

How to Win the F.A. Cup

30 May, 2014 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Football Manager

I don’t know much about football As a teenager I used to play in the school yard. When they picked teams I was always the last poor sod standing there. I was usually dismissed to the other team with a “Oh you have him“. I was fat I was slow I lacked talent (Keep your thoughts […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accountability, blame, continuous improvement, management style, performance management, systems thinking, trust

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

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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