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Cauliflower for Brains

9 August, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Your brain is finite. Your brain is roughly the same size, shape and weight as a cauliflower. There the similarities end. Your brain is — I hope — physiologically more sophisticated than your average brassica. Some people’s brains, like cauliflowers, are bigger and better developed than others. But everybody’s brain, no mater how big or […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: collaboration, colleagues, communication, ignorance, knowledge management, learning, memory, teamwork

Performance Appraisals Drive Mediocrity

30 July, 2018 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Play to your strengths

It is mid-year If you work in the corporate world that means you have been busy writing appraisals.  If you have never seen one, the standard corporate appraisal form has about 5 sections: Progress Against Objectives — what you did Fit with Competency Framework — how you did it Core Strengths — things you did […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: average, best practice, collaboration, employee performance measures, performance management, sacred cows, wasted intellect

People Trump Technology

20 May, 2018 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Tibetan Monk

Poverty Nepal is one of the 30 poorest countries in the world.  In the fiscal year 2015-6, the average weekly income was 1,556 Nepalese Rupees. That’s about £10.50. Agriculture forms the base of the economy. Two-thirds of the population make their living from farming.  The industrial and commercial sectors are also based on agriculture; processing […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: automation, collaboration, human nature, systems thinking

The H.R. Hammer

13 February, 2018 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Performance Management

My brother is nothing like me Before I start this post I should point out that my brother and I live in very different worlds: He works for a F.T.S.E. 100 bank (not an insurer) He works in Canary Wharf (not the City) He works in I.T. (not operations) He is going bald (see picture […]

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

Myopic Management

8 January, 2018 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Myopic Management

The quick fix Managers are problem solvers. We spend our days finding issues and fixing them: We solve the problem of low sales by offering discounts. We solve the problem of high costs by cutting budgets. We solve the problem of poor quality by extra inspection. Our time is filled with discrete problem after discrete […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: accountability, blame, collaboration, command and control, objective setting, point optimisation, roles and responsibilities

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