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The Great Post Office Scandal

6 March, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Post Box

A Case Study of a Dysfunctional Culture Nick Wallis writes a story that should be a work of science fiction. Like Jurassic Park, he takes a ridiculous premise but then plays the idea through in a totally believable way. Nobody could recreate the dinosaurs, but good fiction takes a bizarre proposition and makes the outcome […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: case study, cost of poor quality, cost saving, culture, fessing up, ignorance, Post Office, purpose, supply chain, targets

You Had One Job!

8 February, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

laundrette

Design Error I’m in the doghouse. Mrs Lawther asked me to do the washing whilst she was out. As I am a modern man and expect to do my bit, I was happy to comply with the request. Unfortunately, there was a complication. The washing included my wife’s very chic and expensive dress. Ordinarily, this […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: culture, design error, error proofing, fail safe, feedback, human error, mental models, simplicity, usability testing, visual management

A Very Public Screw Up

14 September, 2023 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Nigel Mansell's 1991 Williams-Renault example of avoiding blame culture.

Blame Culture, Isolate the Problem, Not the Person At the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1991, Formula One racing provided a textbook example of why organisations should avoid a blame culture. Nigel Mansell, driving for the Williams-Renault team, was in first place as he pulled in for a pit stop. What should have been a slick […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: blame, continuous improvement, culture, leadership, Nigel Mansell, simplicity, video, Williams-Renault

Long-Term Strategy

2 August, 2022 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

long term strategy

Playing the Long Game If there is one company that epitomises long-term strategy, it is Amazon. On May 15th 1997, Amazon sold shares to the public for the first time. They were priced at $18 per share. Later that year, alongside their first annual report Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to Shareholders. That letter was […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: Amazon, culture, customer focus, long term, strategy

Does Culture Eat Strategy for Breakfast?

8 June, 2022 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Does a Learning Culture Eat Strategy for Breakfast?

My Favourite Quote Peter Drucker once said that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Those words chime so loudly for me that it is like sitting in the belfry next to Big Ben. Just because I agree with a statement doesn’t make it right. Beliefs are dangerous things, so I decided I had better check. Is […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: culture, fear and anxiety, flow, learning, measurement, operational excellence, performance management, purpose

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