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The Ultimate Business Constraint

20 October, 2015 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Running a business is tough I used to run my own business. It was hard work. I have the utmost respect for anybody who does it. The constraint on my business wasn’t the lack of good ideas or cash — I have plenty of ideas and I could always find somebody to lend me money. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Wild Cards Tagged With: human nature, management style, trust

Paying People to Lie

3 October, 2015 by James Lawther 1 Comment

The best way to fill your organisation with liars… Is to set up an incentive scheme.  I guarantee at least two deceptions: The first deceit The lying starts with the debate about the target: What service level can you meet? What can you shave off your budget? How much extra can you sell? 10%? 20%? 30%? If someone has a bonus […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: employee performance measures, human nature, incentives, motivation, performance management, targets, video

Rule 19: Look after the Workforce

6 September, 2015 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Dear Karma I have a list of people you missed

You don’t understand the work You might think you have a tight grip of how your operation is working… but you just don’t.  How can you?  You spend your days in meetings.  Picking up actions to write PowerPoints you can present at more meetings.  You are rarely in the workplace. The workforce understand the work […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: employee recognition, gemba, human nature, leadership

The Potato King

12 April, 2015 by James Lawther 6 Comments

behaviour change and the potato

They were dying of hunger In 18th Century Prussia bread was expensive, people were malnourished and famine wasn’t uncommon. The King at the time was Frederick the Great. He was wise enough to realise that unfed subjects were not a good thing — it is hard to run a kingdom effectively if people keep dying of starvation — […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: human nature, leadership, political will, reinforcing behaviour

Strengths and Weaknesses

12 February, 2015 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Harry was not a well man He was in a terrible state of health.  Cancer had eaten away at his digestive tract, it was so bad that surgeons had removed three-quarters of his stomach. He was constantly in and out of hospital, surviving on a diet of caffeine, nicotine and blood transfusions. A friend’s daughter […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, continuous improvement, human nature, learning, management style, performance management, reinforcing behaviour, World War 2

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