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Who Knows Best?

17 December, 2018 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Learning from others In the 4th century B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus wrote “The Histories”, an account of the Greco-Persian wars.  It was the first time anybody had documented events from existing records. So it earned Herodotus the title “The Father of History”. In it he recounts a story about Darius the Great, King of […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: beliefs, culture, group think, human nature, innovation, learning

Taking the Sting out of Failure

2 December, 2018 by James Lawther 2 Comments

The failure A couple of years ago I had a workplace nightmare.  I was pushing a big initiative and I needed it to be a success.  I had my boss’s boss on my back and the project was going belly up.  It was all very unpleasant. There were a few rays of light.  A couple […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: Aviation Safety Reporting System, blame, culture, human nature, trust

Efficiency or Productivity

24 November, 2018 by James Lawther 6 Comments

Efficiency versus Productivity

Which is better? Should you be more efficient or more productive? On the face of it they sound like very similar things, so does it matter which you strive to be? Efficiency is the amount of input you use to produce a standard level of output.  If you become more efficient you do the same […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: cost saving, human nature, office productivity, waste

Everybody Cheats

15 October, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Everybody Cheats

Who can you trust? When I was a small boy, the most exciting thing in the world was a day trip to London with my father.  I was brought up in a field in deepest Yorkshire.  The big smoke was amazing.  It had museums, skyscrapers, underground trains, toy shops, galleries and ice cream.  Best of […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: cheating, human nature, incentives, measurement, performance management, reinforcing behaviour, targets, trust

To Be or To Do

25 September, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

A talented man John Richard Boyd was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Airforce.  He served in World War Two, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a more than capable pilot.  He attended the most prestigious fighter pilot school in the U.S.  He graduated top of his class and was asked to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: authenticity, credibility, human nature, integrity, John Boyd, management style, pride in the job

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