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The Antimatter Principle

16 April, 2016 by Bob Marshall 7 Comments

Antimatter

A metaphor Antimatter is by far the most valuable substance, by weight, known to Man (around $25 billion per gram). It’s incredibly rare, amazingly expensive and difficult to produce, and yet is by far the most powerful energy source we presently know of. It’s also the very epitome of alienness. Seems like a good metaphor […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: communication, human nature, listening, management style

Corporate Cancer

10 April, 2016 by James Lawther 2 Comments

anxiety

Fear and anxiety We have all heard of a “culture of fear”, but does fear really exist in our organisations? Fear Fear is a physical response danger, a reaction to an immediate issue that threatens your safety and security.  It is fear that overcomes you when you are walking home late at night, all by yourself […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: blame, command and control, fear and anxiety, human nature, incentives, management style, performance management, systems thinking

SMART Goals, VAGUE Dreams

25 March, 2016 by Tobias Mayer 7 Comments

Dreams

SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Nothing apparently unreasonable there. And yet this whole approach jars. It feels very controlling, very blinkered, and very task-oriented. It is a method that allows managers to “objectively” assess their direct reports, and grade them accordingly, so finds great popularity with HR departments and the mindset prevalent in […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, human nature, management style, objective setting, SMART goals

Open Cultures: Do They Create Mistakes?

5 March, 2016 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Making mistakes

Open cultures A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the sound of silence.  I claimed that in the best run workplaces bosses are open to discussions about problems.  They have a “no blame culture“. Fact or theory? Is there any data to support my claim? Or was I just running my mouth off? — Heaven […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: culture, management style, medicine

The Sound of Silence

21 February, 2016 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Sound of Silence

The worst thing a boss can hear is silence Silence from the shop floor. The sound of people who see things going wrong but then don’t speak up. People who don’t speak up because: They are scared of the repercussions They worry what people will say They don’t want to get labelled as being part of […]

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

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