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The Elephant in the Office

22 March, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Elephant in a Suit

Silo Thinking In every business, the work flows around the organisation something like this… That is a little simplistic, as the work can ebb, flow and go back on itself. It may also be that your organisation employs underwriters, data specialists or doctors, but the principal points are the same. Work flows around the organisation […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: cooperation, cross-functional processes, efficiency versus effectiveness, ignorance, poor service, silo management, systems thinking, waste

A Culture of Fear, Intimidation and Retaliation

21 September, 2017 by James Lawther 8 Comments

Nervous Teacher

The scandal In 2011, a state report to the Governor’s office in Georgia claimed that there was “organised and systemic misconduct” in 44 of Atlanta’s 56 schools.  2 years later 35 teachers, head teachers and administrative staff were brought to trial and charged with racketeering and other offences. The smoking gun The accusations revolved around […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: command and control, conformity, data is not information, fear and anxiety, Goodhart's law, key performance indicators, performance management, political intervention, poor service, targets

Short-Term Management

26 October, 2015 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Short Term Thinking

The curse of short-termism We focus on the immediate future:  The stock market obsesses about interim returns Politicians like to see instant results Managers must hit quarterly targets  We rarely look beyond the next 6 months. It is easy to hit a short-term target It doesn’t take too much talent or imagination: If you have to cut […]

Filed Under: Blog, Wild Cards Tagged With: management style, poor service, short term thinking, systems thinking, targets

Lessons From The Corner Shop

17 March, 2012 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Customer service in the corner shop

Yesterday I went into a corner shop to buy a newspaper.  The woman standing at the counter was muti tasking, talking on her mobile phone whilst, at the same time, chewing gum.  When I went to pay she didn’t look me in the eye, she just stuck out her hand and took my money She […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: cost of poor quality, customer focus, poor service

El Torro

25 October, 2011 by James Lawther 3 Comments

3 Customer Service

The Holiday I was on holiday in Spain, watching the sun rise into a cloudless sky. I had bought my lap top and my 3 pay as you go mobile dongle with me.  I even had the sense to put £20 credit on it before I left home. I got up early to do some […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: communication, motivation, poor service, trust

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