Blog

A redundancy situation is always a difficult time for any organisation. And to make the situation easier and fairer many companies offer voluntary redundancy to enable staff to select themselves for leaving. However, how do you ensure that the right people select themselves for redundancy rather than the good people you would regret leaving? Some would say that is not possible. But actually it is. In the words of one of my clients, ‘Sue, redundancy is hard, but the right people have gone!’ And she attributed this success to the training I had…continue reading →

Perfectionists difficult?  Oh yes!!  You would think that someone with high standards would be good to have in the business but actually they can create a lot of problems for themselves and for you. Perfectionists are ‘made’ by people NOT allowing natural mistakes to happen, stepping over successes and constantly demanding the very best.  The classic is the parent who says ‘92% in your maths exam?  What happened to the missing 8%?’ Perfectionism can show up in a number of negative ways.   Some perfectionists can appear as busy bodies, needing to know…continue reading →

Last week’s blog gave a simple top tip for recruitment and this week it is another  -  taking up references! This is so often forgotten but can easily come back and bite!  Remember some people are very good at interviews and, sadly, turn out to not be so good at the job.  The very worst story I have heard was of someone who was basically operating a scam against companies.  What he did was select well-known companies, succeed at interview, pass probation and then begin to play up.  When managers started speaking to…continue reading →

Why am I writing about recruitment when the main bulk of my work is about performance managing staff and moving them out of the organisation if necessary?  It is because get recruitment right and performance management is easy and staff headaches don’t happen! I was reminded of this when I spoke to a Director of a Grade 1 College (Grade 1 being the top grade for a College, which takes some doing).  I asked if he had problems with his managers managing their staff and having those tough conversations.  He said ‘No.  We…continue reading →

This week, 12th – 18th May 2014, is Mental Health Awareness week so I though it appropriate to grasp the nettle, talk about the elephant in the room and write a blog about managing mental health in the workplace. One in four of us in our lifetimes will suffer from some form of mental health issue.  And each person’s illness will be unique to them, which is one of the reasons why mental health is so difficult to manage. What can you do as a manager if you feel someone in your team…continue reading →

Find the Key Issue Planning and undertaking a feedback conversation is a big investment of time and effort on your behalf as a manager. Unfortunately, many managers waste all that well meant effort by feeding back on the first issues that come to mind rather than identifying the key underlying issue. For example, I was in discussion with a participant at a workshop when she said ‘It won’t make any difference what I say as everything I say goes in one ear and then out the other!’ In this case she was preparing…continue reading →

You have been promoted!  Congratulations.  But it can feel difficult if you are now managing people who used to be your colleagues and who you consider to be your friends. The first thing that is different is that you can’t discuss everything with your ex-colleagues any more, part of being a manager is thinking about and considering actions that need to remain confidential until decided.  And you can’t complain about things with them anymore either, and certainly not about how management can get things wrong!  So it is important that you find a…continue reading →

This is more of a personal blog.  An acquaintance, who I have I come to know through her blogs, is facing an aggressive form of cancer.  It is serious, she is in hospital and she is only 36. Over the last couple of months, as I have been reading her blogs of all the treatments she has undertaken and her hopes for the future, I have been reminded once again of just how precious our lives are. We treat money as if it is limited.  We chase it, we count it, we worry…continue reading →

We know those members to staff.  They have been in the company for years and complain about everything.  You wonder why they stay and wish you could just boldly say ‘If you hate it that much, leave!’ It is a problem that some people DO stay in a job they hate.  They do this out of habit, fear (what else is out there for them?) or because they have been raised in a house where their parents hated and complain about their jobs so this is what you do, right? Well Amazon in…continue reading →

As a manager you should know as this as it is the powerhouse of an individual.  There will be a reason why they are doing the job that they doing and the more aware they, and you, are of that reason the more enjoyment they will get from their work and the more commitment you will gain.  Win, win. Most of us think that we ‘fell’ into our current role.  To a certain extent that true but actually hidden motivators were at work.  We naturally turned away from job roles that did not…continue reading →