A great article from The Times on the way children are being taught in Estonia. Learning robotics from the age of seven and with teachers using virtual reality to bring geography, chemistry, history and language classes to life – the country is turning pupils into active participants in their education rather than
Imagine you’re in a meeting, and on more than one occasion, a colleague seemingly hijacks your ideas and raises them as their own. You might – quite rightly – feel irritated. In their book, Connect, authors David Bradford and Carole Robin identify this feeling as a ‘pinch’. Those little feelings of
This brilliant article from McKinsey follows on from our recent article on re-recruiting your staff. It highlights the ongoing (and worrying) trend that a record number of employees are quitting or thinking about doing so. More than 19 million US workers—and counting—have quit their jobs since April 2021, a record pace disrupting businesses
I’ve touched on ‘niceness’ before in my Rambling On articles, but I recently read a great article from Timothy Clark for Harvard Business Review which condensed the hazards of a ‘nice’ company culture into the problem, the reason and the cure into one. Well worth reading if you’re concerned your
Everything you need to know about taking on an apprentice through the government Kickstart Scheme. A discussion with Jemma Atkinson from Gradfuel and business leaders.
I’ve called this video between myself and Lyndsey Best of Altair Media ‘Culture and Furlough’ though in truth the ‘lessons’ from our chat can and should be considered regardless of a global pandemic. Lyndsey, as you’ll glean from our conversation, is a contrarian. She freely admits that she likes
Some time ago, I came across an article about a response a seven-year-old had received from Norwich City Football Club. The young fan had written a letter to apologise for not being able to attend her first match and to ask for a refund. A member of the Customer Service
You can tell if a culture war is present by doing a quick test. Is anyone listening, or are they screaming? Does anyone want a solution? Culture war. It’s something that’s entertaining if you like your politics bloody, unserious and superficial, for it does not involve the desire to convince.
This post came about following a conversation with a client of mine who was frustrated that his team were not as enthused as he would like on the usual Monday call. After some discussion, it became obvious that whilst the format of the Monday meeting had been set up (some
If a member of your team came to you and asked for a pay rise, what would your initial reaction be? Would you be happy they felt they could discuss options with you? Would you be open to a discussion about the possibility of more money? Or would you –
