Monthly Archives: June 2007

Smoking ban in force next week

By the time we go back to work on Monday, the smoking ban will be in force. I would be willing to bet that many employers are still totally unprepared for it. A lot people just haven’t thought it through. For example, do lorries, … Continue reading

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Get to know my team? But they scare the hell out of me.

The Times had a whole section on Talent Management yesterday (H/T: Stumbling and Mumbling). There’s some interesting stuff in there but this piece on managing teams caught my eye. Its basic message is that to manage your team members effectively, … Continue reading

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Lemon Dropping

I heard this term yesterday and it made me laugh out loud. Lemon-Dropping is the opposite of Cherry-Picking. It usually takes place when an organisation is outsourcing some of its processes to another provider, or where one provider is taking … Continue reading

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The private sector likes using consultants too

The Public Accounts Committee has released its report on the public sector’s use of consultants. It gives a figure of £2.8 billion for the total spending in 2005-06. That includes central government, the NHS and local authorities. Here are some of the … Continue reading

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Why are there so many consultants working in the public sector?

The Observer’s Nick Cohen has been having a go at management consultants again. He is particularly resentful about what he describes as their plundering of the public sector, claiming that government spending on management consultants is now running at around £2 billion a year. … Continue reading

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Ding Dong the Witch is dead….

…well, booted off the Apprentice and fired from her day job, anyway. Katie Hopkins has been given the push from her job at the Met Office, for failing her probationary period. Her former employer has also denied that she was earning … Continue reading

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Motivational e-mails – not a good idea

I’m sure David Greer of Royal Dutch Shell is paid a lot of money for what he does but I can’t help feeling just a bit sorry for him. After his crass e-mail to his team was circulated on the internet, it … Continue reading

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Another branding disaster

The new London 2012 Olympics logo is already almost unanimously hated. People just don’t get it. OK, so the logo has to look fresh and leading edge in five years time. Sure, design should challenge assumptions and get people thinking. … Continue reading

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Shift Happens

This video is full of those “Oh Shit!” factoids. . It was made by high school teacher Karl Fisch. If you scroll down his post, he explains the figures quoted and gives sources for some of it. What he doesn’t … Continue reading

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