A Gentler Route to Approaching a Poor Performance Conversation

30 / 10 / 2019

One of the tasks that many managers dread is telling a team member that they’re under-performing. They don’t want to upset the under-performing team member, other team members and don’t want to be seen as the bad guy. They hate it so much that they often just don’t do it, to the long-term detriment of the team and the team’s productivity. It’s a very common problem.

Offering Sabbaticals

23 / 10 / 2019

Time off from work is a precious benefit and highly valued by employees. Some organisations go a step further and offer extra time off from the working life – a sort of mid-life gap year - and these have come to be known as sabbaticals.

How to Stimulate Intellectual Curiosity in Yourself and Your Team

16 / 10 / 2019

Most children are insatiably curious about their world. When they start talking and sticking their fingers into everything they can, they ask streams of questions about everything and anything. As a child my youngest brother was fished out of every river and harbour in the south of the UK. He liked to personally experience things …. The other brother left a trail of disembowelled and reconstructed alarm clocks and other mechanical items in his wa...

Help Your Team Become More Time Affluent

09 / 10 / 2019

Despite the perception that people today work longer hours, research suggests that most of us have more discretionary time than ever before. So why is it that we all feel so short of time? It’s not how much “free time” away from work or other obligations we have that matters to our psychological and physical health. It’s the amount of control we perceive over our own time.

Bug Off!

02 / 10 / 2019

October – season of mellow mists, fruitfulness and flu jabs. I’ve just had mine. It won’t be long before the winter flu bugs are back in full force, so this week there’s a reminder of how to reduce your risk of picking up a miserable little lurgy at work.