You know what’s not on an org chart? People. Odd that, isn’t it? I mean, isn’t that the point of an org chart, to show where people fit in the organisation? Actually, no. What is on the org chart is the boxes that the people fit into. The roles, the positions, the grades and the […] Read More…
This is a famous painting by Renee Magritte of a pipe, that carries the legend ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ (This is not a pipe). Well, it’s not, it’s a painting of a pipe. In fact, it’s a painting of a thing we call ‘a pipe’. The thing is what we put tobacco in and […] Read More…
It’s been apparent for a while now that the structure of many organisations is one of the causes of the disfunctionality and toxicity that seems to characterise the workplace today. These structures are essentially the same as the ones created during the industrial revolution, designed to meet the needs of the machine age. It doesn’t […] Read More…
Leaders and managers are often encouraged to practice ‘active listening’ in order to build their emotional intelligence, get a greater understanding the people they are working with and be better at leading and managing them. It’s a key part of coaching, too, which is something else leaders and managers are being encouraged to do. The […] Read More…
Sometimes you hear something that is so obvious you wonder what planet you’ve been on all your life not to have realised this yourself. I recently read an interview with Professor Jochen Menges, in which he talked about this thing he has called ‘Emotional Diversity’. As he explained it, “ ‘Happy’ means different things to […] Read More…
I’ve never been on a Leadership course so I have just made it up as I went along. I never really aspired to be a ‘leader’, I wasn’t that interested in climbing the greasy pole, I just wanted to get things done and make stuff happen. I found out very quickly that you need to […] Read More…
The fatuousness of Dominic Raab’s argument in the Newsnight item that I talked about in my last blog was at least matched by the disingenuity of Mervyn King, retired Governor of the Bank of England, later in the same item when he said that he was now ‘part of the gig economy’. Yeah, right, Merv. […] Read More…
We know that business life has got more demanding in recent years, as the pace of change gets ever greater and traditional models are disrupted. Companies need to be more agile, flexible, dynamic, responsive, creative, innovative and resilient to survive and grow. They often look to startups, where they perceive the qualities exist, and try […] Read More…
I am very excited by the idea of self-managing organisations. The evidence is that they are more successful, more profitable, more innovative, more adaptable, more resilient than conventionally-structured ones. They are happier, more creative places for people to work and people have higher levels of engagement, a greater sense of belonging and purpose and higher […] Read More…
If you’ve ever worked in a cubicle farm, surrounded by beige and grey, starved of daylight and penned in like sheep, you’ll know that office design has an impact of how you feel and how you work. Now, Herman Miller, who hosted the excellent workshop “The Art and Science of Wellbeing” that I wrote about […] Read More…