development

I know it’s not the same thing but there are a lot of parallels between today’s political machinations and the challenges faced by the suffragettes: disenfranchisement of a large part of the population, a feeling of unfairness, not being listened to and a string of simplistic solutions to very complicated problems.  I see this because … Continue reading Suffragettes

The room for improvement will soon be no more.  Its time has passed.  It is over two and a half years now since I gave up my office and my desk and opened up the room as a general meeting space.  I named it the room for improvement for a bit of a laugh.  It … Continue reading RFI – RIP

Some days it’s hard to describe what I actually do.  I come home feeling very tired so I must be doing something.  I was chatting to Simon from the Federation of Small Businesses about that very thing.  We were at the (fantastic) Dynamo 16 conference.  We bump into each other quite often. We both do … Continue reading A pot stirrer

My old boss once told me that he hated clock watchers.  It was a long time ago and the memory has stuck with me.  The inference was clear.  He wanted people who stuck with the job through thick and thin, who started early and worked late and would see things through.  He hated those people … Continue reading Clock watchers

Trust is not a control.  That is what I have been told.  You can’t measure trust, you can’t hold someone to account on the back of it and perhaps you can’t even describe it.  Trust is a funny thing, hard earned and easily lost.  It’s something we all think we understand but is an intangible … Continue reading Trust is not a control

Mark and I were having a conversation about resilience and how people can make it through austerity intact and fit for an as yet unknown future.  Somehow as a workforce, we must be ready for all possible futures yet at present there seems to be more uncertainty than ever.  He told me how he was … Continue reading A boredom index

How do I create more time at work?  My diary always seems to be full though this is mostly my fault.  I tell myself that there are some things that I must attend and there are others that I would like to.  The truth is though that if I wasn’t there life would still carry … Continue reading More time at work

  Is there really a skills shortage?  I’m not so sure.  I here this so often in more or less every place I go.  It must be true then yet still I’m not so sure.  Aren’t all skills in a dynamic?  It is a very fine balance between having too few skilled people and too … Continue reading Is there really a skills shortage?