Imagine a bucket with a hole in the bottom. That’s how we manage the jobs that we get within the service, or calls as we refer to them, using a leaky bucket. It could be a shiny read bucket with a strong wire handle and comfortable wooden grip or an old galvanised bucket with a … Continue reading A leaky bucket
Channel shift – it has to be more than just about money
I’ve been to a conference on channel shift, encouraging your customers to move to different forms of interaction with your organisation. It was good, perhaps not worth the five hour train ride but you always pick up something interesting from these events. Lunch was nice too. But my gripe was that speaker after speaker talked … Continue reading Channel shift – it has to be more than just about money
Colchester General Hospital targets improvement
Once again another hospital finds itself in the news because of its target driven culture. This time it is Colchester General Hospital and follows an inspection by the Care Quality Commission which found inaccuracies in recorded cancer waiting time data at the hospital. The manipulation of data to give the impression that targets were being … Continue reading Colchester General Hospital targets improvement
Give me the keys that unlock people
Everybody has a key that can unlock them. Most have more than one and they are someone that they trust. It could be a member of their family, their partner or their mother perhaps. It could be a colleague at work or a close friend. It could be an upstanding member of society like a … Continue reading Give me the keys that unlock people
Feelings trump facts
I have been an admirer of Dr Edward de Bono’s work for a long time. I have read many of his books which are always stimulating; in fact I’m just about to finish ‘I’m right, you’re wrong.’ His ‘Six thinking hats’ is one of the books that has had the greatest influence upon me and … Continue reading Feelings trump facts
Don’t decide day
Leaders and managers of the world, unite with me in celebrating Don’t Decide Day! It must have been about twenty five years ago when I was sitting in my office doing – well I forget what I was doing. It was a nice office though, a sort of S shape with my desk in one … Continue reading Don’t decide day
Hawkeye
Sunday 11th August and the third day of the ashes test is well underway at the Riverside ground in Chester-Le-Street. Australia’s first innings is close to the end. Anderson takes a run up and bowls. The ball bounces and strikes Lyon on the pad. The England team turn to the umpire, raise their hands in … Continue reading Hawkeye
Lunch time
I was once telling to a friend of mine how I had great difficult y in explaining to colleagues about some issues that I was having to deal with and how they could be affected. I was finding it hard to get my point across and speak to them in a way that meant something … Continue reading Lunch time
Management decisions
The traditional approach to management is that it is there to make decisions and to control the output of the work force. Information flows up the hierarchical tree and the results of the decision making process flow back down to the people who carry out the tasks. At the same time it is usual for … Continue reading Management decisions
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 