If a Picture says a Thousand Words, then a Movie Says a Million

“If only we were better informed” is a common complaint amongst employees, particularly in larger organisations.

An example of a recent film we produced for Treasury Wine Estates

Similarly managers often complain that their staff don’t seem to be ‘on message’ with the organisation’s products, values and operations….

Two things that are very likely to lead to a spike in staff turnover

The latest CIPD Employee Outlook Survey reports two significant findings that, if not addressed, are very likely to lead to a spike in staff turnover:

1. In the private sector 1 in 5 employees fear that they will loose their jobs (in the public sector it’s as high as1 in 3). Given that 29 million people are currently in employment, this means that many millions of employees are insecure in their jobs and subject to de-motivation and distraction….

The Essence of Leadership

So much has been said, written and thought about leadership that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify what actually makes a good leader.

So when the BBC announced it was dedicating two thirty minute radio shows to the subject, by asking leaders from politics, business and sport what they believe makes a good leader, we had to tune in. Listen again to the programme here:  http://bbc.in/fbhJ5S.

Some of the attributes listed by the leaders interviewed included:…

Lord Sugar, The Apprentice and the cost of staff turnover

While several million people were transfixed as Lord Sugar chose his sixth apprentice at the weekend, it’s worth asking if the ‘world’s toughest job interview’ even works.

Of the five apprentices ‘hired’ so far, none of them currently works with Lord Sugar! Tim Campbell the first apprentice left after two years, Michelle Dewbury lasted only 11 months in the company. The 2007 winner Simon Ambrose resigned to set up his own business, Lee McQueen won the 2008 show only to quit after little more than a year and the 2009 winner Yasmina Siadatan is now a busy new mum….

New Year, New Job – 6 things to keep the right people in your team

Will your team be the same next year?

If you are fortunate to be part of a stable and established team, don’t rest on your laurels. All that effort you’ve put in to team building could be lost within moments of the bells tolling the start of 2011. Here’s why:…

Five Practices That Help Motivate Individuals and Teams

Have you ever thought that some of the same best practices that support individual employee motivation and performance could also apply to teams?

Here are 5 management practices we normally associate with driving individual performance and motivation that I think should be applied to teams:…

Want your staff to be happy? Here are the four components of happiness

There’s been a lot of talk about happiness and general well-being of late.  Here we explore the four components of happiness and ask if busy executives can ever achieve a happy state.

Since becoming the Conservative leader David Cameron has argued that we should be monitoring GWB (General Well Being) alongside GDP (Gross Domestic Product).  This is an idea possibly inspired by the Kingdom of Bhutan’s GNH measure (Gross National Happiness), but Bhutan isn’t facing huge state spending cuts and bailing out neighbouring countries….

5 More Tips for Instant Team Motivation

Our earlier blog “5 Tips for Instant Team Motivation” was so popular that we have put together another with details of 5 more ways to boost productivity and create a great working environment.

So here are the 5 extra routes to raising team morale in an instant:…

The Top 5 Leadership Qualities

The success or failure of a business or team is very dependent on the leader.

What, therefore, are the most important leadership qualities leaders should be aware of if they want their team or organisation to succeed? Here are our suggestions for the top five:…

Five Tips for Instant Team Motivation

With massive cuts announced across government spending this week it’s unlikely that the office Christmas party is top of the management team’s agenda.

So here are five no cost routes to raising team morale in an instant:…