Have you ever been to a carnival? Or a fair? There was nothing better as a kid at a carnival on a hot day, than an ice cream. Wouldn’t you agree? Well, I went to a carnival at the weekend with the kids and we were having a great time. I promised the kids an ice cream (as you do). The day was marching on as we wandered around looking at all the stalls andRead More
Cats. They’ve got their own way of doing things, haven’t they?! It’s their way or no way really and if that doesn’t fit with how you want to do it then tough, they don’t care. Some people can be like that too. They’ve almost ‘gone feral’. In fact, teams can get like that as well when they don’t have clear leadership. Leaders sometimes get stuck in one kind of style and fail to ‘flex’ toRead More
If you are anything like me, you will often find yourself with quite a lot to do (that’s an understatement), and when you are busy it is sometimes difficult to prioritise isn’t it? There is more than ever to do in the current climate, and budgets are stretched – whether you are in the public or private sector. We need more for less, and so do our clients. There is more pressure to make aRead More
Once upon a time, a long time ago in another galaxy far, far away, I worked for a company which thought it was really going places. In fact, we all did to start with. It had invested in a huge swanky new production facility and HQ offices somewhere north of the M3 and had created new logos and branding and it was all very fantastic. We were treated to hotel stays when we went forRead More
I was talking to someone today and it reminded me of a client I was working with recently who had a big problem with one of her team leaders, who just wasn’t getting done what she needed him to. His role was customer services team leader and the main focus of his role was to reduce the number of calls from unhappy or confused customers. Seems like a no brainer right? You make sure youRead More
Like the rest of the civilised world, I’m left appalled and horrified by the happenings in London over the last few hours. I saw the news coming in not long after 10pm last night and just couldn’t sleep with the horror of it all. I kept looking at the newsfeeds until well past 3am when exhaustion finally hit me and I slept fitfully for about 5 hours. I have friends and family who live andRead More
Sometimes, people can quit their jobs not because of the workload or the paycheck that they receive. Most of the time, it is because of their work environment. And this is down to their manager. A good friend of mine runs a recruitment agency and her experience over the last 20 years is that there are 3 main reasons and 3 main time periods that people leave their job, and I agree with her. IfRead More
BIG CONFESSION. I admit it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Oh, alright. Not just a bit….. I love getting something to be ‘just so’. It gives me a huge sense of satisfaction to produce something that I’m proud of. When I study, I have this tendency to not be interested in the mark that I got for a piece of work (generally good) but focus on the marks that I didn’t get and why.Read More
Last weekend we took advantage of the weather and held a Barbeque. I know – we were taking our chances but actually it was OK. We had friends round and friends children and one of the little boys kept going back for more, which was fine ….until it wasn’t. Around 9pm we had a rather green looking 9 year old. You see, he had too much of a good thing – meringue and cream andRead More
…….or the 7th hole of the golf course’. It’s great to reap the rewards of all that hard work isn’t it? For some it’s lovely holidays, gorgeous houses, fast cars; enjoying those activities that we’ve not been able to afford or enjoy when we were toiling with our noses to the grindstone for very long hours. And ’of course’ we are still working hard, aren’t we? Probably we are…but possibly we aren’t working in theRead More