Nearly half a century ago Laurence J. Peter published his seminal work on selection and promotion, “The Peter Principle”. In this satirical look at why things go wrong in businesses, he argued that the selection of…
In a recent young managers program the “eureka” moment came when, following a young manager’s “Maybe I’m not cut out for this job” statement, I shared the “Conscious Competence model”.
Most of my working life I have worked independently in or with small organisations, where training has often been on the job and learning by doing (the “70%”), or learning from and copying colleagues (the “20%”) And to be clear I’m not complaining –I’ve worked with and learnt from a long list of inspiring individuals. […]
When writing audit reports the “four-eyes principle” can add value. A second set of eyes provides an element of security. The 2nd reader catches looks at the complete audit report with fresh eyes, spots things the report writer may have missed, and picks up on structural, stylistic and language issues. However “red pen mania” (also […]
We all know the dream. You find yourself at school in your pyjamas; you are making a presentation without any clothes – or you go into a negotiation without a BATNA. What is BATNA and why do you need one when preparing to negotiate? If there is just one thing where the Harvard Negotiation Project […]
A study in Europe, the US and Brazil revealed that 67% of employees avoided colleagues due to bad feelings lingering from conflicts and that 27% of employees have witnessed workplace conflicts turning into personal attacks. Over the years working with project managers on resolving conflicts, I’ve developed simple and practical approach to handling conflicts at […]
We all know the feeling. You come out of a meeting, negotiation or a conflict discussion with a difficult team member, and say to yourself, “If I had only said or done this.” Or “Was I too hard on my report?” For whatever reason, you aren’t asserting yourself and addressing the issue. What do we […]
A few weeks ago I was chatting to a purchaser who worked in the automotive industry. The conversation drifted to the topic of negotiating and we began to compare countries and styles. The purchaser, a Norwegian, said half in jest but seriously enough, “You English cannot handle silence”. As a full-blooded Brit I can only […]
Internal audit reports – a waste of time? Free Download After a cursory glance at recent headlines on FIFA, IAAF and VW you might be forgiven for thinking internal auditing and corporate governance have failed spectacularly. On the assumption that all these organisations have a functioning internal audit system in place, I can only assume […]
