Archive
on knowing your team
Something that I learned, the hard way as usual, early in my management career was to know my people. I don’t mean that you need a dossier on them, but being aware of what makes them tick and something of their history and hopes gives you something to work on. Read more…
on the leadership line
Around the factory at the moment is a whiff of success; one of the front line team is moving up to be a first line supervisor and a couple of others are taking up middle management roles. It is so good to see people getting on. Read more…
Dad’s Army had it right
Two of the immortal catch phrases from Dad’s Army are Corporal Jones’ “Don’t panic!” and Private Fraser’s “Doomed; we’re all doomed” and when I hear or read the news these days I often think of those characters and the circumstances that they uttered their lines. Read more…
on demotivating people
We all have obsessions and those of us who lead teams may have a few for we are driven people. We like to refer to these foibles as being focussed, having a clear vision or something of that kind, but behind whatever management speak we wrap it up in we are still obsessed.
on getting things done
There are the things that we love to do and then there is everything else, but whatever our job is we have to get done what needs doing.
Planning helps, but as any military person knows your plans ho out of the window on first contact with the enemy. For most of us civilians the enemy will take the form of colleagues, customers and life in general all of whom will be queuing up to screw our best intentions.
What we have to do is to get our heads down and get on with it, doing our best to prioritise our time. If we work alone that is not too hard as long as we stay focussed, but when you are part of a team you need to be thinking about colleagues too. There is little point in sitting back smugly regarding your own success if everyone else is deep in the smelly stuff and your contribution to the team goals should be more important than your own.
So how do you do it? There is a lot of nonsense out there in terms of time management, but the one or two true sets of guidelines. One is the Eisenhower Method, the other is Pareto. I use both and have done for many years, but the key to both, and any other way of working, is being able to overcome procrastination.
If you dither nothing will get done, so work out what needs doing and get it done. No matter how hard it is or how much you loathe doing it, once it is done you can move on and most of the time you will better for having done it.
on consequences
I had been watching a documentary on TV and had become bored enough to have picked up my tablet and started checking emails by the time that the programme ended. I was so engrossed that I did not realise that a new programme had begun until some of the dialogue started to prick my hearing. Read more…
on improving the breed
For some years now the concept of continuous improvement has been embedded into management culture. We have had all the Japanese influences, lean manufacturing (and then lean everything else, except, perhaps, in management speak where fat is good it would seem), and so there is a general willingness to work towards improving product and process. Some of this is disguised in the throwaway culture we have with cars, white goods and technology where as soon as you have bought the latest the next generation is announced, but there is one area where improving the breed seems to be not just overlooked, but is sometimes supressed. Read more…
on making the most of a dodgy boss
The obvious positive that you can take from working for a poor boss is that you can see how not to do it. Learning from your own mistakes and failures is great, but watching others screw up is all very good experience and you can benefit a lot from it, but there is another, often overlooked, plus side to working for a dodgy boss. Read more…
Musings from the facilities front #5
Timing is everything; when you get it right life is good, but the margin between hero and twit can be very small indeed. Luck plays a big part of course, but Lady Luck is a fickle companion and sometimes experience is what you need to avoid landing in the smelly stuff. Read more…
Musings from the facilities front #4
The Case of the Vanishing Bog Roll is not one that you will find amongst the cases of Mr Holmes nor, perhaps, is it likely to crop up as a plot on Midsomer Murders, but it has kept us amused for a day or two and has added to the range of memories I have of this mundane, yet essential, consumable. Read more…
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