Customer Service: to care or NOT to care?

HAPPY NEW YEAR. We recently decided on a massive home and office move. Every time we move, I swear I’ll never do it again and 7 years later I forget and we do it all over again! This move was from a house we had designed and built ourselves to a new build. The difference between the 2 dwellings was … Read More

When work isn’t working any longer for your workers

In my last newsletter I shared some recent McKinsey Research: One third of workers are leaving jobs without another job in the offing Workers are now in a position to demand better wages and conditions If you’re not looking after your workers, someone else will. And I asked the question is: CAN YOUR BUSINESS FUNCTION WITHOUT STAFF? My first webinar … Read More

Have skin in the game when Consulting

I was invited to take part in a podcast for consultants by the lovely Julius Bloem of Consultx. He had found my book ‘My Dear Franchisees’ on Amazon and was curious to learn how I’d gone from being an HR Consultant specialising in working with high performing teams, to a Franchisor. This is the sad/hilarious story. Quotes: “The only thing … Read More

Understanding the danger of Scapegoating

I’ve worked with numerous teams over the years where team members were absolutely sure that if Jack left, the team would function marvellously. So Jack is hounded out and for a couple of weeks all is well and then lo and behold, people realise Jack wasn’t the problem at all because the problems they were blaming him for still exist. When … Read More

Leaders: Your future is leaving clues

If a company or country is quite happy with the status quo, then a leader isn’t actually required. The person needed in such a situation is actually a ‘maintainer’. The problem with wanting to stay in one place is that it’s actually impossible. If internal forces don’t cause a business or country to change, external forces surely will. Having worked … Read More

Leaders: Denial is absolutely not a river in Egypt

Three weeks into the leadership handover in America, it’s hard to ignore the different styles; standards and objectives. I was so concerned the day I watched one of those leaders elect to run for office that I decided to condense what I believe are 50 lessons anyone wanting a leadership role, needs to be aware of. I covered Lessons 1-10 … Read More

Leaders: know yourself: know your limits: respect the boundaries

Over the years we’ve been encouraged to ‘go beyond’, to ‘break down barriers’ to ‘never take no for an answer’. On occasion, this is exceptional advice, otherwise how would new inventions be launched and/or new thinking emerge? HOWEVER – some norms and boundaries and laws are in place for a reason.  Imagine what would happen if there were no road rules, picture … Read More

2020 – A giant whack on the side of the head?

2020 was the unqualified year from hell – hands down, but if you are reading this, you’re still alive and hopefully you were able to find some sweet spots in the midst of all the confusion and misery.   I’ve written the following questions to help you review the year and encourage you to start thinking about 2021. We all … Read More

The difference between a group, a team, a faction and a cult

Having spent over 30 years working with high performing teams some of my greatest learnings were that: Not every situation requires a team: and that’s OK Not all people are team players: and that’s OK When a key person leaves a functioning team, it takes time to rebuild the team: that’s normal Remote teams can end up creating very different … Read More