Tag Archives: Performance Management
Getting the best out of our people (Top 10 Business Challenges)
In a survey conducted by the Insights Group, top companies considered that getting the best out of their people was one of their key issues. So how do you do this? Insights Discovery uses a four colour model, comprised of Cool Blue, Fiery Red, Earth Green and Sunshine Yellow energies, to describe people’s strengths, styles and team contributions. Everyone has all four energies, although no one is strong in all four, and the unique combination of these helps to determine why we think each and behave the way we do. It is important that you set clear directional goals for your business and that your employees all know and understand what these are and how you want them to be achieved. Employees that can see the bigger picture and have an understanding of where they fit within this are likely …
Increasing agility (Top 10 Business Challenges)
Following consultation with a number of top companies, the Insights Group recognised that increasing agility was one of the top ten problems they faced. Insights Discovery uses a four colour model, comprised of Cool Blue, Fiery Red, Earth Green and Sunshine Yellow energies, to describe people’s strengths, styles and team contributions. Everyone has all four energies, although no one is strong in all four, and the unique combination of these helps to determine why we think each and behave the way we do. Universities Human Resources defines organisational agility as the ability to manage continuous, rapid and sustainable change. In an article published in McKinsey Quarterly, Aghina, De Smet, and Weerda suggest that an agilecompany is both stable and dynamic. While this may seem like an irreconcilable paradox, these two elements are both essential to creating an agile business. A …
Choosing my crew carefully
As much as we would all love to be good at everything in life, success often depends on realising that we are not! When boat sailing my small cruising catamaran, I often take to the water with those who possess additional skills or knowledge that I am sorely deficient in. It’s not the main reason I take them with me, but it helps! My younger son, a marine engineer, has an ability to analyse a practical challenge, identify the problem and then fix it. And we’re both happy to laugh at my ability to defer the difficult jobs until he arrives. Mike, my crew for a weekend back in June, is retired and has a love of all things mechanical. Tom, an equally-experienced sailor, is a semi-retired engineer and possible part-time contortionist who can turn his hand to most things; …
Book Review: It’s Your Ship
My brother, who works for a global and well known computer components company lent me his copy of It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, by former US Navy Captain D Michael Abrashoff. The book contains practical lessons from his experience of transforming the USS Benfold, previously one of the worst performing ships in the US Navy. His management techniques provide a unique collection of best practice, which can be used with as much success in the business world as they have had in the military. As a read, I found it easy, practical, entertaining, although at times with a little too much focussed on the one ship example. It’s not a weighty management tome, rather a fast moving motivating book to challenge managers at all levels on how to invest in top down …
