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Knowing versus researching: but which is right
Written by John Berry on 14th January 2020.0
5 min read
To many, management is about making quick decisions delivered forcefully. The epitome is the super-experienced alpha male barking orders. If this were valid, it would need the manager to have a huge repertoire of experience - of every possible situation. But this is just flawed. Managers should be more like researchers, investigating, unearthing, appraising and deciding.
GDPR: Compliance is not really that difficult
Written by Sue Berry on 30th October 2017. Revised 24th December 2019.
13 min read
Over the last year, you will have read many articles about GDPR. Many authors use scare tactics sell audit and other services to readers! Generally the reason why companies are panicking is because now, for the first time maybe, there’s legislation with teeth. Existing health & safety, privacy and employment law can substantially be ignored because unless a firm really transgresses, there’s little repercussion. Even quality management is optional! GDPR can’t be ignored.
The ongoing saga of training evaluation!
Written by John Berry on 27th November 2019.0
5 min read
There’s no doubt: ask any senior manager how he or she would evaluate training and the response will always be given in terms of how the business can now do something it previously couldn’t, or how productivity has been raised. It’s the effect on the business that matters. And yet so often, assessment about training success is made much earlier in the personal development process. Here's how to think about training to realise business outcomes.
New roles in product-based software solutions
Written by John Berry on 27th June 2018. Revised 25th October 2019.
5 min read
Many software development firms pride themselves in being able to tackle almost any software task. They elicit requirements, or build prototypes, and code databases, business logic, algorithms and user interfaces without any particular market or industry focus. Others productise. Over time they standardise and focus. But what new jobs are needed to make this happen?
This blog builds on our previous discussion on the EU Settlement Scheme. It highlights action managers need to take to enable staff to make short-duration visits to EU countries for academic, sales or technical activities. We point out that business trips will need to be planned in the future. It won't just be a case of booking a flight and putting equipment in a suitcase.
We hear bad things about the NHS. We are led to believe that all staff are stressed to blazes and unable to function properly in a broken system. But far from it. My conclusions from my brief period as voyeur are that these guys know how to make a system work. I think industry can learn a lot from the way that hospital staff interact. Here's the story that illustrates how.
