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Blog
A hard look at soft skills 
  There is nothing “ soft” about a police interrogation in Line of Duty. It’s intense and systematic . There is no shouting, verbal abuse or threats of violence. The aim is to get the...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  15 Mar 2022
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Blog
How to survive  in a ruthless organisation 
A successful financial planner finds that his business partner has been doing the books for a Mexican drug cartel. What’s more he has been skimming off the top to fund an extravagant...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  22 Feb 2022
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Blog
The Borg don’t do Diversity
  In Star Trek when the Enterprise first encounters the Borg they announce themselves with the now infamous phrase   “  We are the Borg,  resistance is futile , you will be assimilated.”   Is ...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  18 Feb 2022
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Blog
Another reorganisation, another major change initiative 
Those made redundant , relocated or required to apply for their own job  have long suspected that leaders of organisations are often guilty of change for change sake. The new chief executive...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  15 Feb 2022
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Blog
Near Miss Campaign – What’s it all about?
Jacqui McPeake of Jacs Ltd and Caroline Benjamin of Food Allergy Aware have collaborated as Hospitality Allergen Support UK to highlight Near Miss Reporting as a potential RISK for a more...
By: 
Caroline Benjamin
Last updated:  11 Feb 2022
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Blog
 Lack of career obstacles for the incompetent and over confident.
The best way to smash  the glass ceiling, the most effective way of getting  a diverse senior management team and how to ensure managers have good people skills.    Organisations...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  09 Feb 2022
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Blog
Should I stay or……..?
Even if your employees think the organisation stinks , senior management are incompetent idiots  and the work life balance is all wrong they will stay longer if they feel their line manager...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  30 Jan 2022
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Blog
Managers you want to do well for.
I consider my self to be very self motivated when it comes to work. Even if I had lost faith in the organisation and fallen out with my line manager my professionalism would not allow me to...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  20 Jan 2022
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Blog
Survival of the friendliest 
As we know it’s not the fastest, the strongest or the cleverest that survive but the friendliest. Admittedly in reference to evolution it’s survival of the fittest , those who adapt most...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  10 Jan 2022
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Blog
Probably the best….
Once upon a time management was about managing budgets and people plus possibly but not necessarily buildings and equipment. Information management would be missed off many people’s lists. But...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  10 Jan 2022
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Blog
With a little help from my friends 
I read an article that asked the question, “ Is HR ever your friend?” My first thought was this must be a reflection on how HR’s first loyalty is to the organisation despite presenting...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  10 Jan 2022
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Blog
The Understanding manager
You can make tough decisions when required. Just because you’re understanding and supportive that doesn’t make you soft.    Everyone wants a supportive manager some one who recognises your ...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  31 Dec 2021
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Blog
“Brain surgery…. It’s not exactly rocket science is it?”
A recent study ( published in the festive edition of BMJ) to decide who is the brainiest, neurosurgeons or aerospace engineers has found that neither are necessarily brighter than the rest of...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  02 Apr 2022
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Blog
Succession 
He has been the leader of the council for 15 years. During that time the council’s has acquired a national profile and come to dominate the region. The first to embrace out sourcing. The...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  13 Dec 2021
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Blog
The Ketchup Wars  
There are two types of senior manager those who believe success is built on long hours, dedication and hard work ,sacrifice and those who think the best results come when people feel valued,...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  08 Dec 2021
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Blog
Domination and Cooperation
Hundreds of years into the future humans have colonised the solar system. Earth and the Moon are in a state of cold war with the much bigger and far more prosperous Mars. Further out lie...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  24 Feb 2022
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Blog
Now? 
When the chief Executive takes the trouble to call you in to tell you what a good job you and your team did you should just accept the praise shouldn’t you?  You might say it’s all down to...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  01 Dec 2021
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Blog
The Peppa Pig speech 
The PM’s recent disastrous speech to business leaders reminded me of this piece I wrote a few years ago. You don’t think he read it do you? Being a bit of a comedian  I like a number of my...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  24 Nov 2021
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Blog
You can play without a centre forward but not a goalkeeper 
I can imagine the conversation, a cross party working group has been set up to identify the best process for filling the recently vacated chief executive post. The leader assumed that this...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  24 Nov 2021
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Blog
We Love Quizzes
  Saturday evening watching television and I was surprised at the number of quiz shows being broadcast. Clearly we are a nation of quizzers. Try as you might it is impossible not to shoutout...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  19 Nov 2021
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Blog
How many is too many ?
When it comes to HR trends where the US leads we tend to take notice. So a recent article that drew attention to the increased use of multiple interviews peaked my interest. It appears  some...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  17 Nov 2021
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Blog
MEDMI - The Medical and Environmental Data Mash-up Infrastructure project
Becky Gudka, a medical student from Exeter University, has interviewed creators and users of MEDMI, the Medical and Environmental Data Mash-up Infrastructure project and created an insightful...
By: 
Neelam Iqbal
Last updated:  22 Jun 2022
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Blog
How decisions are made
A week before her first A level,  arrangements for sitting the exam were changed by the school. Just a minor change. The start time was moved forward half an hour along side a reminder that all...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  11 Nov 2021
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Blog
Jabs or Jobs 
What’s the best way to stoke up opposition and resentment? Answer tell employees they have no choice they either comply or lose their job. I have noted an increasingly autocratic approach to...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  09 Nov 2021
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Blog
Walter wasn’t a great player but he was an outstanding manager 
These days everyone wants a good review. Tell us how well we have done. But if the feedback is less than glowing it may get an angry and hurt response. This is why cautious managers so...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  09 Nov 2021
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Blog
 When management communication is just blah , blah ,blah
  Management involves getting your message across, what you want doing , how you want it doing and by when, your expectations of employees/team members behaviour and attitude, or in senior...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  05 Nov 2021
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Blog
Arsey Attitude
Employees who don’t accept the authority of the boss, providers who think the customer is definitely not king and HR professionals who believe their advice is law.    The conversation wasn’t...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  03 Nov 2021
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Blog
How to recognise a dinosaur
Do you recognise this description ? A large organisation rather complacent about its relationship with customers and employees, performance wise coasting, obsessed with cost cutting,...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  30 Oct 2021
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Blog
How can I help? 
He is a very caring human being, with a good set of professional values . He is a terrible manager.   It’s the mantra of the new chief executive. He starts every conversation and answers...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  30 Oct 2021
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Blog
The Bank Heist
What has an audacious bank robbery got to do with how organisations fail?  The plan is meticulous in its attention to detail. The team have been selected for their knowledge , experience...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  19 Oct 2021
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Blog
The names Bond ,James Bond 
 007 returns, shaken not stirred, updated but still the cool under pressure, man of action leading a life style normally associated with the rich and famous, living it up in top hotels and...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  02 Oct 2021
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Blog
The Lowering of the National Lead Intervention Concentration
Hello all and welcome to the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Community of Practice (CoP) on Knowledge Hub. The work shown in this CoP is managed by the Environmental...
By: 
Neelam Iqbal
Last updated:  28 Sept 2021
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Blog
Subject Access Request Experts 
Hi I am looking for Departmental Subject Access Request experts and wanting to know if you you have any best practices, databases and processes that you use that you are able to share.  If so...
By: 
Nasreen Ayoob
Last updated:  14 Sept 2021
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Blog
Justified 
This is the title of a t.v. show about a US Marshall based in Lexington, Kentucky who was born and grew up in a close knit community in the Appalachian mountains. His unorthodox but Justified...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  14 Sept 2021
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Blog
Inclusive recruitment is not enough
 An inclusive recruitment process is all well and good but the benefits will quickly be lost if the organisation can’t retain these same employees. An inclusive recruitment process is useless...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  06 Sept 2021
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Blog
Waterloo
The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, so the Duke of Wellington is reported to have said on revisiting his old school. A statement that reflected a belief, still held,...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  06 Sept 2021
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Blog
A proportionate response
The sense of injustice was strong. It was unfair. Every body said so. Every one except the manager I complained to and the chief executive who didn’t bother to answer my email. The Sunday...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  15 Feb 2022
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Blog
Have you noticed how often incompetence is rewarded?
It’s the opposite of what you would expect. Instead of penalising employees who regularly mis deadlines and produce poor quality work managers often seem to reward them. Perhaps they raised...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  01 Sept 2021
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Blog
Has the pandemic changed what good leadership looks like
    According to research by a major management consultancy there is evidence of shifts in leadership style and behaviour during the pandemic. This has taken the form of focusing on the short...
By: 
Blair McPherson
Last updated:  30 Aug 2021
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Blog
The Government Guidance Rainbow
Central Government departments are bound in their working practices by various guidance documentation that play an important role in PPM software deployment such as Microsoft Project for the...
By: 
Emma-Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton
Last updated:  25 Aug 2021
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