Trouble Ahead – Three Strategies for the 2014 Crunch
Ever since the ancient philosophers, people have complained about tough modern times. It always seems as if the time we live in is the toughest, the future the most uncertain, the past a better place. The truth is that times are almost always quite good, but only for those who keep up with change. The […]
Rewarding Staff when there is No Money
“Reward your Staff”. That’s what all the books say. All very well in theory, but how do you do it when you have no budget for awards or bonuses, and no ability to give valuable gifts? Increasingly, that’s the new reality. And even if you do still have some budget, it’s worth taking a good […]
Surviving the End-of-Year Silliness
Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is coming – and with it, the annual round of office parties and invitations. For some, this is simply a time to enjoy being together outside work. But for many, end- of-year functions are fraught with traps and contradictions. How do you socialize in a human way with people who may […]
Rightsizing, Downsizing, Capsizing
After the bloodletting – now what? Business shrinking? Contracts diminishing? If you’re rightsizing or downsizing your company in this economy, make sure you don’t stop with the job half done. You obviously have to do what the finance person or the Excel spreadsheet tells you. Nobody can run a business at a loss, and if […]
People Shut Down Too
How do you get people enthusiastic again after the shutdown? Any psychologist will tell you that work – having a job and getting paid for that job – is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. It follows that being thrown out of work, especially when it’s done unfairly and […]
Lean Forward and Strap In
The next few months will see some of the biggest changes in staff and people development for the last 20 years.A combination of global fiscal tightening and a series of scandals in which unqualified “trainertainers” were hired – at great cost – in preference to real trainers at various conferences and meetings have changed the […]