Tag: motivation

What kills change?

Ken Blanchard, of ‘One Minute Manager’ fame, recently focused on why implementing change stumbles so much He listed 13 pitfalls that stop major change in its tracks without attaching relative weightings to each one so you are left to decide your own: Culture = The predominant attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the organisation: The …

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The perfect working environment?

According to an article by Michael Odell in The Times, Basecamp is a US software/ tech company that supposedly runs without the scourge of 80 hour weeks, unrealistic deadlines, weekend emails and meetings Two American guys, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, run Basecamp – they’re also authors of a new book called It Doesn’t have …

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A famous fire that changed workers’ rights

The following are extracts from a publication by the AFL-CIO, America’s Unions On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York Firefighters arrived at the scene, but their ladders weren’t tall enough to reach the upper floors of the 10-story building. Trapped inside …

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Unmotivated workforces cost $7 trillion, annually!

‘Employee engagement and workplace productivity are inextricably linked’ according to an article from Consultancy.uk Engagement apparently means ‘absorbed in and enthusiastic about work’ – just don’t ask why the word engagement is preferred nowadays to the straightforward motivation ! Gallup have just issued a report entitled State of the Global Workforce covering employees in 155 countries (of the 192 …

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The bullsh**t job phenomenon

According to The Times, in 2013 David Graeber, a professor of anthropology at the LSE, created quite a stir when he wrote an article about people in meaningless jobs with meaningless titles in meaningless industries – since followed up by his book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory It prompted a YouGov poll which established that 37% of …

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Time to change time at work

An interesting article by Business Leader columnist James Phipps, a ‘serial entrepreneur and investor’ and Exec Chairman of the Excalibur Group, about effective ways to improve employee productivity    We see relatively little about how to improve the awful productivity we have in the UK. We in the UK have a business culture which says …

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Flexi-time and flexi-places of work

Why is it we now work 9 til’ 5 for 5 days a week? Many years ago, people worked 7 days per week – then this fell to 6 days per week, but 12 hours per day It took Henry Ford, back in the 30s, to reduce the working week to 40 hours – 5 …

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Work hard, then play hard, for best results

Very very few can run at speed for long, like Mo Farah – we need to pause, rest and recover – only then can we rejoin the race and compete Nils Salzgeber (aka Hacker Noon), in a recent post, claims this is because ‘all organisms on this planet follow rhythms’ The most famous is the …

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Employee engagement drives productivity?

Employee engagement is nowadays seen as essential if an organisation is to perform well Gallup report that business units in the top quartile of employee engagement outperform bottom units with 17% higher productivity, 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability – all big performance differences MGI – McKinsey Global Institute – report that productivity increases by …

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More job satisfaction, more pay!

“Life is not fair – get used to it” – so said Bill Gates Many bosses might agree with him, if they were honest – they’re good examples after all As people climb ladders at work, so their job satisfaction also tends to rise – more status, responsibility and power – bigger decisions to make, …

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Depression costs billions

A study by the LSE – London School of Economics – found that depression costs South Africa a massive R232 billion a year, equivalent to around 6% of its GDP – this is due to lost productivity caused by absence from work or attending work whilst ill Janet Yellen, when Chair of the US Federal …

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Core human needs at work

Much has already been said about hierarchies of human needs which need to be met if workers are to be motivated However, a recent study of 12,000 white collar workers by Tony Schwartz, CEO of ‘The Energy Project’ and Professor Christine Porath of Georgetown University is well worth noting They claim that employees have four …

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Remote working

A Northern Ireland finance firm, AKFP Group, closed its HQ for a full month in July for a ‘remote working initiative’ They found it boosted both staff morale and productivity Staff were allowed to work from locations of their choice – the result was ‘they reaped the benefits of being able to change venues, eradicate …

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Happiness at work

Undoubtedly, productivity growth has made a huge difference to the quality of lives of billions of people, first by reducing work negatives – tasks that are dull, dirty, dangerous or difficult – and then increasing work positives by adding many more jobs which are interesting and fulfilling whilst also enhancing social lives with greatly improved …

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