The Blogworld of Poppyfish People Development

Time. It's precious. We all know that and yet many of us manage to find a way to waste it. We manage to find things to do that cost us time but give little gain. And we don't have to travel far from home to find those timewasting opportunities. Indeed, many of them are in our own homes. The TV, the Xbox, the internet. You see, the attractions of modern life make it so easy for us to waste our time, to fill large chunks of our leisure time with nothing in particular but in a way that makes it seem like we're having fun. Now, I'm no time management angel. I have all the same time management issues as the next man, but the fact is that I know that how I spend my time is a choice. I can choose to relax and spend my time scratching my backside whilst watching old John Wayne films, or I can choose to do smoothing that might be more likely to improve my life, or to improve the live of others. Maybe that would include spending time on self development or learning a new ski...

Knowing the difference between effectiveness and efficiency is not always clear in the workplace. Often the two words are used interchangeably. So if we are to explore effectiveness in more detail then it is important that we draw a clear definition that allows us to differentiate between the two. Consider the following question: Which is more important; doing the right thing, or doing things right? Take a few moments to think about this. Doing things right is an important part of getting your job done. But doing the right thing might be the most important aspect of what you do .  So when it comes to working in organisations it is more important to be doing the right things than it is to be doing things right . Let me explain... Effectiveness comes from doing the right things whilst Efficiency means doing things right Efficiency and effectiveness are both important concepts, and organisations that want to be the best that they can want to achieve well in both a...

The Neanderthals sat huddled round the fire. The soft orange light reflected from the walls of the large cave in which they were gathered, giving an eerie light to proceedings.   From the walls of the cave the dull handprints and paintings of the top mammoth hunters from all ancestry hung over the group, reminding them of just why they were here.      Ugg gruntedfirst. He grunted of how he and his team of hunters had worked all day to corner the great mammoth whose carcass now filled their bellies. It was the first time they'd eaten mammoth in many moons. The other hunters sat and listened as Ugg told the tale of how he, newly returned to the community from sabbatical work with the tribe on the other side of the stream, demonstrated how he had used his new "cat-a-pult" process to maximum effect to bring down the giant beast. They listened in awe. "Cat-a-pult". What a strange device.   The hunters glanced uneasily at each other as Ugg handed round the n...

Example Job map: Building Site Manager A Job Map is a diagram, created by you, that shows the interconnections between your job and the people who have an expectation of you in your job. It can be a very helpful tool for understanding and clarifying your role and priorities at work and as a tool for problem solving. It is especially helpful when used as a tool to aid recruitment, or to assist someone starting a new job. A good job map can be used to:   Give a clear indication of key responsibilities. Make it clear to others exactly what it is that you do. Identify and tackle problem areas. Help produce a job description and be useful when setting objectives. When you combine your own map with the job maps of other people in your teams you may also be able to: Identify common problems. Highlight areas where efforts are duplicated or confused. Spot important new areas of work or gaps in existing responsibilities.   Sharing your Job Map ...

A selection of photo's from this week's sandpit with NIAB's Innovation Farm. Proof, if any were needed, that quality conversations are a great platform for sharing best practice.

In the field of management science and in organisational development in particular we often talk about the differences between managers and leaders. Every now and then I come across great little snippets and insights from outside the field that add to the conversation. And here is one of those from the field of military history, a place to which my reading commonly wanders and where the rich tapestry of leadership is a theme that is commonly discussed. Less common though is for this field of study to throw up a direct comparison between leaders and managers.  The British General William 'Bill' Slim was the master of successful military campaigns against the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War and the leader of what is often called the "Forgotten 14th" Army. Slim, with excellent credentials of success both in terms of strategy and leadership saw a keen difference between leaders and managers. Slim's comparison runs as follows: "The lea...

Technical excellence. You strive for it, you study for it. Ever since that first day at school when they opened the top of your head and started pouring in all those facts, algorithms, rules, dates, ratios, laws and equations you have been building the extreme specimen of technical genius that you are today. Technical knowledge is essential, it is the bedrock of our physical world, and for year upon year you have strived to improve your mastery of it. Technical excellence is important for all sorts of reasons, but at the most basic level it is important because it gives us power. It gives us power to speak with authority on our chosen area of excellence. It gives us power to get our foot in the door of that job we are seeking, it gives us power to earn reward and recognition, and it gives us power over other people. Neuroscientists are technical experts. They have power over me. The power I assign to them means that I believe them when they talk to me about the way the brain ...

This blog post is in support of the SPECTRUM evaluation tool available online from www.evaluationstore.com . Although just one of a number of profiling tools available, SPECTRUM was initially designed for Evaluation Store by Poppyfish Associate Steve Jarrett and benefits from being one of the more affordable profiling tools for those taking their first steps with this approach.   What is SPECTRUM? One of the key ways that learning and development programmes can promote organisational development is through changed individual behaviours. As we develop new skills and new awareness so we change our behaviour to achieve better outcomes. The SPECTRUM™ questionnaire provides you with valid information about your own behavioural preferences and your impact on the people around you.   What is behaviour? Behaviour can be defined as the combination of what you do, what you say, how you say it and what facial expressions and body language you use in the process. ...

Poppyfish People Development is pleased to be partnering the construction company, Durkan Limited, in its new LEAD initiative which gets underway in June. The company wide Durkan LEAD programme will see all 160 employees embark on a pathway of learning and development that is designed to maximise individual potential and generate continuous performance improvement across the firm. Each Durkan employee will be enrolled on one of three learning pathways, each following a personalised structure that will see a number of compulsory events supplemented by additional optional events that the employee can choose to attend. Employees that complete all compulsory courses and an appropriate number of optional courses will be entitled to receive a 'Durkan Diploma' in recognition of their learning. “ We are very pleased to be able to offer this exciting new opportunity to our staff ,” said Ian Cresswell, Director of Health & Safety, Quality and Environment at Durkan, “ we fee...

Pandemic is a Poppyfish business simulation and management learning exercise designed to help organisations to understand the possible consequences of an outbreak of pandemic flu. The simulation involves participants managing a number of realistically structured and interactive departments, business units or teams through a pandemic cycle, juggling resources to maintain operations and deliver objectives. Run as a one day phased decision making exercise Pandemic uses data on infection rates from the UK Dept of Health and NHS but is tailored specifically to the organisational hierarchy of the client organisation. Learning objectives The learning objective of this simulation is that by the end of the session participants will have negotiated their organisation through a 15 week pandemic cycle and will understand more about the impact that an event such as a pandemic flu outbreak could have on their workplace. The simulation is primarily about strengthening organisational resilience ...

The legendary Australian fast bowler, Jeff Thomson, had a great way of putting things. 'Tommo', who alongside the equally fearsome Dennis Lillee spearheaded one of the most infamous fast bowling attacks that the planet has ever seen, isn't really one for management speak. "Pushing the envelope" or "touching base" are not really his style. Tommo liked to ply his trade the direct way: "The sound of the ball hitting the batsman's skull was music to my ears" This famous quote starts off this seasonally inspired post. In the spring time the passions of all true men turn to that noblest of sports - cricket. All across this noble isle dreams of smashing centuries at Lord's come creeping into the minds of men of a certain age as they attempt to reconnect with their youth by squeezing their increasingly rotund frames into their musty old cricket whites and puffing their red faces around the village green. Think of the village cricket match...

Ever wondered why giving up that bad habit is so hard? This short entry looks at behavioural change and is driven by a piece of work I have been doing with one of my clients. Our habits – good and bad - are embedded behaviour that we have been slowly adapting throughout our lives. Changing habits is difficult and requires commitment. There is a saying that habits cannot be thrown out of a second floor window. Instead, they must be coaxed patiently downstairs and out through the door. This takes time, and it takes application. But above all else, it needs us to realise that change is needed.   The change curve diagram on this page (with kudos to Martin Saville who first ran through this with me as I began my own change journey) shows us the path of behavioural change. To complete any behavioural change we must move from being unaware of the need to change, and on through a commitment to change towards a complete embedding of the new behaviour. Easy eh? ...

The room was bursting with undergraduates. In fact, had Roy Castle and Norris McWhirter walked in then the Record Breaking nature of what was about to happen would have been plain for all to see. Simulations involving over 60 people in one open session are rare beasts. Yet thanks to a chance conversation with Dr Tassos Patokos of the University of Hertfordshire Business School we, and his sixty students, were about to indulge ourselves exactly that. My mind went back to the chat Dr Patokos and I had over a glass of wine at a conference three months earlier. We had moved on from the euro-crisis and had started finding a more stable common ground, discussing how simulations can inject energy and creativity into learning. An expert in Game Theory, Dr Patokos was eager to see how such events played out, and how they might offer learning opportunities in which his undergraduate students could experience a different perspective on their work topics. We agreed to set somet...