The Blogworld of Poppyfish People Development

I've written and spoken about it so many times that to some people I must be starting to sound like a cracked record. But just in case this is completely new to you then let me crank the gramophone handle one more time.... The most amazing thing about critical incidents that impact organisations is not that they happen but that they do not happen more often. Turn on the news and you'll find one in an instant. Right now, somewhere in the world, an organisation is experiencing a critical incident. And you only have to look at the "Wall of Terror" below to see some potential consequences. So if there is a certain inevitability surrounding the fact that the organisation that you work in will experience a critical incident then what can leaders do to ensure that their organisation will survive?  Here's our suggested top 5 values, attitudes and behaviours: Communicate the vision Organisations that keep going through critical incidents have a strong...

Trust is one of those core values that we like to hold dear, both at home and at work. Having trust in someone is a liberating feeling, a feeling that we know we are in good hands, no matter what happens. A feeling of something shared. The phrase “Trust me” is the ultimate statement that we use when we have tried almost every other form of reassurance, when we just know everything will be alright. So trust then, is a good thing and most of us want to see more of it. Lose trust and you lose the relationship. Anyone with a failed marriage will tell you that relationships in which trust has been lost are doomed to a miserable future. The curious thing however is that trust, like common sense, isn’t actually all that common. Especially not, it seems, in the world of work. The UK CIPD have recently published the results of a workplace survey claiming that  just over a third (37%) of employees trust their organisation’s senior management. By inference therefore the other 63% do not...

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...

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...

  Yesterday , 21st October, saw the first Poppyfish Tweetfest . A tweetfest , we have decided, is a themed day of twitter and social media activities from Poppyfish, a time when we take a break out to celebrate specific days that may have a relevant link to people and organisational development. On this occasion we tweeted around 50 statements and quotes highlighting the leadership qualities of Horatio Nelson. You can follow this on twitter via our @Poppyfish_PD account. Our launch day couldn’t have been better chosen. 21st October this year marked the 207th anniversary of the tumultuous battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Trafalgar was a battle in which the organisational and leadership weaknesses of the navies of France and Spain were exposed decisively, cruelly and with awe inspiring capability by Britain’s Royal Navy led by it’s most inspirational and charismatic leader, Horatio Nelson. And so it was that we choise to focus this inaugural tweetfest on Nelson and leadership ...

Howzat for a problem? Sometimes managing larger than life characters is just not cricket. Just ask Andrew Strauss. Amongst the England cricket Captain's latest headaches is how to deal with one of his star players who appears to have taken things a step too far . The man causing Strauss problems is a cricketing superstar. Kevin Pietersen's performances on the pitch can be breathtaking, with an astonishing ability to turn on the style and take the game out of the reach of the opponent with some destructive hitting. As a cricketer he is simply awesome. But when it comes to team management Pietersen is a headache , especially over the past two weeks, when it is alleged he sent some less than flattering text messages to his opponents about Strauss, his own captain. That's just not cricket. Many organisations have their own Kevin Pietersen (or 'KP' as he is known to England fans). Managing difficult people is...well....difficult. Larger than life ...