Reasons to be Cheerful..1 2 3
19-Dec
Mike Morrison and Peter Cook look back at 2008, see how many references you can find in this rendition of Ian Durys’ “reasons to be cheerful”
Why don't you get back to work?
Why don't you get back to work?
Why don't you get back to work?
Reasons to be cheerful part 3
1 2 3
‘Aitch ‘Arr strategy
At the ‘Ammersmith Palais
From Wimbledon to Calais
Then the Bolshoi Ballet
Blogroll, Payroll, Spam roll
Can HR save your (moral) soul?
Sex, Drugs and (Northern) Rock’n’Roll
I’d rather a fig roll
Lookin’ at your Facebook
Hired your social network
Now I need your Outlook (address book)
You can buy my black book
Madonna an’ Ritchie
Make me very itchy
Ulrich makes me twitchy
His model is a peachy
Selection and rejection
Reflection and ejection
HR transformation
Change or stagnation?
From Handy to Honey
It’s all money, money
And the work’s kinda funny
To Pink, Floyd and mummy
Kubler, Clarkson or Ross
Change, is it all just loss?
It’s all a candy floss
Or just kinda dross?
CI-PD in Pic-a- dill-y
All balls and no willy
Rather me in Billericay
Don’t be a hero, Billy
Charles Handy words are dandy
About the new HR candy
But after several shandies
She turned out to be Ghandi
Competence, omnipotence
Trouble at Merrill Lynch
Banking flatulence
Career impotence
HR fads, woollies, virgins
The banks they are ‘a mergin’
The policies they are ‘a changin’
I just wanna be a pagan
HR guru is it true?
HR consulting for you?
Just a virtue or make do?
Google does it, yahoo!
Reasons to be cheerful 1 2 3
Peter and Mike are thinking of recording this song in a professional recording studio in 2009. If you would like to join us, we are looking for musicians and singers who want an unusual day out to join us in the production of this piece. Contact us for more details.
Mike Morrison is director of RapidBI Ltd, a consulting and training company specialising in organisational development and the development of high performing teams and individuals. For more information go to
www.RapidBI.comPeter Cook is a Business Academic, author of “Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll”, acclaimed by Tom Peters. Peter is the ‘Jack Black’ of the consultancy world, preferring Pink Floyd and Prince to Pink Champagne and Prince Charles. Alongside his proper credentials, he performs with a number of rock and punk acts, from John Otway and The Fall through to ‘Mrs Loud’, who sang with Meatloaf. He has shared a stage with Ian Dury’s bass player, Mr Norman Watt Roy. His websites are Academy-of-rock and www.humdyn.co.uk
Mike Morrison
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Another sign of the training sector crashing?
10-Dec
With budgets being squeezed it is not surprising that training is taking a hit like many other business services. Traditionally external spend on training has been cut early on but internal training resources allowed to continue to develop.
Having read the newswire this morning I was intrigued to see that Gower - a well respected provider of books and paper based resources on management, HR and training. Usually the sort of spent that is so small - £20-£100 per item, that this is barely impacted, but what i saw today shocked me. Most prices on a list of over 100 products. Most were discounted at least 50% many up to 75% - this is unheard of from this provider. It is cheaper to buy from the publisher than Amazon!
If low cost items are being reduced by 50% what is that going to mean for the freelance and provider market?
Is the training market now a commodity market? Does this mean that as a profession we have failed to educate managers the value of having educated and competent people? Is the value of custom over 'off-the-shelf' not understood?
Many will argue that to survive any downturn firms need to focus on investing in sales and training - not cutting them. It about more than just survival - it is about being in a position to raise from the fire like the phoenix after the slowdown, if we don't then our organisations risk not being there - or worse, in the rapid growing world of innovation and web 2.0 applications there will be new, leaner competitors waiting to pick off the sales.
Is this discounting sustainable? At a time when many trainers are being made redundant from the corporate world and turning freelance will the majority still be trading in 12 months time?
Mike Morrison is director of RapidBI Ltd, a consulting and training company specialising in organisational development and the development of high performing teams and individuals. For more information go to
RapidBI Mike Morrison
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The tomorrow people: Preparing the next generation of government leaders
4-Dec
The government is no stranger to criticism when it comes to how it keeps its own house in order but following a damning review exposing the lack of leadership training for civil service staff, has it finally redressed the balance? Verity Gough investigates.
Heavy criticism over the Baby P case has forced the government to look at many of its internal processes, including the way it delivers training and collaboration between its departments. But the onus on delivering more effective leadership is certainly nothing new, as witnessed in a damning report.
In 2007, the Cabinet Office's Capability Review revealed that internal government training targets were still not being met. The coordinator, cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, remarked there was "clearly a widespread problem with leadership" and a number of leading senior civil service members claimed they saw themselves as 'people being led instead of doing the leading'.
In direct response, O'Donnell pledged to build a culture of excellence and in doing so, promised to drag the government's arcane approach to training into the 21st century. So one year on, how has O'Donnell's vision fared?
Issue-driven training
The most significant change is the way in which topical issues affecting government are brought into the training mix. A prime example is the creation of a new government programme called Leaders UK, a collaboration between The Ashridge Business School and the National School of Government.
"We have had a lot of requests for help around developing or redesigning organisations, with leadership development itself being seen as having a key role to play in helping that to happen."David Sweeney, National School of Government
Driven by the cross-department failings following the Victoria Climbié child abuse case and, more recently, the Baby P furore, the programme addresses issues surrounding how the responsible departments, such as the police, social services, education and hospitals, collaborate with each other. "It was inspired by weaknesses in government but also other issues like terrorism and counter terrorism," says the director of Ashridge Business School's dedicated Public Leadership Centre, Mark Pegg.
"If you put issues like 'the child' at the heart of government, it doesn't work. This is because the government is organised differently and thinks of the development of the child as social services, education, health and, later on, the criminal justice system. There are so many different agencies that work with the child and as we have seen with these tragic cases, the interest of the child can be lost in the cracks between departments."
Through a blended, modular training programme that enables the departments to work together on projects, the government appears to be serious about addressing these and other pertinent issues surrounding departmental collaboration.
Design and delivery
But the National School of Government, a non-ministerial department offering learning and development solutions to government organisations and individuals providing public services, has already noted a shift in the way the training programmes are designed and delivered. "The capability review threw up a lot of criticisms about leadership and the ability to work together," says David Sweeney, head of the Centre of Strategic Leadership at the School.
"It's about getting away from that mandarin, policy-driven, strategy-driven type of leadership culture and heading towards a more professional way of leadership."Mark Pegg, Ashridge Business School
"What it told us is that people don't want lots of time away from the office, they want a series of professional one-day programmes concentrating on things like motivation, change and leadership in the modern world."
While much of the work undertaken at the school is created in line with agreed government competencies and standards, Sweeney says the demand for more personalised learning and development activity has increased tenfold. "Over the last few years, we have had a lot of requests for help around developing or redesigning organisations, with leadership development itself being seen as having a key role to play in helping that to happen," he explains.
This new flexible approach is also being exercised through the quality monitoring of the courses, which are evaluated following attendee feedback. The longer term impacts of the training are gauged by asking attendees back after a six month period to see how they have changed and what the impact of the training has been on their organisation.
Government boot camp
However, when it comes to leadership development, what type of training are our prospective leaders, managers and senior civil servants actually getting? Sweeney says the school's approach is a combination of skills development and behavioural work. "A lot of leadership work is about how people look and reflect at their own behaviour, how they could choose to behave differently or how they could achieve their outcomes better," he explains.
Perhaps the feather in the cap of this new approach to training is its flagship 'rites of passage' scheme for high potentials heading in to the senior civil service. Known as the SCS Boot Camp, it takes around 400 interns from across the country each year. "It is as close as you can get to a mandatory programme in the civil service and everyone who joins externally or is promoted internally is expected to participate," says Sweeney.
At the top end of the school is a programme aimed at director level or permanent secretary level staff, which has seen many a famous face pass through its doors. One of the goals is to bring the civil service into contact with people from other sectors, which include the wider public sector, the third sector and the private sector, to help create a shared learning experience.
Cream of the crop
The Ashridge Business School's Public Leadership Centre also has some pretty impressive credentials and was awarded first place in the 'Financial Times' rankings for being the best for tailored executive education. Currently, around 30% of its courses are operated for the government and it counts former cabinet secretary Sir Richard Mottram as one of its governors.
"We are at the beginning of a process here and what the current economic situation is telling us is that the public sector needs to be agile, flexible and able to deal with very complex situations very quickly."David Sweeney
Like the National School of Government, Ashridge is driven first and foremost by the Professional Skills for Government Agenda. Pegg, too, has noted a shift in the way government is tackling its training requirements. "It's about getting away from that mandarin, policy-driven, strategy-driven type of leadership culture and heading towards a more professional way of leadership," he says. "This allows people to focus on how good they are as leaders, how they manage resources, how they can think more strategically and how can they work across the organisation."
For example, if the Ministry of Defence's world expert on nuclear propulsion systems has a PhD and a great knowledge base but the MOD wants a better leader, the focus is more on the soft skills, such as budget management, leadership, motivation and business skills. "For the tax payer, these are what are important," Pegg explains.
So with evidence of a shake-up in the way the government tackles its training, can we hope to see a new generation of leaders equipped to deal with the issues of the day? According to the government, there have been definite signs of improvement: "Much has changed in terms of the focus on leadership since the first round of the Capability Reviews was published two years ago," says a spokesperson from the Cabinet Office. "Individual Departments have increased their focus on leadership development and the first indications are encouraging."
Sweeny agrees that change is certainly afoot: "We are at the beginning of a process here and what the current economic situation is telling us is that the public sector needs to be agile, flexible and able to deal with very complex situations very quickly," he concludes. One thing is certain, the challenge is now on.
Our feature writer Verity Gough has been recognised for the quality of her work after winning the specialist media prize at the recent Avanta Press Awards.
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Too PC or not too PC, that is the question?
3-Dec
It's increasingly easy to cause offence in these sensitive days, but if you bend over backwards to be PC it can result in totally unreadable documents. Giulia De Cesare gives some advice on how to get the balance right.
Imagine this: you're in a hurry to get a document out and you quickly check that the grammar and punctuation are correct, the content is just what the reader wanted and in logical order, and you've used the right template.
So you print it and post it, or hit 'send'- and get an angry reply or no reply at all. Your cherished customer took offence at something in the document. Not only was all your effort wasted, but you now have to undo the damage to a good relationship.
"Most people think that having to be 'politically correct' is just a frustrating joke."Most people think that having to be 'politically correct' is just a frustrating joke. The press frequently makes fun of po-faced pronouncements about avoiding expressions like 'the man in the street' or having to call your cat your 'companion animal' instead of your pet. A quick internet search finds lots of anti-PC websites claiming that it's almost the end of the world as we know it.
This isn't the place for such a debate. Businesses just need to avoid offending customers and staff. So let's look at ways to do that while also writing readable documents.
Make it clear and inoffensive
'He/she' or, even worse,'s/he' is distracting to a lot of readers, as is alternating 'his' and 'her' throughout a document. Rewording clunky sentences can sidestep the whole issue.
Here are some examples:
| Dubious original | Better alternatives |
| The help desk will be manned between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 daily. | The help desk will be staffed between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 daily.
The help desk will be open between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 daily.
Help desk support will be available between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 daily. |
| Each staff member should complete his/her expenses by the end of the month. | All staff members should complete their expenses by the end of the month. (using the plural)
You should complete your expenses by the end of the month. (using the second person singular) All expenses should be completed by the end of the month. (using the passive)
The end of the month is the deadline for everyone’s expenses. (changing the order) |
Avoid the gender trap
You can't avoid male bias by just substituting 'person' for 'man' wherever you hear it. The story that feminists lobbied to have a large British city renamed 'Personchester' is entirely apocryphal.
Sensible alternatives depend on the context. Here are some possibilities:
| Fireman | Fire fighter |
| Policeman | Police officer |
| Postman | Post carrier |
| Middleman | Intermediary |
| Grandfather clause | Exclusion clause |
| And that classic: manhole | Access hole |
Respect religions
Referring to peoples' names can be daunting. Most of you would know to avoid 'Christian name' and 'surname' but what do you use instead? 'First name' and 'last name' worked for a while but there are some cultures that put these in a different order.
"You can't avoid male bias by just substituting 'person' for 'man'. The story that feminists lobbied to have a large British city renamed 'Personchester' is entirely apocryphal. Sensible alternatives depend on the context."
Safest is to use 'family name' and 'given name'. On a similar note, it's best to avoid BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) in dates. Instead, use BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
Put people first
The accepted usage for people with disabilities is to emphasise that they are people first, thus 'people with disabilities' rather than 'disabled people'. Basically, the rule is that the condition should not define the person, so someone 'has diabetes' rather than 'is a diabetic'.
How to get it right
You need to help your staff avoid writing things that are offensive, while still getting things done in a reasonable time. One way to achieve this is to think carefully about the things that you have to put into writing often and create a shortlist of suggested wordings for staff to refer to. Such a list shouldn't be more than a page long or it will be impractical. Staff should know that you expect them to use it.
Ask people to contribute, including the sorts of things they would find offensive. They will see the point, and have some ownership of the whole idea rather than thinking it is just another way for management to make their jobs harder.
The important thing to ask them is to consider their reader. This is vital in business writing, but it can get lost in the rush to send something out to a deadline. You're lucky if writing gets spell-checked.
But anyone who stops to think about their reader would have avoided a mistake we recently heard about. A document describing something as a 'legal minefield' was sent to a client in a war zone...
Giulia De Cesare is senior trainer at professional authoring and training company, Plain Words. Or email
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Get ready to be rated
2-Dec
How would you feel about being rated by your delegates and clients online? Garry Platt argues that an independent feedback website could be more valuable and telling than many training qualifications.
High on the agenda at the moment is the necessity for trainers to maintain their professional development so that their skills keep pace with the market place. Various training bodies offer refresher training and various approaches to accreditation that 'guarantee' competence. A flourishing qualifications industry is growing up in this field all making claims for their validity and legitimacy and covering all aspects of development. From basic stand up skills programmes through to advanced Feng Shui'd programme design.
But what really counts, a qualification or something more pragmatic like a consistent record of positive feedback and results for clients? Do I really care if someone has a got a CTP from CIPD or a Certificate in Training Delivery Skills from TAP, or a Certificate in Training & Occupational Learning from ITOL or indeed an Advanced Diploma in Canine Grooming from the Bradford Academy of Dog Care?
"There might be two assessment areas: client or business feedback and student/participant feedback... This data would carry significantly more credibility than any qualification or accreditation no matter how well intentioned these are."In the USA a strategy has begun to develop which helps university students for courses have access to the evaluation and observations of former students. Lecturers and courses are named and the students grade them. It has helped promote some careers and blight others. For instance, who wouldn't want Ariadna Bogatsky as reviewed here for a teacher. Where as I'd have to think twice about taking Ronald Beall's classes for a semester. (For years I thought a semester was a kind of cheese cracker, how wrong can you be?)
In commercial tenders we are consistently asked for references from previous clients. And clearly how your previous customers judge their experience of working with you carries significant importance as it should. This adds to the view that a consistent record of positive achievement and feedback from clients probably carries more weight than any qualification. So what if there was a system for publishing this information via the web in a similar way to the CourseReviews website? Such systems can be successful; the equivalent of this is the hotel star grading system by which a hotel is classed as 2, 3, 4 or 5 stars. But a visit to the Trip Advisor website where guests and clients undertake the reviewing will reveal that many 4/5 star establishments leave a lot to be desired, whilst some 2/3 star locales appear to offer excellence above and beyond their official grading. I know this information influences my choice of places to stay.
It would be possible to create a registration process and have an assessment marking process against set criteria with opportunity for comments. It would be a powerful marketing tool but it would also expose those trainers who stopped developing towards the end of the Triassic or have simply gone 'off the boil'.
Trainers who failed to direct students towards the review site could find their grading slipped as the number of reviews diminished and time increased since the last submission. There might be two assessment areas: client or business feedback and student/participant feedback. That way the overall impact and bottom line assessment of organisations might be viewed as well as the classroom-based skills. This data would carry significantly more credibility than any qualification or accreditation no matter how well intentioned these are.
Trainers could register with such a site and then direct clients and participants to their individual review section. Imagine the power of this as a marketing tool if you achieved consistently good reviews. This is feedback straight from the horse's mouth; much of the promotional material we typically read originates from the horses other orifice. Trainers could use such a reviewing system as a kind of quality mark which is uniquely not driven by intermittent testing or a reassessment process. An overall assessment would obviously have more credence based on the quantity of people submitting reviews. Potential clients could quickly check out the profile of trainers and also see how previous employers assess the impact and results they achieved.
"It would be a powerful marketing tool but it would also expose those trainers who stopped developing towards the end of the Triassic or have simply gone 'off the boil'."
I can see the consternation such a tool might create for some people. If the process took off the best would quickly be identified, where as others might find it difficult to sustain a career.
A qualification can be important to establish that the individual concerned had at one time the capability to retain knowledge and demonstrate to a competent level a particular range of skills. It can be a good indicator of dedication and application. But that's all a qualification means. I am reminded of a university professor who had just watched a group of his students collect their PhDs on graduation day. She approached one of her favourite students and asked; 'Do you know what BS stands for?' The student looked back quizzically and responded. 'Yes, of course, Bachelor of Science.'
'No,' replied the professor, 'it stands for Bull Shit'.
'What does MS stand for?' The student hesitantly answered: 'Master of Science'. The professor shook her head. 'No, it means More Shit. And what do you think PhD stands for?'
'I've no idea.' The student answered, his hubris somewhat fading.
'Piled Higher and Deeper,' The professor replied.
And the pile is surely starting to get higher and deeper around here.
Garry Platt is a senior consultant at Woodland Grange specialising in management development and trainer training. He can be contacted on 01926 336621 or e mail:
garry.platt@wgrange.com
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