CIPD

I’m intrigued, slightly surprised, that ‘sponsoring’ is seen as a progressive solution for workforce diversity. In her generally excellent book on gender equality interventions, Iris Bohnet advocates not just mentoring but more active sponsorship to help women progress their careers.[1] A new book by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, which carries several high profile endorsements, takes a similar line.[2]

A main justification…

Performance appraisal has been a common point of discussion over recent years, in particular with descriptions of how to dump, ditch, axe or abolish it. Often the arguments and case studies cited don’t live up to the sensationalist headlines, it being more a case of changing performance appraisal than killing it, but changes are certainly afoot in many organisations. The main trends appear to be towards making them more…

Kellyanne Conway’s gaffe on Sunday that patently incorrect statements by Donald Trump’s press secretary were ‘alternative facts’ has received a level of derision rare by any standards. The mickey-takes have rolled in from far and wide, with sources as diverse as Deutsche Bahn and (alternative) rocker Courtney Love offering their #AlternativeFacts. It was an incredible phrase to coin, even if what…

The story of Boaty McBoatface has caught the attention of many since it blew up a rather lovely storm in spring. It clearly tells us something about ‘voice’ but the discussion I’ve seen has, in my opinion, missed the most important lesson.

For those of you who it passed by, here’s the story in a nutshell. To raise public interest in its new £200m Royal Research Ship, the Natural Environment Research…

The most interesting resignations can be borne of the more mundane problems. Corruption and sexual scandal have a shock value, but the resignations themselves are pretty straightforward affairs: did you / didn’t you, or did you know / didn’t you know. By contrast, Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation on Friday is being pored over in depth, both for his motives and the likely impact on the government.

From…

‘I want to stay as close on the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center … Big, undreamed-of things – the people on the edge see them first.’ Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano.

The idea of ‘leading from the edge’ is persuasive in a fast changing world. Organisations need to innovate and innovation comes from thinking differently.…

Last week, we had a first for the British Institute of Facilities Management and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: a roundtable discussion with a group of leaders and experts from the worlds of facilities management, human resources and workplace design. This is being followed by a joint statement from the two organisations signalling our intent to collaborate.

What brought the 15 of us together was…

I’m struck by an article by Julian Baggini in this month’s Prospect. I'm a fan of Baggini. Here, he argues that recipes constrain us and stop us exercising judgment, which over time makes us less wise, less able to discern. That’s recipes of all sorts, not just cooking. Checklists and rules may be crucial for some things – technical things like flying a plane or manufacturing a gas appliance – but in the main, ‘we have…