At TrainingZone Live this morning, Michele Owens of the Olympic Delivery Authority gave an interesting example of how people reacted to different approaches: “When we first used 360 degree feedback, we used it as a performance management tool. It was not popular. So we left it for a year. “When we introduced it again, we presented it as a development … more
Author Archives: Henry Stewart
Focusing on Strengths in Practice
My last post was on finding out what your people are good at, to help them play to their strengths. So how can you put this idea into practice? Georgie Fienberg is the founder of Afrikids, an inspirational charity working to improve the quality of life of vulnerable children in northern Ghana. Sustainability is key to its approach and its aim is to … more
Get your people to do what they are good at
Are you and your people using your strengths at work? One of the simplest ways to make your people happier, and more productive, is to ensure they spend their time at work doing what they are good at. That may sound obvious but it is surprisingly rare. Based on asking over a million people, Gallup found the number agreeing with … more
Idea: Create a kindness budget at work, for helping your customers
What would happen if your company allocated some of its marketing budget to surprising your customers with acts of kindness? I met this week with Ole Kassow whose Danish company (www.wemind.dk) works with companies to create happier cultures. One example was working with a Danish mobile phone company. Most European mobile phone companies have customer turnover rates of over 40%. … more
How would banking be different if it focused on the customer?
This week we learned from Greg Smith, departing executive director of Goldman Sachs, that in the sales meetings he attended “not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off them.” Indeed, as we have all heard, clients were typically described as ‘muppets’. The … more
A radical idea: Try listening to your customers
I was very struck today by an article in a local London paper, the Islington Tribune, on the special customer service award given to a local corner shop. The article describes how friendly and polite the shop-keepers at Arsenal Food and Wine are. But what really stands out is one very radical step they have taken. Wait for it… Owner … more
Business is about relationships: make people feel good today
In my last post, I talked about how the principle “people work best when they feel good about themselves” should be at the core of how your company is managed. This principle can be extended to everybody you work with. My colleague Diye Wariebi, whose Digibridge company provides our technical support, gave a great example. One of his clients owed him … more
Focus on Making Your Staff Happy
People work best when they’re happy at work. That principle is the core of everything we do at Happy (a training business in London, UK). Think about whether you agree with it. If you do, and I find over 95% of people do, then what should be the key focus of management? By simple logic, it should clearly be creating … more
Our most radical belief on management
I often say that our most radical belief at Happy is this: you should decide who should manage people based on . . . how good they are at managing people. Because too often they are chosen on their core skill or how long they’ve been in the job. We worked with one company who had a problem with their … more
