Articles

By Peter Sugden

John is a solid and reliable employee who works hard. He is known for his pragmatic and methodical approach. You give him a project and you know he will complete it in time and on budget. By the same token he hates meetings, rarely having anything to say unless it specifically relates to his work. In fact open hostility seems to break out whenever Susan starts talking. She will always challenge John about his work and its benefits to the business in the long term. She will look at the tables and statistics in his reports and quickly conclude about how the business should respond, which drives John insane. The thing that John hates the most is when Susan has a gut feel for taking a course of action. After all, on what logical basis does Susan have to make these ridiculous statements!

It is fair to say that John and Susan have very different motivations for approaching their work. They have natural personality differences . John prefers to take in information that is real and tangible. A label for this is having ‘Sensing’ preferences. Susan on the other hand prefers to take in information by seeing the big picture, looking for connections between facts. A label for this is having ‘Intuition’ preferences.

Read more: Harnessing Our Natural Differences 2

By Peter Sugden

Have you ever wondered why you can relate to some people more easily and not others? Do you seem to click with some people at your first meeting? Do you know why you find some people more attractive? The answers lie in exploring our natural personality differences. One contrast is the concept of introversion and extraversion. Introversion is a person’s preference for their inner world of ideas, thoughts and feelings. In other words they prefer to focus their attention internally. Put more simply they tend to think before they speak. Extraversion is a person’s preference for focusing their attention on the external world of people, things and activity. In other words these people tend to speak while they are thinking.

How do these natural preferences play out in the workplace? Read more below about the different ways introversion and extraversion manifest.

Read more: Harnessing Our Natural Differences

By Peter Sugden

Stocktakes are a very important part of any business. For a business to remain healthy and vibrant there needs to be a clear view of what assets and liabilities exist. Fundamentally this is the only effective way of planning for growth and profitability. Commonly stock takes assess things like merchandise or building assets but it is crucial to account for your people assets as well. A methodical approach in this area will ensure a robust, motivated and satisfied work force performing at their best.

Consider this ‘7 What about’ framework for your people and culture stocktake.

Read more: Time for the Stocktake

By Peter Sugden

December is a time of mixed emotions for lots of people. There is the Christmas buying rush, family gatherings and often added workplace pressures. Regardless, people generally look forward to a little time off to spend with their family’s, in a favorite place, to recharge their batteries.

More specifically the end of the year is a culmination of a multitude of things which often manifest feelings of uncertainty and melancholy. The loss of a loved one can resonate more strongly at Christmas and trigger great emotional stress. It is a time for individual reflection when people examine the past and may decide to make life changes. People can feel particularly lonely and isolated from family and friends during this period. At the very least people are just plain tired from a busy year and their patience wears thin. In short many people are emotionally vulnerable at Christmas.

On top of everything, businesses traditionally contemplate changes in readiness for the new year. For example, rosters may alter, job responsibilities may shift, new appointments may be made etc. This can elevate even further, peoples’ sense of anxiousness and uncertainty about what the future holds.

Read more: A December Message

By Peter Sugden

Can your business afford the constant turnover of staff? Every employee has a timeline of productivity. How long this is will depend on the complexity of their work, their background and experience and stage of life. Actively managing this timeline will help reduce the potential for staff to become demotivated, non productive and environmentally destabilising. Below are 5 secrets to keeping the employee timeline on an upward trajectory.

Read more: Secrets to Keeping Your Valued People

By Peter Sugden

Due to the popularity of 'Why People Change Jobs', I have republished this very important 'e-newsletter'. Recruiting staff always has a substantial cost to it. You lose intellectual property, potentially a valuable customer reference point and often a committed team member. Understanding what causes people to leave and taking positive action can be nothing but good for your business. Read and enjoy!

Why do people change jobs? People have many reasons for changing jobs but underlying these are likely to be fundamental motivations for deciding to move on. Very often resigning is an end to dissatisfaction with their current circumstances but finding out exactly why someone resigned is often very difficult. People will not divulge the truth at times because they don’t want to offend a kind employer. Equally, if there have been tensions in the work place people are less likely to be open about their reasons.

Read more: Why People Change Jobs - Revisited