Learning online - 85,000 at a time…
on Sep 26 in Understanding tagged Community, Future by KeithKeeping the Mind Fresh
I’ve always tried to do at least one course or qualification each year which is nothing to do with “the day job”. This is partly for relaxation, but also because doing radically different things forces you to think differently Lastly, it reminds me what it is like to have to start from scratch again, acquiring knowledge and skills. It keeps the brain fresh.
For example, I went to night school and studied British Sign Language for 4 years (after starting out with just a one year introduction course!). I followed that with a course on welding - slightly different. After that, I started Pilates classes (I’ve broken too many bones to go back to rugby again). Read More
This month’s reading…
on Sep 20 in Strategy, Understanding tagged Future, Strategy by KeithI’m re-reading a couple of my business books this month, both of which I felt it was worth mentioning. Both are thought-provoking, and full of practical things to try, even if you don’t agree with everything in them.
First up is “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis. Not just an interesting manifesto/thought piece, but also interesting to look at 2009’s predictions through 2011’s lens!
Second is “Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion” by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, which never fails to give me ideas for new things to try and new ways to look at old problems.
If you’ve not read them, give them a try - I’d love to know what you think of them.
Technologies Supporting Business Continuity
on Aug 12 in Planning, Understanding tagged Technical, Unbreakable by Keith
Business Continuity is a broad church, meaning different things to different businesses. It’s also very much a people thing; after all, it exists to keep people in jobs, delivering to customers, whatever happens.
That said, we have recently been involved in designing and deploying a fair few technology implementation projects within our process and systems work.
What is clear is that over the past year, and probably in the forthcoming year, there are a number of technologies which have come of age, or are due to have some significant upgrades that should transform them. Read More
Chortling With The Chimp
on Jul 13 in Taking Action, Understanding tagged Teamwork by Keith
This brief blog post is a hat-tip to MailChimp, the service we’ve started using for the Monthly-ish Updates recently.
I smile almost every time I use the service - instead of “email sent”, “details updated” or “new subscriber”, you get funny little lines like:
Fine piece of work!
You totally deserve a raise!
The MailChimp Crew Read More
Talentropy?
on Jul 04 in Blog, Strategy, Understanding tagged Action, Analysis by KeithWe’ve been playing with words, images, emotions, icons and so on for some branding work we’re doing on a new offering. Something that fell out of this was a word that I just liked the sound of:
Talentropy
Then I thought a bit more about it - the flow of talent. This seemed like quite a useful concept to me.
As business owners, managers and leaders, there are two crucial concerns - creating value for stakeholders (owners, shareholder, staff, investors, communities, etc.) and finding and keeping good people for our teams. Value and Talent. Read More
Unbreakable Business
on Jun 15 in Planning, Strategy, Understanding tagged Future, Strategy, Unbreakable by KeithKeith Shering, MD of Critical Action, was one of the speakers at the recent, very well received ”Creating An Unbreakable Business” event, held at NetSupport in Market Deeping, and organised by The Business Club, Peterborough.
As well as coordinating the speakers, Keith was one of eight subject matter experts giving business owners and decision makers quick-fire, thought-provoking 15-minute talks on what can break businesses, and what we can do to make strong, resilient businesses that survive and prosper - making businesses more unbreakable. Read More
The Idea Trampoline
on Feb 13 in Blog, Strategy, Understanding tagged Action, Analysis, Future by Keith
The what?
The Idea Trampoline. You know, where you can bounce your good ideas and your perplexing challenges back and forth, up and down, tumbling them around. Boing one way then another to see if the idea comes back looking any different, any better, still viable.
Sound interesting? Read More
Making Improvements: Can Simple Really Work?
on Dec 01 in Priority, Understanding tagged Action, Analysis, Prioritisation, Strategy by Keith
Simple Tools...
One of our mantras is “keep it simple“, because we work in an area that is complicated enough to begin with!
When we look at how businesses can improve, it inevitably means having to maintain the big picture (where are we heading?) together with digging into the details (as they can often be the blockers). To drive simplicity through what we do, we evolved a very simple set of tools & reports, which we use to run projects.
Why simple, when we’re trying to analyse and solve complex problems? Read More
Project “P”s - Three or Five
on Aug 05 in Planning, Priority, Understanding tagged Objectives, Planning, Prioritisation by KeithIn a recent Twitter exchange with one of my friends (@eileenb), we were discussing productivity and planning. We covered things like the “5 Ps” (perfect planning prevents poor performance). As you might imagine, with a project manager’s hat on, things like the 5 Ps are stocks-in-trade for delivering the results clients need. My standpoint was slightly different though.
I suggested “3 new Ps” - Productivity, Priority and Purpose. Read More
Managing Elephants in Rooms
on May 17 in Blog, Priority, Understanding tagged Analysis, Planning, Prioritisation by KeithRisk For The Rest Of Us - Managing Elephants in Rooms
Risk Management is a huge area with lots of specialist people, companies, books, qualifications and so on. So should we even go there if we’re not black belts…? And what’s this about elephants? Read More