James Lawther
James Lawther
James Lawther is a middle-aged middle manager. To reach this highly elevated position he has worked for many organisations, from supermarkets to tax collectors and has had multiple roles from running a night shift to doing operational research. He gets upset by operations that don't work and mildly apoplectic about poor customer service.
Are You Being Too Clever for Your Own Good?
I travel a lot with work. It is not glamorous. I'd love tell you that when I said I was in K.L. I meant...
Change Management, Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The idea for this post came from The Customer and Leadership Blog by Maz Iqbal. You have heard the story of Goldilocks and the 3...
Clarity of Purpose is Greatly Overrated
Many will tell you that clarity of purpose is all important. Your purpose is what you are here to do If you are clear about…
Standardisation and Climbing Ladders
How do you climb a ladder? Climbing a ladder is straightforward… Put one foot on a rung Reach up the side rails one hand at…
McPizza
Imagine you worked for McDonald's and you had a super new idea for a product, the McPizza. How would you test it? Option 1:...
How do you Make a Pencil?
In 1958 Leonard E Read wrote an essay about making pencils. He described: The growing of trees The work of a lumberjack The operation of…
How to Sink a Ship
Come at once. We have struck a berg. It's a CQD, old man You have heard this story On the 15th April 1912 the Titanic…
Are Tall People Better Managers?
We all have biases; things that we believe are true, that drive our decisions and actions. But those biases can be blind spots, so they...
How to Ride a Bike
My youngest daughter has just turned 5. She is a big girl now. For her birthday we gave her a bicycle, it...
The Shocking Truth About Your Improvement Project
Yesterday I read that only 5% of the changes we make at work are changes for the better. Only 1 in 20 improvements...
The Problem with NPS (Or Do I Look Fat in This?)
I am 45. They say that when middle-age is upon us our broad minds and narrow waists swap sizes. It is happening to me, (certainly…
How to Walk in Your Customer’s Shoes
We have all been told to "walk in our customer's shoes". When we walk in our customer's shoes we can understand what our customers want:…
The Simple Reason People Won’t do as You Ask
People won't follow commands. They won't follow directives; they hate being told to what to do. This is a problem, particularly if you want that…
Facebook: It is so Rewarding
We work in large organisations that ban access to social media. We have long-winded IT policies that forbid our employees from tweeting, liking, stumbling or...
Eating at McDonald’s Gives you Acne
That is a libelous statement, but it is fairly obviously true, I was in McDonald's with my children only last weekend and it was...
How are you Organised?
When you ask for an organisation chart I bet you expect to see something like this: If I gave you an organisation chart that looked...
Targets: The Simple and Ineffective way to Improve Performance
There is a line of thought that there are three types of target: 1. Fact of life targets If you don't meet these targets you...
The Way of the (Process) Ninja
A terrible headline, I apologise, but now I have your full attention… 1. Find inner clarity All processes do things, they have a purpose, a...
Are Your Team High Performers or Losers?
What do you think of the team you manage? Are they the crème de la crème or a shower of … Is that a...
Money, Motivation and Monkeys
We have all heard that "money doesn't motivate". I'm not sure I totally agree. If you can't afford your weekly food bill...