Some other musings on engagement…….and little niggles

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After Christmas I was in store helping remerchandise some stock ready for summer – yes, it will soon be here!  We help in stores as much as we can, but especially at Christmas and into the New Year when there’s a teeny weeny tiny bit of an increase in workload!

While I was there I couldn’t help spotting things that could be improved or changed to make life better for our colleagues and customers –
– a warehouse sticker had stuck onto a product which ripped the label as it came off
– one shelf was smaller than the rest so the plastic strips that hold the product dividers didn’t fit
– the packaging of one self-tan brand was so similar on all it’s products that it was really hard to tell them apart (shimmer self tan, matt self tan, mouse, gel, light, medium, dark…!) read more

Some other musings on engagement……and comms

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Following on from Gemma Reucroft’s Musings on Engagement No.2 http://hrgemblog.com/2014/01/14/musings-on-engagement-no-2-connections/comment-page-1/#comment-406

I believe there are a number of layers to engagement –

There’s engagement with the purpose of your organisation because you believe what it’s on this earth to achieve (beyond profit) read more

Did you hear the one about……

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This will come as a surprise but during the festive season we had a day where we ate lots of food at someone’s house!!  How off the wall are we!!

Anyway, as you’d expect, the prerequisite ‘lots of food’ had been bought and prepared by the host and, although we chipped in with some final bits of cooking / stirring / opening packets(!), the host had far and away done the lion’s share of the work. read more

Fancy a free lunch…..?

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Eating-lunch2

……People say there’s no such thing…….but I’ve been noticing recently that there are free lunches everywhere!

Free Lunch #1

I first started to ponder this subject last week with @Prash_Jadav when we were chatting about kids toys.  A big topic at this time of year!  We were commenting on the expectation of kids, and adults, that a toy must a) make a noise, b) move by itself, c) have a touch screen – or any combination of these three aspects. read more

How many roots have you uncovered recently?

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I was listening to the radio on my way home the other night and heard about a great new approach to dealing with low to mid risk domestic violence offenders.  Rather than sending these people off to prison for a few months, the social work team had devised an 18 week programme for these people to be part of.  The purpose of the programme was to change behaviour, and help people manage their anger, essentially through a coaching approach.  I struggled with some of it, e.g. “imagine what you don’t want your child to say about you when they’re 18″ – rather than focussing on the positive and pre-supposing success.  But overall it sounded like an amazing approach and seemed to be working (only 3 re-offenders out of about 70 participants so far – far less than people who get put away). read more

My first time……..

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Back in the summer this year it was my first time having a hip replacement .

I used to have a rubbish arthritic hip which was sore, inflexible and stopped me doing a lot of things with my kids that I wanted to do.  Now that I’m all better (for a good few years anyway…till I need another replacement) I can look back on that time and think it was absolutely the best thing I ever did. read more

Stop…….take a look around…….is what you’re doing crazy?

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Today I looked at my sad, crumpled, paper poppy and, as I took it off my coat, I accidentally pricked myself with the pin and threw both in the bin.

What’s it all about? I love the good old paper poppy for nostalgic reasons – standing in the cold and rain in the school playground, while my friend fainted in front of me from standing too long! But really, there must be…..there are…..better poppy options!  So why do the poppy people keep making paper ones that get damaged within about 2 minutes and which are not only ‘lethal’ (possible dramatic licence there!) but are also a waste of metal – how many pins get made and thrown away every year?  Crazy! read more

Flat as a mountain……reflection from #CIPD13 Conference

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Last week I was lucky enough to attend the CIPD Annual Conference, and even to speak on the Thursday about the small part I played in the recent CIPD Hackathon.  It was an amzing event.  The CIPD turned a significant corner about this time last year, when Peter Cheese joined as Chief Exec, and things continue to improve now.  A year ago, I was on the train to Manchester feeling embarrassed that somebody might find out I was involved with the CIPD and HR – we were going nowhere.  This year I was full of pride for what we, as a collective body, are striving to achieve! read more