A surprisingly easy way to motivate co-workers
29 April 2022A few weeks ago, while being briefed prior to a Zoom training session, a client asked me to talk about how to encourage higher productivity. The participants were all business owners and concerned that with people working from home because of Covid, some of their people were slacking off. Motivation is a curious thing. Some […]
Does a 4-day week really work?
11 October 2018Have you seen some of the media about the 4-day week that Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand financial services company, experimented with earlier this year? Their CEO Andrew Barnes and his partner Charlotte Lockhart are personal friends, so it’s been a great chance to get an insider view of the company’s learnings, observations and next […]
Can We Really Work Less Yet Achieve More?
13 March 2018Perpetual Guardian’s decision to try a shorter working week http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11990560 has created some interesting discussion. I congratulate Andrew Barnes for his bold experiment. From my 26 years of global experience on the topic of productivity, I believe they’re onto something really good. Perhaps you’re wondering whether to follow their example? Or, maybe you’d keep a […]
Six Tips on How to Reduce Stress and Beat Burnout
6 June 2017I was having a conversation with a senior Army officer about stress and burnout the other day. At the extreme end is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He, in company with a number of his colleagues, has experienced it and sometimes gets recurrences, especially when he’s under a lot of pressure. The initial onset is […]
Save Thousands of Dollars by Reducing Meeting Time
31 January 2017Most of us are getting back into work after a long break and watching our schedules start to fill up again with meetings. Are you wishing you could reduce some of them? Whether you’re in a small home-based business or part of a large multinational, you’ll probably find that time is far too easily gobbled […]
Alternatives To The French ‘No Email After Hours’ Legislation
10 January 2017New French legislation is forcing companies with greater than 50 employees to negotiate with their staff about after-hours email usage. Is email usage just the responsibility of your employer, or are you part of the problem? The French are using legislation to try and reverse the trend. But is law the only way to do this? Personally, […]
Top Project Manager’s Advice on Wasted Meeting Time
7 December 2016Dr James Brown is a world-class project manager who spent many years with NASA. Much of his time there involved working on the space shuttle programme. I had the good fortune to meet him some years ago at an American conference and was delighted to reconnect in Auckland a couple of months ago. He was […]
Work Anywhere with Agility to Achieve Faster Results with Greater Profit
27 October 2016At a business breakfast a earlier this year I had the good fortune to meet Peter Vile, the CEO of Augen, a bespoke custom software development house. I was fascinated to find that Peter’s firm is spread between New Zealand and Vietnam. There are many benefits of doing business in two countries, and it’s a […]
When Mistakes Are Okay
30 August 2016I met John very early in my career as a time management trainer and speaker. He had put himself through university by doing casual farm work. His story about how to teach someone a new task is still as vivid as the day he told it. It was his first uni summer holidays. John’s dad […]
Are You Encouraging Laziness?
23 August 2016Laurie has mid-level responsibilities in an IT firm. It’s fast-paced, the firm is growing fast, new faces keep showing up every week, and an underlying sense of organised chaos permeates the whole firm of about 200 people. He’s one of the more experienced team members. So you won’t be surprised to hear that newer staff […]