Leadership

The virus that did us a favour

We were all happily enjoying life, going to work, going on holiday, visiting friends, when all of a sudden the Coronavirus came along. Now we are ‘self isolating’ going into ‘lock-down’ and washing our hands ten times a day. We’ve stopped shaking hands,  we can’t go anywhere in crowds and the supermarkets have run out of loo roll. Stockmarkets are crashing on the assumption that economies are going to grind to a halt. If nobody can go to work any…

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Organisations failing to create a positive work environment

Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report has found that only half (50%) of UK employees consider their organisations to be effective at creating a positive work environment and only two fifths (42%) consider their employer to be effective at creating meaningful work. The survey also suggests that UK employers are struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change as only a fifth (22%) of UK employees are satisfied with their organisation’s use of technology. This is a worrying…

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Robots versus humans: the battle for leading the future of work

“Strengthening your leadership skills will help you navigate the new digital landscape”, says Wisework Partner and collaborative leadership expert Jeremy Lewis The digital revolution will not be televised Whether you are digitising post-sales customer support, introducing robotic process automation (RPA) into your back-office, or enabling customers to self-serve through online portals or apps on their phones, it is likely you are feeling some anxiety and stress from the ever-increasing exposure to digital technology on your business. Today’s leaders are expected…

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What do we mean by ‘New ways of working’?

This blog is contributed by Shirley Wakelin, Wisework Partner. It is based on a discussion amongst the Partners. The past decade has seen increasing noise around new ways of working. Concepts such as agile, flexible, activity based working, employee engagement, company culture etc are ever more commonplace. It’s a big topic. As a group of consultants sharing an interest in supporting organizations through transformational change, the Wisework partners network reflected on what we mean by ‘New Ways of Working’, and…

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Why are we all stressed out?

Stress has been described as the ‘Health Epidemic of the 21st Century’ by the World Health Organization and its effect on our emotional and physical health can be devastating. In a recent USA study, over 50% of individuals felt that stress negatively impacted work productivity. According to a CIPD survey in the UK, 38% of employees are under excessive pressure at least once a week and almost a third say they come home exhausted either often or always. Increased levels of…

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Long hours mean low productivity

The UK remains consistently near the top of the working hours league and well down the productivity table.  Maybe there is a connection? A recent survey from Morgan McKinley showed that 84% of respondents work beyond their contracted hours. And it’s not just the odd extra hour. 27% work between 6 and 9 hours more per week and a further 31% work 10 hours or more over their official working time. The survey disproves the theory that these are all…

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Mobile working will reach tipping point next year

The Work Foundation have just produced a fascinating report on mobile working. They have trawled through a wide range of existing literature and surveyed over 500 managers across the UK to build up a picture of the extent of mobile working today and the way it is headed over the next few years. Their survey showed that mobile working was the norm by 2014 for over one third of the individual respondents and over one third of the organisations they…

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