On 20th May Theresa May, the Home Secretary, told the Police Federation that they were ‘crying wolf’ over the impact of cuts to policing. Her argument is the fall in reported crime negates their claim that policing is being damaged. Perhaps she conveniently forgot to mention that Kent police’s detection of burglaries has halved. One of their Assistant Chief Constables, Rob Price said that the way in which the figures are recorded made them look worse. Perhaps Theresa May also conveniently forgot to mention that the way crime figures are recorded made them look better.

We all know that the way you measure performance can make it look worse – or better, if you’re the Home Secretary.

Actually, I believe most police officers recognise the need to be more efficient and cost effective. At the end of last year the government announced that UK police services would have their budgets cut by another 5%; meaning that they will need to make even more efficiency savings. However, any ‘reform’ – or...

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2015 has arrived – the year in which there will be a General Election. Police reform is still high on the agenda of this government – and yet there are millions of pounds being wasted, in policing, that David Cameron and Theresa May don’t want discussed and won’t deal with!

We are all aware that the funding of the public sector is becoming an ever-increasing struggle and, for years, successive governments have made cuts to police budgets. At the end of last year the government announced that UK police services would have their budgets cut by another 5%; meaning that they will need to make even more efficiency savings.

In December, Sir Bernard Hogan Howe spoke about the need to review police governance – and he has not been listened to.

This followed the Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester Police, Tony Lloyd, expressing concern in September that GMP would be reduced to 6,000 by 2017 – and no longer able to function. At about the same time the Chief Constable of...

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In July Dr. Anthony Hesketh, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University Management School produced the key findings of ‘Valuing Your Talent’. Valuing your Talent is a research and engagement programme that the three professional bodies representing the accounting, management and human resources professions – CIMA, the CMI, and the CIPD together with the RSA[i] – have collaborated on.

The work, which is being supported and sponsored by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) and Investors in People (IIP), is designed to help employers better understand the impact their people have on the performance of their organisation and as a result make better people management and workforce investment-related decisions.

Although Valuing Your Talent is aimed at all sectors, in this article I will show why these lessons are so important for the public sector. As with any organisation, the way staff are measured will impact on their...

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Why the NHS cannot survive in it’s current form….

Over years the National Health Service in the UK has evolved into one of the best in the world – and employs some fantastic ‘front-line’ staff. However, it is in danger of losing that reputation. You only have to read the papers or listen to the news to be aware of the increasing criticism of hospitals and health authorities – from both staff and patients. In the majority of areas, the NHS overspends each year – or cuts various services in order to stay within budget – and our nurses and doctors are becoming increasingly vocal about not being allowed to do as good a job as they would like to do.

Consequently, the NHS falls in to the trap of many businesses – they over-promise and under-deliver. This is because the ‘customer expectation’ has never been managed, either by politicians currying favour or by senior NHS managers unwilling to stand up to the unrealistic demands of these political ‘leaders’. Instead, managers in the NHS just keep...

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Have you ever wondered whether your business is discriminatory? I don’t mean deliberately discriminatory; I mean whether you provide services or products that treat certain people differently – or exclude them altogether. Let me explain….

Being 6’ 7” tall is not something I can do anything about. I’m also overweight, which is something I can do something about – but my height? I’m afraid that’s a part of me.

However, there are times, when shopping, I’m made to feel like a freak because of my height. When we first met, my wife didn’t always understand my frustration – especially regarding clothes shops and airlines.

Then I needed a new suit. Silly me! We happened to be in London for a day, so she suggested we visit a few clothes shops, to get me a new suit. I think that even she was surprised when a female shop assistant looked at me and said, “A suit for you? No way.” and laughed.

After visiting about seven suit shops I eventually managed to purchase a ‘mix and match’ suit. However,...

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8 Tips from the animals of the Serengeti on how to navigate the Performance Landscape

Through their performance the animals of the Serengeti have survived their ever changing landscape for thousands of years, which is why we use the analogy of these animals to learn from in our Performance Landscape programme. The following are some tips from them as to how you can best navigate your organization’s landscape in these uncertain times.

• Be prepared to migrate to greener pastures and ensure that you have a giraffe seeing over the landscape and identifying the direction for the other animals – together with any threats.

• Encourage all of your staff to be elephants, not by feeding them junk-food, but by communicating with them. Tell them the journey they are going on and trust them to use their intelligence to help you along the way – and encourage them to communicate with you too.

• Then use your large elephant ears and listen. If you ask your staff to communicate with you and then ignore them it...
  
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Why do current business models not work?

How many management teams today still:

“Believe that as their business model has worked for the past 20 years why should it be any different now?”

“Live with the ‘hope factor’ when profits are down or even worse business levels are unsustainable and wonder what are they going to do?”

“Think the customer needs them more than they need the customer?”

“Scratch around for new business instead of seeking to create demand?”

“Fail to motivate, support and empower their workforce and treat them like mushrooms?”

Today businesses that have survived the deepest recession the UK has experienced are taking a cold hard look at their business model and putting it through a ‘stress test’ to make sure they will still be trading when normal economic conditions really take hold? Not an unfair question but is the right question “Businesses should be facing up to the fact that current trading conditions may be the norm of the future and as a consequence business planning, management...

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According to Albert Einstein, ‘the first sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results’. So, would it not be a fair assumption that, as a number of bailouts in Greece have not worked, neither will a bailout in Spain, Italy, Portugal or France? Yet, Eurozone politicians and financiers remain focused on this as their favoured option, to ensure the future of the Euro.

Over the last eighteen months, they have applied the same bail-out solution to various countries expecting that this time it would solve the Eurozone crisis, without explaining why they think it would work this time. However, doing the same thing on previous occasions has not resolved the problem and the credit rating agencies of Moody’s and S & P (Standard and Poor’s) just keep reducing the ratings of banks and countries that are in difficulties; increasing the borrowing rate.

Most leaders of the Eurozone seem experienced and sensible people and yet they follow this ‘insane’...

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In his excellent book, ‘management in 10 words’ Sir Terry Leahy talks a great deal about the importance of customer loyalty; how to get it and how to keep it. This is a book the senior management of Thomson would do well to read.

Why? Because they have forgotten about Truth, Values and Trust. For the last four years we have used Thomson and been happy with their service. This is in spite of me having to pay extra for the ‘privilege’ of having a seat I can physically fit in to, due to my above average height. I do feel discriminated against because the majority of airlines limit the legroom of their seats to fit ‘average height’ people. Although a few years ago I could request an exit seat, now I have to pay for one of these ‘extra legroom’ seats, described by Thomson as,

“You’ll be the envy of everyone with one of these seats. Exclusively for adults, they’re next to an exit or by a bulkhead. There  aren’t many though, so get in there quick.”

Although they forget to mention that...

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I cannot help but wonder whether Nick Buckles had a strange dream the night before he appeared at the Home Affairs select committee, on 17th July, which went something like this:

Nick thinks: – I need to speak to someone who’s experienced this kind of mess before and I know just who to ring!

“Hi Bob, it’s Nick. Based on your recent experience, at the Treasury select committee, what advice can you give me for tomorrow?”



Bob: - “Nick – great to hear from you! You need to remember three things. First seem a bit vague and second – and most important – make sure you tell them that you only knew of the mess a few days before it hit the press. When pushed, I went for ‘the beginning of the month‘, so perhaps you could go for eight or nine days… Finally, just hint that someone in Government seemed okay with what was happening. In your case, try the woman from the Home Office – that Theresa May. It deflects the attention away from you a bit and, apart from that, it gives an excuse for those...

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