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- So long, and thanks for all the fish
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- The Kung Fu Panda principle.
- 3 reasons why I hate pretty graphs
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- The 2,500 year old lesson everybody ignores cos it’s too hard
- I am a police officer.
- When is a team meeting NOT a team meeting?
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- One more time… Why values are a pile of cobbler’s
- How i learned to skip with Toyota
- The man who mistook his wife for an actual change in performance
- There are only 6 graphs you’ll ever see on a performance report and they’re all rubbish. Here they are.
- If it’s too complicated to understand it’s probably total nonsense
- Can you count up to 8?
- I am totally positive
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- I openly mock Myers Briggs, but an INTP would do
- The Law Of The Instrument
- Reality has a liberal bias
- Why killing Sweat Angels is the most valuable work I do all day
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- Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is a pony
- One weird trick to design your organisation, in one easy step! (Management consultants will HATE you!)
- The Varieties of Human Work
- There really is only one test!
- The Curious Case Of The Chart That Didn’t Bark In The Night
- Looking good, Billy Ray!
- Computers are weird
- We’re number 2! We’re number 2! Yay us! Now who’s US exactly?
- I am an average employee
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- Three Reasons Why National Customer Service Week Is Rubbish! Again!
- What’s the purpose of a-SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
- How to have an organisational detox!
- Your job is not what you think it is
- This mug cost £224,000,000
- Wanted: idle, indifferent and irresponsible staff for absurd work.
- You are no Daniel Kahneman, sir, and I would have you unhand me before I call the gendarmie
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Tag Archives: learning
We’re number 2! We’re number 2! Yay us! Now who’s US exactly?
About a month or so ago I started getting loooaads of traffic for a really old post from when the blog was still good. This one was about 4 German words we should all use, which is why it was … Continue reading
Posted in communication, learning, systems thinking, vanguard method
Tagged blog, blogging, learning, readers, systems thinking
20 Comments
Why do you need a hole in your head?
Why is it that a… …is a really essential thing to have? Here’s why! You’re the head cook in a primary school. It’s your job to design the menu and make the meals. You want to make the healthiest food … Continue reading
Posted in knowledge, systems thinking
Tagged cook, curiousity, get knowledge, learning, questions
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Look around my eyes, don’t look into my eyes. LASER BEAMS come out ’em
I am trained in advanced persuasion and negotiation. Advanced, mind. So much so that you really should look around my eyes, not into my eyes, cos God knows what I could do with my madd skillz in brain manipulation. This … Continue reading
Posted in experiment, plausible, plausible but untrue, systems thinking, thinking
Tagged Experiment, learning, persuade, selling
2 Comments
I turned down a 40% pay rise…here’s why!
Years ago I turned down opportunity of a 40% pay rise. Here’s what happened…. When I came into work there were 4 emails from colleagues, all saying the same thing… APPLY FOR THIS JOB. A job was advertised paid more, … Continue reading
Posted in all wrong, command and control, knowledge, lean thinking, systems thinking
Tagged deming, double loop learning, learning, systems thinking
25 Comments
How to learn Kung Fu in 1 easy step
Q: How do you learn Kung Fu? A: Attend a 1 hour training session in Kung Fu. Hey presto…. April Fool! That won’t work, if you want to know Kung Fu you’d have to train for years. One hour will do … Continue reading
Posted in command and control, knowledge, learning, systems thinking
Tagged command and control thinking, communication, learning, training
3 Comments
The one thing you shouldn’t bother changing and the one thing you should
Lots of organisations try to change culture. They try and change that loads. But nobody really knows what it is. Not enough to point at and say “that’s culture there” and “that isn’t“. The Harvard Business Review says… “there is … Continue reading
Posted in change, command and control, plausible but untrue, psychology, systems thinking
Tagged change, culture, defensive culture, double loop learning, learning
13 Comments
The Chris Pratt dance-off against Organisational Transformation programmes everywhere!
*****The gifs take a while to load, they’re not just photos but actually move. Worth the wait. **** Possibly the funkiest take down of Organisational Transformation programmes you’ll see this week…. Like all good systems thinkers everywhere Chris Pratt, or … Continue reading
People rate opinion over reality, cos reality’s all facts and that
I was in a training room recently, with a bunch of people from around the council, and it was very dispiriting Because there wasn’t a lot to fill the time in, there were lots of STORIES being regailed to the room from … Continue reading
Posted in human brains are weird, learning, psychology
Tagged cognitive bias, learning, Monty Hall, statistics
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Why I hate Ofsted
I’ve got an eleven year old in final year of primary school and Ofsted are ruining his education. Next week is SATS week. In that week children of the same age all around the country will be tested on how … Continue reading
Posted in all wrong, command and control, public sector, systems thinking
Tagged education, learning, Ofsted, SATS, systems thinking
1 Comment
10 years a Policy Officer
This is my desk. I have sat in this, and others like it, for exactly 10 years in this organisation. My decade anniversary is today. In 2004 in the interview for this job I had to give a presentation answering “What … Continue reading
Posted in me doing it, psychology, systems thinking
Tagged learning, psychology, systems thinking
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You are not a dog
I am not a dog. You are probably not a dog. So if you aren’t a dog why do you need…training? I was doing some work with a service and before we had even started gathering data, the number one … Continue reading
Posted in command and control, learning, systems thinking
Tagged learning, systems thinking
1 Comment
Lesson learned
This is a fellow onion. Look how sad she is. We’d just finished, or rather abandoned, a project, so decided to do a lessons learned exercise. These are specific lessons we learnt during the work and what we wrote on … Continue reading
Posted in knowledge, learning, systems thinking, thinking
Tagged double loop learning, learning, systems thinking
1 Comment
What is a Googleplex?
This letter appeared on the internet in 2006. [Snopes, the bible of internet myths, says it’s truthfulness is undetermined. But just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it’s not true.] A few months ago I told my 9 year old … Continue reading
Posted in learning, systems thinking, thinking
Tagged Google, googolplex, learning, Ofsted, school
5 Comments
How to get it
Has she got it? Well, has she? This is what I’ve heard people ask, if someone has got it or not. Meaning systems thinking. Of course. It’s not like getting the measles, I know that, but I’ve been puzzled for … Continue reading
Lazy managers make hungry children
Managers working in the public sector are starving poor people because they are too lazy to bother picking up a book. Yes, I said that. The above graph shows the reasons why people are turning to food banks because they … Continue reading
Posted in command and control, leadership, learning, public sector, systems thinking
Tagged Benefits, books, learning, public sector
4 Comments
5 harsh truths you’ll wish you’d learnt earlier
Entirely understandable but…epic fail. No need to give up your own thoughts and copy everyone else’s! Inspired by this, and copying this virtually to the letter, here are “5 harsh truths you need to learn so you can live with your … Continue reading
Why changing anything is hard (Part 34[c])
Posted in learning, plausible, systems thinking, Uncategorized, very short posts
Tagged learning, Very short posts
1 Comment
Curiouser and curiouser
Meet George, he is the ideal employee. Despite his musky smell and alarming mating habits, he is essential in any office or factory floor, as he has the one quality that will keep him changing, improving and adapting: curiosity. And … Continue reading