Random thoughts on things that are half connected to the way I think about HR, L&D, Management, Leadership, business and the world…. and the world of business and the business of the world – David D'Souza (@dds180)
Synopsis: a short request for a practical change in language. Easy to make happen. Change 'onboarding' to 'welcome' then let me know. In 2017 I wrote that there must be a better name for the process of welcoming someone to an organisation than 'onboarding'. Onboarding is a process. A welcome is something you experience. And [...]
Contents: a short blog on why we need to keep a focus on the substance of what matters to people I was on 5Live a couple of weeks ago talking about unlimited annual leave. When you give a radio interview broadly you get to answer the questions and then broaden things out a bit. Also [...]
Content: a reflection on thought terminating clichés in work - with an explanation from Wikipedia up front I had the delight of learning a new term recently. "A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to end cognitive dissonance(discomfort experienced when one simultaneously holds two or more conflicting cognitions, [...]
On January 2nd a well fed version of me plopped down at my desk full of good intentions. And before I got to answering emails and walking about wishing people New Year I took some time out to think about accountability, collaboration and trust. Before Christmas I'd queried someone's decison on something and I wasn't [...]
A few months ago I was asked to speak at the graduation ceremony for a group of Civil Service Fast Stream folk. It got me thinking as to what things I believe about HR. One of them is about the importance of context - so I call these things breakable laws. In the same way [...]
One of the most pernicious, sanctimonious and unhelpful lies told on conference stages and in books is that you have to look after your people and customers to be a success. You've been told it many times - that if you don't do these things then you are doomed to failure. It's unhelpful and untrue. [...]
The brightest thinkers paint different views of our near to mid future. They describe alternate realities where automation and AI (often used interchangeably) come to rob us of our jobs or free us of our shackles. It's possible that both camps might be right. That we face an ever more divisive future, where vastly different [...]
My review of Evidence-Based Management: How to Use Evidence to Make Better Organizational Decisions which you can buy here was rejected by Amazon yesterday for not following their guidelines. I think it does, I imagine they objected to the cow in a tornado. Anyway... the review follows... Thanks to Rob Briner for suggesting I just [...]
Yesterday someone asked me why a problem hadn't been solved before and I replied that we obviously just hadn't cared enough. It felt like that needed a longer explanation, so I told them what I'm about to tell you... Things that organisations really care about get done. They are the things that people chase up. [...]
There is a way the conversation often goes when you are new to a role. And a way it can go How it often goes "Why don't we do my brilliant idea. I'm the breath of fresh air new boss?" "Tried it, didn't work" How it can go "I was looking through some of your [...]
101 Half Connected Things 