Our ability to communicate has never been greater, you can get in touch with almost anyone, anywhere, at any time of the day or night. Mobile phones and email allow anybody to be in constant contact with whomsoever they wish, but is it effective communication?
Take this weekend, I have arranged to meet my brother at 11.30 on Saturday using email from work. He has cancelled using reply on Friday evening but of course I have not got the message and so end up annoyed with him for not turning up.
Email is a good form of communication but should not be relied upon for important messages as you cannot be certain the recipient has received the message. I know you can ask for delivery and read receipts but there is no substitute for making a call or using text to make certain.
Equally email messages can be misinterpreted so easily. Culprits may be poor literacy, text speak , ambiguous language or omission, whatever the reason many companies are now urging (if not banning) staff from using internal email to communicate and encouraging face to face or telephone contact.
Mobile phones have become indispensible, just look at the number of athletes in the Olympic opening ceremony taking pictures during the procession. I wonder if any of the photographs have any merit? The data feeds from the cycling were reportedly interrupted by the sheer volume of tweet traffic being generated – well that is the BBC’s excuse anyway.
If you have to endure a symphony of mobile phone conversations on your commute every day you only have to listen to the mundane and pointless drivel being said to understand that these devices are not the great panacea they are portrayed to be. Far from freeing individuals to work remotely yet stay in touch they have become the “big brother” of 2012 constantly monitoring every move and intruding on every part of our private lives. There is no peace except when they are turned off.
Yet people choose to be available to all and sundry even when they are on holiday, are they afraid of being left out, forgotten about or being out of touch? This must be increasing stress and anxiety at the very time they should be resting and recharging their batteries.
The message must be to use all forms of communication with caution and to be aware of the possible inadequacies of each. Make an effort to meet others face to face and ensure that an unambiguous message is conveyed.
Archive for July, 2012
Are you a good manager or a bad manager?
Oxford dictionary definition: “a person responsible for controlling or administering an organization or group of staff”
Many people include the word “manager” in their job title, yet they are far from being a manager. Some do not have any responsibility for staff or sometimes for anything other than themselves, others have staff but micro-manage i.e. they do all the work themselves rather than let their staff carry out their duties.
There are different types of managers, but primarily there are good managers and bad managers. (more…)
Once employment was the norm, companies were very paternalistic in their approach to staff offering sports facilities and all sorts of staff perks in addition to a good salary in order to create a good espris de corps and, more importantly, aid staff retention.
Today business is ruthless and staff are viewed as expendable, employers take their pound of flesh (and anything else they can get!) and employees are exploited as never before. Much of this can be attributed to the accountant constantly paring unnecessary costs completely unaware of the consequences of his actions, especially when these are not quantifiable in monetary terms. (more…)
The Olympics are on so please work from home.
Good idea seeing some of the travel chaos being forecast and the overcrowding of an already creaking railway and tube network.
However is it really practical to work from home and will you work with the same or less diligence?
It is all well and good to say to staff “work from home during the Olympics” but how many employees have a dedicated room/office to work from at home. Most homes will have 2 or 3 bedrooms, but also 2 or 3 children, so no spare room, many houses will have a large lounge/diner and a kitchen meaning any office work will be carried out in the main living area where the kids are playing or watching the Olympics on TV. (more…)
It always used to be that children wanted to be train drivers when they were growing up. Now it seems that most hanker after being the next David Beckham or a big pop star. So many have unrealistic expectations and views of their own abilities one has to wonder what they will end up doing.
It is the same when you leave school, ask all your friends and you will find that only a small minority had any idea what they wanted to be. I am now over 50 and still have no idea what I want to be but I have come to the conclusion that it is often best to make the most of what you have rather than dream unrealistic dreams and end up a failure.
In fact this epidemic of uncertainty has led us to create a career development programme we call UnlockURpotential designed to help individuals to better understand themselves, to determine what qualities they possess and how they may be valued by an employer. By highlighting these it makes the decision-making process so much more obvious.
The programme is personally challenging but rewarding, it might even be said to be enlightening provided the individual is honest and prepared to put in the effort.
To find out more please contact us.
The happiest workers are those who live and work in the countryside, a government department has announced, with those employed in farming, forestry and fishing being the happiest.
Not for these happy people is there the daily commute on crowded trains, roads or buses; which in itself is a huge bonus. On the other side it is the people who do commute into large cities, especially London, that earn the most money; probably to compensate them for their reduced of home life, increased stress, higher chance of heart attack and real job uncertainty. (more…)
Holiday time – or is it?
Today is the end of the school year for many kids and this weekend thousands of families will be jetting off to sunnier climes or driving to a holiday destination.
But I wonder how many of you will actually be on HOLIDAY? For those of you that have forgotten here is the definition of a holiday “an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in travelling”, notice leisure and recreation, no mention of checking emails or text messages on your work Blackberry or smart phone, no mention of calling the office “just in case”, or because you think you are indispensable. (more…)
Answer, when interpreting unemployment figures.
According to the Office for National Statistics unemployment has fallen by 65,000 but still stands at 2.58 million.
Employment has risen by 188,000 with 133,000 being full-time jobs but all is not what it seems. 32,000 of these are self-employed, but are probably not a new generation of entrepreneurs, more likely people who have decided to earn a living in whatever way they can.
More worryingly the figures also include 42,000 people who have enrolled for Government training schemes who are not technically unemployed even though they may still be in receipt of benefit. A further 11,000 are in family unpaid jobs.
If the Olympics were supposed to be a stimulus for jobs there seems little indication of this in the figures.
The fact is that pessimism is rife and very few employers are prepared to invest in either business or people.
According to a Chartered Management Institute survey more than a third felt that they were overloaded with work and that it was causing a rise in health, particularly stress related problems.
The average manager is working an extra 90 minutes a day just to keep up impacting on family time with many not seeing children at all on weekdays.
Worryingly more than a third would leave if they could find another job, employers watch out!
The truth is that when recession bites the accountants begin to call the shots cutting staff levels and paring costs wherever possible. Fewer staff means more work for each remaining member which gradually makes them more stressed and less efficient. Add to that the increase in sickness and the company itself starts to be affected by inefficiencies or reputation.
Downsizing must be done very carefully in association with structural and procedural changes to improve processes otherwise the weak links will soon be exposed.
As for the poor overworked staff members they work on afraid to admit they are being swamped in fear of their own job. No-one will notice until they are not there, signed off with stress which will probably be too late.
The survey shows a particular worrying trend when compared to 2007. 43% do not take sick leave when ill against 32% in 2007, a sure indication that they are worried for their jobs.
The solution is obviously to reduce the burden – more staff but what employer in the current market has the confidence to do so?
Nine to Five – Not any more
What time do you start checking your work related emails and texts? Compared to a survey by Good Technology around 38% of the population start checking at 6.51 am, with most using smart phones or tablet pc’s that are always turned on.
Travel on public transport to work and a large percentage of commuters are banging away on their smart phones or tablets, keep this up and they will soon require tablets to help them through their breakdown. (more…)
