Paul Taylor
-
Is Digital Bureaucracy Making Us Less Productive?
Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work. Albert Einstein. Some context for this post: I’ve been doing some thinking recently about why people keep saying they are ‘too busy’. Is busyness an indicator of having too much work to… Continue reading
-
Strategic Foresight and Escaping the Tyranny of the Present
Most of us struggle to imagine the future – even our future selves are complete strangers to us. Studies have shown that when we think about our own future we imagine ourselves as a wholly different person. This week I… Continue reading
-
Why We Try To Solve Problems By Adding Complexity
“Most geniuses—especially those who lead others—prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities.” Andy Benoit When companies want to change they almost always add something to the mix. A new team, a new senior leader, a new… Continue reading
-
Are We Really Becoming More Distracted At Work?
Rather than blame technology we should accept that we over-value noise and activity, and under-value silence and contemplation. Continue reading
-
Can We Really Trust People To Do The Right Thing?
TLDR: the answer is yes Continue reading
-
Built Not To Last: Could Planned Obsolescence Be Good For The Social Sector?
Planned obsolescence is the practice of deliberately creating consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete (or out of date) and therefore need to be frequently replaced. If we designed our organisations to have an expiry date would we get better social outcomes? Continue reading
-
The Convoluted Mess of The Hybrid Workplace
What if hybrid ends up being a mix of the worst of both worlds? Continue reading
-
The Anatomy of a Great Idea
Ideas are not invented equally. I’d suggest that anyone who repeats the adage that ‘no idea is a bad idea’ has never attended a management away day. So what makes a great idea? Continue reading
-
Whatever You Do Today, Don’t Start A Transformation Programme
New research indicates that corporate transformations have a 78% failure rate. The default position is that most top down change programmes will fail. Smaller, well focused, spreadable changes, which are introduced on an ongoing basis in an inconspicuous way trump big… Continue reading
-
The Great Resignation and The Relentless Rise of Work About Work
We really need to start treating people’s time as being more valuable than the organisation’s money. Mark McArthur-Christie In 2012 a civil servant in the German town of Menden wrote a farewell message to his colleagues on the day of… Continue reading
-
Poor Service Isn’t Always An Accident. It’s Often By Design
In markets without much competition, organisations can deliver bad service not because of poor design and management, but simply because they can. Benjamin P. Taylor shared a great thread on Twitter this week outlining the experience of attempting to get… Continue reading
-
The People Vs The System – and Why The People Rarely Win
What if we overstate the effect of the people in our organisations, and we spend too much time addressing what they feel and think without addressing the more complex, systemic problems that influence how they perform or behave? Continue reading
-
How Do You Solve A Problem Like The NHS?
There comes a point when numbers get so big as to become near incomprehensible. Almost five million people are waiting for health treatment in England alone. Almost 1.2m of them have been waiting at least six months for ‘vital appointments’.… Continue reading
-
The Hawthorne Effect: Why Employers Need To Be Cautious In Post-Pandemic Planning
In lockdown you can’t really experiment as people have constraints. There are too many variables at play. But now we have the opportunity to test out the best of multiple worlds; home, roam, office, wherever. Continue reading
-
Why We Stigmatize The Poor And How To Fight It
Stigma functions as a form of power which is why we need to treat it seriously. When it is left unchallenged it can lead to the exploitation, control or exclusion of others. More positively, stigma is not a one way… Continue reading
-
The Difference Between Good And Bad Organisations
Both good and bad organisations make mistakes, but the good ones are better at learning from them. Continue reading
-
What Effect Does Environment Have On Our Ability To Think Creatively?
When you think of the “space to innovate” what immediately springs to mind? Is it the physical space , the mental space, the calendar space? All three? I’ve been thinking a lot about spaces and environments this week: specifically what… Continue reading
-
Moving From ‘Big Change That Rarely Happens’ To ‘Small Change That Always Does’
We’re obsessed with big change, but what if we’re underestimating the power of the small changes that lie more easily within our reach? Continue reading
-
Turn Your Company Into A Problem Solving Machine
Last week I spent four and half hours in a room with my colleagues trying to get to the root of a problem. Six colleagues: 27 hours of just thinking. Einstein believed the quality of the solution you generate is in direct… Continue reading
-
Remote Work Is Always Efficient But Efficient Isn’t Always Effective
There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all. Peter Drucker This week marked my return to in-person facilitation after 16 months. I’m not going to lie. As I began… Continue reading
Paul Taylor 