Uber, the increasingly popular taxi app, is making headlines again due to the fact that, as well as allowing passengers to rate their experience at the hands of each driver, it also allows drivers to rate their passengers. So, if you take a ride with an Uber driver, you can be rated on things such as size of tip, attitude and clarity of communication (just don’t say Melville Street when you mean Melville Place or you may be marked down!). ...
In this Monday’s edition of The Times, the BBC economics editor Robert Peston writes movingly about the profound effect the death of his wife (at the comparatively young age of 51) has had on him. He goes on to describe the way in which some colleagues – notably male ones – found it difficult to know how to deal with the situation on his return to work. And there, I think, lies the problem. Because of the perceived ‘rules of engagement’ in the ...
This week the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the body responsible for the regulation of all health and social care in England – announced a new regime for the inspection of care homes. In future, inspectors will carry out a ‘mum test’ in which they’ll be asked to consider if they’d be happy for someone they love and care about to receive the services patients are receiving – including the way they are cared for and spoken to. In other words, ...
What do you like doing at work? If you’re anything like me the answer is quite simple. “I like doing what I like doing, and I don’t like doing what I don’t like doing!” Most human beings are naturally attracted to the things from which they derive most satisfaction and offer the greatest opportunities for success – and, conversely, they tend to stay away from things that they find difficult and where the chances of something going wrong are high. ...
Financial ROI? People being nicer to each other? Blind faith? Which of these is your preferred way to ensure that investment in soft skills development – such as leadership communication – pays off? It’s such a tricky area to measure that, too often, rolling out the development programme and just hoping it delivers can seem an attractive option. But that isn’t satisfactory for anyone involved – the learners who put time and energy into learning; the provider who puts time ...
By “Cameron Leadership Damaged as Murdoch Inquiry Weakens Faith” “Powerful bankers defend their industry at annual Davos symposium” “Fake figures put trust in NHS waiting times at risk” …and so it goes on. It seems that headlines like these are becoming all too familiar and appearing all too often. Now, even allowing for the newspapers’ fondness for a good story, the question this raises for me is just what (or, more precisely, who) can we trust nowadays? And what is trust ...