Communication is critically important for any business. Communication with clients and employees defines those relationships and the value they can create for everyone. Managing poor performance is tough because it’s so easy and so attractive to shy away from communicating the truth. Avoiding conflict and not addressing problems is far worse for all concerned. Robert…
I really struggled when Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced (many sources, but here is one) that private healthcare costs have increased by 121% over the last decade. He continued: “Over the past decade, private hospital costs have increased by 121%, while over the same period, specialist costs have increased by 120%.” Anyone who measures growth…
Found these views on teamwork interesting, and largely in line with my own experiences. In particular, I’ve gone from thinking videoconferencing is all we need to the realisation that in-person interaction is important. I’d add to the point about stable, long-standing teams performing better by suggesting this is at least partly through better understanding each…
Turns out Australian banks are concerned that their customers have greater confidence and trust in Google and PayPal than in their own institutions. It wasn’t that long ago that financial institutions needed marble-clad offices and multi-decade histories to show that they were serious and were financially stable and could be trusted. Now the organisations that…
In broad terms, we are all mostly ignorant. Worse than ignorant, we have notions and views, firmly held, that are entirely incorrect. We only complain about what we don’t like Nobody complains to their boss that they are overpaid. Nobody complains that their pension or social security increases were above inflation last year. We don’t…
Shocking unemployment statistics (but what do they mean?) Someone threw a shocking figure at me today. They said that the unemployed under age 35 in South Africa comprise 75% of the unemployed population. I believe the figure comes from Adcorp. Like many statistics that are bandied around for shock value, this one is more fluff…
The ongoing public sector strike has raised several interesting points. Not least of which is what teachers actually earn. A full-page advert in newspapers last weekend gave some very respectable figures for teacher salaries. A teacher just starting out, with a 4 year qualification has a total cost to employer of around R229,000 per year.…
The New York Times has a fascinating article about “Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up?“. It deals with the broader issue of how and when young adults move through phases of adulthood and how this has changed over the last 40 years. It’s based on US research,…
