Sorry… I can’t quite get off my soapbox yet regarding the poor impact of modern corporate and working life culture on health and quality of life.

I say this having just read online in a UK newspaper that UK workers now take just 29 minutes for lunch on average. This is four minutes less than it was 12 months ago.

60% of workers don’t even have a break for lunch but eat it at their desks.

When asked why they were doing this two thirds said they had too much work to do to leave their work stations and 14% (I thought it would be more) said they did it to impress their boss.

The survey has drawn both medical and political comment.

Ron Cutler, a micro-biologist at Queen Mary University of London, is concerned about the crumbs left on desks and keyboards. Diarrhea and vomiting causing bacteria find these crumbs a great place to breed and do so readily at the 20°C temperature maintained in most offices.

And Health Minister Anna Soubry says workers should take a proper lunch break and enjoy their food. She says that workers eating lunch at their desk is disgusting.

These comments are fair enough. But I wonder whether Dr Cutler or Minister Soubry have ever been inadvertently impressed by the commitment of their short-lunch break staff over and above those who take a whole hour.

I say that because I believe few leaders fail to fall into the trap of preferring staff who ‘work through’ or work late over those who stick to their hours.

There’s a deeply embedded cultural issue at play here. It will take a lot to shift it.

Tags: 12 months bacteria biologist boss break crumbs desk desks diarrhea four minutes health minister keyboards life culture proper lunch quality of life queen mary university queen mary university of london ron cutler soapbox two thirds work
 

Did you know that health expenditure accounts for nearly 20% of government spending in the US?

That’s right… nearly one in every five of your tax dollars is spent on treating the sick and infirm. That’s twice the amount spent in most European countries.

And the trouble is the health bill is getting bigger and bigger—and that’s a big stumbling block to the economy getting back on track.

I believe the problem is lack of leadership in some very key areas:

• first, our leaders in education need to make lessons in ‘how to stay healthy’ a high priority. If they don’t, people will remain ignorant about the importance of good diet and regular exercise
• second, a brave politician needs to push vested interests aside and deal with the problems caused by tobacco, the over-influence of fast-food chains on eating habits and poor or misleading food labelling
• third (and this connects with my last blog entry), workplace leaders need to ensure that workers have the time to exercise, to eat properly, to sleep properly and to spend time with their families to ensure that family members do the same
• fourth, we need to get people out of their cars and walking or on bicycles. These activities need to be safe, so more needs to be spent on a highways infrastructure that can support healthier alternatives to getting behind the wheel
• fifth, the medical profession needs to harness new technologies and effective practises to take some of the cost out of care.

By the way, I know that this is a big and intractable problem. And I know that what I have set out above is probably over-simplified and perhaps sounds glib.

And I acknowledge that there are probably good arguments for different strategies.

Leadership is badly needed, however. No one can argue with that.

Or can you?

Tags: bicycles blog entry eating habits european countries expenditure accounts family members fast food chains food labeling good arguments government spending health bill health expenditure high priority highways intractable problem key areas medical profession obamacare politician stumbling block tax dollars
 

As David Beckham departs LA Galaxy, might he be thinking ahead to a career in soccer management back in the UK?

Well, if I were David, I wouldn’t. That’s where angels fear to tread!

Let me explain.

By 16 May 2012, 37 of the 92 clubs in the four English football (soccer) leagues had seen a manager depart.

Not in the previous ten years.

Nor in the previous five.

No… in the 2011 – 2012 season!

And we’re not talking about the smaller lower league clubs. Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers, Leeds, Wolves, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool all said goodbye to
Steve, Steve, Neil, Simon, Mick, Andre, Alex and Kenny respectively.

I mention this because the obviously precarious nature of the role of English football club manager resonates with some of my views on the difficulties facing modern corporate leadership (new appointees in particular). That is to say:

• there are often not particularly visible owners and bosses in the background who don’t know much about the game (a bit like business owners/shareholders who neither understand the business nor the market in which it operates)
• the stench of short-termism is so all-pervading that your appointment as manager is pretty much a license to fail (business leader honeymoon periods are increasingly short – and tolerance of early struggles is in short supply notwithstanding difficult trading conditions)
• if your face simply does not fit, then you’ve no hope and the fans will be tireless in their opprobrium (for fans read major investors)
• the team assembled around you is not up to scratch but the owners like them (a bit like—as a new appointee—you inherit an inferior management team that will be a ball and chain around your feet for your all too brief time with the company)

.

So my plea is, give new leaders a bit more of a fighting chance.

Tags: appointee appointees aston villa business leader corporate leadership david beckham english football club fighting chance football soccer league clubs neil simon new leaders opprobrium precarious nature queens park queens park rangers soccer leagues soccer management stench
 

An acquaintance of mine in his early fifties was made redundant recently.

Needless to say, this has not been a great experience for my friend. It has, however, been made slightly easier by the fact that almost all of the fifty-somethings in his business and social circles have also fallen from the corporate perch.

All of them.

No exceptions.

Some were made redundant like my friend. Some volunteered for redundancy. Some were in businesses which had gone into administration. One has resigned.

It’s ‘good news’ for my friend because he feels less unusual.

In my view though it’s bad news for the companies these people have left behind.

I say this because I have a growing concern that business leadership is being centered on an age group that’s 10 – 15 years younger than may have been the case 25 years ago. Now, while people aged say, 30 – 40, may have more energy than their older colleagues, they almost certainly have less of their experience and life skills. And there’s often an absence of positive cynicism (which I define as a useful wariness of new ideas and initiatives until proven). In other words, there’s nothing to temper their enthusiasm… and that’s where the trouble can start.

How best to tackle this? Well – and I have touched on this before—companies really need to get to grips with the loss of knowledge and experience that mass departure of the over-fifties represents. Retaining them involves challenging the corporate cultural shibboleths so alluring to their younger counterparts. The over-fifties are at an age when they don’t give a *@@# about the latest corporate-speak, senior management initiatives, performance targets and training techniques.

Don’t punish them for that… they still want to apply their experience and contribute.

Tags: acquaintance age group bad news business leadership colleagues counterparts cynicism fifties growing concern left behind management initiatives mass departure no exceptions performance targets redundancy senior management shibboleths social circles temper wariness
 

How can you tell when, despite a company having leaders, there is no leadership going on?

Simple—pretend you’re a customer.

If it’s a company with retail outlets, then go in one of their shops.

Does someone offer to help you? Are staff polite, courteous and keen to sell you what you need? How is a complaint handled? Are your product questions answered in an informed way?

If you can say yes to the above and similar questions, then this does not happen by chance. There’s leadership in place—and effective leadership at that.

No retail outlets? Ok… what is the point of sale? The internet? What’s the website like? Is it secure? Is it easy to buy? Are there alternative contact details so you can telephone or email? Does a live web-chat button work ok and is there a response. Do they seek to capture your details but observe the appropriate opt-in/opt-out protocols?

Again, if you can say yes to the above and similar questions, then these are clear indicators of effective leadership.

Sell through third-parties? Well… what’s the customer experience like with the third party? If it’s good, then on-seller appointments are clearly well-managed. And if poor, then a link in the leadership chain has failed.

If you’re a leader reading this and wondering how effective your leadership is—then it’s time for some secret shopping. Become a covert customer of your organization—and then put the problems you find right.

In other words, lead.

Tags: appointments clear indicators contact details customer experience effective leadership email point of sale product questions protocols retail outlets secret shopping third parties third party web chat
 

My thanks go to Dickson for taking the time to add their valuable opinions to my blog.

My thanks go to DissidentRage for taking the time to add their valuable opinions to my blog.

My thanks go to Cecilia for taking her time to add her valuable opinion to my blog.