CUTTINGS

• Cuttings is a regular (bi-monthly) newsletter that is a collection of ideas and writings on individual, management and organisation development that have interested me in the last few weeks. I share them with you to further promote discussion.

• Cuttings has been in continuous publication since 1990.

• Cuttings is one of the few newsletters that is read and welcomed by HR Directors, Training Managers and consultants who are inundated with literature and flyers every day. "The only newsletter I read", "Once again, an excellent issue", "This is an OUTSTANDING newsletter", “I look forward to receiving Cuttings”, “Thank you for your very entertaining and useful newsletter”, “The style and editorial make it very easy to read".

• Cuttings is published on this web site and is available on free download. A .pdf copy is emailed to all subscribers so you can print a copy for reference, circulation or distribution. To subscribe, please contact us.

• Cuttings includes a regular feature: Snippets a collection of quotations and thought provoking statements. Click here to access the complete anthology of Snippets since 1990

  Download the current issue Cuttings 69 (.pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

  Contents:

  • Employee Engagement - results of a survey into engagement and the impact of management actions
  • Sir Alan Sugar on Leadership - the UK entrepreneur's thoughts
  • CSR contributes... - corporate social responsibility adds to the bottom line, employee engagement and customer loyalty

   

Past Issues (click on the title to download a .pdf copy)

Cuttings 68

Contents:

• Five Crucial Conversations- conversations that don't take place in projects
• In Praise of the Incomplete Leader- a reflection on how to be effective but not perfect
• Structured Procrastination- a new look on timewasting !

Cuttings 67

Contents:

• Listening and Feedback - managers are underachieving and not able to listen to feedback
• 5 Questions to ask ask yourself - Tom Terez poses some things to reflect on at work
• A Parable from India - Parashu Ram shares a story about love, wealth and success
• Common goal or legal contract - how do we treat our suppliers and contractors?

Cuttings 66

Contents:

• The Chickens are in Charge!- some explanations why projects often are not managed effectively
• MINDSET - a new book from Carol Dweck explaining the importance of mindset on success
• Managing Virtual and Remote Teams- a survey from BlessingWhite on the skills needed by managers of these teams
• 360 degree assessments - a critical look at their effectiveness

Cuttings 65

Contents:

• Feedforward instead of Feedback - some ideas on how to improve communication about performance improvement
• Six Steps to Survival - an article from 1971 that has a lot of relevance today

Cuttings 64

Contents:

• Strategic Distortions and Deceptions - sometimes our appraoch to situations leads to distortion and deception, often unconsciously
• How your mindset impacts your success - a growth mindset helps you and others to develop more than a fixed mindset
• A Chance to Start Over - a reframing story about Thomas Edison

Cuttings 63

Contents:

• Cognitive Science and Change - learning from the latestneurological research to help understand change
• Improved cross cultural communication increases productivity- some numbers from Accenture
• Perspective - a story on how you look at thing
• Babemba - a different way of dealing with wrong doers

Cuttings 62

Contents:

• Positive Organisation Politics - politics in organisations does not have to be damaging and negative
• ReceivingCatastrophic News - The Elisabeth Kubler-Ross stages for receiving bad news
• Appreciative Intelligence - a case study from NASA on the reframing of situations

Cuttings 61

Contents:

• Performance Appraisals are Worthless - some comments on the misuse and abuse of performance appraisals
• Delivering Bad News - advice from Judith Glazer on how to deliver bad news empathetically
• 20 Years of New Directions - a short history of highlights to celebrate 20 years in consulting

Cuttings 60

Contents:

• WYSI-not always-WYG - some fascinating research on how the brain fools us a lot of the time
• Seven Deadly Sins - mismanagement examples from a survey of library managers

Cuttings 59

Contents:

• Perceived Power - how equalising perceived power can help get win:win agreements
• Why IT Leaders Fail - skill and competence gaps in IT managers
• Peter Drucker quotations - a collection of favourite Drucker sayings to celebrate his life

Cuttings 58

Contents:

• Leadership Excellence - some observations on what makes for excellent leadership
• Employees don't trust senior managers - chilling messages for leaders from two different surveys
• Excellence in executive coaching - six competencies for mentoring and coaching excellence

Cuttings 57

Contents:

• Awaydays and Workshops - 80% of UK organisations have strategy awaydays and workshops but few measure their success
• 21st Century Organisation - McKinsey report on the organisation needs of the current century
• Unresolved Anxiety - Having management skill is not enough to be a good manager

Cuttings 56

Contents:

• Employee Well-Being - The status of the psychological contracte
• A Leadership Story - Police officers in Texas operate a new model which gets results
• Geting More than 100 percent - A fun mathematical formula

Cuttings 55

Contents:

• A Shortage of Leaders - The baby-boom generation is aging and casing a shortage of leaders
• A Non-style of Management - Ben Johnson poses a question about the paradox of Dilbert and intelligent managers
• The Power of Positive Feedback - What are your priorities when it comes to performance management

Cuttings 54

Contents:

• Flexible Working- Flexible working is becoming a "must have" benefit - buthow do you set up an effective policy
• 12 Habits of Toxic Mentees - David Clutterbuck's companion piece to his humourous list of what not to do as a mentor
• Are you concerned about Plaxo? - Is the popular database manager all it seems?

Cuttings 53

Contents:

• Positive Leadership - The impact of building a positive environment in the workplace
• 12 Habits of Toxic Mentors - BeverleyDavid Clutterbuck's humourous list of what not to do as a mentor
• New Directions News - 2005 public course programme

Cuttings 52

Contents:

• Virtual Teams - Investigating the properties of virtual teams and how to make them effective
• Retaining talent - Beverley Kaye's new book looks at strategies for managers and individuals to develop their careers
• How much does it cost to send an e-mail? - The current ant-Microsoft story investigates the real cost of emails

Cuttings 51

Contents:

• Jazz - The new metaphor - Jazz is increasingly replacing the symphony orchestra as a metaphor for management and leadership
• The business case for diversity - results of a survey on diversity policies
• Training Trends 2004 - a survey on training priorities for 2004

Cuttings 50

Contents

• Cuttings Half Century Review - a look back over the first 50 issues highlighting some of the classic articles
• A View on Aging - a humorous look at aging
• 2004 Public Programmes - information on New Directions public programme for 2004

Cuttings 49

Contents

• Lessons from a Principled Leader - A story from the US school system on leadership
• Snippets - The regular end of year bumper collection of quotations and thought provokers

Cuttings 48

Contents

• What Really Works - Results of a Harvard study into the practices of successful organisation
• The Cosa Nostra Consulting Group - an announcement of this new force in organisation consultancy
• The 13 Characteristics of Successful People - Yet another list, this time relating to personal characteristics

Cuttings 47

Contents

• Performance Management Again - More surveys and comments on performance management principles and practice
• Free flights to Cape Town... - Mathew Parris' salutory tale from South Africa on the need for personal priority setting
• A lesson in linguistics - A cautionary story from academia
• 10 Great companies to work for in Europe - Results of the recent European Best Company awards

Cuttings 46

Contents

• Performance Management in Crisis? - Results of a survey on performance appraisal which suggests organisations are not getting the benefits of performance management
• The Seven Habits of Successful Employee Satisfaction - 7 factors for creating satisfied employees
• Collaboration is the key to organisational change - An interview with Peter Senge
• Learning from the best employers in Europe - A survey of the employment practices of the most successful European companies

Cuttings 45

Contents

• The Power of Postitve Thinking - Two recent scientific research findings onthinking positively
• Storytelling - A storytelling story from the world of IT
• Ethics for Everyman - A poem written in 1917 which is surprisingly relevant today

Cuttings 44

Contents

• Work and Life - Enabling choices - Thoughts and ideas for creating a better work - life integration
• Acronymania - Abbreviations Rule OK!
• The biggest "Town Hall" meeting yet - A report on the 5000 New Yorkers who met to participate in a participative dialogue

Cuttings 43

Contents

• Coaching - for corporate success - Some results of research that shows coaching works and is in demand
• Think Internal in times of Crisis - The need for good internal communications
• Managers and Employees Top 10 - A survey of what employees want and what managers think they want

Cuttings 42

Contents

• Leadership - The end of management?- Management is an idea whose time is up; so think a number of contributors to recent articles and books
• Management Agenda 2002 - The results of the annual survey by Roffey Park Institute
• Fixes that fail - Quick fixes are usually more expensive

Cuttings 41

Contents

• A Different Negotiation - An interesting switch to the traditional view of bargaining
• Sources of Sustained Success - An extract from Competitive Advantage Through People
• High Value Management - Core competencies for managers

Cuttings 40

Contents

• The Competence Gap - Worrying research about the growing gap between managers competence and needs.
• Asking questions - Some tips for effective questioning

Cuttings 39

Contents

• Three Challenges: Who are your customers? Adapt or die. A new world view. Three challenging views of the world of work.
• Lessons for managing remote workers - Overcoming the reasons that remote workers often 'switch-off'

Cuttings 38

Contents

• People Matter! - Motivation and jazz bands!
• Accelerating Positive Change - The First International Conference on Appreciative Inquiry
• 1000 Questions - The results of Joyce Wycoff's challenge

Cuttings 37

Contents

• Learning from Crisis: Closing down can be inspiring ! - Lessons from C&A UK operations and the Dome in motivating employees who are losing their jobs
• Flexible Pay - Semco's eleven options for flexible pay

Cuttings 36

Contents

• People Power- The Global Most Admired Companies focus on people
• The Flexible Executive - Work-home balance for executives
• Volunteering your development - develop yourseelf by being a volunteer

Cuttings 35

Contents

• A Living or a Life - Investigating the evidence for reorganising work to suit people
• Good Days and Bad Days - Appreciative Inquiry and Positive Psychology
• Negotiation is at the heart of civilisation - Quotation from Nelson Mandela

Cuttings 34

Contents

• Leadership that gets results - Damiel Golman's six leadership styles
• Something to think about...- A quiz to make you think
• The joy of quitting - The reasons people leave

Cuttings 33

Contents

• Where Radical is Routine - A case study of a GE factory
• More Questions - Questions that cause us to think today as if tomorrow mattered
• The Practice - Wise words and actions from the Dalai Lama

Cuttings 32

Contents

• The Value of the Question - Continuing the theme on the importance of questions
• Merger Mania - Making mergers more successful

Cuttings 31

Contents

• Processes for the Millennium - The outcomes of an Open Space conference in Valbonne, South of France

Cuttings 30

Contents

• The Future of Strategy - Michael Porter and Gary Hamel do battle over strategy
• e-commerce the Cisco way - Learn from a leader

Cuttings 29

Contents

• Does your Organisation Flock? - Lessons for the learning organisation from study of bird behaviour - Arie de Geus
• Have fun at work & The jester - Two ideas to inject more humour aat work

Archive The following headline features were published in earlier editions of Cuttings. Click on the subject to take you directly to the article

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Bibliography

Information on our published books and articles on the subjects of individual, management and organisation development.

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Last modified: August 03, 2007