Page 3 – Dwan & Associates

Business Travellers to Christchurch NZ

Looking for a business meeting/conference venue (and maybe boutique accommodation as well) in Christchurch, New Zealand? Despite so many venues being out of action since the earthquakes in 2010, one that has been fully and beautifully restored is Eliza's Manor on Bealey (as in, Bealey Ave). For information, contact Ann and Harold on 0800 366859 or email info@elizas.co.nz or check it out on http://www.elizas.co.nz/

Ever suffered from restless aptitude syndrome? You betcha!

Brian Noble, quoted in an article in NZBusiness, June 2012, p.48, reflects on the findings of numerous surveys that suggest most New Zealanders are unhappy in their work. He suggests that people may be unhappy in their career because they aren't doing what they are good at. This means they're in a role that doesn't use their natural abilities and talents and the frustration of this may become intolerable, particularly around the ‘mid-life' stage, when a person reflects on their life,

Some survival strategies for when the going gets tough

Acknowledge a difficult situation for what it is
Identify the factors that contribute to the situation
Isolate all the separate factors and see if they can be minimised, isolated, eliminated, managed or viewed differently
Talk to trusted colleagues or a coach – ask for their support and ideas; use them as a sounding board
Look to reduce any extra stresses in your personal and/or working world
Look to the past to see how you got through other tough times and the strategies you used to get you through
Know that tough times will occur,

TINA – Send her packing when she turns up

Reg Garters, in The Press, 2/06/2012, F2, quoted an oft-used phrase of Sir Bob Jones – TINA -which means There Is No Alternative. Garters speaks of TINA and a common problem, which is when managers make assumptions on issues, spring into quick solution-finding mode, find the solution they most often use and fall prey to ‘group think'. It is too easy to say ‘there is no alternative' to some issues, especially when little time or real effort is spent exploring alternative solutions.

How to Develop a Ready Response Capability

Organisations in Christchurch have now moved out of their initial crisis response mode into business recovery and a ‘new' normal. This typically includes temporary accommodation, disrupted workplaces, cramped working conditions and longer commutes; extra or different demands, loss of staff and/or clients or records.

For some managers and staff in the early days of their initial crisis response, they made unexpected yet immensely valuable discoveries. That is, many of their pre-earthquake everyday policies and procedures and practices were impractical,

What do you really feel about your job?

In recent research conducted by Leadership Management Australasia, nearly 4000 respondents in Australia and New Zealand were asked how they felt about their jobs. The survey revealed more than 60% of the workforce either hated their jobs or didn’t care about their work, as long as they got paid. It showed nearly half were considering looking for a new job while 62% either hated or were ambivalent about their work. (Source: APN).

What this shows are large numbers of employees who aren’t committed to their organisation or the work they do.

Systematic management failure common, yet avoidable

Systematic management failure is a label I use to describe issues that are years old and have been unsuccessfully dealt with, by a long line of managers. Systematic management failure occurs when managers go into new roles and in no time at all, find they've inherited a number of longstanding issues. They discover that despite various attempts in the past to resolve the issues to a successful conclusion, it hasn't occurred. They discover remedial actions may have been started,

The Camino – touchstones for challenging times

It seems strange that an 800km walk across the north of Spain in 2009 provides ‘lessons' for getting through challenging, changing times, but it has. And it seems equally odd to be writing about it in these terms, but then again, why not?

Context is everything, so picture two sisters walking the Camino – the French Way – from a small village in the south of France to Santiago de Compostela, in the west coast of Spain.

Terminological inexactitude – hands up, anyone?

This delicious phrase was first uttered by Winston Churchill in 1906 in a speech at the House of Commons. The original meaning of it at the time referred to inexact or inaccurate terminology however it changed over time to mean a euphemism for outright lies or untruths. I think of the phrase and its original meaning whenever I read articles or documents filled with sentences and paragraphs with excessive words, little punctuation, overused clichés and jargon-speak.