The Working Week 12: John Blackwell
This week Wayne discuses how environmental issues affect business with
John Blackwell of JB Associates, a regular commentator for Management-Issues on workplace effectiveness - the science of how people, space, and technology interact.
0:30 The first thing that has caught Wayne’s eye this week is some research about managers making a drama out of a crisis. Apparently when the **** hits the fan most of us handle the stress poorly, either dropping something else equally important, becoming uncommunicative or simply panicking…
1:40 Mergers are a particularly stressful thing to go through, and one of the keys to keeping a merger on rack is to ensure that the trust on both sides is absolute. But this appears difficult to achieve as new research shows that small-to-midsize companies
connecting with a bigger brand or partner have an alliance failure rate of six out of 10.
2:00 - A new phenomena - the graduate brat - is apparently causing headaches for managers.
New British research says that a shortage of new graduates is creating a generation of demanding and badly behaved brats. Sound familiar?
2:30 Finally, did you see the research on the health risks of working with idiots in Bryan Alaspa’s blog this week? Don’t worry if you didn’t, because the whole story is a hoax!
3:09 Wayne introduces John Blackwell of JB Associates, a regular commentator on Management-Issues on workplace effectiveness - the science of how people, space, and technology interact.
John starts with feedback on the number of organisations that are telling him that they want to make their companies more environmentally responsible.
But John believes that an important nuance is being missed here and that it’s really about mankind saving the future of the human race. It has nothing to do with saving the planet per se.
5:44 Wayne – so it’s about defining the terms properly?
5:51 John continues that many corporates he encounters say they are thinking about “green” issues but have not factored their own people into the equation. For example, how staff travel to work or the way they act with suppliers and equally important issues.
6:00 Wayne - “Let’s take a look at a couple of specific areas where impact can be made.”
7:36 If you behave in a responsible manner at the same time you are acting in a more economically viable manner. What are the things we need to do tomorrow to change our footprints? What are the behaviours and cultures that need to change on a longer term basis?
9:03 John focuses on the utilisation of physical space and the way in which resources such as IT makes a huge impact. Apparently, through some of these avenues an overnight 30-40% impact can be made on the carbon footprint.
For example, many City offices run at a temperature that is 12-16 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature surrounding them. Unused office space is another big issue.
11:30 Should we all telecommute asks Wayne?
11:50 John – It’s a question of finding the right balance. Naturally, some use of office space is needed, telecommuting too has an important part to play. Equally, there will be times when a face-to-face meeting is essential and other times when a telecon will do fine.
12:24 Wayne asks how we can sift the rhetoric from real information?
John responds that it is important to take a step back. What is it the real question that we need to answer and following that what are the steps and actions that will enable us to achieve the desired result. He expands on this theme…
