Exams are pretty big in the lives of our children and many will have worked hard and diligently to prepare for those due to start on Monday. But the disruption caused by the snow will now, most likely, knock those preparations into the long grass. The reason for this is that the Exam Boards cannot manage the challenge of exams schedules when not all candidates can attend due to poor weather conditions.

There are no doubt many options to deal with this challenge, but the option of ploughing on regardless and leaving those who cannot attend to take the exams in 5 months time is undoubtedly the wrong option. The reason it is wrong is because it is putting the system at the heart of the answer, not the customer who is called the candidate in this instance.

Image via Wikipedia

If the business world can look at weather forecasts and make decisions ( salt, grit, even cat litter will be on surge supply, whilst demand for salads will probably be down so not much will be ordered), then it is hard to see why the exam boards cannot make the necessary changes especially when the forecast is so clear and the impact so wide ranging.

Surely it is not beyond their ability to make a radical change to the plan that reshapes the playing field in favour of the students. With forecasts of poorer weather still over the weekend, Monday promises to be a tough day to get to school. So why not close all schools for a week for the weather to clear, and delay the start of the holidays by one week, now or in the summer, to make up the “lost” time.

This could work, but it would probably be rejected by all those in education who place themselves ahead of those they are supposed to teach and prepare for the future.

I must admit: I’ve been a slave to email. It’s been a friend, a distraction from real work, it’s given me a sense of being connected when all this exciting must read stuff lands in my inbox. And it’s helped me waste days if not years of my life.

But as of today all that is changed. I’ve decided to declutter my inbox, clear my desktop and instead of being busy, being busy I’m going to focus on the important things in my communication strategy.

No longer will I sit there waiting for someone’s broadcast; from now on it’s Proactive Communications for me!

So if you want to de-clutter your day, tidy up your thinking and focus on what’s important then I suggest that you too think about who you receive mail from and why. You could save yourself many hours a day with an auto delete filter on incoming mail.

The “unsubscribe” button is now a great friend. Have an uncluttered day.!

I’ve found my interest in politics growing recently, driven by dissatisfaction with the poor performance of some elected members and by the close to fraudulent activity that has come from Westminster, elected and hereditary. I suspect that seeing the lack of true support for our Armed Forces, for whom I have a huge affinity, has also irritated me hugely. As has the pointless spin that emanates from Ministers and their aides.

Image by Maia C via Flickr

As a result, I’ve watched, listened, wondered and started to question. And the one question that sits uppermost in my mind is: “what is the role of an elected member?”. Allied to this is the need to question what the job description for the role really is and some who’ve read my blogs may recall my views on job roles and tools for the job.

Anyway, back to my main issue: what is their role? I’ve always thought that politicians are elected to represent their constituency. After getting more interest in our political system I’ve begun to realise how naïve this view is. I cannot remember when an elected member that I’ve voted for has appeared to seek my views in order to represent them properly. Instead, his/her party has decided what my views are, or at least the views to be represented.

Now the party conference season has started we are hearing more about what elected members want to see. Statements like: “I want to see …” surely miss the true point of elected members. They are there to shout out loud that “the people who elected me want to see…” for it is their view that matter, not those of the elected member.

As social media becomes more pervasive and we, “the great unwashed” feel that we have both the right and capability to make our views known it really is time for the challenge to be made to elected members to listen more to their electorate.

Engagement is not about surgeries anymore, but about continued communication. And of course, communication is not about blogging or Twittering, it is a mutli-path dialogue that captures and forms opinion over time and sometimes in pretty quick-time.

In a real democracy elected members represent those who did not vote for them just as much as they represent those who did. And they should do this without worrying about the needs of their party machines that helped them to be elected to the role in the first place.

If the principle of the wisdom of crowds will have its day then it is going to use social media to do so. Wise politicians will realise this and then amend their stance to truly represent all those who elected them and will speak on their behalf.

Great hype yesterday that the Afghanistan  opium crop production was down 30% in this year (the spinners had spun out the fact that it is still higher than it was 5 years ago). The implicit link was that our military efforts are stopping the production of drugs, reducing the income to the Taleban and therefore were a damn fine thing!

Image via Wikipedia

Notwithstanding that the destruction of crops is not on our list of priorities in Afghanistan, why should this statistic be good news? Are there not other issues to consider?

For example, and from my limited understanding of Economics, doesn’t reduced supply usually mean increased prices?  And don’t increased prices in this market probably mean increased crime on the streets of Britain as those who need or want the drug cannot afford to buy it.

So is it a reasonable assumption that a “Success” story is in fact the precursor to more crime?

Image by DavidErickson via Flickr

I was reading an interesting result from a YouGov survey earlier that stated that 38% of SME owners planned to increase their marketing spend in this downturn.  In another poll the results indicated that 23% of SME owners would spend all of a £10k windfall on marketing.

Is this your plan? Do you plan to spend more on marketing and acquisition, or are you going to introduce a strategy of shrink to grow? It’s never worked before but you might make it a world first.

In an attempt to break the monopoly held by pigs, I’m proposing that the current Swine Flu Pandemic be countered with a new epidemic, which could mature into a Pandemic, if we get the right values behind the programme

Duvet Day Flu will hit individuals in different ways, but some triggers might include: radio alarm clocks, kids jumping on the bed before 7 am, spouse kicking you so that “you can use the shower  before them”.

Responses to these stimuli will also vary, but will probably include pulling a duvet over your head (this raises the interesting question as to whether or not non-duvet users can be infected) and a crisis of conscience as to when to phone into the office.

Join now – it’s free: and you don’t need to wait for a new Government helpline to be setup.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but how can you set allowances for a job without knowing what that job is?

It’s always been a principle of mine in business to define the job that my team have to do, then give them the tools to do it. If they need more tools, they ask, justify and receive. All of them. Not one by one, not on a case by case basis but all of them.

MP’s and AM’s have a “job”, but what is it exactly? Is there a Job Descrption and a set of objectives? Are the tools required to do the work clearly defined and provided? With those essentials in place we could then understand what the allowances are for.

It works in business, so why not in the public sector?

It’s a nice day, not as hot as yesterday and some would say it’s a bit muggy, but it’s “nice” nonetheless.
So nice in fact that I’ve just taken my laptop out on the patio to do some work in the garden.
And that set me thinking: I couldn’t have done this a couple of years ago, how times change.
There’s nothing special about working outside: the wireless internet connection reaches the garden and I’m wired with the world. Global reach courtesy of technology.
And then that set me thinking again: what else can I do differently to make a difference in my work and my life.
Social networking has taken the world by storm, but businesses are still slow to catch up even though a good proportion of business folks also use other social media sites. So what’s holding them back. Truth is: I don’t know, but I think it’s possibly because they’ve just not tried to do something different. The familiar is always easier.
Working indoors, in the office, is the way we’ve always done things, but it doesn’t need to be like that.
Believe me: the garden is cooler than my office most days and certainly today!
Pass the suntan cream