Archive for the ‘Archive’ Category

I read this online this morning. The findings are intuitively attractive, though should also be taken with a grain of salt. If these results were the outcome of an experiment or direct observation, they would have more weight. However, I am always incredibly cautious with survey results. When answering a survey on behaviour, a couple of assumptions are implied. First, the person accurately reports their behaviour which is often not the case due to inaccurate recall, or they describe how they think they should answer. Second, asking “why” questions makes the assumption that people understand the variables that operate on their behaviour  – simply, in most cases, they do not.  This is evident in the article below where people answer why they kept to the speed limit and the reply was “due to safety.” Here we have the nominal fallacy of the description of behaviour (driving safely – keeping to the speed limit) used as the explanation of behaviour (keeping to the speed limit – driving safely) – nothing in this explanation adds to our knowledge of the variables operating on our driving behaviour.

Male motorists take more risks

Last updated 10:01 19/05/2010

Male motorists take more risks than women at drink-driving and speeding, an AA Insurance survey has found.

The survey of 4336 drivers aged 18-65 found men were more likely to drink and drive than women, with 32 percent of men and 24 percent of women saying they had driven when they were probably over the limit.

Nineteen percent of men said it was OK to drive after a few drinks as long as they felt capable, compared with 9 percent of women.

The same percentage of men said they sometimes altered their driving route to avoid being breathalysed after drinking, compared with 11 percent of women.

Nearly a quarter of men (24 percent) said they broke the speed limit ”most of the time”, compared with 16 percent of women, but 90 percent of those breaking the limit said they exceeded it by only 5-10kmh.

When asked why they kept to the speed limit, 47 percent of women and 36 percent of men said it was due to safety.

AA Insurance deputy general manager Martin Fox said men were more confident than women in their driving abilities and took more risks, but they also spent more time behind the wheel.

Men were also more confident in their ability to teach others to drive.

The drink-driving figures were “cause for real concern,” and the survey results suggested risk-taking behaviours could be passed on to the next generation of drivers, he said.

I saw Fisher and Paykel on Close Up talking about their offshore factories. Andrew Paykel stated he was “quite concerned” about the quality issues of some of the products. I am experiencing cognitive dissonance because what I see (an executive state he is quite concerned about a problem) and what I have experienced (see my blogs 9 and 14 February where my dishdrawer broke down and my email to the customer care centre has not been responded to) are completely different. And why is an executive only “quite” concerned? Shouldn’t he be “very” concerned? Wouldn’t it be better to be on the tv sharing your great products (Apple with the Ipad) rather than to try and justify that problems are being sorted. And … still waiting for a reply to my email from the Customer Care Centre – fortunately I didn’t hold my breath.

The stupidity at times, amazes even me.

I stay in a particular hotel in Auckland (which I won’t name as a client books it for me) about one week a month, so approximately 50-60 days a year. Now, that is a pretty good occupancy for them.

I leave my toothbrush charger in the bathroom. Imagine if the next day I received it in the post from the hotel with a note. Imagine how pleased I would have been, and how much I would have appreciated their service and thoughtfulness. Simple stuff, but of course, that is not what happened.

Four days later my toothbrush needs charging and, upon looking for the charger, I realise that I left it in the hotel. I email them and, here is the good part, they respond within 24 hours saying, that indeed, they have it. Now, my immediate reaction is, why on earth did no one contact me given that they had my contact details and must have known it was mine? Why was it up to me to email them and, if I hadn’t realised that is where I left it, would have spent about $200 buying another one? Absolutely bewildering. It gets worse – they are charging me to post it back! Fifty to sixty nights a year and they are going to charge me $10 (I hope no more) to post it back. It gets even worse. They won’t post it unless I send authorisation to debit my credit card (clearly high bureaucracy and zero trust for a regular guest). So, now I have to fill in a form, scan it and email it back, a whole 10 minutes of activity to rub salt into the wound.

Here is a hotel with posters about their service and values plastered all over the lifts, not telling me I have left something behind and waiting for me to phone them (presumably throwing it out if I don’t), charging me $10 to post it back, and making me fill in a form. Would you recommend this hotel to anyone? I certainly won’t be. Textbook dumb arse management!

Back in May, Andy Haden made some egregious comments. Earlier this week, he made more egregious comments. This time he went, and voluntarily at that. This was 2 months too late. Where was the leadership to swiftly act on this? Serious values digressions are rarely one-offs and are usually indicative of a pattern of responding (we only heard two public comments – goodness knows what was said elsewhere). If you don’t deal with values digressions swiftly, they’ll end up being just propaganda on the office walls – and we all know places where this occurs. Values are not just about winning the game, they are about how you win the game. How are you winning yours?

Was again at Eden Park. Jeff kindly took me for another look around. These photos were taken from the coaching box.

You may be aware of the tunnel being built in Victoria Park in Auckland (http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/news/council/200908/23/a04.asp) . Last year when I was there it was a large paddock with a few trucks and several guys – slightly different now!

Feeling the cold now (was 1˚degree yesterday down from an average 35˚ on my travels), after returning from the Philippines to participate in the World Stickfighting Championships. I received two silver medals, one for single stick, the other for double stick. In both single and double, I fought Philippino fighters who are quick and agile. In both finals, I fought my Grandmaster and came runner up to him.

Normally, at the start of a fight, one is hyped up a bit, yet at the start of the double stick final I was feeling very relaxed as I was looking forward to it and I knew I was going to have a party for 3 minutes.

Just before the start whistle, I looked at my Grandmaster and then looked over at our Supreme Grandmaster sitting 3m away watching us and our fight to be, and I thought, “How cool is this, life is pretty good.”

Hospital staff unimpressed with pressie

Waitemata Health gives staff departmental phone list for Christmas for key ring; one nurse says it was worse than getting nothing 14 December 2009

Staff at the country’s worst performing hospital for waiting times have been given the bureaucratic equivalent of a lump of coal for Christmas.

In their pigeonholes they have found a “small token” of Waitemata Health’s appreciation in the form of a handy departmental phone list, with all the hospital’s vital extension numbers listed in a plastic cover with a tag. Some staff report the tag falls apart when an attempt is made to put it onto a key ring.

The apologetic note attached to the gift says sorry it cannot be anything bigger. One nurse says it was worse than getting nothing.

10 Lessons

1. Know your staff.

2. Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something (especially if it is bad).

3. Always ask, “What will be the effects of this?”

4. How to anchor a bad memory rather than a good memory.

5. Does this demonstrate appreciation?

6. The intention for giving this gift is misaligned with how it was received.

7. One size present does not fit all.

8.  Its not about the money – spending more on a present could have got just as bad a reaction.

9. Something that breaks the first time is usually not received terribly well.

10 Know your staff  – again, just in case you missed it as number one.