I’m sure that there’s a procrastination bubble that they all get inside for safety and don’t hear or see outside of it. Couldn’t have a cuppa once inside the bubble - no one would decide if they wanted sugar or not!

The same is true with all the magistrates … they leave rooms to ‘consider’ EVERYTHING! Committees, equally indecisive and wet. Most just discuss things, wait until next month to discuss and ponder again and then agree they’ll defer to the following month – repeat…and so on. So infuriating. Why can’t we all have more of a CAN DO attitude?

Quite often I heard people link service to loyalty – I beg to differ. The union stewards negotiated for an extra day of holiday per year based on service and called it a “loyalty day” (the fact that this is now not a legal possiblility due to Age Discrimination is another issue completely!).  How can this be? I know a few people that with every year served contibuted less and less.

I firmly believe that because someone serves 25 years for a company – or more – does not automatically mean that they are ‘loyal’ employees and doesn’t automatically mean that they are even ‘talented’ employees. It simply means that they have been employed for a long time. I recall someone with service of over 40 years and each day he just moaned about the company and his employers… what utter madness?

One of my predecessors, who I have the utmost respect for, said to me a couple of months ago that during his leadership of the company he recognised he was simply running a social enterprise. Inflated wages, promotions, many perks and bonuses and yet not many were deserved. It seems that in over 20 years not much was learnt. Surely we should employ the people that will add strength to a company and as employers we must manage the talent.

I know I put up with what I’d inherited and sacrificed an awful lot for each and every one of them. Given a blank piece of paper, and using the knowledge and experience I gained it would be completely different now. Even with restuctures during my time as CEO, due to cost and historical issues, I never went far enough. Talent management is imperitive as is the  need to think creatively about optimising workforces – whether in the private or public sector. Organisations are built on their people and if those people are weak then so is the foundation - no one ever built anything worthwhile on such a foundation. Recession should highlight your vital personnel and you must look after the real talent and set to work strengthening your foundation. I wouldn’t compromise again.