Teryl @ Work

What is confidential information?   What do we want to keep confidential?   The Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPI) has a few ideas around the subject.  (See below).  The question is “Is it possible?” or has the computer/social networking age changed the rules of privacy for ever?  Besides the high profile whistle blowers, we are exposed both personally and professionally at every turn.     Contractual agreements  While companies can get staff to sign Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and tie them up contractually, it is a tough ask to get people who live their lives through social networking to accept the weight of keeping private information under wraps.  When you are applying for a visa or a cell phone, you are required to give 3 months of bank statements.   Who looks at these?   We assume they have signed confidentiality agreements, but where are they stored?  It is my view that ther...

Are adults the present, if children are our future! Business, life, politics, we are always planning ahead, so much so that sometimes we neglect the very real present. We attach such importance to age that news articles rarely neglect to mention the chronological number of the star of the story. People are “too young” or “too old”.   When are we like the porridge in Goldilocks “Just right”?   I am not sure if we ever are. We have bought into the idea that if you haven’t achieved certain career objectives by 35 or 40, you never will, success has passed you by.   And guess what?   Hirers often buy into that, making the move into executive roles for the first time at 50 or 55 almost impossible. A disadvantage to women (and men) who decide that work and family during their child rearing years need to be more integrated and less career driven. Just over 15 years ago, I was advertising a management role.   An extremely...

With thanks to Maslow for the idea. As a leadership group at +Accsys (Pty) Ltd ,  we are constantly discussing ways to create a fully engaged company of people.  While there are obvious reasons around productivity and profitability, it is such a pleasure to be part of a company where everybody enjoys coming to work, and are all working to fulfil the same goals and objectives. Some years ago, we developed our own appraisal system, designed around employee expectations being aligned with employer expectations.  We had a very real concern, at the time, that we only found out what was causing unhappiness and disengagement at the exit interview. Setting up a model that created an environment where the line manager and the employee could openly discuss the job requirements, the company requirements and the employee's attitude and expectations, has made a significant difference. However, like all models, we have found that there are a number of factors that need to ...

I caught myself apologising to my GPS for not following her instructions and I swore at SIRI.  She wasn’t happy! Saying “Excuse me” when I am trying to get past my dogs amused my brother-in-law some years ago, because my sister does it too! Then there’s explaining to the ants covering the kitchen counter that I don’t really want to kill them, and couldn’t they just stay outside where they would be safer. I realise that dogs and ants aren't inanimate, but you know what I mean. I signal to turn into my driveway and garage even though there is nobody within miles and that’s just the stuff I can easily remember. The GPS is the worst though, because she completely intimidates me.   Especially if I have a route in mind, and she has to keep re-routing until I get to the part where I really need her help.   I am always worried she will get so irritated, she will decide not to assist me, so I tell her gently that I am going a different way, but will ...

Three favourite business words that open up lots of discussion. And so important in running the Accsys business, because they come up every single day, in one way or another. Principles Like many businesses, we built up a set of Policies and Procedures, trying to clearly define the principles by which we run our business.   Much as I loved the Nordstrom model (see below), we realised it was necessary. Then once we started using them every day, we recognised that they were simply guidelines, needed constant updating and were almost impossible to seamlessly implement. We found that almost everybody believes that the rules are for other people and their circumstances are the exception that proves the rule. Precedents In South Africa, the Family Responsibility rule is very clear, and yet we are constantly asked to expand the rule.  We recently had one staff member ask to take 10 years of Family Responsibility in one as he had never used it before....

As a business, resolutions are an informal way to get us all thinking about what we want to achieve in a fresh year. Of course, there are a lot of funny personal and business resolutions. One of my favourite’s this year was on Ellen, when a young lady wanted to get past Level 183 on Candy Crush.   It took an Harvard Graduate to assist her! Not to mention the young woman who was resolving to be more patient with her children and drink better wine.   At Accsys, our business is about providing software people management solutions, so we thought it would be a good idea to define some of our people management resolutions (in no particular order). We resolved to: ·          Spend more time with people and less with systems ·          Encourage and reward innovative thinking ·          Embrace consistent management processes across t...

..or what used to be known as New Year's Resolutions. Each year brings its highs and lows, and the eternally optimistic human race believes that we get a fresh start each January 1st.   Belief is a strong driver, and optimism is capable of delivering very good results. So, with that in mind, in January 2014 I decided to try and give myself some good advice.... Enjoy more special family and friend time, have got a bit too chilled and lazy over weekends – Did quite well on this one until March. Remain passionate about what matters, but not angry when things go wrong – my execs tell me about 50% success rate! Be upfront about issues, deal with them quickly, and avoid continual negative comments, frustration and feelings (mine) – Same as above Delegate 3 business tasks that I have been hanging on to - Done Set aside formal time to deal with personal issues every week eg doctor's appointments, checking bank statements, sorting out hom...