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Think about it!!
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There are six eggs in the basket below.
Can you explain how six people can each take an egg and yet one egg still be left in the basket?
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| Did you know? |
| The London 2012 Summer Olympics are now less than a year away and will cover 26 sports, 36 disciplines and 302 events. This is far more variety than in the first modern Olympics, which covered just nine sports. And the modern Olympics is certainly far more complex than the original ancient Greek games that inspired this four-yearly major international event.
Sports have been added and taken away during the years, but one event that has been consistently there from the beginning is of course the Marathon, a major test of stamina and endurance in the ancient tradition of the Greek games. You may know that the Marathon was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, but did you know that the distance was only standardized for the Olympics in Paris in 1924? The official distance since then has been 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards), but before this it varied slightly and was only about 40 kilometers (25 miles) at the first modern Olympics in 1896, which is closer to the actual distance of the road route from Marathon to Athens. So the poor athletes in modern times have to "go that extra mile" plus some! |
Expert Interview
Are there some aspects of your organization that you would like to improve, but you are not exactly sure how you need to go about doing this? Or do you need to introduce nationally and/ or internationally recognized standards in some parts of your organization - e.g. people management, environmental standards, health and safety - and you are not sure which standard is most appropriate?
Perhaps you would like some expert help and advice to identify what exactly it is that you need?
Our Expert Interview tool is designed to give you just that.
By following this link and answering a few very simple questions, our Expert Interview will guide you to the right solution.
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Online Excellence Calculator
Would you like to see how your organization might perform if assessed against the EFQM Excellence Model?
There are many types of self-assessment available to organizations wishing to benefit from this widely used excellence framework.
Experience just one of them by following this link and completing a ten minute, matrix based, assessment of the level of excellence of your organization.
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Think about it!!
Answer
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Five people each take an egg out of the basket and the sixth person takes the basket, with the last egg still in it
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| Newsletter Archive | | To view our previous newsletters in our archive please click the link above |
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Greetings!
I have been doing quite a bit of travelling on business over the last few years, including a trip to Bahrain at the end of June, where I took part in delivering a set of workshops on benchmarking for excellence. This was very successful, with a good mix of people from different countries and industry sectors attending and the feedback was extremely positive. My travelling prompted the thought that many of you may well need to travel due to work commitments and that, as the main summer holiday period is just starting, even those of you who do not travel by plane at other times of the year might be about to jet off somewhere on holiday. So, whether you might be due to travel for business or purely for pleasure, see below for some tips on how to avoid jet lag.
At Ley Hill Solutions, one of the areas we frequently get involved in helping people with is business continuity and crisis management. This is as much about having knowledge and control over what your employees might be up to as it is about planning for natural disasters such as fire and flood. Recent events at News International have shown only too clearly what a disaster it can be when this goes badly wrong. Our article below "Can you avert a corporate crisis?" covers a key report on this subject - "Roads to Ruin" - published earlier this month. Don't be fooled into thinking this type of disaster is something that only happens to large corporations with many employees distant from top management. It can easily happen to a small business as well, if the proper controls are not in place and/or they are not understood and operated by everyone. We have a strong track record of working with SME's (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), who often lack the expert skills and knowledge to address these issues without some form of support.
Finally, before I disappear on my own summer holidays, whether you are on holiday or not and whether you are at home or abroad, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a lovely jet lag free summer. |
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Can you avert a corporate crisis?
In the midst of the media frenzy that has surrounded News International in the last few weeks you can be forgiven for missing the press reporting of the study "Roads to Ruin" 
produced by the Cass Business School. Commissioned by Airmic, a members' association supporting those responsible for risk management and insurance within their own companies, this study investigated 18 high profile corporate crises of the last decade, where in 7 cases the company faced bankruptcy and in 11 cases the Chairman and/or CEO lost their jobs.
The resulting report analyzed the reasons why these crises occurred and found some alarming common threads. These included, amongst others, blindness at board level to inherent risks, defective internal communication and information flow and organizational complexity and change.
"Ah yes" you may say, "but this only applies to big business and I'm an SME and I know what's happening in my business so it can't happen here".....or can it? How sure are you that your policies and procedures are adequate and are actually embedded and adhered to in your organization? Are you absolutely certain you know what commitments your employees are making on your behalf?
It is one thing to have a good looking set of policies and procedures which say all the right things, but quite another to be sure they reflect what is actually going on or the way your people work. If they don't, then even a small business could be heading for an unseen disaster.
We at Ley Hill Solutions can help you take an in depth look at your business, using proven tools based on the EFQM Excellence Model, that will give you a good picture of whether your processes are working the way you think they are. And we won't walk away there (unless of course you want us to). If we identify areas for improvement, our people have exactly the right skills and breadth of practical experience to help you address these and make your business more efficient. We can also offer help and advice on preventing or dealing with business disasters of all kinds.
Click here for an executive summary of the Cass Business School report "Roads to Ruin", commissioned by Airmic or, if you prefer to purchase the whole report, you can do so by following this link to the Airmic website.
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How to avoid jet lag
Most of us have heard of the human body clock, but how exactly does it work and how does it lead to jet lag? Well, the body adjusts to normal sleep/wake patterns and once it gets used to a particular pattern, the brain releases chemicals to help us sleep or stay awake in line with this pattern. If we change the pattern suddenly, the brain still releases these chemicals in line with the old pattern and so we feel wakeful and sleepy at the wrong times. These inappropriate wakeful and sleepy feelings are what is known as jet lag. It also affects other things, like feeling hungry at the wrong time and the combined effects can make you feel quite under the weather. The body and brain eventually get used to the new pattern, but it takes time - approximately one day per time zone going west and one and a half days per time zone going east.
But if we have only gone for a short holiday or business trip, we might only just be getting over our jet lag by the time we are ready to come home and then experience reverse jet lag when we get back. So how do we avoid this? And if it is a natural process of the body can it even be avoided? Well the bad news is it cannot be avoided altogether, but the good news is it can certainly be minimized. The body adjusts by responding to physical stimuli such as lightness and darkness and regular habits such as meal times and sleep times. It is also easier to go to sleep at what your body feels is the wrong time if you are very tired. You can speed up this adjustment by controlling these stimuli from the very start of your journey and even, in some cases before your journey starts. Here are some tips on how to do this.
- If you are travelling across more than three time zones, use local light information to help adjust your body clock. Expose yourself to light (it doesn't have to be natural daylight) at the times it would be daylight where you are going to and then avoid light at other times
- Go to bodyclock.com and input your usual waking time, plus information on your departure and arrival times. This will generate instructions on either seeking or avoiding light at specific times
- The minute you board the plane, set your watch to the local time of your destination
- Only sleep on the plane at times that would be normal sleeping times at your destination
- Reduce food intake for 24 hours before you fly and then synchronize mealtimes to the local mealtimes of your destination, which may necessitate taking some food with you on board the plane. For a more developed dietary approach try the Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, which a medical report shows has been tested on US military personnel
- Once at the destination, take some exercise between 5pm and 7pm local time
- Use the same techniques for your return journey to minimize reverse jet lag after you get home
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ley hill solutions aims to be one of Europe's most innovative consultancy organisations specialising in the tools and methods to improve the way your business works and performs. We use internationally recognised standards and frameworks such as ISO9001 and the EFQM Excellence Model to develop solutions that are right for your business.
Please contact us at ley hill solutions if we can be of any assistance.
Sincerely,
Graham Hull
ley hill solutions limited |
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The information provided in this newsletter and on our website is as correct and up to date as we can make it. no warranty, express or implied, is given regarding its accuracy. We do not accept any liability for errors or omissions. We shall not be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damage for loss of business or loss of profits) arising from the use of, or inability to use, this site or any information contained it it, or from any action or decision taken as a result of using this site, or any such information.
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