Blog | Bluegem Learning

Mar 11
5 min

Speak Up! ... 'You should fire him' ... What Next?

In our workshops I will discuss with participants how, despite planning out what you are going to say beforehand, often when the 'action' starts during a 'difficult' workplace conversation, the other party doesn't react as expected. By using live actors in our worships we give participants the opportunity to think on their feet and develop positive reaction strategies. This is also a theme my co-author Ken Cameron talk about in our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing T

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Feb 26
4 min

I Can't Work With You When You're Like This ...

In my corporate workshops I often talk to participants about taking early proactive management action when they first notice an issue arise with a team member. At this early stage there is a choice to make, do I live with the situation or deal with it? This is a theme my co-author Ken Cameron talk about in our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations' What follows is an extract from our book where we cons

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Feb 5
6 min

This Is Why The Feedback Sandwich Is A S**t Sandwich

In my corporate workshops I often talk about the limitations of the popular feedback model the 'feedback sandwich'. In this article written by my colleague Ken Cameron, he explains the model's limitations. Over to Ken .... 'We’ve all done it. I know I have, and I can’t be alone in this. So, I’m willing to bet you’ve done it too. You’ve given at least one of your direct reports the feedback sandwich. You’ve started off with something positive to get your employee on board. The

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Jan 16
4 min

A Viking, a Construction Worker and a Graduate walk into a bar ....

Both in our corporate workshops and our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations', my co-author Ken Cameron and I discuss the benefit to a leader of separating the person from the behaviour when it comes to managing our employees. What follows is an extract from our book where we consider a useful method to do this .... If we agree that it’s not effective to think of our employees as “fxxxing unmanageable

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Dec 14, 2020
4 min

Are People Really 'Unmanageable'?

Both in our corporate workshops and our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations', my co-author Ken Cameron and I pose the question 'Are people really Unmanageable?' Even the most disagreeable or truculent of our employees or co-workers, are they really 'Unmanageable'? What follows is an extract from our book where we consider this specific point.... Before we proceed any further let’s dispel a myth now;

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Dec 8, 2020
2 min

Can You Create High Performing Teams If Everyone Is Working Remotely?

For many managers the reality of managing a disparate group of people, who are used to working in close proximity but now work remotely, has been a challenge. A fine line to walk between micro managing on the one hand and leaving people to their own (electronic) devices on the other. In this blog we look at three areas that can help managers confidently meeting the challenge ahead in the coming weeks and months. Often managers will think of how they can create a High Performi

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Apr 2, 2019
3 min

The Manager's Bermuda Triangle

Hi there!! Russell Stratton, president and leadership champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers improve individual and team performance so they get even better results for your business. In the last couple of VLOGS I've been discussing the topic of Leading from the Middle and there's been a lot of emphasis on how we can lead within the organization when you are in the middle of the organization and you have people working for

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Mar 25, 2019
4 min

Influencing Strategies for Managers & Employees

I'm Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers improve individual and team performance so that they get even better results for your business. In my previous article in our Leading from The Middle Series, I discussed the unique position that a lot of middle managers find themselves in. Specifically I was providing some analysis as to our positional power in different types of organiz

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Mar 19, 2019
3 min

Eat or Be Eaten: Know the Political Landscape in your Organization?

Hi there. Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers improve individual and team performance to get even better results for your business. The topic I'd like to come back to today is this concept of Leading from the Middle, which I've spoken about briefly before. Middle managers in an organization are in a unique position... They are stuck bang slat in the middle of the organization. Th

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Mar 15, 2019
11 min

Effective Leadership When You're Stuck In The Middle

“Why can’t I just tell the bastards what to do?” asked the Commander squinting at the diagram in front of him. He adjusted his cap to block out the light, which caused the sun to glint off his cap-badge. I could tell the veteran Borough Commander was half-joking, but it was the half that wasn’t joking that worried him. Fergus, however, was unfazed. “Because, you old sod,” retorted Fergus in the same tone. “the world has changed under your feet in case you hadn’t noticed.” F

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Mar 5, 2019
3 min

Three Contenders for The WORST Boss EVER

Hi there. Russell Stratton, president of Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. Over the last 25 years I've worked with a range of organizations to improve bottom line productivity. In the last couple of blogs I've been talking about Managing Your Boss. As I've said before, this is one of the key topics that people come to talk to me about after my workshops. How do I deal with my boss? And often they've brought an anecdote or a story to tell me about the person they're w

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Feb 26, 2019
3 min

How To Manage Your Boss in Four Simple Steps

Hi there, Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. For the last 25 years I've worked with organizations to develop leaders to maximize team performance and improve bottom line productivity. In our last vlog we were talking about the seven types of bad boss and as I was saying, this is one of the most common topics that people come up to me after my workshops and say, "Hey Russ, how do I deal with managing my boss?" So we identified the seven

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Feb 22, 2019
3 min

The 7 Warning Signs of a BAD Boss

Hi there. Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. For the last 25 years I've worked with organizations to develop leaders so that they can maximize team performance and improve bottom line productivity. One of the questions I get asked at a lot of my workshops is... "How do I deal with a bad boss?" This seems to be the number one topic that participants have in their mind. How do I deal with a bad boss? So it got me thinking about people Id

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Feb 15, 2019
6 min

The Survivors Guide To Managing Your Boss

People don’t leave their job - they leave their boss. The business relationship you have with your immediate manager, your boss, is one of, if not the most important relationships you have at work. A good boss can help you progress your career to new heights... ...a bad boss can be like a dead weight around your neck and leave you frustrated and searching the job adverts. In the course of my work I regularly get people come and tell me about their “problem” boss and ask what

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Jan 23, 2019
2 min

Tips for Communicating Change Pt 2

Transcript: Hi there, Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers and leaders improve individual and team performance in your business to increase results. In a recent vlog, I was talking about the four step process to put together a change message when you've got some significant change happening in your business. And this got me thinking how this links back to Kurt Lewin's force field

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Jan 12, 2019
3 min

Tips for Communicating Change Pt 1

Transcript: Hi there. Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers improve individual and team performance to get results for your business. I was talking to one of my coaching clients the other day about communicating change. He had a fully significant change in his business, which was going to be changing their opening times for his retail store and also a new product line that was goin

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Jan 3, 2019
3 min

Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes Managers Make

Hi there. Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers improve individual and team performance to get the optimum results for your business. And one of the things that I do is I coach people moving into management roles, so making that transition from potentially being a doer to being a leader of doers. And one of the things I talk to them about is avoiding the five common mistakes that n

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Nov 23, 2018
3 min

Are you spending enough money on leadership development? Consider these 4 reasons why you should be

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) estimates that organizations in the United States spend more than $165 billion on training for employees. However, leadership development accounts for only 15% of that amount. Here’s four reasons why you should be looking to increase your leadership development budget. Leaders are key to employee satisfaction Employees don’t leave organizations they leave their boss. A positive relationship between a manager and the peopl

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Nov 13, 2018
4 min

What lessons can we learn in business from the world of professional sports?

Transcript: Hi there. Russell Stratton, President and Leadership Champion with Bluegem Learning. I work with organizations just like yours to help managers be even better at managing individual and team performance to get you the business results that you need. Now, like many of you, I'm a big sports fan, and one of the things that got me thinking recently was what lessons can we draw from the sports world that can be applicable in business. And in thinking about this for a w

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Nov 10, 2018
4 min

Learn from Kodak film, take a snapshot of where you are

Guest blogger Ken Cameron talks about the lessons learnt from Kodak film. Picking The Right Transition Strategy In The First 100 Days Is Crucial To A New Leader. That’s how the CEO of Fujifilm saved his company while Kodak disappeared. There are plenty of reasons you might fail when transitioning into a new role. If you’ve ever stumbled or fallen when tackling a new position or taking over a new team, you can probably make a list of reasons that is as long as your arm. If you

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