Season 3 – Episode 20: With John Seddon Welcome to the 100th episode of A Job Done Well—where we celebrate the art of calling out corporate nonsense and replacing it with something that actually works. This week, we’re joined by John Seddon, a management thinker so influential he’s got his own Wikipedia page (unlike James, who may or may not have written his own). John’s spent decades proving that traditional management—targets, incentives, standardisation—doesn’t just fail to improve performance; it actively makes things worse. John’s approach is simple: stop incentivising the wrong things. Most organisations reward behaviours that undermine their own goals. Engineers rushed to fix … [Read more...]
The Blindingly Obvious, but Seldom Practiced Way to Improve Profitability.
Season 2 – Episode 26: With Adrian Swinscoe. In this episode, we welcome guest Adrian Swinscoe, an author, researcher, and advisor on customer service and experience. Adrian challenges the underlying management beliefs that you should try to manage revenue, cost, and profitability and explains how you can create better organisational outcomes by focusing on your employees and customers. The discussion also covers the shortcomings of chatbots, artificial intelligence, and the desire to control “the customer experience”. It is all about inputs and outcomes. Listen in to find out more. Adrian Swinscoe Described as an experimental CX thought leader and visionary, Adrian Swinscoe … [Read more...]
How Can Systems Thinking Help You?
Season 2 – Episode 9: Changing People's Thinking is Hard. With Rob Wilson. A second episode, in which Rob Wilson (Co-Founder of Service Economics) shares his insights into Systems Thinking – an approach that can help transform how businesses work. We discuss how you can change the way you think about your system (or organisation) to improve customer and staff outcomes. Rob's advice is easy to understand and pragmatic, and it's immediately apparent how it will radically improve performance. Plus, you don't need to wait for the next Apple Event (pun intended) to find out what the must-have gadget is this Autumn, as James shares his latest acquisition! To find out more, … [Read more...]
What is Systems Thinking?
Season 2 Episode 8: Rob Wilson Explains This week, we are lucky to have Rob Wilson, Co-Founder of Service Economics, as a special guest. Rob has 20+ years of experience leading and transforming service operations across various sectors and is an expert in Systems Thinking. This approach can help transform how you think about doing your job, and it has some stunning results. However, it has been surrounded by mystique and cynicism, as highlighted by the first rule of Systems Thinking – never talk about Systems Thinking! Rob breaks this 'rule' and shows us behind the curtain to understand more about this method and some of the challenges it can help us solve. You'll also get … [Read more...]