New Year Greetings & Best Wishes for 2010 For All My Beloved Simplicity Friends.

I received this message this morning from JK - our dear friend and regular Simplicity contributor - thank you Sir!

"My Dear Trevor, Annie and one and all in the Trever's Simplicity Forum,

Wishing each and every one of you and your family a Very Happy, prosperous, peaceful,purpose filled and contended New Year 2010.

May Almighty The Supreme continue to shower his Grace and Blessings on each and every one of you and and your family members through out 2010 and bring Happiness and Brightness in your life & work.

With abundance of Love, Reverence & Regards to you all my friends.

Yours in Simplicity Friendship.

J.K"

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Happy Christmas

My sincere best wishes to all Simplicity readers - have a great time over the holiday period and thank you for your continued support to my Blog in 2009.

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The recession ... getting better or worse?

Maybe it’s just me but it feels like the recession is getting worse rather than better.

For the first time since I became self employed five years ago my work commitments beyond three months ahead are looking gloomier than usual. I am not at the panic stage but I am working hard to seek out new opportunities against a background of reducing budgets everywhere.

I am sure the UK economy will recover but I suspect there will be neither a magic bullet solution nor an overnight improvement. It is a case of being patient, determined, focused and grateful for work that comes along. I have been fortunate enough to have been very busy since I left my comfort blanket of the NHS in 2004.

It has been a fantastic journey and I would not have changed a single thing about it including all the uncertainly. There has never been a time in those five years when I have been without work and whilst the future looks a bit uncertain at present I remain optimistic.

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Even more faith in our front liners

I've been looking through my training sessions work diary for the last 12 months.

Turns out I’ve met around 1000 front line healthcare employees during 2009 in training sessions that I’ve run. Never mind what they may have learned - hopefully they will have learned the odd thing or two in our session together – they will definitely have learned from each other through the networks they create for themselves.

More importantly though - what have I learned?

Here are a few thoughts on reflection about an extremely busy year alongside these front line folks:

• I’ve often said front liners know all the answers all the time. I’ve not changed my view – 2009 has strengthened my view if anything.

• Front liners are capable of taking on far more responsibility than the boxes the system puts them in.
  

• Front liners are very modest about their own abilities and skills.

• Front liners want to do a great job for patients.

• Managers must learn to let go of more of the power they have thus allowing front liners to get on with the job.

• Managers must be there for support when front liners need it – they are well capable of judging when they need help.

It is always an absolute pleasure for me to work with these folks. I thank them for allowing me to spend time with them in 2009 and I look forward to meeting at least another 1000 front liners in 2010.

The great news is front liners do a terrific job and they are keen to learn more.

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Best quote I've seen this year ....

"We don't stop playing because we get old .... We get old because we stop playing"

LOVE IT - LOVE IT - LOVE IT!!

Don't know about you but I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!

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'Gimme More Money' or I won't play

So, the Royal Bank of Scotland (which by the way is now owned by us, the tax payers) wants to pay £2 billion in BONUSES across the group for its performance in 2009, with £1.5bn going to its investment banking division.

We are told today by Government Minister, Lord Myners that at least 5,000 bankers in the UK will earn more than £1m this year whilst the median wage in the UK is just over £20,000 a year, and yet some bankers expected, as a matter of course, to receive bonuses, in addition to their salaries, of millions of pounds.

The Directors of Royal Bank of Scotland have threatened to resign if they are not allowed to pay these bonuses. I say let them resign – the whole lot of them - call their bluff. Let these children throw their toys out of the pram. The morally obscene bonus payment culture has to stop.

Let me just remind myself of the story so far …

The Royal Bank of Scotland, along with other banks, screw things up so badly that in Autumn 2008 they go ‘cap in hand’ to the Government (that's you and me) to bail them out with massive amounts of tax payers money. ‘We’ tax payers ‘give’ them that money to keep them afloat and EVERYONE agrees the scandalous immoral bonus payments to bankers must never be allowed to happen unchecked again.

Here we are, just 12 months later and they want to pay themselves enormous bonuses again .... and the implicit message is .... to hell with the rest of the population on a median of £20,000 per year and struggling to meet their mortgage payments.

This is of course the TRUE face of capitalism.

Those capitalist myths about ‘trickle down of money’ are just that … MYTHS pedalled by the very people who line their own pockets and see absolutely nothing morally wrong in what they do.

As Lord Myners said today… Bankers need to join the real world.

I can’t make up my mind if it is ignorance, arrogance, ineptness, no morality, no principles of integrity, no conscience or simply lack of personal insight.

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