The Apprentice Episode Two – Lawyer’s summary

BBC - The Apprentice 

Chloe Harrold's column for The HR Director continues at http://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news/hr_in_business/the-apprentice-episode-two-lawyers-summary. Look out for her next column next week.

Just 24 hours later for our next fix of the candidates and the inevitable cringe worthy moments that ensued. 

The teams were back to girls v boys except the girls were less like a team, more of a “dictatorship” (Jenny Garbis). Aisha Kasim provided us with some prime examples of how not to manage. Disregarding her team members’ suggestions, Kasim overruled their concerns about her suggested product name and design, confirming they would “go with it” and “everyone needs to get on board”. Richard Woods did a better job of letting everyone have a say, although cynical Karen Brady suggested that this might have been an act – poor Richard, I thought he did a pretty good job.

Teamwork is an attribute most employees will find themselves appraised on and rightly so: two heads are better than one. It’s an important skill for colleagues to listen to one another’s suggestions and take on board constructive criticism rather than getting defensive. Managers especially have an essential role to play in guiding a team and Woods showed some good examples of this. He was genuinely enthusiastic about the good ideas of his team members and (with a small dose of micro management) was happy to delegate.

It’s also a key part of a manager’s job to develop their staff, and surely common sense to let people with particular skills put them to good use. Kasim fell way short of this by ignoring Charleine Wain’s obvious skills. Who wouldn’t put a hair and beauty salon owner: a) in charge of running a project selling shampoo; and/or b) pitching to potential buyers of your shampoo product? Kasim, that’s who.Lord Sugar made a very good point (you heard it here first), asking Wain whether she felt demoted, having been relegated to doing hair and make-up for the ad shoot. Employers beware of the Kasim’s in your midst, quashing other employees can lead to complaints of bullying, harassment and even claims for constructive unfair dismissal.

In this case at least, justice prevailed as Lord Sugar showed Kasim the pointy end of his finger. No one likes to work with a self promoting ego who doesn't know how to let others shine.

Next week promises to have plenty of fodder for me, one of the teams is going to France! Until then, just one more thing, does anyone know where I can get cactus shampoo?

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