Developing Staff to be Oven-Ready

Posted on January 6, 2026January 6, 2026 by Janet Webb

If you are thinking about developing staff, you have a wide range of choices. The wise manager also builds organisational resilience whilst developing staff – skilling up for the future as well as for the present.

When someone leaves the workforce abruptly, even if only for a season, it can put a strain on an organisation. If someone is suddenly taken ill for instance, it can throw the normal running of a department, team or project into confusion.

But should it?

In December 2010 I was told that my job was being made redundant and that I was leaving on the 31^st March 2011. But on the 20^th March, I read an email asking if anyone was available to manage the Registration Service. The existing manager was going to be away for the next three months.

Yes, I was available.

The Assistant Director already knew me and what I was capable of. So she put me in place, even though I knew nothing about the team or what they did. In fact, I ended up managing the service for six months, developing me and my team. You can read here what she and others have said about me.

And after that I managed a series of one-off projects for the following year. I then set up my own business, having benefitted greatly from the experience.

What’s the key learning here?

It is helpful if you know who is available, capable and willing to take on new things at the drop of a hat. It saves a lot of time
Oven ready chicken that has had space to roam.
This experience is invaluable to the individual in terms of skills enhancement, confidence building and broadening perspectives and experience.
Having someone “Oven-ready” answers a very pressing need that couldn’t have been planned for.

We are familiar with succession planning for possible emerging scenarios. But what about planning for unseen scenarios. Managers need to know who in their team could be loaned out – who can we give the space to roam? This in turn generates space for others to step up. Instead of everyone panicking because Chris has been taken ill, it could be seen as an opportunity to grow skills, try out staff in more senior positions and get some new perspectives on how we currently operate.

And for Chris, having a manager who says, “Don’t worry; we’ve got this.” might be just the medicine that they need.

Taking Risks To Grow – What Can We Learn From A Hermit Crab?

Posted on February 10, 2021October 14, 2021 by Janet Webb

I absolutely love hermit crabs; I have since childhood. They are so intriguing and they have a lot to teach us about taking risks in order to grow.

A hermit crab not taking risks but staying put. — Herman Hermit in a compact and bijou “house.”

A Hermit Crab’s Life

Unlike other crustaceans, Hermit Crabs don’t grow their own shells when it is time to expand. Instead, they take up lodgings in a shell that has been cast off, such as a snail shell. It’s an efficient system, made more so by a procedure of co-operation and management of resources. This BBC video, narrated by the wonderful Sir David Attenborough, shows how a housing chain is set up when a large “des res” becomes available.

All the time that the Hermit Crab remains in its shell it is safe, but it will eventually need to take a risk and move to a new house, if it is to grow. Whilst it is moving to another shell it is vulnerable to attack. However, if it doesn’t move it will die, as the shell becomes too small for it.

What Can We learn?

Our Hermit Crab taking a risk and moving house — Herman is taking the risk and making his move.

To grow, survive and thrive, we have to face up to taking risks:

to try something new
to say no to a request when we usually say yes
to say yes to an opportunity when we usually say no
to change jobs
to leave a relationship
to challenge bad behaviour
to move house

All these things take a certain amount of risk as we step outside of what is familiar and safe. Taking a risk stimulates our Limbic system and we feel fear – as if we were under threat of death. I’ve written about some of this here.

But unless we face these things, we stagnate, shrink even. Our outlook shrinks, our options shrink and our opportunities shrink. To make the most of what we have, we need to take chances and risk what we have. Sometimes we lose, but even if we lose, we gain learning.

So What If We Do Lose?

Mark Twain said

“Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.”

When we get things wrong we learn. When we get things right we grow. But if we never try we gain nothing.

Our Hermit Crab settled into a new house — Hooray! Herman has moved in and loving his new life.

A Hermit Crab hides in its shell for safety, but sometimes it leaves that safety in order to gain something new and of value. We could learn a lot.

Cartoons by Janet Webb, who had a go at something new.

For The Future

Posted on October 12, 2018February 21, 2024 by Janet Webb

I spoke at Chichester College’s Professional Student Graduation ceremony last night about the future. Students from Marketing, Accountancy, Human Resources and Learning & Development received their certificates and then contemplated what’s next. As the guest speaker, this is the heart of the advice I gave them.

Janet in a red dress, standing at a lecturn, addressing a room full of students — Janet Speaking about the future.

1 – Say Yes If You Can

When life offers you an opportunity, grab it with both hands even if it isn’t part of your plan and not what you were expecting. This is particularly important if someone else is saying “I think you would be great at this.” Doing a wide variety of things opens your horizons and makes you more effective.

Opportunities don’t always work out well but they are never wasted. We learn from the bad times as well as the good times. Say yes and make it yours.

2 – When You Say No, Let It Go

If you have to say no to an opportunity don’t waste your time wondering what would have happened differently – you will never know. Sometimes we come across two paths and have to choose which one to go down. Whether you choose the path “less travelled by [1]” or the massive motorway, travelled by a million people before you, let the other path go.

3 – Stay A Student Forever

You will learn things today that in the future you will discover are not true. You must keep looking, studying, learning, challenging, testing yourself and what you know. Never give up being a student; it hasn’t finished, it has only just begun.

You can’t see the road ahead, only what is now and what has gone before. You can scream with excitement or you can scream with fear. Your choice – choose excitement.

[1] Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Breaking Out

Posted on July 25, 2017July 25, 2017 by Janet Webb

Here is the third entry into the VERY occasional series, responding to the Artwork of My Friends – the first being here and the second here.

I asked my friend Doug Shaw to select a piece of his work for me to write about. Here is my response.

Breaking Out by Janet Webb

Warm, familiar, not loud, not bright,
This comforting place is my delight.
This shell keeps me secure, held and still,
Away from the cliff edge, safe from ill will.

These bars protect me from unknown harm,
Enclosing with nothing to cause alarm.
They stop me from doing what’s foolish, what’s rash,
Protecting me from what’s harsh, what’s brash.

But painfully bound to a familiar game,
Repeating, repeating, repeating the same,
The solid walls smother and stifle the din
And I shrink and contract; my outlook looks in.

So I break from this jail that’s safe but a bore,
Cut the rope that tethers and learn to soar.
Looking over the edge I see a different view
And risking the fall, I learn something new.

I’ll leave the comfort of what I know
And explore what is hidden in order to grow.
To climb like a vine and snatch at the sky.
And if I fall? Well, for a moment I’ll fly.