Living in Fear

I live in fear that our politicians do not understand modern life.  The Right are wedded to the Market, obsessed that only through competition can any service be provided, and as an inevitable consequence, fear must stalk the corridors of our hospitals and schools.

The Left put their faith in the State, but because no-one trusts all those faceless bureaucrats, they put in performance targets, generating perverse incentives (anyone tried to get a GP appointment further than 48 hours in advance?), and wedded to outmoded classifications of productivity.  These are all put together into league tables.  Perhaps the school tables could be sponsored by a bank like the Premier League and we would have Paxman on Newsnight with the head of Ofsted and an academic discussing the latest positions like on Match of the Day.

“Westminster are up two places, but I still don’t think their History department is strong enough for them to push for the title.”

“I fear for Rutland College, poor all round performance, no star quality, they look likeliest for the drop this term.”

Neither way works. 

I fear a country where teachers view children as part of a performance framework – either to prove they should keep their jobs, or to maintain league position and avoid being re-badged as an academy or failing school, with all the extra paperwork and scrutiny that entails.

I fear a Political Class inculcated from real life by policy papers and think tank reports, which probably know the answers that are required before setting out on researching the subject. 

I want an honest debate about what the country needs, not framed in terms of market or state solutions, but in terms of what we really want from our public services and what we, as the populous, need to contribute in terms of money and responsibility.  There is no one right solution, nor one correct way to view the problems.

We need to start facing up to our individual part in the position we find ourselves in.  It is easy to blame the Markets for causing the economic bubble and collapse.  It is easy to blame the then Government or the Coalition for poor decision making.  We just sit here and shake our heads, whilst having less money to live on.  We were the ones who took out the easy loans and 110% mortgages.  And now we expect the politicians to solve the problems with the same mindset that created them in the first place (after Einstein).  We have to take some responsibility and tell the politicians we want it to work differently from now on.  If we don’t then once we climb out of this economic mess we will walk blindly into the next one.

Scandals and Management Culture

It Could Never Happen Here
We all shake our heads and say how shocking the revelations are from the News International scandal. As managers and workers we would never do such things - there are limits after all. Really? So we always stand up to our bosses when they ask us to do things that are not quite the ticket, not quite by the rules. Never used the “cheque’s in the post” line?

But that’s not the same (I can hear the cries). Indeed so, but it is how it starts. News International are not the first - Enron springs to mind (as do other corporate horror stories over the years). The issue is not how it starts - we’ve all told white lies and not been completely honest with co-workers, customers, bosses, partners, children.

Out Beyond Right and Wrong Is a Field...I’ll Meet You There (Rumi)
The issue for managers is what sort of culture do you foster? The poor behaviour is condoned, not just in the way people go about their work, but in how they act with each other. If the culture is all about getting the desired end result - however it is obtained - then laws, and people will be broken along the way. As managers it is up to us to keep the focus on the real objective.

If the question “will you meet the target?” only has one answer, how can you have an honest conversation with your staff or your boss? Any failure will be seen as weakness. If failure is a weakness, then the next victim is honesty because no-one wants to be seen as a failure. It is difficult enough (in my experience) to get staff to tell you the truth, rather than what they think you want to hear, without closing down the avenues for open debate.

If failure is frowned upon, then as a boss can you admit you are ever wrong? If you can’t admit that, then neither will your staff. Not a great starting point for solving difficult problems in the organisation, more an incentive to point fingers and bitch about colleagues and other departments.

Better off trying to get beyond right and wrong to somewhere people can work together on what really matters to the organisation.

Start walking towards that field....I’ll meet you there.

Time and Pressure (Never enough of the first and always too much of the latter

Emails flood in, seeming to lap over the top of the computer screen. They push past one another in their urge to get into your in-box.

Staff have a secret CCTV camera somewhere in your office - this must be true as the phone always rings as soon as you open the door in the morning.

You need to build your own TARDIS to get your work done on time.

Your boss seems to use a sadistic "Magic 8 Ball" to decide what project to give you next.

Just a normal day at the office.

The usual reaction to this common condition of working life is to develop a coping strategy, here are some of the favourite ones I have used in the past:

Burning Martyr

Carry lots of paper into meetings.  Always make sure everyone knows how busy you are (well a problem shared is a problem that person now knows you are trying to solve, usually single-handedly) - if you carry a bleep make sure it goes off regularly in all these important meetings, so the senior managers can see how busy and indispensable you are.  Always have time to take on more work, but always, always let that person know just how much work you have on at the moment.  Hair shirt and ashes are not common garb these days, but may be worn on dress down Fridays.

The White Rabbit

Turn up to meetings late or leave them early as you have too many appointments to attend in one day.  Never walk in corridors - always jog purposefully, with regular glances at your watch.You are busy going somewhere (it really doesn't matter where, just make sure you are seen on the move).  Never stay in your office for longer than 10 minutes at a time - so that your boss can't actually ask if you met that all important, not to be missed deadline, and staff can't pass on that thorny problem everyone has been trying to avoid for the last 3 months.

The Woe Is Me or Don't Blame Me Approach

Sit there and let it all come down on top of your head.  Shrug your shoulders and exclaim "But what can I do?"  When passing on work to your staff, which includes a panic now deadline, shrug and blame "them upstairs" for not prioritising things properly for you - (it will have slipped your mind that the email arrived at your in-box 10 days previously).

The organisational approach to the problem will be to send you on a time management course, which is rather a bizarre response given that we have no way of managing time, only what we do and how we do it.

There is only one person who can stop the rush - you.

There is only one person who can prioritise what needs to be done when - you.

Say no to attending a meeting and take that time to look at how you want to work (I like the 7 habits approach and the immediacy of Getting Things Done) - see how it feels, you may want to do it again.  It is certainly easier than building your own TARDIS.

Department Meetings and How to Run Them

Running Department meetings can fill you with dread and foreboding, so have a thought as to how the staff are feeling.  As a keen manager I always start the meeting with the best of intentions.  But, more often than not, it ends in a depressing dirge of corporate feedback and disinterest.  Below are the notes from a recent staff meeting.

Apologies
Big Boss was pleased to see there were no apologies for the meeting, which showed how seriously the Department was taking the new corporate "participation process".  In reality there were no apologies as no-one wanted to receive the "where were you?" email and the invite from Big Boss for a quick "chat" about commitment and being part of the team.

Corporate Headlines
Big Boss gave detailed feedback on the corporate performance indicators and Y.A.W.N (Yearly Actual Wealth Numbers).  Most of The Staff really wanted to know if the Marketing and Finance Directors did actually have a punch up at the last Executive Team Building Awayday.  The rumour was the Marketing Director ended up being "consoled" by the Chief Execs Personal Assistant.

Progress Updates

Big Boss used the smile he learnt on the "Getting Staff to Like You" course and assiduously gazed at everyone in the room to make them all feel included.  Everyone was holding on to their entry in the "who gets asked first" sweepstake, whilst staring at the table.  For the fourth time running the winner is Jason, the management trainee.  He has prepared a multi-coloured pack showing how much cleverer he is than everyone else.  Big Boss smiles throughout the presentation.
Not being as clever as Jason the rest of the reports are short and vague - Big Boss is not smiling by the end of the progress updates.

Get To Know Your Fellow Team Members
As part of the corporate "participation process" Big Boss has decided that each section of the Department should present to the rest of the group on who they are and what they do.  The IT section were up next.  Big Boss gave a lengthy introduction about how important good IT support is for the organisation.  Carl asked why, if IT was so important, that the network was always slow and the laptops had not been replaced for 5 years.  Big Boss put on his "oh its you" smile and dismissed the query with talk of capex, amortisation and projected infrastructure rollout trajectories.  Carl smiled, that got him a full house in the Bulls**t Bingo game.

Any Other Business
Big Boss persisted with the "participation process" by opening up discussion to the rest of the Department.  By this time any latent interest has dissipated and the staff just wanted to leave the room before their brains started to bleed.  Big Boss is left wondering what was wrong with the staff, but at least Jason understood his jokes.

Time and Date of Next Meeting
Time - when you have engaged with staff so they want to speak.
Date - when the staff have things they need to share.

Performance Management How It Works

There has been much talk recently about the relative merits of the private sector or public bodies providing care to vulnerable people in the UK. The recent examples of poor care in both types of organisation seem puzzling, until you realise that the mechanism used to judge good performance is the same in whatever form of organisation you work in - and here is how it works:

The People “up above” set targets based on a pledge, promise or a need to make money.

The Targets are shared throughout the organisation 

The Managers are made responsible for delivering The Targets.

The Managers tell The Staff how important it is that The Targets are delivered. This is usually in terms of how important they are to patient care/government policy/the company’s future/the year end bonus

The Staff tend to think that they have forgotten more about patient care than the manager will ever know/why do I care about government policy I didn’t vote for them anyway/our small care home won’t break the large PLC we work for/I don’t get much of a bonus anyway. 

The Staff tell the Managers what the problems will be in delivering The Targets.

The Managers patiently explain that The Targets are a Must Do.

The Staff know this means The Managers nether regions will be squeezed if they say The Targets are a problem.  The Staff shrug, no point arguing as The Managers don’t have the power to change The Targets anyway. 

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