Sunday 13 July 2008

Naive Leadership

The presentation below is more a result of a personal self-cleansing process. The roots are to be found in working with a senior manager in a large German global organisation who created his own workshop day with his 130 or so Managers. He has installed an complete organsational structure with the aim of supporting him and all his ides. I am the only outsider in this scenario and tend to play the role of a sparring partner.

The interesting thing here is that while having so called "flat world ideas" he works in an environment which defines itself through hierarchy and power politics. As such, he and his ideas have little support amongst his peers and his relationship to the company's board is a somewhat critical. This is compounded by the fact that although he holds the same hierarchical level as 3 others in his division, he is their superior. Of these 3, only one fully supports him, one is reasonably ambivalent and the third has his loyalties elsewhere and openly displays this. His arguments and wishes for a hierarchical recognition (in form of a formal promotion to align role and position) are not being heard. The rest of the 500 or so people working in the division watch the circus at the top with emotions ranging from contempt to amusement.

My focus in preparing this person for his one day workshop was on a vital 10 minute window. What do you say to your 130 managers when most of them know that their boss is running an isolated show and the question is more "if" than "when" when it comes to his future involvement divisional planning. The question was simple enough: What do I say that will sound authentic, motivating and can create some form of a platform for future dialogue, when in fact, the world around you is vanishing and most people know it?

For 2 hours we tossed ideas around, built in some concepts. I left him with a handful of thoughts and instructions to prepare them over the weekend, thinking that he would do this. When we met again the following Tuesday, the company politics had once again worked against him and 90% of what we had priviously discussed was thrown out. The discussion went negative and all that could be done, given the time constraints was to let events take their course.

In the event, the workshop seems to have gone well. So say the small group of loyalists around him or who had an active role to play that day. How the momentum can be continued is a little unclear to them because the focus has been and will, unfortunately, remain, directed to the top. Looking for guidance at the top is a futile exercise. Seeing the power of the 500 people in the division and using their knowledge and networks is something that has not sunk in yet.

Left are many questions about theory, wishful thinking and corporate reality. Looking at the material available, it seems easy in theory. Tell stories, presentations should be more entertaining than factual. Worst of all, is a complete lack of understanding of corporate politics, power struggles and the realization that the corporte world may be detached but it is still somewhat driven by discussions in the public domain and by politicians and the legislatoin they produce. Corporate leaders are not alone. They are aware of what is going on. Only their viewpoint and interpretation works differently. After the bout of scandals in global organisations, we are moving back to a world where political control is on the increase. In 10 or 15 years, this will change back again.

Who then is naive? Them or those who have a different vision, more idealistic, less policitcal and more human?

Ask a simple question, get a complex answer.

Is oversimplification naive?

Thursday 10 July 2008

The Third Dimension

Google have taken the social networking world one logical step further by introducing Google lively. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this new idea is how quickly the news travels. If you "google" (why should this become a verb??) "google lively", you get over 4 million hits. Something that has been in the public domain for only a few days.

Once the fun community have been through it, I wonder what the business community will make of it?

Saturday 5 July 2008

Look and Learn

Reality Social Networking?

There is a link to hierarchical organisations here as well. In the flat world syndrome, if there is discord, political infighting in top hierarchies, people will observe, shrug their shoulders and turn away. I know of several large organisations where the trust between top level management and "ordinary people" has been eroded to less than nothing.

Top down communication is acknowledged. If you look at the word closely, you will
recognise "know" and "knowledge". Translated it means: "I know what they are doing up there, I have the knowledge. There is no fundamental change, so I can continue as I have done before and laugh at them."

The immediate work place becomes a small community and this is where the work gets done, which is what makes these global organisations manage to get through each financial year.

The social network movement can be applied to live companies too. Senior managers just need to "get on the train".

The concept is as old as the hills. Back in the 1980's everybody's darling Guru,
Tom Peters, called it MBWA.

Management by walking around.

It's cheaper than taking the train - and keeps you fit at the same time, both physically and mentally.

What more can managers and leaders want?

A raw and honest message.

Thursday 3 July 2008

Welcome

My view on training and knowledge is to move managers away from all the process and systems thinking which dominate corporate culture.

At the core are the more emotional factors, the experiences which people have and need to share with each other so that any goals, any excellence, any development can take place now and in the future.

This journal is to be a mirror of these experiences. People and names will have been changed, the situations will be shared as I come across them.

Knowledge is a combination of lessons learned and forward thinking.

Anybody who stumbles across is welcome to participate. Enjoy, be critical, be
truthful, be aware and alive.

As an Introduction