Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Culture of Bad Management



What is the problem?

Answer:  It starts early.


On 3. February 2011, I wrote "Watching the Process"

http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/watching-process.html

It answers the question:

Management, Project Management, Process Management, each a process. Can you isolate the moment you realised that?

I was seven years old. 

It really doesn't matter whether you rely on the "Up Series" by British Sociologists of the 1960s or the 16th Century writings of Francis Xavier. It holds true.  

The Winning Team Syndrome

I was in the second grade. We were out in the playground for recess. We were playing kickball.


Recess was unstructured. There was no micromanagement of children then.


The two usual classmates were captains. This was SOP. Then, one day, one of the teams had a co-captain.
 


While some of the other boys in my class complained, 

  • “Why do they always get to be captains?”  
  • “They always pick their friends." 
  • "That’s not fair.” 

I observed the process.


The captains were the natural leaders. This was because they were good at the game and good at picking players.  

(Athletes will routinely hang out with athletes. Question: Are they picking their friends, or good athletes, or both? Answer: both.)


We root for the underdogs; but we want to run with the winners. Good at sports or bad at sports, each of us wants to be on a winning team. [Remember that point.]

If given a choice, a seven year old boy would rather be a  player on the winning team than be the captain of the losing team.


We now had co-captains. I was less concerned with why. I simply wanted to be on a winning team. That was over 50 years ago. I still remember the day.

Gratuitous Management

 

When I was a little older than seven, I participated in Pop Warner Football.  We one quarterback. He had two plays: Two to the left--dive.  Two to the right--dive.  They were running plays.  One, two openings from the center on the left,  the other, two openings from the center on the right.  Simple enough.  There he knelt--cogitating.  He tugged at the grass. He looked  over us at the opposing team as we were in the huddle waiting for the play.  

Finally, "Two to the left--dive."

I don't recall if it worked.  None the less: back  into the huddle. The same scenario replayed.

He tugged at the grass.  He looked over us at the opposing team. He cogitated. 

Finally, "Two to the right--dive."

We teach boys that the simplest of decisions are monumental.  The team  waits upon their every word.  It's Important!


However, this carries into adult life.

I am going to make changes to protect the gratuitous.

Take two jobs:  Sweeping the halls on floor seven. Buffing the halls on floor eight.

The bosses are gone for a conference.  One boss must remain behind.  One worker took the personal initiative to arrange for permission  to buff the floors.  Noisy, heavy, dirty. He cleared it with the bosses.  The equipment will be there.  The morning arrived.

Boss: "What are you guys doing?"
One:  "I'm going to buff the halls on floor eight.
Two:  "I'm going to sweep the halls on floor seven."

Boss:  Cogitating.

Boss, to number one. "Okay, I want you to sweep the halls on floor seven."
Boss, to number two. "Okay, I want you to buff  the halls on floor eight."

Half an hour later,  the two are in the bosses office.  Problem?  Number two doesn't know how to run a buffer.

Boss:  Cogitating.

Boss: to number two:  "Okay, I want you to sweep the halls on floor seven."
Boss: to number one:  "Okay, I want you to buff the halls on floor eight."

If anyone needs further explanation...... Enough said?


The Structure of Failure

Let's take Odious Bilgewater and Offal Dungnoodle.  (If  Charles Dickens can do it with Uriah Heep, Mr. Fezziwig, and Ebeneezer Scrooge,  I can do it too.)

Mr. Odious Bilgewater promotes Offal Dungnoodle.  Offal is now, the Captain of the Team.  He is the Winning Captain.  Mr. Bilgewater declared Dungnoodle to be the winner when he declared Dungnoodle to be the Captain.  However, Mr. Dungnoodle is not competent.  More on that, later.

Some people want to be on Mr. Dungnoodle's Team.  Why?  Some are incompetent. Some are shrewd.

Some people do not want to be on Dungnoodle's team.  Why?  They don't want to be part of a failure.  They don't want to be blamed for the failure. 

How did Mr. Dungnoodle manage the promotion?  Easy.  Mr. Bilgewater wants someone like himself. 

Why do people want to be on Odious Dungnoodle's Team?  This is how Mr. Odious Dungnoodle got his promotion.



  • Odious wants people who obey orders
  • Odious wants credit for success
  • Odious wants scapegoats for failure
  • Odious knows how to set up a scapegoat
  • Odious knows how to credit his team for his success
  • Odious knows all the clichés, slogans, and platitudes of  "leadership"

Why do people go along with this?


  • Odious is the boss
  • Odious has Mr.Bilgewater's support
  • This is the path of least resistance
  • They want to be on the winning team

You will  never change the system, the culture,the paradigm by sending employee's to team building seminars, group dynamics seminars, anger management seminars, or any other programmes.  You will never solve your bad management culture problem until you fire Odious Bilgewater and Offal Dungnoodle.

Still, this begs the question: 

Bad Leaders or Bad Consultants?




However, from The Quotations of Slim Fairview © 2012  

  • "You can't lead if you can't manage."
  • "Look behind you. If people are following you, you're a leader. If they're not, you're not."
  • "Leaders are defined by their followers."
  • "In times of a crisis, people will follow their leader. Not their boss."

Must Read:

You Can't Lead If You Can't Manage. 





You Can't Lead If You Can't Manage 2.0




Warmest Regards,

Slim 

slimfairview@yahoo.com




If you find anything here to be helpful, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked-out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars. into the envelope along with the thank you note. 

Bob Asken
Box 33 
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
LinkedIn Profile


Copyright  © 2013 Slim Fairview
All rights reserved.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Bad Leaders or Bad Consultants?

Bad Leaders or Bad Consultants?

So much of what we are viewing in the field of management and or leadership seems to be overly focused on the managers and leaders.

A crucial element:  the people who don't want to be managed or led. Or, those who want to manage and lead--with our without qualifications.

Something I observed in the schoolyard 53 years ago. 


Watching the Process:  


A seven year old boy does not want to be The Captain of the Team. He wants to be The Captain of the Winning Team.  If given a choice, he would rather be a player on the Winning team than Captain of the Losing Team.  This is why some people are bad followers.  They do not want to follow leaders who cannot lead.  Our solution seems to be leadership training--the new fad.  That, and now "Mindfulness".
  
How long has this been going on?

When I was a teenager, the youth fellowship group I belonged to ran a retreat where we learned how to "connect" with others.  We learned how to trust.


A few years later, we were problem solving at University.  We were being taught how to work in groups.  

  • Team Building.
  • Consensus Building
  • Eliminating Group-think

 This instruction became institutionalised:


  • Courses were taught: Organisational Analysis, Group Dynamics, and others.

  • During a financial crisis, we were reading about the Japanese Management Style.

  • We ran seminars on Time Management.  (A concept which, I am certain, goes back to before Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn made a movie about it. )

We are under the impression that the "bossy kid" is the one who will need leadership training. Perhaps not. Perhaps the "bossy kid" is one of the bad worker-bees.

In other words; When will the "Consulting Industry" begin to focus on "follow-ship training".

That someone is not cut out to be a leader is conspicuously obvious by a simple fact; no one wants to follow that kid, boss, manager, leader. Yet we clutch fanatically to the notion of hiring consultants to teach leadership.  Why do we never teach leaders to identify the future leaders from among those who work for them.

Two things the Consulting Industry must do:

1. Teach Some People to Follow.

2. Teach the higher ups, that some of the people they've put into leadership positions do not belong in leadership positions no matter how many consultants drag them off to the all-day-seminar.

"Don't tell me I don't know how to manage. I attended the all-day-seminar. I have the three-fold-brochure." 


Additional Reading: 

The Culture of Bad Management

Warmest regards,

Slim

( I found my niche in life. I am going to be a business stylist.)


slimfairview@yahoo.com

 
LinkedInProfile  www.linkedin.com/in/slimfairview/




Copyright © 2013 Slim  Fairview
All Rights Reserved. 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Merkel Invades Russia

We heard two different headline reports. 

You heard that Cyprus was going to tax bank accounts. 

I heard, "Merkel Invades Russia". 

Not Russian soil, but rather Russian bank accounts.

When the Chancellor Met with Prime Minister Biden, it was "deja-vu all over again."

When the "scandal rumours" surrounding Mario Draghi (Calling for Growth) and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (Balking at austerity that has almost crushed the Spanish economy) I wrote  "Beware” The Chancellor Consolidates Power."

 

There is an economic crisis brewing that is even greater. 

When  I heard about the EU Growth Summit, I declared victory over Merkel.  It was premature.  EU Growth Summit: Slim Defeats Merkel. 

http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/eu-growth-summit-slim-defeats-merkel.html



At this moment, there appears to be efforts to do the advance planning before revealing the true strategic objectives: a consolidated EU banking system imposed on Europe. An EU Banking System run by Chancellor Merkel.

"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." Santayana.


"Those who never learned history are doomed--period!"  The Quotations of  Slim Fairview

Regards,

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright  © 2013 Slim Fairview
All rights reserved.



If you find anything here to be helpful, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked-out laptop and to put a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. Slim