POWER RESPONSIBILITY PASSIVE AGGRESSION AND COUPS

LEADERSHIP IS NOT THE SAME AS DEMOCRACY.

POWER RESPONSIBILITY PASSIVE AGGRESSION AND COUPS

It has been an interesting couple of weeks with Brexit, the changes for Conservatives and Labour and a whole load of other business, domestic and parish club and community issues which all seem to have the same ingredients but in different quantities.

BREXIT

I shall try to avoid getting drawn on either side or the decision, but am curious about the people, personalities, process and product of this experience. It seems that all the above (Power Responsibility Passive Aggression and Coups) had their place at some point in the proceedings.

I doubt I can add any value to the debate given the huge amount of expert and less-expert opinion floating around on social media. What I might venture to do is explore what might be learned from this for anyone seeking to pursue any form of communication and engagement for their business, domestic and parish club and community initiative.

Soundbites and slogans matter because people don’t have the time, energy or sometimes comprehension to really tackle the issues and form an opinion.

People follow other people more than they follow principles. The voice of the crowd and a desire to belong and to be part of a team, will almost always compromise personal opinion. This may be seen as a bad thing (too easily coerced) or a good thing (willing to compromise).

Good news (it will be fine) or bad news (we will be doomed) is irrelevant if you don’t trust or believe the messenger.

Likeability (are they like me) appears to matter more than credibility (are they any good) when choosing to believe the messenger or not.

In pursuit of simplicity (in an effort to persuade) we often deny the complexity and truth (which might dampen people’s conviction). This is great when getting a simple decision but problematic when implementing a complex change. The risk is that you’ll find favour for the simple stuff and loose support when it gets to the difficult stuff.


LEADERSHIP

Can you be a leader if you have no followers or lose them? Who are your important followers: those that execute your commands; those that elected you; or those whom you impact by your decisions?

This isn’t just about Conservatives and Labour. I see this in organisations and clubs. Does the CEO worry about their customers more than their colleagues? Does the Manager worry more about their Supporters or their Players?

You cannot satisfy all of the people all of the time. If you bend to everyone it seems to me you are not a leader. If you bend to nobody then you are most likely a dictator without any true leadership qualities.


I think leading with permission; leading with support and endorsement is the right balance since this demands both decision making but also diplomacy, democracy, and some humility.

LESSONS FOR POWER RESPONSIBILITY PASSIVE AGGRESSION AND COUPS

There are plenty of passive aggressive who will undermine and sabotage. These are people whose motive may be to destabilize and demoralise without the intellect or courage to offer up alternative plans or for themselves to take leadership. These are subversive bullies.

However it may be hard to discern these people from the iconoclast seeking to overthrow a tyrant or break the chains of oppression. If they don’t have the time, money, talent, or good fortune to be able to offer an alternative these people are victims and rebels.

The only true heroes straddle both the above: They may be without time, money, talent, or good fortune but they use passion and leadership to persuade. They may will seek to destabilize that which is wrong and offer up alternative plans for what is right.

If you encounter passive aggressive behaviour which seeks to destabilize and demoralise the change-management response would be to marginalise or remove. However if as a leader you listen to them and confer upon them some responsibility and accountability you become less of a tyrant and they become more a part of the solution.

It takes a very savvy leader to know what responsibility and accountability to confer upon someone else and how to make sure of responsibility and accountability, but ultimately this is likely to avoid the disruption and chaos of a coup or the distraction of fighting a rear-guard action in an effort to avoid a coup.

I love and often quote Harold Wilson: I’d rather have in in the tent p*ssing out than out of the tent p*ssing in.

This is much easier said than done, which is why to marginalise or remove dissent is the more usual action.

Leadership is not the same as Democracy.

I’m not sure which is better.

CONTACT

If you are interested in any of the above and would like to contribute to the discussion by posting a comment, or meet with me to chat about your experiences and the issues and opportunities in your organisation I would be delighted to meet and buy the coffee and  croissants for an interesting conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is an AMPG Qualified Change Practitioner, a PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Jersey Post Office, Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest and the integration and incorporation of Jersey Harbours and Airport. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute, a past curator for TEDx, Team manager for Jersey’s Triathlon Island Games Team and Performance Director for Jersey Rowing Club.

WHAT IS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT?

This blog isn’t a sales pitch and does not offer a clear and unambiguous solution to all your performance management challenges. Instead it is a pick-n-mix of thoughts and experiences that may be useful and could be challenged – I welcome both debate and feedback, it’s where the learning really begins.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

It is worth putting a little context to this blog. I am Performance Director for Jersey Rowing Club, and I have a number of client projects where I need to deliver on-time, on-budget and to-specification. I am also an Ironman Triathlete with a pretty tough training programme and some ambitions towards some big competitions coming up.

All this screams A-type character attitude and behaviour and I can imagine provokes recoil from all the B-type characters who may feel this as a bit “full-on” and that life is not meant to be a competition.

So should we encourage and support people to develop and perform, and if so how should we do this in a manner that support all of any ability.

PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

One of the challenges about any assessment of performance is understanding where you are now, where you want to be and how to get there. I know many people who will look at their race results or their work-based outputs and say that they are doing a good job.

My challenge will be how do you know? What is your point of reference for what good looks like. The introverts may suggest that it is a feeling and the extroverts will suggest it is based on feedback.

As an athlete and a project manager I am used to the idea of measurement, and as someone who has also attended a Mindfulness Programme I would also suggest that you can “measure” happiness and contentment. It isn’t something that just happens, but like any relationship is something that requires understanding, compromise and effort. Honestly being Mindfulness requires practice!

Performance anxiety comes from a fear of judgement, either external judgement or internal assessment. The first step is to establish what you want to get better at and then create an environment which is nurturing and supportive rather than judgemental.

THE DIVISIONS CAUSED BY PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Within the Jersey Rowing Club I had many people push-back on what they perceived as a programme for the Elite high-performers, but soon others expressed an interest in the nurturing and supportive approach that included workshops on nutrition, technique, strength and flexibility.

Without doubt performance management can create them and us, winners and losers. But it should not. Performance management should create opportunity in any direction: this may be faster and stronger, but there no reason it cannot be more fun, more relaxed, more satisfying, safer, more engaging.

PERFORMANCE IS A PROCESS NOT A RESULT
As a triathlete I remember a great quote by Tim Don as he crossed the line and was asked about how he felt about the result. He replied, the result does not matter, I am pleased with the performance. I did what I set out to achieve and I am getting better. I am happy with that.

This is very important: Results are about what everyone else does relative to you, and results are based on lots of things, some of which you can control and some of which you cannot. Performance however is something that is wholly within your control.

This is true in sport, work or life.

IT IS THE TAKING PART THAT COUNTS

You might not be a “winner” but there is nothing wrong with being a participant: its still a lot better than being a spectator. This is true in sport, work or life.

However this should not take anything away from those whose aspirations and opportunities may take them in a different direction. There is nothing wrong or “not in the spirit of things” to want to be faster and stronger.

THERE ARE ONLY THREE STEPS ON THE PODIUM

Not everyone aspires to be on the top step on a podium.

Performance management is about creating the opportunities to be better at what you value as being important. That can be as an athlete, coach, boss, mother, brother, or friend. It can be on the sports field, at work, in the garden or in the tranquillity of your own mind.

CONTACT

If you are interested in any of the above and would like to contribute to the discussion by posting a comment, or meet with me to chat about your experiences and the issues and opportunities in your organisation I would be delighted to meet and buy the coffee and  croissants for an interesting conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is an AMPG Qualified Change Practitioner, a PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Jersey Post Office, Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest and the integration and incorporation of Jersey Harbours and Airport. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute, a past curator for TEDx, Team manager for Jersey’s Triathlon Island Games Team and Performance Director for Jersey Rowing Club.

WHAT TYPE OF ORGANISATION DO YOU WANT TO DEVELOP?

This blog isn’t a sales pitch and does not offer a clear and unambiguous solution to all your organisational woes. Instead it is a pick-n-mix of thoughts and experiences that may be useful and could be challenged – I welcome both debate and feedback, it’s where the learning really begins.

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I have recently been asked about OD. However so many people have so many different ideas of what Organisational Development the first challenge is to ask what we understand by the term. A quick reference to wiki and the following is suggested.

Organization development (OD) is a field of research, theory and practice dedicated to expanding the knowledge and effectiveness of people to accomplish more successful organizational change and performance

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_development

All sounds pretty good stuff to have in any organisation doesn’t it. Indeed we might hope that this is business-as-usual and that an Organisational Development Programme or Consultant should not be required to deliver this.

Hold this thought, I’ll come back to it later.

PEOPLE AND PROCESS

Some businesses are very prescriptive and follow set processes and procedures. Manufacturing would be a good example. Many product based businesses are also processes and procedures based with the end-product (a BMW, iPad or McDonalds Burger) being the product produced as a result of processes and procedures.

Some businesses are less prescriptive and allow greater autonomy for the people to do what they feel is right, to customise the services or respond to the wishes of the client. Typically we might stereotype these businesses as service and/or creative businesses.

This is clearly a simplification for the purpose of discussion, but you might suggest that the former would seek to develop employees who are methodical and compliant and the latter those who are self-starters, maverick and entrepreneurial.

It would be wrong to say you cannot have a mix of these skills, but when creating a culture and developing an organisation there will be some in the majority and some in the minority.

This will affect your bias towards control via processes and procedures or trust in people, who have the skills, understanding and knowledge to shape their efforts in pursuit of the organisational aims. This will affect recruitment and training, rewards and punishments, promotion and employee turn-over.

Hold this thought, I’ll come back to it later.

CONTRACT AND COVENANT

There was a good piece on BBC Radio 4 Today Programme [about 8am 23 July 2016] which talked about new policy for staff to self-certify their sickness and absence from work and the difference between their contract (the legal requirements and rules set between employer and employee) and their covenant (the trust, loyalty and commitment of each to each-other in support of mutual goals)

I know we all benefit from laws, rules, processes and procedures and programmes. They keep us safe on the roads, make the game fair, ensure consistency and quality and help us manage, monitor and progress towards our goals.

I also believe that people like to be trusted and to feel important, rather than be a cog in a big machine, which is what it can feel like in big or small bureaucracies where process appears to triumph over common sense.

So reflecting on the previous sections….

Is Organisational Development about knowledge and effectiveness of people through education on laws, rules, processes and procedures and programmes or by inspiring them to be self-starters, maverick and entrepreneurial in pursuit of the organisational aims.

Is Organisational Development about tightening the grip or loosening the grip, the balance between management (doing things right) and leadership (doing the right things).

PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM

Most businesses are very private about their Organisational Development needs and challenges. However Jersey’s Government is very public about theirs and presents some interesting scenarios for case studies and a good number of initiatives for consideration and evaluation.

See http://www.gov.je/News/Speeches/EDD/Pages/PublicSectorReform2014.aspx

•Modernisation
•What we have achieved so far
•1 - Lean programme
•2 - e-government
•3 - Workforce modernisation
•4 - Culture
•5 - Modern office
•Priorities for 2014

Some of the above initiatives have worked very well and some less well. Some have worked in other organisations better or worse than they have worked as part of Public Sector Reform. All of them merit consideration in the context or Organisational Development.

What Type Of Organisation Do You Want To Develop?

If you want to follow the Public Sector Reform the link below is a useful resource.
https://blog.gov.je/category/public-sector-reform/


CONTACT

If you are interested in any of the above and would like to contribute to the discussion by posting a comment, or meet with me to chat about your experiences and the issues and opportunities in your organisation I would be delighted to meet and buy the coffee and  croissants for an interesting conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is an AMPG Qualified Change Practitioner, a PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Jersey Post Office, Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest and the integration and incorporation of Jersey Harbours and Airport. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute, a past curator for TEDx, Team manager for Jersey’s Triathlon Island Games Team and Performance Director for Jersey Rowing Club.