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Archives for August 2008

What the Policy Exchange Got Wrong

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Last weeks Policy Exchange report that wrote off cities in the North failed to take account of what really makes the difference to the success of any community – social capital.

The success of any community depends more on the intelligence, passion and co-operation of its people than on the abundance of its natural resources or its geographical position.

It depends more on its civic structures, the rules, norms, co-operation and reciprocity that enable individuals to support each other socially and economically, than the fertility of its soil.

It depends more on the freedom and ability of local people to invent and create than on the beauty of its countryside.

It is applied communal and individual intelligence, not natural resources, that separate successful communities from failing ones.

Only those communities that develop social conditions favourable to enterprise can prosper no matter what other natural resources that community has.

We also forget this lesson in much of our enterprise development work – the fact that enterprise is a social activity, a team sport and not an individual one.

Role Models Matter in Enterprise

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I was struck by a couple of Olympic stories this morning.

The first was the withdrawal from the hurdles of China’s track superstar Liu. One of the Chinese newsreaders was in tears as she announced his withdrawal from the 110m hurdles. When as`ed why, when they had already won 35 gold medals this particular withdrawal was such a tragedy one Chinese Spectator said:

‘When you see that Liu is winning it makes us believe that we can do anything’

And then Michael Johnson was talking about why Jamaica had done so well in the sprint events. He said:

‘When people around you start to do well you believe that you can do well too.’

This is true of athletes but is also true of entrepreneurs.  It just takes one local person to succeed to persuade dozens of others that they too could make something happen.

The secret is to get the first local success and then to get the message out into the local community.  The spreading of the message is just as important to developing and enterprise culture as is helping the first entrepreneur – but rarely does this part of the work get the focus or the attention it demands.

Are you Getting the Gifts?

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Initiative, creativity and passion are gifts.

They are benefactions that employees choose, day by day and moment by moment, to give or withhold.

They cannot be commanded.

Gary Hamel – The Future of Management

Nor can they be bought.

You can’t get these gifts from employees by challenging them to work harder.

Nor by exhorting them to ‘beat the competition’ or ‘care for the customers’.

You will only get these gifts from employees when you give them a purpose that merits their best.

Using the Right and Left Brain at Work

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Most organisations are designed to maximise the contribution of employees left brains to the pursuit of success. Targets are set, plans are laid, logic is deployed, progress is measured and accountability is maintained. Such ‘left brain’ activities fit nicely the milieu of meetings, time pressures, deadlines and procedures that form the social system of most organisations.

However most of us choose an employer based on ‘right brain’ criteria in pursuit of ‘right brain’ goals.

  • Will the work be fulfilling?
  • Will I part of a great team?
  • Will my efforts help to make the world a better place?
  • Will the job give me a lifestyle that works for me?

It is the ‘right brain’ that is the seat of creativity, imagination, innovation and passion. Unless we build a social system that feeds, stimulates and enables right brain contributions we should continue to expect as many as 1 in 4 of our employees to be looking to leave in the next 12 months, while 2 of the remaining three will be in survival (‘count the years, months and days until I retire’) mode.

Take a quick audit of your social system (meetings, processes and procedures) at work. How many opportunities in the average week are there for meaningful ‘right brain’ conversations that are likely to lead to the successful pursuit of right brain goals?

Of course it is easy for our left brains to rationalise away this paucity of ‘right brain’ opportunity in the name of efficiency and the pursuit of effectiveness. To overcome this tendency just remind your left brain of the critical importance of enabling good people to do great work, and of the need for frequent and regular innovation and renewal, if your organisation is to survive never mind thrive in the next few years.

You may find that it gives your right brain just enough time and space to do some big picture thinking.

When an RDA Outplaces

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So the LDA are seeking outplacement services to support a ‘rightsizing’ that is taking place.  Now you would think that for an organisation charged with supporting enterprise they might take an enterprising approach to this opportunity.

So what do they seek to commission?

“Outplacement Support: In order to ensure staff potentially affected by these changes are well supported, we want to have in place a package of outplacement support for them.
The Opportunity:
We need a supplier who would be able to offer a package that may include the following;

  • Developing and running group workshops covering CV development, job search strategies and interview preparation;
  • One to one coaching and support;
  • Other tools/approaches that could usefully support displaced staff.”

CVs, job searches and interview preparation.  So none of the LDA staff ought to be encouraged to have a look at self employment or entrepreneurship then!

They are happy to promote enterprise for others but less enthusiastic about it as a way forward for the people that they are casting off.

Looks to me like they are putting together an unimaginative figleaf of outplacement support that does not even reflect RDA policy towards encouraging enteprise!

Hey Ho!