Spending time with front line staff should be something all senior managers do. Not all the time, obviously, but frequently, wholeheartedly and with good intentions.
Yes, there will be regular reports from managers about what is going on and the odd social gathering might even unearth a few additional rumours but in order to have a full picture of your organisation, you really need to see it.
Better still, see it through the eyes of the people who work there day in, day out. In fact, in terms of the reality of relationships and their contribution to productivity and fulfilment, it’s the only view that matters.
Continue reading ‘Getting Down And Dirty With A Corporate Culture Smelling Of Roses’
I’ve long thought that the concept of “teamwork” is poorly thought through and over-used in an unhelpful and uncritical way in a lot of leadership and management writing.
Obviously the idea of people working together in a common direction is beguilingly attractive but please let me explain why I have grave doubts.
Continue reading ‘Teamwork? This is not the Corporate Culture we want!’
Yesterday evening I was trying to help one of a group of incredibly capable postgraduates from Manchester Business School who have been working with us to refine his research questions for the next assignment in his master’s programme. Continue reading ‘Corporate Culture – I’ll just have a good one, please’
Dangerously little is happening out there in the Public Sector. Sure, the essentials continue – the trams are running and the bins are being emptied.
But person after person I contact is on accumulated leave, or out at meetings, or at a training session, or simply on voice mail………and emails themselves are going unanswered by the dozen. Those I speak to privately say that many things are grinding to a virtual halt. Continue reading ‘Corporate Culture Paralysis in the Public Sector’
