Tag: culture

The original festivals

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Cycling though central Cambridge on the way to the station – just having received 3 mailings advertising summer music festivals – I thought…

Just how many fine old churches there were directly on about 100 metres of my route – St Johns, Trinity, St Michaels, Great St Marys, Kings…

And how majestic they would have looked, especially when surrounded by flimsy, low level housing and a variety of street entertainment and commerce.

A bit like the sight of the festival stages in a sea of tents and fast food stalls, shops and bars.

Maybe the Churches were the Renaissance festival – buildings full of noise and light, where people turned up from their hovels and mansions for moments of awe and wonder…

Like stages at Glastonbury and Latitude?

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Naming great service

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Having walked past a phone pole with some coiled up cable at head height for a few months, I decided to try to sort it out.

I posted a comment on the BT Openreach website to report it.

Within 24 hours it was acknowledged, sorted and notified (by a call from the engineer).

Impressive!

This contrasts with 3 months of repeatedly ringing the local council to get a street light bulb replaced.

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In whose interest?

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We remain committed to supporting the success of ‘noble purpose organisations’ and the well-being of the people that work in them. These are institutions where an allegiance to the organisation is said by staff to be their primary motivation for joining up.

As we’ve noted before, they can be places where, paradoxically, there is not a fully or sufficiently ‘shared purpose’ between people. There can also be a lack of attention to the necesary culutre needed to achieve the organisation’s aims.

Here is another cross-sector hypothesis, drawing on the work of Art Kleiner on ‘Core Groups’:

1. Despite the mission statements, in the public and third sectors there can be a propensity to run the organisation in the  interests of the bulk of the staff (and, for example, in some local government arenas to the interests of those at the lowest level of the organisation). This requires skilled leadership to ensure that the overarching purpose of the work remains clear and that the end users being served actually do turn out to be the ultimate beneficiaries.

2. In commerce, the core group whose interests are served are more likely to be at the top, running things under the veneer of customer and shareholder value.

What do you think?  Please let us know.

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University is not a business – discuss

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university protest

 

Most charities, hospitals and university departments have a ‘business plan’ and ‘business cases’ these days.

Yes, we know that in many ‘noble purpose organisations’ these trappings of commerce can be disliked and quite a few would agree with the sentiments of the pictured Cambridge academic.

However, what it takes to be ‘business like’ is important if you think things like customer focus, efficiency, rigour, accountability, etc matter in public and charity organisations with finite budgets.

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Getting them to sing takes time

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One of our Directors volunteers to help with music at a local primary school by playing the piano. Along with a couple of others, they introduced recorder lessons, singing during assemblies and musical shows in the summer and at Christmas. That was seven years ago.

At first they worked mostly with the older children, then gradually involved the younger classes step-by-step. It wasn’t always easy to get time with the kids to practice and a lot were shy or embarrased to take part.

This week she noticed that when playing a song as everyone left assembly, one of the children started singing along and then the rest all joined in spontaneously.

It takes a long time to change the culture of a place but it can be done.

What behaviours would you like to change in your business or team? More knowledge sharing and less ‘silo working’? More innovation and less “that will never work here”? A better balance between work and the rest of life?

Whatever it is, you should start making the change now.  Getting them to sing takes time.

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Quality and value: chocolate reindeer anyone?

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Aldi adThis festive advert from the discount chain Aldi (who interestingly vies regularly for top spot in the Which? ‘retailer of the year’ against  John Lewis and is rated a top 5 place for new graduates by The Times) reminds us that the search for quality and value spans all sectors! 

Successful companies are passionate about these two themes.

The NHS Institute uses the same phrase . 

One of the principal methods for achieving these potentially competing goals is ‘Lean thinking’.

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National treasures

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“Oh, they really are a national treasure.” 

Who would you agree on?

1. Absolutely they are (for the moment at least) – Gary Lineker, Bruce Forsyth, Eddie Izzard, Michael Portillo, Delia Smith, Alan Titchmarsh, Gary Barlow, David Beckham, Felicity Kendal

2. Maybe – Peter Tatchell, Ann Widdecombe, Simon Cowell, James Corden, Dawn French, Johnny Rotten, Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards

3. Possibly, but not yet – Neil Kinnock, Chris Moyles, Piers Morgan, Cheryl Cole

4. Might be losing it – Jonathan Ross, Cliff Richard, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Helen Mirren

5. Was and no longer – Bob Geldof, John Humphries, Bono

 What do these  characters share in common? Well they have moved from being a  figure of hate or fun (or irrelevance or especially narrow interest) to someone who most recognise and someone who doesn’t polarise opinion very much.

And many have done something special beyond they classic role – showing a bit of passion, doing something different or just being resilient with staying power in the face of a challenge.

So the choice is: change or continue the same; show humility or demonstrate no self-awareness.

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A local point of view

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Having just come back from working in Borneo, I now see another side to the easy-to-knock palm oil industry.  There, people are concerned about development.  A palm oil plantation is regarded much like a cultivated valley in the west.  The impact on the orangutans is regretted and in some ways ameliorated with local support for sanctuaries. But it is not the primary concern when human material issues are at stake.

EU policies on bio-fuel from palm oil and for the oils used in cooking impact not just on the profits of trans-national corporations but also the livelihoods of peasant farmers (see article). 

 Palm oil

Complex stuff.  Not just about Nestle and Kit Kats.

In Kenya a couple of years ago, the local press also helped me see there are other points of view on:

1) using corn in the US for bio-fuel. Surely a good thing – but less grain available as food aid in areas where people are starving as a result of drought.

2) the pros as well as the cons of poor farmers flying green beans and flowers to Europe, including the low energy and pesticides required in their forms of agriculture.

All our points of view are local – so it’s worth travelling to find a different way of looking at things.

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The new leper’s bell

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The iconic image of people from the Far East wearing face masks at this time of colds and flu is made noticeable by the media and stands out on streets in the UK. 

But what is it about?  Having studied this in crowds in Hong Kong, it is clear that most are worn by people who are coughing and spluttering (as in this photo on Star Ferry). 

face mask

A bit like a modern leper’s bell.  Like a special badge to say “I will not shake your hand (or air kiss) – I have a cold!”

The lesson?  Beware of projecting assumptions from our neurosis onto others.  And take responsibility for our issues.

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Be careful who you lend your brand to

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BP

First, the Texas oil refinery disaster.  Now the Gulf of Mexico.  BP’s brand risks freefall. 

Before the merger with Amoco, BP was renowned for its progress with safety and ethics.  Its late ’90s approach to managing corporate memory and knowledge was world-leading.

Now, we see how easily culture can move (for worse, as well as better).  And the risk that takeovers have for the parent company. 

The wider lesson?  Who do you give your personal brand to?  What might a poorly managed alliance do to you, your team or your organisation?

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Email: phil.hadridge@idenk.com