Tag Archives: Humour

Humour

Graphic Facilitation….so much better than my notes.

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Building on my enthusiasm for graphic facilitation (as mentioned in previous posts) I was fortunate to see Paul Richardson of apagraphicfacilitation.com in action at Welsh Public Services Summer School.

In the spirit of a picture really does speak a thousand words and the drawings are so much better than my notes, here are a few examples of the fantastic work Paul did during the week (as well as running daily workshops, impressive stuff!).

This one is about a reference to the Boston Philharmonic Conductor Benjamin Zander. The speaker, Avril Carson spoke about how Benjamin Zander uses a phrase about ‘playing on one buttock’ to describe when musicians are really energised and engaged. I asked Paul if he could draw it…… I never thought he would, brilliant result.

‘Have I made them stronger and more capable’ is one from Emmanuel Gobillot. Advice on what leaders should do. Nothing more to add. Fantastic advice and a great image.

The next one, a triangle is a bit more technical. It refers to research that indicates in change programmes only 10% of the successful ideas originate with the senior managers. The most useful ideas come from the people closest to the work (no surprises here…….). This was spoken about by Nick Obolensky. I need to dig up the research on this. Unfortunately I failed to write down the source properly, proving the point about my notes being less useful than Paul’s graphic facilitation.

Overall, the images Paul produced have helped me build upon my learning at Summer School, and share it with others. The impact of showing people the pictures I took on my phone has been remarkable. If I had to sum up my experience of graphic facilitation in three words they would be; immediate, effective and long-lasting. Thanks Paul.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. They are a quick way of capturing key learning points (so much better than my notes).
  2. Pictures really do speak a thousand words. People can effectively understand complicated messages through images.
  3. The impact is long-lasting. I’m more likely to re-visit a picture or print it out and pin it on a wall than re-read my scribbled notes.

If you want to see all of what Paul drew during the week here is a link to the Academi Wales Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/81188091@N04/7643756830/in/photostream/

Negative Capability, John Keats and Half Man Half Biscuit.

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Everybody sing along…….

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro,

On a Saturday night instead of going to the Pub.

Lyrics: The Best Things In Life by sometimes surreal Half Man Half Biscuit (hmhb).

Well there is……spending Saturday night, not with slipper and biro, but researching the 19th century English Romantic Poet John Keats and his ideas on Negative Capability (my wife tells me that by now most people will have left). There is a very good reason for my mindshift…….

Earlier this year I was at Welsh Public Services Summer School where I was introduced to the idea of negative capability and Keats. This was in the context of how to approach learning and how I might best experience new ideas during the week. Helpfully it was broken down into some ideas I could get my head around.

Positive Capability: Acts of certainty; Confidence; Extend Boundaries; Control; Comfort; and Adding Skills (the place where we spent most time).

Negative Capability: Self inquiry; Observation; Adaption; Humility; Imagination and Uncomfortable Learning (not visited very often).

This explanation was great as a starting point but something kept troubling me and was the reason why I ended up researching John Keats on a Saturday night, whilst listening to hmhb. The question I kept asking myself was; is negative capability really any different to some of the learning and self-development ideas I’ve heard about before? Things like:

  • Push the boundaries;
  • “Do one thing every day that scares you” (just did that).
  • Get out of your comfort zone;
  • Think outside of the box;
  • Be comfortable with ambiguity;
  • Deal with complexity etc,etc.

Here are the results of my research and a few links that might be useful.

  • Wikipedia: Negative Capability, to be honest this didn’t help. I’m a lapsed scientist and the language  was all a bit too literary and then edged into psychoanalysis  (blimey).
  • French, Simpson & Harvey explained it more helpfully in a paper on Creative Leadership. Here they use the Keats quote to describe the state in which a person “is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”.

This is all great, but what you really need on a Saturday night is YouTube……….

  • Video by conferencereport. A useful explanation if you can cope with the cars passing in the background.  Having the presenter talk to a hand-held camera while walking around was curiously engaging.
  • Eben Pagan’s Get Altitude video has a more ‘management seminar’ style and talks about understanding another person’s emotions. A bit tangential.
  • Bright Star is a 2009 film about the Keats poem of the same name, here is the official trailer. Helpfully there are other videos linked to the film where negative capability is explained. Here is one with chaps diving in the lake Mr. Darcy style. To my surprise, the explanation of how to ‘understand poetry’ helped a lot with my understanding of negative capability.

“The point of diving in the lake is not to immediately swim to the shore, but to be in the lake. To luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not, ‘work the lake out’. It is an experience beyond thought”

Summer School was a bit like diving in and immersing myself. Now I’m sitting back and doing some of the ‘working out’, on Saturday nights as it happens. As for hmhb lyrics, I’m still in the lake, luxuriating in the mystery.

So what’s the PONT?

  1. Negative capability is different from just ‘pushing the boundaries’ of things you already know about.
  2. Accept that you cannot and may not need to understand everything you encounter.
  3. It can feel uncomfortable but by immersing yourself in things you don’t fully understand, new things can emerge.

Photo source: John Keats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Keats_by_William_Hilton.jpg

I have to finish this off with one more hmhb reference for Helen Reynolds. John Keats wrote several odes including ode to a nightingale. As far as I know hmhb only have one ode, ‘ode to Joyce’, which does have a video featuring this picture of a kitten playing a guitar. Awesome!

Flipchart foraging and why its worth trying the Draw Something app

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One of my pastimes is checking out the abandoned flipcharts I find in the variety of offices and meeting rooms I get to frequent. It’s quite a revealing pastime (possibly about me unfortunately). Occasionally you do stumble across sensitive material, obviously this goes straight in the confidential waste bin, or back into the hands of the originator. However, it’s the other material on flipcharts that fascinates me. I reckon you can get a useful insight into an organisation from the debris gets left behind on the flipcharts. The more frantic the scribbles, the more I like it.  Line & box diagrams, mind maps, dodgy graphs, stick people and bullet points all feature. Whatever form it takes it’s all a great informal record of organisational life. The real story of what’s going on from the hands of the people who know the place best.

This helpfully gives me an opportunity to talk about some recent experiences where a drawing has helped focus a discussion.

Twice recently I’ve sat in meetings, slightly bored and detached from the action (a familiar situation for many I suspect). What this allowed was the opportunity for a bit of observation and testing a theory of mine about the impact of flipchart drawings.

Meeting 1. Business Process Review.  Nine people sat around a table discussing a document management process. It felt like something from a Dilbert cartoon. The alpha males and females (3 people) were vying for superiority, while two others were doing the best they could to get heard. The rest were in various stages of disengagement.  Plenty of arm waving and use of technical language to demonstrate ‘one’s own cleverness’ was going on. What looked obvious to me was that there were at least two versions of the truth being spoken about, and a contractor (supposed to be delivering the solution) looking confused, frustrated and increasingly desperate.

Eventually some bright spark suggested the contractor draw the process on a flipchart. Bingo! Suddenly everyone was talking about the same thing and rapid progress was achieved. It took 40 minutes to get to this point and 10 minutes to agree some action.

Meeting 2. Comparing Supplier Costs. Thinking about it now, this was a completely daft situation.  A group of 7 people were trying to compare two sets of figures. Most people had the first set of figures. Only one person had a copy of the second, and had only shared them verbally. The discussion was passionate and detailed, with strongly held views about the figures, but completely pointless.

Eventually someone wrote down the figures on a flipchart. It immediately became obvious where the issues where. This was incredibly not in the place where people had been expressing strongly held views! The group then got around to concentrating on the most important issues and developing options. Again, this one took about 40 minutes (of wasted time) before someone wrote on the flipchart and focused the discussion.

A few things I learnt from observing these events:

  • Some people love to talk and express an opinion, no matter how irrelevant;
  • A lack of a clear objective or point of focus allows the misguided (or even the meeting saboteurs I previously mentioned) to flourish;
  • People quickly disengage in these situations; and
  • A few ‘scribbles’ on a flipchart puts it all back on track.

If this is what can be achieved with a few amateur scribbles, imagine what can be achieved through expertly drawn graphics? Have a look at an earlier post about graphic facilitation and the fantastic material organisations like Delta7 generate by working with the people in organisations.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Focusing a discussion or a meeting by putting something down on paper can (usually does) help everyone understand and ‘speak the same language’.
  2. Using drawings, graphics or other illustrations can really help, especially with complicated processes, ideas or difficult situations.
  3. Next time you are in a meeting going nowhere, have a go yourself, start drawing and see what happens.

If you are wondering, here is the connection with Draw Something.  If you are slightly nervous about putting something on paper, download the Draw Something app and start drawing. Practice makes perfect … possibly. I wonder if I can fit Elvis into a work context…….?

Linked posts: http://whatsthepont.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/the-staff-dont-understand-quick-draw-them-a-picture-or-something/

The staff don’t understand, quick draw them a picture or something……..

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You are engaged! http://www.delta7.com

Suspend reality and imagine this strange situation…….

  • Boss: “The staff here are a huge problem. They just don’t get my latest initiative, what’s wrong with them?”
  • Smithers: “Ah yes Sir. The words in your manifesto document are so beautifully crafted, truly inspirational, and it’s printed on the finest paper”
  • Boss: “Well here’s something that might work. I’ve heard that some organisations are drawing pictures….. to dumb things down ……..so the staff get it”
  • Smithers: “errrr…… perhaps you mean graphical representation Sir? A picture is drawn so that the  message can be understood and communicated at many levels, in a high impact way?”
  • Boss: “Yes that’s the sort of thing. Right, I want you to knock up an oil painting or bronze sculpture of my fantastic ideas. Then they will understand and I shall achieve true greatness.  Make it happen Smithers!”

This (obviously) is a bit of a parody of a real life situation I heard about. Those involved represent a kind of staff engagement ‘anti-matter’. They were struggling to justify yet another failed initiative and ended up blaming the staff for their lack of cognitive ability. The failure (in their eyes) was on the part of the ‘dumb’ employees, to understand and implement the clever ideas that were being thrust upon them. The ‘draw a picture’ discussion was actually just a diversion to avoid confronting the real problem, a lack of engagement with staff around the ‘clever new initiative’.

This is a great shame as there are genuine benefits in using diagrams, pictures and graphics to communicate messages, understand ideas and generally make sense of the complexities of organisational life.

A good example the approach I’ve seen is archetype extraction used by Cognitive Edge. This is a process where common understandings will emerge out of discussions, workshops, focus groups or other social interactions. A cartoonist / graphic facilitator will capture these common understandings and present them as a cultural archetype. These archetypes are a physical picture of how a community views things; common behaviours, social conventions, rituals and beliefs, common language, role models, “the way things happen around here”, etc (archetypes).  According to Cognitive Edge; “Archetypes can then be used in various initiatives such as branding, communications or strategy. Archetypes that are extracted from the anecdotes told naturally in a community resonate: they have bite.”  Have a look at their website for more details.

Another good example I’ve seen of using pictures and cartoons is by Delta7. The graphic I have included in this post (you are engaged!) is one of many examples on their website. In a similar vein to the Cognitive Edge archetypes the example I’ve included here does look like a bit of an extreme version of what happens in organisations, or perhaps not? A bit like mentioned above, ‘it has bite’ and could be perceived as a bit uncomfortable for some people. It’s well worth having a look at the Delta7 website gallery for a few more examples of the pictures and archetypes they have created, I bet you will see a situation you recognise.

Coming back to the Boss and Smithers mentioned earlier. I don’t think these are the sort of pictures the Boss had in mind. It’s a case of being careful what you wish for. If all you want are simple graphical illustrations, that’s fine but you do run a huge risk of patronising people and seriously disengaging them by ‘dumbing’ things down. If you go for something that digs a bit deeper that engages people (which I think you should), be prepared to live with the results. The pictures might actually have ’bite’ and tell you how things actually do happen around here, possibly not what you wished for.

So, what’s the PONT?

1. Pictures, graphics and diagrams are a really effective way of communicating complicated messages, ideas or making sense of situations.

2. They are also a good way of engaging staff, particularly if they are involved in creating the image as something that is commonly understood in the organisation, an archetype.

3. Bosses be careful what you wish for here, some egos may not withstand the archetypes created, they can ‘bite’.

Picture source: http://www.delta7.com/you-are-engaged/

http://www.delta7.com/walking-the-talk/  another great one from Delta7.

Fun at work is allowed……….employee engagement at Admiral

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A quick post on my day out at the Engage4Success  event hosted by Admiral Insurance in Cardiff.

One of the most significant things I heard about was the Admiral approach to employee engagement. They are a hugely successful company, based largely on having engaged employees. Have a look at the impressive history of the  best workplace awards Admiral have won, including 6th place in  The Sunday Times 2012 awards (officially the best place to work in Wales).  Interestingly the Sunday Times article talks about W L Gore who I’ve mentioned previously.

Back to Admiral.  I don’t think I could adequately do justice to them in a post, (I’m sure there are plenty of people who will have written far more eloquent papers) but here is what I picked up in short digestible bites. Their approach can be summarised in 4 words: Communication; Equality; Recognition and Fun.

Communication.  Everyone talks about ‘communication’ with employees, and lots of organisations do it badly, tokenistic and lacking authenticity. What I got from Admiral was the sense that they are completely committed to effective two way communication. I picked up on a phrase “no matter how much communication you think you are doing, do even more, and use as many channels as you can”.

Equality. This really impressed me.  There was a strong sense of everyone contributing together, no differentiation or a ‘them and us’ culture.  There was mention of only two people in the whole organisation having personal offices, no separate dining areas for executives and no privileged company car scheme.

Recognition.  People get recognised and rewarded for the good work they do. Simple! (obviously not “simples”, that would be very wrong).

Fun. Woah! This really is radical. The idea is that people can and should enjoy themselves at work and have some fun.  You may be aware of the Admiral Ministry of Fun.  This should be something people in other organisations sign up to.

Nothing more to say really, just a quote from the Admiral Website about their culture

“People who like what they do, do it better”

We firmly and wholeheartedly believe people who like what they do, do it better and as such we go out of our way to ensure coming to work in Admiral Group is enjoyable. We think happy staff will create happy customers, happy customers increase profits, and increased profits will make happy shareholders.

So what’s the PONT?

  1. Communication and recognition, things lots of organisations seek to enhance as part of employee recognition.  Good stuff part of the staple diet.
  2. Equality, something a bit trickier as it does affect those who think, “they deserve more, or better”. But special company cars are very divisive.
  3. Fun. Absolutely brilliant. We definitely need to make the job more enjoyable, “People who like what they do, do it better”

Alternative critera for choosing a University …… measure what matters most.

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“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count and everything that counts cannot necessarily be measured”. An Albert Einstein quote which eloquently sums up the problem with performance measures (and targets).

I’ve been struggling with performance measures for ages and don’t think I’m any closer to being comfortable with them than I was about 20 years ago. What has changed is my viewpoint. I have moved away from the ‘hard targets / measure’ mindset and the ‘if it can’t be measured it can’t be managed’ mantra, towards a greater recognition of the complexities of life, and you can’t (and probably don’t need to) measure everything.

All of this can be illustrated through my latest ‘let’s experiment on the kids’ adventure. Eldest son (Steady Eddie) is in the middle of selecting a university to attend. An important choice, one I couldn’t possibly let pass without offering some support and guidance (aka parental meddling). Being the robust scientific type, anything I offer needs to be logical, well structured, evidence based and repeatable. What he needed was a beautifully designed evaluation framework, based upon carefully selected performance measures. The perfect way to decide where he is going to spend the next three years of his life (I am such a good dad!).

I should also mention that I believe in empowerment and involvement, so it is only fair that Steady Eddie decides upon the performance measures and the scoring system himself, I’m ‘just helping’. What he came up with surprised me a bit. These are all very sensible, the kind of ‘grown up’ thing I was looking for.

Steady Eddie’s University Selection Criteria

  1. Employability – what percentage of graduates from the course get good jobs?
  2. Teaching Style – how much contact time is there with tutors? Is it classroom or practically focused?
  3. Environment – how safe does the Campus feel?
  4. Accessibility – how easy is it get to, and get back home?
  5. Accommodation – availability, quality & cost, a big deal.

Scoring system (there was a bit more to this, but you get the idea)

  • 5 = absolutely brilliant
  • 3 = average
  • 1 = completely rubbish.

This was fantastic. My spirits were lifted; this was everything I wish I’d done myself at 17 years old. Then reality crept in, we’d visited 3 Universities and it’s was starting to look like the ‘wrong choice’ was going to win. This was the local University which opened up the prospect of a ‘live at home option’, definitely not in my plans.  Time for me to develop an alternative scoring system and performance measures, here goes:

Meddling Dads University Selection Criteria

  1. Tutor Dress Sense. The worse the clothing, better the score. I want technical focus, not some fashion victim. Tweed jacket, tracksuit trousers, Hawaiian shirt and a woolen tie (preferably all at once) = high score.
  2. Graffiti Quality. I like obscure graffiti eg “Heisenberg may have slept here!……… are you certain?”, fantastic. However “I am bored” carved into the lecture theatre desks is a bad sign.
  3. Lab Technicians / Junior Staff.  I want someone in charge that looks like Arkwright from ”Open All Hours”, preferably with a brown lab coat.  Someone who’s been around for eons, oozing wisdom, from which the ‘bright young MSc/MA’s who work there can all learn.
  4. Canteen Food. Always check out where the PhD students and Tutors eat. It’s got to be good old stodgy institution grub. Food is fuel, shovel it in and get back to the lab. Anything ‘gastro’ = bad news.
  5. Open Day Car Park. I want to see lots of second-hand Volvo’s in the car park. All driven by earnest middle class types who have thoroughly researched where their offspring is planning to go (saves me the hassle).

The outcome has been that my alternative performance measures have helped guide his choice. By measuring some of the things that really matter, he’s settled on a university over two hours travel away. Definitely not a live at home option, result!

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Just about anything can be measured, but focus on what matters most.
  2. Going for the obvious, ‘sensible’ option didn’t help get the outcome we wanted.
  3. Be imaginative. Tutor Dress Sense should be a standard performance measure across all universities.

Please don’t shoot the Piano Player……….. just provide a bullet proof vest

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The good old expression, shoot the messenger has been around for ages, but it’s still very relevant, particularly to me.

Basically the (blameless) messenger, bearing bad news receives some form of punishment, just for being the unfortunate individual that delivered the message. Enough said, a pointless act, but it happens.

Here’s how my situation plays out.  Friday night, out socialising with my wife when I am dispatched to phone the kids and check they are back home safely. My enquiries reveal that there has been an unfortunate incident involving teenagers, illicit drink and an elder brother videoing the embarrassing antics of his sibling which he is now sharing with their peer group. Oh joy.

I convey the bad news to my wife, “darling, the lads have been a little over exuberant tonight….”  Massive failure on my part, and I end up full of metaphorical bullet holes, and apparently the cause of all the problems.

So, here is my guide to avoiding being shot as the messenger. As relevant I think to the world of work, as it is to domestic situations.

Narrow Expectations. Before you blurt out the message, just ask the question: “what were your expectations?” If expectations and reality are massively wide apart expect some gun smoke. This is where your opportunity to manage the message comes in. I’m not suggesting telling fibs, but warming people up a bit and narrowing the expectation gap can be useful.  Alternatively you can just run away, like I should have when I found out my wife’s expectation was that the kids were at the Baptist Chapel Youth Club (on a friday night?).

Be Process Perfect. Don’t allow anyone to pick holes in your process or actions as the messenger.  There is an interesting phrase ad hominem  which is about undermining something by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it. I’m talking about the same sort of thing here. Don’t give people the opportunity to undermine you as the messenger by following instructions and process perfectly.  In my case this was a rapidly delivered job. Phone kids (several times), also phone their friends, check in with grandma, make sure nothing is on Facebook, deliver threats about posting on Facebook etc. Quickly return to my wife with the message, without lingering at the bar for a fortifying drink, and most importantly, not having a laugh at the video myself. Perfect, I’ve done as I was told.

Don’t wrestle with pigs. Because you will just get dirty and the pigs really enjoy it. This expression is attributed George Bernard Shaw  but I’ve seen it used to describe lots of situations. For me the gist is, don’t get involved in arguments or discussions where the other party isn’t prepared to hear bad news, however compelling the facts or evidence. In my situation this meant sticking to a clear explanation of the facts, not justifying anything, not blaming anyone and trying to extract myself as quickly as possible, by offering solutions.

Disclaimer: I would like to point out that I would never make this wrestling comparison to any discussion with my wife; this is for illustrative purposes only.

In the end, everything worked out fine. It actually was a bit of teenage over exuberance and we have a whole week of half term (oh joy) for the dust to settle.  Something else far more entertaining, (involving other people’s kids hopefully), is bound to have happened in the meanwhile. I’m sure that some of these lessons could be transferred into the world of work; after all, it’s not that different to dealing with truculent teenagers.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. As the messenger who delivers bad news, expect to get shot. So invest in some body armour.
  2. Manage the ‘expectation gap’ and be process perfect.
  3. Finally, under no circumstances wrestle with the pigs!

“Please don’t shoot the Piano Player –he’s doing the best he can”, is from the 1860’s Wild West.

Laughter turns strangers into friends………… sometimes

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This week I’ve been attending the Distinguished Lecture Series at Cardiff University where I heard Professor Robin Dunbar (yes, he of Dunbar’s number) talk about some incredibly interesting topics.  I aim to post a few things about the whole lecture series, but for the minute here is what’s grabbing me, the importance of laughter and humour in human relationships.

I’ve been struggling with this for a while after someone suggested to me that humour in the workplace was about ‘hiding from the truth’, ’not dealing with difficult things’ and ‘not confronting our buried emotions’. Blimey, that’s all a bit distressing and depressing.  As I’ve always tried to have as much fun as I can in work, using humour and laughter, I must really be suppressing something huge!

Fortunately Professor Dunbar said a few things that have lifted my spirits and put me back on track:

  • Laughter triggers the uptake of endorphins in the body which makes us feel happy;
  • Laughter increases our tolerance to pain (so it is the ‘best medicine’);
  • Laughing with other people helps to form emotional bonds with them;
  • The more we share a sense of humour with someone the more we feel engaged with them; and
  • Laughter turns strangers into friends (sounds like a strap line for some Christmas  drink advert, but it makes a lot of sense to me).

I’m not doing credit here to what Professor Dunbar said and I would encourage you to watch the video.  What this has done however is given me the chance to relive one of my most epic failures, where an attempt to introduce humour into the workplace almost cost me a friend.

My friend was having a great deal of trouble trying to get their superiors to make a decision. The process involved countless iterations of a business case, double and triple checking,  risk assessments, procurement policy checks and meetings to go over and over the same ground. You may be familiar with this, or have heard about a similar type of situation, its shocking, I know.

Like all good friends I listened to their troubles over several weeks and tried to offer comfort and advice where I could. As it happens about this time I was on holidays in the US where I saw this ‘Make a Decision’ note pad and my friends predicament came straight  to mind. Perfect I think, a bit of humour is just the thing to get things moving.

Make a Decision notepad. I laughed!
Make a Decision notepad. I laughed!

It sank like a lead balloon.

The boxes to fill in on the ‘Make a Decision’ form were leapt upon with greedy enthusiasm, but when it got down to the detail there were totally bemused responses. “what do they mean by ‘apocalypse’ for worse case scenario? Do we have a corporate definition of apocalypse?”.  This might of course have been an elaborate double bluff, but I don’t think so. Some rapid diversion tactics were required and refocusing onto some familiar territory like, ‘updating the risk register’. Perfect, order restored.

In our post project learning (over beer) my friend and I discussed where it had all gone wrong. Definitely the delivery method could have been better (they say comedy is all about the timing), but for this audience a blatant attempt at humour was probably just too alien.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Humour and laughter are useful but you need to consider the audience. For some groups and settings it’s just too alien.
  2. Getting the delivery and timing right is important. Tabling the ‘Make a Decision’ form enthusiastically at a project update meeting was not the best option.
  3. Put yourself in their shoes. This was probably seen as highly threatening to the  group rather than something humorous. A real shame.

Picture source (also available to purchase) http://www.perpetualkid.com/make-a-decision-notepad.aspx

Parkinson’s Law 1. Work expands to fit the time available for its completion.

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I think this should be on the syllabus of every management development programme and business school around. It’s like one of those fundamental truths that get overlooked, because it’s slightly inconvenient and uncomfortable. I promised I’d write about this in the post on Bikeshedding, Parkinson’s Law of Triviality. It’s so relevant, even 60 years on, that it deserves a good airing.

Here’s a link to a copy of the original 1955 essay in The Economist, which I’d highly recommend reading.  The article opens with the quote “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”. This is based upon two underlying laws:

  1. The law of multiplication of subordinates; and
  2. The law of multiplication of work.

The basic theory is that an individual within a large administrative organisation will reach a point in their career where things start to get a bit ‘too much’ for them. Rather than leave the job or share it with anyone else they make the case for acquiring subordinates (good old empire building). Subordinates lead to more subordinates and eventually there is a department to manage, whilst the quantity of real work hasn’t actually increased that much (if at all).

If the work hasn’t increased that much, what to people do? They read the memos they send each other Parkinson suggests. In the modern world this would be the pointless emails we all get from the corporate centre and colleagues, particularly those cc’d ones that undermine trust and drive me mad.

The theory is great but Parkinson’s master stroke is his ‘Scientific Proof’. There are two examples he uses to illustrate his point, the numbers of Royal Navy Ships compared to Clerks and Admiralty Officials and staff at the Colonial Office.

Between 1914 and 1928 he provides data to show the decline in number of ships (68%) and Ships Crew (31%) compared with the increase in Clerks (40%) and Admiralty Officials (78%). Have a look at the graphic attached. It’s also well worth looking at the original paper which gives some good reasons why this shouldn’t have happened.

The story from the Colonial Office is even starker. In essence, between 1935 and 1954 the staff increased from 372 to 1661, over 400%. At the time the responsibility of the Colonial Office was declining, and by the time of the end of British Empire the Department had its highest number of staff ever (stop to think about that, bet you’ll have your own example).

Although there is plenty of humour in this paper, it does make a serious point, and gives the evidence to support the theory.  It’s as relevant today as it was 60 years ago. Modern ‘management speak’ is all about ‘back office functions’ and efforts to make them more efficient. What needs to be recognised, and dealt with, are the processes that get you to that position in the first place “work expanding to fit the time available for its completion”. I also wonder if this pattern has altered in 60 years now that there is better gender balance in the work place. Do women feel such a need to pointlessly empire build as men?

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Lots of people have a tendency to ‘empire build’, either consciously or sub consciously. This is what powers Parkinson’s Law.
  2. Once you’ve got lots of people, they need something to do, so the work expands to fit the resources available (time).
  3. Are the efforts of the ‘systems thinkers’ and the ‘Lean Office’ people all about trying to put right the impact of Parkinson’s Law?

Image Source http://www.unc.edu/~nielsen/soci410/nm8/m5004.gif

Kaizen! Toast v Beer………$500 update!

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If you’ve read Kaizen! Toast v Beer, Who Wins? you’ll get what this is all about.

Here’s an opportunity for fame and fortune for anyone with; a decent video camera, some willing buddies and a love of Kaizen (plus toast, but I don’t think that’s compulsory).

The Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership (Massachusetts, not Lincolnshire),
originators of the Toast Kaizen video, is holding a competition for anyone who wants to produce a Toast Kaizen Parody.

There’s a $500 prize in restaurant vouchers for the winning entry, plus the recognition that goes with winning.

Videos will be shown during the 2011 Northeast Shingo Prize Conference, October 5-6 in Springfield, MA. At the conference attendees will vote for their favourite video, so it needs to be a real crowd pleaser! The rules don’t seem to exclude anyone from outside of the US, but it’s worth checking. Entries need to be submitted by the 1st September 2011.

Check out the full details and entry rules on the GBMP website Toast Kaizen DVD Parody.

Go on…………. have a go!

Image source: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/invader-zim/images/6223825/title/toast-wallpaper