Help for my manager, resend (Crazy like a fox)

Michael Herman mjherman at gmail.com
Tue Feb 22 13:30:29 PST 2005


here's one bit, harrison...

a year or so ago i was talking with a big oilfield services outfit.
they were having a big conference and it was some poor managers' job
to work in a little open space, if only because they'd tried it once
(sort of) and it worked (well enough) that many said "again."  trouble
is they cut the time in half and said "this time it has to get
results."  oh, yes, and the ceo and 150 top folks were coming, so it
mattered to them.

i talked round this a bit with these managers turned conference
planners.  i asked what qualified as a "result" and it was quite clear
they weren't sure themselves, given the murkiness of their charge,
except that it definitely included a document.  that's easy of course.

finally, after circling the results bit again, this time under the
guise of "it can't be just talk..." i said somethinkg like "look,
guys, let's be clear about one thing -- nobody's going to find any oil
under the hotel.  it's all just talk.  it's a conference."  and that
seemed to do the trick.

christopher c. calls this holding the traditional parts of the org to
the same standards as the new opening parts.  if we really look into
what's happening in os, rasing issues, addressing, documenting,
prioritizing, next steps, repeating... it's all very much "getting
stuff done."  and when we look in to the usual rhetoric, i find that
lots of folks just can't defend or explain it.  often folks end up
using the empty standards as if they were true.

m


On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:57:36 -0500, Harrison Owen <hhowen at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Paul – Welcome back from the Black Hole. I guess I should come clean. The
> "Young Manager" is in fact a figment of my imagination, although he seems to
> have taken on flesh and blood here on OSLIST. Which all goes to prove that

--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
http://www.michaelherman.com
...inviting people and whole organizations into movement

Small Change News Network
http://www.smallchangenews.org
...linking active givers and gifted activists to make a bigger difference

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