I remember an article with this headline being published in 1990 around the time when I being asked to leave my last "real job". It commented on how people who challenged the status quo too frequently often found themselves isolated and ultimately expelled. However, organisations who do not welcome healthy dissent progressively become out of touch with their market place, inwardly more rigid and self obsessed, with a focus on process rather than results. In my recruitment days I frequently came across MD's and senior managers who said they wanted to recruit people who challenged them without adding the rider, but only on the days of the week and / or the subjects that suit me!
In my days in the food industry I had a particularly bright, independently minded, graduate trainee who rose fairly quickly through the ranks to become General Manager of a factory in Norfolk. A good 150 miles away from Head Office! He had a couple of skirmishes with HO but survived and went on to head up a larger unit. One year he had a directive putting a freeze on all capital spending in the run up to the year end as HO sought to massage the figures presented to the main board. However, he had already identified that removal of waste cardboard was costing a lot of money and that he could cut costs dramatically by purchasing a compactor which would pay for itself within a matter of months. He viewed improving the unit's profitability as being a higher cause than manipulating the year end figures especially as the sum involved was insignificant in relation to group figures and went ahead with the purchase of the compactor, asking it to be invoiced in its component parts and thus coming out of the locally authorised revenue budget and outside of the capital restraint. For convenience the supplier could deliver it all at one time ready assembled!
Some months later HO queried how he managed to reduce his waste costs so dramatically and the compactor came to light - instead of congratulating him for reducing costs he was disciplined for gross misconduct and expelled.
Is it just a coincidence that that organisation is no longer visible in the marketplace or had their focus on process rather than delivering results driven out the "disturbing elements" necessary for survival in a rapidly changing market???
Adrian, I've just realised why I was never comfortable working for big organisations... I think I just knew instinctively that I wouldn't have lasted! Particularly as I was never fond of that mad idea of starting work at 9am.
My strategy of being so unbelievably good at my job that I could get away with murder and dictate my own hours would never have worked on a biggie. The company where I had most success with this MO was a real scurvy elephant breeding ground. The MD had a policy of never hiring anyone with a degree and given that we took the company from 250k to 6.5m t/o in 3 yrs, that's clearly not as mad as it sounds.
Posted by: Claire "BusinessBlogAngel" Raikes | February 26, 2007 at 10:54 PM