April 2004

Nothing is written

Do you remember the scene in Lawrence of Arabia when a man is left behind overnight, during the unforgiving journey across the desert? Omar Sharif's character says it would be madness to return for him, it would lead his would-be rescuer to certain death under the unforgiving sun. It is Written, he says. Lawrence ignores this advice and heroically returns, uttering the words, Nothing is Written.

The world of organisations is awash with guidebooks, gurus and instructions. But life doesn't follow ideal plans or rules, good or bad. Improv teaches us to deal better with the opportunity to embrace this uncertainty instead of denying it. Of all the ways I like to work with people, Improv makes me laugh most, surprises me most, teaches me most.

So I'm pleased to be an active supporter of the Applied Improvisation Network - check out this new home for its website. There are some good resources in there - especially in the articles section.

(And if you'd like to me to give you a real demonstration of Improv, just whistle!)

Speaking

In February I spoke on Trust and Brands at the Conference on Communication in the Age of Suspicion at Bournemouth University. A very stimulating event, where it was clear there was a strong tide in favour of transparency in both government and business. (You can read more about my experience here at the Mutual Marketing website.)

Last week I talked to a conference of Head Teachers about marketing for schools - and again, there was the same groundswell of frustration with the phoneyness of modern advertising. I used the opportunity to explore a more grounded and satisfying way to market schools.

Top Brands - Bad Performers?

According to this ISR report, top brands underperform financially and have poor levels of employee engagement. They have compared companies rated by Business Week as having the highest brand value with a set of "high performing" companies - and the branded businesses are found seriously wanting. Conclusion?

Many top brand companies are vulnerable. They are performing poorly on the cultural dimensions that deliver success under a brand/image strategy. This exposes them to low levels of employee engagement and to inferior levels of financial performance.

Things that Suck

Before meeting the leader of a large international company, I did this exercise to brief myself. I just Googled "(Name of company) sucks". And what an extraordinary range of stuff I found. A set of links deep into bits of the organisation's life...student boycotts based on associations with prison services; bitter employees gossiping online about the drug addiction of their colleagues; as well as some impressive and open bulletin boards run by the company supporting health and safety

What you quickly realise is much of this stuff is very opinionated and not "the truth" - but it does show how transparent business is becoming and how the world is not such easy territory for the spin doctors to operate in. The proliferation of media and the rise of the net mean that it's just not possible to centrally control a business's image, if ever it was.

I think these things tend to undermine further the credibility of those who talk about brand images as something that companies control. They only influence them... and they can influence them better by getting better (a la Cluetrain) at getting more people talking with a human voice - and spending less on image advertising and more on real service and products.

By the way, here are some more things that allegedly "suck"

School sucks
AOL sucks
Milk sucks
ClearChannel sucks
Fencing sucks
O'Reilly sucks

Polarity Management

Here's some common sense taken from the Polarity Management website.

Intuitively, those of you who have "been around the barn a few times" know that:

Leaders need to be conservative for stability and revolutionary for change.

Organizations need centralized coordination and decentralized initiatives

Managers and employees need training and must do their work.

We need to support team development and reward individual achievement.

We need to reduce our costs and improve quality.

All of us are faced with work commitments and home commitments.

None of the above are problems to solve by choosing one and neglecting the other. They are what we call polarities (dilemmas, paradoxes) which are inherently unavoidable and unsolvable. The on-going, natural tension between the poles can be destructive and debilitating or can be managed, and channeled into a creative synergy that leads to superior outcomes.

Facilitation

I'm continuing to enjoy my facilitation work, notably hosting a monthly group discussing Authenticity in Business. More details are on the my weblog here.

If you're wondering how to create more engagement among people you work with, give me a call!