Work Fit Analysis
Archive
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19-02-2010
Death in the Luge in Vancouver - Is This a Symptom of Something Else? -
22-01-2010
Erwin Rommel - Lessons for Leadership and Management in the 21st Century -
09-12-2009
Christmas Business -
05-11-2009
Functional Foods, Fads or Pharmacy by Another Name -
29-10-2009
Immigration: Populate and/or Perish -
16-10-2009
Suicide by French Workers - A Symptom of Something Deeper? -
08-10-2009
The Ideal Job -
06-10-2009
Gambling - You Bet! -
20-09-2009
Networks and Six Degrees of Separation -
10-09-2009
Mining Human Potential -
10-09-2009
What Can Be Done To Reduce The Toxicity Of Work Stress -
09-09-2009
Happy Employees = Improved Profitability? -
09-09-2009
Relationships.com -
03-09-2009
The Off Season, A Time For Action -
25-08-2009
Late For Work Again -
20-08-2009
Kids In Sport -
20-08-2009
The Economic Meltdown -
12-08-2009
Sporting Parents Behaving Badly -
11-08-2009
Le Tour De France -
11-08-2009
Sporting Careers and Excecutive Performance Coaching -
23-07-2009
Psychology and Golf -
21-07-2009
Mortgage Stress - 8 Ways to Beat It -
09-07-2009
Woman and Perfection -
07-07-2009
Burn - Out In Sport, Over Training and Problem Behaviours -
09-06-2009
The Psychology of State of Origin -
02-06-2009
'A Plague in Your Houses' - Swine Flu and other Epidemics -
28-05-2009
Good Samaritan? Not a Good Idea -
22-05-2009
8 Ways to Grow Old Gracefully -
14-05-2009
On Being Older -
07-05-2009
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes -
07-05-2009
You're All Class -
30-04-2009
Ideas and People, Good for Business -
28-04-2009
The Gordian Knot -
23-04-2009
Man and the Machine -
23-04-2009
Psychological Response To the Global Financial Crisis -
16-04-2009
Boosting Self Confidence -
03-04-2009
Work Environments -
02-04-2009
New Premises -
01-04-2009
Work -
31-03-2009
Pains In the Work Place -
12-03-2009
Young Men Behaving Badly -
26-02-2009
PTSD, The On Going Story -
13-02-2009
Open Plan - Open Question -
11-02-2009
Trucking -
09-02-2009
Out of the Ashes -
19-01-2009
Bikes, Frogs And The Training Budget -
19-01-2009
Change Management -
12-01-2009
Burn Baby Burn
What We Do...
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Article
Bikes, Frogs And The Training Budget
19-01-2009
Alastair Mant, in his book “Intelligent Leadership” used the “bike and the frog” metaphor to describe people’s mental models of complex systems.
A bike is composed of a number of components. It can be totally dismantled, then when it is put back together it will still function as a bike. A frog on the other hand, will have to make radical adaptations if it is to survive when any component is removed. Remove enough components and the frog ceases to function at all. It dies.
This is only metaphor. It is about a tendency to view complex systems such as business entities as combinations of independent components (even a bike won’t function too well without one of its wheels!) The problem is that there is an important component in businesses, which doesn’t behave like a mechanical entity – the human element (in the business itself and in its market).
A recent news report described how, in the current financial situation, many businesses have cut training budgets by as much as 12%. This is an attractive option for those who see training as a dispensable “component”. They embrace the short-term financial benefits.
There is no place in the paradigms of accountancy for some powerful long-term human variables in any business. There is no column for innovation, for morale, for loyalty, for commitment to a common goal, for skill or for motivation. However, if “the frog” is to survive he will need all of these.
The frog is a complex, living system, which has an enormous capacity to adapt (like us, it has evolved over millions of years by natural selection).
- - Businesses are similar living systems, and their survival in the longer term is dependent for the most part on their ability to adapt to a changing world. This in turn will be more likely to be successful if more people are working on solving the problems being confronted.
- - Knowledge, skill, innovation and motivation are all improved with specific training. This involves more than the usual lip service paid to this area. The notion that senior managers - “know best” has a flaw. It neglects the intellectual capital of people closer to the coalface.
- - The skilled senior manager is the one who not only values innovation and a flow of ideas “from the bottom up.” It is the one who institutionalises it, as something of the highest priority.
Latest Articles
-
19-02-2010
Death in the Luge in Vancouver - Is This a Symptom of Something Else? -
22-01-2010
Erwin Rommel - Lessons for Leadership and Management in the 21st Century -
09-12-2009
Christmas Business -
05-11-2009
Functional Foods, Fads or Pharmacy by Another Name -
29-10-2009
Immigration: Populate and/or Perish
