This is a story about
four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an
important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.
Everybody was sure
Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have
done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry
about that because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought
Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that
Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.
A colleague was once part of an Action Learning Group, which
was looking at making changes to an organisation. She complained to me that
we’re all over the place. Different people doing different things and nobody is
sure what is supposed to happen next. It’s a bit organic and very stressful.
The idea of Action Learning is that you learn by doing based
on Confucious “I hear and I forget. I see
and I remember. I do and I understand.” This can be a good way to empower
people, get things done, and offer a development opportunity all at the same
time.
This has strengths and weaknesses. The strengths include
that with a good mentor, guide or support the Action Learning Group can achieve
and learn a lot. However learning by doing isn’t something we’d want from an
unsupervised surgeon! So we need to think carefully what you entrust to the
Action Learning Group, so that failure can be part of learning and not
destructive to the participants or the organisation.
The key ingredient for success is structure.
Having clear scope, controls, roles, responsibilities,
time-lines and budgets provide both a mechanism for managing expectations,
measuring performance and a safety net. These are the basics of project
management and should be deployed in every task we expect of people.
Whether we use SMART Objectives (http://topachievement.com/smart.html)
or employ a full project or programme structure to what you do the basics are
that collectively the team need to be able to deliver
a)
On-Time – when do the tasks start and end, and is the
‘target’ end-date
b)
On-Budget – what
is needed, how much does it cost, how do we get funding etc.
c)
To-Specification – what does success look like? (size,
shape, quality, format, approved,)
d)
Lo-Risk – what can be done to avoid, reduce, outsource
or manage risks to the above.
e)
Hi-Communications – who needs to know what, and when,
to be able to achieve all the above
Tim Rogers
Founder ciChange
timrogers@ciChange.org
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CI-Change-4301853
ciChange seminar and networking events for 2013 sponsored by
Total Solutions Group http://www.tsgi.co/
