It’s not my problem. The problem is them.

It’s not my problem. The problem is them.

The story about Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody is one of the most popular blogs on ciChange (Link Below). How do we overcome the biggest challenges including the attitude of “It’s not my problem” and “the problem is them”.

THE PROBLEM

I have often come across managers tearing their hair out because “them upstairs” have made bad decisions without understanding the issues. There are many bosses who despair of their colleagues in different departments who do “things” without consultation or checking.

THE CHALLENGE

When I ask, have you been to see them, pick-up the phone, arranged a meeting, suggested a coffee the replies vary around a theme: It’s not my problem. The variations maybe it’s not my budget, not my speciality, not my responsibility, not my authority but if they are whinging about it then it seems to me to be their problem! What amazes me is that they are not empowered, motivated, able to do anything about it.

PICK YOUR ROLE

In such circumstances I often ask one of the following questions. The response can be enlightening!

Q1 Are you a leader or a follower?
Q2 If you had to describe your role in one sentence what would it be?
Q3 Who do you work for?

Q1 is interesting because many managers react like a rabbit in the spotlight. They all like to be seen as a leader, but in reality are more comfortable playing the role of “poor me” rather than showing leadership in resolving the problems. People are good at playing roles: drama queen, bully boy, super hero, geek. We play roles in school and are fascinated by roles on TV, and gossip about characters at work and on social media. Interestingly if you persuade someone that they need to be the leader they have enough experience from TV, films, soaps, and life to know the role even if they are not practiced at playing it. it doesn’t take too much coaching to persuade them provided the stakes are high enough for it to be worth the effort.

Q2 can be useful to reminding people why they are there and to focus on the role (outcome) rather than the job (tasks). This can help people realise the importance of doing what-ever is necessary to deliver the outputs rather than whinge about the process. It can also be polarizing: if they answer this badly then people might question the need to have them at all. If they answer well it provides a surge of passion, pride and hopefully action.

Q3 is very informative in-so-far-as it helps understand their loyalty and affiliation. Variations on the question may reveal that they work for “The Customer”, they might work for their “Employer” or they might work for their “Profession”. One person could answer I am an accountant, I am in the public sector, I work for XYZ Organisation but which answer they choose tells us something about them and how they see themselves. This often informs me about how to motivate them, because they’ve told me something about their values and identity.

JOINING THE CAST

When it comes to management and leadership you are either a participant or a spectator and if you are a spectator, just like watching TV you don’t have much say in the drama except to laugh, cry, shout or scream at what you see unfold.

As a Project and Change Leaders it is our job to help managers overcome stage-fright and help them learn their lines and get them to interact with the rest of the cast. Getting them to answer Q1, Q2 and Q3 is the first step in your role as “Casting Director” to assemble the production and will greatly help them in understanding their role and its dependence on the other actors for meaning and context.

Don’t under-estimate the role of “Casting Director”, the right person in the wrong role is a disaster and unhelpful to all concerned. Supporting Wayne Rooney in Goal, or Lewis Hamilton at Basketball, is gonna be hard work, but if as Project and Change Leaders you can get the right people in the right positions or roles then you will have an unbeatable team who can overcome any problem.

LINKS

If you liked the article above you might also like the following
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2013/06/this-is-story-about-four-people.html
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2014/03/forget-having-think-tank-be-part-of-do.html
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2013/05/who-would-play-you-in-movie.html

THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of www.ciChange.org and curator for www.TEDxStHelier.Com (next event 11 April 2014). He is Programme Manager for the commercialization of Jersey Harbours and Jersey Airport. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower with a passion for teaching and learning and is a Tutor/Mentor on the Chartered Management Institute courses.

Email: TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingGroup.com
Mob: 07797762051 | Twitter @timhjrogers | Skype timhjrogers

CICHANGE

Web http://www.ciChange.Org
Linked-In http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CI-Change-4301853
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/CIChange
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ciChange
ciChange is sponsored by Total Solutions Group http://www.tsgi.co/

Forget having a think-tank, be part of a do-team!

Forget having a think-tank, be part of a do-team!

THE IDEA
At the ciChange Event Preparing for a Digital Future it was suggested that some of our biggest challenges may be better resolved by replacing Think Tanks with Do Tanks, and actually get the job done rather than offer advice or comment from the side-lines.

ciChange propose we have combine both as Think Tank and Do Team
Think Tanks – discussing and sharing tools, techniques, templates and ideas about change
Do Team – teams of people brought together for a special purpose to tackle a specific problem

MY THOUGHTS ON HOW IT WILL WORK
Organisations (Business, Government or Charity) will publish a challenge through ciChange. This may be sponsored, with funding and expenses made available to the team or un-funded depending on the sponsor and the nature of the challenge. ciChange will then organise and invite a team of suitable skills and interests and organise necessary resources to tackle the challenge. There are different views, see below!

MY THOUGHTS ON THE METHOD
Each Think Tank and Do Team will be self-organising and may be different according to the challenge, people, funding or sponsorship. However it is anticipated that a work-shop based approach may be used as follows.

1. Introductions
2. Understanding the Problem
3. Reviewing the Factors/Issues/Constraints
4. Agreeing Success Criteria / Output
5. Possibilities and Options
6. Proposal and Plan
7. Report & Recommendations

SOME INTERESTING DISCUSSION

Comment
Re the Do Teams, I had imagined from the presentation that they would be aimed at indentifying and proposing/developing solutions to problems – a sort of “Improve Jersey” I see that you are suggesting organisations including businesses come to the Do Teams to solve specific problems and may include funding. Do you see this including time costs when solving problems for businesses (and government) – ie a form of co-ordinated counsultancy – or is it a more honorary/promotional activity?

My Reply
A good question! I await to see how it develops. There is a role for charity/volunteering. However maybe some of the most challenging problems need modest cash to be able to get to a solution. I also fear that people might be reluctant to give significant commercial advice for free. All my work for ciChange is free, but I doubt many consulting firms would or could be so philanthropic so maybe we need to offer some modest return to maintain people’s commitment? This isn’t aimed at being a consultancy and charging a consulting fee: there are many good folks doing that. Instead this is cross-discipline task forces putting aside commercial rivalry help solve a (community?) problem. However solving problems like “Sand Street Car Park” at the very least may require tea/coffee and sandwiches and a hotel room, and possibly more. It might work almost like a tender: we have “Problem X” and £5000, these are the criteria, who is interested in being part of a team to address this. I would welcome your thoughts. Maybe our first challenge should be to get collective ideas and agreement how this would work!

A Suggestion
That's really interesting. I have a Solution..... Pick 5 simple problems and spend 90 mins mapping and solving One of them. You need a project manager, a coder, a industry specialist and a change manager and facilitator. "Famous 5 Do Jerseyland". The doc that is produced is then given to (the Sponsor –example the Economic Development Minister) who has 21 days to respond. All solutions need to cost less than £5000

MY THOUGHTS ON SUBMITTING A CHALLENGE
If you or your organisation (Business, Government or Charity) has a challenge that could be resolved using this approach and a team of specialists with specific skills and interest in the subject invited please contact us. timhjrogers@cichange.org

FEEDBACK AND APPLYING TO JOIN A TEAM
ciChange are inviting people to complete and submit the form below. The purpose is to understand the people and organisations and what skills and interests may be available for Business, Government or Charity to tackle their challenges.

JOINING A DO TEAM
Email me timhjrogers@cichange.org (or use the form below)
Subject ThinkTank/DoTeam
Your Name
Your Email
About You (Skills, Qualifications, Experience)
About Your Expertise and Interests

SUGGESTING A CHALLENGE
Email me timhjrogers@cichange.org (or use the form below)
Subject ThinkTank/DoTeam
Your Name
Your Email
About the challenge (scope, what, why, when)
About the criteria (key factors, budget, time)

I will give it a week or so to get all the information together and then update generally on where we stand, and email directly those who are keen to be involved either as participants or presenting a challenge.

Name:
eMail:
Phone:

About You (Skills, Qualifications, Interests)


Suggestions for the Think Tank and Do Team