Sludge buster
Not for the first time we have a senior figure suggesting that what a particular organisation needs is a clear out of a relatively small number of people seen as holding the organisation back. Often middle managers these individuals are not so much incompetent as disengaged and jaded. We are told everyone knows who they are but no one knows what to do about it. The individuals are said to no-longer harbour ambitions for promotion and are quite content to coast. The organisation usually hopes that a reorganisation will do away with their post but often due to their experience they are simply redeployed passing the problem on to another department or team. If they were a senior manager they would probably be offered early retirement!
It is assumed it is the individual that is the problem but could the persistence of such a group be an indication that there is something amiss with the culture of the organisation. If it was possible to simple get rid of this group of individuals in one foul swoop would the organisation suddenly become dynamic, innovative, energised and agile with a workforce that was characterised by high job satisfaction and productivity?
I suspect that there might be some short term impact but before too long the discussions at the top table would be about the emergence of some disaffected and cynical managers not on board or at least lacking the necessary enthusiasm for the change agenda. This is because in any large workforce at any particular time there will be those in management who are disaffected and disengaged.
The issue then is not how do we get rid of them but how do we convert them. Too often the response is to ignore this group, don’t wast time and effort on them instead put our limited resources and energy into the enthusiastic and ambitious. The trouble is the high flyers don’t hang around so the organisation just gets a couple of years from them before they move on.
Instead the organisation should invest in tackling this group of cynical and disaffected managers who may be having more impact on the organisation than the leadership is generally willing to acknowledge. These individuals are the tip of a negative iceberg, efforts to make them less cynical, more open minded about changes, to make them feel they have experience and knowledge the organisation values will help in efforts to engage the wider workforce.
Of course this is difficult it involves increasing levels of trust, a great willingness to explain the thinking behind decisions, a commitment to opening up debate rather than closing it down and a more compassionate management style. In other words the complete opposite to an organisation that refers to people as sludge and sees the solution to human resource issues as getting rid of people.
Blair McPherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
Thanks.
