How we might avoid the constant disruption of Corporations and settle down to productive growth.

1. FINIDHYN W H I T E PAP E R
emotional tragedy this way of working inflicts on
Performance us all. If we are to accept that businesses largest
through people asset in a knowledge based society is its people,
it is time we we put that asset first. There are
enough examples of successful businesses
Published to Complex-m failing because of competency issues for this to
March 2004 be a major new concern.
This is not a socialist monologue, rather it
attempts to show, that by focussing on the
business and its short term results (modern
capitalist management) we are in fact, as a
Introduction society creating a problem that will ultimately
undermine the very business we are trying to
When all is said and done, almost all conduct.
performance related issues within a business
come down to one thing : “ if we had made better Human skill and potential is not like an IT asset
decisions and reacted differently we would not be or Industrial plant, it can take decades to rectify a
in this situation.” As a result of this almost daily mistake, and no amount of money will fix it any
management reflection, an entire industry has quicker. For an example of this one need go no
been spawned in the form of Systems further than the Apprentice scheme that was
integrators, process managers, Training abandoned in the 90’s and the poverty of skill
specialists and many others offering solutions in now prevalent in the engineering sector in the
the form of the latest management fads such as UK.
Six Sigma, TQM, Lean etc.
All of these industries and offerings are value- Why we do it
adding and all of them offer some part of a
solution. However what all fail to take account of Ambition. How can ambition drive these
is the enduring short-sightedness of business problems you may ask; well, unlike the
activities. Key drivers such as quarterly earnings, companies we work for, we only have a finite
high staff mobility, portfolio career rewards, amount of time in which to achieve all that we
decreasing levels of staff loyalty are finding would like to achieve in our professional and
increasing influence in constraining the material life. An average worker can expect to
necessary vision needed to prevent the gradual forty working years, give or take, in which time
decline in overall capability within industry. they need to ensure their pension, grow a family
(whatever that means today) and ensure a level
When we look back at all the initiatives an of status that lends meaning to their trials. If it
organisation may have attempted over the years; takes and average of five years to grow enough
we do not always see a cohesive narrative, influence in an organisation and impact
instead we tend to see a patchwork quilt of ideas, sufficiently on the status quo to have enough
philosophies and attempted improvement drives. career equity in order to progress; this gives the
Modern business has more in common with average worker 8 opportunities in their career to
ancient Babylon; three letter acronyms abound, step up the ladder in a meaningful manner. If we
half baked management theories - partially take 10 years off, for mistakes, finding the right
implemented, lie littered about the corridors, career and side-steps, this leaves six
poorly supported change initiatives trundle opportunities. With ageism growing by the year
through public areas like tumbleweed. Everyone deduct another 10 years; you are really only
looks forward to when the next sheriff enters giving people 4 chances in their 'career' to make
town and they can start to use another initiative step changes.
to off-load responsibility for the failure of the last
one. This would be an easy calculation if everyone
started their careers at the same time; five year
This paper is not written with the business changeovers: "Okay well done everyone now
performance as its primary concern, rather it is time to move on and let the next lot come
written out of concern primarily for the through". Unfortunately at any one time everyone
intellectual poverty of the modern worker and the is fighting for the step up the ladder and the only
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2. FINIDHYN W H I T E PAP E R
way to do that is to deliver quick results, after all existing initiatives and to bring talent, enthusiasm
that is what the city demands. Imagine everyone and support to existing projects.
in an organisation focussed on the next six
months, their promotion and review; is it any What is core purpose
wonder we tear ourselves apart.
There is no milage as the ambitious employee in Core purpose is intended to transcend the day to
entering a business and lending support to an day, quarterly to quarterly pressures applied to
existing initiative, the success of which will only the business; it is intended to be the beacon by
serve to project the originator to a greater level. which all initiatives are guided.
We must have another idea, that is seen to be
ours, to be better, to have more potential. The A simple example of where core purpose may be
consequence of this mentality serves only to articulated would, for example, be in a situation
undermine cohesion within the business. where a business finds itself under severe
pressure to reduce costs. A simple solution may
Modern business is about undermining the be to release labour from the organisation;
foundations of the house, whilst simultaneously however if the core purpose is to invest and
trying to shore up the building with "better develop its people, underpinned by the belief that
foundations" and repelling attack from those all more capable people drive greater benefits in the
around you. With all this going on it's not hard to organisation. This simple solution immediately
see that no-one really gets to put the foundations presents a conflict with the core belief and
in, but we all get a brick in somewhere, hence focuses the decision making on other solutions to
the patch work quilt effect. the cost reduction; as possible redundancies are
contrary to investment in human capital. Perhaps
the resulting action would involve using the
Alternatives excess people to find cost reductions in the
business, so rather than releasing skilled and
This is not about stopping ambition; you can't, it's valuable people you focus that skill at the
not within your control. This is not about career problem and charge them with finding solutions.
management. No, this is about vision and
leadership: not as executed by a Chief executive Core purpose would seek to articulate core
or senior manager. This is about a concept of beliefs and value sets within an organisation
leadership independent of the transient which all employees are bound by, thus if a new
caretakers of our institutions. This is a concept of manager decided to cut costs in a manner not
corporate leadership where it is the role of conducive to the core belief system of the
governance within an institution to sustain and organisation he could and would be challenged
maintain a central, core, value-led, vision; a legitimately by the rest of the organisation.
vision which has upwards of a twenty year
implementation time frame; against which all are A core purpose seeks to expand on the
judged. traditional concept of "mission" by underpinning
any corporate intent with value sets and belief
The proposal is that we are measured not on the systems. In a sense it seeks to grow "mission" by
short term results delivered, but on the level of creating a cultural framework within which
support and drive we have delivered to the core "mission" can be delivered. It accepts as read
purpose. The assumption being that if the core that a cultural framework underpinned by the
purpose is correct the results will flow from the correct value sets is a fundamental principle of
successful implementation of it. good corporate governance. Core purpose aims
to create governance through social conditioning
What does this achieve, one might ask. Well, the and policing through peer group focus. It believes
first thing it does is focus an entire organisation that this is a more powerful model of governance
on one operational philosophy. Secondly all than the more mechanistic and bureaucratic
'notable' contributions made by the ambitious edifices witnessed recently in response to share
many are all driving in one direction and will be holder activism. Indeed pressure group activism
judged against the philosophy in place. Thirdly, is seen as fundamentally contrary to core
all language is framed firmly in the context of that purpose. If you are being affected by pressure
organisation. Finally, initiatives do not get groups it is clear that there is something wrong
usurped, the only way to progress is to support with your core purpose as it is in conflict with
wider society and cannot therefore be strictly
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3. FINIDHYN W H I T E PAP E R
ethical. So in a sense core purpose can develop
into a shared philosophy.
This does pose problems for organisations
choosing to undertake core purpose as the
repercussions of the choices made at the start
are not always immediately obvious. Hence there
needs to be a mechanism developed within the
business whereby events and situations can be
interpreted on behalf of people, giving guidance
for future behaviours.
The end
So we have a mechanism which stops or
controls the ambitious many and harnesses their
energy and focuses it in a direct and accepted
way. We have introduced a cohesive philosophy
within which people can feel safe and supported.
What we should then have is an organisation
which behaves productively (assuming that is
part of the Core purpose), the company is not
open to the whims of transitory caretakers. The
similarities of this model and that of developed
society are very similar, the difference perhaps is
that societal models are geographically
constrained and this model need not be,
although small changes may exist geographically
where there may be conflict with the local culture.
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