The Brown Choice

So now Gordon Brown has decided that the people should decide what voting system we use for Westminster elections in future (although not for 2010). Two thoughts crossed my mind.

Firstly, is seems to me that it is not the voting system that people are fed up with but with politicians who have been caught with their hands in the till. This rotten parliament needs to be replaced right now but, unsurprisingly, Gordon still wants to choose the timing of a General Election.

Secondly, once again we only get to choose from the options that politicians decide are the right ones as if we are all too stupid to make a coherent decision if we are given a truly free choice. There is nothing new, progressive or revolutionary about this type of choice. Gordon Brown espouses choice now because it suits him to do so. He opposed it in the past because it suited him to do so. Where is the voice of the people in this kind of choice?

When will the political classes begin to treat the electorate like adults rather than children who must be told what is good for them? Not this side of an election it seems.

Perchance to live in northern France.

Now that the sale of our house is well under way and the exchange rate against the euro is on the up, my mind turned again this weekend to trying to make a move to France. We already have a holiday home there and so have experienced buying a house in France before. Bit by bit, my french has got better but always we seemed stumped by how to make a living there without me having to cross the channel every week to keep up my consultancy work here.

Of course we have toyed with the idea of running a gite business but at the same time we want to minimise our mortgage commitments. Also, I am not sure that the location of our current holiday home would make for a popular gite.

So this week I am going to search high and low for some alternative options that might give us some potential to earn a reasonable income whilst living mortgage free in France.

For those of you that have some ideas of what I might do, drop me an email. Je vous en prie.

The Benefits of External HR Support

So today I was reminded of why my clients like having external HR support when they need it. As I know only to well from my days in house, it often gets emotionally draining when dealing with redudancies, disciplinaries and grievances from your own employees. It's not that they can't be dealt with internally, but it really helps having an external expert holding the client's hand throught the process.

Today I was dealing with a particularly difficult redundancy appeal. The client has some really strong feelings about the issues and often confused performance issues with the redundancy issues that we were focusing on. In addition, when we met the employee they were very down and dejected. It was as if they had given up on the whole process.

The client told me that I contributed in a very critical way to the process and ensuring a successful outcome. Firstly, because the employee wasn't one of mine I could be offer an opinion that was free of emotional baggage. Secondly, I had helped the client see the issues more clearly and make a rational decision about how we should handle the issues and respond to the points raised on appeal. Finally, I came up with a neat (relatively cost neutral) way of offering some more support to the employee to get them ready for the job market without putting the client in a position where he felt that he was admitting he was getting it wrong (and he wasn't!).

It's great to get feedback from clients. It's even better when they remind you of the value that you bring to their businesses. I get a real buzz from days like today.

Leadership in Uncertain Times - Part 3

For those of your concerned about ensuring that your communication with your employees at this time supports the positive future of your business rather than just leaving them to gossip about how hard things are getting, here's a great article that sums up the critical things in just four or five bullets.

Uncertain economic times require leadership clarity

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Leadership in Uncertain Times - Part 2

It's a short week this week, but already it's been an interesting one. All this week's challenges seem to be about getting difficult change in place in the organisations that I work with - especially difficult when the proposed changes affect what the employees get paid and the hours that they work.

It's never easy to set out and make changes, sometimes painful changes in the organisation, and most clients are often keen to avoid it. Challenging times makes the imperative to change all the greater and all the more difficult to ignore. The first task is to make a real decision to change the organisation based on a clear and compelling business case that meets the business challenges and issues head on. Sometimes, I am struck by the shallowness of the commitment to change amongst directors and managers even when the business case is strong. Although it's a cliché, beginning with the end in mind is absolutely critical to implementing successful change and seeing you through the difficulties that arise along the way.

Sticking to that clear message throughout the consultation with the affected employees is vitally important so that they are able to grasp the reality of the situation and the crtical nature of the changes that are proposed. This does not mean that the consultation is not two way. In my experience, many great ideas can come from getting employees involved in the solution. But new ideas need to be evaluated in the light of the business case and the outcomes that are required. If they are not reasonable alternatives, they can be addressed and responded using consistent references back to the business case you started with.

Keeping to a well defined timetable for the consultation and subsequent implementation of the changes is also highly recommended. Letting consultation and related grievances, which seem far more common these days, drag on unnecessarily just complicates and slows the process. Not only that but they are emotionally and physically exhausting for all concerned.

Using union representatives, employee representatives and other consultative bodies in the organisation also help to provide structure and process in the midst of difficult discussions and decisions.

But ultimately, it always seems to me that it comes back to leadership that business owners and manager show during periods of change that really determine whether the desired outcomes are achieved.

'And the greatest of these is love...'

It has been a hard day for me listening to and watching the terrible news from Ireland. Once again, victims of child abuse at the hands of the Church are left feeling devoid of justice as the crime is recognised and acknowledged but the perpetrators are not brought to book.

It brings back memories of the overpowering anger that I felt when the revelations about similar abuse by priests in the diocese where I grew up hit the press some seven years ago. Our glorious Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor failed to take responsibility then for the abject failure of the Catholic Church to protect children from child abuse at the hands of a member of the clergy when it had happened on his own watch as bishop of Arundel & Brighton. If only he had pursued the cause of children in his diocese with half the zeal of his pursuit of the dead end of ecumenicalism, then some children might have been spared the unimaginable pain and suffering caused by the ultimate betrayal of trust at the hands of an adult who you are obliged by society to respect. What a great legacy this would have been compared to his utter failure to bring about unity amongst the various christian churches in the UK. He didn't even have the courtesy to respond to the letter I sent him explaining from my own experience how terrible these crimes are.

Now, seven years on, I can bearly bring myself to watch as victims in Ireland are denied any semblance of justice following a catastrophic failure of both church and state to protect them and ensure that they had that very simple but essential thing - a happy and safe childhood. To suggest that a report that brings the reality of the abuse into the open, but without enabling any of the criminals to be brought to justice, is in some way a good thing for the victims shows the utter lack of understanding of the horror of child abuse.

Alice Miller's excellent tome cries out that 'The truth will set you free', but truth without justice is a terrible price to pay for children, now adults, who have already paid a price too dreadful to express.

Robert Ashton - New Series

For those of you who have never heard Robert Ashton speak on entrepreneurial businesses, he is well worth an hour of your time. His new series starts on Sky soon and you get the details here.