Tag Archives: bureaucracy

Organisations, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 051: World Class institutions

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2In this episode a couple of recent newspaper articles reflect on the malaise of the management culture in two UK world class institutions… the NHS and BBC.

Damning reports into the culture of management in the NHS are being withheld until after the imminent general election, where the description of the sturcture is described as ‘totally shocking’ and ‘not fit for purpose’. Could this be the very structure that was re-structured against previous manifesto promises by the Tory led government initiative?

Meanwhile, over at the BBC it would appear that investigative journalists who blow the whistle on previous BBC celebs for child abuse scandals, are themselves demoted and sidelined, while the bullies are promoted! Great institutions are created from lofty principles and values, but it would appear that by a process of evolution the management function gradually grows into a misguided sense of its own self-importance.

Bureaucracy becomes top heavy, unmanageable, and filled with overpaid people who have little understanding or connection with the true heart of the enterprise. There is no simple solution to a malignacy decades in the incubation; but we must continue to respect our world class institutions for their founding principles and uphold their core values as theur main purpose.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/051-world-class-institutions/id867043694?i=338033889&mt=2

“Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.” [Honore de Balzac].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 050: Who is management for?

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2It can be argued that over several decades the function of management has morphed from the role of supporting the essential development of a business into a role of managers running the business for their own primary gain.

Recognised management academic gurus have identified the dangers of management for management sake, and the way it can block the functioning of the frontline workers. This has been my experience throughout many structured interviews with frontline clinicians in health and social care services in the UK. Managers need to reconnect with the primary business of its business. The excellent managers contribute significantly to developing staff to identify and make best use of their strengths. Good management is a talent in its own right, but the majority of what constitutes management can frustrate and block creativity, and largely ignore the vital strengths.

To hear the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/050-who-is-management-for/id867043694?i=337535026&mt=2

“Most of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to get their work done.” [Peter F Drucker].

“There is nothing so useless as that doing efficiently that which does not need doing at all.” [Peter F Drucker].

A Strengths Approach, Person-centred working, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 046: Valuing Narrative

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2The term narrative is important for many reasons; it is the means by which we recount our lives, the events, emotions and experiences that make up the patchwork of our existence. It is the core of each interpersonal relationship, and it has become a continual theme throughout my working career. The fundamental basis of mental health care is the trust and confidence built through the power of working relationships, enabling people to tell their stories.

Documenting our work also presents a conflict between the dominance of bureaucratic tick-box approaches and the need to represent someone through a narrative of their lives. Then there is narrative therapy as a psychotherapeutic approach to talking treatments. This episode concludes by outlining two of the core components of narrative therapy, before the next episode which will take the form of an interview with a friend and colleague who has trained in narrative therapy.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/046-valuing-narrative/id867043694?i=335428751&mt=2

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.” [Paul Benjamin].

Podcast Episodes, Teams

Podcast Episode 037: Making Great Teams

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Risk Decision-MakingWhat makes a great team? A great leader? Talented individuals? A clear purpose? All of the above and more. This episode helps to define what we mean by ‘team’, as most of us function within a range of different types of teams… sports, management, service provision or focused task or product, all require good team-working. However, teamwork is often easier to talk about than to deliver.

In this episode Steve Morgan focuses on an influential book on his team development work, written by Warren Bennis and Patricia Biederman ‘Organising Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration’. A combination of great leadership and talented individuals are required, but the great groups studied in this seminal publication help to identify fifteen components of what contribute to the development of ‘great groups’. In connection with previous episodes, it is also important to recognise that interfering bureaucracy is entirely absent from the works of the historic great groups!

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/037-making-great-teams/id867043694?i=327154253&mt=2

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” [H E Luccock].

A Strengths Approach, Personal passions, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 036: Blight of Bureaucracy Part 1

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2As western industrialised societies have drifted into a post-industrial service industries world, one thing proliferates more than the most infectious of diseases… bureaucracy! Now anything to do with paper, or its electronic offspring, reigns supreme. Managing, auditing and regulating have become effective barriers to creativity and innovation.

The new mantra is standardisation, systematisation, uniformity and safety… conformity ensures mediocrity will be the outer limits of permitted imagination. Do the children of today dream and aspire to become a bureaucrat when they grow up? Do they loose sleep over the excitement of their first suit and form to fill? Take with a large degree of caution any bureaucrat promising to reduce the plethora of bureaucracy. It is not in their interests to free up other people to exercise their talents, initiative and decision-making skills.

To access the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/036-blight-bureaucracy-part/id867043694?i=327153565&mt=2

“Bureaucracies force us to practice nonsense. And if you rehearse nonsense, you may one day find yourself the victim of it.” [Laurence Gonzales].

A Strengths Approach, Person-centred working, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 035: Care & Support Planning

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Why develop care or support plans in health and social care services? Isn’t it just another one of those bureaucratic requirements from the world of box-ticking, form-filling, audit-pleasing managerial culture? Well no it shouldn’t be; we need a thoughtful person-centred approach to the complex physical and psychological needs experienced by many people across all age groups and disabilities.

The strengths approach focuses specifically on the priorities expressed by the person through the vehicle of a strengths assessment, and these priority wishes will only become achievable goals if we put some kind of plan in place. The planning element is essentially about actions and responsibilities for actions. Within a strengths approach care or support planning is not limited to strengths-based wishes, we also need to plan for the difficulties and concerns that need to be managed. But the paperwork, paper-based or electronic, will have a role to play if we can keep it to the essential minimum amount.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/035-care-support-planning/id867043694?i=326563007&mt=2

https://soundcloud.com/stevemorgan57/035-care-support-planning

“Spontaneity is one of the joys of existence, especially if you prepare for it in advance.” [Alan Dean Foster].