Extreme weather events
I happened to be in Darwin just as cyclone Carlos was approaching the coast. To experience the incredible destructive force of nature is a very frightening yet humbling experience. However, once the enormous force of the cyclone had passed it was amazing to observe how quickly the various services pulled together to bring the city back to normal. On our journey to Sydney we learned of the second major earthquake that had struck Christchurch which on this occasion had a significant number of fatalities.
Tragic results from earthquake
The city of Christchurch in New Zealand suffered on 22nd February a serious earthquake that wrecked a significant part of its central business district along with over 10,000 homes in the surrounding areas. The expected death toll could be over 200 with many more experiencing injuries from the very to less serious. From the TV images and the local papers the city looks like a war zone with large parts of the CDB cordoned off with access only to the rescue and recovery teams.
Amid this scene of destruction emerged many people who have put their own lives at risk to help others. The media has been full of stories of the many quiet ‘hero’s’ who helped to rescue and take care of those trapped and injured by collapsing buildings and falling masonry. There has also been an obvious sense of mutual support as seen by the way the various communities have rallied to supply food and shelter to those in need.
Volunteer engagement
In fact one of the most outstanding examples of the way people responded was demonstrated by what had become known as the ‘student army’. Shortly after the quake struck and the enormity of the damage became apparent the students grasped the opportunity to provide practical help. It was amazing to observe how well they organised themselves and armed with wheelbarrows and shovels got stuck into clearing the liquefied soil resulting from the quake. After only a few days there were about 18,000 students involved in the cleaning up activity much to the gratitude of the residents.
The volunteer engagement was not limited to the ‘student army’ and help emerged from other areas close to and quite a distant from the city. In addition to the excellent international response to the rescue effort there was also excellent response by local South Island communities. From farmers fronting up with mechanised tools to the many hundreds who produced meals and collected clothing for those who were left only with the clothes they stood in. Help and support emerged from all around even to the extent of private helicopters setting up a supply chain to deliver hot food to the most deserving areas.
The most interesting aspect of the volunteer response was how highly motivated they were to get things as quickly back to ‘normal’ as possible for the people they were helping. They continued to work in what can only be described as terrible conditions as they were clearly focused on doing the best they could for the citizens experiencing very trying conditions. I could fill many pages with examples of the great volunteer work that continues to be done and they far outweigh the few examples of those who took advantage of the situation. There were some reports of looting and burglaries, however, in the scale of things it was miniscule compared with the efforts of the volunteers.
Now the earthquake in Japan
If we thought that the Christchurch earthquake was big, the one the hit Japan was of a magnitude of 8000% greater. The destruction that the quake and tsunami caused was catastrophic with the loss of life in the thousands. Added to which several of their nuclear power stations are about to go into meltdown with even more catastrophic outcomes for the population in a wide area near the plants. Once again the response from the international community has been quick with many countries sending skilled search and rescue teams.
It would be easy to become overwhelmed with this destructive force of nature all happening in a short space of time. However, the response from the international community coupled with the efforts of local people like the student army in Christchurch generates hope rather than despair. Although the effort to recreate what has been lost in physical terms might appear formidably daunting, the spirit of the people will eventually make it happen. This is why I believe that there is a need for a significant change to traditional organisations to capture this powerful ‘volunteer’ spirit. I have described earlier blog posts how an enabling approach in organisations could achieve this goal.
Are there lessons here for organisations?
I have talked about engagement and enabling in a number of recent posts as I see this as one way of encouraging ‘employees’ to feel a valued part of their organisation. It is clear to me that the traditional hierarchical organisation is fundamentally incapable of creating an environment that truly engages its people. This is due to the fact that it operates in a ‘market’ economy driven by producing regular financial results to meet ‘market’ expectations. True engagement emerges when the environment has more of a ‘social’ feel to it in that it encourages its people to regularly interact with each other with both business and social conversations.
The UK and US TV series of Undercover Boss are providing very interesting insights into the mindsets of many senior managers. I recognise that this is a ‘reality’ show and that we are not being shown all that takes place during the week going ‘undercover’. However, the humility and honesty displayed by the undercover bosses appears real and sincere as they have been exposed to working with real people at the sharp end of their businesses. Hearing genuine descriptions from each of the employees of what goes on in their part of the business and the feedback from them on the ‘bosses’ performance certainly appeared to make a significant impact. Today’s managers don’t need to go ‘undercover’ to learn about their business as all they need to do is engage with, listen, and understand what is being communicated from their employees points of view.
I often hear of how each young generation are stereotyped as GenX or GenY and that they are motivated either by their selfishness or willingness to collaborative. However, when you peel away the generalisation we find that each generation is clearly influenced by the culture that has grown around them. Today’s youth in developed countries are generally tech savvy and very comfortable with social networking. Yet we learn of organisations that ban their people from using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and the many other social networking sites that abound on the internet during ‘working’ hours.
The social world is changing
However, it is not only the youth of today who are tech savvy and appreciate social networking. We are actually experiencing a sea change in life expectancy coupled with a high level of fitness for a wide range of generation’s right up to those in their 90s. Yet for reasons that appears to make sense to senior managers they still work from traditional outdated mindsets. They still appear to believe that their rational thinking enables them to apply market practices whilst wanting much more social engagement and loyalty from their people.
It is really very difficult to engender engagement in an environment that still believes in making its people redundant when business is tough. Also by paying incentives and bonuses that this will motivate people for the longer term. They also want their people to be ‘team’ players whilst still paying them as individuals. This list of follies could go on and on, however, I believe that with the greater use of the internet ‘people power’ will play a greater part in encouraging organisations to fundamentally change their ways.
“I am ready and capable”
This is the message that I hear most individual saying when they join an organization. They may not have all the skills and knowledge to do some jobs at the beginning; however, with appropriate training and development coupled with relevant rewards they can be more than effective contributors. I have suggested in earlier postings ways to achieve this. The main question is “will managers have the sense to realize the need to change”? What is happening in the Middle East and in other parts of the world should be sending a very clear message to those traditional managers that the status quo is not acceptable.
I sometimes think that I am a voice in the wilderness and that there is no one out there who thinks that the time for effective change is urgent. If I am saying things that resonate with you, I would love to hear from you by either contacting me at tom.jaap@centell.org or leaving a comment on the blog.
Best wishes
Tom