Delta7 Change Ltd » unspokens

Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord’s four box model

Steve Whitla — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:31:10 +0000

Unless you’re a military historian, you probably haven’t heard of General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord. He rose to become commander-in-chief of the German army between the wars, and is remembered for being a staunch opponent of the Nazi regime. That is, unless you’ve read widely in organisational behaviour, in which case you probably only know him for the following, slightly un-PC remark:

I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Most often two of these qualities come together. The officers who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Those who are stupid and lazy make up around 90% of every army in the world, and they can be used for routine work. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!

The quote comes from a manual on military command written in 1933. If Hammerstein-Equord was a modern day consultant he would have immediately sensed a two-by-two matrix, so we have indulged ourselves and mapped it out. We’ve found this picture generates some very interesting conversations!

If this diagram tickles you, you might want to follow up by reading Venkat Rao’s trail of posts on “The Gervais Principle” (starting here), which follows a similar idea. This series has attracted a lot of attention and for good reason. Be warned – as with all Venkat’s writing, it’s more like reading chapters in a book than reading blog posts. Worth the effort though.

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All the unsaid things between us …

Steve Whitla — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:12:46 +0000

This was inspired by a comment from a client recently about the meeting culture they were experiencing at work. They were frustrated: When this sort of pattern persists it can cause significant personal and financial costs.

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The defensive cycle

Julian — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:12:33 +0000

This picture represents a collection of comments that we heard in one organisation that was pushing through budget cuts. Employees felt their jobs were under threat, so were unwilling to speak up about the pressure they were coming under. Unable to prioritise or say no, they become less productive, inviting further pressure, and so the cycle continued. When everyone’s feeling under threat our natural defensive inclination is to hide our fears and avoid challenging the status quo.

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Back to the office …

Julian — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:45:56 +0000

This montage of experiences was captured from conversation with a client who had just spent several days at a leadership development programme. They felt totally reenergized and refreshed, “a new and more authentic me!” Yet they were dreading going back into a “toxic culture” that would destroy their new found confidence and force them to don the armour of pretence and resume their “office persona”.

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Programme communications: The loose cannon

Steve Whitla — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:19:37 +0000

Every change/comms manager we’ve shown this picture to seems to roll over laughing … it’s obviously hit a bit of a nerve!

We are currently in the process of creating a new pre-packaged Visual Dialogue “session-in-a-box” to help programme teams discuss and resolve common issues. This picture is one of several we’ve created to help get people talking. They draw on our own experiences of difficult situations as well as those of our associates and clients. If this is something you’d be interested in contributing to, please do get in touch.

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Employee engagement: Getting on board the runaway train

Steve Whitla — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:18:54 +0000

This is a vote of sympathy for all of the beleaguered change managers out there working with unsympathetic programme managers!

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Voicing – what’s not spoken about in your organisation?

Steve Whitla — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:17:58 +0000

This picture was originally one of a series we have produced to visualise the key themes from Bill Isaacs’ Dialogue model, one of several dialogue models we’ve played with over the years. This picture speaks to the theme of “Voicing”. Here’s Isaacs’ description:

To speak to your voice is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of genuine dialogue. Speaking your voice has to do with revealing what is true for you regardless of other influences that might be brought to bear.

To say it’s challenging strikes us as a massive understatement! Most organisational cultures seem to conspire to ensure that the really difficult issues remain unspoken. This helps preserve the safety of the status quo, but creates an enormous barrier to change.

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Elephant Under The Table

Sam Deeks — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:31:03 +0000

When people become fearful of saying what really concerns them, leaders lose sight of what’s really happening in their organization and the quality of their decision-making suffers. For employees, unarticulated frustration can turn into confusion and anger that quickly creates a culture of low morale. This then manifests as apathy, resistance or even sabotage.

Soon, no one wants to talk about the real issues even though they are staring everyone in the face. These things are difficult to talk about and all too often at key briefings and presentations people just sit in silence, unable to say what they really think because it feels too risky to speak up.

What is the Elephant under your table?

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There’s never enough time!

Sam Deeks — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:14:54 +0000

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