Anyone for Leadership?
I’m glad I am “posting” this blog on our website today, and not posting it through the mail. The media keep shouting at us about the “POSTAL STRIKE”. So, who wins?
Let’s take a step back from the emotion of political rhetoric for a minute and look at this rationally. Strikes hurt customers. By hurting customers, they hurt the company, which loses market share. The hurt company then has no choice but to lay off workers.
So strikes hurt customers, companies and workers.
Is there a better way? Perhaps you have heard of cases of unions in (mostly Asian) countries around the world asking their workers to “strike” by going to work wearing black armbands. They made their point. The armbands were a direct insult to the management for not having solved the workers issues. The managers “lost face”. But, the unions did not hurt the customers, nor the company. And so no-one lost their job.
OK, you might say. But what if the current management at the Royal Mail don’t care what the workers think? What if they couldn’t care less about workers wearing black armbands?
Well, that’s a different story. It is the responsibility of leaders to care. Notice I said “leaders” and not “management”? So what’s the difference?
Management is making people do what the managers want them to do. Leadership is making people WANT TO DO IT.
Let’s go back in history and pick out two really great leaders, Sir John Harvey Jones of ICI and Sir Ernest Shackleton the great explorer, both would be highly visible 18 – 20 hours a day talking, mixing and working with their people, certainly not hiding away from the action.
If the staff trust and believe in their bosses and the bosses in turn earn the workers’ loyalty every issue can be resolved. Without strikes.
P.S. Note to Royal Mail management. We teach leadership skills. Our phone number is 01608 653 868. Please call. I’d give you our mailing address, but the mail might be late!
October 27th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Hello.
I like your site and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links.
Thanks in advance
October 28th, 2009 at 11:24 am
HI Richard, I saw you speak at the Entrepreneur Summit last year, great enthusiastic speach. Personally, I can’t work out what the point is with the Royal mail strike, I think it is a ploy by the management, medium to long term to get rid of a load of staff and have the strike as the excuse and blame for doing so. I know a couple of postal workers and yes, they start early but yes they also finish early, earlier than most of us, which would suggest they could be doing more, it’s clear if they do a longer day they could arguably lay off considerable numbers. I’ve already set up email invoicing, my postal costs were £1,000 per month, now it’s going down to £100 per month, which means lost revenue, lost profit, lost customer (virtually), spend down by 900% I think it is a great idea, your option for them to attend one of your leadership programs, maybe I can help with my expertise, Managing change. Have a great day Michael
October 30th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi there,
Yes, happens…
Thank you
Edwas
October 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Thanks for the comment Michael. It’s pretty amazing to watch isn’t it? Up to 20 million letters and parcels waiting to be cleared. Major companies such as M&S are switching to new suppliers. Is this the beginning of the end of the Royal Mail as we know it? Both sides doing themselves great harm, because they see themselves as precisely that, two different sides. If they instead focussed on being a customer-oriented team we would all be better off. You mention your expertise is managing change. What is your business? Perhaps there might be opportunities to work together?
December 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
as i just come to think of it, leadership needs coureage. we need courage to scold our employee, to punish them with uncaring feeling (with balanced punishment values of course). if our employee is abundant, all we need to do is merely to take note of their work. and we mustn’t do hard work like small employers do. we have to keep our body and mind fit. so we could wait and maintain them finely. just imagine in the war, how a general can lead an army gloriously.