Wednesday 6 January 2016

Dementia Team Building With Guns


Hay signed me up for a dementia study - they need healthy people to see whether and when they get dementia. Got an email to sign up, and immediately had problems remembering my password.

A certain person (not me) is going to participate in a team building seminar today. What a total waste of time and money for an organisation that's already heavily cash-strapped - I doubt they'll see much change from £1,000 plus expenses. Certain people are team oriented, others are not. It's a fact of life that can't be easily changed. There are only two ways in which someone can be changed from a loner into a team player - extensive and very expensive psychological therapy, or the threat of violence. How managers think they can send staff on a one day course and come out with team players is beyond me.

The good manager determines the operating style of a particular report and then places him or her in a role where they are most effective, whether that be as a loner or a team member. Don't ever try to change them or you'll end up with disgruntled staff who will sabotage your efforts or simply underperform. If hiring, then the manager needs to determine whether you're seeking a team member or not, and hire accordingly. Alternatively, the good manager creates a team and caters for the various stages of team formation and also manages the diverse personalities within a team - countering the know-it-all and give the shrinking violet the opportunity to contribute. You can teach people to adhere to processes and procedures, with rewards and consequences if they are not followed, but don't expect them to act contrary to their natural inclination.

"People with evil intentions will always find a way to get a gun". That's a statement by Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, when rejecting Obama's plans for gun control. What about all the accidental shootings of people by people without evil intentions? And is the answer to people going on shooting sprees with automatic weapons to arm every citizen with automatic weapons that they permanently carry with them?


2 comments:

A Heron's View said...

I am often amazed by the dimness of people who want me to believe that they are qualified.

Chairman Bill said...

If you are referring to me, then I am a managing director, have also been a captain on a large containership and have seen some very good managers and ships'captains in action.