I was fortunate to attend a grand event which promised to be very instructive.
One of the headline speakers gave a first-class performance. He was a polished public speaker and held us enthralled as he described his successes and current challenges.
I was entranced by the delivery but horrified by the spoken words!
The speaker was currently engaged in a major change programme as CEO. He had told the staff that when he had decided what the new working arrangements should be, they would be informed if they had a place in the new organization.
These people had worked for a decade or more to succeed, under the previous management.
Can you begin to imagine how they felt at being excluded from the decision-making process which set the course for their organization in the future?
How worthless did they feel now, their previous work debased, their opinions irrelevant, their hopes and fears ignored?
Their effectiveness in their jobs now, must have been approaching zero!
Sadly, this makes the appointment of this new CEO/Tsar appropriate. The old staff are shown to be incompetent now.
It is true that as you progress to senior management positions the amount of time spent on people issues declines.
That does not mean that the CEO is not responsible for the culture, the mores of the organization. She or he has to ensure it is appropriate.
Sadly, people who should have known better had lauded this CEO. They were mesmerised by the performance and had not seen the reality.
How much better would this CEO have performed if he had engaged with their staff?
Yes, sometimes we need to make a break with the past.
Sometimes we need to be startlingly novel.
Sometimes what did not work last year will work now.
Sometimes we need to go against what our people are saying.
Sometimes we need to be tough and blunt.
But never do we have to beat people into submission.
None of these circumstances improves by ignoring history, current practice or creating naysayers from loyal staff.
It is sad that the power of celebrity will ensure he, the individual, is successful for some time to come.
Should we look at the skills needed to achieve the task when we recruit CEOs and not be dazzled by celebrity status and PR razzmatazz?
But you may have experienced bad choices yourself?