No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition
Managers across the country are being invited to meetings with their chief exec to discuss the financial climate and the consequences for the organisation. Different organisations will have different ways of introducing the topic but it may go something like this.
“Hands up who remembers the lumberjack song, the ministry of silly walks and the dead parrot sketch”?
If you are old enough to remember these Monty Python classics the first time round then you may find yourself being taken to one side by someone from HR. As the Python team use to say “no-one expects the Spanish inquisition” so you may not be expecting the subsequent discussion about your future with the organisation.
There is a view that the Public sector has too many managers and that the harsh financial climate presents an opportunity to reduce the management “headcount.”
How do you decide who stays and who goes. Well one way is to start by looking at the age profile of the organisation. If you remember Monty Python’s Flying Circus the first time round you are one of the over 55’s. This is the group who are having discussions about their future.
We want managers with the energy and enthusiasm to be able to do more with less. We want managers who can motivate and inspire staff to work in new ways. Have some of our older managers still got the fire in their bellies, have they the passion and drive to bring about the radical changes that are required? Well I’m not convinced this is anything to do with age. You can’t say that everyone over 55 has lost their passion, become cynical and is out of step with the organisation any more than you can say that everyone under 50 is energetic, committed and innovative. In fact there are some very cynical and rather lethargic if ambitious 30 somethings and we have some very dynamic and progressive 50 somethings.
The over 55’s will contain those with experience and skills that will be difficult to replace but it will also contain those well known cynics, those promoted beyond their level of competence or the square pegs in round holes. Surely they wouldn’t be missed!
I can feel another Python sketch coming on as a group of grey suited elderly managers sit round a table talking about their time in the Public Sector each trying to out do the other with more and more exaggerated claims off money saving initiatives and efficiencies.
Blair McPherson is author of People management in a harsh financial climate www.blairmcpherson.co.uk