NICK WRIGHT
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact

Child

5/3/2019

14 Comments

 
Picture

‘Who started this work – the organisation’s founder, or the child who inspired him to do it?’

This challenge came as a healthy jolt, a moment of insight and inspiration, from Carlos, a humble, radical leader working with poor communities in Brazil. It was at an induction event for new leaders of a now very large, global non-governmental organisation (NGO). Its history was being presented through the lens of the organisation’s founder and its successive global presidents. The founder was a war photographer who had been appalled to see the terrible suffering of children during the Korean War. An encounter with a child had galvanised his determination to do something about it.

The resultant NGO had worked very hard over the years to support poor and vulnerable children throughout the world and had indeed achieved some remarkable results. Over time, however, as the organisation had grown in scale and scope, it had started increasingly to view the world through an organisational lens rather than through the eyes of a child. The simple-yet-profound voice of a child had become lost in the midst of complex strategies, structures, policies, plans and programmes. The presidential perspective symbolised a shift from client/beneficiary-centric to organisation-centric.

Why is this important? Firstly, this child’s interaction with and influence on the founder challenges traditional ideas of leadership as a hierarchical-structural phenomenon rather than, as according to Chris Rodgers (2015), ‘an emergent property of people interacting together, not as an elite practice confined to those at the top of organizations.’ Secondly, this NGO’s experience highlights the risk of subtle-yet-critical drifts away from a customer-client, outside-in focus to an intra-organisational, inside-out/inside-inside focus. How can we address these issues as leaders, coaches, OD and trainers?

Can I help you develop authentic and client-focused leadership and culture?
Get in touch! info@nick-wright.com
14 Comments
Geofree Githinji
7/3/2019 08:45:45 am

Familiar...

Reply
Nick Wright
7/3/2019 08:49:11 am

Hi Geofree. I'm intrigued. Can you say more..?

Reply
Sara Pearson MSc
7/3/2019 08:46:25 am

Hi Nick, Great insight. I agree that as organisations grow and become more complex, operational realities, pressures and data driven expectations can take precedence. As a result, customer focus can take a back seat and become a mere lip service. Make no mistake data driven activities such as structure, strategy, planning, and financial monitoring have an importance place in a business; however, there is significant supporting data that the strongest correlation for growth and success is customer loyalty and satisfaction.
As OD leaders, coaches and trainers we need to help people refocus their attention / priorities so that they can restart seeing their service through the eyes of its customers again. A good way to start is by stimulating outside-in inquiry, with questions such as, ‘why didn’t those customers buy anything’ or what did they come looking for and did not find’. However, we are, just one cog in a big wheel and to have a truly customer client focused service the business strategy must be one that is aligned to work and engage its employees at every level to create a shared understanding and commitment to ensure customers are centre stage at all times.

Reply
Nick Wright
7/3/2019 09:02:35 am

Thanks Sara. 'Seeing their service (or brand/products) through the eyes of customers' strikes me as so important. I saw great examples in the leadership team of an organisation I worked with as team coach. They held their bi-monthly meetings at different locations around the country, using 50% of their time to meet directly with staff and beneficiaries at those locations. They periodically invited staff and beneficiaries to dial/video in at the start of their executive meetings to share their stories, excitements, concerns etc before moving onto a more formal business agenda. They invited and encouraged radical challenge to question their own and others' assumptions (e.g. around the validity of the organisation's 'evidence base' when developing strategy). In case of interest, here's a short write-up of one of the methodologies I developed and used with the team to do this: http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/spots

Reply
Steve
11/3/2019 09:47:15 am

An interesting reflection. How does a large organisation retain the benefits of being large and at the same time maintain the benefits and characteristics a small organisation, responsive to the client and their context.

As it becomes larger so does its risk. The risks are managed by top down controls, protocols and frameworks for its thousands of staff to align with. As they do this more and more of their managers time is focused on working on these, turning them to look inside, and less time with the client. The client too, the child, is also sort of expected to align with these processes, etc.

I think the solution is probably highly trained staff, that can be trusted to achieve the best possible outcomes for the poor in any given context they find themselves in. Evaluating performance,i.e. the benefit of the organisation, though is still tricky.

It would be fun to work it out how to do it though. Possibly, learning from a franchise model, albeit it is probably too complex for a franchise.

Reply
Nick Wright
11/3/2019 10:13:45 am

Thanks Steve. I found your reflections interesting, particularly in terms of how systems and processes that are perceived as needed in larger and more complex organisations take more and more time, attention and resources to manage and administer. I guess if an organisation is to rely on highly trained staff to interface effectively with clients (or customers/beneficiaries), there would need to be similarly effective interfaces between staff and managers and staff/managers and other key internal and external stakeholders...which may create the same problematic effects?

Reply
David Hurst link
19/3/2019 02:15:55 pm

It's essential to have a complex adaptive systems (ecological) perspective on why this happens as organizations scale. As they scale they start to work with abstractions (maps) rather than with the actual territory. As the landscape changes, however, these maps become a less and less good fit with "reality". For a nine minute presentation on an ecological perspective see my presentation to the 2018 Drucker Forum here at the 15:00 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zljfWE6SBKc&t=0s&index=7&list=PLSUz9F_4iImo9HL5Ju8IBXq4BuWP8f22E

Reply
Nick Wright
19/3/2019 02:30:58 pm

Hi David. I think that gradual disconnect between map and reality is a good way of expressing it. It calls for frequent and critically reflexive reality checks. Thanks for sharing the link - interesting!

Reply
Julie Genney
19/3/2019 02:28:54 pm

Am I being naive here? For me it’s about perspective and going back to the Why, why we doing this? Why are we running this organisation/company/business? It’s a question I often ask myself!

Reply
Nick Wright
19/3/2019 02:33:01 pm

Hi Julie. That doesn't sound naive to me. I too find that going back to the 'why' is such a fundamental and important question; whether at macro strategic level or at, say, a conversation at team meeting level.

Reply
Nick Wright
20/3/2019 06:04:37 pm

Nick, I think we overcomplicate things. The old training mantra of keeping it simple!

Nick Wright
20/3/2019 06:07:42 pm

Hi Julie. That may be true...although as my own professional mentor often says, 'These things are often simple - but rarely easy.' If that were not the case, fewer leaders, teams and organisations would find themselves drifting off track, I guess!

Yuvarajah Thiagarajah
20/3/2019 02:26:28 am

How often have we heard of "the system sucks". Taking a systemic thinking, we begin to wonder how it all got started to drift away. Just because the organisation grows, does it mean losing sight of the fundamentals - values that inspired and drove the creation of the crusade or business. Herein lies the challenge to leadership and follower-ship. Is there a particular order with which we should approach and address from in order to come up the most effective system?. Does structure shape the system thinking or does strategy drive the structural design to fulfill the needs of the customers/clients?. Many organisation have lost focus of their original purpose simply because along the way something else became more important, at the expense of the customer/client. How can we ever hope to achieve results by ignoring the voice of the very child we intend to help. Whether for profit or non profit, the challenge is the same - open channels of communication to build trust. Politics and silo mentality must make way for inclusiveness and innovation. Hence, we are back to the epicenter of self leadership and culture within the organisation.

Reply
Nick Wright
20/3/2019 12:35:57 pm

Hi Yuvarajah. Thanks for sharing such interesting questions and thoughts. I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head with your pivotal comment, 'along the way something else became more important'. The drift can be very subtle and often takes place over time. It raises the question of what role leadership and culture play in ensuring an organisation maintains a strong connection with its fundamental purpose, values and relationships. 'What are we here to do?'

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

    Picture
    Like what you read? Simply enter your email address below to receive regular blog updates!
    Subscribe to Blog
    Picture
    Picture


    ​Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abc
    Ability
    Accountability
    Achievement
    Act
    Action
    Action Learning
    Activism
    Adaptability
    Adaptive
    Advent
    Adventure
    Africa
    Agency
    Agile
    Ambiguity
    Angle
    Anticipation
    Anxiety
    Appraisal
    Appreciation
    Appreciative
    Appreciative Inquiry
    Approach
    Argyris
    Asia
    Assumption
    Assumptions
    Asylum
    Attachment
    Attention
    Attitude
    Audience
    Authenticity
    Authority
    Autonomy
    Avoidance
    Awareness
    Behaviour
    Being
    Belief
    Beliefs
    Bias
    Bible
    Body Language
    Boundaries
    Brainstorming
    Brand
    Calling
    Care
    Career
    Censorship
    Challenge
    Change
    Character
    Charity
    Child
    Choice
    Choose
    Christ
    Christian
    Christmas
    Clarity
    Client
    Climate
    Coach
    Coaching
    Coactive
    Cognition
    Cognitive
    Cognitive Behavioural
    Commitment
    Communication
    Community
    Compassion
    Competence
    Competencies
    Complexity
    Concepts
    Conflict
    Confluence
    Congruence
    Consciousness
    Construct
    Constructs
    Construe
    Consultancy
    Contact
    Content
    Context
    Contracting
    Contribution
    Control
    Conversation
    Corruption
    Counselling
    Counterintiution
    Counterintuition
    Countertransference
    Courage
    Craziness
    Creativity
    Credibility
    Crisis
    Critical Consciousness
    Critical Reflection
    Critical Reflective Practice
    Critical Reflexivity
    Critical Thinking
    Critique
    Cross
    Cross Culture
    Cross-culture
    Culture
    Curiosity
    Customer Care
    Customers
    Customer Service
    Death
    Deception
    Decision
    Deconstruction
    Defence
    Defences
    Deferred Gratification
    Definition
    Delusion
    Democracy
    Depression
    Determination
    Development
    Deviance
    Deviant
    Diagnosis
    Disaster
    Discernment
    Disclosure
    Discovery
    Discrimination
    Disruptive
    Dissent
    Dissident
    Dissonance
    Distinctiveness
    Distortion
    Diversity
    Dream
    Dynamic
    Dynamics
    Easter
    Ecology
    Edge
    Edi
    Education
    Effectiveness
    Efficiency
    Ego State
    Eliciting
    Emergence
    Emotion
    Emotional
    Emotional Intelligence
    Empathy
    Empowerment
    Encouragement
    Energy
    Engagement
    Environment
    Equality
    Eternity
    Ethics
    Ethiopia
    Evaluation
    Evidence
    Evocative
    Existential
    Existentialism
    Expectation
    Expectations
    Experience
    Experiment
    Experimentation
    Exploration
    Explore
    Exposure
    Facilitation
    Faith
    Fear
    Feedback
    Feeling
    Feminism
    Figure
    Filter
    Fit
    Flashback
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Framework
    Freedom
    Freud
    Fun
    Future
    Gender
    Geopolitical
    Geopolitics
    Gestalt
    Global
    Goal
    Goals
    God
    Gospel
    Grace
    Grief
    Grit
    Ground
    Group
    Guidance
    Healing
    Health
    Hear
    Heidegger
    Hero
    Hope
    Human
    Human Givens
    Humanity
    Human Resources
    Human Rights
    Humility
    Humour
    Hybrid
    Hypotheses
    Hypothesis
    Icon
    Ideation
    Identity
    Image
    Imagination
    Impact
    Impostor
    Inclusion
    Independence
    Influence
    INGO
    Initiative
    Injustice
    Innovation
    Inquiry
    Insecurity
    Insight
    Inspiration
    Instinct
    Integrity
    Intention
    Interdependence
    Interference
    International
    Interpretation
    Intimacy
    Introversion
    Intuition
    Invisible
    Jargon
    Jesus
    Journey
    Jungle
    Justice
    Keys
    Knowing
    Knowledge
    Labels
    Language
    Lateral Thinking
    Leader
    Leadership
    Learner
    Learning
    Lesson
    Liberal
    Life
    Light
    Listening
    Logic
    Loss
    Love
    Management
    Manager
    Marathon
    Matrix
    Mbti
    Meaning
    Media
    Mediation
    Meetings
    Memory
    Mentoring
    Merit
    Metaphor
    Metaphysic
    Mindfulness
    Miracle
    Mirroring
    Misfit
    Mission
    Mode
    Morality
    Motivation
    Mystery
    Narrative
    Nazis
    Need
    Negotiation
    Neo-Nazi
    Networking
    News
    New Year
    Norm
    Norms
    Noticing
    Online
    Operations
    Opportunity
    Oppression
    Organisation
    Organisation Develoment
    Organisation Development
    Origin
    Pace
    Panic
    Paradigm
    Paradox
    Partnership
    Passion
    Pastoral
    Pattern Matching
    Peace
    People
    Perception
    Perfectionism
    Performance
    Perseverance
    Personal Constructs
    Personal Leadership
    Person Centred
    Perspective
    Phenomenology
    Phenomenon
    Philippines
    Philosophy
    Physicality
    Plan
    Plans
    Plato
    Play
    Plot
    Polarity
    Policy
    Politics
    Poor
    Positive
    Positive Psychology
    Posture
    Potential
    Potential#
    Poverty
    Power
    Practice
    Pragmatism
    Praxis
    Prayer
    Preference
    Preferences
    Prepare
    Presence
    Principles
    Priorities
    Priority
    Privilege
    Proactivity
    Problem Solving
    Process
    Professional
    Progressive
    Projection
    Projects
    Prompt
    Propaganda
    Protection
    Protest
    Providence
    Provocative
    Psychoanalysis
    Psychodynamic
    Psychodynamics
    Psychology
    Psychometrics
    Psychotherapy
    Purpose
    Quality
    Questions
    Race
    Radical
    Rational
    Rationale
    Rationalisation
    Rationality
    Reality
    Reason
    Reasoning
    Reconciliation
    Recruitment
    Reflect
    Reflection
    Reflective Practice
    Reflexivity
    Reframing
    Refugee
    Refugees
    Relationship
    Relationships
    Release
    Religion
    Representation
    Rescue
    Research
    Resilience
    Resonance
    Resourcefulness
    Responsibility
    Responsive
    Responsiveness
    Revelation
    Reward
    Rights
    Risk
    Role
    Role Model
    Rosabeth Moss-kanter
    Rules
    Sabbath
    Satire
    Satnav
    Saviour
    Schemata
    School
    Science
    Secure Base
    Security
    See
    Selection
    Selective Attention
    Self
    Sense Making
    Senses
    Sensitivity
    Serendipity
    Servant
    Shadow
    Significance
    Silence
    Sin
    Skills
    Social Construct
    Social Construction
    Social Constructionism
    Social Media
    Social Psychology
    Socrates
    Solution Focused
    Solutions
    Solutions Focus
    Solutions-focus
    Space
    Speed
    Spirit
    Spirituality
    Stance
    Stealth
    Stereotype
    Stereotypes
    Story
    Strategic
    Strategy
    Strengths
    Stress
    Stretch
    Structure
    Struggle
    Stuck
    Style
    Subconscious
    Subjectivity
    Success
    Suffering
    Supervision
    Support
    Survival
    Sustainability
    Symbol
    Symbolism
    Systems
    Systems Thinking
    TA
    Tactical
    Tactics
    Talent
    Teacher
    Teaching
    Team
    Teamwork
    Teenage
    Theology
    Theory
    Therapy
    Thinking
    Thought
    Time
    Touch
    Toys
    Traction
    Trade
    Tradition
    Training
    Transactional Analysis
    Transference
    Transformation
    Transition
    Transitional Object
    Trauma
    Trust
    Truth
    Uncertainty
    Unexpected
    Vallues
    Value
    Values
    Violence
    Visibility
    Vision
    Voice
    VUCA
    Vulnerability
    Vulnerable
    Waiting
    War
    Wealth
    Weird
    Wellbeing
    Will
    Willingness
    Window
    Wisdom
    Wonder
    Words
    World
    Worth
    Youth
    Zoom

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact