Guess who drew this map? If you need a tip, the only people who can stop the whole world from exploding is management. Management has the scissors, the fuse is on their side and instead of cutting it they are spending time fighting. All the damage of course will be to the “field.” Headquarter and
“I’m the HR director standing on stilts because I have to talk to the director, but I don’t really have any power. Labor Relations (L.R.) and Personnel (Pers) are about to make me fall down.” This was a state government organization. Notice that “Labor” is in a turret with a fence around it with a
I’m the HR director standing on stilts because I have to talk to the director, but I don’t really have any power. Labor Relations (L.R.) and Personnel (Pers) are about to make me fall down.” This was a state government organization. Notice that “Labor” is in a turret with a fence around it with a window but no door. The central turret is open at the top with a person clearly “available.” The stance of this person reminds me of the woman behind the desk when I needed to change a class in college. She was the one person who could make it happen, but she really was sick of students asking to change classes. “Administration” the place you go when you are a problem…have a problem…same difference. THEN..look at IT. Information Technology was considered invasive at this agency and they talked like “aliens” thus the UFO. Try to understand with lots of stupid questions and you get “You don’t need to know that. Just (insert jargon) and you will be fine.” This one picture created insight for the HR person about balance and boundaries. The HR guys who kept agreeing they had to stop using jargon, finally “got it” from seeing themselves portrayed here. Notice also they are portrayed as lazy. IT guys simply have a different definition of urgent than most employees. Fixing your laptop does not equal a system-wide failure.
This was drawn by a cross-functional task team in a high tech company where distrust was a big problem. Projects were way behind deadline, blame had eroded working relationships and a dangerous apathy drained employees of enthusiasm. The first two meetings with this group were frustrating – either no one was willing to speak or
This picture was drawn by an employee of a large bureaucratic organization. When she lifted it up, there was a hush of recognition in the group. She said “This is me in the vice. But it could be any of us, really. We are all taking turns. All of these people are just waiting their
According to Pew research, disdain between opposing political parties in America has doubled in the last 30 years, coincidentally the span of my own consulting business, Group Process Consulting. My efforts to document true stories about these escalating conflicts inadvertently produced a set of oral histories across the years: Territorial Games (1997), A Safe Place
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Groucho Marx Troublemakers erode trust faster than we can build it back right now. Yet, many of these “troubles” are invented conflicts that distort predictably contrasting values. It helps to know what to look for. And once
I’ve been trying to infiltrate the halls of power for decades. My secret mission is to increase the diversity of thought by teaching those without a voice how to tell their stories and by teaching leaders how to find and retell stories that broaden everyone’s understanding.
We need a Magic School for Storytellers Thirty years before J. K. Rowling created Harry Potter, Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series imagined a magic school that taught apprentice sorcerers how to avoid abusing the power of magic. Le Guin points out early in the series that “even to light a candle is to cast a
Truth in Storytelling When I wrote the first edition of The Story Factor twenty years ago, I began with the idea that people don’t want more information. They want faith in you and your positive intentions. I never suspected that two decades later we’d be discussing an explosion of stories that intentionally undermine this faith. Without
