By Wally Bock:
Back in March, I blogged about "The Idiot from Corporate"
and corporate poobah visits to branch locations. Experienced managers
know that there is more than one kind of idiot from corporate. Emails
over the last several months have convinced me that we need to break
the down the group into identifiable sub-groups. Feel free to suggest
your own.
The Sea Gull. The Sea Gull flies in, makes a lot of noise, dumps on everybody, and leaves.
The King and His Court. The corporate king arrives
for a state visit to the provinces. He accepts the adoration of his
subjects. The court stands by, ready to attend to the king's every whim.
The Gotcha Squad. This can be a variation on the
king and his court. The squad fans out through your facility, looking
for things that are wrong. Infractions from unfrequented parts of the
policy manual are best.
The Executioner. Everybody knows who the
executioner is, so everybody knows that someone will be unemployed when
the visit is over. Everyone watches for telltale signs that they're
safe.
The Inquisitor. The Inquisition is not dead in some
corporate cultures. Inquisitors sometimes will show you the instruments
of torture to create the proper level of fear.
The Teacher. Arrives to train everyone according to
a corporate mandate. Usually, everyone already knows what needs to be
done, but you still have to break up into small groups and discuss it.
Posters are optional.
The Motivational Speaker. The idea is to rally the troops to greater effort. This is usually done when there's no real plan or strategy.
The Counselor. Arrives to take the emotional
temperature of the troops. He or she asks questions about "feeling."
Always Rogerian. Never Ericksonian.
The Spymaster. Usually not identified as such.
Often disguised as a counselor, the Spymaster's real purpose is to sign
up someone to report on co-workers. This is often a precursor to
Stalinesque show trials.
Written by: Wally Bock
http://blog.threestarleadership.com
