Business 'Gurus' are still way out of date ... but are slowly catching on!

Gary Hamel, a supposed well-known 'business guru' (from the United States) recently dropped in and talked to Peter Day's "World of Business" programme on his latest UK trip to visit to the London Business School.

Peter Day started by referring to all the soul-searching going on following the credit crunch... e.g. with regard to the ways banks work, markets work, and the kind of values/purposes of companies operating in such markets ..."

Day then went on to highlight how people are starting to challenge conventional wisdom on how businesses operate ... and suggested 'behaviour' currently appeared rather 'shabby' ... referring to a lack of trust ... 

Hamel started by discussing the 'values crisis' ... and the fact that most CEO's focus almost "exclusively on shareholders and making the numbers, with everything else going to hell". 

He went on to highlight how the web is starting to bring transparency and accountability, and said "we have to call them to account for the underlying values they bring to business ... particularly the banks ..." and said "we cannot have leaders of institutions whose primary motive is greed ..."

What we are now seeing (e.g. Egypt) is how people can mobilise ... if they choose to ... but Hamel noted how people are currently too complacent (i.e. apathetic) ... he said "people need to call leaders to account ... demand more transparency ... and demand more from them as consumers ..."

Peter Day referred to the need to address the lack of trust in business, and the fact that efforts currently focus too heavily on quarterly reports and short term profits. Hamel went on to describe the challenges ahead ... e.g. the need for honor and courage ... and the need to refocus on innovation and the production of value (looking beyond short-term profit) ... as well as a business environment where people become accountable for how they treat others, the environment etc ... (i.e. the role of enterprise in the wider world).

Hamel also referred to the lack of responsiveness in organisations, and the fact that innovation often involves taking money away from traditional activities, in order to invest in the future (which top-down organisational structures fail to support)! He said alternative approaches are becoming "clearer now" ... ones which involve empowering people, allowing people to collaborate and innovate, with all the data (and decision making powers) they need, and with everyone accountable (and rewarded) for their actions ... but he said we are being held hostage by 100 year old beliefs.

Most of the leaders of very progressive organisations, if they went to business school (and most of them didn't), have thrown most of what they learnt out! Hamel went on to say "There comes a point time in human endeavour, and I believe we are there in management now, when we have to go back and challenge first principles ... and old models" ... as such models had not had to face up to challenges such as ... changing very fast, being socially accountable, or innovating systematically ... 

Hamel referred to the need for a paradigm shift, siting fundamental shifts in understanding within other disciplines in the past. For instance, Hamel highlighted how "there was no way of understanding the sub-atomic world by starting with Newtonian Physics, and it had had to go through a fundamental paradigm shift" ... and he concluded "that this is also going to have to happen in business" ... (NB the shift in understanding will not come from business schools themselves, as they are 'wedded' to existing doctrine, which is also 20-30 years out of date)!

He referred to the need for a new management model and governance model, and said most people teaching in business schools now know that "what they're teaching in business schools isn't relevant now". Hamel also said that they are trying to find out "where to go next", and went on to say that they may not lead the next revolution ... "it might come from managers themselves, and/or from people in social sciences and biology, who have a lot more to say on this [than business schools]" ... (indeed ... it has, and will continue to be, developed by forward-looking people who are commonly referred to as "creative outsiders", and whose ideas are almost always initially ignored/rejected)! 

Hamel said new models are still kind of fuzzy ... but Peter Day quizzed him about the bankers and the "perils they are leading people into" ... Hamel said he was still "amazed at their state of denial", with groups such as Goldman Sachs being pulled up in front of US Congress, "for selling toxic products to their customers, whilst betting against these products on the other side"!

He said "people can't be passive anymore" ... and made it clear that current leaders/executives are "living on borrowed time" ... 

Hamel is beginning to catch on ... but this knowledge (and much more besides) was uncovered (and made available to the world) a number of years ago (21st Century Management in a Lean World) ... and the World of Economics is also heading for a similar paradigm shift too (i.e. towards Leanomics) ... though a small, greedy (and power hungry) minority, who currently exploit (and profiteer from) the existing (and failing) system, will fight tooth and nail to resist such paradigm shifts ... and in this way Hamel is actually right ... people can't afford to be passive (i.e. ignorant or apathetic) anymore ...

Increasing untapped talent and stress: A disaster waiting to happen ...?

Almost one million jobs could be lost in the UK because of government cuts in public spending, a report suggests.  The knock on effect of public sector cuts upon private sector firms is rarely mentioned or taken into account, but this report does attempt to do so.

Accountancy firm PwC said that about 500,000 of those job losses may be in the private sector due to the impact on firms supplying the public sector, with business services and construction would be among the industries hardest hit.

The impact of this is in fact already starting to be seen, with contracts not being renewed, renegotiated or withdrawn altogether (e.g. the building schools for the future programme), and the PwC report puts the total number of job losses arising from the public sector spending cuts - including the knock-on effects in the private sector - at about 943,000.

It also suggests the output of private firms may well fall by £46bn per year by 2014-15.  PwC chief economist John Hawksworth said the predicted levels of job losses would be a drag on the pace of the economic recovery "but should not derail it altogether".

The report said that in absolute terms, the areas worst hit would be the south east of England, the north west and Scotland.  But PwC added that in percentage terms, Northern Ireland would suffer most with one in every 20 jobs set to go.

A Treasury spokesman said "a decisive plan" was needed to "reduce the UK's unprecedented deficit and restore confidence in the UK economy ... and not taking action to tackle this problem would put the economic recovery at risk," they added, saying this was a view shared by many organisations including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Bank of England.

The question that's never asked (or answered) is where new jobs are going to come from for the economy to start to recover.  For a more prosperous and sustainable future, levels of untapped talent  need to reduce (not increase), and creativity needs to increase to create growth, reduce the deficit and pay back the debt ... and releasing staff without any plan of action for this could make matters worse, not better, with more people without any work and wholly dependent on the state.

The application of a simple, effective and more holistic 'economic' test (of overall 'well-being'), known as "BUTS" test, where:

B = Borrowing

U = Untapped talent

T = Trade deficit

S = Stress

rapidly highlights how well-being in the UK in the future is likely to get much worse, with any reduction in borrowing likely to be at the expense of increased taxes and reduced public services ... as well as growing levels of untapped talent (e.g. unemployment) and increasing levels of stress.

There is growing concern about unemployment, not just from a financial perspective, but from an individual point of view too, as more people lose self-confidence, belief and self-worth. People's natural ability/desire to help others, add value, and make a difference to other people's lives reduces ... reducing the overall well-being of the community, as well as the nation's economy too. There is also the risk of growing frustration & anger, particularly from younger generations, as youth unemployment rates are much higher, they have been saddled further with debt (e.g. due to tuition fees) and given little prospect of a job, house prices still being expensive to rent/buy and they are also the ones who'll have to pay most of the Government current borrowing back (through future tax rises).

Shockingly, the official figures of 2.4 million unemployed are a gross underestimate, as there are in fact over 8 million people of working age able to work but classified as 'economically inactive' ... and even this figures represents just the tip of the iceberg, as levels of untapped talent within the workplace lies at around 90%, due to outdated management practices failing to harness the talents of those in work too!  No economy will ever be successful with such shockingly poor foundations, and outdated leadership and management practices are also generating further unnecessary stress too.  

Outdated leadership and management practices (19th/20th century) primarily rely upon extrinsic motivation, self interest and personal gain ... where management primarily involves managing budgets, telling staff what to do and ensuring they meet internal/arbitrary targets ... rather than going to the front line, listening to customers actually want and supporting front-line staff in their quest to continually improve how value can be provided to customers (nb this is what 21st century leadership and management practice is all about - take a look at my book for instance) ...

The former systematically generates frustration and stress, for customers and front line staff alike. It also drives people to manipulate 'the system' in order to meet their targets & goals; deflecting people away from the real purpose of the enterprise (i.e. to create value for customers) which destroys teamwork, morale, and the future of the enterprise too. Such practices have also been shown to systematically generate between 40-90% waste in terms of both time and resources as well - i.e. traditional enterprises spend most of their time (and resources) wasting time, effort and money, for their customers ... whilst stressing them out in the process too ...

... and the traditional response to this ... "it's just the way work is" ... and "let's send everyone on a 'stress management' course - to help them to process stress" (and to also reduce the risk of being sued!) ...

The problem with the traditional management statements above is that they are both wrong - and flawed. 21st century management practices do not involve helping people to 'process stress' - they focus on systematically 'eliminating stress'! ... so there is no need for stress management courses at all ... (i.e. such courses are a 'cost of failure', and they do not reduce the risk of leaders/managers being sued either).

Enterprises applying 21st century leadership and management practices do not just transform the performance of the enterprise, they transform the lives of people - forever, and for the better. Most enterprises applying such practices quickly transform their capability (e.g. improvements of between 40-1000%) and change out of all recognition. Staff moral is positively transformed and stress is systematically reduced. People are naturally motivated to innovate, to add value and to help others. They are also more than capable of finding new ways to improve current products/services and to find new products/services that would allow even more value to be created too (given the opportunity). All they need is clear direction, as well as trustworthy leaders & managers who support them on the front line, who listen, learn, and help them to systematically improve how value is provided. Again not rocket science - just rarely practiced in traditional enterprises.

Stress, and the impact of stress, on people is heavily responsible for the 'eighth waste' in 21st century management practice ('untapped talent') - as it destroys people's desire/ability to contribute, to be creative or to think rationally (e.g. take a look at Ch. 8 of my book). It also impacts on people's overall well-being, as well as the well-being of those around them ... which impacts on communities/nations as a whole too (NB hence it's inclusion in the 'BUTS' test).

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has said the cost of work related mental illness was £28bn - a quarter of the UK's total sick bill, and it also made clear that the stress created as a result of bad management/managers was the single biggest cause of problem. The 'economic loss' of stress goes way beyond the £28bn referred to here too ... this is literally just the tip of the iceberg, with actual figures more likely to be around 80-90% (and growing).  

Those leaders who believe stress management courses will 'protect them' from 'being sued' are I'm afraid also sadly wrong ... as 'ignorance' is 'not bliss' (or a defence - nb landmark cases are already occurring - but are mostly settled out of court to avoid publicity). The writing is on the wall now that 21st century leaders & managers have demonstrated the capability/outcomes created from applying 21st century practices ... which highlight the way forward, as well as the fundamental flaws in traditional practices ...

21st century leadership/management practice and examples will no doubt be used in evidence against those continuing to apply outdated traditional 19th/20th century practices ... and as millions of law suits start to get filed, yet more traditional private enterprises will go bankrupt ... and yet more taxpayers money will be diverted away from providing front line services (to pay for millions of out-of-court settlements) ... joining all the taxpayers money already being diverted to service Government debt, as well as the colossal (and unfunded) civil service pension liability ...

A 'Double Dip" is on the way I'm afraid ... and a 'triple dip', and a 'quadruple dip', may well follow too I'm afraid ... unless current leaders/managers change course quickly ... as it's also the adoption of 21st Century leadership/management practices that will harness and unleash the untapped potential within our society, and systematically uncover the plethora of world-class solutions people around the globe are looking for and more than willing to pay a premium for ...

A 'political response' which goes ahead and slashes millions of jobs, without any clear understanding or robust plan to harness untapped talent/potential to systematically provide the future product/services the world needs, is in fact not a 'solution' at all, but a short-sighted and flawed act, which will have a huge, negative and corrosive impact on individual/community well-being ... and will not provide any robust foundation for reducing borrowing (or reversing the massive trade-deficit) in any sustainable way either.  It is a systematic change the UK now requires, not a political one.

Spending cuts to be deepest since 1970s

Following my recent post (Apocalypse-postponed), it is now being made increasingly clear that, whoever wins the election, massive spending cuts are going to have to happen on a scale not seen for generations.  This will once again hit the economy, as well as the well-being of individuals and communities, and move the UK into the next stage of the crisis.

It will hit front-line services (particularly if 21st century management practices are not adopted), reverse the so-called recovery, reduce employment, reverse house prices, and steer the economy into another downward spiral (a double-dip recession). These will all also be exasperated by rising interest rates to pay for spiraling government debt (nb reducing the deficit does not reduce the debt, it just means the debt is increasing at less of a rate!), the risks associated with a flawed/unsustainable economy, and rising price inflation due to foreign exchange rates (and the huge rise in the price of oil).

Greece is starting to feel the pain and frustration/unrest is starting to grow ... and the UK is going to have to act effectively (e.g. introduce 21st century leadership/management and economics) quickly now if it's going to avoid this type of pain/unrest itself in the future.

Squeezing budgets - a Leanomics (and Economystic) view

On Stephanie Flanders recent blog I was asked a question about the squeezing of budgets, and some of the challenges ahead, and in response I wrote:

'IMHO your questions/insights are good. The government (and politicians of all colours) are void of ideas and/or unprepared to take on the challenges ahead in any robust way (nb the main things in Gordon’s toolbox seem to be QE, inflation and spin). IMHO the fundamental problem we actually face is one of outdated leadership & management practices (e.g. in terms of politics, economics, service and enterprise).

There are lots of ways companies & nations will ‘grow’ in the future, but outdated leadership / management practices mean most ‘leaders’ haven’t got a clue how to do it, and the majority of ‘leaders/managers’ will have to ‘unlearn what they have learnt’ in order to access the ‘world of opportunity’ of opportunity that actually exists. The idea of somehow hoping/relying upon a immediate/massive resurgence in manufacturing is also flawed, as is the concept of considering products and services in isolation of each other.

In terms of public sector cuts, IMHO given the level of crisis now faced the only robust solution (both in the short term and the long term) is to rapidly introduce 21st century lean management practice … to continuously, and systematically, remove all non-value adding activities and divert all of our taxes/resources to value adding activities. When enterprises start to do this, most initially find between 40-90% of all time / resources are actually being wasted (and as you can probably imagine with public sector services this tends to be at the higher end of the scale!).

Leaders/managers need to learn how to support front line staff to continuously improve the way the work works (and how to systematically challenge/remove all the barriers to providing value in more effective ways). This process invariably releases resources (a lot of resources!), but the ‘key’ thing is what you do with the resources released. Front line resources released need to be re-invested into improving / increasing the services provided. Managers supporting front line staff to continuously improve how value can be provided are also kept, but the remaining ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ (i.e. who don’t understand the work, create barriers instead of removing them, frustrate front line staff and prefer to ‘manage’ targets / league tables / people rather help/support people) need to find something else to do (e.g. work out how to add value!)

Resources released from front-line services are used to continuously improving the level of value provided and to identify/provide more effective services too (yes – more services – hence the term ‘more for less’). Meanwhile management has to change fundamentally (i.e. to lean management), with far fewer managers carrying out very different work – e.g. supporting front line staff continuously improving the work and systemically removing every barrier in their way of doing this (e.g. the plethora of bureaucracy and flawed policies – nb top line figures for the number of pen-pushers/bureaucrats is just the tip of the iceberg and most current policies are designed to generate waste, not remove it). You can think of this as a systematic ‘bureaucracy stripper’.

Lean management also needs to be applied to Government policies too (nb the bottom up continuous improvement described above would drive this anyway) … for instance changing the vast array of complex tax structures/credits which has resulted in a culture of dependency and armies of paper pushers to ‘check/process’ them all. It would also introduce robust, fairer, and much simpler taxes such as a Land Value Tax (referred to earlier). It was also remove the flawed and outdated targets/league table culture introduced by this Government … for instance take a look at my recent post here.

Lean management is already starting to be applied by forward thinking police forces/hospitals (with dramatic and positive outcomes – 30/40% improved outcomes in terms of time, resources, service quality, staff moral…). Change is coming, but it has been held back/stifled by all the policies/barriers put in place by this Government (e.g. league table/target culture).

Millions of jobs are going to be lost in the short term whether we like it or not … given this we need to make sure we lose the non-value adding ones and reinvest time/resources released from front line services to provide more and better services, so we can start to get back on track and avoid ‘cutting/slashing’ the actual services provided (like countries such as Singapore have done) … we also need to offer the majority of ‘managers’ released training in 21st century leadership and management practice! IMHO the youth of today should also be given the opportunity to separately learn about 21st century leadership & management practice too (e.g. within school), as it would expose them to the actual world of opportunity still out there, and expand their leadership and entrepreneurial qualities too.

Based on Deming’s work, I successfully decoded 21st century leadership and management two years ago, as well as the system diagrams describing the above (P219-223) … for those interested in learning more about this you can always read my book online (via Google books) here …

NB the ‘losers’ – the leeches/managers who add no value, fail to listen/learn, have no interest in helping/supporting anyone (eg like to please their boss, rather than customers / front line staff) and have no interest in learning/applying 21st century leadership & management. The other losers will be those who like to ‘obtain lots more wealth’ but by ‘adding no value’ ...'

It's official - bad management drives staff to leave

The BBC reported today that findings from a Chartered Management Institute survey which revealed almost half of UK workers saying they have left a job because of bad management.

Forty-nine per cent say that under less drastic circumstances, they would rather take a pay cut than work for someone who made bad decisions. The findings come in a survey from the Chartered Institute of Management, as it attempts to launch a campaign to improve standards among bosses. It wants the government to make developing effective managers a national priority.

But the survey also found unhappiness among managers themselves. Sixty-eight per cent said they had fallen into the role by chance and 40% admitted they had not wanted the responsibility of managing people at all ... and Ruth Spellman, CMI's chief executive, said: "The figures reveal the depth of the crisis of confidence in UK management."

She added that such bad management was taking an enormous toll on the UK economy - and on people's well-being. The organisation promotes what it calls the 'art and science' of management and is pressing for action from the government to improve Britain's performance in this area.

It has launched a Manifesto for a Better Managed Britain, and whilst this is indeed honorable cause, the article unfortunately serves to highlight how little they know, and how far they are behind in their understanding in the 'art'/'science' of 21st century leadership & management. My own book successfully decoded the 'science behind 21st century management' practice two years ago ... and it also highlighted the 'art of 21st century leadership' too ...

... I'm afraid the institute hasn't got it's head around the basic definitions yet, and is still lost in the 'soup of generality', outdated practice (nb MBA = "Maybe Best Avoided"!) and misconception ... and as my recent blog pointed out ... most 'leaders' and 'managers' haven't seen half of what's yet to come ... e.g. the complete exposure of their failings, and tsunami of litigation heading their way ...

Traditional education is failing ...

On Stephanie Flanders blog yesterday a great discussion began ... which headed in many different directions and resulted in lots of informed/insightful comments. I supported the view that traditional 'economics' is dead, and published this post to say so too ... and a number of people started to question to role of 'education' too - 'economic education' ... for instance take a look at the comment made in Post 52 (random_thought) below:

"... perhaps for 30 years now we have had an academic system that teaches students the knowledge that is required to make money out of the flaws in the economic system - not how to design a better economic system that doesn't have those flaws. How many students have studied economics in the hope of getting a well paid job in the City? And how many have been driven by the desire to fix the system and make the world a better place?..."

I thought this comment potentially offered some profound insight, and a great question too ... so I responded in the following way (Post 55) ...

"...Good points and well made ... The existing education system has arguably been re-enforcing levels of 'incompetence' / 'greed' for some time - and this is exactly the same in leadership / management ( and political science ? ) too ... the education system is also probably 20-30 years out of date now too ( I know for certain most MBA's are - as they are often referred to as 'Maybe Best Avoided' now, and I believe posts 13 and 51 probably give us an idea where we are with politics at the moment too ) ... I believe we are beginning to get to the 'roots' of the problem now - and starting to see just a few of the challenges ahead e.g. changing this, as well as evaluating / re-addressing our nations 'fundamental philosophies' and 'value systems' ...!"

Another commentator then asked ...

"... If you "know for certain" then you can supply the evidence for your claim. I'm sure that the staff and students of our Business Schools would be very interested to see it ..."

So I obliged, (see post 67 below), though there's obviously lots more evidence available too ...

"... Anyone who has bothered to study 'lean', 'lean management', 'lean management systems' (and Dr. W. Edwards Deming's work - nb quoted earlier) know that business schools are 1-2 generations out of date - in fact most people with an MBA have to unfortunately unlearn a lot of what they have learnt at a business school before they can start to learn what they really need to know (e.g. to scrap, rather than re-enforce, arbitrary targets, league tables, bonuses, management by numbers ...etc etc etc) ...

All you have to do is ask a few questions (e.g. what are the above?), look at current business school MBA syllabuses, and understand the differences between 21st century leadership / management and traditional leadership and management [e.g. take a quick look at table 2.39, P139, in the book below for instance] ... you'll find they are completely opposite, and you'll also find most business schools struggle to answer the basic questions above in any meaningful way (and find they are just as out of date as Wikipedia!).

I'm afraid 21st century leadership/management is mostly common sense, and very different to what we're accustomed to, and it's been mostly decoded now too (e.g. just take a look at "Lean World" ... it's available to read worldwide on Google Books*) ... all the Deans of Business Schools I've met and spoke to have read it and loved it, and the business students I lecture love it too ... it's a shame that business schools (all around the world) never properly researched it (or Deming's work for that matter - as they would have found they're inextricably linked) ... and/or never thought to tell students about it/write about it, as most people point out it's both profound ... and applies a lots of common sense ... which is arguably something we need a lot more of right now ...

... but the challenge today is not just one of education, but of politics and power (and the 'misuse' of 'power') too ... and that's yet another story again ... just take a look at http://poweromics.blogspot.com (and some of my posts here too e.g. P13 above) for instance ... but this will be eventually changing too, powered by the internet ..."

* http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-8xAIgkewOUC&printsec=frontcover

Honesty, Honestly II

Taking a look at Nick Robinson's latest blog today, entitled "Honesty - the New Battleground", takes me back to a post I wrote last month ("Honesty, Honestly") which referred to the Seven Principles of Public Life and the clear failure of Politicians to apply them ... well, this is clearly coming to the fore now (with a little bit of nudging perhaps), and the net is also widening to the Civil Service (e.g. the Cabinet Secretary) too. 

It's should start getting very interesting now.  The Cabinet Secretary, who earns over £280,000 per year, has not responded about his reasoning behind delaying and declining the opposition request for Government financial data, but has been very quick (and the first) to publish his last three months of expenses today (which includes a £19,408 car bill)!  He can obviously see what's coming ... and there are many more questions that need to be asked too (e.g. "The Targets era is over" from last months blog) ...

Take a look at my post (and others) added to Nick Robinson's blog below too:

–––––––––––––––

Leanomist (281)

Trust, Honor, Responsibility, Respect - Don't hold your breath waiting for any politician to show us any of these. They have all been 'tested, measured and found wanting'.  

The net is also (quite rightly) being cast out wider now - e.g. to the Cabinet Secretary (head of the Civil Service) ... a man who has knowingly allowed 20th century management practices (e.g. command and control, target driven cultures set up by Government) to be used to systematically generate wasteful/inefficient practice, consume massive amounts of our money and create massive public debts. e.g. take a look at http://poweromics.blogspot.com/2009/06/targets-era-is-over.html for instance

The cabinet secretary also made it clear that he was fully aware and understood the lack of 21st century leadership and management practices in the Civil Service (and the Government), but failed to do anything about it ... so I think we are probably safe to assume that these kind of values will be difficult to find at the top of the Civil Service too!  Perhaps we need a bigger broom to sweep the decks ...

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The NHS needs to "focus on Quality" ... not Targets

There is a warning of significant shortfalls in NHS funding from 2011, as demand (& costs) rapidly outstrip resources available ... 

and the new Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, said on the BBC breakfast news today that the NHS will need to focus more on "Quality" and "Prevention" ... 

A revelation? not really, just common sense, and a small step in the right direction ... a much bigger step would be to get rid of all the inappropriate targets, and command & control management practices in the NHS (which the Police also suffer from too - see my previous post) ...

When Poweromics makes way for Leanomics, and Command & Control practices are dismantled and replaced by 21st century management practices, we will really see things change for the better ... more with less (effort) ... more and better services provided ... and more rewarding jobs for all the staff too ...

... In this regard it's a real shame the UK Government have wasted their time (and a vast amount of OUR money!) over the last 10 years taking the NHS backwards (back to 19th Century practices) ... rather than forwards (to 21st century practices) ....  let's see if they are really about to change .... or just make out they are (i.e. 'spin') ... They were responsible for 1) creating the problem - systematically generating wasteful practice and 2) and then throwing colossal amounts of money at it ... 

If Government want to help, they need to rapidly re-train and/or replace out-of-date 'management' with 21st century management and introduce basic continuous improvement practices ... and get rid of all the inappropriate targets & policies which distract/stop staff from improving the healthcare provided too ...

Where healthcare providers have taken back the initiative and taken the lead, stress has been dramatically been reduced and a far better service provided - whether it's in hospitals or GP services (nb Andy Burnham referred to 21st century 'lean' practices in his interview too - so hopefully he's aware of the growing mountain of evidence that now exists) ... 

However it's worth remembering who was responsible for introducing this 'systematic failure' in the first place - and we come back to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair ... but will either of them ever take responsibility for it? ... given they clearly like to apply Poweromics they will predictably 1) deny it, 2) quickly shift responsibility for it, and 3) blame others (e.g. the many health secretaries that have been ... and gone)! ... perhaps they'll surprise us ... but somehow I doubt it!

The 'Targets era' is over ...

... says one of Britain’s most senior police officers ... Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), circulated a damning memo among senior officers attacking  the Home Office’s statistics-driven approach. He has criticised the Government’s obsession with performance targets and called for a return to old-fashioned policing. 

Take a look at the news report here, as well as my additional comments below:

The 'target era' is openly being challenged now ... thank goodness .... and hopefully outdated 20th century management practices (eg command & control approaches and target driven cultures) have finally had their day ... the UK desperately needs 'leaders' who understand & apply 21st century management practices now, and some police forces have been 'battling' to apply it despite the 'system' & the way the whole Criminal Justice System 'works'

I wrote all about this 2 years ago in my book, which decoded 21st century leadership & management practices and how a New Criminal Justice System might work*. I've discussed it with people like Sir Ken Jones (ex ACPO president, pictured above) & senior representatives of the Justice Department too ... and they have a signed copy of my book too ... as well as Sir Gus O'Donnell (pictured right), Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, who understands the 'big void' that needs to be filled ... but who has unfortunately done very little about it ...