A 'cultural shift' is required ...

Liam Fox, Defence Secretary, said today that "the Strategic Defence Spending Review alone will not be enough to sort out problems facing Defence". He went on to highlight "the need for a full review of how the MoD is run", and the need for both structural reform and a cultural shift, to ensure efficient provision of defence capability and the generation and sustainment of operations.

The review and reform includes two broad principles that will be followed: 

1. Structural reform involving re-organising into 3 pillars, policy & strategy, the armed forces and procurement & estates, to make the decision stop the constant over-specification and re-specification of projects, which have resulted in so many cost overruns and programme delays ...

2. A cultural shift, to a 'leaner' and less centralised organisations, combined with devolved processes which carry greater accountability and transparency ... 

Both of these are to driven by a hard-hitting steering group Defence Reform Unit of internal and external experts who will "guide the hard thinking and challenge pre-conceptions" ...

He said "fundamental assumptions" about tour lengths and intervals for armed personnel must be challenged "taking into account the varying pressures on our personnel resulting from widely varying missions".

"We need to review all our current practices to ensure that we are using our greatest asset - our people - to the best of our ability."

He said he was not intending to merge the armed forces but would "consider whether the current senior rank structure across the services is appropriate ... We cannot demand efficiency from the lower ranks while exempting those at the top."

It appears that a little Leanomics may filter in here, challenging the status quo, and ensuring money gets steered to where it should be, and away from 'bureaucracy and failure'.  Let's see if he gets it right, involves front line staff and the right people who really understand '21st Century Lean Management Practice' (both inside and outside of the MoD) and delivers ... or just gives top jobs to his 'mates' and fails to create a real 'Lean' culture.  

Strictly Come Dancing in 'Jonestown'

Another interesting post from a fellow blogger to ponder ... referring to the ignorance and/or apathy of British people (Type 1 & Type 2 Ignoromics) and the types of challenges involved in addressing it.

"... I am quite happy building my boat. The advantage of an island is it is easy to leave it.

You are wasting your time with your rabble rousing, the rabble are sleepy and prepared to drink from the poisioned chalice, just like in Jonestown. Too much Strictly Come Dancing. The enormity of the problem is not the debt, solved by cuts, or the government, solved by a General Election, it is the decades of destruction of a wealth producing sector.

How do you think new wealth is to be created. Let me guess - by training. No. By a cultural shift. Do you know how hard it is to shift a culture, you have no idea, you are part of the culture, you are thinking within it. You have already lost because the culture has lost.

The only route for many is the decline cycle, a form of economic cannibalism. Enjoy. Oh, do you want to supersize that? Reality check time. What was Gordon's big idea, oh yeah, lets ask the Chinese to open factories here, 100s of them. What a lunatic. The Chinese will only buy strategically and will seek to develop their domestic scene, they have said as much by their actions.

And we have various bodies talking things up, like Lord Turner - 'When we get more affluent we will want to fly more' so lets develop air travel and punatively green tax those who dont fly. No oil has peaked already by some estimates. We should be seeking to reduce air travel.

The establishment is part of the culture. Members of the establishment support the culture because it rewards them individually ..."

Are such insights misguided, or getting too close to the truth ? ... you decide!