Show me the money..........

Money is a poor motivator, but a good demotivator.

Golden handcuffs are a very effective method of retaining staff, but it is a fallacy to assume that you have bought their loyalty.

What you have bought is their patience. The patience to sit out whatever time is remaining until they are given the golden key and can remove their manacles.

When a company is still in its youth, it is the technical animal that will drive forward and progress to higher office. However, this is not so as the company reaches maturity.

Once Golden Handcuffs have been fitted, it is now the arena of the Political Animal, and this person will thrive, after all, who wants to bite the hand that feeds it.

The previously successful Technical Animal will not progress far in this environment as the rules that once governed the exuberance of youth have now changed.

The Golden Handcuffs, rather than offering encouragement, restrict this person's hands behind their back.

This has the effect of stifling the very creativity that was the major driving force behind getting the company where it is today.

Golden Handcuffs come in many differet guises. They are offered as Guaranteed bonuses and share options. However, these are rarely offered to those who spend their lives outside of the Ivory Tower.

For the majority who work on the ground, their hard work is rewarded with a Company Savings Scheme. Such schemes are sometimes linked in some way to the performance of the company, such as share price. Such Share Save Schemes allow even the lowliest employee to benefit from their own performance, usually allowing them to buy shares (using their own money) at a preset price.

The catch is, that unless they see out the whole of the term of the scheme, they only get back the money that they have invested, not the shares. Now, if the company is performing badly then there is no incentice to stay. However, if the company is doing well, then the potential monetary loss in leaving the company could be substantial.

For successful companies with such schemes, there are considerably more patient employees than loyal ones.

Once more unto the breach .......

Success and expansion bring with them the problems of structure and discipline.
A maturing company often sees structure as its main objective when trying to reorganize after the hectic years of adolescence. Although this is necessary, discipline is far more important.

Discipline : The study, or practice, of a subject using a specific set of methods, terms and approaches

As each of us matures, we cast away the habits of childhood and aim for a more structured existence.
How often have you heard there is a place for everything and everything in its place.

We seek order out of the chaos of everyday life, but this often comes at a price.

Each of us can point to individuals who appear to be the epitome of order. They are always far more organized than everybody else. Their workspace is always immaculate and uncluttered. Their everyday routine is almost predictable.

There is no need to single out such individuals for ridicule, far from it. Such individuals can always be relied upon to provide information in a neat and timely fashion. However, throw them into a situation that is outside of their normal daily routine and they struggle.

Now picture the person who appears to have little or no order. Their workspace is always cluttered, apart from the bi-annual clear out where almost everything ends up in the bin. This person's routine is far less predictable, but no less reliable than the ordered person.

Now, put them into a situation that is outside their normal scope of work, and they thrive. The structure may be somewhat missing from their world, but the discipline isn't. They fully understand the methods and practices in use and can apply them to what ever problem is put in front of them.

Rarely will you find this person beyond the lower floors of the Ivory Tower. Yet when the foundations start to crumble, this is the one person who can be relied upon to stop the tower from crashing to the ground.

One common trait of the Technical Animal is that they will tell you what you need to know, but not necessarily what you want to hear.

These are the two extremes and most people will fall somewhere in between having both good discipline and structure.

Welcome to The Ivory Tower

The view from the top of the Ivory Tower is spectacular.

The unrestricted view stretches far off into the distance. Hills and valleys appear as small undulations in this tranquil landscape. There are no fast flowing rivers or rapids, as they all appear to be calm from this wonderful vantage point. Dense forests and boggy swamps add their distinctive colour to this rich tapestry.

If only we could all enjoy this peaceful view, but we can't.

For most of us, the view here on the ground is obscured by mountains and forests. We live in the real world, where no journey is ever a straight line, but a series of obstacles. We spend out time climbing mountains, hacking through forests and wading waist deep through swamps.

This site is dedicated to those people who live with their feet firmly on the ground. Those hard working professionals whose daily toil makes the existance of the Ivory Tower a reality.

Every company needs to have an Ivory Tower. How else can expansion be planned and opposition monitored. There is a need for those at the top to be able to sieze opportunities when they arise and to consolidate when obstacles are encountered.

Their effectiveness though, is governed by the Ivory Tower.

Square Peg in a Round Hole

With every reorganisation that goes through the exercise of restructuring, comes a degree of reshuffling of personnel. People move upwards and sidewards - rarely downwards.

When new equipment is bought within a company, the priority is that it is fit for the purpose you bought it for. Why buy a Cray Supercomputer when all you wanted was a laptop. Why buy a pair of scissors when what you really wanted was an industrial shredder.

The same can be said for the positions personnel are given after a restructuring. Just because a person's previous position had the title manager, doesn't necessarily mean you can put him into any managerial job.

Imagine, if you will, that the company is like a bridge. After the restructuring exercise, you still need the bridge to be standing and to carry a load.The components of the bridge have many and varied functions. The engineering tolerances applied to each component are dependant on their function.If you replaced a load bearing component with a non-load bearing one, the chances are your bridge will fail. The degree of failure will depend on the location and function of the component.This is also true on a larger scale. If you try to apply a set rules for one part of the bridge across its entire length, the chances are that the bridge will fail, although instead of in one place, it will fail at multiple points.

All too often restructuring comes about because of poor practise and poor communication. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Within every company, no matter how poorly it seems to be performing, there will be parts that do work. It is these parts of the company that should be taken as the example. What is it that they are doing differently ?

The mistake is to view the problem areas in isolation, resolve their problems and then apply those same changes throughout the rest of the company.

There is a common trend to make use of the services of external agencies when it comes to company restructure. Whilst their view will reflect current trends and should be impartial, it is also invariably ill-informed. To best utilise such a company is as part of a team, including in its ranks a cross section of employees. This way you have the advantage of experts in their field coupled with experts in yours.

Bear in mind when choosing the individuals, that if they are solely selected from residents of the Ivory Tower, that their view may only be that through their window.

Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated

The more mature a company gets, the less dynamic it becomes, and its innovation, rather than coming from within, is often the result of preying on younger, more vulnerable companies.

Any company that assimilates smaller ones to make up for its own inadequacies, condemns those smaller companies to the same fate as itself.

This, of course, is not true of all middle-aged companies.

Throughout the natural world, there are two kinds of parents.

• Those that have young and allow them to grow.
• Those that eat them.

This may sound very extremist, but to subject any small company to the regime of a mature one, will reduce its ability to be dynamic and innovative. This then gives rise for the need to search for the next prey to gorge upon.

It's good to talk...

Communication is the key to a successful company.

Is the communication within the company good?

The higher company grades always sing the praises of the lines of communication, yet the lower grades slate it as being extremely ineffective.

Who is right?

Perhaps both extremes of the company scale are correct.

At the most senior levels, when figures or reports are requested, they appear. The same cannot be said lower down the scale. When questions are asked down there, the answers can be a long time coming.

The structures that are imposed are generally driven from the top down. This ensures that the senior managers have a clear picture of what is happening down the ranks. There are clearly defined business rules concerning the number of reporting lines that can be successfully managed before additional levels are required.

When a company becomes too reliant on the reporting structures, each level of management only has a clear picture of the level below them. This is especially true when reporting technical information through layers of non-technical personnel.

A good exercise is to use the reporting structure to describe a painting. Each level must summaries the description that is passed to them. The resulting final report is often interesting, to say the least.

Corporate Policy

With the rearranged structure of our mature company, often, non-technical people, having been given the task of standardisation, publish technical policy.

This standardisation is primarily aimed at maintenance and operational issues in an attempt to reduce costs and simplify problem solving.

No solution can provide a 100% fit. There are always areas whose needs differ slightly from the norm and there is a distinct possibility that with technology advancing at such an incredible pace, that the policy is out of date before the ink is even dry.

Where policy is with regards to operating practices, this is generally an attempt at streamlining, making processes either more efficient or reducing the overhead required. For each department, the corporate policy will have some relevance, but this does not mean that it will cover all aspects of the working environment.

There are always exceptions to every rule, no matter how simple that rule is, but when it comes to corporate policy it can often be applied too rigidly. For the Political Animal, there is rarely any thought of questioning this policy as this would lead to confrontation.

When corporate policy inhibits people from carrying out the daily tasks, shouldn't that part of the policy be removed or at least reviewed?

This unfortunately would lead to confrontation and for the Political Animal, who is still exhibiting patience with his manacles, would not be prudent.

Ivory Tower Productions

This would be a good name for a film company, but it isn't, even though some of their finished products are a mixture of fiction and fantasy, with a little horror and comedy thrown in for good measure.

The comedy is the reaction from the audience at the first screening of the finished production and the horror when they realize those giving the presentation are not laughing.

Such productions from the Ivory Tower are rarely directed at external customers, they are for internal use by the groundforces whose job it is to maintain the structural integrity of the Tower. Those that are produced as a source of revenue are primarily purchased by other Towers.

Within the mighty walls of the tower, there lives the Technical Wizards. These Technical Wizards rarely meet those ground forces that are destined to be in awe of their technological marvels, but are instead, cloistered away for years weaving their magic.
The more isolated the Technical Wizards, the less likely that the end product will be what the ground forces long for.

Although the view from the Techincal Wizard's window is not as spectacular as from the higher floors, it is still a pleasant view. For a better picture of what is happening on the ground, they rely on reports from analysts who have actually stepped outside of the tower. How far they have stepped beyond the safety of the ivory walls, varies. Some will venture no further than the well manicured grounds of the Tower, while others will always ensure they remain within the shadow of the Tower. Rarely will you find one waist deep in a swamp.

It is a misconception that so long as the product has been properly specified, then there is no reason for the Technical Wizards to ever have need to come into contact with the ground forces. The specification is only ever as good as the questions and the context in which they have been asked. It is only once the ground forces have been given sight of what the finished production will look like that they can assess its usefullness. This is where the Technical Wizard must step out of the Ivory Tower to listen, learn and then take that knowledge back and refine the product.

If the ground forces knew of all the trickery that the Technical Wizards had at their disposal, they would be Wizards themselves. They have little or no idea of what is possible so are unable to articulate accurately as to their needs.

Whenever the Technical Wizards are escorted to meet with the ground forces, the area that they visit has, for the most part, been carefully selected. There will be no irate masses or awkward confrontations. The visit will be carefully orchestrated to heap praise on the Wizards and their wonderous abilities.

For those places where the greeting will be less than amicable, they have rarely seen anybody from the Ivory Tower. Their environment is deemed to be hostile and is generally avoided by all. Here There Be Dragons.

This is the one place where opinions will be voiced and anger vented. The one place where the Technical Wizard will gain enlightenment as to what all those hours locked away in the Tower were for.

The Political Animal

As a company matures, there is a need to restructure.

Where once analysts and managers were there to supplement the technical teams and aid them in their endeavours by providing coordination, now the technical teams are seen as providing for the needs of the analysts and managers.The company has now become more politically orientated.

It is now the arena of one of the permanent residents of the Ivory Tower, the Political Animal, and this person will thrive, after all, who wants to bite the hand that feeds it.

Precedence is the key to the Political Animal's decision-making policies. Why deliberately throw yourself open to criticism, when you can take your queue from another decision that has already been accepted, or a view from a senior position that is common knowledge.

The problem arises when there is no precedence or view. What is our Political Animal to do now?

If in doubt, the best decision is no decision. Where there is a sign-off required, it remains unsigned.By not signing, this doesn't mean that there is not approval, just no precedence to sign it.Should the matter be questioned from a higher level as to the delay, the sign-off can be given immediately.

One common trait of the Political Animal is that they will tell you what you want to hear, but not necessarily what you need to know.

There is a common piece of apparel that our Political Animal wears, and that is the Teflon Jacket.Although nobody has actually seen such a garment, its non-stick properties are the thing of legend.

I'm sure that you have already conjured up at least one name to fit the above profile.

The 7 Ages of Management

Every company differs in one respect or another. From small, one man operations to megalithic corporations, they each have their own identities.
How individual companies are structured is dependant on many things, primarily, the age of the company
Which category does your company fall into.

The 7 Ages of Management

As with children, young companies are dynamic and innovative. Their first steps are often unsteady, and sometimes need encouragement to persevere.
As the young company grows, it has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and a sense of adventure. Just as children have a wonderful imagination, so does the youthful company, it takes great pride in its innovations. The rules by which the company plays are very simple, and this coupled with enthusiasm enables it to take great strides, often admired by its elders.

At some stage the company must decide whether it is happy playing the games of youth, or to make the commitment to grow and move beyond its adolescence and the playground. This change, although providing the company more stability, also comes at a cost. The enthusiasm and innovation are still an integral part, but gone is the dynamism of youth.

The company now has the struggle to establish itself as one of the major players. For many companies, this is as far as it will grow, a constant round of campaigns trying to maintain its ground against stiff opposition.

Success brings with it rewards and a sense of calm heralding the onset of middle age. For some this maturity comes much quicker than others, but each must manage the changes.Keeping up with current practises and technology is paramount in ensuring the survival of the company. Comfort can very easily become complacency, and with it the need to make radical decisions. These are the companies that have tried to ignore middle age and responsibilities that come with it.

For those companies for whom change has come too late, there is only left the memories of youth and its ultimate demise.

For some young companies, their first steps in the big wide world will come to nothing, and they will never realise their full potential. Each company must make its own decisions and learn from its mistakes.For senile companies, the writing is on the wall, and the mourners are already waiting by the bedside.
The mature, middle-aged company is where there is most to be gained or lost.

For those of you who are interested, here is the original text.

All the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare ~ As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7

Who lives in a Tower like this ?

There are many occupants of the Ivory Tower ranging from senior executives at the top to line managers and team leaders at the bottom. Each has their position within the hierarchy.

Most spend their lives travelling to and from the tower, never taking up permanent residence. Their view from the tower may not be as extensive as from the higher floors, but what they can see they can relate directly to the actual environment on the ground. They have a comprehensive knowledge of the type of obstacles that can be encountered, not only because they have stepped outside the tower to see for themselves, but also because they were once tasked with surmounting similar obstacles.

Others prefer the comfort of the tower, rarely leaving its secure surroundings.

For those occupants of the top floor, that is their right. After all, they are the ones primarily responsible for the building of the Ivory Tower in the first place. From their vantage point they need to be able to see the Bigger Picture.

How many senior managers have the time, or inclination, to step out of the Ivory Tower and find out what actually does happen on the ground ?

This may sometimes seem as though they are undermining the roles and responsibilities of subordinates by checking up on their departments, but should be seen more as a PR exercise, where good practices are acknowledged and also shows the work force that the person who signs their pay cheque is not a faceless wonder, but is actually a human being.

Sometimes you have to step out of the Ivory Tower to go and see the picture for yourself.
Managers who regularly see things for themselves, always have a better understanding of what is being reporting to them.

Managers who lock themselves away in the Ivory Tower, only ever have a view out of their window.