Understand and delight your audience

“Once upon a time there was a serious, well-behaved young black cat…”

These are the opening lines of what will be one of the main publishing events of this year. A previously unknown Beatrix Potter book, “Kitty-in-Boots”, has been discovered by publisher Jo Hanks. It was found in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s archive, after Ms. Hanks spotted a reference to the book in some of Beatrix Potter’s correspondence. When she found it, it was a typeset manuscript with only a few simple pictures, 

not the fully illustrated book, although editing by the author had happened, so all that was needed was a few more images to bring the words to life and make the book true to its well-known siblings.

Beatrix Potter was distracted from finishing the book by the outbreak of the First World War and, thereafter, by getting married and becoming a sheep farmer. (How many of us have half finished projects we should re-visit?) Like the popular writer Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter didn’t believe in “writing down” for children, her approach, words and pictures are not patronising and this latest book, by reputation, is no exception. There are references to animal cruelty, with Kitty’s devoted owner fearful that her beloved puss might be turned into “black cat-skin muffs”, and there are ruffians and villains. Kitty leads a double life with few appreciating the full range of activities and exploits that occur away from home. Due to the paucity of original Potter drawings, the majority of the book has had to be illustrated by Quentin Blake (a wonderful choice);

his comments on receiving the manuscript were:

“I liked the story immediately – it’s full of incident and mischief and character."

The tale offers further treats through cameo appearances by favourite characters from other books, including an older, slightly rotund Peter Rabbit, a discussion with Mrs Tiggywinkle and brief sightings Miss Ribby, Tabitha Twitchit and Mr Tod. (that looks like collaboration and inclusion to me). The cover will be revealed in March and the book will be published in September 2016.  Two million Beatrix Potter books are sold globally every year, but I suspect that we will see a spike in sales this autumn. What a great year for the author Beatrix Potter to be celebrated on the new UK 50 pence piece.

Whilst on the subject of authors and books, I am delighted that a children’s novel is the winner of the 2016 Costa Book of the Year prize. If we cannot inspire a love of reading in the young they will be at a disadvantage in later life. Thanks to the Internet and our technology driven world, much of our day-to-day experiences now seem to revolve around written words.

Things that inspire the young were clearly on the minds of the team who released their latest findings relating to UK children’s media usage earlier this week. This Childwise report (which primarily focuses on how the young spend their leisure time) has been hailed as demonstrating a “landmark change in behaviours”: it is the first time (in the 25 years since the survey was started) that young people no longer choose to spend most of their free time watching TV. Those of you who, like me are parents, won’t be surprised to know that the young prefer to be online; 5-15 year olds are spending on average 3 hours per day surfing the web – with YouTube being the favourite channel (50% of the over 2000 individuals interviewed admitted to visiting the site daily). This compares to 2.1 hours now for TV. 

Reading books has fallen to just over half an hour a day (this figure has declined from over an hour in 2012 and I suspect for some respondents the reading reported was actually a homework activity). Thank goodness for books like The Lie Tree that can inspire young (and older) minds. The world is changing fast, no wonder TV isn’t popular, when on-demand video gives control over what and when you can view almost anything – this is how our children are growing up and will be what they expect when they enter the workplace.

People drive the change but also have to cope with change that they feel thrust upon them. We, as responsible employers and leaders, need to understand the pressures that this brings and try our best to support those who work with us. It is no use clinging to out-dated patriarchal approaches, custom and practice. You have only to look at the announcement and market reaction to the news of the decline in sales of Apple iPhones earlier this week to appreciate that market dominance is not a given. People are fickle and competition is fierce – this applies to the decisions around employment just as much as it does to the acquisition of a mobile phone.

Choice, variety, autonomy – these are the norms of the modern world. In many ways our home environment (with the use of our own tech and broadband) has superseded our workplace as the location where we get things done. A high proportion of offices still have fierce security firewalls and systems that prevent access to sites that many see as usual places to seek information (e.g. blogs and social media). As a result, people resort to their smartphones to search for solutions – I know of members of an IT department, in a respected global business, who turned to Google and YouTube to teach themselves how to install and run a new cross-border software package, because their employer was not prepared to pay for proper training and the provider did not offer any with the product. All credit to them for finding a solution for their lack of knowledge, although, by their own confession, the configuration produced was not as elegant as it would have been with better support and broader awareness. How dispiriting for those people to feel that their employer cared so little about them that they were prepared to leave them to “figure it out or fail”. It’s no wonder that there is high turnover in that department. As an aside though – it occurs to me that if the task had been set as a challenge to an action learning set (and therefore seen as a growth opportunity offered to a valued group of individuals, rather than a duty) the attitude towards the need to find a solution might have been different. It could have been fun although required timelines might not have been met.

It is important that leaders and managers understand the problems that people have to solve. As change has become a recognised norm, we must be forward-thinking. We, the employers of today, need to plan for the world of work our soon-to-be employees and contractors will expect in the future. If we fail to:

• make our workplaces supportive and engaging;
• provide opportunities and an environment in which people wish to contribute;
• build a setting where people believe that they are recognised and rewarded for the skills that they bring;
• have a shared confidence that we can provide a suitable place where all who have the desire can and will thrive and grow;

then vital employees and partners simply won’t come or stay with us.

In addition to engagement, empowerment and collaboration – individuals will need great people management. To be successful the leaders and managers within organisations will need to ensure that everyone is and wants to be involved, can make suggestions and have the autonomy to do the right thing. None of us are significantly better informed than others, as Mervyn Dinnen comments in the latest report, Creating a culture of innovation through smarter talent management,  produced for HR Zone

“The leaders that we need to develop for tomorrow will probably be facing uncertainties and complexities that have yet to be identified, whilst using technologies and digital tools that have yet to be invented.”

We need to take a page from Beatrix Potter’s book and not patronise the people we wish to appeal to, but appreciate them, be engaging, inclusive and at times surprise and delight.

Reach for a New Day - Day 42

Day 42 (11th January 2015)

42 per cent of London's Underground is actually underground.
The above map was created by James Wannerton - he has the neurological condition Synaesthesia, which
means that he tastes words when he reads or hears them. Aged 4 he noticed that tube stations had specific tastes
whilst travelled to school with his mother. He now lives in Blackpool,
so it  took him 49 years to create this map, by visiting each station.
To see a larger version click here

For many years the author of today's post was only known by his nom de plume - Flip Chart Rick. He was one of the earliest bloggers, starting in 2007, and at that stage a degree of anonymity was desirable - he writes excellent, informative posts, full of data and facts and, despite his references to "business bullshit" and "corporate crap" he is respected by people within and outside the establishment. His name is Steve Toft. His roots lie in HR, culminating in becoming a respected Senior Manager at PwC, before setting up his own consultancy. Steve is the co-founder of Crucible Consulting, which specialises in aligning performance management processes, structures and systems to enable businesses and the people within them succeed. He is a driving force within the CIPD West London community. Steve is also an expert on real ales and craft beers - and is a great fellow to spend an evening with.

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Advent is the midnight of the year. It's a time when the sun sets at its earliest. I am fortunate to live in a house that faces west and overlooks a park, so I can watch the sun move through the seasons. I know that when it sets behind the row of poplars it has reached its nadir. It then starts to move back towards the copse behind the pub until, after about the end of April, the sunset is too far round for me to see from our window.

Avenue of Poplars at Sunset, 1884
Vincent van Gogh, Rijksmuseum

This year, the earliest sunsets in London are between the 10th and 15th of December and the shortest day is on the 21st. After that, the sun will start to move back the other way, towards the north and to a new spring. The days will lengthen, slowly at first, then eventually the warmth will return.

Winter Solstice - gouache painting by Wendy Wilkerson

Advent, then, is a time of darkness but also of hope. Long before Christianity, our ancestors celebrated at this time of year. Sometime in the 4th century, the church appropriated the existing festivals for a celebration of the birth of Jesus. What better time to mark the coming of a man who would symbolise the death of the old and the hope of the new.

Celtic Horned God of virility and renewal
is born at the Winter Solstice

I'm sure many of the people who read my blog think of me as a brooding pessimist. At a conference I spoke at recently, my presentation was rated as the most depressing session of the day. It's true that a lot of the things I write about are enough to make you want to run for cover. But I have long thought of myself as a short-term pessimist and a long-term optimist. Much of the work I have done over the years has required me to be both. When you are managing big change programmes you need to anticipate pitfalls and help people to understand them. Yet, at the same time, you need to have faith in your colleagues' ability to find ways of dealing with them, even if you are not yet sure what some of the solutions might look like.

It's the same with the things I discuss on my blog. Those of us in the developed economies have lived through a lucky half-century. The 60 years between the end of the Second World War and the start of the Great Recession saw our economies grow at an unprecedented rate. Big governments, big corporations and big trade unions, all deeply unfashionable these days, presided over an increase in living standards bigger and faster than anything seen before. Those of us born into this are among the most fortunate human beings ever to walk the planet. But we began to assume that our world was normal and would be the model for the future. We thought that economies would always grow, that children would be better off than their parents and that the proceeds of growth would, over time, be more evenly distributed. 

The signs are that this bonanza is over. The world's population is ageing at a fascinating rate.

Just as they industrialised at breakneck speed, the emerging economies will age at breakneck speed too. By the middle of this century, most countries outside India and sub-Saharan Africa will have a greater proportion of their population over 60 than Britain has now. Some countries, like Vietnam and Iran, will overtake us and have older populations by 2050.

We seem to be moving into a period of much slower economic growth than we have been used to. This is affecting the whole world but especially the developed economies. Not everyone is convinced that new leaps in technology can do much to mitigate this. Tomas Piketty believes that, left unchecked, the forces unleashed by these changes will lead to ever greater inequality and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.

I think he may well be right.

Whatever else happens, those of us who grew up in the post-war world will find the certainties of our youth disappearing with alarming speed.

Yet I remain a short-term pessimist and a long-term optimist. We are going through an upheaval and a period of change the like of which we have never seen before but I am convinced that the human race will find ways of dealing with it. It may not surprise you that I'm a fan of dystopian fiction but, while such stories are fun in a horror film sort of way, I don't believe the future of the world will be that bad. Technology may eventually take many of our jobs but it will also help us do new things. It may finally free us from drudgery to create all sorts of new and wonderful possibilities. The trick will be to make sure technology's benefits are well distributed and that it is used to free people, not to oppress and control them.

One day a paraplegic may be able to operate an exoskeleton
with his or her own mind. Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock

Another reason why I am hopeful is because I don't think people will stand for a dystopian future.

Just as, in the last century, the West's workers decided they wouldn't put up with exploitation and servitude, the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America are kicking back against arbitrary autocracy, corruption and starvation wages too. In places that were once thought of as inevitably destitute and dictatorial, people are starting to protest. The human race won't tolerate a future in which the few trample all over everyone else.

Peaceful protests by thousands in Hong Kong, 2014

That might have been the pattern for much of our history but people have had enough of it now. The more people kick up about it, the more hopeful I am for the future.

So why do I write all that depressing stuff on my blog? Because I believe we need to understand the immense challenges to come. Without acknowledging these difficulties, optimism just becomes panglossian idiocy. To have real hope for the future, we have to face problems, not ignore them. That way we will, I'm sure, find ways of dealing with them. As ever, my pessimism about the short-term is balanced by optimism about the longer term.

There is light ahead

There's a 1970s song written by John David for his group Airwaves. My wife likes to play it at this time of year. For her, it represents the spirit of Advent. John David wrote it after a major blow in his personal life. The feeling of being in dark days but reaching for the light runs through the song. It's called New Day and it contains the following lines:

Thoughts that we as humans small

Could slow worlds and end it all

Lie around me where they fall

Before the new day

One more day when time is running out

for everyone

Like a breath I knew would come I reach for

the new day

Hope is my philosophy

Just needs days in which to be

Love of life means hope for me

Born on a new day

"You are the New Day" by Airwaves, 1977

I don't believe time will run out. We can choose our path and, perhaps after going down a few blind alleys, we and the generations to come will find one that makes a better world. We will stretch out our arms and, through the murky darkness, reach for a new day.

"Feelin' Good" by Nina Simone, 1965

The Meadow Walk - Day 36

Day 36 (5th January 2015)

36 gallons equate to a Standard Barrel of beer
(in UK measures - i.e. just under 164 litres)
Illustration from late 13th century manuscript depicting
a monk sneaking an extra cup of ale for himself.
(c) British Library Board, Sloane 2435

Today's post is from the awesome Neil Usher - philosopher, poet, thinker, rebel and Workplace Director for Sky. He is at the forefront of current thinking as to what the future of work should and will be like. I love Neil's blog, workessence.com, it always makes me think. His handle on Twitter is @workessence.

When I first read it, Neil's post (below) reminded me of the film Blade Runner and also brought to mind the following quote by Albert Camus:

"Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being."

Welcome to the path leading to Neil's dystopian vision...

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Memories of the Marxist Digital Revision, its arrival and viral adoption had faded from Rebellia's overburdened memory. The abolition of acronyms had been more abrupt - one day they were ubiquitous, the next every idea, institution and unwieldy expression was laid bare, choking communication and rendering brevity an accident of history.

As she pondered the realignment of her relationship with technology and its moral neutralisation, she swilled the remnants of her second flask of chicory and let the bitterness jolt the back of her throat. Coffee was a faint memory, more prevalent the recollection of the viral destruction of the globe's entire crop in one of the most celebrated acts of social terrorism.
 

Hydroponic production of chicory

All disruption was art.

Disruption 2, Gregory Thielker, 2010
oil on inkjet prints

Rebellia earned the Regular Wage, paid to all but members of The Administration, an amount based on cognitive mapping. It allowed a carefully balanced life, with some luxuries. There wasn't much to be desired that was unattainable, to some degree.

Yet the gradual but wholesale suffocation of deviance left almost no channels for expression but the imagination. Platforms that had once proliferated and allowed ordinary voices to bristle had become irrelevant, washed away by the tide they themselves created. Rebellia had a window into the stories and neuroses of friends and strangers alike, as they had into her's. She wore her heart like a badge.

The only remaining avenue of deviance was the Meadow Walk, a passage through the conurbation that had been left blank, untouched, carpeted by the shoots from the few seeds still carried on the wind. 

Surrealistic image by photographer Erik Johansson

Countless attempts to smother the path with concrete, steel and glass all failed, the earth softening like tear-stained cheeks. Rebellia walked in silence against the ebb, brushing shoulders, catching and dispensing glances.

 

Germinated seeds pushing through asphalt

The disarming innocence was an illusion. The Meadow Walk was the last harbour of deviance, self-contained and terrifying. In the only swathe of true earth remaining in the conurbation was played out the unthinkable and the unuttered, so neutralised by mediocrity and transparency had lives become. Rebellia's eyes burned beneath her hood, and in her pocket she spun the barrel of her last ink pen she had hidden from the amnesty.

She dreamed the Meadow Walk Her secrets were safe, but blunt. No-one was to blame, it just happened that way.

Kraftwerk: "Metropolis", off The Machine Man, 1978

WILCO "Side with the Seeds", 2010

It's Simple

This afternoon I decided to upgrade my phone (I was due an upgrade in August 2012, so, clearly, I have been contemplating this for a while).  Gosh there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into consideration, comparison websites to read, friends to ask, pitfalls to be avoided, deals to be done, Apps to ponder, etc…  I felt  much like AA Milne’s much loved character, Winnie the Pooh, when I was bombarded with complicated terms and jargon:  

“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother Me”

And I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnYJh1VlEvg Rolling Stones, It’s Not Easy

The complexity of the experience (both for me and then for the on-line-chat representative of my current mobile provider, who both had to answer my myriad of questions and argue to retain my custom) got me thinking about how difficult we make things for people at work.   Rules and regulations are multiplying and the options available to employers and employees are increasing - flexible working, variations to contractual terms, tech specs, multi-cultural teams, non-standard locations, differing work environments, new legislation, fracturing team structures, cross-company and external  collaboration (even with competitors), the impact of social media, multi-generational workforces - all make our lives more complex.
  

In theory technology should help make it easier for organisations to enable it to feel personal for their employees and for them to offer flexibility that suits singular needs, but just by doing so we add to the complexity for the business and/or departments that have to track such things.  HR is one that has to constantly cope with the changing world and often seems to do so by becoming controlling and crafting restrictive policies and procedures.  (I was asked to create a global policy for e-cigarette usage earlier this month.)  I am not keen on tight prescriptions as to how people should behave (if you employ adults, whom you trust to do a good job, then, in most instances, they should be capable of knowing what is and what is not appropriate conduct).   I am in favour of treating people as individuals - each of us is unique and if an employer can let its people be the best of themselves, at all times, then that business should get the best outcomes from its employees.

I am concerned that, in order to try to cover all the bases, HR is often guilty of creating procedures and/or writing policies that are hard for employees to follow (or which are long and cumbersome, and hence discourage others from reading or wishing to apply any proposed new approach). We write things that often feel as if they will demand significant effort, even just to achieve initial comprehension.  The same often occurs in sales, when, eager to make as many positive points as possible, the salesman ends up confusing his potential customer and hence no purchase is made. This can apply both to the quantity of information provided or simply to an excess of choice.  In an interesting experiment in America, Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia University, set up a free tasting booth for jams at a local supermarket known for extensive product ranges.  The test was conducted over two consecutive Saturdays.  On the first day 24 types of jam were made available, whereas the following Saturday only 6 were offered for tasting.  When 24 jams were on display, 60% of customers stopped for a taste and 3% bought some.  However, when only 6 were available, although only 40% of customers stopped to sample, 30% bought some. A 600% increase in sales.  This experiment has been repeated on numerous occasions and the outcome is consistent.  Absorbing information and making decisions is mentally taxing and results in what social psychologists refer to as “choice overload”.  HR, when drafting complicated policies and procedures risks giving people “information overload” with the same outcome: people switch off.

We often make things more complicated than they need to be.  A simple idea is often the best.  This week I was very struck both by the simplicity and efficacy of a concept by designer Arturo Vittori to solve the Ethiopian water shortage.  He has created 30 feet tall water towers (called Warkawater towers); they look like giant vases and can collect over 25 gallons of water per day, by harvesting water vapour from the atmosphere.  They can easily be made using locally available materials and the concept is based on simple physics that can be seen in action in nature.

I am convinced that one of the reasons why desired change often does not occur is because the people trying to make it happen look for sophisticated solutions and/or make matters too complicated for the those involved, and thereby lose the goodwill of the individuals whom they wish to inspire and carry with them.  There is much sense in Steve Job’s comment:

“That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

We have recently acquired a new HR Information System and have been creating bespoke approaches for performance management and reviews.  It is tempting to try and produce something that will work in every envisaged scenario, but the more information and guidance notes you add, the more cumbersome a process can feel and the less likely employees are to be excited by the change and a new way forward.  It is crucial to make things easy. As Einstein famously said

“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

An excellent (and humorous) example of the importance of making it simple is John Cleese’s sketch explaining the Offside Rule in football:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmC9JOcaofI

Why do we make things complex and resort to jargon and involution?  It is possible that people do so to protect their position and/or to make themselves seem important or knowledgeable. Insecurity can make people behave in strange ways. However, truly intelligent people are not hesitant in communicating their knowledge - indeed they relish sharing and educating others; they know that they seldom have all the answers and hence collaboration and contributions from others could further enhance their original ideas.  Like creating a fine cameo, there is much to be said for paring away unnecessary layers to expose something of beauty.  

The Portland Vase

The Portland Vase, often cited as the finest example of cameo artistry, is an excellent case in point.  The Romans viewed cameos as the most refined and revered of artistic techniques. A cameo is produced by creating an object out of two layers of stone or glass (usually dark blue and white glass melded together).  The cameo is produced by cutting through the top layer to provide an image in relief against the contrasting ground beneath. The stunning Portland Vase was made in Alexandria between AD 1 and AD 25 and can now be viewed in the British Museum.  What many people do not know is that in was shattered in 1845 by a certain William Lloyd who, having been drinking for over a week, threw a sculpture onto the Portland Vase’s display case, smashing the vase into over 150 pieces.  It was painstakingly repaired and has since been restored on several occasions, most recently in 1989, when each minute fragment was scanned by a computer and scientific analysis used to ensure an optimum reassembly - a great example of the value of Technology to the Arts.

Shattered Cameo Vase

Technology has its uses and the speed with which it is developing is awe inspiring - its hard to believe that the iPad is less than four years old, especially given the impact that it already has had on global business.  So I urge people in HR not to try to be too prescriptive or to insist on attempting to define exactly how things are and should be - the world is changing too fast for that.  Far better to make things easy and to teach employees how to be responsible and to use their minds.  For the sake of me, and fellow Pooh Bears with little brains, please keep it simple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHQ_aTjXObs  Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man