The journalist,
Brian Nutting, was fired from his job at
The Congressional Quarterly. He asked why people were being laid off, so he was fired for being insubordinate. (The Washington Post. 9/30/09)
He wrote a memo to his bosses "demanding an explanation" and he sent the memo to the press department as well. That copy was leaked to the media.
Granted, he probably shouldn't have
demanded answers or sent the memo to the press room. Nevertheless, senior management made a big mistake. They should have swallowed hard and been thankful for his questions. Yes, they should have been thankful.
Few people in organizations have the courage to ask hard questions or state their unvarnished points-of-view. When leaders do come across someone like that, they should assume that this person is a
human barometer and is speaking for many.
So the tip: When you get a weather report from one of those human barometers, pay attention. This can give you vital information about morale, employee engagement, and, at the very least, questions that should be addressed.
Update on the Change Management Open Source Project
Great new Podcast with
Jeff Hajek, author of
Whaddya Mean I Gotta Be Lean?. I highly recommend this for anyone involved in Lean, or for anyone interested in employee satisfaction.
And we just introduced a new feature that I am very excited about. You can create
private groups on the site. For example, you could invite your planning team to join so you've got everyone "meeting" on the same site where there are free resources for planning and implementing change. . . Or, you could invite people to a virtual training program. . . You are the moderator, so you decide who gets invited. (One caveat though. Some organizations have policies about participation on social networking sites, so check with the powers that be before you start an in-house group.)
Change Management Open Source Project Organization Development Network If you are going to the
ODN Conference in Seattle in two week, please let me know I'd love to see you. I will be doing a couple of presentations. One is on how
Gestalt field theory can support our work in organizations. The other presentation, I will co-lead with my buddy
Herb Stevenson on resistance in coaching.
When I'm not presenting I will be hanging out at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland's booth.
Hope to see you.
