The Hedge Organisation: A story to show how people can become lost in the corporate hedge E-Book

Paul Williams

• Herausgeber: Grosvenor House Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 50

Beschreibung

This simple story illustrates how companies can get out of control, and lose focus as they grow. Told in the form of a parable, it draws parallels between a hedge and a company – the hedge becoming out of control with intertwined branches, and the company's efficiency and profits stifled by out of control people, processes, procedures and non value-adding activities. It deals simply, yet profoundly, with a whole range of issues that companies need to address if they are to reach their full potential, and how inspirational leadership is the key to achieving world class standards of performance and excellence.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

The Story Behind the Story

The Story

The Beginning

The Recruitment Process

The Good Times

The Decline

The Search For Help

The Conversations

The Turnaround

Finally

Copyright

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

This is the story of Mike Ramsey – a good, decent man who starts his own company.

After a promising beginning the company expands, but unfortunately its financial fortunes gradually wane and Mike faces financial ruin.

The reason for the company’s decline is that Mike’s management team gradually lose focus, they misuse their positive personality traits, and also become diverted by non-value-adding activities. All of these problems are more likely to occur in large companies where there are more opportunities to become distracted, whereas smaller organisations have to remain completely focused in order to survive.

Eventually Mike realises that his company has become like an out of control hedge, and in order to regain control he has to show true, genuine, authentic and inspirational leadership if he is to reverse the company’s financial fortunes.

I hope you will find the story that guides this book interesting, useful and even entertaining. On the front cover you will see an illustration of Mike’s management team lost in the corporate hedge, and you might wonder why there’s no illustration of Mike himself; this is because he might well be someone you know – or maybe even you!

THE STORY

The Beginning

Mike Ramsey had just moved into 45 Acacia Avenue in Windall with his wife and 2.5 children (he used this joke at dinner parties as there was a baby on the way). It was a pleasant, leafy avenue, evenly lined on either side with mature flowering cherry trees.

He had left his old widget company in Teeford, where he had been the production manager, to start his own widget company. Mike knew all about widgets, and in fact at his old company people had often referred to him as the widget king, a title he had accepted and worn with modest pride.

Having secured the finance for his new venture, using his house as security, Mike was busy overseeing the refurbishment of an old factory so that it would become a “state-of-the-art” widget production facility. The work all went according to Mike’s plan; little wonder, as Mike was a fastidious planner, precise and accurate, but never too ambitious. All his life Mike had used these skills to steadily climb the corporate ladder, rising from maintenance fitter to production manager.

But now things were different, or as Mike liked to put it, this was the time for a paradigm shift in his life. He wasn’t quite sure what the word “paradigm” meant, but he had heard it mentioned in a lecture on organisational change at Teeford Technical College in one of the optional modules he had selected as part of his HNC in mechanical engineering. However, he was sure it was something to do with radical change – and that was the journey Mike was now on.

Another thing Mike was proud of was that several of his old colleagues had, although perhaps a little jealous of his ambitious plans to start his own company, given him a leaving present of a book entitled “Entrepreneurial Skills”. However, when reflecting on this kind gift, Mike wasn’t quite sure if the message behind it was that he already had, or maybe needed, to acquire these skills.

Within six months the new factory was ready. Mike was very proud to walk around it and view the new manufacturing equipment, the prestigious although not too extravagant offices, and the newly landscaped grounds, complete with a water feature just outside the oak front door. And what Mike was particularly proud of was the new sign at the entrance: “Windall Widget Company - MD: Mike Ramsey”

He wasn’t sure if he should have a parking space for himself, as he had read in an article on employee engagement in “Widget Weekly” that it could be seen as elitist, and that was one thing Mike certainly wasn’t, so as a compromise he simply put a sign on the space nearest the front door which said “Reserved”. Mike thought that as no-one would know who it was reserved for he could make use of it himself.

To mark the completion of the factory, Mike thought it would be a good idea to plant something in the garden of his new home, so he could see both his business and his garden flourish at the same time. Not wanting to plant something that had no purpose, as this wouldn’t complement the growth plans he had for his business, he wanted to plant something that was both ornate and useful. He dwelt on the matter for a few days, a process Mike often utilised: as he would frequently say when dealing with issues, “Let me sleep on it”. After several nights, Mike arrived at the perfect thing to plant: a hedge in the front garden. This would be both pleasing to the eye and useful. And, as there was no front wall it would prevent people from encroaching onto his garden and possibly peering into his bay window, something he thought was quite likely, as the number 19 bus to the centre of Windall stopped right outside his house. Not that he really minded, as he felt this had been adequately reflected in the purchase price of the house he had finally negotiated with the estate agent.

So, as the business grew he could then see his hedge grow too, and he would nurture and care for them both.

The Recruitment Process

Having planted the hedge over one weekend – Mike was never a person to drag a job out once he had made a decision – he turned his attention to recruiting the team he would need to manage and run the factory. From his previous experience Mike knew all the key positions which he identified as:-

• Marketing

• Sales

• Production

• Health & Safety

• Finance

• Human Resources (HR)