A story of lateral thinking leadership
Keith was a fairly junior office worker, who spent his days at a drawing board designing tools and components for a precision engineering company. He was a talented engineer, though, and had a reputation for being able to diagnose problems and fix stuff. The company had two sites, about 30 miles apart, and when the company decided it needed to move one of its departments from the head office to the remote site, he was a little surprised to be asked to run the project.
He struck up a productive and enjoyable relationship with the team at site 2, and the project was going well. Being an engineering company there were many tons of machinery to ship, in dozens of lorry loads, and then everything needed to be sited and assembled on arrival. When he visited site 2, he and the team would spend the morning working, break for a spot of lunch, then back to it in the afternoon.
Now, this was the late 1980s and the company had its roots in what one might call “the old days”. So, the canteen was segregated: low-level workers would eat in the main area, but there was a separate dining room for managers and another, posher one for directors. Although not a manager, Keith was invited to eat in the managers’ dining room each lunchtime (all the site 2 guys he worked with were managers) because it made sense for them to go through the afternoon’s work while they ate.
Or at least he did until George (real name withheld to protect the guilty), Keith’s boss’s boss, got wind of the situation. The edict was issued: you’re not a manager, so stop eating with the managers and go have lunch with the peasants. Unsurprisingly the site 2 managers protested what they considered to be rather a fickle decision – it seemed trite, and they were losing valuable planning time. George was not to be moved, however.
The managers’ concerns were escalated, and after a couple of days a member of the Board, Charles, became involved. He agreed with the managers, and so had a word with George. Despite the company having a fairly conventional model of management subordination, George stood his ground: the rules said who dined where, and having a lowly designer dining with managers would set a dangerous precedent. Charles capitulated, and George went away with a smug look on his face.
The following lunchtime, an invitation was sent to the working group. Keith and the managers were invited to have lunch with Charles in the directors’ dining room for the duration of the project.
That evening, George collared Keith and gave him a roasting. Keith pointed out that he was stuck in the middle: he understood that George had given an instruction, but similarly he wasn’t really at liberty to say “no” to a director.
The managers only dined twice with Charles; by the third day, George had rescinded his instruction and Keith was permitted to dine and plan with the managers.
Footnote: I did a bit of work for the same company. I met George a couple of times, and didn’t really like him. I also met Charles a few times, and he was the kind of leader you’d crawl over hot coals for. A retired Army officer, he was fearlessly dedicated to his people and if anyone made a mistake or stuffed something up in good faith, he had their back. We should all try to be a little bit like Charles.
He struck up a productive and enjoyable relationship with the team at site 2, and the project was going well. Being an engineering company there were many tons of machinery to ship, in dozens of lorry loads, and then everything needed to be sited and assembled on arrival. When he visited site 2, he and the team would spend the morning working, break for a spot of lunch, then back to it in the afternoon.
Now, this was the late 1980s and the company had its roots in what one might call “the old days”. So, the canteen was segregated: low-level workers would eat in the main area, but there was a separate dining room for managers and another, posher one for directors. Although not a manager, Keith was invited to eat in the managers’ dining room each lunchtime (all the site 2 guys he worked with were managers) because it made sense for them to go through the afternoon’s work while they ate.
Or at least he did until George (real name withheld to protect the guilty), Keith’s boss’s boss, got wind of the situation. The edict was issued: you’re not a manager, so stop eating with the managers and go have lunch with the peasants. Unsurprisingly the site 2 managers protested what they considered to be rather a fickle decision – it seemed trite, and they were losing valuable planning time. George was not to be moved, however.
The managers’ concerns were escalated, and after a couple of days a member of the Board, Charles, became involved. He agreed with the managers, and so had a word with George. Despite the company having a fairly conventional model of management subordination, George stood his ground: the rules said who dined where, and having a lowly designer dining with managers would set a dangerous precedent. Charles capitulated, and George went away with a smug look on his face.
The following lunchtime, an invitation was sent to the working group. Keith and the managers were invited to have lunch with Charles in the directors’ dining room for the duration of the project.
That evening, George collared Keith and gave him a roasting. Keith pointed out that he was stuck in the middle: he understood that George had given an instruction, but similarly he wasn’t really at liberty to say “no” to a director.
The managers only dined twice with Charles; by the third day, George had rescinded his instruction and Keith was permitted to dine and plan with the managers.
Footnote: I did a bit of work for the same company. I met George a couple of times, and didn’t really like him. I also met Charles a few times, and he was the kind of leader you’d crawl over hot coals for. A retired Army officer, he was fearlessly dedicated to his people and if anyone made a mistake or stuffed something up in good faith, he had their back. We should all try to be a little bit like Charles.
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