Comments on: Crazy chess …

By: Eric Wilbanks

Eric Wilbanks — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:24:58 +0000

Richard, I have four kids. They make up games and rules as a matter of course. We try to teach them to be creative. Of course, that doesn’t preclude the existence or necessity of rules (we have plenty of them at my house), it just means that rules can only take you so far. The best example of what I am saying was probably written by Rolf Smith in his book “The Seven Levels of Change.” Most people live and die in the realm of rules (Level 1, Effectiveness–Doing the right things; Level 2, Efficiency–Doing things right and occasionally Level 3, Improving–Doing things better). Too few people ever make it beyond those levels into the world of real change and innovation.

By: Konstantin Maximuk

Konstantin Maximuk — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:33:29 +0000

Hello Richard!

I wrote you an email on sharing expertise on Intranet.
Did you receive an email from me?

Thank you.
Konstantin Maximuk

By: Stuart Glendinning Hall

Stuart Glendinning Hall — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:12:23 +0000

Thanks, I like the point about the difference between management and control, but in reality that takes a lot of confidence to pull off. Which brings in the value of experience I guess? Maybe self-empowerment if you want to get serious about it;-)

By: Stuart Glendinning Hall - Crazy chess, makes sense

Stuart Glendinning Hall - Crazy chess, makes sense — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:10:44 +0000

[...] blog post on getting the balance right, inspired by a crazy game of chess. Like the point about the difference between management and control, but in reality that takes a [...]

By: richarddennison

richarddennison — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:34:49 +0000

Lee – I’m not convinced that we need ‘different’ approaches between home life and work life … it’s just life … we all need to learn, experience different approaches, learn from mistakes, learn from those who have gone before us … we’re all just human-beings finding our feet and trying to get along as best we can in all the confusion!

By: richarddennison

richarddennison — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:30:52 +0000

Thanks for the comment … of course, balance is everything in a corporate context … however, plenty of people believe that: ‘the rules, bureaucracy, and the directives or managers’ prevent things happening rather than make things happen.

We need objectives but why can’t we be open-minded about how we achieve them?

By: sosaechanis

sosaechanis — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:00:22 +0000

I enjoy the story. however, you are missing the point of cheese. it may be have some fun and spend time. but what about strategy and objectives?

i mean, the kids had fun doing it their way. but sometimes, you cannot just do it your way cause you have objectives to pursue or a mission to respect and the rules, bureaucracy, and the directives or managers are there to make sure that happen.

like everything in live, we must find balance.

By: Lee Hamtpon-Whitehead

Lee Hamtpon-Whitehead — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:27:02 +0000

your point “be humble enough to accept that there may be more than one way to get things done” is the one I found extremely difficult to adopt, when I first had staff responsibilitues some 15 years ago.

Althougt not as difficult as “know when to intervene”,
I now have a different approach at work and at home with kids

At home, it is simple, I dont intervene, unless safety is an issue. Time is not money, ans most people (not sure about kids) learn from their mistakes,

At work, not sure i will ever get that right !!!

By: richarddennison

richarddennison — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:01:45 +0000

Jon – you’re absolutely right … in fact, we’ve had a number of internal messages being sent out around ‘less management and more leadership’ …

By: Jon Mell

Jon Mell — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:43:10 +0000

Sounds more like coaching than managing (and I mean real sports coaching here – not consulting dressed up as “business coaching”).

I do a lot of basketball coaching when not doing things E2.0 and you could easily apply those bullet points to sports coaching best practice.

I’ve seen the management vs control point expressed as “Leadership and management are not the same thing” – management being essentially an admin/reporting function. It’s almost as if 2.0 manager is an oxymoron, those who follow your bullet points above may be seen as leaders, rather than managers!

Jon