The danger is real. A certain routine becomes so ingrained that we stop thinking about alternatives. We do no planning nor stretching to reach greater heights of accomplishment. Worse yet, we forget about those who will succeed us when we're gone. The consequence of that is leaving a vacancy, a void that must be filled by another who doesn't have the benefit of our tutelage and mentorship.
Pope Benedict XVI announced last week that he is going to resign on February 28. To say the announcement cause a small stir would be more than understatement. But it brings up a concern that definitely needs to be addressed by all organizations. The papacy is a prime example of the consequences of following an unwise practice to the detriment of the organization.
The Church has gone for more than 600 years without doing any formal succession planning. Of course the stations and protocols and deportment are followed. Etiquette is closely observed. But when it comes to choosing a new pope, little to nothing has been done to groom some logical candidates for the office. The Cardinals must look among their followers (of the cloth) and determine who is the most enlightened to take the reigns after the previous person who held the position died. Then the Cardinals sit in their secret chamber and cast their votes, waiting for the magical moment when they can send up a plume of white smoke that signals they have successfully voted for the right person to lead The Church for the next several decades.
Unfortunately, the successor then needs to rely on more superstition (that he will not die a brief time after being selected by the august body of Cardinals) and embark on what that particular person presumes is the correct direction for The Church and its followers. Has there been time for conversations about policy or change? Maybe but for the most part, those thoughts were sent up in sermons and papers. The reasoning behind the conclusions is vague and not part of a public record.
The resignation of Benedict raises some additional issues that most corporations and businesses include in their officers and directors plans - in the bylaws. Provisions for an annuity, a retirement fund, protocols for how to treat the outgoing Pope compared with the inductee. As a person who has retired, does the former Pope still follow the strictures that normally apply to a priest or does this person become a lay person? Now that he is no longer part of the inner circle, someone must determine whether he can continue to be associated with it and to what degree. What types of things will the outgoing pope be allowed to do is another matter that needs to be considered.
Corporate bylaws provide that should a director or officer reach a point wherein they are no longer able to fulfill the duties of their office, they may take a leave of absence until the condition is brought under control. In the alternative, they may step down from office permanently, providing the body with a date when the resignation will take effect, and request that the Board select a successor. Informally, the Board will consult with the outgoing officer to review potential candidates for the seat. Among the candidates will be those who were put into the succession pool. If none of them prove adequate for the directions in which the organization needs to go, a Selection Committee (like the College of Cardinals) will be created and a search will begin for a successor.
The point is, there are "i"s to be dotted and "t"s to be crossed. There are people who have been in the pipeline who were being groomed for taking the reigns at the right time. But The Church hasn't been functioning in that way. Perhaps because it got into a rut and started doing things according to the old adage of "but that's the way we've always done it" instead of looking at retirement, and not death in office, as another policy matter that's handled in a business manner.
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Showing posts with label preparation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preparation. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Friday, November 02, 2007
Gardening and Growing a Business
I'm trying to grow a few things right now. Sometimes there are growth spurts and sometimes there is drop off. I'm not happy with the results I'm getting. But as I contemplate the many efforts and their results, I remember the many times I started a garden. Then I remember the lessons of my Zen days and realize everything in this Life is akin to Nature and if we think in terms of how Nature deals with circumstances, we're certain to come up with natural solutions and success.
In the case of the garden, whether seeds or seedlings, there was the planting period after preparing the soil. After the planting was watering in order to help the new babies take to their new environment. Proper sunlight was needed as well as the correct temperature. And the most important element of all was the proper amount of attention.
Too much water would drown my babies. Likewise, too little water and they quickly turned into crispy crinkles for the dumpster. Watching them too closely amounted to wasting time. But I tried to tell myself that they were benefitting from the carbon dioxide I was breathing on them. My rational mind said that was a fallacy But leaving them unattended for too long was just about the same as forgetting to water.
During my Zen period, someone gave me three tomato plants. The donor insisted that we feed the plants as soon as they went into the ground so they would have a solid start. In order to keep peace and appease the person's ego, I acquiesced. The plants never got fed again. They got a weekly watering along with the other herbs and that was that. But the tomatoes grew to 2.5 times the size of a tennis ball. The vines looped over themselves three times. And I had tomatoes by the bushel. You might say their conditions were super optimized. They were larger than the neighbor who was a prize tomato grower. They were larger than the ones produced by the donor. It was obvious as you looked at their faces that they tried in vain to find something to say about the size of those tomatoes and their volume to cast a pall on their quality. There was no denying the quality in any regard.
On the other hand, I kept attempting to start impatiens in the edges of the rose garden. I used 4-inch pots. I used 10-inch pots. I used rooted cuttings. Healthy mounds were given to me in half-gallon pots. Nothing worked. It wasn't from lack of conditions. The gardener would hoe the rose garden even when I asked him not to do so and he would then chop up the impatien starts. I would show him where the starts were located and ask him to hoe around them. It did no good. I put notes on the plants and pinned them to the leaves with straight pins. It did no good. Sometimes you have people who are receiving instructions from two sources and one overrides the other. Nevertheless, the impatiens received too much attention with conflicting purposes.
As a consultant, there will be projects that seem to jettison themselves into outrageous success with the least amount of effort. Just some occasional attention is fine; the initial elements were properly prepared to allow their acceptance and growth. Those will be the cash cows. Be thankful for them.
There will be other projects that are like the impatiens. No matter what you do to protect and nurture them, they will be destroyed. Then it's time to examine which parties are involved with the project both internally and externally. Get rid of the external interference as quickly as possible. Be polite; be firm; stop the destruction. As for the internal party(ies), tell them you've decided to put the project exclusively into the hands of one person and no one else will have access. You may want to embellish a bit by letting them know they'll be considered for other projects in the future. However, your main focus is regaining control of the environment and keeping your product safe from destructive designs.
As for that one person who will be in control of the project, you're now wondering who that should be. Who do you trust most, more than anyone else. Yes, that's the person who'll be in control of the project.
Technorati: development, preparation, nurturing, control, destruction, success,
In the case of the garden, whether seeds or seedlings, there was the planting period after preparing the soil. After the planting was watering in order to help the new babies take to their new environment. Proper sunlight was needed as well as the correct temperature. And the most important element of all was the proper amount of attention.
Too much water would drown my babies. Likewise, too little water and they quickly turned into crispy crinkles for the dumpster. Watching them too closely amounted to wasting time. But I tried to tell myself that they were benefitting from the carbon dioxide I was breathing on them. My rational mind said that was a fallacy But leaving them unattended for too long was just about the same as forgetting to water.
During my Zen period, someone gave me three tomato plants. The donor insisted that we feed the plants as soon as they went into the ground so they would have a solid start. In order to keep peace and appease the person's ego, I acquiesced. The plants never got fed again. They got a weekly watering along with the other herbs and that was that. But the tomatoes grew to 2.5 times the size of a tennis ball. The vines looped over themselves three times. And I had tomatoes by the bushel. You might say their conditions were super optimized. They were larger than the neighbor who was a prize tomato grower. They were larger than the ones produced by the donor. It was obvious as you looked at their faces that they tried in vain to find something to say about the size of those tomatoes and their volume to cast a pall on their quality. There was no denying the quality in any regard.
On the other hand, I kept attempting to start impatiens in the edges of the rose garden. I used 4-inch pots. I used 10-inch pots. I used rooted cuttings. Healthy mounds were given to me in half-gallon pots. Nothing worked. It wasn't from lack of conditions. The gardener would hoe the rose garden even when I asked him not to do so and he would then chop up the impatien starts. I would show him where the starts were located and ask him to hoe around them. It did no good. I put notes on the plants and pinned them to the leaves with straight pins. It did no good. Sometimes you have people who are receiving instructions from two sources and one overrides the other. Nevertheless, the impatiens received too much attention with conflicting purposes.
As a consultant, there will be projects that seem to jettison themselves into outrageous success with the least amount of effort. Just some occasional attention is fine; the initial elements were properly prepared to allow their acceptance and growth. Those will be the cash cows. Be thankful for them.
There will be other projects that are like the impatiens. No matter what you do to protect and nurture them, they will be destroyed. Then it's time to examine which parties are involved with the project both internally and externally. Get rid of the external interference as quickly as possible. Be polite; be firm; stop the destruction. As for the internal party(ies), tell them you've decided to put the project exclusively into the hands of one person and no one else will have access. You may want to embellish a bit by letting them know they'll be considered for other projects in the future. However, your main focus is regaining control of the environment and keeping your product safe from destructive designs.
As for that one person who will be in control of the project, you're now wondering who that should be. Who do you trust most, more than anyone else. Yes, that's the person who'll be in control of the project.
Technorati: development, preparation, nurturing, control, destruction, success,
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