When you choose if you want to work for a company (taking into account that it works with your personal situation at the moment and the role in itself is a challenge), you normally base your decision on two things:
1 – Do you like the leader of the organisation? Does he inspire you?
2 – Does he have a clear, exciting and challenging vision?
Question 1:
Nothing gives a better indication about a company culture than meeting the man/woman at the top – and crucially his/her team – what kind of people choose to work with them? Do they hire the A+ or the C? What’s the interaction? What are their core beliefs?
Question 2:
This is about the big picture, where do we go and where do we want to be? This is not about the meticulous plan; this is not about holding somebody accountable. This is about the planning principles and underlying values and the ability to create a reality.
In the context of the current election
Question 1:
7% of communication is spoken word, 70% through body language – so do we see the congruence between the words and the person? Does the person communicate with me or at me? Does the person treat me as an equal or as a prospect?
These questions explain why Clegg has gained so much popularity and why Brown’s outburst yesterday was so important, not because of what he said, but because it gave us an insight in the real man, and explained the incongruence that he has displayed in all the debates so far.
How do their key people compare? Do you prefer Cable, Darling or Osborne? How do they treat these key people? Are they partners or are their subordinates?
The linchpins, as Seth Godin, calls them, are incredibly important as they input and shape the initial vision and deliver and shape the implementation which in turn influences the vision.
Question 2:
For me, so far, no party leader has given a clear, exciting and challenging vision of the future. It’s all about the past, it’s all about the short term and it’s all about including everything and everybody.
I want to know: What’s their long term vision for Britain? What’s their long term vision of Britain’s engagement in a globalized world? What’s their elevator pitch? And it’s not allowed to contain the words “fairer” & “safer” – these are the political equivalents of “customer centric” & “innovative”. And “change” on its own, isn’t precise enough either.
Excite me – give me something to aspire to and to be proud of, something I want to be part of. I don’t need to know all the detail as I would be surprised if you’d knew.
Reassure me – what are your core values that you will stand for no matter what happens? What would get you to change those?
And now – once we know this, let’s be a little more precise and tell me what does this mean for, e.g., Trident, what does this mean for education, what does this mean for the economy, what does this mean for the political system? Just to ensure that your system of values and vision are consistent and flexible enough.
In people we trust
Actions speak louder than words, but so far we can only look at Gordon Brown’s actions as neither Clegg nor Cameron have run a government yet. The manifesto doesn’t tell us much either, it’s a sales brochure that – rightly so– gets abandoned very quickly when realpolitik hits home. So, all we have is to trust ourselves in using our human capacities to decide who’ll be best to create a new, exciting and challenging future for Britain based on the two questions above.
Twitter: mickrigby
says
cracking read felix, thnaks for this one. Head and heart, and most of the time the heart always wins.
Twitter: BillBoorman
says
Felix,
This election more than ever, will be won and lost in the leadership debate and the surrounding media. I’m suprised that the partys have only recently got active on social media channels. It’s a bit like how your local MP is suddenly appearing in the Pub. I actually think this is now backfiring. I think the staging of the debates, and lack of real public debate over time (rather than just in the last month,) will see an even lower turn out of voters than last time. The general feedback I take from twitter is that the Torys will vote Tory, the Labour will vote labour. Whatever marketing goes on will make little difference.
I think the real question for floating voters is “Who do I distrust least” rather than “Who do I trust!”. The feeling in the public domain is such that the real marketing should be on “Brand Politics” and “Brand politicians,” rather than the individual partys.
Hard to call as to will turn out the least unpopular!
Twitter: james_mayes
says
Sorry I’m late to the party here – just catching up in my blogs after Kate arrived!
I think this election, much as with interviewing comes back to the same old dichotomy of head vs heart. In particular, leaders are coming under more public scrutiny via the debates (candidate interviews?) and even though solid questions and answers are being exchanged (competency based? perhaps not quite!) the electorate will go with gut feel.
I wonder how many candidates go through an extensive hiring process like this only to experience a hiring decision based predominantly on gut feel….
Good to have you back, James.
I think you’ve made a really good point. I believe that this “cultural matching” or “value matching” is one of the most important pieces of recruitment. Skills you can teach, values are deeply rooted.
Choosing a party or voting for a party is mainly about politicians sharing the same values and having a vision I can believe in – as manifestos will be changed with changing environments and changing roles.
The other indicator for me is their behaviour and participation in parliament and in their specific comissions – ultimately they are politicans and not managers.