Losing the will to live
Today the education authority sent me on a management seminar. I spent several hours at the Holiday Inn listening to a “keynote speaker” deliver “collaborative training” on “distributive leadership.”
Behind him the slogan “Middle Managers Making a Difference” was projected onto a screen.
He pointed to the back of the conference room and shouted at the top of his voice, “My vision is there! I can see it, just three years away! Come with me and we’ll reach it together!”
So, after a few sessions of learning the importance of “walking the talk” and “delegating ownership of stakeholder values” it seems that I am now qualified to “inspire,” to “make decisions” and to “align everyone’s energies.”
I even have a certificate to prove it.
I also have a target: to adopt a collegiate approach to my vision, using an affiliative style to embed it in my leadership strategies, in order to further signify the importance of expectations and fostering in the progress of my department.
Silly me. I thought I was a teacher.
You’ve correctly identified within the day what can sometimes take several years to sink in.
It is absolute tosh, a rebadging of other peoples’ good principles bundled up and sold as both new and original.
And, what’s even better, you’ll not have to sit through it again until the authority has forgotten this event and thinks once more that it is new and whizzy.
Hope your head wasn’t there. Higher echelons usually fall for this, big style!
Comment by Mike — June 18, 2004 @ 9:23 pm
Oy, what rubbish. Makes me glad that I can usually avoid such motivational workshops at the U.
Comment by Ancarett — June 20, 2004 @ 9:57 pm
It’s unbelievable how much money people must make off perfecting the art of verbal bullsh*t. I loath and detest those type of seminars.
Comment by Allie — June 20, 2004 @ 10:48 pm
Was browsing through blogspot when I stumbled here
Comment by Stephane — November 7, 2004 @ 10:33 am