Ballet Dancers Moonlight as Wrestlers

BaldOpinion 12(a)

Managing before the crisis:

Clarie arrived as a pup.  Her temperament is one of friendship – too much, but I learn that to have a good friend I have to be a good friend first. Clarie follows in a line of other dogs, Lampo, Boris, Bess, Foxil the 1st, Capone, Rocky and the more recently expired, Fancy Nancy.

Seven years ago Clarie’s nose was dry. Her tail would not wag. Her look was of sadness.  

’Where’s your ball Clarie?’ 

There was no exuberance.

‘Garbage Disease’ - that is what the Vet said. The puppy had Garbage Disease.

‘If you put rubbish in then you’ll get rubbish out’, so said Mr Williams – alas, I here sanitise the language he usedJ.

Mr Williams wore short sleeved check shirts and a tie that ended with a broad flair, like a bib. He had big forearms, many stories about rugby and; and his four front teeth were missing!  No matter what this teacher said the posture in his tone made one forget to disagree.  This Williams taught English, but did so using another very different language. When I complained to my mother her response was: ‘Concentrate and learn to speak English.’  

When she walked back into the consulting room I overheard her grumble:

‘You children should be grateful; after all you get two for the price of one.’ 

How do you take precaution against assimilating rubbish or; are you partial to the way Peter Block responds when he says “The Answer to How is Yes?”

Part One – of Three 

Here I broadly discuss employment, but much detail is omitted because the intention is to create a foundation for later discussions.  I am to tread on a number of proverbial toes, but my intentions are not malicious.

This is a rewrite for those who may have read my earlier writing, “Change is Permanent”.  The consternation then was almost comparable to “We Demand a Living Wage”!  Maybe this time I’ve caught up and am on the same page, singing off the same sheet as others:

When I was a boy my football friends went to church on a Sunday. I would accompany them. It was difficult to play football alone and to dribble against a dog served only to puncture my foot. No matter whether my football friends were Catholic, Anglican, or members of other Protestant faiths, the constant at the church was always a shrill voiced woman leading the singing – from the front I’ll have you know.  She would sing way ahead of the others. So far that a fellow footballer, after noticing my perplexed look, he leaned over and whispered, ‘That woman is in a hurry. She has a Sunday roast is in the oven and a match to referee this afternoon!’  

These up-tempo descant singing church women with roasts in the oven would bother me for a number of years.  The same bother was about the man in the front whom people referred to as Pastor and Father. He wore different garments in most every church I visited.  In my boy mind I knew that if I attend often enough then someday I shall understand what the front man was saying.

On a certain Sunday the man spoke about children. He spoke about parents who were previously married to other partners and; also about children who were born to parents who were not married to each other. I understood that, but he made it seem that we children were lesser than the others…

Sometimes we apply to be appointed against a job that we feel more than suited for. Receiving the regret letter, a standard letter, is a devastating feeling.  ‘It prepares you for life’ says that mother. If it is preparing me then why is it that I feel lesser when this happens?

Let’s examine the selection and recruitment processes applied in the world of work.  I draw against criteria that do not add to growth within business.

The purpose of recruitment is the identification of people who have ability, potential, passion and an inherent interest to become better at whatever it is they do.

All too frequently people are recruited because they are liked and less because they sport ability, growth potential, passion, talent and insight.  We choose people for appointment against certain positions because they suit our paradigm. We frequently disregard results drawn from achievement tests and; we forget that the position we seek to fill was created by the business, often a very long time ago.

When the Company is compliant with what is described as the minimum requirements in Equity Legislation then seemingly all is in order. Where fines are imposed for non-compliance Companies increasingly opt to pay instead of comply. No different to the ‘wild cat strike’ (where employees withdraw their labour without following the set procedure. In most countries this is a criminal act, and participants are frequently dismissed, but not in South Africa.)

Prior to and during the interview we observe and test for aptitude, gender, creed and many more. Do we test for whether the candidate is the best at doing the job and; whether such person is able to contribute to growth of the business? Surely, we want to build successful businesses and provide sustainable employment? Instead people are employed because they suit our paradigm and allow us to comply with the minimum requirement stipulated in the relevant Equity Act.

Is academic qualification an accurate measuring instrument; more so than experience?    

The concern about personal weakness is over-rated.  Most people only possess between 75% and 85% of the skill mix stipulated in the Company job description.

Jobs that are structured to suit the incumbents’ ability, passion and talents make weakness irrelevant. Jobs created by the Company should be fluid and selection processes should gear toward the appointment of people who can best contribute to building the business.

What if job descriptions are changed to contain only those tasks that the incumbent is good at; what if tasks are reallocated to those who have greater ability where there is deficiency and; what if jobs are more regularly scored in order to determine parity reward?

 'All the ballet dancers in the National Ballet Corps moonlight as wrestlers', so says Suleiman Hendricks, a theatrical lighting operator who is known for using hyperbole.   

Much truth is spoken in jest (Geoffrey Chaucer – 1390).  When the accountant is not a good salesman and; when the salesman is not a good accountant – why are we surprised?

Employees are not assets in the business. Only good employees are assets. Bad employees are a catastrophic liability. Williams would have been more descriptive!

The selection mechanism determines whether persons are attracted and subsequently employed. The selection process prioritises criteria in order to identify the best candidate. Selection panels are dictated to by law to interview and appoint from a pool of people who were, for political and customary reasons, excluded from certain employment bands. 

Why not search for the better talent and grow the business so that it can incubate for the future in a manner that is discriminatory only about ability and effort? The education system in South Africa is failing the people.  People are not being sufficiently prepared for the world of work – all the more reason why development at work is essential.

Experience has to be earned.

Create opportunity to harvest from a yield of proven/identified ability; create attainable aspiration within the business and; encourage the demise of entitlement.

Is it right to prevent ability and potential from having access to opportunity; particularly if opportunity is reserved for those who were wronged in the past and; is often at the expense of the better candidate.    

What can be done to fix the past and; what can be done to grow better future businesses, so that more people can have jobs with which to earn dignity?

To legislate who should be employed is defeatist. The selection mechanism should be defensible against and defined in legislation. Legislation should not be punitive to the appointment of talent and the best candidate. Skin-tone and the past are not going to build future businesses and create jobs - ability, talent, passion and opportunity for the better candidate will. 

It is important to reflect the demographics throughout the tiers of employment bands, but it should not be at the expense of ability and talent.  Selecting employees because they are/were recipients of negative discrimination will further stunt personal growth – ‘Those punch above their weight!’ says Williams

The role of the business includes supporting employees. People need affirmation as a form of and support.

Imagine, Abbe Zimmerman became fed-up with the noise; dropped his newspaper, removed his spectacles and in frustration shouted:

‘… For heaven’s sake, Robert! Put that there guitar away and stop singing that Knock, Knock, Heaven Door, thing, over and bloody over!

When is it enough!

Your voice, it, is monotone and, and irritating! ...’   Williams would have said it better.

However, had Mr Zimmerman consistently said this to Bob then the world would have been denied the incalculable musical influence Bob Dylan continues to exert on popular music?

There are times when judgement is rubbished by reality; … but how can we avoid garbage disease?

Businesses and organisations are the custodians of jobs for all who work.  

We have no choice, but to constantly seek a marriage between judgement and reality. Leadership is the ability to balance circumstance.

Conflict on the other hand, need not be negative.  The employer-employee relationship will always be one of conflict.  Leftover feelings following a bloody / bruising strike are more important than the act of flexing industrial muscle.  Is industrial action necessary; is it the only solution; has its time passed and; what are the alternatives?  My reference here is not limited to employees.

We want leadership to engender positive conflict. People who work want to celebrate their workplaces.  We want to be happy and enjoy the journey of growth without exploitation and disrespect.  

To hanker after, or fain blindness when we fail to facilitate the convergence of judgement with reality is a travesty. No employer or employee can dance alone.

In this context the guarding against paternalism is a puerile argument. We have to do whatever it takes so that people who have the best ability are attracted, identified, appointed and nurtured. Anything lesser shall serve to tamper with the custodial obligation employers have toward the jobs against which those who work are appointed.  Sustainable businesses and perpetual growth shall only occur upon solid defensible foundations and where nurturing for excellence is the left over feeling.  

Business has a responsibility to provide sustainable jobs – hold business leaders accountable. To strive for equity as determined by skin-tone and an unjust past whilst unemployment soars and sustainability of employment decreases is not constructive. Each one has to teach one, but such teaching must vest on a solid, sound and growing platform, failing which teaching shall continue to be a vacuum exercise.

When all is said and done go on, have a listen, enjoy –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2mhdidocTM