CorporateCoach eNewsletter
Issue No. 52, 29th March 2004
CONTENTS
- Editorial: Problems of success
- Coaching notes: Lessons for young citizens (1)
1. Editorial: Problems of success
 This
year is the 250th anniversary of the Royal Society of Arts.
The Society was founded in 1754 by William Shipley, a painter and social activist.
He brought together a group of individuals to propose a manifesto for Society
"to embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine arts, improve our manufactures
and extend our commerce". The RSA originated in Rawthmell's coffee house
in Covent Garden, London, and to celebrate the anniversary, the RSA launched
the Coffee House Challenge.
I was honoured to be asked to facilitate the event in Birmingham in the local
Starbucks. Over a period of two hours some 26 guests discussed "Developing
a capable population" in four groups. Not surprisingly the subjects that
arose were not related to traditional education but tended towards communication
and social skills.
I have for some months been considering what I would include in a curriculum
for young people. I get frustrated by the ignorance of politicians and the press
and have wondered what teaching in schools would improve the situation in the
future.
One that commonly manifests is a result of not appreciating the significance
of price elasticity of demand. Our railways have grown very successfully since
privatisation ten years ago. Unfortunately, although we now have some wonderful
new trains and improved frequencies, the growth has been faster than the rail
network can cope with. The public response to overcrowding is to ask for the
fares to be reduced because of the resulting poor quality of service.
This is nonsense. If the price is reduced, patronage will rise and overcrowding
will increase. However, if we follow the basic laws of economics and increase
the fares, patronage would go down making it more pleasant for the remaining
passengers, and the railway companies' earnings would rise - encouraging them
to invest more in increasing the capacity.
Unfortunately, what is "fair" is not necessarily what is sensible.
On Friday I used the new M6 toll road. This is the first commercially funded
toll road in Britain and provides a bypass to the heavily congested M6, north
of Birmingham. The toll for lorries has been set at £10, which hauliers
say is too high, so that they do not use it. There have been outcries in the
press that setting the toll at this rate is unfair because it will "increase"
the cost of goods delivered by road and consumers will be penalised. It cannot
do so because all the hauliers are doing is to refuse a choice that they previously
did not have. Further, the removal of significant numbers of cars at peak periods
will reduce the congestion on the old M6 and imrove travel times for those who
continue to use it.
There is, however, another argument. I know from my training as a highways
engineer that the wear and tear on a road is a function of the number of heavy
lorries that use it. On a road designed for lorries, cars and light vans have
little effect. So, it can be argued, the toll authority is "cheating"
by taking the low cost traffic and leaving the damaging heavy lorries on the
government owned road. Perhaps, however, they have calculated that £10
is the cost of damage of a heavy lorry journey.
I think economics is a wonderful subject - it allows us to get to logic behind
emotion. As a consultant and coach, part of my job is to challenge easy asssumptions.
If the press did the same we would have a more mature (and capable) population.
Here are some more of my chosen lessons for young citizens, with more to come
next week. I would be interested to receive any other suggestions.
USEFUL LINKS:
NEW RELEASE: A Straightforward Guide to a Stress Free Life
A Straightforward
Guide to a Stress Free Life
Stress is probably one of the biggest challenges of modern life and, often,
we are not taught how to manage it.
A Straightforward
Guide to a Stress Free Life provides you with the tools and techniques to
set yourself up for a stress free life and to manage the four different kinds
of pressure that most people face in their lives.
- Time pressure - too much to do and too little time
- Situational pressure - events, money, exams etc
- People pressures - being unreasonable, asking too much
- Self pressure - expecting too much of ourselves
This short e-book is filled with practical approaches to make things different.
Use the tools provided on a regular and consistent basis and you will move to
a stress free life.
Click
here to find out more.
2. Coaching notes: Lessons for young citizens (1)
Here are some concepts that I would include in my curriculum for young people:
-
The Law of unintended consequences
Readers will have heard me ranting about this in the past. The more bad laws
the government passes, the more this law becomes evident.
We live in a stable but dynamic system. The world we live in operates consistently
and, if we try to change it, it reacts in order to regain equilibrium. Unfortunately,
we often forget this and treat new ideas from a single point of view. The result
is that the consequence is the opposite of what we intended.
A good example of this is 'women's rights'. If laws are passed to simply increase
the pay, privileges and maternity benefits of women employees the result will
be that they find it more difficult to find employment. Their increased rights
over male employees will count against them at recruitment.
If we wish to improve the employment situation of women, therefore, it is necessary
to explore opportunities within the 'system' so that a new equilibrium can be
reached and our intended consequence achieved.
Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost is the lost benefits of what could have been achieved if this
particular action had not happened. So, for example, the cost of a training
course includes the cost of the work that cannot now be done by participants
on the days they attend as well as the direct cost of travel and fees.
Moral hazard
When I was young, a schoolgirl in the house opposite became pregnant. This
was in the days before such things became the norm in Britain!! The question
was: Should we celebrate and look after the young mother and her baby? or: Should
she be shamed as a lesson to other potentially delinquent teenagers? Clearly,
we would prefer to look after mother and child. But the moral hazard is that
such action could unintentionally send a message to other girls, leading to
more schoolgirl pregnancies and greater total suffering.
To take a business example. If government is seen to underwrite banks, insurance
companies and businesses that fail, in order to protect the lenders and investors,
the moral hazard is that managers will be more willing to take risks and the
likelihood of failure will increase.
The reality of risk
When I was young it was common for school classes to include someone with an
arm or leg in plaster. We were allowed to take risks, and sometimes it led to
a broken limb or to some other minor harm.
Today, in Britain, we have replaced an acceptance of risk with both a desire
to protect citizens from all chance of harm and a desire to litigate against
someone in case of personal harm. Here is a form of unintended consequence.
Now that children are protected from risk they have no swings or roundabouts
to play on, and may not be able to learn to swim at school or go on foreign
holidays. As a result, not only do they miss many of the joys of youth, but
they lose the experience of learning to manage risk and take personal responsibility
in later life.
USEFUL LINKS:
We aim to make the Brefi Group web site the premier developmental site
for teams and individuals in organisations, so do please send us your
suggestions and requests for further development. And let us know what you think
of this newsletter, and comment on the content.
THIS IS A FREE PUBLICATION! Please SHARE it willingly with a friend or colleague
who could benefit from knowing more about corporate coaching.
Copyright © 2004 all rights reserved.
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter: /newsletter.html
To unsubscribe, go to the address above and enter your e-mail address. If
you use more than one e-mail address, be sure to enter the same one that you
used when you subscribed. If you want to change your e-mail address, then
subscribe with the new address and unsubscribe with the old one.
Brefi Group is a change management organisation that provides corporate coaching,
consultancy, facilitation and training. Be sure to visit the Brefi Group web
site at http://www.brefigroup.co.uk
We hope you enjoyed this issue of CorporateCoach. If you would like
to learn more about how we can work together, then please contact me, Richard
Winfield:
Telephone: 08450 678 222, or +44 (0) 121 704 2006 (international)
E-mail: editor@brefigroup.co.uk
|
