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Alea Fairchild – Strategic Views

Alea Fairchild – Strategic Views

Tag Archives: education

Private sector steps in where public sector fails

31 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by afairchild in Uncategorized

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competition, education, failure, internet access, poverty, remote

Two articles I read this morning really hit home for me on the failures of the public sector.  One on Facebook creating drones for internet access in remote countries  and one about private education in Africa stepping in where government is failing.

The private sector senses opportunity here, and lacks the mandate to have to offer citizens choice and resources as their rights of citizenship.  So citizens may have to give up privacy, data and choice of educational services to get what they should already have access to as a right.  But you can also say that it is good that Zuckerberg and Gates are taking their success and reinvesting to help others.

So why does government fail to do what private sector companies find so easy to accomplish? If education and access to utilities (such as electricity, internet and water) should be basic resources for a citizen in a developed country, why not reinvent the government as a competitor to the private sector? This is instead of having third parties running the show, as The Economist article suggests at the end.  For example, making teaching a decent paid job, yet competitive to get the decent pay.

Can governments be competitors to the private sector?  Might be worthwhile thinking about this…..

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Organizational Design circa 2015

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by afairchild in Uncategorized

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business, design, development, education, HR, individual, organisation, organization, reluctance, students

I was involved in a half-day organizational redesign exercise yesterday, and one element of this I felt I have to share with you, because it really highlights for me the status of organizational development in the mid 2010s.

I work with an educational organization which last year acquired several affiliated campuses and re-branded them under one umbrella.  Slightly over one year after the acquisition, they get all four locations together in one very large room to discuss how to make the operational aspects of our multiple locations more efficient.  And they brought in external HR consultants to moderate the breakout sections and discussions, which was good for honesty and transparency from the staff.  No one’s job was at stake, although many asked anonymous questions (they had a means to this in the exercise) about their rights to refuse to move locations, move roles, etc.

The exercises were geared towards understanding where we felt we were at present, and what it would take in terms of best practices and actions to move the needle forward. Then we were asked if the action would be self-driven, organizationally driven, or both.

The point that stood out for me was the comment to us from the external  HR consultant, in that ‘the more items were self-driven, the faster the needle would move forward’.  You can either take this as affirmation of self-motivation to achieve a better state, or as I took it, that the organization is sluggish, had directional issues and was moving like a pseudopod and if enough force pulled it forward, it would move.

As we all have worked in organizations of various sizes and shapes, we know that organizational reluctance is the cause of many issues, including innovation deficits and loss of opportunity.  But for me, knowing that the organization relied on the individual to move the needle explains to me why so many good people I know right now have left large organizations and are now self-employed consultants.  If the risk-reward is biased to the organization, the individual would prefer to get their reward financially as payment, versus a “well-done” and no real recognition at all. Self-motivation is an attribute of good employees, or in this case, good consultants who want to get the job done.

I am writing this, because I keep seeing the same patterns at the institutions I work for, and I suspect you will recognize my comments in your own organization.  There will be a small inner-circle ‘family’ who somewhat makes direction, and a few linchpin people that relied upon that sit slightly outside the circle to be the source of information for others.  Those linchpins will be over-stressed and under-compensated, but will not realize their role until they hit the breaking point. (This is not me, but I sit next to one of them, and I see it coming down the pike).  There will always be people in the organization who have not left and cannot leave, and are immovable objects who do not understand why they are not valued.  And the majority of the organization is there on a ‘semi-permanent’ basis until the value proposition is out of balance on one side or the other, and then the relationship contractually ends. And the good ones leave faster, as they have more opportunities than those not well engaged.

Here in 2015, I’d like to see a way that motivated individuals can meet on an ad hoc basis and create value together in a temporary way, and then move on.  Wait, you say.  That’s called contracting or consulting.  Yes, but in terms of design, this could be under one roof/umbrella with a directional sense to it.  Wait, you say.  This sounds like a standards body, or a trade association.  Yes, but even there you have the politics of various corporate interests.

So why can’t organizations work like consulting companies or trade associations, in a collective approach without silos?  Is it how we get compensated, or how the organization makes revenue?  Why not compensate people on their self-motivation, if this is how an organization gets traction?

I ask, as one of my colleagues mentioned an issue with transparency of information to students.  Our complexity was becoming the complexity of our customers.  And if you are not easy to do business with, in today’s economy, the consumer moves on.

Food for thought.

Lifelong learning, ok. Lifelong teaching?

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by afairchild in Uncategorized

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education, lifelong, networking, relationships, teaching

I believe in lifelong learning, getting new skills and enhancing existing ones.  I believe in expanding your horizons, exploring new options and meeting interesting people on your journey. I believe in maintaining a healthy network of contacts and renewing the relationships on a regular basis, not just if I ‘need’ something ad hoc.

But unfortunately, as a business school educator, what I am getting right now is lifelong teaching.  What do I mean by that?  Students who come back to you for project help, advice, recommendations, assistance, etc.  after several / many years after they have left the institution.  If this was a student who stayed in touch, who was in my field, who was working in industry with mutual interests, who I knew well and respected their abilities, I would not think twice about this.  That is normal.

Instead, I get the ones that have been out of contact for many years, do not know what I am doing now (as I have left the institution they knew me at, but found me via LinkedIn or the Web) and have no problem for asking for free use of my time. Not just for a quick question, but for something more elaborate.  I have received four of these queries in the last two weeks.  And I am not alone — my colleagues tell me they now get a few every month. One of them told me his policy is one short e-mail of less than 10 minutes time expenditure at most.  And then no reply to any other query.

When a client finishes a service contract, the client does not expect to come back for additional services for free. So did we not finish with these students in their own mind?

I wonder.

Did we teach them badly in the first place about expectations and networking, or about social behavior and good manners?   One gave my name to someone to provide a great deal of information on him without asking me if I would be willing to do so. Or even if I knew this information to begin with. I have not seen him in more than seven years. And although I recognized the name, I do not remember this student.

I have to say I do not understand these young people who think I will always rush to their aid with free services. Rush, as there is always a deadline attached, believe it or not.

But these might be future leaders, I hear you say.  What if I make a relationship investment in them again now — will it later pay off when they get established?  They have been out of school for several years, with additional work experience and a graduate degree since I saw them last.  Yet they only see me as still their teacher who gives them what they need, not a source of a networked relationship. They tell me about themselves in their request, yet are not curious about why I am no longer at their old institution and what has happened in my career. I am a service provider, not a person to which they have a working relationship. But that service finished many years ago.

I believe in lifelong learning.  Now I do not believe in lifelong teaching.

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