YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY CHOICE! by Paul Cook

Together with my excellent and incredibly attractive colleagues at Zest (my lawyers have informed me to say), I have been writing Chartered Management Institute (CMI) accreditation material for a ‘First Line Management’ course during which time my auditory senses drifted onto Absolute Radio and an old favourite track of mine.  I am paraphrasing now but basically let me ask some questions;

Don’t you like the way, I move when you see me?

Don’t you like the things that I say?

Don’t you like the way, I dance? Does it bug you?

Don’t you like the cut of my clothes?

Don’t you like the way, I seem to enjoy it?

Stick my fingers right up your nose!

Or listen to the song if you prefer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1F1Ez4-VOM

Jean Jacque Burnell and Hugh Cornwall’s seminal punk band (The Stranglers) had stumbled on something here because their strapline ‘something better change’ tends to indicate a futuristic analogy which in 1979 may have been unintended at best, and unimaginable at its most zealous.  There is another possibility; they both have time travel capabilities and penned the lyrics based on what life is like for a manager in 2014 or beyond.

In 1979 there were some massive changes happening; the Ford Cortina MK 2 became the Ford Cortina Mk 3, pubs were allowed to open past 1030, TV gained a new fourth channel (shrewdly entitled Channel 4), and some other things around school milk I think?  So let’s grade the lyrics from time travelling punk rockers as if a manager today, because inclusion is powerful and difficult at the same time; you may not agree with the way somebody moves, verbalises ideas, dresses or acts, but as a manager (within the realms of morality or professionalism) do you have any choice?  As a manager in 2014 look what you are embracing; mass immigration, constant legislative updates, austerity fluctuation, global competition, high tempo risk, political intervention, technological acceleration, complex employee flexibility and a workforce designed to test you in all of these spheres.

So ‘something better change’ should really be ‘everything always changes.’

I recommend many techniques and skills for being an excellent change manager but not necessarily inserting a digit into a person’s olfactory gland.  Instead look at your people, admire what the collective brings, grab the differences and realise the no choice potential.  There will be amazing professions out there that do not even exist yet!  Just ask The Stranglers when they get back from 2054.

“People will try to tell you that all the great opportunities have been snapped up.  In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in all directions, including yours.” -- Ken Hakuta