The Plan

The Corporate Plan and How $ Happens

Republished from a long time ago by request

Everyone says that cultural change must start at the top. Does it?. Just found this classic old poem in the archives. Explains, better than I could, why corporate initiatives (like safety or cultural improvements) are not always best led from the top. Despite what they may think, those at the top, they higher they are, the less influence they have at the “sharp end”. Most of their influence is on the level directly below, and at that level they will rarely take the risk of telling those above them that their new ideas are rubbish. When Corporate makes plans based on potentially dodgy information from the levels below or flawed information from external consultants, the result is expressed in the last line of the poem – enjoy.

Corporate Management MUST get out and get amongst it. They must engage with employees and share the uncertainty. See Lessons From Pike River and Repression from Uncertainty

In the beginning was the Plan.

And then came the Assumptions.

And the Assumptions were without form.

And the Plan was without substance.

And the darkness was upon the face of the Workers.

And they spoke amongst themselves, saying, “It is a crock of $ and it stinketh.”

And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said, “It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof.”

And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying, “It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide it”.

And the Managers went unto their Directors, and reported, “It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength.”

And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another, “It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong.”

And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents saying, “It promotes growth and it is very powerful.”

And the Vice Presidents went unto the President saying, “This new Plan will actively promote the growth and vigor of the company with powerful effects.”

And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good. And the Plan became policy.