A metaphor for consideration.
I invite someone to come to my garden to help me sort it out; it's overgrown, and the grass is long. I'd like some flowers and plants, the trees cut back all of that stuff.
We agreed on a fee to do the job per hour, and they seem happy with that, although they're unaware of how many hours it might take. I am happy to let that slide a little bit because it's a large job.
Immediately before he begins to do the work, I take some of his tools away and tell him he's not allowed to use them.
I take one arm of the shears so he can't snip them together.
I take the plug off his hedge trimmer.
I took the wheels off his lawnmower.
I tell him that he has to make do with the tools that he has, and so later, I see him out the back, pushing a lawn mower over the grass with no wheels or trying to saw branches off the tree with one limb of the shears.
I then go to him and complain that he's not getting the job done quickly enough, that he's scamming me and that he'll have to stay for hours unpaid to complete the work.
How long is he likely to stay?
How long is he likely to continue working in this job?
.My daughter is currently studying for her PGCE to be a science teacher.
The school she's in at the present time have given her a laptop to use while she's planning lessons and delivering lessons as a trainee teacher, and essentially, it doesn't work.
They've also told her they will not give her access to the Wi-Fi code, presumably because they don't want her to game or go on social media or something else while she's at work.
She cannot collect resources, look at exam questions, or do her job properly.
My wife works within an NHS large hospital trust exactly the same story.
Her laptop and VPN (for which there are two) are not fit for purpose and do not work.
80% of her time is spent working through tech problems, not doing the job.
For those of us who work outside of institutions like this, we get the chance to choose the tools that we give to our team to get the job done properly.
We also get the chance to decide to trust the team to use the tools effectively.
A long time ago, I was introduced to the concept of 'results-only work environments' by the legend Dan Pink.
It doesn't matter what you do while you're doing your job, as long as you get it done in good time.
None of us actually work nonstop for eight hours a day.
When will the powers that be realise that?
Blog Post Number - 3736
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