How not to do things

The Inland Revenue have been in a lot of trouble recently with all this missing personal data. It seems to me that there is a real problem in British business at the moment, and it is as follows:

A problem arises, and a group of people meet to try to work out what to do. The person who discovers the problem states it's scope and the risks. All of the members of the meeting are responsible for different areas of the solution. But instead of volunteering solutions, each member asks searching questions. Questioning another person is a skillful way of avoiding responsibility. Every member of the meeting backs away from the problem by asking more and more questions, and with every question, they further remove themselves from the problem, until the person who brought the problem to the meeting is left with no support and 30 difficult questions to answer.

Believe me, this is happening in boardrooms and offices up and down the country. It is a british middle management disease that needs to be eradicated. When you want something done, nothing beats swift and massive action. Avoiding hard work, blame and responsibility will not fix anything.

Rich