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"I haven't time"

by Ailish M. Nic Phaidin
Brevard Technical Journal

Recently on a trip to Dublin, I had occasion to visit a certain children's art and scientific organization with my daughter, who needed information and assistance. Electronic contact had been made in advance and an appointment was set up. Upon arriving at the facility, it became apparent that there was more art than science - at least upon first impression. The walls were packed with artwork from children as far afield (from Dublin) as Kerry and Belfast. Scribbled notes, wonky lines, grotesque figures, images of sunshine and much more became integral parts of the wall paint. Not a child was in sight. Neither was there a scientific piece or word in evidence anywhere.

The "senior" PhD with whom we talked was the most enthusiastic babbler I've ever met in my life. He waffled on and on and on about the science and the art and how they were combining each element together to make an apparent holistic mountain out of a non-existent holistic molehill. This was all very profound, very intellectual, and very troubling.

The "senior" PhD did all this babbling, all the while seated on a windowsill in an upstairs window with his laptop on his knees whilst wearing the suitably intelligent corduroy trousers, rumpled tweed jacket, skewed tie, Dock Martin boots and thin, very expensive, eye glasses seated on the point of his nose. When queried about the benefits of the art/science project, we were told that this project was the brainchild of his boss, and it would be of great benefit to schools. "It's a national project," he enthused. The "project" had some vague semblance of scientific input in the form of artistic robots from an eighteenth-century defecating duck to the Terminator.

Amid all the babbling, we were reassured that nothing could be done for my daughter, but she was welcome, from 3,000 miles away, to participate and come to any of the events. Maybe there was a great and good idea or two in the midst of the two-hour babble, but the bottom line was "I haven't time" to deal with you and "my boss" doesn't have time either. Wonderful. You electronically give somebody great hope of achieving a goal, all the while knowing that the "I haven't time" syndrome is a well-oiled machine. I counted at least 25 full-time staff (excluding volunteers) named on the glossy brochure who are working on this project.

This brings me to a recently published book, Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Roberto. If you're interested, Roberto's book is published by Wharton School Publishing.

Roberto's main hypothesis is that leaders should encourage "constructive conflict" within their organizations and companies, or under another guise, leaders should surround themselves with people who are not always prepared to say "Yes" to everything. This, he contends, leads to more accurate evaluation of the business ideas and also to more constructive and valuable business decisions, particularly when considering medium-to-long-term decisions.

Roberto, in a recent email interview with the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Newsletter said, "Keeping conflict constructive helps to build decision commitment, and therefore facilitates implementation."

He further said, "Leaders need to recognize that expressing dissent can be very difficult and uncomfortable for lower-level managers and employees. Therefore, leaders cannot wait for dissent to come to them; they must actively go seek it out in their organizations. In short, they must search for people willing to say no to them. The mere existence of passive leadership constitutes a substantial barrier to candid dialogue and debate within organizations."

Roberto encourages an atmosphere of sustained openness and accountability whilst giving the leader the ability to make constructive and sustainable decisions in the long-term interests of the business or organization.

Companies and organizations work on their ability to compete in the marketplace profitably in a sustained way. They are not - and should not be - dependent in an ongoing way on monetary input from outside sources. This idea is all very fine for new products and innovations, but in the day-to-day capacity building, leaders must depend on their ability to successfully sell their products and innovations.

The "innovation" I encountered in Dublin was sponsored by fifteen different companies, organizations and academic institutions. "The boss" who punctuated his day with an innovation - from my experience, based around intellectual babbling - quite obviously did not have people around him (at least 25 of them) who were prepared to voice a negative opinion. Therefore, the throttle was opened, the machine roared ahead and thousands of euro were and are being spent on an idea that definitely has merit, but which in perceptual terms is a public relations event to encourage the adult population to believe that children are being included in high-powered artistic and scientific endeavors.

Notwithstanding the eighteenth century robotic defecating duck, which I'm sure will bring huge hilarity to young children, the really funny aspect of the project is that quite obviously, money for old rope is still to be found.

Maybe I'm in the U.S. too long, where I expect thoroughly researched ventures, accountability of expertise, value for money, measurable results, a modicum of profit and an engaged staff.

This looks like a test case for Professor Michael Roberto. You will be greatly rewarded if you read his book. His ideas for leading a business or organization are cutting edge. The pseudo-art/science can be left to the babblers who manage the business of keeping themselves employed in the wonderful world of Willy Wonka.