Upon entry into the organisation, the message is often presented to the new kid in town to sit back, watch and follow the lead given. Ultimately that person unless they are an extraordinarily independent person, will be overcome by the prevailing culture. The advent of new eyes in any organisation is a window of enormous opportunity. More often than not this window is closed if it isn t already locked shut by prevailing attitudes and structures. These are crititical moments in a business that just can t afford to be lost.
Businesses talk the talk about being a team and stepping out of the square.
More often than not, individualism rather than interdependence is rife and structural conformity rather than diversity makes creativity and risk taking impossible. New and vibrant people who potentially bring tremendous spheres of influence to improve productivity, are given little chance to contribute their wares to the business process. If we want to walk the walk, all players are given the opportunity, in fact it is demanded of them to contribute, and their input is taken seriously. Whether or not it is taken seriously depends on the level of leadership, rather than management. If management rather than leadership is occurring, the business is simply talking the talk.