The aim here is to stay in the present moment within organisational life, to observe organisational and interpersonal dynamics in teams and departments as they unfold. Schein’s focus is on a mode of consulting he calls “process consultation”. However, in a situation where transformation, or change, is required, advising from the existing paradigm may not bring about the difference needed. The “expert mode” sees consultants or leaders drawing on their own expertise, their technical competence, their musketry skill so to speak. Ed Schein, in his seminal works on organisational consulting, talks about there being different modes of intervention. In an organisational change context, this is perhaps being able to “hold the space” when working with change and transformation to know that there will be times of high anxiety and uncertainty, and having the self-awareness to stay in the moment. However, what Sharpe is saying is also required of the situation, is something different, namely the ability to “stand”. This is our technical competence, our ability to fire three rounds a minute using a standard issue musket. As leaders and change agents, we take change seriously, and carefully consider the implications of what we are about to undertake. Teams of highly skilled executives display a huge amount of competence in researching options, fleshing out proposals, making recommendations. In organisational transformation we often spend a lot of time and effort strategizing and planning. Now you and I know you can fire three rounds a minute. Sharpe paints a frank picture of the realities of the situation, then offers them a slim hope –īut if you don’t run if you stand…and fire volley after volley, three rounds a minute, then they slow down…all you’ve got to do, is stand, and fire three rounds a minute. They have little combat experience, and the odds are against them. In the scene I am thinking of, Sharpe’s men are about to go into battle. And also because I think Sean Bean’s Richard Sharpe has something important to say to us about being a change agent. I am telling you this, in part, because I believe that if we always look to the same sources for insights this is unlikely to be the route to anything new. Why am I telling you this? Not because I want to rework old parallels between military and organisational design or leadership – I think our views of organisation have been influenced enough over the years by the over-emphasis on these metaphors. The Sharpe novels were then adapted for UK channel ITV in the early 1990s, with British actor Sean Bean taking the lead role of Richard Sharpe. Bernard Cornwell’s 1981 novel, Sharpe’s Eagle, follows the exploits of Lieutenant Richard Sharpe in a campaign on the Iberian peninsula during the Napoleonic wars.
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