Contempt for Customers - 2 Tropicana Pure Premium

---

Running alongside my occasional series on Management Insults, I thought I'd add a set of entries entitled, "Contempt for Customers" that will highlight some of the ways in which companies, largely through their marketing materials or product packaging demonstrate their contempt for their customers. Funnily enough I don't think there will be any shortage of material for these blogs!

---

It would be difficult these days for anyone to fail to know that there are concerns about our stewardship of the planet and how it is in a state of considerable stress environmentally.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of organic produce and the need to ensure that crops are grown in a sustainable fashion - that is efficiently and with the lowest possible impact on the environment.

One aspect of this is a growing concern about something called food miles. Over 90% of the food on our supermarket shelves is imported. While it may cost the supermarkets themselves less to source their produce this way, they are not picking up the tab for the environmental damage that this results in. A recent Defra report estimates the cost of food miles at £9 billion each year.

This is a sufficiently serious problem that the UK Government has decided to take action and is planning to reduce the environmental and social costs of food transport in the UK by 20 per cent by 2012.

This is not news - it is very widely understood throughout the food industry and the retail sectors. Already the supermarket chains ARE doing something about it - albeit we could question how seriously, how quickly and what their motives are, given that they knew about all this for a long time but only appeared to take action when there became a consumer demand.

So you would think that food producers would also be sensitive to it; would do all they could to source locally; would minimise their transport impacts where they can and would endeavour to offset 'unavoidable' impacts using one of the schemes set up for the purpose - through which an organisation establishes woodland or other habitats to offset their environmental impact.

Sadly though this news doesn't seem to have reached Tropicana - the makers of a range of 'Pure Premium' squeezed fruit juices. Their product packaging instead proudly boasts that EVERY DAY, a train measuring ONE MILE LONG, travels OVER A THOUSAND MILES carrying their juice to quench the thirsts of New Yorkers ALONE.

Now, if I was the producer of Tropicana, I don't think I would be proud of that kind of environmental pillage. If such devastation is really justified, then I would be boasting of all the things I was doing to put right the damage that my train was causing to the environment.

Oranges don't grow all year round - not without artificial help they don't. Yet, Tropicana only uses those picked at their MID-SEASON BEST, so they are presumably storing the juice somewhere after it is squeezed since nowhere on their package do they suggest that it is FRESHLY squeezed. So, we are left to wonder what other damage they are causing in the production and storage processes before they train the stuff over the US to those folks in the "Big Apple".

Interestingly, they describe their consumers as DISCERNING. It seems to me that they can't be that discerning if they wilfully sanction damage on this scale by buying it in such quantities. Whatever, Tropicana definitely qualifies for one of my Golden Awards for Customer Contempt for its brazen packaging!

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Contempt for Customers - 1 Chiltern Railways

---

Running alongside my occasional series on Management Insults, I thought I'd add a set of entries entitled, "Contempt for Customers" that will highlight some of the ways in which companies, largely through their marketing materials or product packaging demonstrate their contempt for their customers. Funnilly enough I don't think there will be any shortage of material for these blogs!

---

Back in the 1980s, more and more companies woke up to the importance of quality as a competitive strategy. What this really meant is that there were so many organisations offering rubbish that by selling something that actually worked, or did what it said on the box, you could either charge a premium or sell more items. The same applied to services. The word got around that it was clever to "listen to your customers" and firms started offering those not-so-wonderful** "freephone" (0800) or "lo-call" (0845) numbers to encourage their customers to let them know how they had done. Only the tiniest business would dream of offering other than 24hr answering on these phones.

When they analysed the types of call and the topics customers complained about, there were some surprises. For example, Texaco emblazoned their 0845 number on every petrol station forecourt expecting complaints about hygiene, lighting, slow-resetting of pumps, rude staff and so on. Instead, apparently 9/10 calls were to complain that the customer hadn't been given enough stars on their Texaco points card! (These were the days when the points were STUCK on to a collecting card!)

Many firms found it quite hard to recruit people to work on these lines. After all, it isn't exactly motivating to spend a shift just listening to whinging customers - some of whom have a serious stress issue, some are trying to rip you off [work out how much an extra Texaco Star was worth and you'll see these were not exactly big time criminals!], and some have a genuine complaint. So we began to see smug firms changing the name of their COMPLAINTS department to CUSTOMER SERVICE or some similar platitude.

The ultimate Mickey take of this kind was the Carlsberg advertisement that featured a phone ringing in the distance, until a diligent member of staff tracked it down to a cobweb strewn room that hadn't been opened in decades and was labelled "complaints" department - only to discover that it was a "wrong number". The ad back-fired on Carlsberg because it implied that IF you DID have a genuine complaint, you could ring their number and it would take ages before it was answered.

So, you'd think that companies would have become a little more sophisticated in their handling of COMPLAINTS these days. After all there are Professors of Customer Service, PhDs on the topic, and even modules on MBA programmes dealing with it. And yet, Chiltern Railways have managed to bungle in just about every way possible today, demonstrated their credentials for the "Contempt for Customers" gold award.

When I arrived at the Bicester North station at 10:45 this morning, planning on catching the 11:04 to London having renewed my Network Railcard, I was disappointed to discover that the Ticket Office was closed. I stood looking at the screen for a moment in some amazement, but realised I would have to buy a full fare ticket instead and call back to renew my Railcard another time. Irritated, I turned to one of the ticket machines and let myself be led through the ticket buying process. Now, I would like to give credit where it is due... Whoever the techie was that designed these machines, they did a pretty good job. Frankly, you'd need to be fairly thick not to be able to work out how to use one. It even remembered what I had bought last time and offered me that as an option. Sadly I couldn't take it as I no longer had the Railcard, so instead a little salt was rubbed into an open wound by making me doubly aware that instead of a £13 fare I was going to have to spend £20.

Now, although these machines are pretty much idiot proof, there was actually a very considerate person in the booking hall helping what I assumed were fellow passengers to use the machines. It seemed that they had been motivated to be a good Samaritan because the ticket office was unbelievably closed. (Bicester North gets quite a few foreigners because of the Bicester Village Retail Outlet and I guess these were foreigners who couldn't work out how the machines worked!) Incidentally, the Samaritan was wearing blue slacks, a white Aran type pullover and a red padded waterproof jacket.

Armed with my tickets, I boarded the train and arrived at Marylebone. Now this is where the customer experience began to get worse. As I reached the concourse, I noticed that there were a couple of similarly dressed individuals standing there. In addition to the red jacket and blue slacks they had peaked caps and badges - indicating that they were employees of Chiltern Railways!

In other words, a regular customer had arrived in the booking hall in Bicester, stood in dismay at the closed ticket office, bought a higher priced ticket, and been made to queue later for a railcard, when all the time a member of Chiltern Railways' staff was ignoring him and helping people use machines to buy tickets that any child could use without difficulty.

Now, being a conscientious follower of quality improvement, I figure that unless an organisation knows how it has fouled up it can't do anything to put it right. So, this afternoon, when I got home, I decided to ring Chiltern Railways to tell them of my experience and suggest that they help the Ticket Office clerk with the Aran pullover (no Samaritan, after all) to reevaluate her priorities when she is meant to be serving behind the desk.

The Chiltern Railways website doesn't have a button to push for their COMPLAINTS department. Instead, you have to follow a "contact us" link in tiny letters at the top of the screen. Once there you are given an 0845 number to ring for "Customer Services" but there are two provisos;

The phones are only manned "Mondays to Fridays 0830 to 1730". Now, given that this is the time that the vast majority of their customers will be at work, doesn't it seem a little avoidant of them to pick those hours? Perish the thought that they could man the phones when agrieved customers can actually ring in.

But obviously, quite a few customers DO manage to COMPLAIN because we are also told; "On average, our Customer Services team receives about 500 contacts every week. They aim to respond to all correspondence within 10 working days."

Now, that brings me to the real contempt-for-customers issue. What they are saying is that, despite putting loads of obstacles in their way, FIVE HUNDRED (500) PEOPLE EVERY WEEK TAKE THE TROUBLE TO RING CHILTERN RAILWAYS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THEIR SERVICE.

I don't think that is a track record I would be proud of. Would you?

** So why are 0800 and 0845 numbers not-so-wonderful any longer? Well, it's simple really, for more than 15 years now, telephone service providers have been selling packages to householders whereby they can pay a fixed price and get all calls to REAL numbers free. But the 0800 and 0845 ones don't count for those deals, so ironically, a company that provides such a number to 'encourage' its customers to ring is actually causing the customer to pay more than they would have to do if they were given a REAL number instead. Savvy firms (such as British Airways) have realised this and almost always cite both numbers for the customer to choose from, but obviously Chiltern Railways is not so savvy!

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Profit and loss - more than a simple equation

In the real world, profit may be achieved fortuitously through little effort, minimal investment, almost immediately and at next to no risk. Conversely, losses can be incurred despite enormous effort, huge investment, tremendous 'patience', and great risk. Profits are NOT therefore a reward for these qualities, so what entitles a business to make them?

The Western economy is portrayed as operating within a 'free market'. This model argues that profits are the result of a business offering products and services at a price that is determined through competition, at a cost achieved through the efficient use of resources. Among competitors, the business that conserves resources (ie keeps costs low) is rewarded with the greatest profit. Of course, there are many markets that do not operate competitively - monopolies, cartels, and those where the price is predominantly determined by Government levies are obvious examples. In these price is actually determined by what the customer is prepared to pay. The company can therefore manipulate the price to maximise their profits, which leads to the question of what is a "fair" profit for them to make?

There is plenty of evidence that good firms invest wisely in new products, but this often focuses on applications rather than new technologies and has sadly been used as an excuse by some to dilute their profit and justify exceptional earnings, while it is actually escalating their profits in the longer-term. How much should a company be expected to invest in itself to sustain its future?

In this environment, it is important that there are some who can take a longer term view, who have a belief in the potential of almost anything and who are prepared to tie up their resources (generally financial but occasionally intellectual) until a return can be achieved. These people effectively regulate the free market economy by managing shortages and surpluses. Such speculators depend on the quality of their knowledge, imagination and luck. Society has strong views about the behaviour of speculators especially when their 'knowledge' is gained through insider networks, or the result of their 'luck' is actually a 'fortune'. Is luck an appropriate basis on which to manage a business?

Another form of speculation is internal investment in new technologies. The speculator alone though cannot create wealth - they create the opportunity but they don't create the products. Instead, they depend on someone finding a way of converting the raw materials (and ideas) into merchantable goods and services. Such people are 'entrepreneurs', balancing risk of failure with longer-term investment in the future. But, there's a finite pool of money to reward investors (including employees) and develop capacity. How much should a company risk investing in speculative new ventures?

Under the free market model, it is at the individual level (corporate and personal) that 'success' is measured in profits, yet it is often self-reinforcing - the more successful someone is, the less they risk and the less important luck is. This leads to the view that there should be a fairer distribution of profit either through government intervention (taxation) or personal discretion (philanthropy).
There's good evidence that philanthropic organisations out-perform those who are more self-interested, though that's a view that is not popular with many companies! Nevertheless, a US survey demonstrated that companies who are committed to giving increased their contributions by 14% last year, closely tracking their profits which rose by 17% and their turnover which rose by 15%. Philanthropists are often inspired by their Faith and such people formed the bedrock of social reform in the Industrial Revolution, but today there's frequently cynicism about the motives of industrialists who sponsor educational institutions or engage in politics. Is philanthropy something that should be expected, required, or left to individual judgment and what proportion of profit should a business expect to contribute?

NB These notes were used to stimulate discussion at a management retreat that I led recently.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Management Insult 4: Talent Management Programmes

---

For a while now, I've been building a series of definitions of 'management-speak' terms that insult human intelligence. One day I might even find a publisher and release them as a dictionary, but for now, I thought I'd share a few of them from time to time. I make no apologies for these being slightly tongue in cheek. My argument is that for a leader to be effective they need to be grounded in the real world and not delude themselves through their use of obfuscating language.

---

Talent Management Programmes

An incredibly patronising way of trying to stop good people from leaving the company when we seem to lack the basic management skills to inspire and engage them.

An invention of HR directors, as a part of their 'retention strategy', whereby a programme of various vaguely linked tasks, assignments, courses and associated coaching, is constructed that will take the participants at least twelve months to complete. Often offered particularly in organisations where the majority of aspiring senior managers do not have many formal business qualifications and can be persuaded that the 'future leaders', 'accelerated leaders', 'high flyers', or similarly named programme is easily the equivalent of a Masters Degree. Some employers even go so far as to say that they are 'in negotiation' with a business school to 'accredit' the programme. Many describe the successful completion of the programme as a 'graduation', further reinforcing this delusion.

Some programmes have selection criteria such as completion of psychometric instruments - though there is rarely any evidence that the interpretation of these has any correlation with management progression within the organisation.

In practice, by hooking someone into the programme, it is a further consideration for them should they be tempted to leave. Individuals will often persuade themselves that having the 'qualification' is worthwhile and will delay leaving until they have finished it. Few other employers are actually impressed as they have their own programmes and know just what a con it is.

Of course, the carrot can be extended for some time by manipulative managers... The typical process for selling a scheme to an employee begins at their annual performance review and goes something like this:

At annual formal meeting with manager (M0): "I've decided to put you forward for consideration for the company 'future leaders' programme'."

Six months later (M6): "I'm delighted to say that, after a little negotiation with HR (as you were just outside the normal criteria), we are able to offer you a place on next year's 'future leaders' programme."

Six more months (M12): "I realise that a rate of inflation pay increase may not be quite what you expected, but once you have successfully completed the 'future leaders' programme, you will be up for accelerated promotion opportunities."

Six more months (M18): "I'm getting quite favourable reports of your progress on the 'future leaders' programme', and will be looking for suitable opportunities to use your new skills over the next few months."

A further six months (M24): "It's a shame your final assignment didn't quite yield the results we all expected. But, once the others have been given a crack of the whip in a new position, I'm sure that a great opportunity will come up for you to create the right impression to the powers that be."

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Management Insult 3: Due Diligence

---

For a while now, I've been building a series of definitions of 'management-speak' terms that insult human intelligence. One day I might even find a publisher and release them as a dictionary, but for now, I thought I'd share a few of them from time to time. I make no apologies for these being slightly tongue in cheek. My argument is that for a leader to be effective they need to be grounded in the real world and not delude themselves through their use of obfuscating language.

---

Due Diligence

A term that appeared in the popular press in the late 1990s to describe the investigative process that a business ought to go through prior to the acquisition of another business. Quickly began to drip from the lips of just about every 'knowledge worker' (qv) whenever they were doing a minor bit of research before making a decision - regardless of the situation.

May be used passive aggressively to accuse someone of having failed to do their homework: "Surely that would have emerged when you did due diligence?"

Similarly, a passive aggressive use of the term, to put down someone's excitement at being offered a great new job: "Well I suppose that you have done your due diligence and are comfortable with them as potential employers?"

Also used to make others aware of how you are now in the BIG league: "Of course, we had to peform due diligence, but once that was through we leapt at the opportunity." Which, roughly translated means: "It was an incredible opportunity, well beyond anything I would normally encounter, but I wanted to look cool before leaping at it."

The mysterious findings can be used to cover up for our own risk aversion: "Well, some things seem too good to be true, and when the results of our due diligence process were considered we could see that this was one of those where it simply wasn't true!" Which also means: "It was something way out of my league, and it terrified me, so I wanted a good reason to delay and then give me a way of explaining that I was not going to do anything about it."


Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Management Insults 2: "Pro Bono"

---

For a while now, I've been building a series of definitions of 'management-speak' terms that insult human intelligence. One day I might even find a publisher and release them as a dictionary, but for now, I thought I'd share a few of them from time to time. I make no apologies for these being slightly tongue in cheek. My argument is that for a leader to be effective they need to be grounded in the real world and not delude themselves through their use of obfuscating language.

---

Pro Bono

A term of exceptional arrogance and condescension, used by people who think they are being very generous by giving a tiny amount of their time to a 'good cause' and want everyone to know how much it has cost them.

Increasingly heard from the lips of management consultants (and other 'knowledge workers'), and even reproduced in their literature, as part of the selling process, as in: "We encourage our staff to offer some of their time pro bono to worthy causes." Employed as a way of differentiating them from their competitors.

Patronisingly assumes that their gems of wisdom are to be valued above the contributions of full-time staff and those of highly committed, but less conceited, volunteers who have given their time unlauded for many years.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Management Insult 1: "Intellectual Property"

---

For a while now, I've been building a series of definitions of 'management-speak' terms that insult human intelligence. One day I might even find a publisher and release them as a dictionary, but for now, I thought I'd share a few of them from time to time. I make no apologies for these being slightly tongue in cheek. My argument is that for a leader to be effective they need to be grounded in the real world and not delude themselves through their use of obfuscating language.

---

Intellectual Property (especially when abbreviated to IP)

Used to refer to an idea that someone had, that they think is very clever, and would like everyone to know they had. Generally fall into three types;

An idea that was so blindingly obvious that lots of people will have already had it.

An idea that is simply a regurgitation of age-old wisdom.

'Ideas' that are just ways of simplifying something.

Generally used by 'knowledge workers' to justify ludicrous fees or to bolster their own poor self-esteem.

---

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Spiritual blessings, civil registrations and wedding celebrations

October and November are the busiest time of year for one of my areas of work - performing wedding bleesings. Not the blessings themselves - the peak for those is from May to September - but around now couples make contact and we begin the preparation process.

There's a lot of confusion about peoples' options in weddings and I get asked a lot of similar questions. Although my website (www.inter-faith.net) tries to answer these, I thought it might help to explain a little more and post this here where a few more people can find it.

In the UK, the only people who can legally register a marriage are a Civil Registrar or Anglican Priest. Some other Christian churches and other Faiths, which are referred to in the UK as "non-conformist" have someone from their congregation who trains as an "authorised person" and is licensed in a limited capacity to perform the Registration following a spiritual blessing in their particular place of worship.

It is important to separate in your mind the process of registering the marriage in the eyes of the law (which provides various legal benefits, not the least of which is a protocol for dealing with a person's affairs when they die and to give rights to both parties if they divorce), from the wedding blessing which is a ceremony in which the blessing of God (however God is defined) is sought on the relationship.

There is no specific qualification to perform a spiritual blessing ceremony. Fairly obviously, each Church and each Faith group has its own 'rules' as to who can perform them on their own premises and seek the blessing of their particular definition of God. In the Roman Catholic church, for example, this would be the local Parish priest and his seniors but probably not his peers unless they had special permission to do so.

Many denominations believe that while God can communicate with anyone, the Priest has a particular role as 'interlocutor' - interpreting and channelling God's will to the lay-person. (Only a few groups explicitly disagree with this philosophy - the Quakers being the most well known.) This is why, in most churches, only a Priest is considered 'qualified' to perform a blessing ceremony. I personally, feel considerable affinity with the Quakers in this respect - I cannot see why there needs to be someone between anyone and their sense of Spirit or God.

What is my qualification to perform spiritual blessing ceremonies? I trained five years ago as an Interfaith Minister, through what was then called the New Seminary, based in Oxford. It has subsequently been renamed the Interfaith Seminary and relocated to London. Our training lasted two years, in the first of which we study comparative theology (ie look at the different major Faiths (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc)) and then in the second year we focus on three dimensions of public service - spiritual counselling, celebration (incl weddings) and social change.

The idea behind 'interfaith' in the wedding context, is that over 90% of the population say they believe in something 'spiritual' (generally meaning a God of some kind), but 87% of them don't feel that they belong in a particular church or Faith group. Our job is to help them find a way of expressing what they DO believe in, and a celebration that allows them to seek spiritual support in their relationship and that allows their friends and families (who probably have a range of different beliefs too) to draw on their own sense of Spirit as well to bless the couple.

Because a spiritual blessing has no legal content, it can take any form. Most churches and Faith groups have an established "traditional" ceremony, that most couples will have performed for them. Clearly, a church that has carefully defined beliefs, and an established way of doing things, that reflect their particular concept of God, are not going to simply let anyone come in and have a blessing. Besides, if you didn't believe in their structure, why would you want to, and why would a civil registration not be sufficient?

On the other hand, an inter-faith blessing has no prescribed format, no rules over what can and can't be done, and no constraints over where it can be performed. In preparing a ceremony with a couple, I spend as much time as necessary getting to understand their beliefs and their needs (especially in a spiritual sense) and then helping them to find a creative way of enabling them to express them. We look at the kinds of people that will be among their guests and try to identify ways of allowing these people to be grounded, to prepare themselves to seek spiritual guidance, and to channel that towards the couple for the future.

I hope that's a helpful explanation, but am always happy to answer any specifics anyone has.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

How you can do a little bit for charity, without spending a penny (more)

Not a lot of people know this, but... there's a market out there for used postage stamps. All kinds of stamps get sold by the kilo. There are a number of charities that trade in them too. Their supporters collect used stamps, carefully cutting a 1/4 inch all round, and then send them to the charity. Dealers then buy the stamps by the kilo. The rate they pay depends on the credibility of the charity - for ensuring that the stamps don't have 1/2 inch around them, and for separating them into definitives and commemorative stamps. Fairly obviously the latter command a much higher price as they are generally available for a shorter time and therefore rarer.

While you can't force your friends, relatives and business clients to collect them, someone somewhere might do, so the more commemoratives in circulation at any time the more money can trickle back to a charity.

So, next time you are buying loose stamps, why not simply ask for commemoratives rather than the standard plain old ones? If you are doing a mailshot (such as a Christmas card) how about using special stamps then?

Those of you into marketing, might like to know that people tend to examine post that carries a commemorative stamp longer than they do letters with regular stamps.

And how's this for a clever little trick - get a calendar from the Post Office with the dates of release of those commemoratives and time your mailshot to that day... Then take the letters to one of the designated special 'philatelic' post offices and they will post them with a posh "First Day of Issue" franking mark! Guaranteed to get a better response than just a blanket shot, sent any old day, with a crummy second class stamp on it!

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

The Royal Mail Online Postage Scam

Last month, I had some parcels I needed to send. It was Saturday afternoon and, while the High Street was abuzz with keen shoppers thronging to the doors of countless retailers, the Post Office was closed. I was off on holiday on Sunday evening, and a neighbour kindly offered to drop them off at the Post Office, but I felt it was too much to ask him to get them franked etc.

"No worries" I thought. The Post Office has recently launched an online postage buying facility, called "Smart Stamp" - I heard about it on Radio 4. So I head home, make a coffee and get the laptop up and running. I browse the Royal Mail site, and find two links to their online service. Clicking one, I'm led to a registration space. Essentially, I have to register (for a fee), then pay a deposit, then give my credit card details and commit to buying stamps this way for six months. Desperate, I go through the process and 10 minutes later I am taken to a link that allows me to download the necessary software. I begin to do this, only to have the internet connection fail several times on me. An hour later, the software is downloaded and I begin to install it. After a couple more minutes a pop-up appears to tell me that this software has been 'upgraded' and I have to wait for the necessary CD to arrive by post before I can use the service.

Now, I don't personally consider that an acceptable approach: it took ages, didn't work, and involved a ridiculous commitment.

As I backed out of the webspace, I noticed that the second link on the website led to a differently named product - "Online Postage". Even more desperate by now, I followed this route. It too required credit card details, but this time there was no fee to use the service, no software to download, and no deposit required. A half hour later my parcels were all labelled and ready to drop off with my neighbour who had kindly said he'd hand them over at the Post Office on Monday. The only downside of the service was that it didn't make it clear that you could hold on to a stamp until you were clear it had printed properly - and unfortunately, I had to pay twice for one of the parcels.

Now, I got back home after my holiday and decided to ask for my money back on the first fiasco. It took two calls to find the right office, but the staff there were sympathetic and provided that I wrote in and grovelled they would do what they could. (Hmm?! So much for the Lands End "Guaranteed Period" approach or even your statutory rights.) When I queried this seemingly un-customer friendly approach, I was told it was to counter fraud. I appreciate that the Post Office does suffer from a lot of fraud. But is my paltry £5 deposit really that big a risk? Ah well. Eventually, two weeks later a credit has appeared in my bank account for the £25 fee. Not, mark you, for the £5 deposit on postage. That is lost and gone forever!

Back in the 1980s, Tom Peters and many others reported how organisations who REALLY took customer service seriously thrived, while those that didn't floundered. Well perhaps now I see why the Post Office gets such bad press and why Adam Crozier is always on the radio defending the institution! Sadly, I suspect that Peters and co were a little optimistic if they thought that consumer-choice would determine organisational success or longevity.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Angry young men

Why are some people SO angry with the world around them? Was their childhood and adolescence SO cruel? Were they really SO misunderstood? Did they really feel SO unloved? And why anger? Is their emotional vocabulary so limited? Do they have no 'grey' scale? Is this why angry young men seem to become incredibly young fathers?

The answer, so the psychotherapist in me says, is "yes" to most of those in a way. A parent doesn't have to be an alcoholic, negligent, cruel, or abusive. The parents don't have to have had a messy divorce. And the child doesn't have to have been neglected along the way. What is important is how the child as it grows up perceives its relationship to the world around it.

If they don't feel that they experienced many different kinds of emotion; if they only witnessed the 'volatile' side of their parents' relationship (and not the loving one) and so on, then it isn't surprising that they become polarised in their responses.

They know their violence or anger is extreme; they know that other people don't entirely approve of how they respond; but largely they don't have the repertoire or the skills to handle a situation that provokes them differently.

We now know that the human brain is still maturing well into the 20s. This explains why Erikson and others recognised a stage of development (still not full adulthood) until a person was well into their 20s.

I was speaking at a leadership conference a few days ago and described the coping strategies that we use in day-to-day life. The other name for these is defence mechanisms. On the one hand they are ways of us protecting our ego from attack. In another, they are ways of stopping ourselves from expressing extreme sexual and aggressive needs in situations that wouldn't be socially acceptable. Among the most common ones are:

• Denial - the conscious refusal to accept the reality of our behaviour
• Repression – pushing unacceptable feelings into our unconscious
• Projection – attributing our own feelings to other people
• Displacement – directing responses to others
• Reaction formation – converting one feeling into another
• Regression – retreating back to earlier behaviour
• Rationalisation – inventing reasons
• Sublimation – converting sexual/aggressive energy into socially valued behaviour

While "angry young men" are an easily identifiable group, these tendencies are to be found among us all, and therefore, of course, in the world of work. I'll probably post more about this later, but examples include the tendency for some managers to be abrupt with staff, to force excessive targets on individuals, to use performance appraisals as a kind of jousting, to pose sexually with female members of staff, to seek sexual outlets in the workplace, to use agressive/sexual metaphors to describe their work, to make some people redundant when they preserve the roles of others, and so on.

No answers - an evolving stream of reflection, but let's start by observing what we and others are up to.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org & inter-faith.net

---

Charity working and volunteers - a Good News story!

It's taken me a few days to get round to posting this, but I felt it was well worth bringing to people's attention. Each year, in mid-October, the specialist charity sector recruitment company, Charity People, run an event in London, called Forum 3. It is a combined exhibition and seminar event held on a Friday and Saturday.

For the last five years, I've been contributing seminars. This year I did a couple each day - one on Emotional Literacy and the other on Portfolio Working. These form part of a programme of about 40 different sessions each day. It's a pretty good cause and I'm glad to be able to do something to help.

Now, a lot of people will tell you that it is increasingly hard to get people to give to charity and that it is equally hard to get people to volunteer their time. They will also talk of the difficulty getting good calibre people to work in the charity sector, because they can attract far higher salaries elsewhere.

Well, I'd just like to put forward the counter argument. At each of my seminars I had between 60 and 100 participants. These are individuals who have stomped up their own hard-earned cash to attend.

The exhibition itself was packed with a couple of hundred different charities telling their story, and seeking volunteers and paid-employees. They came from just about every area of charity work and
were all buzzing with interest and activity.

In total over the two days, more than 13000 - yes, that's thirteen thousand! - people attended the exhibition.

Now that's an awful lot of people seeking a place in the charity sector - whether paid or voluntary. What's more, I spoke to a lot of them and I have to say that the calibre of folks was definitely at the top end of the scale.

So, I'm enthused. I figure that's a pretty good reflection on the society that we live in and a bit of a rebuke to the kill-joys and moaners who reckon this world is becoming totally self-focused and highly materialistic.

Best wishes

---

GRAHAM WILSON
London + Oxford - 07785 222380
Helping Organisations & People Achieve Things They Never Dreamt Were Possible
grahamwilson.org; inter-faith.net

---

Is something 'wrong' with Britain?

Neurosis, also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a "catch all" term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or some personality disorders, does not prevent rational thought or an individual's ability to function in daily life. (From: Wikipedia)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder, more specifically, an anxiety disorder. OCD is manifested in a variety of forms, but is most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive (repetitive, distressing, intrusive) thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or rituals) which attempt to neutralize the obsessions. (From: Wikipedia)

For some time, I've been wondering why Britain seems to do some things, insisting that they are the ONLY RIGHT way or the BEST way to be. A classic example was our pursuit of quality management. Back in 1979, the British Standards Institute (BSI) published BS5750 - a standard for the management of quality based on the generic military standards. The Government of the day promoted these heavily and tens of thousands of companies were assessed and awarded the standard and its international equivalent, ISO9000.

Myths began to emerge that if you wanted to do business in Britain you HAD to have BS5750 accreditation. Of course, this couldn't have been further from the truth. Had it REALLY been the ONLY PROPER way to do things, then you'd expect many businesses around the world to have adopted it. Strangely, this isn't the case and yet those businesses often thrive. Today, while some UK industries still demand ISO9000 accreditation, few new businesses seem to bother and yet they succeed commercially.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in the Financial Services area, where we make a song and dance about 'compliance' and every firm you ring seems to have a taped disclaimer to play you about the nature of their advice. At one point, even radio commercials would be followed by a 'statutory' notice. Have you EVER heard similar messages in other countries? When you pick up an inflight magazine, notice that the British companies all have them and the foreign ones don't.

At the moment, all British Ambulances are being painted bright yellow to conform to an EC ruling. Strangely other European countries don't seem to be doing so!?

You've only got to look at French, German, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian electrical wiring to see that it is made to far less exacting standards and installed with far fewer safeguards than the British equivalent. Yet, do these countries have higher rates of electrocution or electrically-induced house fires? No.

British motorcyclists are exorted to wear leathers - for their own protection - and police motorcylists are perfect role models. Next time you go abroad notice what their bikers and motorcycle police are wearing. In most cases it's a textile jacket in the cold weather but shirts and cotton breeches when it's warm.

A popular moan when Brits go abroad is that the standard of driving elsewhere is so poor compared to our own. We even have TWO organisations offering 'advanced driving' qualifications (the Institute of Advanced Motorists and the RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders Association). To the best of my knowledge the only places similar organisations exist are former colonies where these bodies undertook some kind of outreach work. We seem to ignore the fact that, with the exception of a few notably poor roads (ironically often ones that are particularly popular with Brits) these countries don't appear to have higher accident rates. In fact, kids in the US can drive younger, and the test is far less onerous, while in this country our insurance costs are far higher to the point of being prohibitive for many youngsters.

Next time you have a chance to chat to a foreign business-person, ask them what kinds of insurance they have. A typical British firm (even a small one) has public liability, professional liability, employers' liability, and directors' liability. You'll find that few foreign firms would even consider such things. Yet they do perfectly well commercially and there aren't loads of pending lawsuits against them.

Health and Safety is another example. It staggers me the complexity of the H&S legislation that must exist given the number of times I hear it cited as the reason for a particularly obscure rule. Someone tried to tell me the other day that teachers were forbidden from helping little children to blow their noses because of the H&S legislation. Who are they kidding? Show me the Act of Parliament that says that!

In Britain now, just about anyone who works with children has to have a Criminial Records Bureau check. This is a retrospective check to determine whether they have any convictions (not specifically for crimes of violence or related to children, but generally). Organisations such as the Girl Guides, the Amateur Swimming Association and so on have formal policies and protocols telling clubs and employers what they must do with these records and many insist on a fresh check regardless of how recently an individual has had one done for another body. This got to such a state at one point that teachers were being told that they couldn't start work one September because the CRB was so inundated that they had weeks of backlog. Does anyone know of ANY other country that allows public access to the criminal records of almost everyone? The only one I can find is the US, where the local police MAY let local residents know if a released paedophile is living in their vicinity. And do we have a much lower rate of crimes against children as a result? I don't think you'll find we do.

So... lot's of examples of what I will term an 'obsessional neurosis'. It doesn't stop us functioning, it can even be justified as 'best practice', yet it doesn't actually lead to any great benefit. Instead, like the sufferers of an OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) we end up wasting vast amounts of energy and resources and demonstrate all the symptoms of anxiety;

OCD is different from behaviors such as gambling addiction and overeating. People with these disorders typically experience at least some pleasure from their activity; OCD sufferers do not actively want to perform their compulsive tasks, and experience no pleasure from doing so.

OCD is placed in the anxiety class of mental illness, but like many chronic stress disorders it can lead to clinical depression over time. The constant stress of the condition can cause sufferers to develop a deadening of spirit, a numbing frustration, or sense of hopelessness. OCD's effects on day-to-day life — particularly its substantial consumption of time — can produce difficulties with work, finances and relationships.

The illness ranges widely in severity. OCD is not curable, but it can be treated with anti-depressants. This illness affects millions of people worldwide, and the number keeps growing. (From: Wikipedia)

[The application of psychoanalytic concepts to the study of organisations and society as a whole, is a growing field of academic inquiry. If you are interested in learning more about it, visit the website of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations (www.ispso.org).]

Best wishes
Graham.

Why are we so obsessed with the bad news?

I don't often read newspapers. These days I find that the BBC news and the Guardian newspaper websites give me as much as I need. They also have the advantage that I can explore a topic in a little more depth if I want to.

One reason I don't read papers is that they always seem to feel they have to take a negative slant on every story. If the story isn't shocking, they'll find a way of making it so.

Of course, there's the Positive News paper but that's the rare exception.

So why are we so obsessed with the 'bad news'?

There's a conspiracy theory that says that the reason for this is that journalists' paymasters have a vested interest in spreading fear. Whether that's the case or not, surely the opportunity to shift the balance lies with us?

I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't take an interest in all that's going on around us, but let's get a little more balance in the media.

Best wishes
Graham.

The delicate issue of EGO

wikipedia: "The id, ego, and super-ego are the divisions of the psyche according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's "structural theory". The id contains "primitive desires" (hunger, rage, and sex), the super-ego contains internalized norms, morality and taboos, and the ego mediates between the two and may include or give rise to the sense of self."

As someone who is self-employed, and whose livelihood depends on selling aspects of his personality, I frequently find myself in a dilemma around 'ego'. It's hard to portray what it is that I do or that I offer, and for people to decide whether to call on me, without putting a bit of myself 'out there'. But in doing so, there are a whole group of people who will believe I am an egotistical, selfish, and self-focused maniac.

My coaching and consulting work is informed by my psychotherapeutic training, and so I take it to supervision. Hopefully, there any tendency for my own needs and desires (reflected in 'ego') will be spotted and alternative ways of looking at a situation will emerge. But it remains an issue.

Of course, there are many (I'd guess the vast majority) of coaches and consultants, who are blissfully unaware or unconcerned about these things, but they DO matter to me.

Writing this blog has got to raise the question "Why?" in a few minds too. Is it ego or is it a valid form of raising my head above the parapet in the marketing sense?

I guess I will return to the question of what it is that I 'sell', but for the time being, I just wanted to raise the issue so no-one could say I wasn't, at least, aware of it.

Best wishes
Graham.

Day-to-day ethics

The problem with the guide book led me into wondering about how day-to-day ethical questions arise. It seems to me that most of us don't really engage with 'ethics', we just get on with life.

Wherever I can, I like to buy fairtrade products because it seems right to demonstrate a commitment to this way of doing business. But, in France, last week, I had the choice of buying regular coffee or fairtrade coffee. The difference in price was so extreme (the FT product was more than double the cost) that I'm afraid I decided to buy the cheaper one. I'm not going to rack myself with guilt - it seems to me that someone, somewhere, in that little food chain is exploiting the consumers as much as they used to exploit the producers!

So then I began to wonder what to do with this "Rough Guide to the Hotels of France" that I can no longer trust? (By the way, that might seem a bit extreme, but I only have ten or so days holiday a year and I don't see why I should let someone else's naff recommendation potentially ruin one day of them.)

Usually, if I have a book that I don't particularly want to keep, then I'll give it to a charity shop. But ethically, as I know there's at least one bad description in it, should I inflict that on someone else? Of course, I could just throw it away... Or perhaps I should annotate the page and THEN give it to the charity shop?

So many decisions! Time for another coffee!

All the best,
Graham.

You only need to be let down once by a guide book

How many times do you need to be let down by a guide book to make it useless to you?

We were using the "Rough Guide" to French hotels, which is actually a translation of the Routard guide. Generally, we've found the Rough Guides excellent - and admit to being a little biased as the owners of the firm graduated from Bristol. But the Routards recommendation of the hotel we stayed in for our first night (Hotel De La Croix D'Or - Avrenches) really put us off.

The hotel itself consisted of an old part at the front, and a newer part at the rear. Even the front had only one room (the reception) that was actually authentic. The restaurant was the kind of place where anyone under 65 feels young. The service was ridiculously laboured, with that kind of inappropriate pretention that leaves Fawlty Towers looking tame. The menu was so standard and completely unimaginative that a junior from a cheffing course could have easily churned the meals out. The bedroom though was the thing that took the biscuit. Described as characterful and overlooking a beautiful garden the reality was that it was the kind of sterile mass-market room that you'd find in a worn-out Travellodge just before they were refurbished - with a few enhancements that beggared belief (the wall mounted TV that prevented the toilet door from opening properly). The garden was an overgrown staff smoking spot, with a few chairs scattered in it and in desperate need of a little horticultural TLC. The main access for the carpark went straight through it.

So, will we be using another Routard recommendation? No way. Will we be using another Rough Guide? Well, we shall certainly look twice to make sure it isn't simply a translation of someone else's guide.

I guess it doesn't matter what kind of business you are in, at some stage you depend on third party products and services to deliver your own to your customers. How DO you manage the quality of those without the cost exceeding the advantage of subcontractors? (This is the hub of an issue I often stumble across.)

All the best, Graham.

The "Great Places to Avoid" Guide Book

We've just been on holiday, and had booked into a hotel for the first night. It was one of those classic experiences where the pictures and description on the website applied to the main part of the hotel (well actually the Reception area) and had little or no bearing on the guest accomodation. The room had little to recommend it at all - more on that later perhaps, but my immediate thought was that I'd never come across a quality guide book or website specifically for individuals to comment on their experiences of hotels and for the hotels to publish their responses. All moderated, of course, to keep it 'clean'.