Once upon a time there was an NHS rowing team
The NHS and Japan agreed to hold a race. Each boat
would contain eight men.
Both teams worked really hard to get into the best
shape. On the day of the first race, both teams were in
a similar condition. The Japanese team won by one
mile.
FINISH
The mood in the NHS team was really close to freezing point.
The top management decided to win the race next year. So
they established a committee of analysts (with representation
from the voluntary sector and a patient) to observe the
situation and recommend an appropriate solution
After several weeks of detailed analysis, the committee
found that the Japanese had seven rowers and only one
captain.
…and the NHS team had 7 captains and only one rower
Facing such a critical scenario the management showed
unexpected wisdom: they hired a consultancy to restructure
the NHS team
After several months the consultants came to the
conclusion that there were too many captains and too
few rowers in the NHS team. A solution was proposed
based on this analysis: the structure of the NHS team had
to change
…as of today, there will be only four captains in the
team led by two Service Managers and a Director.
Besides that, they suggested to improve the rower’s
working environment and offer a reward and
recognition scheme to incentivise high performance
The next year, the Japanese team won by two
miles.
FINISH
The NHS management dismissed the rower from the team
(following a long and drawn out competency and capability
procedure) , on grounds of his unsatisfactory performance
…but a bonus was paid to the management team for the
strong leadership and motivation that the team had
showed during the preparation phase
The consulting company prepared a new analysis,
which showed that the strategy was good, the
motivation was O.K, but the tool used was substandard and had to be improved
Performed by ROCE
Currently, a new NHS design committee has been
formed and is having a new boat designed. Human
Remains (HR) have advertised nationally for a new
rower.