"If the economy was a sick patient, George Osborne would be struck off"

Larry Elliott writes on today's Guardian website:

"Weaker growth has meant the government's deficit reduction plan is well off track, with David Cameron admitting that austerity will now continue for a decade, double the five-year period of pain promised when the coalition came to power. The Treasury has borrowed well over £500bn since the recession began and the figures are worse this year than they were in 2011."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/25/economy-george-osborne-growth-figures?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

John Cridland, DG of the CBI and general all-around supporter for the Chancellor says:

“These are very disappointing figures. They show there has been a lack of growth in the first half of 2012. “When I talk to businesses on the ground, however, the overwhelming view is that right now the economy is flat rather than negative, and there is potential for Britain to get back into growth later in the year.”

http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2012/07/cbi-comments-on-latest-gdp-data/

Yep, that's it - after 5 of 7 quarters of negative growth, an economy smaller than it was in 2008 and government borrowing way beyond target, added to which another decade of austerity is forecast with, a 2014 Comprehensive Spending Review which has to decimate the public sector further because there is nowhere else to go if your economy is contracting - the CBI appears to be the only major representative body not to be calling on the Chancellor to 'do something different!' Shameful. Even the British Chambers of Commerce, hardly a left-wing organisation, is calling for public investment in infra-structure and the IoD, definitely a right-leaned organisation, says improved leadership is needed from the Chancellor.

Even the 'red-braces' are panicking, given that the ratings agencies, those small, shadowy completely unaccountable companies who can wreck a nations creditworthiness, are circling the UK's AAA rating. Just watch the fall-out when that happens - and there's no pleasure in that, particularly when we all suffer and our pensions are put at risk (both private and public sector - yes, we are all together in that mess!).

Meanwhile, Osborne is the Government's chief political strategist as well as the Chancellor - glad to see he fills his spare time gainfully.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/25/george-osborne-under-pressure-economy?intcmp=239

Bitter? You bet I am. This is a disaster and the Government can no longer go on repeating, ad-nausea, that it's clearing up the previous Government's mess. It just doesn't wash.

Painting the 'big picture' - leadership & intentional communication

Effective communication by leaders with their organisation's employees helps to create engagement, motivation and a shared direction. What can sometimes happen though is that corporate communications fail to create a clear picture of the organisation's strategic direction, tending to focus more on day-to-day operational matters, exhortations to better performance and trying to beat the rumour-mill to the punch. 

In 2007 HBR research found that a clear minority of employees reported that their managers communicated a clear strategic direction to them. Interestingly, in connected research this year, senior managers when asked believed a minority of their employees had a good grasp of big-picture strategy. So, if managers believe employees don't have the strategic picture and employees believe their managers don't inform and engage them, just what is going on and who is responsible for communicating or connecting with the big -picture? 

In our experience, the most effective leaders tend to paint the 'big picture' readily and ably in their communications. Similarly, we've found that engaged employees connect themselves to the big picture messages and make connections between their roles and the strategic direction. 

HBR went on to suggest that to raise the level of strategic understanding "leaders must learn to be intentional about the way that they communicate with employees. In other words, they must work to align what they say — and how they talk — with a clear pattern of strategic intent." HBR called this "organisational conversation." 

In traditional leadership models the leaders treat employee communication as a distinct entity from the organisation's strategy. HBR suggested that leaders who engage intentionally place a premium on integrating the strategic direction into their regular messaging.

They go on to offer four ideas to help us become more intentional leaders:

"1. Think ahead. Before they can cultivate a strategic conversation within their company, leaders need to develop a conversational strategy. 

2. Paint a picture.  Smart leaders get creative about how they communicate this kind of information. They tell a story.

3. Ask for help. One way to ensure that people have a clear view of their company's strategic priorities is to give them a role in setting those priorities. 

4. Watch what you say. In talking with employees, effective leaders use consistent, well-thought-out language — language that aims to keep everyone's "eyes on the prize" 

The full article with more about the 4 ideas can be found here:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/to_resolve_the_uncertainty_in.html