How many people does it take to adjust a PC monitor?

OK, so this post is based on the running gag of changing light bulbs, but a Health and Safety (H&S) notice I recently read at a government building really does stagger belief and illustrates not only how bonkers H&S can get, but also how government really is wasting money.

So - the answer? By my reckoning, at least 8 people are needed in this government establishment to adjust a PC monitor.

And the reason for this is the following policy procedure that staff should follow if they feel that their workstation screen needs adjustment:

1) request an assessment from the Health & Safety office (1 admin person to take the call, 1 assessor to come out)

2) If there is found to be a need, this is reviewed by Occupational Health (1 admin person to take the call, 1 assessor to come out)

3) A request for the adjustment is then submitted by your line manager (1 person) to the IT department (1 admin person to take the call, 1 technician to come out)

4) The diversity officer should also be informed (1 officer to file a report)

Is it any wonder then why governments take so long to do anything and it costs us so much for them to do it when they do?

What Web 2.0 can learn from medieval co-ops

There seems to be an ongoing proliferation of e-commerce sites offering bulk-purchasing services (and savings) to small businesses and individuals (groupon, anyone?) – made possible thanks to the blessing that is the internet and social media (I thought I'd try one out – co-deal).

But do we really need so many? There are various trade bodies that already exist that have negotiated discounts on core services for their members (the Institute of Consulting can get you cheaper professional indemnity insurance, Co-operativesUK can get you free banking, and so so) – a model which is largely based on the old Medieval Guilds (an early co-op model).

And in the 1970s there was a surge of interest in people forming food buying groups, from which many worker co-ops were 'birthed' – a trend that's captured peoples' imagination again today.

Ultimately, all these bulk purchasing schemes (whether they be for small businesses like me, or householders – also like me!) are based on a co-op model and exhibit co-op values – empowering individuals to achieve together what they could not alone.

But the co-op model fell out of fashion during the 1970s and 1980s and is only really just starting to come back into mainstream society's consciousness – so I hope that all these new and emerging group buying schemes recognise that they're using a co-op model and look to this proud and historical movement for guidance in building new sustainable businesses that offer economic benefit to their members and users.

a birthday cake for one...

This year, I shall be mostly spending my birthday on a train - travelling to a client to support them resolve some partnership issues. I'll get to see my 2 boys for a few minutes in the morning (when they're usually only interested in breakfast and morning TV than anything else).

So maybe I'll be celebrating over the weekend instead? No. I'll be travelling back from working with an emerging co-operative enterprise on friday evening, and then over the rest of the weekend my wife is running market stalls and I'll be pitching in with our adopted town of Todmorden's launch of a new pilgrimage.


Why am I sharing this? Well, it's not to elicity sympathy (as I'm OK with it), but as a moral encouragement to everyone else who finds themselves in a similar time of their lives. The world doesn't owe us anything and we're not automatically entitled to big parties and celebrations (as much as we might wish otherwise...)

So, as the poet Andrew Marvell put it "take your pleasures where you can", 'cos the harsh reality of the world means that you can't always indulge yourself in things you want. And that's a hard truth which many people don't want to accept - but maybe if they did, then we'd all get along a lot easier...

Why it’s good to indulge yourself in (unjustifiable) luxuries

I've recently taken out a subscription (posh word for membership) to the Portico library in Manchester after I was invited to lunch there by a colleague and saw, and was allowed access to, their 'members room' (which is highly reminiscent of a bygone age of gentleman's clubs...)

Ultimately though, the Portico is a library (albeit one of great historical interest) so why pay the membership fees to indulge myself in this way when I could still visit and enjoy the rest of it for free as a visitor?

Well, it’s because I think it’s good to reward yourself from time to time (after all, not everyone will thank you for what you do), it's given me a new perspective through having a different context to sit and think and talk with people I wouldn't otherwise meet, and it’s also given me pause to re-consider what I place value on (and why...).

So – it could be a slice of cake, or a new tie, but every once in a while you need to treat yourself.

Who knows, maybe your treat will be a membership to the Portico as well and I'll see you in the member's room sometime...

The Big Society will lead to Anarchy!! (and why that's a good thing...)

Anarchy is a phrase that’s often mis-understood – people associate it with lawlessness, chaos and disorder; with fear and unrest. But it’s exactly what will increasingly happen as the Big Society show trundles on...

You see, Big Society is all about us as ‘mere citizens’ taking ever increasing amounts of control and responsibility over things that affect our lives and upon which we depend – public services, for example. And a chance comment at a recent Co-production seminar in Manchester made me realise that this means we’ll be moving to an ever increasing anarchistic society.

We were discussing how coproduction will see the traditional ‘powers that be’ and commissioning bodies become ever less powerful and loose their control over how individuals decide upon how they want the social and health services they access look and feel. “It’ll be madness – a free for all – pure anarchy!” was the comment made in semi-jest...

But actually anarchy will be a good thing to happen – because anarchy isn’t about the breakdown of society and law and order, it’s about the absence of government control over our lives; it’s about us as ‘ordinary citizens’ coming together voluntarily and co-operatively to decide and agree upon the type of society that we feel it most appropriate and just. And coproduction may offer us the best framework/model by which to achieve this.

But if nothing else, isn’t it therefore about time we starting talking not about the Big Society, but the Society of Anarchy? (who’d have thought it – David Cameron: the anarchist!)

When is the Big Society NOT the Big Society? (when it’s the co-op movement...)

The Big Society rumbles ever onwards, and there still seems to be widespread confusion about what it actually is. However, the Commission on Big Society have produced this handy definition, which has since been adopted by national sector bodies Locality and ACEVO (amongst others):

"A society in which power and responsibility have shifted: one in which, at every level in our national life, individuals and communities have more aspiration, power and capacity to take decisions and solve problems themselves, and where all of us take greater responsibility for ourselves, our communities and one another"

All sounds very noble, but it’s also a definition of the co-operative movement (you know, that things that’s also been rumbling along for a few centuries now!)

Let me illustrate by mapping the defining Co-operative values and principles against this definition:

"A society in which power and responsibility have shifted: one in which, at every level in our national life, individuals and communities have more aspiration, power and capacity to take decisions and solve problems themselves (self-help, democracy, equity), and where all of us take greater responsibility for ourselves (self-responsibility), our communities and one another (social responsibility, caring for others, concern for community)"

This apparent ‘hi-jacking’ of the co-op movement to support the Conservative Party’s ambitions doesn’t stop with defining it's Big Society. Remember when they also launched the Conservative Co-operative Movement, apparently oblivious to the pre-existence of the existing wider co-operative movement...?

So – when is the Big Society not the Big Society? When it’s a political attempt to claim credit for others hard work and efforts over the last few centuries... So is it time to reclaim the Big Society as the Co-operative Society yet?

are the creative industries actually the destructive industries?

I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a recent RSA/Future Artists/Potico unconference on enterprise and the creative industries, and through discussions and debate with particpants there am beginning to think that the creative industries are actually quite dangerous...

after all, creativity demands that we challange our accepted (and comfortable) norms, expectations, knowledge and wisdom - manifestations of work from within the creative industries often cause upset, shock and dislike and so are often dismissed out of hand and not seen to be of value;

and maybe that's why in the UK we don't embrace the creative industries as well as other nations do (and the associated limitations that we therefore place on our society and economy in doing so) - we keep them on the fringes of acceptability because they are so disruptive and (personally) challenging. But can't such destructive tendancy utimately a good thing?