Self-collusion

A friend of mine, John Christian, referred to “self-talk” as the inner conversation we have with ourselves. It often is a conversation based on exaggeration – we talk ourselves up, which can boost our confidence to self-belief but also bring us crashing down to earth as well. Talking down to ourselves can both keep us…

Collusion Levels – four tales

Level One –  a tale of fake niceness A lecturer hands out feedback sheets at the end of a college course. Students know their exams will be marked by this lecturer who has also marked their term-time coursework. Despite assurances the feedback sheets are anonymous and will only be analysed once they have been put…

The Inner and Outer Beauty of Mediocrity

Mediocrity can be a beautiful thing. A child’s first, failing attempts to stand up, can remind us that there’s a value to our striving, a beauty in our half-achievements, a reminder that we are, despite all of our technological and scientific advances, mortal and frail creatures. Human striving can stand before us as something precious,…

Collusive personal or work projects

Projects – be they work or personal life projects often fail to deliver on their original objectives because they operate as a collusion of mediocrity. In order to avoid discomfort DURING the project, any attempt to challenge of the non-delivery against the original dream, vision, goals or objectives is diluted or minimised. It becomes acceptable…

ABC Analysis – a useful collusion breaking feedback tool

(Warning: The following aricle contains strong language and is not suitable for under 16s). The ABC analysis tool is a tool for giving honest feedback. ABC stands for “Asshole Behaviour Check” The Process It is best done in a group, but can also be done in pairs. Each person in the group offers feedback about…

Insipid Positivity

“It is an art to dream a dream, a science to dream an illusion” “It is so often the insane who pronounce the sane mad.” “The greatest cruelty is to target an honest person for being honest.” One strategy for justifying any almost any action is to employ the language of law. Clever arguments are…

The Facade

A slightly ranty opinion piece…. The “facade” is an endemic, collusive and insidious value at the heart of just about every hotel I have ever stayed in. (It exists in the hotel in which I am writing this now). The idea at the heart of the ‘facade’ is that what the customer cannot see cannot…

Passion and Mediocrity

A very interesting conversation today with a group of landscape architects… The concept of passion in art has some interesting parallels with passion between people. When passion between people is embodied in poetry or other forms of art, it need never name the “Other”.  It’s already a sign of possessiveness and “strategy”. Even worse is…

Collusive personal or work projects

Projects – be they work or personal life projects often fail to deliver on their original objectives because they operate as a collusion of mediocrity. In order to avoid discomfort DURING the project, any attempt to challenge of the non-delivery against the original dream, vision, goals or objectives is diluted or minimised. It becomes acceptable…

Compellaboration

Compellaboration is a form of often collusive collaboration that hides competition as a motive for action at its core. Compellaboration can be overt where the motive is not hidden, is clear to all parties involved – we compete using collaboration as a method. In popular culture, some aspects of reality TV shows such as The…

Collusion Levels

These are the levels of collusion in the “collusion of mediocrity” model. Each level can be experienced on its own, and one or more level can be operating at the same time. The labels are deliberately provocative to get the brain cells buzzing! I’ve hinted at resolutions for each level, but these are only mentioned…

Collusion – a short scene

 Note I wrote this short scene, which has been performed many times in companies and public organisations over the last ten years, in order to get to the heart of collusion in organisational life. It’s based on real comments I heard after a leadership workshop. Feel free to use it in your own sessions and…