6 ms·
Several years ago, I had to attend a full day "culture training" session given by Senn Delaney (a division of Heidrick & Struggles) [1]. It was also a massive
by Seenso 7y ago
Several years ago, I had to attend a full day "culture training" session given by Senn Delaney (a division of Heidrick & Struggles) [1]. It was also a massive waste of time. Our company actually has a really great culture, and what I remember of the training amounted to a somewhat subtle attempt to indoctrinate employees to be more blindly obedient to management change initiatives. There was some other stuff, but I honestly can't recall anything else. Maybe some simplified Meyers-Briggs type thing.
The only time I've heard any of the concepts cited since the training push has been in the context of some mid-level executive type pushing an unpopular top-down change, and even then, they seem to be at the bottom of their rhetorical sack. My co-workers' reaction ranged from neutral to eye-rolling, and as far as I can tell, no one has explicitly employed the trained culture concepts and the whole experience has mostly been forgotten.
I have no idea how much the my employer paid for all this, but the cost must have been enormous (every employee had to attend a course that took between one and three whole work days, with no multitasking allowed).
[1] https://www.senndelaney.com/ https://www.senndelaney.com/
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago> every employee had to attend a course that took between one and three whole work days, with no multitasking allowed That reminded me of the Clockwork Orange.
- specialist 7y agoI call it ritualized spanking. a la "the beatings will continue until morale improves". Even more effective than fat shaming.
- bitwize 7y agoNot long ago at $JOB I sat through what I call "mandatory psychobabble day". The particular psychobabble being peddled to, or rather, imposed on, us was the DISC system -- a variant of which was recently outed on Hackernews as pernicious hucksterism which somehow held much of Sweden in its sway. It was supposed to make us better collaborators, under the rubric that understanding the traits of both your own star sign under this 20th century horoscope and those of your coworkers will enable you to formulate better communication strategies. Oddly, the most fruitful discussions that day, or at any time at $JOB, were held without reference to DISC at all. My single moment of satisfaction was in trolling the interlocutor at the end. He still recognizes and smiles to me in the halls, which tells me my trolling was sufficiently subtle.
- throwaway3849 7y agoYou must have more tact than me. I caught the ire of the iridologist when I asked 'What if we disagree with the chart?' Could not find a more uncomfortable way to spend a morning.
- throwaway3157 7y agoWhat did the instructor do to you for the remainder of the morning?
- throwaway3849 7y agoI was used as the example for the rest of the session. Either I could take it in stride or dig in. That was not the hill I wanted to die on so I sucked it up. Still find it hard to let go of it though.
- sizzle 7y agoFor anyone else wondering: Iridology: the inspection of the iris of the eye as an aid in determining a person's state of health or in diagnosing a health problem.
- lowdose 7y agoFor anyone else wondering if Bitwize just came up with the word of the week or Psychobabble is really a thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychobabble https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychobabble
- zweep 7y agoOr he also realizes that it’s bullshit. I led a “diversity workshop” in my company at the request of management because I’m known to be an excellent public speaker. The content was 100% crap but I was commended for my work and was rewarded for it so I’d gladly do another.
- throwaway3157 7y agoI also got invited to one of these diversity workshops at $JOB once, by our VP of diversity. Cost was >$5000 but I would have to get my manager to pay for it. They sent this email to me, not my manager. No thanks. Edit: why the downvote? You could tell me what I did wrong
- gjvc 7y ago"Heidrick & Struggles" -- the second part of that name is apt!
- nabla9 7y agoWhen Japanese companies came to the West some of them tried to push the Japanese company culture into their subsidiaries without any modifications. Starting workday with everyone standing in attention outside and singing company song when company flag was hoisted did not go well.
- Aperocky 7y agoYou need to tell us what happened
- cbm-vic-20 7y agoSee also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film)
- ACow_Adonis 7y agoIf by not go well, I'm assuming you mean adopted by many American firms. I'm assuming you're unfamiliar with "the Wal-Mart cheer". I'd love to say it was isolated, but my wife worked for a big 4 consultancy firm straight out of university. Just do a Google search for "Ernst and young happy day". I'd paste a link, but I'm afraid I'd actually have to watch it again...
- bitwize 7y agoOh man, I'm getting flashbacks to the cringe I felt the first time I heard the KPMG song: https://youtu.be/NCvKXgp-Awo https://youtu.be/NCvKXgp-Awo It's no coincidence that corporate anthems like this sound similar to the Scientology hymn We Stand Tall: https://youtu.be/XyNh1j3dsp8 https://youtu.be/XyNh1j3dsp8
- jhbadger 7y agoThere's a long history of US firms doing this sort of thing. IBM used to have an official songbook and employees would sing "Ever Onward" like they were at a school pep rally. https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/music_EO1.html https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/music_EO1.htm...
- AWildC182 7y agoI used to work in a facility that was doing manufacturing as well as software/engineering. The manufacturing techs were generally treated like cattle and subjected to this stuff as most of them were max high school level education and/or foreign and while plenty intelligent, didn't have the financial capability to tell them to fuck off. As such they were generally able get them to play along with all the synergizification training because whether they bought into it or not, they were conditioned to play along through social pressure. I think what we're seeing is the same principles that worked on the mid century manufacturing laborers being refined for the information economy age.
- ImaCake 7y agoWhat a waste of time! People doing processing of any kind, be it biology, chemical, or mechanical, require certain spaces of time through the day to be free so they can do their job efficiently. This kind of bullshit is the worst possible interruption for such workers and would certainly produce the maximum possible resentment towards management.
- zweep 7y agoMy trick for no multitasking: pen and paper notebook. Looks like I’m taking notes, I’m actually working on my novel.
- organsnyder 7y agoI had a former employer do a mandatory Sean Delaney-led session for thousands of employees. I found it to be quite good, but much of our dysfunction was at the leadership level (directors stabbing each other in the back, etc.), and leadership—despite also attending the sessions (management had even more training, IIRC)—quickly reverted to the same toxic habits.