All Together Now - Still an indispensable guide to managing people in 2020

If you want a new idea, then read an old book. Looking at the cover picture of John Harvey Jones on his 1994 classic I can't help thinking that I'm turning into him, physically anyhow. We're both Johns with long names. My very first tie looked like his too. This morning while looking for something else for a colleague I came across a review that I'd written of this book and why it still matters. I've included an abridged version below. Enjoy.

There is practically no area of business where the difference between rhetoric and actuality is greater than in the handling of people

So begins John Harvey-Jones book “All Together Now”, a 1994 treatsie by the renowned management consultant on the effective orchestration of people in an organisation. In this work, the author invites leaders of organisations to reflect upon the following questions:

1. What is the potential of our people?
2. What is my firm doing to empower our people to give their best?

The answers to these questions are still as elusive today in 2017 as they were then, and the availability of more information and technology in the past quarter century has not solved the puzzle of wasted potential.

Unfortunately, business is still in thrall to old beliefs and models. Management accounting still regards people as an overhead and a cost to be reduced. Employees are still rated against a theoretical average for units of production (an age-old practice copied from work study officers in manufacturing operations). The reductionist view persists in distinguishing between “human resources” who need to be managed and “assets” where the value of the firm is concentrated (i.e. the many problems versus the few innovators). Firms continue to use outdated war-time production heuristics where people are summarily labelled according to perceived utility. Then there's the ill-judged use of unscientific blunt tools and typologies such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) which have been heavily criticised as being ineffective, unreliable, and counter-productive by institutions like the National Academy of Sciences. An astrology chart to label your people and predict their futures.

A gap remains between what people are capable of and reaching their full potential

There are other fads often parading under corporate jargon which only reinforce old ways of working and cultures of fear and conformity. So, a gap remains between what people are capable of and of reaching their full potential, and this gap has grown despite the expansion of human resource departments (a growth industry of itself), and greater allocation of training budgets. There has been little innovation around at least attempting to measure how much better individuals and the whole organisation can actually do.

A practical first step is having an open debate about how to enable people to perform closer to their real abilities. John Harvey-Jones (lets call him JHJ for short) stated that this should include discussion, analysis and experimentation and will involve “changes in attitude and approach in most areas of our social fabric and activity”. The challenge extends to shifting the whole basis of leadership, motivation, and administration, moving towards the encouragement of the individual and away from the bureaucratic treatment of groups or relying on lazy faux-typologies. In today’s economy people are working harder and longer than in the mid-90s, but are often working on the wrong things and still suffering as JHJ saw it from "frustration, boredom and lack of involvement".

It is still a challenge for firms to act responsibly and for their people, and address the disparities and inconsistencies between the administrative systems, management, company values and business objectives. The self-induced complexity makes it difficult for people to give their best. Instead, a more holistic approach, with a dedication to learning and appreciation of failing, supporting neuro-diversity and systemic (non-straight line) thinking, cultivating alternative leadership development models, involving employees more in the governance of the organisation to make better decisions for all, can All Together Now make a meaningful difference to the individual and business. JHJ says this is also the way to make good music.

Success comes from the creation of harmony

In the belief that business is more art than science; JHJ compared business and its performance to an orchestra and how it plays. Good leaders are like good conductors of an orchestra who create conditions where the whole ensemble plays together with energy and enthusiasm. Success comes from the creation of harmony, “a carefully selected, trained and conducted orchestra brings new meaning and interpretation to a well-loved piece of music…each player gains from the others and find themselves playing beyond their personal achievements in individual practice”. The conductor, like a business leader, has the opportunity to create a spiral of encouragement and experience that is uplifting and transforming. JHJ writes that the success of such an endeavour depends upon a holistic programme that lays a foundation and leaves a lasting legacy for the orchestra. This begins by selecting the right players, the right standards, and right practices. The conductor (business leader) must remain attentive to his audience (customers), and be careful to tune into the concert hall (the environment) in which the orchestra (business) operates. Outside advice is important on the technicalities of playing the various instruments, be it marketing & design, supply chain, or sustainability. It is the conductor who ensures everyone plays together in perfect harmony.

But let's be honest so many teams and organisations are out of tune, with leaders who have no ear for music nor desire for harmony. Some leaders purposefully create noise and sow disharmony that they then exploit for personal gain. A very old game. If there is high turnover of staff and low engagement something is wrong.

The opportunity is vast and depends upon future ways of working that address the gap between peoples’ experiences and their untapped potential. Can people in your organisation really bring their true selves to work or do they have to pretend once they enter the workplace? Is it really all about keeping the conductor happy? JHJ sums it up perfectly, that "business works best if it also works for the people working in it".

?Source: Harvey-Jones, J. 1994. All Together Now. BCA.

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