Dansk
A particular experience at this year's Roskilde Festival reminded me that strategy and leadership are not the answer to all problems.
I admit it. This column is written with mixed feelings. It is not based on scientific data or proven facts, but solely on a personal experience from this year's Roskilde Festival.
The reason I'm writing it anyway is because the experience put my daily work with strategy and leadership into perspective. I'll come back to that. First, the experience itself.
This year I was a first-time volunteer at Roskilde Festival. As a team leader in a food stall, I was responsible for a team of 15-20 young people from Denmark, Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries.
The deal was clear: Everyone got free entry to the festival because they volunteered at the stall. A cool concept that I think draws on our Danish tradition of collaboration, association and community.
In the beginning, the atmosphere was great, even though the tasks were many - and not always exciting: Vegetables had to be chopped, dressings mixed, tables wiped down, rubbish taken away, the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes done - so that the next team wouldn't have to take over a bomb crater. All while paying guests enjoyed the freedom, music and life.
However, I quickly realized that there was a difference between my volunteers. Many of the Danish young people simply didn't want to do what they had signed up for. At first, things were done left-handed. Later, they didn't do them at all. And finally, they just said no when I asked them to do it.
The opposite was true of their southern European colleagues. They took the tasks with a smile, felt responsible for what they left behind - and occasionally looked with disbelief at their Danish colleagues who shamelessly jumped the gun. That is, if they bothered to jump at all.
As my amazement and irritation grew, so did an inner echo. The echo of my own strategy and management philosophy:
It's not the employees that are at fault. It's the management that hasn't created meaningful work. A clearer framework and an inclusive approach would have solved the problem. I could also hear great management experts say that if only management would stop overselling the business values (people washing), employees would be more motivated.
It's probably all true. And yes - I was possibly Roskilde's worst team leader in that food stall.
But at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, privilege-blind and aggrieved, the experience has also given me the heretical thought that perhaps not all problems stem from strategic ambiguity or incompetent leadership.
Sometimes the problem is simply a certain type of employee.
- The ones who are constantly trying to let go.
- Those who won't bother if it gets "boring".
- Those who always prefer working from home to sharing an office.
- Those who believe that meaningfulness is something you get - not something you have to give.
- The ones who are basically just being themselves.
Can you expect ultimate self-sacrifice in a food stall at Roskilde Festival? No - of course not. Have I jumped the gun myself? Yes, of course you have.
But this time, it wasn't the fault of strategy or management.
This column was published in Jyllands-Posten Finance and in Jyllands-Posten erhverv, July 24, 2023.
Now we can spend our time on strategy content rather than models
Allan Pedersen
Owner &CEO
K.J. Climate Technology A/S