France Telecom Faces Crises of Leadership

Oct. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- Following revelations that France Telecom was experiencing high levels of suicides following a recent restructure, Nigel Watson, MD of Q4 Solutions, who has worked with organisations that have experienced suicide problems in the past, believes that urgent action is needed to manage the communication breakdown inside the organisation and to help breed a new culture that ‘has its roots in performance not in power.’

Watson, who alongside his Q4 team has worked with executives who have been raped, sexually abused, grief stricken or had anger issues says:

“It isn’t that the actions and behaviour of management at France Telecom caused people to commit suicide, but more the fact that the management’s behaviour was likely to have been a catalyst, bringing previously buried or covered up feelings to the surface. An increasingly pressurised work environment coupled with emotional pressures at home leave employees with literally no escape and draws home the real reason why the right kind of leadership style is so critical to the welfare and success of individuals in an organisation, particularly in fast-paced, cut throat industries.”

Watson says that the management approach France Telecom have taken so far is common in many organisations but that recent events suggest they have found it particularly difficult to strike the right balance between performance, value and the needs of its people following their recent restructuring. He says:

“What France Telecom needs is more about leadership than management. They need clarity of mission, purpose and communication to avoid losing equity in the relationships between people in the organisation. Yes process and controls are important, but they must support the people and not try to constrain them. They need to focus on aligning everyone on RTR, getting the Right Things Right.  This might sounds straight forward, but is often much trickier than it sounds”

“That’s what makes performance culture so effective. It is where everyone wants the same performance outcome and takes pride in their results and not just management. To achieve this everyone needs to have to want it and be able to see a clear ‘what’s in it for me’. When this doesn’t happen, employees become increasingly disconnected from the organisation and it makes the task of improving performance even more complex.”

ENDS

Editor’s Notes

Nigel Watson is one of the most experienced performance culture specialists in Europe. He has been managing director of Q4 for almost a decade and has over 20 years experience in serving corporate household names.

Q4 Solutions delivers programmes of leadership development, workshops, facilitation and coaching. Using acknowledged leaders in their field, Q4 has assembled a formidable array of talent under the overall guidance of Nigel Watson.

Nigel’s career has been spent in the people, performance, process arena and he has worked with many prestigious clients, including: Alliance & Leicester, Augusta Westland, BP, BAE Systems, EDS, KPMG, Logica CMG, Selfridges and Vodafone.

Nigel was also part of the company responsible for: training the skippers and crew for the BT Global Challenge Yacht Race, creating a joint civilian leadership school at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and for working with Sir Clive Woodward in developing the shift in behaviours and performance for the England 2003 Rugby World Cup Squad.

For further information visit www.q4-solutions.com

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