A system which, judging by this interaction, is plainly lacking in leadership. A good leader (or leadership team) will have their finger on the pulse of the organisation and will pick up and attend to symtoms of the system malfunctioning. And they will do this through people-facing MBWA rather than reading reports.

One of the biggest challenges of course being that the system means nothing – it is just a set of tools, some paperwork, and a way for a big organisation to force behaviours that ‘should’ be systemic but rarely are. Assessing and supporting behaviours is key to continual success, but we seem to constantly miss a trick. Poor Mohan here got the brunt of a system that had not supported Jack.

Everything that you observed here Reg could be put down to how far the system has failed them both. If we believe (and I do!) that people will do the best that they can with the resources that they have available to them, then poor Jack has been given precious few resources to help him through this. He knows that he has to appraise, and get it written down, but there is so much that he is lacking – the 4Rs, the knowledge of the purpose of the review for himself and for Mohan, the ability to see things from another’s perspective, the search for Mohan’s requirements, the ability to give and receive honest and supportive feedback, and not least the desire to operate from a strong positive intent for them both.

It’s easy to be critical. For me this blog has reminded me, yet again, how lucky we are to have been given the gift of NLP – the skills that we have, the knowledge, the choices and the ability to know that there are other ways, if only we stop for long enough to remember to use them. It would be lovely if everyone in the world knew that, but until they do I think that we will continue to see these examples, and I will continue to be reminded of how much my NLP has given me.