Charles Handy article on how the twin ingredients of questioning and suggesting are needed in British organizations to make sure of their success in the future. Handy begins the article discussing how the key to constant innovation is the customer’s, as well as the business’s, healthy discontent, and that mitigating group think through questioning and suggesting is necessary for company growth and resilience. Handy observes, however, that constant learning is not a British idea, that Britain is an L-plate society, and how he was brought up to believe that all of life’s important problems had already been solved by someone somewhere, and that it took him a decade of experience in the real world to realize that most of life’s problems are actually new. After explaining the difference between convergent and divergent problems, Handy concludes that businesses, which continue to re-invent themselves, encourage space and authority down the line and are enabled to forgive the mistakes of their employees. This approach fosters learning by continuous reflection, and, he argues, appears to be the best guard against inevitable change and assures a business’s survival into the future.
Handy, Charles B Corr, Christopher Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola USA Woodruff, Robert Winship Japanese Mumford, Alan Atlanta (Ga.) Institute of Directors
Source
Charles Handy article on how the twin ingredients of questioning and suggesting are needed in British organizations to make sure of their success in the future, 1992; Charles Handy Papers; Box 20, Folder 5; 1 page
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