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December 13, 2006
Do not disagree with your employer
I had a very agreeable and interesting evening yesterday at the Institute of Ideas
We talked about public libraries, the agenda for culture, the nature of public administration and the importance of books and the serendipity of a public library-- and lots of other really fascinating subjects. I am grateful for their invitation and can say I really enjoyed myself.
One tiny point that came up in the evening was a about "not disagreeing with your employer". If you work in any organisation, you can easily understand the merits of agreeing and the inherent dangers of disagreeing. Someone emphasised how important it is, in the civil service, to agree not only with policy, but also with the ideas being floated before they become policy; to do otherwise is truly to risk your employment. Moreover, it was said, because departments and quango's are mutually dependent - for funding and a thousand other reasons, it is also expedient and proper to agree with the ideas and policies of other departments- at all times.
If you work for a small company and your boss has a daft idea, your company will suffer-- but your competitors will thrive. So the public is not disadvantaged in the long run, and if you have been loyal to your boss even though you know he has been stupid, or wrongful, you have done no public damage. You will both suffer, but the damage is limited.
However if you are a civil servant and you are loyal to your boss there is no competition and the public will suffer. Moreover if 10m public servants all conform to a regime in which nobody speaks either against the follies of their own department or the failings of another-- then the public will suffer hugely. And they do.
My thanks again to Dolan Cummings and his friends and colleagues: it was a most stimulating evening. I hope many of you will come on the blog.
Posted by Tim Coates at December 13, 2006 9:44 PM