It's back! - The Apprentice on BBC at 9pm on Wednesdays.
Yes, I know it is a TV series and the objective is to gain more viewers but for training and development people this programme must be like an addiction. If you didn't watch the programme then the following blog may not make sense.
The Apprentice is great for examples of what can go wrong in a business when you have lack of direction, accountablitity etc. The resulting pressure reveals the often poor communication skills that the participants have in positioning themselves in the baord room battle.
The first episode of the new series was entertaining and I was pleased to hear that (unusually) one of the male group started their planning session with something like "it may be obvious but let's state the objective".
It is not always obvious what our objectives are and it can be very easy to forget these as we get caught up in the task at hand. This was demonstrated by the other team that did not seem to have a good grasp of their objective (ie to make profit). Althought they generated more revenue had not really considered their costs and therfore lost the task.
Over the years that I have watched this programme, the main failure for most of the teams is their lack of ability to plan. Maybe this is harsh because the clips end up on the editors floor.
Plan: I hardly ever hear about clear accountability or a time plan. Ie time to plan, test, implement, review etc. This would allow plan B to be implmented in a planned way not the normal panic that we see.
Test : For example, the teams could have tried two methods simaltaneously, timing the washing of one car by half the team and having a production line idea with the other half.
Measure: The average time to wash a car would allow them to choose a method.
Impelment: As they got more experience, they would find efficiencies.
Review: At the planning phase, they could have built in the times to review each critical stage that gave them time to consider if they needed to change anything.
I realise that the theory is easy and I do feel a lot of sympathy for the apprentices because the planning issue is especially difficult because in the first few episodes when the team is also trying to form. No one knows what anyone can do, how they communicate and what are their natural roles. This is all forming as they also have to complete the task, so no real surpirse that it fairly chaotic. It is when things are chaotic that we tend to make poorer decisions.
Watch on and enjoy.
