Episode 8 - Punch and Judy

Does Debra realise that the words ‘team leader’ actually include the word ‘leader’? For her, leadership seems to mean louder-ship: like speaking louder whilst on holiday, but still in English, to hope you can be understood. What happened to providing direction and planning for the team – isn’t this a core aspect of leadership? Of course, there’s more than one way of being a leader but increasing trust and communication is so central and Debra seemed to think this was more about increasing trouble and volume of communication.

It appears that Howard actually did most of the work on the task and had the most creativity. Creativity was so central to the task but it’s not just about coming up with the bright ideas – it’s also about how you execute them, something which the IPI looks at. Howard could also do with a booster in the influencing skills department – he could have led the task if he’d only influenced Mona and James to support his leadership bid, rather than solely concentrating on Debra and her robotic ‘I am the leader. I am the leader. I am….’

So Debra’s team misunderstood the task in hand. Did they think the brief was to create something that looked like “Marketing for 5 year olds”? Had Debra ever seen a leaflet before in her life? It’s not rocket science to plan the leaflet and work out what you want on each page: and isn’t time management the class-101 of managing yourself? To leave the leaflet blank was outrageous, and surely any client of hers would have sacked her immediately. Where was her customer focus? Did she even think about who her customers were – the Margate officials and residents and the branding agency – surely customer focus is a vital competency as business gets harder for us all right now.

And in chapter 2 of the rather large volume wending its way to airport bookshelves as we speak 'What IS it about Lorraine that is so darn irritating?' we wonder whether there has ever been a better living example of the word 'sanctimonious'. Off the hook this week for having somewhat coincidentally been in the winning team, she nonetheless managed to alienate her colleagues when, on returning from a seaside jolly with Ben 'David Bailey' Clarke, she pronounced: 'I don't like them!' on a second's sight of the posters. Being 'right' (they were far too full of words) doesn't always make you right, but somehow Lorraine's 'instincts' are a justification for every sanctimonious pronouncement she makes. Yasmina thinks she has her pegged - 'She's crazy! She has issues!' - and not a business psychologist in sight. Oh for some real insight of the kind a psychometric might give us (try the FIRO-B for starters if you want to work out what someone really needs from others to bring out the best in them - and please tell Lorraine!)

At last Siralan is now concentrating on picking ‘for the future of his organisation’ – a nice aspect to work into your selection criteria. Still, if he really had been selecting on this basis, surely he would have fired both Mona and Debra. He seemed somewhat non-plussed this week, struggling to decide between which would be more of a waste-of-salary in his organisation, a Mona (boom boom) without the assertiveness to articulate her own objections to the 'Margayte' plan, or little miss bossy Debra. What a missed opportunity - we’ve not had a double-firing yet this season and it at least would have spiced things up a little.

Finally, to borrow from The Guardian, this week may have been much more fun if the task brief had a typo and it was actually about re-branding Margaret! And is it true that Nick is a secret member of the 'Alternative Rodent's Gurning Society'? Do that vole-with-a-thistle-stuck up-its-nostril impersonation for us again, please Nick...

Oh, and our muppet of the week? It just has to be Ben for the constant photo framing using his hands –did he not realise that’s what the camera is for?!