BBC Panorama Life School Wirral (trigger warning for physical and verbal abuse, discriminatory language) prompted us at The Productive Pessimist Ltd to reach out as a matter of urgency to Life Wirral. While the school has, rightly, been closed by the local authority, we have identified serious risks for any situation any of the leadership team from Life Wirral may enter into in the future, and for any attempt to re-establish the brand if re-education around both effective support and education for SEN children, and effective and appropriate management practice generally, is not provided or engaged with.
The problems of Life Wirral aren't isolated. They are problems that are entrenched in British ideas of management, whether that is management of adult members of staff in a business, management of students in a school, or management of behaviour. Britain is a nation built on conquest and control, and the Protestant concept that people 'earn' compassion, and their needs being met, by being 'deserving' - doing what someone in authority wants, in the way that person wants it done, with a willingness to do it. Not having opinions or attitudes of their own. Believing that the people 'in charge', in whatever way that manifests, are inherently superior, and that is why they are in charge.
This attitude is the cause of generational culture clashes which began when millennials first entered the workforce, 15-20 years ago, and which are reaching boiling point as Gen Z enter the workforce.
Millennials were the first generation to truly be born outside of the shadow of empire. We saw Hong Kong returned to China. We witnessed several referendums in Commonwealth countries around whether they remained in the Commonwealth. We were present, and aware, for the strong surge in energy and focus towards independence for Scotland, and, from that dynamism, the resurgence in interest in Cornish independence. We saw beyond the headlines, and realised the real driving force behind Brexit was Britain's rage at being part of something it couldn't control - and we understood, however we voted in the Brexit referendum, that complete control was part of our history, not part of our future. Some of us responded to that awareness with a sense that we should, therefore, focus on controlling what we could - ourselves. Others saw a chance for Britain to learn the greatness which could come from the humility needed to be an effective partner. But what we all understood was that we weren't going back to any 'Golden Age'. We all knew the past was gone forever, and we voted, in whichever way we did, not to reclaim that past, but to create a particular kind of future.
It's disconcerting to be in at the very beginning of change. There's nothing but dust and rubble, most people are arguing about what 'different' will actually look like, and no one really seems to know what they're doing. You can't see even the outline of the future; for some people, that's exciting - there's so many possibilities! We can design exactly what we want! For others, it's frightening, because so much could go wrong. We could lose everything.
Losing everything is a very present reality for most millennials, who were also the first generation around whom the welfare state began to be very actively dismantled. We were denied free university education, instead being expected to go into debt we were misinformed about the consequences of to fund an education whose promises of better jobs and higher pay have been repeatedly proved to be hollow. We are the first generation to know, with complete certainty, that we're not going to get a State pension, the first generation to accept that we'll be lucky if we're allowed to retire at all, if we don't have private wealth. We're the first generation in which people with life-altering, and, in many cases, life-limiting, disabilities are not just being supported to do work we feel we could do, but are being forced - often to the point of intimidation and bullying - to do any work, often with little or no desire on the part of employers, and certainly none on the part of the Department for Work and Pensions, to support us to manage that work and our disabilities effectively.
We're the first generation for whom expressions of personal identity have become a toxic "political issue", to be discussed with extreme prejudice, violently suppressed, and legislated against, rather than just seen as a natural part of people entering an adulthood they control and design.
And we're carrying all of that weight, all of that fear and confusion, as we step forward to meet a management structure which is based on control, and rooted in the idea of 'natural superiority.'
Just like the staff at Life Wirral, in their plaintive defence of their actions, many managers claim that aggressive tactics, discriminatory language, and toxic posturing are "coping mechanisms for stressful and demanding environments".
If the environment you are in requires you to abuse, mock, and aggressively control others, then the environment needs to be changed. Because nobody, including you, is going to thrive and become the best possible version of themselves in that environment.
The fundamental difference between management and leadership is confidence.
Leadership is rooted in the self-belief of a leader that they are capable of handling the challenges of the situations they encounter, that they will be able to get to the root of problematic behaviour from others, and that they are someone people want to do their best with, and for.
Management is rooted in the fear that the manager themselves is not enough, that they need processes and procedures, protocols and mandates, to make people manageable. Where leadership sees people as naturally eager to succeed, management sees people as inherently unstable, unpredictable, and driven to destroy anything that isn't theirs.
The problems of Life Wirral aren't isolated. They are problems that are entrenched in British ideas of management, whether that is management of adult members of staff in a business, management of students in a school, or management of behaviour. Britain is a nation built on conquest and control, and the Protestant concept that people 'earn' compassion, and their needs being met, by being 'deserving' - doing what someone in authority wants, in the way that person wants it done, with a willingness to do it. Not having opinions or attitudes of their own. Believing that the people 'in charge', in whatever way that manifests, are inherently superior, and that is why they are in charge.
This attitude is the cause of generational culture clashes which began when millennials first entered the workforce, 15-20 years ago, and which are reaching boiling point as Gen Z enter the workforce.
Millennials were the first generation to truly be born outside of the shadow of empire. We saw Hong Kong returned to China. We witnessed several referendums in Commonwealth countries around whether they remained in the Commonwealth. We were present, and aware, for the strong surge in energy and focus towards independence for Scotland, and, from that dynamism, the resurgence in interest in Cornish independence. We saw beyond the headlines, and realised the real driving force behind Brexit was Britain's rage at being part of something it couldn't control - and we understood, however we voted in the Brexit referendum, that complete control was part of our history, not part of our future. Some of us responded to that awareness with a sense that we should, therefore, focus on controlling what we could - ourselves. Others saw a chance for Britain to learn the greatness which could come from the humility needed to be an effective partner. But what we all understood was that we weren't going back to any 'Golden Age'. We all knew the past was gone forever, and we voted, in whichever way we did, not to reclaim that past, but to create a particular kind of future.
It's disconcerting to be in at the very beginning of change. There's nothing but dust and rubble, most people are arguing about what 'different' will actually look like, and no one really seems to know what they're doing. You can't see even the outline of the future; for some people, that's exciting - there's so many possibilities! We can design exactly what we want! For others, it's frightening, because so much could go wrong. We could lose everything.
Losing everything is a very present reality for most millennials, who were also the first generation around whom the welfare state began to be very actively dismantled. We were denied free university education, instead being expected to go into debt we were misinformed about the consequences of to fund an education whose promises of better jobs and higher pay have been repeatedly proved to be hollow. We are the first generation to know, with complete certainty, that we're not going to get a State pension, the first generation to accept that we'll be lucky if we're allowed to retire at all, if we don't have private wealth. We're the first generation in which people with life-altering, and, in many cases, life-limiting, disabilities are not just being supported to do work we feel we could do, but are being forced - often to the point of intimidation and bullying - to do any work, often with little or no desire on the part of employers, and certainly none on the part of the Department for Work and Pensions, to support us to manage that work and our disabilities effectively.
We're the first generation for whom expressions of personal identity have become a toxic "political issue", to be discussed with extreme prejudice, violently suppressed, and legislated against, rather than just seen as a natural part of people entering an adulthood they control and design.
And we're carrying all of that weight, all of that fear and confusion, as we step forward to meet a management structure which is based on control, and rooted in the idea of 'natural superiority.'
Just like the staff at Life Wirral, in their plaintive defence of their actions, many managers claim that aggressive tactics, discriminatory language, and toxic posturing are "coping mechanisms for stressful and demanding environments".
If the environment you are in requires you to abuse, mock, and aggressively control others, then the environment needs to be changed. Because nobody, including you, is going to thrive and become the best possible version of themselves in that environment.
The fundamental difference between management and leadership is confidence.
Leadership is rooted in the self-belief of a leader that they are capable of handling the challenges of the situations they encounter, that they will be able to get to the root of problematic behaviour from others, and that they are someone people want to do their best with, and for.
Management is rooted in the fear that the manager themselves is not enough, that they need processes and procedures, protocols and mandates, to make people manageable. Where leadership sees people as naturally eager to succeed, management sees people as inherently unstable, unpredictable, and driven to destroy anything that isn't theirs.
The continuing decline in British productivity since the early 2000s - when the oldest millennials began entering the workforce, and when 'red tape' legislation began to significantly ramp up, with increasing government involvement and control over business activities, is proof that management no longer works.
What is needed now is leadership.
And that needs to begin in schools, where hostile, management-driven attitudes are completely free of gender, with women as much as men taking the view that children need to be "controlled", "coerced", that the adults need to be visibly "dominant", and that co-operation is something that can only come from enforced submission. Men may derive more visible enjoyment from aggressive management tactics, but women are equally engaged with the concept.
Management says "I don't know what you're going to say or do if I let you determine the style of interaction we have, so I need to make it very clear that I'm bigger, stronger, more successful, and more important than you will ever be, so you only do what I say."
Leadership says "I understand you may have ideas about how your experience here should go that will be very different to what I'm thinking of doing. Let's explore where we're each coming from, and try to agree on the best way forward - that might be my way, it might be a little of my way, and a little of your way, it might be a completely new way we come up with together, or it might actually be your way, because you've realised something I hadn't thought of. At the end of the day, however, my responsibility is to make the decision, so that's what I'm going to do, but I want you to feel that it's a decision you were part of, and that you're comfortable following."
Management says "You do what I say because I'm in charge, and I'm in charge because I'm a better person than you!"
Leadership says "We need to agree on a single way to move forward, and I've been tasked to be the person who makes, and is responsible for, that decision - that doesn't mean I'm better than you, or more important, it just means I'm the one who has to explain why we did what we did - and I'm the one who'll get in trouble if it doesn't work out the way we thought it would!"
Management says "I know what's best for everyone here!"
Leadership says "Everyone here is going to have a different view of what's best for them; my responsibility is to take all those different opinions, and create a course of action which includes as many peoples' ideas of 'best for me' as possible."
Management responds to violence and aggression with force and intimidation.
Leadership responds with firmness, de-escalation, and a genuine enquiry into what the original problem was.
If you want to be a leader, not a manager, or you want to make exemplary leadership a cornerstone of your organisation, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
Email: theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com
Call: 0748 2017 927 (Tues-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm, Sun 9.30am-1.30pm)
What is needed now is leadership.
And that needs to begin in schools, where hostile, management-driven attitudes are completely free of gender, with women as much as men taking the view that children need to be "controlled", "coerced", that the adults need to be visibly "dominant", and that co-operation is something that can only come from enforced submission. Men may derive more visible enjoyment from aggressive management tactics, but women are equally engaged with the concept.
Management says "I don't know what you're going to say or do if I let you determine the style of interaction we have, so I need to make it very clear that I'm bigger, stronger, more successful, and more important than you will ever be, so you only do what I say."
Leadership says "I understand you may have ideas about how your experience here should go that will be very different to what I'm thinking of doing. Let's explore where we're each coming from, and try to agree on the best way forward - that might be my way, it might be a little of my way, and a little of your way, it might be a completely new way we come up with together, or it might actually be your way, because you've realised something I hadn't thought of. At the end of the day, however, my responsibility is to make the decision, so that's what I'm going to do, but I want you to feel that it's a decision you were part of, and that you're comfortable following."
Management says "You do what I say because I'm in charge, and I'm in charge because I'm a better person than you!"
Leadership says "We need to agree on a single way to move forward, and I've been tasked to be the person who makes, and is responsible for, that decision - that doesn't mean I'm better than you, or more important, it just means I'm the one who has to explain why we did what we did - and I'm the one who'll get in trouble if it doesn't work out the way we thought it would!"
Management says "I know what's best for everyone here!"
Leadership says "Everyone here is going to have a different view of what's best for them; my responsibility is to take all those different opinions, and create a course of action which includes as many peoples' ideas of 'best for me' as possible."
Management responds to violence and aggression with force and intimidation.
Leadership responds with firmness, de-escalation, and a genuine enquiry into what the original problem was.
If you want to be a leader, not a manager, or you want to make exemplary leadership a cornerstone of your organisation, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
Email: theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com
Call: 0748 2017 927 (Tues-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm, Sun 9.30am-1.30pm)
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