Mark Brown: dolphins and dinosaurs

The difference between the bad old/present days and innovative 21st century management is charted exactly by a questionnaire which the English psychologist Mark Brown uses to differentiate between ‘dolphins’ and ‘dinosaurs’. His excellent book The Dinosaur Strain shows you how to score your organisation from 0 to 6 along the distance between the left hand and right-hand sides:

1. Those around me ‘yes, but’1. Those around me encourage new ideas2. We are geared to providing what we want to provide2. We provide what the customer wants3. My organisation is focused on solving problems3. My organisation is focused on opportunities4. Many of our people are mentally retired4. Our people are highly motivated5. The match between individual values and those of our organisation is poor5.The match between them is good6. People feel disempowered6. Individuals show high levels of initiative7. People’s minds are fairly set7. People are very good at ‘thinking afresh’

ABOVE 21, YOU’RE IN DOLPHIN COUNTRY

BELOW 21, WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DINOSAURS