scandic grand central - maggie ibiam
TRANSCRIPT
12 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Tuesday 5 May 2015
BUSINESS LIFE
“I have won a lot of promotions andbeen at Wembley and won the play-offs, [but] I think, individually, this wasthe biggest result.” If you follow sportat all, you get used to hyperbole. Butthis recent comment by Steve Evans,who manages the Rotherham Unitedfootball team, stood out.
He had not won a big trophy or madeit to the top of the league. He wascelebrating success in a struggle toavoid relegation from English football’ssecond tier. In effect, Rotherham wereeuphoric about having survived theworld’s biggest annual festival of forcedranking.
In forced ranking systems — alsoknown as “rank and yank” or “stackranking” — a set number or percentageof the worst performing members of agroup are put on notice of possibledemotion or dismissal after anassessment. Such approaches are thetoxic byproduct of performancereviews. I happen to think regularreviews are essential and useful, forboth appraiser and appraised, if donewell. But plenty of people disagree. Thelingering dominion of forced ranking isone reason why.
The wild scenes at the end of everyfootball season are a clue to what iswrong with forced ranking. Yes, the joyof the promoted is great to see, and it ishard not to sympathise with thedistress of the relegated. But there aredarker feelings in play, too.
When Brazil tried to introduce aEuropean-style league system, withrelegation and promotion, in 2006, itspread doubts among fans about themotives of some football teams in the
final decisive matches, the quality ofrefereeing, and the legitimacy of thewhole competition. In 2009, fans ofCoritiba tore apart the stadium amidviolent scenes after their team wasrelegated. Mr Evans himself used hismoment of relief to pour scorn on aplayer from one of Rotherham’srelegated rivals who had wished theteam ill before their decisive match.
You would hardly expect two rivalgroups of players to co-operate, butwithin a large organisation, whereeveryone’s interests are supposed to bealigned, such emotions are poisonous.Infighting between staff, horse-tradingbefore any review, and incentives tolazy recruitment and short-termismare well-documented. Yahoo’squarterly performance reviews,introduced by Marissa Mayer when shebecame chief executive, provide thehighest-profile recent example of theturbulence created by ranking. Yahoo— which puts employees in one of five“buckets”, from “greatly exceeded”goals, down to “missed” targets — saysits system is not a stack rank. Butaccording to Nicholas Carlson’s recentbook, the effects were the same. Onestaff member asked, in an anonymousquestion-and-answer session: “Whywould I help out my fellow designers,or other teams, or share an opportunitywhen I can just gather them up myselfto ensure my job?”
Elsewhere, there are signs of reform.Microsoft has moved away from a stackranking system that was condemned ina 2012 Vanity Fair article. GeneralElectric, under Jack Welch, was thebest-known example of a company that
insisted on replacing annually thebottom 10 per cent on what Mr Welchcalled a “vitality curve”. That systemhas gone at GE, even if its best-knownproponent is still advocating it. In hislatest book, The Real Life MBA, writtenwith wife Suzy, the former GE chiefexecutive says ranking — he calls it“differentiation” — is the “embodimentof truth-and-trust leadership”. Hedismisses its critics as “rabid”.
The determined efforts of sportsteams facing demotion seems tosuggest differentiation can “unleashwow”, to quote the Welchs. End-of-season matches with simple issues ofsurvival at stake certainly entertain thecrowds. It is also important to findways to stiffen staff reviews, which areoften burdened by bureaucracy andenfeebled by managers’ inability togive clear feedback to weaker staff.
As the perfectionist music teacher inthe recent film Whiplash tells apromising jazz drummer: “There areno two words in the English languagemore harmful than ‘good job’.”
But this teacher is shown to be acapricious bully, who pushes players tothe brink by forcing them to competefor a place in his band. At work, testshave shown that fear shuts down ourability to absorb information passed onin a career appraisal and undermineslong-term performance. Forcedranking may motivate footballers but— forgive me if I froth at the mouth alittle here — it is quite the worst way ofgetting the best out of your staff.
[email protected]: @andrewtghill
M any people — from corpo-rate litigants to divorcingcouples — have had to sitdown to negotiate withadversaries they might
once have wanted to blow out of thewater. For Sergio Jaramillo, the contrastisnotentirelymetaphorical.
Four years ago, when this polyglotclassics scholar turned security expertwas Colombia’s vice minister of defence,the army was trying to blast Farc guer-rillasoutof their jungleredoubts.
Now, as high commissioner for peace,Mr Jaramillo sits across a table everyday from those same Marxist rebels ofthe Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia, trying to make peace. It is alesson in how to negotiate with bitteropponents.
“You need to be incredibly aware andlucid. So it is useful sometimes to readchallenging things that keep you sharp,like difficult poetry, Rilke or Mallarmé,”says the 48-year-old. “It sounds funnybut ithelpsyoufindnewangles.”
Finding new angles is one of Mr Jara-millo’s specialities. Dressed in broguesand an Oxford shirt, he has the other-worldly air of an Oxbridge don, Indeed,he is a classical Greek, philosophy andphilology graduate of Cambridge,OxfordandHeidelberguniversities.
But neither Mr Jaramillo nor his taskare otherworldly. “Peace,” as JuanManuel Santos, the Colombian presi-dent, has said, “is harder to wage thanwar.”
Several attempts to end Latin Amer-ica’s longest running insurgency, whichhas claimed over a quarter of a millionlives,havefailed.
Success would transform Latin Amer-ica’s third-biggest economy and benefitthe region. Both Havana and Caracasencouraged Farc to the negotiatingtable. Ending its involvement in drugsmugglingcouldslowtheflowofcocainethroughneighbouringVenezuela.
Mr Jaramillo is widely credited as theintellectual author of the negotiatingstrategy. Enrique Santos, a prominentjournalist and the president’s brother,hascalledhim,“oursecretweapon”.
“First of all, you have to have a plan.You need from the very beginning tohave the clearest vision as possible ofwhere you want to get to,” he says. Butthen “you need to be quite flexible tacti-cally,but firmstrategically”.
This approach, keeping your eye onthe main prize, emphasises the differ-ence between negotiation and debate.The former is about “trading conces-sions”, as Henry Kissinger once put it, toreach common ground; debate, by con-trast, isaboutwinningoutright.
Preparation is essential. Backchanneltalks began three years ago, followinginitial contact with Álvaro Uribe, theprevious president. Mr Jaramillo wasthenviceministerofdefence.
“As Sun Tzu would say, study yourenemy,” he says. “I had studied the Farcquite thoroughly and spoken to hun-dreds of demobilised members, so Ihave a reasonably good idea of what
makes them tick . . . they are very cun-ningandwilynegotiators.”
Wide reading, and lessons from suc-cessful peace processes in South Africaand El Salvador, have helped; so tooadvice from other peace negotiators,such as Jonathan Powell, the British civilservant who led the Good Friday agree-ments inNorthernIreland.
Colombia’s breakthrough came inSeptember 2012, when the govern-ment and the Farc announced
after seven months of secrettalks that they had agreed aroadmap.
Points to be coveredincluded a place for
the guerrillas inColombian poli-tics, an end tothe Farc’s lucra-tive drug trade,
war crimes and victims’ reparations,and finally an end to the conflict. Just asimportant, though, were the topics leftout, such as any discussion about thecapitalist versus Marxist orientation oftheColombianeconomy.
“Talks-about-talks are in somerespects more important than talksbecause that’swhenyouaredefiningtheplaying field,” says Mr Jaramillo. “It wasincrediblytough.”
The format has since followed thatcommon to other difficult negotiations.They would take place in a “hothouse”,far from prying eyes and media atten-tion, inthiscaseCuba.
Whatever took place outside wouldalso not affect the talks inside; an agree-ment often stretched to breaking point,as in April when Farc troops killed 11soldiersandPresidentSantoswasbooedat public events by Colombians who felt
hehadkowtowedtotherebels.Toestab-lish trust, there would also be full trans-parencywithfull confidentiality.
And, “nothing would be agreed untileverything was agreed”, a process whichallows both sides to explore possiblecompromises without commitmentuntil theysawthefinalpicture.
Mornings are spent thrashing outpoints around a table, breaking off afterlunch to prepare for the next day. Butquasi-backchannel conversationsremain important too, with pairs ortrios breaking off for informal talks. MrJaramillo calls this the 2+2, or 3+3process.
Mr Jaramillo exudes a calm authorityin keeping with one of the basic rules ofnegotiation, which is to never lose yourtemper,exceptonpurpose.Butat times,in conversation, he slips into a broodingmood.
The complexities of his role are tortu-ous: there are the negotiations them-selves; also domestic political consider-ations and international human rightslawanddiplomacy.
“It’s about patience and persever-ance,” says Mr Jaramillo “We work allthebloodytime.”
In many ways Mr Jaramillo was builtfor the role: as a PhD student in Ger-many he witnessed the fall of the BerlinWall and the eastern bloc’s transitionfrom communism. An ancestor, also aphilologist, wrote Colombia’s 1886 con-stitution,whichenduredacentury.
Today, he sometimes thinks wistfullyabout returning to the classics. But forthe moment there is unfinished work todo.
“The difficulty now is that we aretruly facing the endgame, everything isverycomplex . . . It isastruggle.”
An insight into negotiationfrom Colombia’s peace talks
Sergio Jaramillo’s workoffers a lesson in dealingwith a bitter opponent,say John Paul Rathboneand Andres Schipani
Members of theRevolutionaryArmed Forces ofColombia.Below: SergioJaramillo,commissionerfor peaceMain photo: LuisAcosta/AFP/Getty Images
Yahoo’squarterlyreviewsshow howemployeerankingcausesturbulence
Relegation fearworks on thepitch but not inthe office
In true Scandinavian style,the coffee bar of the ScandicGrand Central — theflagship of a Swedish brand— is an uncluttered andstylish spot. The hotel itselfis an imposing 1880sbuilding, but its interior —from the 391 rooms withtheir wooden floors and lowlighting to the comfortablecommunal spaces — isfunctional and modern.
The Scandic GrandCentral is located inNorrmalm, which was oncethe old publishing andprinting district ofStockholm, on the crossingof Kungsgatan andVasagatan — streetsbustling with inner-citycommuters and tourists.
The hotel is blocks fromthe city’s main train stationand near the offices ofGoogle, Swedbank and
KPMG. Its café, which serveswine as well as tea andcoffee, sandwiches andpastries, is a favourite ofInternet software specialists,and banking professionals.Because it provides theperfect centrally-locatedbase, it is a popular choicefor lengthy debriefs withclients and mid-morningbusiness catch-ups. It alsohandy for shoppers.
The coffee shop’s interioris decorated with a blend ofcolourful Moroccan-stylefloor tiles, industrial walltiles and exposed railings ina rose gold finish. Hightables and stools arepositioned around a bararea. The additionalcommunal seatingresembles an upscalecanteen.
Maggie Ibiam
Great place to meet
Scandic Grand Central
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Few forms of exercise are asnatural as running. Youngchildren manage to learnhow to run without anyspecial training and, as weenter adulthood, runningremains an oftenunconscious activity.
However, for people wholike to run as a sport,especially in middle age,nasty side effects such aspain in the knees, twingesdown the side of the leg, andpainful cramping in the footcan make you wonderwhether you are runningcorrectly.
The first person topublicly question ournatural style of running wasa British runner, WalterGoodall George, who trainedas a chemist in the 19thcentury. Mr George inventeda famous running exercisecalled the 100 Up, whichmany runners still use today.It had the virtue of trainingrunners to land on theballs of their feet ratherthan their heels.
When jogging became afashionable form of exercisein the 1970s, shoemanufacturers raced toprovide cushioned shoes tohelp weekend athletes dealwith the impact of poundingout miles on concrete roads.In an earlier column, I wroteabout how padded shoescan help save runners’knees.
But there is another waythat might prove beneficialto runners who are stillsuffering agonies. Takingtheir cue from Mr George’swork, a number of sportsscientists have looked atrunning to see if the methodcan be improved.
Christopher MacDougal,author of a book called Bornto Run, has championed therunning method used byMexico’s TarahumaraIndians; another schoolfollows a method looselybased on t’ai chi chuan, aform of Chinese martial arts,and yet another technique iscalled the Pose method,which was invented by aRussian track coach namedNicholas Romanov.
Although these stylesemploy different postures,they all state that heelstriking, which most of us dowhen running, is bad foryour body.
“Pain is a sign that youare doing somethingwrong,” says Mr Romanov,who now lives in Miami,
Florida. “It means that youare deviating from nature’sway of doing things, whichhas evolved over millionsof years.”
Mr Romanov, who haswritten a book, The RunningRevolution: How to RunFaster, Farther, and Injury-Free – for Life, and holdsrunning clinics in locationsaround the world, says thathis Pose technique canreduce common injuries.
There are some scientificstudies which back up theidea that by changing theway your foot strikes, youcan reduce the impactforces on your knee joints.Of course, this force isnow transferred fromyour knees to your ankleand foot, which MrRomanov asserts arebetter equipped to absorbthe shock.
The Pose technique isbest learnt from a teacher,who can explain what eachindividual runner is doingwrong. In short, the Posemethod not only has youlanding on you forefoot,but also shortens yourstride considerably fromthe days when you wereheel striking. Romanov’smethod uses gravity — yousimply fall forward afterlanding — so there is noappreciable effort on thepart of the runner.
Changing habits can bedevilishly difficult becausethey are deeply ingrained. Iwas able to change myfoot fall by running barefooton a treadmill for severalweeks before I even triedon the street. But if yousuffer from aches and painsafter running, as I did,learning a new techniquecould be the key to savingyour knees.
The fit executive
Is heel striking a problemwhen you run?CHARLES WALLACE
The following are tips distilled fromTalking to Terrorists: how to end armedconflict by Jonathan Powell, formerDowning Street chief of staff underPrime Minister Tony Blair, and founder ofInter-Mediate, an NGO that promotesdialogue and conflict resolution.
3 Build trust and get to the bottom linequickly
3 Know what you want. As Seneca wrote:“If a man knows not to which port hesails, no wind is favourable”
3 Never lose your temper: anger is oneof the great prevailing sins of argumentand also its largest stumbling block
3 It is important to have a process and to
keep plodding on; progress begetsprogress
3 Make it as hard as possible for theother side to walk out without looking asthough they are in the wrong andputting the chance of peace in jeopardy
3 The more people in a room, the lesssuccessful the negotiation may be
3 Cleverness is stupidity; outwitting theother side only undermines trust
3 Have a timeframe. Endlessnegotiations are pointless
3 Have a plan but remember MikeTyson’s advice: “Everyone has a planuntil they are punched in the mouth”
The art ofnegotiation
Andrew HillOnmanagement
Tips
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MAY 5 2015 Section:Features Time: 4/5/2015 - 15:59 User: provans Page Name: BizLife, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 12, 1