Off to Groucho's in London's Soho to have breakfast with those nice guys at Engage for Change and 50 internal communication managers from Britain's finest. The subject was measurement and engagement - usually a lack-lustre catch-all subject at such events. But with John Smythe at the helm this was the full english breakfast with lashings of passion for the subject. The star of the show was Marianne Mwaniki of Standard Chartered who presented on their measurement programme and how they use it to track engagement and then focus on improving line manager skills.
So far so similar. But what was interesting was the international variances. Standard Charterd is headquartered in Hong Kong and has branches in many developing countries. 
Mwaniki described how they improved performance in their Ghana branches through their Great Manager Programme which encourages inclusiveness and good communication skills. We all sat up bolt upright when she said that managers in the bank in Middle East and Africa were less command and control then their western counterparts.
I could see John Smythe's ears prick up at the idea that developing countries are culturally more open to democracy in the workplace. Smythe's revolution - his dream of communication turning power hierarchies upside down - might after all be possible in the developing world even though it is determinedly not happening in the old one. Wouldn't it be great if Ghana could leapfrog the command and control of 20th century management styles and go straight to empowered people!
But no - it was not to be. Mwaniki explained that some African staff were extremely lowly engaged. The success of her programme was more to do with company culture led by individuals than a racial openness to democracy in the workplace.
Still we can dream.
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