Does anybody else not really understand their own job?

Do you work for Cafcass?

I think a lot of corporate jobs are made up and just good to have as taxable expenses for the company

I get what you are saying. There are so many people spouting shit and not delivering anything it can be easy to end up confused yourself as to what actually SHOULD be happening. I take comfort in the fact that they eventually get found out...

Strategic Planning and Development

This chapter delves into the concept of strategy formulation, exploring its
definition, characteristics, and the different levels at which it operates within an
organization. It also examines various approaches to strategic planning,
including the rational model, emergent approach, logical incrementalism, and
freewheeling opportunism, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages.

Additionally, the chapter discusses the role and responsibilities of directors, the
impact of corporate governance on organizational strategy, and the evolving
field of strategic management accounting.

Key Concepts Covered:

1. Definition and characteristics of strategy
2. Levels of strategy
3. Strategic planning process
4. Approaches to strategic planning
5. Role and responsibility of directors
6. Corporate governance
7. Strategic management accounting
8. Definition and Characteristics of Strategy

Definition:
A strategy is a course of action, including the specification of resources
required, undertaken to achieve a specific objective.

Characteristics:
It involves a comprehensive understanding of resources (assets,
employees, cash, etc.), the environment (political, economic, customers,
competitors), and stakeholders (anyone who has an interest in the
organization).
Chapter 1 1Strategic decisions are affected by the scope of an organization's activities,
the match between the organization and its environment, the alignment of
activities with resource capabilities, and the availability of resources.

I stepped up temporarily into a strategic role, and I was shocked at how little the others on the same level knew about the services they were talking about. It was scary. I was glad when it came to an end. At least now I’m back in my own little world and have more control, work more hours for less money.

Yeah, me OP. I’m sort of junior bullshit level now. The senior bullshitters are fully adept at endless meetings about “aligning strategic deliverables” “evaluation methodology” and “psychological safety”.
I do or produce very little that makes any difference to anything at all. No one seems to notice. It’s utterly miserable but I have a mortgage to pay. If I could I’d quit and do something actually real.
I have a feeling the whole country is actually run by these people, hence why we are in such dire trouble.

When I worked ( happily retired now) I worked a lot in operational roles, rather than strategic ones.

I found I didn't have to buy in to the language of the moment. It was really quite simple. At a strategic level, it could be articulated as what the outcome should b e. At an operational level, I would have to figure out how to achieve that strategic aim at an operational level.

The idea (strategic) cannot be realised without answering the question, so how can we accomplish it? (Operational).

Not that different to the kind of 'nonsense MAT role' I was thinking of then 😊. Don't you feel a bit guilty knowing they could be paying people to teach with the money they pay you to not even understand what you're doing?

Yes. You have reached bullshit level. I have recently taken a role where everyone just talks and not much gets translated to action. It’s mind numbing.

The emails are ridiculous. Getting cc’d into everything all the time.

Sorry those 2, Kate's year end speech, and Joe's mission statements are 2 of my favourites! 🤣

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdGcmVuN/

Here's a video on 'kate waterfall hill year end speech'
https://share.google/gbMuRQaJvtJtLtgDK

That’s what she’s saying - she’s moved out of the operational role where she knew what she was doing to a strategic role above all that where it’s often a lot of postering and fluff in meetings.

I was once shortlisted from hundreds of people to attend an all day interview (with a group panel, activities, aptitude test etc). I was there 8 hours. To this day, I have no idea what the job was that I applied for and what anyone was talking about the whole day.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't get the job.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18gnncYGQ8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CMMDftGAU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I find it very offensive to hear people talk of what they think 'strategy' is. I know what strategy is. I've just studied it. But I've known for years what good strategic planning is.

what people are describing here, is not true strategic planning. It's just gobbledygook , catch phrases, bullshit. If you choose to work for a shit company at least own that choice.

But don't tell me the bullshit you do is proper strategic planning. Because it's not. Proper leadership will do good strategic planning naturally.

I took a role as national policy lead in an important area the year before I retired. I thought it might help me with consultancy roles. I came from an operational background and didn't know who little I realised about the policy side until it was too late. survived because I was good at strategy and management but it was bloody stressful. I didn't sleep for a year. I decided not to be a consultant. I live in the countryside and don't miss corporate life even a tiny bit

I fully understand this, having just been at a work event all day, where it was mainly just spouting the newest jargon at eachother. I struggle every day with the greyness and intangible nature of it all. Since coming back from 2 years of mat leave I just can't buy into it any more. It's like linkedin. The same people just blowing smoke up eachothers arses.

I would love to go back to operational work, and find a lot of people I know at the same or higher levels consider being at the coal face the most fun and engaged they've been. But it would be a significant cut in salary. I don't think it's weighted equally though not my industry but - for e.g. nurses. The pressure, both emotional and physical a staff nurse is under on a daily basis compared to what I do? They deserve a hell of a lot more.

I get the impression that the managers at the strategic level in my org just throw around buzz words and jargon too. We had a meeting with our director a couple of weeks ago, not one question got a straight answer, just a talk around the question and subtle diversion to another topic.
Our SLT chuck out a few staff surveys, set up some focus groups and implement the policies the staff on the ground tell them to (as long as it's cost saving). Maybe they all feel like you but don't dare admit it.

Strategy can be nonsense if written and/ or delivered badly, but an organisation wouldn't get very far without it! I think a lot of people don't understand the importance of management, leadership, governance, etc. so they think it must be pointless. It is actually essential to the running of every organisation. It can be hard to measure, but when it is done badly, you notice.

OP, if you're in a national level role it must be hard to see the impact of what you are doing, but people clearly value it enough to keep you there!

Corporate jargon can be very annoying, and can be an elitist way of keeping people out of the "club", but often is just shorthand for concepts that are prevalent in any particular context, so it can be useful. I try to avoid it, but it does creep in the more I'm around other people that use it. The first time I said "going forward" without irony, I was tempted to hand in my notice there and then!

I think I have come across several people in my working life like that. As for corporate jargon, I remember one of the previous BBC Director Generals wanting to reduce it, no idea if he got anywhere.