2. Once upon a time there was an NHS rowing team

3. The NHS and Japan agreed to hold a race. Each boat would contain eight men.

4. Both teams worked really hard to get into the best shape. On the day of the first race, both teams were in a similar condition. The Japanese team won by one mile.

5. FINISH

6. The mood in the NHS team was really close to freezing point. The top management decided to win the race next year. So they established a committee of analysts (with representation from the voluntary sector and a patient) to observe the situation and recommend an appropriate solution

8. After several weeks of detailed analysis, the committee found that the Japanese had seven rowers and only one captain.

10. …and the NHS team had 7 captains and only one rower

12. Facing such a critical scenario the management showed unexpected wisdom: they hired a consultancy to restructure the NHS team

14. After several months the consultants came to the conclusion that there were too many captains and too few rowers in the NHS team. A solution was proposed based on this analysis: the structure of the NHS team had to change

15. …as of today, there will be only four captains in the team led by two Service Managers and a Director. Besides that, they suggested to improve the rowers working environment and offer a reward and recognition scheme to incentivise high performance

17. The next year, the Japanese team won by two miles.

18. FINISH

19. The NHS management dismissed the rower from the team (following a long and drawn out competency and capability procedure), on grounds of his unsatisfactory performance

20. …but a bonus was paid to the management team for the strong leadership and motivation that the team had showed during the preparation phase

21. Performed by ROCE The consulting company prepared a new analysis, which showed that the strategy was good, the motivation was O.K, but the tool used was sub- standard and had to be improved

22. Currently, a new NHS design committee has been formed and is having a new boat designed. Human Remains (HR) have advertised nationally for a new rower.