Témoignage

An example of the openness to dialogue practised at LIST: the collaborative council

On his first day of office, Thomas Kallstenius has sent an email to all LIST staff. In it, he let us know that he will meet everyone, first the personal delegation and the collaborative council (members of the staff elected to advise the board of directors over scientific and strategic matters), then all staff in small group meetings. Good initiative, very good initiative. Just a word of warning to him. The so-called collaborative council is so collaborative that in its two years of existence, it has sent exactly ONE newsletter to the staff it is supposed to represent. No information session, no regular news about the agenda of the next meetings with the board of directors (so that staff could react by making proposals to whatever subject was to be discussed, you know). This is typical of the LIST mentality: once an ounce of power is delegated to someone, that person or group will feel entitled to do whatever it pleases without consulting the rest of the staff. How the council can represent people it never communicates with is a mystery to me. In his email, Thomas Kallstenius cited someone called Ken Blanchard, who apparently said: “No one of us is smarter than all of us”. If that means working together, openly, honestly and without hierarchical barriers, well, dear Thomas Kallstenius, I am afraid that the LIST is the absolute opposite. At LIST, most people work “for” someone.

Pablo N.