Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon

At that time I sometimes wondered how decisions about the performances were
made. Given our track record on high quality, ambitiousness was apparent and at the
end the members of the board decided for instance to have a target value on success
of study of plus 1.5% compared with the present situation. At the same time our Institutional
Researcher forewarned us that success of study is hard to influence and to
retain the present situation already would be hard enough. Sometimes the many
discussions on this subject seemed to me as casual as pub talk, but underneath a
certain company blindness did its work: ‘if we are good we shall be better!’
My performances
From time to time I experienced the drafting as a Sisyphean task because of the
recurring efforts to develop a shared perspective and because of a slightly absurdist
feeling caused by the apparent mosaic-like reality. Mostly I stayed calm, aiming at
disentangling the Gordian knots. In the past I often have done last minute jobs and I
like doing them. I know that a period of discussion, uncertainty, negotiations and
research is necessary before people are able to agree. So I wait, now and then helping
by lubricating the wheels. A deadline helps a lot to reach an agreement. As I do not
have a management responsibility anymore, my primary task was not to put forward
suggestions about the target values, but to support a process in which decisions
regarding content were made. So I watched and listened carefully, trying to avoid
unnecessary confusion and distilling the consensual items out of the discussions.
From the beginning it is also obvious that I also have an agenda of my own. Starting by
stipulating my concerns about the attainability of strategic plans and my suggestion to
stay close to our daily reality, I tried to influence the discussions. I framed the discussion
by the motto and thereby influenced the way the performance agreements were
formulated. Moreover, given my concern about the attainability of strategic plans I
promoted ideas to rely upon a self-organizing process. I was quick in seeking a coalition
with Fiona Cornips - it helps if the Director of Finance and Control is on your side
– and together we tried to influence the ideas of the members of the board. Stipulating
doubts about attainability, producing a middle-of-the-road motto and stimulating
reliance upon self-organization appear to be a framework which colours my
performance; not as some kind of rules to follow, but to tickle other people on their
basic assumptions and in this case to forestall a blind belief in the umpteenth attempt
to plan rigorously our organizational future. Irrespective of the way my input is evaluated,
that I was putting things into perspective apparently was accepted.
5.3 Taking up the thread: the jester known from time immemorial
In chapter 4 I explored my position as an adviser of the board and hypothesized that I
hold the position of an organizational fool, joker or corporate jester. To recapitulate:
the jester is the one in the organization who has his role in limiting the overestimating
of someone’s powers (Kets de Vries, 1993), in being reflective and critical about the
5. Drafting performance agreements: gestures of a contemporary jester | 127