DOES YOUR ORGANISATION USE ALL YOUR POWER?

Most organisations are pushing people into boxes (jobs) that have little or no relationship to the inherent talents of the person. In my consulting work I teach managers that every person has a unique talent and if the organisation is to become great then they must find that talent and put it to work. I use Herrmann's Thinking Preferences to help managers identify and measure these talents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBMrEpJtuc

BUSINESSES USE ONLY PART OF OUR BRAIN

When I say that we use only part of our brain, I am referring to the way society favours left brain thinking and in the process devalues about 50% of human potential. We need to learn how to look for alternatives and both/and solutions but we are taught only analysis and either/or thinking. In a recent study of American 18 year old students it was found that on average they had completed over 2000 examinations requiring a right or wrong answer. Creativity is a great untapped potential for organisations.
http://www.virtual.co.nz/index.php?n=Products.BetterProductDevelopmentAndIncreasingInnovation

Why Are Silos So Dangerous?

Self-sustaining systems are more resilient and stable than centrally controlled systems. Just think of the USSR. They are more stable because they are constantly learning, flexible, flat, fast and highly collaborative. They are open, adaptive networks responding actively and quickly to changes in their environment.

An organisation (Company, Council, or Ministry) is a system; and for it to work in a self-sustaining (emergent) way it needs to be a system. If it is split up into segments or reorganised into silos it can’t behave like a system because it’s no longer a system. The individual parts (Marketing, Production, Policy, Corporate Services) might in some ways work like a system; but, each will emerge towards behaviours that are favourable to itself rather than to the whole organisation, each going off in their own direction. This is the key reason why silos are so dangerous.

ARE ORGANISATIONS ORGANIC OR MECHANIC?

Many managers I know, fiddle with top-down control, just as they'd fiddle with their car. They fiddle at centralising (or decentralising), cutting back or reengineering. They downsize, control and impose as though it was a mechanical system (rather than a living system). This takes so much organisational energy, there's none left to satisfy customers, and staff are too battered to care. The sad thing is, science is now showing that most of this activity is counter productive and can only lead to failure. The paradox is that more control leads to less order and less control leads to more order.

TAKE THE ENERGY TEST ON YOUR ORGANISATION.

Some companies are like the Sun, with so much energy, it crackles out in flares around the edges; you can feel it the minute you enter; the buzz and excitement is palpable. Others are like wet blankets.

The difference comes when managers believe in their people, more than the people believe in themselves. When they value people above all else, even when the going gets tough. When they nourish people: body (more income), head (more learning), heart (more belonging) and soul (more meaning). When they discuss the meaning of the work and tie it to a higher purpose. Nearly everybody wants to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. They want to make the world a better place. They want to leave a legacy. Talk in these terms and the Sun starts to flare.

Here's my challenge. Take the energy test. As soon as you've finished reading this, give yourself 10 minutes to walk around the organisation and just be aware of the energy levels.

Networking Builds Value Exponentially

Building inter-connectivity pays enormous dividends because of Metcalfe’s Law of Networks which says that the costs of adding people to a network increase arithmetically while their value to the network increases exponentially.

Research shows that strong relationships are formed, not because people like each other or share the same values; strong relationships are formed when people come together regularly and do activities in common.

IN BUSINESS LESS IS MORE

Complex systems work best when processes are designed with fewer steps and fewer people. Small reductions in the number of variables and rules in a complex system can have a dramatic and non linear impact in reducing its complexity. Keep processes short and simple to reduce the chance for things to go wrong. Less degradation of information occurs, because there are fewer 'hand-offs' of information from one person to another. Fewer steps means less feedback loops need to be created in order to ensure that errors or faults in the process are detected and corrected. To reduce bureaucratic quagmire give people the power to break down walls and simplify processes.

http://www.virtual.co.nz/index.php?n=Sector.Silos