ORGANIC or MECHANIC?

Your company isn’t a well oiled sowing machine or a mechanical watch. You can’t pull it apart and put it together again without destroying its very fabric. Yet this is the way managers talk: 'Reorganising', 'Departments', 'Pulling the lever', 'Hitting the breaks', Downsizing', 'Right sizing', 'Aligning functions', 'Oiling the wheels' etc.etc.

Organisations are living systems, more like the cells in your body, in a delicate equilibrium, constantly balancing between the changes within the organisation and outside the organisation.

THE RATCHET BUSINESS MODEL.

What ever you thought was fixed, is changing. Whatever you are currently offering your customers will continue to change and evolve. You have no products, just platforms for future products. It’s better to think in terms of clusters of competencies. There is no ‘right’ way, so don’t waste time trying to find it; there is only ways that work. Experiment, try things. Become like a ratchet, accept the things that work, quickly reject those that don’t work. If it works, it’s beautiful!

The role of Middles in the organisational structure

I love the work of Barry Oshry who  has shown Middles could be an essential part of organisational success and key to implementation in most large organisations. But the need to think differently about their role: They need to think before they pass on whatever Tops ask them to do; after all they are far closer to the issues and feelings of the Bottoms. They need to take initiative when things are not working as they should, rather than wait for directions from the Tops. They need to interpret and question what Tops say, rather than just pass the information on to the Bottoms.

HOW CAN WE GROW THE GRASSROOTS?

About nine-tenths of the talent in most organisations is ignored - the grassroots. 

I have found that pushing decisions down the organisation so they are closest to the customer creates the following competitive advantage: 1. better ideas, 2. easier recruiting, 3. lower turnover, 4. greater productivity, 5. a dynamic team oriented culture. 

Grassroots people are often so downtrodden they have to conquer the fear of freedom that comes when they are given the leeway to make important decisions; but in my experience, if they sense that management really values them, they jump in boots (quite literally) and all.  The biggest barrier comes from middle management who need real help to see their role in a completely different (and more important) way.

What advice do you have for string the grassroots free?

HOW CAN WE GET MANAGERS FOCUSED ON WHAT MATTERS?

The whole theory of strategy is about being strongest at the decisive point. In other words, knowing what really matters and then putting real horsepower behind these things. The analogy is of a sharp knife that cuts through easily or a magnifying glass that focuses the sun until fire occurs.

It’s about doing more of what matters and less of what does not matter. Doing less of what no longer matters is at least as important as doing more of what does.

Despite the logic of this, studies have shown that lack of management attention is one of the major reasons why strategy fails. In a recent distressing survey it was found that 85% of management teams spend less than one hour a month discussing their strategies. 

Success means focusing managers’ attention more often on achieving their strategies. How can we do this?

DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU SAY?

According to Harry Mills 93% of communication is non verbal, therefore words are essentially unimportant. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. In other words, it’s what we do that’s important. So, allow mistakes, be accessible, listen attentively, invest time in conversations, place a high priority in creating opportunities for others, walk the talk, be friendly, help others, share information, do what you say, smile, follow up, constantly discuss the vision, put energy into the three big strategies which will get you to where you want to go. What else?

AN ALTERNATIVE ORGANISATION STRUCTURE.

AN ALTERNATIVE ORGANISATION STRUCTURE.
Did you realise that the membrane around every living cell is neither solid nor water? Rather it is a delicate balance between solid and water.  It’s just solid enough to hold some sort of form and liquid enough to allow movement in and out of the cell so the cell can interact with its environment. This is the image we need for business, just solid enough to give some sort of form/meaning and open enough to its environment to allow movement (of people, ideas and information) in and out.

MAKE ALL BOUNDARIES PERMEABLE.

All boundaries are a barrier to innovation and creative thinking; they are a relic of a line drawing, compartment obsessed industrial age and linear thinking. At all levels, make your boundaries permeable. Don’t just look within your department, your group or even your company, also look at your suppliers and their suppliers, look at your customers and their customers, look at your staff and their families.

TRUST IN SELF-ORGANISATION.

TRUST IN SELF-ORGANISATION.
Many people have great difficulty in understanding how complexity works because they are unfamiliar with self-oganising systems. Furthermore, group behaviour that emerges - as if by magic - from the collective interactions of individuals can be a frightening concept to those unaccustomed to it. However the theory and experience of complexity is now so well developed that there is no doubt that complex collective behaviour, will emerge if individuals follow simple rules. Virtual Group runs on four simple rules: Keep moving, Stay close, Don't bump, Leave a scent.

LIVE IN THE NOW.

The mind is a wonderful instrument. It’s what has been responsible for all of our progress: mathematics, space travel, literature, and art. However it’s also what will kill us if we are not careful. Today we seem to have more knowledge, but less judgment. We have more medicine, but less health. We have more food, but less nutrition. We have reached the moon, but won’t cross the street to meet our neighbour. We have conquered outer space, but not inner space.

CRACKING GREAT LEADERS WORK HARD ON THEIR THINKING.

Most of our thinking is negative and harmful. Thoughts ceaselessly punish us for things we did in the past (guilt) and things that might happen in the future (worry). We can’t stop thinking and yet the only thing that is ultimately real and the only thing we can change is the present moment, nothing truly creative or important can come into the world except through this gap. Companies which bring space, time, calmness and order to their employees will be big winners, yet most consultants completely ignore it.

LIBERATE HUMAN ENERGY

The leaders' role is to liberate human energy; this doesn’t mean changing people; it means identifying the greatness that everyone has and putting it to use where it will make the most difference. Think of body, head, heart and soul. As a leader, how can I add to the financial success and security of my people (body)? How can I add to the knowledge and wisdom of my people (head)? How can I add to the reputation, self worth and respect of my people (heart)? And how can I add to the meaning of life for my people and help them leave a legacy of greatness (soul)?

CRACKING GREAT LEADERS ENSURE THERE IS A VISION

The leader needs to make sure that the group has a vision of where it wants to go; this does not necessarily mean that it has to be the leader’s idea. Some of the best results I know about have come when leaders have asked grass roots people what they thought they could achieve in their wildest dreams.

THE CURRENT BUSINESS MODEL IS SLOWLY KILLING THE PLANET AND HUMANITY

The current business model is slowly killing the planet and humanity; but, it doesn’t have to be that way!]] - By looking back over about 30,000+ years of history, I’ve tried to explain in less than 10 minutes, why our current business model is so dangerous and what we can do about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uz5L2SyfL8

WE DON’T USE THE POWER OF JOINING MINDS TOGETHER

I am referring to the incredible power of whole-brained teams of people sharing ideas in a creative and trusting environment. The controversial biologist, Rupert Sheldrake says that brains are more like radios than computers, they have the ability to pick up thinking energy from other people and also to transmit it. Project teams are the new way of working, I predict that in 20 years time no one will work in a 'job' as we currently define them. They are simply too inefficient and wasteful of our most precious resource ... brainpower.

ORGANISATIONS USE ONLY PART OF EACH PERSON - AND IT’S THE LEAST VALUABLE BIT

When I say we use only part of each person I am thinking primarily about two things. 

First, organisations tend to think only about how they can maximise the use of physical work and thinking work; they hardly ever try to maximise the power of feeling/caring or the power of wanting to leave a legacy. And yet most of the power of humans is tied up in these two. In my consulting work I encourage managers to think about their people as body (physical work), head (thinking work), heart (caring) and soul (legacy). 

Second, we 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.

WE USE ONLY PART OF OUR BRAINPOWER

When I say that we use only part of our brain, I am referring to the way our society favours left brain thinking and in the process devalues about 50% of human potential. At school, by the time we are 6 years old most of the creativity has been trained out of us. 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. The brain has awesome power, unfortunately it doesn't come with an operating manual and most people don't know how to use it most effectively. Creativity will not just happen, it has to be managed and people have to be given the tools and shown how. When I started out consulting, creativity was the focus of my practice, today it is still one of the cornerstones of releasing brainpower.

THE PAINLESS WAY TO MAKE CHANGE

Organisations are held in place by stories and structures. Most attempts at change focus on changing constraining structures (technical structures, organisation structure, cultural structures etc). When we try to change the structures (restructuring, downsizing, reorganising) we nearly always run into resistance and destroy value. A far easier and more productive way to change an organisation is by changing its stories. When one has a new story in one’s head, it’s almost impossible to continue to do the things that seemed to make sense under the old story.

MOST MANAGERS BELIEVE IN ORGANISATIONAL TREES

When the story you tell is of managing an organisational tree, it makes sense to be on top, hierarchical and dominating. However when the story you tell is of networks you manage in a completely different way, based on network science and the laws of networks. You know your success will depend largely on how well you understand and manage networks and strategic partnerships both inside and outside the organisation.

http://www.virtual.co.nz/index.php?n=Products.Networks

WHY SILOS ARE DANGEROUS

WHY SILOS ARE DANGEROUS

The story most managers believe is that we are separate individuals. This is why we structure organisations into jobs and have individual objectives and performance reviews.

Imagine if our managers knew the story that physicists have known for 50 years. That physical materials like solids, liquids and gases are interesting but not nearly as useful as the study of how things are organised and relate to each other.

An organisation, whether a company, a Department, or a Ministry, is a system and for it to work in an emergent type way it needs to be a system. It can’t be split up into segments or reorganised into silos and still be expected to behave like the original system because it won’t; it’s no longer that system. The individual parts (Marketing, Production, Policy, Corporate Services) might in some ways work like a system, but they will tend to work towards emergent behaviour that is 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. They don’t allow systems to be systems and because they’re not systems they can’t possibly emerge like systems.

Most managers are way behind physicists because they spend lots of time and money selecting good people into the organisation without thinking much about the system these people are going to work in. 

There is no doubt that people behave according to the system they are placed in; therefore, it would be more advantageous if the organisation spent more time and money designing the system into which the people are placed.