@jandeman

It will get worse first

The path to more human friendly organizations can be hazardous. It might have to become a little worse before it gets better.

No sorry, I am pretty sure it has to get worse first.

The choice we have is if we want things to get worse as part of an active scenario for development, or if things get worse because we make ourselves passive bystanders and victims of external changes we don’t understand the implications of. Yes, a tad harsh, I agree. But this is how I read our options. Control your destiny or someone else will.

But either way things will get worse first.

Those that get to work now and boldly move their organizations in direction of becoming more human friendly will have an edge over the others. That is the bet I am making for the coming 10-15 years. The most human friendly wins. The rest might survive. Barely scrape by.

Or not.

So why is human friendly the best strategy for organizations? I have two main arguments. The waste of human potential in our organizations today is just staggering. Up to 75% of all employees are disengaged at work. Imagine tapping into this enormous opportunity. This would result in:

A. Happier employees. Happier customers. More value. Healthier people.
B. Better productivity. More innovative. Better long term financial health.

I have a chosen truth. In the coming decades you don’t get B without delivering on A. A is your strategy. B is the results you reap. When you look too much for B you lose A and then B. So stick to A, but of course keep an eye on B and track development. But targets should be set as functions of A. Management should be about A.

This said, we are increasingly going to manage our organizations without managers. Or at the very least with do away with large numbers of them. And they won’t be missed.

The ones that are left will work differently than today. Very differently.

More about this in a future post.

//jan

Exploring human friendly organizations

It is my conviction that the future of any organization, commercial or non-commercial lies, in becoming human friendly. Organizational life today is mostly a drag. Up to 75% percent of employees are unengaged at work. This represents a huge waste of potential and real value. Social, economic and ecological value. But foremost human value!

In the coming (somewhat irregularly written) posts I'll explore what I mean by being a human friendly organization. I'll show you examples of organizations that are doing good work in this space. I'll visualize the kind of transformation the rest will have to undergo. I'll give you insights into the types of human qualities we need to encourage and build within our organizations. I'll share leadership challenges.

This is all part of my ongoing exploration work so I'm very happy for comments, questions and contributions.

Jan

 

The Flip Manifesto by Dan Pink

I've just read Dan Pink's inspiring e-book on leadership, motivation and innovation.

You can get a hold of a copy by subscribing to his newsletter on danpink.com.

Recommended.

Hope to update this post later with a few thoughts in connection with my read.

 

 

Troubling stuff

Read this.

"The study, called "State of Create," found that eight in 10 people believe that creativity is critical to economic growth. But it also found that only one in four people feel like they are living up to their own creative potential. And 75% of respondents said they feel like their employers put more pressure on them to be productive than to be creative."

Sigh.

 

Holy moly

This post in Management Issues just baffled me. Consider this:

"In fact, four out of 10 of the 500 employees surveyed said that innovation is either a long shot for their company or a mere "buzz word" the company would like to embrace."

"According to research carried out in 2010 by the Nielsen Company, organizations with less senior management involvement in the new product development process generate 80 per cent more new product revenue than those with heavy senior management involvement."

"A culture of innovation will support ideas coming from any individual, any level and sometimes from unusual places in the organization."

I rest my case. Do you now get why organizations need to be more human friendly?

Hacking Management

A couple of years ago I went to London and participated in the launch of Julian Berkinshaw's book Reinventing Management. That put me on track for his and Gary Hamel's joint work into Management Innovation. As with all new strands of work you see some very interesting stuff and you see some not so impressive stuff. But they have stayed on track and their work has among other things evolved into The Management Exchange or The MiX.

I can recommend that you spend some time at The Mix. Check out what they are doing. See some interesting clips. Read about the different 'hacks' of management that are being tested.

It is work life this that we need to be doing on a wider scale, in each organization. I agree with the basic premise they make. Management as a technology is mature and needs to be innovated, or rather reinvented. 20 years from now we'll be amazed over the progress we've made. For now we're stuck in confusion and frustration over an organizational model that is losing it's ability to deliver what we need. And is step by step draining us of our most precious resource - our dignity and humanity.

Jan

Peter Senge on collective smartness and more

Peter Senge shares his thoughts on systems, learning and collaboration vs individuality. See the whole clip. Take a while and reflect. Then think hard about you organization. I hope you see some potential for new perspectives and initiatives ;) If we want our organizations to suck less, this is the kind of thinking we need to put to work.

Jan

On self-reliance

I'm finding that a lot of folks these days are singing the praise of self-reliance and independence, be it countries, companies or individuals. The logic as far as I understand it is that one can stand stronger when crisis hits and one also can avoid the disappointment of others failing to deliver when it is most needed. Or avoid going through the emotional hassle of trusting someone. Better to do everything by oneself and control one's own destiny.

I believe this reasoning is flawed. Not that the striving for self-reliance and independence is inherently bad. On the contrary this can be very good as long as it reflects a genuine interest in accepting responsibility and accountability for one's actions and non-actions.

But when self-reliance and independence become a strategy to avoid vulnerability and possible failure it is pushing the whole idea too far and making it counter-productive. As far as I am concerned being overly self-reliant is a recipe for lonliness and becoming irrelevant. And chronic blaming of other people's incompetence over one's own brilliance.

Humans and our enterprises are defined by relationships. If you don't trust others, if you can't stand things going wrong, if you can't show your uncertainty or weakness then much of what it is to be human is lost.

In general we humans develop together through our interactions, not in isolation. You can chose your attitude towards this. It either sucks big time and keeps all your talent and brilliance boggled down. Or you can decide to join the adventure of human messiness. You risk making an ass of yourself. You risk being let down by people you trusted. You risk things turning out different than you imagined, and some times even better than you imagined! You risk that your shining ego not be seen as brightly as you dream of.

But you also win the joy of genuinely helping other people. You win the joy of achieving things with others. And sharing accomplishment. And tapping into so much love and energy that you never would have gotten access to otherwise.

I know what I am talking about. I have switched sides. And it has made all the difference.

Jan

 

World's shortest business book?

We all agree that business books have a tradition of being way too long. This night I googled the term and came up with - nothing. Could this be real? Has there been no claim of this title? This cannot stand!

So, please join me in an exploration to find/create the shortest business book in the world. I'll pitch in my contribution here below. Slightly idealistic, but hey that's me... Please ammend/change it as you fit by writing comments. Or submit your own version. Or point to the ones already written. 

Hopefully we can collectively claim the title in the near future. Or just have fun trying ;)

But remember. Keep it short! :)

 

Title: How to build a sustainable business

Chapter 1. Over time revenues should be higher than costs. Preferably much higher.

Chapter 2. Only sell what customers actually want to buy. 

Chapter 3. Be kind and helpful. To customers. To employees. To society. And to the environment. 

 

/jan

Great thought...

We haven't really paid much attention to thought as a process. We have engaged in thoughts, but we have only paid attention to the content, not to the process.

David Bohm