Many of us will have by now seen Steve Jobs’ inspirational address to the Stanford University graduates, where he talks about “connecting dots backwards”. This is what I have been doing for the past 18 months. I am now at last, and very thankfully, ready to move into the next phase of the business. This blog posts summarises the toolkit I have just finished creating as a result of all that dot-joining.
key themes associated with the characteristics of high-performance work environments and leadership enablers, and points to their location by chapter.
Psychologically safe
Chapter Two summarises topics around how psychological needs are met or threatened in people’s day-to-day relationships with each other, the nature of the work itself and the process of change. Key topics include awareness of the corrosive effects of power, reducing power distances, humanising work, emotion at work, need for recognition, status, self-determination and social engagement, and Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s thirty year research into the detrimental health effects when these are undermined.
Holistic
Combinations of people, place, technologies and ‘stuff’ are elements of distributed cognition systems that enable groups of people to think and act together. Smart working environments and work practices need to be holistic and integrated. Chapter
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Two explores how high-performance work systems create the cultural climate for creativity, learning, positive energy and relationship dynamics to emerge.
Chapter Six explains how the emotional and social impact of physical workplace design is related to performance and psychological well-being. Key themes include the concept of congenial and socially engaging workplaces, and workplace design that can alienate or alternatively communicate cultural sensitivity, inclusion, brand values and management values indicating that people are respected and treated humanely. Using the workplace to reduce power distances is also referenced in Chapter Two.
Connected
Technology in the broadest interpretation includes not just hardware and software, but also methods, techniques and tools. Although it may be stretching the definition of technology, distributed leadership systems enable the status quo to be challenged. Distributed leadership acts as a principle driving force in initiating and sustaining transformational change. Chapter Three outlines how leadership, both at the top of manufacturing enterprises and at the level team leader, created the conditions for cross-functional collaboration and influenced whole workforce participation in collaborative problem-solving and knowledge-sharing.
Chapter Four describes the theoretical design principles for connectivity, while Chapter Five explains the potential for networked connectivity through social and collaboration technologies.
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Appropriate
Knowledge creation and innovation are outcomes of social interactions, which in turn can be significantly influenced by where these interactions take place. For example, workplace designs for innovation are those that attempt to influence traffic flows to increase serendipitous ‘bumping into people’, create informal spaces for conversation, and provide more purposeful spaces for brainstorming and dialogue to uncover shared tacit knowledge. Colours, lighting, furniture and integrated technologies create moods according to the activities to be undertaken in each space.
Lightweight
Appropriateness equally applies to the the design of invisible organisational structures, support systems and governance policies that create effective performance climates. We have seen how organisations have for many decades put in place organisational structures, policies, processes, and technologies to attempt to control the enormous complexity of human behaviour. We have also seen how consistently ineffective this is.
Control mechanisms must therefore be lightweight, open to interpretation and locally applied so that we can:
Learn how to co-ordinate the efforts of thousands of individuals without creating a burdensome hierarchy of overseers … and to build organisations where discipline and freedom aren’t mutually exclusive (Hamel and Breen, 2007).
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Adaptable
Although there are currently significant threats and opportunities in the external operating environment, arguably greater threats to business viability is inability to adapt rapidly. Enterprises urgently need to build proficiency and competencies in sensing, anticipating and responding to external threats. Consideration of the practical relevance of the Viable Systems Model in Chapter Six addresses adaptation mechanisms. Enterprise capability to sense, anticipate and respond to rapidly changing events within internal and external environments is essential for viability. This implies control and coordination systems that are agile and not bureaucratic, and enacted through autonomous but connected decision-making entities distributed throughout an organisation.
The consequences of resistant mental models can have consequences far greater than poor business performance. Deeply engrained cultural habits contributed to the tragic events of 9/11. See Chapter Two for discussion of culture.
Creative leadership
A particular need is the development of creative leaders, who are able to conceptualise complex, ill-defined problems, understanding interactions among different elements of the problem, and making judgements at speed in highly volatile uncertain operating contexts. The examples of the two leaders in Chapter Eight highlight key characteristics of creative leadership.