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Friday 10 of September, 2010

The 21st Century Organization

Articles By John Caswell Articles written around the Critical Context we find ourselves in in the 21st Century. New thinking about how to create sustainable change A series of short articles that describe the context within which we need to work if we are to make a difference to the way we operate and survive in the 21st Century - Our Leader Article on 2010 - A Decade Of Change? There Is No We Becoming WE Adjudicating Over A Fools Death 21st Century Manifesto The Burning Platform The Arena For Change Changing The Way The 21st Century Organization Thinks & Works Sustainability Dimension Associative Democracy Chasing Tornado's Articles On 21st Century Tools The 21st Century demands different thinking and ideas to cope with the complex context we have now created. These short articles begin to describe how we are thinking about these areas and starting the debate about what we might do to resolve them. Heuristics & Becoming A 21st Century Organization Pull And Semantics Approaching Brand Performance The 'Pixar' Of Consulting To The Power Of 24 Not Solving The Wrong Problem Really Well Weiqi - Integrative Thinking The Power of Tools - The Tools of Power Unreasonable Reason It's All About Me. iThink Articles On Thinking One of the main agenda items for success and survival in the 21st Century. These articles explain a lot of the technical and strategic ideas that inform our work - Integrative Thinking Systems Thinking Thinking Design Living Systems Critical Thinking Biomimicry Value Networks Design Thinking Principles Of Thinking Articles On Meaning At the heart of the inertia we observe in transformation and change is the way in which humans attach words and stories to their experiences while this is a natural human condition it needs to be understood if we are to create the tools that overcome conflict and lack of improvement in complex systems. Meaning Making What Do We Mean? Meaning Making Words Conditioning Articles About Ethics Increasingly organizations are determined to really make a difference and not just debate how and what. These articles debate the importance or really getting to grips with the issues that are affecting the entire planet. The Ethical-Commercial Continuum' Sustainability Hard Rain - Observation From Aarrgh to Aha!... Articles About Being On The Road It's a great privilege working and being able to travel. Ever so slightly tongue in cheek and yet ever so slightly true. The following are notes made to humor myself. Observations that inspire or annoy. Ibadan & Perfect Living Systems The Art of The Swiss Miami By GPS Miami By GPS 2 Miami By GPS 3 2010 - Uxbridge - South Africa 2010 - Johannesburg - South Africa 2 2010 - Football - South Africa 3 2010 - Sarah Palin - South Africa 4 2010 - Anger Management - South Africa 5 2010 - Cape Town. Timing, Type, Systemic Stupidity. 2010 - London. Ducks & The New Heuristics of Patternism

On Timing, Types, Values, Virtues, Humans and Stupidity

What are the differences between values, morals and ethics? Well it may not matter to many but I thought I would dig around a bit. They all provide behavioral rules, after all. It may seem like splitting hairs, but the differences can be important when persuading others.

Check this out:

The Incredible Case of the Alien Participant.

“We are in a session with our client. It’s a newly acquired part of the business and it's going well, really well. The investment and focus on this part of the business is crucial for the much needed and overdue transformation it needs to make. Years of planning and this acquisition is testament to an overall plan. The team, well two teams, were coming together for the first time. Probably the most critical, pivotal strategic and tactical moment of momentous change. A day and a half in. It's just before lunch and this guy who had joined an hour or so before asked if he could say a few words.

“Of course” I say - “It's a workshop.” It was a moment alright. Special.

This guys suggests that any meaningful investment in this teams work is unlikely. The effect is instant. Jaws drop. Silent as it can get. “What the **** are we all doing in this session?” whirrs around the room. I ask politely what he thought the business was doing acquiring this business for in the first place. He says, yes you’ve hit the nail on the head. He had that expression slightly wrong.

He suggests proudly that already many much needed investments had been shelved. Mouths open wide. Wider.

Then he goes on to suggest that the real focus will always remain on the core business not the stuff weve spent nearly two days working out. All else is too expensive and it’s not what we do, nor where the business is headed. He states very proudly he has been working hard to ensure there is evidence as he explains further why over a hundred programs have been closed down. The only reason why the business would be doing this is if they wished to be taken out by a bigger player. Hmm.

People reach for their pistols and razors.

Changes!

So, to change a culture, what’s really needed is a change of what’s cool. At the moment, all too often, cynicism is cool. Optimism is considered naïve, sycophantic, way too simple. Not cool at all. And yet everyone still wants simple. Well wake up, it’s not simple. This cynicism could well be because of all that ‘positive thinking’ stuff that started in the 50’s as a way of getting sales guys to be more productive. We’ve all seen it - false bonhomie and chuminess - ‘how are you guys all doin’ tonight - would you like me to tell you about our AWESOME specials’ - blah blah.

Then there was the ‘driven’ optimism of the 80’s that was just self interested, adrenaline fuelled arrogance that wasn’t fooling anyone. We need to rebrand optimism and give it a face and an identity. Make it cool again. I simply can’t remember when the news media aimed to create an optimistic leader. It just doesn’t sell. Sick and wrong.

People are funny. But often not in even a faintly humorous way.

In the last few weeks see who we've met.

Billy The Kid.

Breakthrough is upon us. We’ve all worked hard. Days have faded into weeks and on into what seems an eternity. It’s only been a day. At the critical time, at that precious moment, you know, when everyone in the session is hanging – expectant in the extreme. The penny has dropped but we are all waiting to hear its wonderful thud. That shrilling voice, that smiling impish grin, that little guy in the back row shouts out the football result from his BlackBerry. Thanks.

Apathy the Apache.

He sits slightly back, arms folded until looked at. His mood is one of distant attentiveness. Hard to spot at first but a serious professional. After all it's taken him years to get this good. Years spent at the feet of gods and chiefs - previous generations of Apaches. Warriors in the uplands of steely, hard riding, uncaring boredom. At once they can appear razor sharp, obedient and knowing.

At once supportive of every effort to bring the idea of something new to the frontier. The idea. The next second camouflaged, cheekbones painted, a feather in the bandanna and crawling unseen to the car park and home. All the while the Apache's knowing smile, a blended study of terrorism and long term grievance. His eyes failing to deceive. Nonchalance and pity, cynicism and belligerence. He has affected the whole business. Everyone sees him get away every time.

The Fun Loving Criminal

The room is expectant, his energy is crackling to make the big comment. It’s the same comment he always makes. Everyone laughs, in fact its almost as if its the first time he's said it. We all jive with the idea. It’s a cynical observation but he makes it well. He is very good at it. Practiced. So practiced both he and the observation are now the myth that everyone subscribes to. Thing is the observation is not really true. In any case it’s actually partly his fault for letting it be true and he's fully culpable because he has now enshrined the idea into reality. Criminal.

Because he is funny, droll and sardonic he gets away with it. He's actually the centre of attention and the party starts when he arrives. He's fun loving. He is so funny and representative of what's killing the company it’s painful. He needs to be murdered with a dull axe.

Victoria the wronged.

Cowering, mostly unspoken but with vengeance seething just under the surface. When spoken to or engaged she has quite a lot to say but it’s hard to trap - it comes oiled all over with a deep seated concern that it may not be right, it mustn't be stated that it was here idea and anyway she wouldn't be able to add much more. As we write it down, it’s clear that the idea diminishes as it gets more real, it's not what she meant, she almost wishes she hadn't said it. In fact I don't think she actually did. I’m lost. I rub it all out.

The Twins of Despair Murdering Optimism and Hope.

One-eyed Jack. A solitary eye studiously fixated on the thing. On any ‘thing’ he's ever experienced himself. But only a thing that he's ever known, not something borrowed from someone else. But believing that, because of that thing, no thing could ever take its place. it will stay true forever, in perpetuity, despite contact with the fact. Something representing of other things - apparent change - that’s the enemy. His every thought and action, comment and observation seeking approval solely from his prejudicial history.

His twin sister. Delilah - 'The Determinator'. Determined to prove her point in the absence of any facts at all. Even when facing evidence that points to the contrary. Between them they feed in fantastical frenzy off each other. They dance together in a riot of masochistic self seeking agony. Transmitting their wonderful and deathly bliss to the unwitting. The oily smell of fresh blood hangs in the air as they coil and then coil tighter around optimism and hope. These unfortunate children crushed to death in front of gaping and helpless onlookers.

So, each of these displayed a lack of something. To my mind its both a result of conditioning and a lack of thinking. The only tools we seem to have when tackling all of this are the soft ones. The intangibles and then a safe environment where its OK to socialize, to have conversations about them.

• Values - Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another.
• Morals - Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance. Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. We thus judge others more strongly on morals than values.
• Ethics - You can have professional ethics, but you seldom hear about professional morals. Ethics tend to be codified into a formal system or set of rules which are explicitly adopted by a group of people. Thus you have medical ethics. Ethics are thus internally defined and adopted, whilst morals tend to be externally imposed on other people. If you accuse someone of being unethical, it is equivalent of calling them unprofessional and may well be taken as a significant insult and perceived more personally than if you called them immoral (which of course they may also not like).

Plato's Four Virtues - Justice, Wisdom, Moderation and Courage.

Mencius's Cardinal Virtues - Benevolence, Righteousness, Wisdom and Propriety.

THE HUMAN ELEMENT – WILL SCHULTZ

Actually a book that presents theory, principles and practices of 40 years of exploring human relationship breakthroughs that could result in a different type or organization with an order of magnitude of more sustainability and productivity. The principles can be summarized as 3 invitations.

He invites the reader to explore what happens when we do these things

• Diminish our defensiveness and communicate openly and honestly with one another
• Diminish blame and acknowledge how we collude with one another to create what happens
• Diminish self-deception and allow ourselves to look inward and know ourselves as well

 Focus: Global Partnering in Social Business

Even if a demonstrably revolutionary process is introduced into organizational life, there is no guarantee that the change will be adopted quickly, and there is certainly little likelihood that the change will result in any immediate improvement in productivity. Consider Michael Rothschild’s article (The Coming Productivity Surge Forbes 29 march 1993) on a paper by economic historian Paul David that looks at the history of this phenomenon. Rothschild applies what he calls the productivity paradox to the computer revolution – although US businesses had just spent trillions on computers in the previous decade they have almost no measurable productivity increase to show for it and , therefore, they resist changes.

The explanation: when a change is introduced it is typically fitted into the current environment. Failure to anticipate this may delay a productivity increase, for decades.

A similar phenomenon happens on the human side of organizations. Although we have been able to measure improved productivity in specific area, at this point it is difficult to achieve an impact on overall organizational productivity for several reasons:

• Usually only part of the organization receives the training; the rest stays as it is
• When people return from training the old atmosphere awaits them. Often it does not support their changes and may even be hostile to them
• People who have not received the training feel like an “out” group, often oppose the new ideas.
• People who have not received the training are unsure of their new roles in cases where the organization does begin to change

The new Human Element ideas are examined carefully. If they do gain acceptance, people will take more time to see all the implications of implementing the ideas and modifying other organizational practices to enhance the advantages that innovations create. As people in organizations become more self-aware, we should indeed see a productivity surge, perhaps one greater than we have ever seen before. To experience the fruits of this surge, we need a kind of courage rarely spoken about in the annals of heroes: the courage to know ourselves, to be honest with one another, to handle the truth.

===="Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire." - Ralph Waldo Emerson====