All metaphors are incomplete but the metaphor of organistions as living systems, developed by Meg Wheatley and Fritjov Capra, illuminates different ways of thinking and acting. By contrast, when you look closely at organisational thinking much of it is still located in ‘the world and organisation as machine’ metaphor. I’ve just responded to a tender for organisational development work where the working assumption seems to be that each leader is a separate unit, capable of redesign and complete transformation, largely independent of the wider culture of the organisation. Much leadership development is still premised on questionable ‘machine-metaphor’ assumptions:

• Breaking the system into its component parts (individuals and teams).
• Studying each part in isolation.
• Assembling an understanding of the whole as if the collective level is simply an aggregate of the parts that interact weakly and in a linear manner.

For example, you can’t adequately think of shifting the behaviour of the Middle part of an organisational system without understanding the Middle group’s relations with each other, with Tops, with Bottoms and with Customers. This wider constellation of relationships should be the locus of any action inquiry seeking to evolve the system. Focusing on the personal development of individual Middles and expecting a shift in the collective behaviour of Middles is a common but often fruitless endeavour, if you want to evolve whole systems, as Barry Oshry has pointed out.

The self (the personal/individual) and the wider systems of which we are members are not separate. As human beings we are constituted of the same elements that make up the universe.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
Carl Sagan, Cosmos

The world of quantum physics reveals that the most basic elements of what constitutes us as human beings are not the solid building blocks of atoms, but pure energy, patterns of probability, waves and particles. At the collective level (which includes organisations) my view is that there is no fixed, pre-existing social reality that exists outside of our personal and collective participation in it. This is paradoxical because certain levels of reality appear solid: our bodies seem solid enough and yet we are in constant cycles of dying and renewal, a complex set of processes in motion. Similarly, organisational culture has tangible manifestations: values statements, organisation design charts, procedures and policies. Organisational culture also has a much subtler, less tangible but no less powerful energy field: the emotional history of the organisation carried in story, ritual and myth; the signals and gestures, mostly out of conscious awareness, that encourage and constrain individual behaviour; the vitality (or otherwise) that brings collective purpose to life.

So what?

Update your maps. Many maps in use in organisations around individual and collective change are woefully inaccurate. The wider field of leadership and organisational development (OD) has much unlearning and letting go to do. I’m in the process of simplifying my work which is both painful and liberating. If you read Marvin Weisbord’s latest book, Productive Workplaces Revisited: Dignity, Meaning and Community in the 21st Century, reflections on 50 years as a leader in the OD field, he set out ten myths of organisational change which he no longer believes. These myths (changes are sustainable, diagnosis solves the problem, training will fix it…) are unfortunately the common fare of many proposals from business schools and consultancies.
Embrace paradox and uncertainty and remember the map is not the territory. Maps are helpful in pointing to the territory, just as a menu points to the food, but as Gregory Bateson pointed out it’s a mistake to eat the menu. In the same way our plans and maps are useful but provisional. By all means take maps and make good plans, but pay attention to the territory which is in front of you. Solutions to complex challenges emerge over time through the rich interaction between different parts of the system. We have to be willing to embrace the unknown and this includes ambiguity, vulnerability and uncertainty. As the Islamic poet Rumi said: “As you start on the Way, the Way appears”.

Find a community of practice and deepen your understanding of the interplay between the personal and systemic. In a previous blog post on Barry Oshry’s website I gave ten pointers (or cairns) to which we should pay attention. Revisit them. Try them out and see if they make a difference. Reflect on and learn from your experiments! In previous times we perhaps had a better sense of the time needed to become a master craftsperson (or master practitioner) but our desire now is often for fast tracks and shortcuts. Drive thru competence which we pick up on a one day workshop is an illusion – the workshop is a first step but the journey requires time, application and learning.

Happy travels!

If you would like to develop your ability to coach for change more effectively at the individual, team and wider system level then join me, Professor Peter Hawkins and faculty from AoEC for the Team Coaching for Systemic Change programme in London on 26/27 June, 2012

Reposted from John Watters’ Blog found here.

It’s easy just to say that we need to innovate, but what is most important is that the need for such profound change is recognised. It takes insightful leadership to spot these opportunities and will usually require team effort to respond to them. It’s often easier to see when we’re floundering than it is to put things right – the intended change that didn’t work – perhaps a new coach for the football team or a new leader for a political party. These partial improvements are always made with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, lasting improvement will not come along without radical innovation across the whole system. So we’ll usually have to lose a few more premiership titles or general elections before the necessary innovations are implemented.

As leaders, therefore, it’s helpful first to acknowledge that we need to innovate.

That’s not the same as knowing the answers; it’s enough just to realise that innovation is necessary. A few questions that we have found helpful to get us going are:

• Which parts of my business are unquestionably working well, by any standards?
• What else should we be capable of right now?
• What has changed externally in the fundamentals of my business that is holding us back?
• What internal structures (in the sense of rules, systems etc.) might be contributing?
• What are the key things outside of my control? Who does have control over these things?
• What have I already done to create improvements?
• What are the potential rewards, in all forms, of achieving real innovation?
• If I don’t do this, who will? How surprised might I be if they manage it?

Having been involved in many projects to secure innovation in business, the striking observation to me is the contrast between the real hard work of the teams toiling on these projects AND the elegant simplicity of the eventual outcomes. The sheer effort and dedication people put into this work when asked by their leaders to devote time to it is remarkable – it’s almost as though they were sitting there waiting to be asked. Indeed, many of them turn up with part of the answer, though nobody has it all. And this observation reinforces the reality that no single leader could be expected to come up with the results single-handed.

The leaders role, then, is merely to spot the need and unleash the team that knows what’s necessary. The expertise to find real innovation almost always exists in the organisation – the key is to be able to unleash it constructively.

I’m keen to hear from those leaders who just have some idea that things could be different around here. Innovation can then be brought alive; it might be hard work but the rewards are real. And the idea that innovation is something only achieved by extraordinary individuals can be dispelled.

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“We are all made of stardust”.

Of course the physicists will tell us this is true if we subscribe to the Big Bang theory – that matter which was created then makes up the whole universe and us in it. So we ARE literally made of the same “dust” as the stars. But the resonance went much deeper for me. Metaphorically we are “stardust” – magical, unique, thrilling, cosmic, perfect. And if we can see that beauty everywhere and in everyone our world is suddenly full of light and shimmering energy – just like a star. Can I see that all around and every day? Can I catch a glimpse of it at any time? And if I can see the stardust around me and revel in its beauty can I also see it in myself – now and in the possibilities that are me?

How often do you see the stardust in your life, in those around you and in yourself?

If you were to allow a little more noticing of it, what might it do for how you live and who you are?
And THEN

What might you achieve?

Moby – we are all made of stars

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Albert Einstein once wrote ‘All that is truly great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom.’

The problem is most of us don’t labour in freedom every day – we labour in fear. One difference between redundancy and retention in a Global Financial Crisis is a system of organisation that is based on this notion of freedom. It is known as Organisational Democracy and is a way of designing organisations to amplify the possibilities of human potential — and as a result, the organisation as a whole. It’s the foundation upon which thriving, world-class businesses collaborate, innovate, celebrate and prosper. And it creates the kinds of workplaces that attract and retain top talent.

In 2008, UK-based Future Considerations began their transformation to a freedom-centred workplace. Although, at the time, their client work remained on-purpose, fulfilling and well-received, their was a sense of internal misalignment around values and their true purpose for being in business. They needed to clean out the toxicity in their own system, and build a culture, which was more accountable, transparent and focused on what really mattered.

Three years later, and the company continues to annually elect their complete Leadership Team, including their Managing Director, as a way to hold directors to account for past, present and future actions. By doing so, Future Considerations has managed to repay just over £300,000 worth of historical debt (approx 20% of annual turnover), while continuing to turn a profit.

Don’t think for one moment that these principles only apply to small business. HCL Technologies, a practicing freedom-centric company headquartered in Noida, India, have been completely transparent with employees about the context of the company throughout the financial crisis – CEO, Vineet Nayar, told employees that HCL had to save $100 million. HCL employees responded with 76 money saving ideas that totalled $260 million in savings. By being transparent HCL has been able to leverage the innovative ideas of its employees to turn the recession into an opportunity and as a result, no employees were laid off and HCL’s revenues have grown.

The above examples are not just ‘one-hit wonders’. In fact, many organisations including the likes of WD40, Groupon and Zappos operate in this manner. They value people as much as profits and are mobilising towards a new corporate democracy that drives results by attracting top talent and harnessing the collective intelligence, full self-expression, personal power and creativity of all who champion freedom and democracy in the workplace.

WorldBlu highlights the work of democratic workplaces in an effort to spark a movement to see one billion people working in freedom. The WorldBlu Principles of Organisational Democracy provide a blueprint for organisational design. All ten principles must be in operation and at an individual, leadership and systems and processes level and WorldBlu uses a scorecard to measure effectiveness.

If you would like to know about how this type of thinking could create far-reaching change in your business, then please contact -
USA: Cari Caldwell
UK: Tim Stanyon

For other stories of freedom-centred workplaces, see the 2012 WorldBlu List here.

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Culture is a mighty force. It is often underestimated how easily it is created. Most leaders are not fully aware that if they do nothing to consciously create a culture, one will develop anyway. As organizational development guru Edgar Schein said,

“The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture… If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening.”

Essentially, culture is ‘the way we do things around here’. Over time, patterns, norms and unwritten rules develop that ‘good’ team members or employees learn and learn quickly.

My client team had developed a certain culture around conflict and confronting behavior that wasn’t working. They all knew there were certain tough ‘no-go’ areas within the team which would get them stuck and lead to rushed decision-making to avoid conflict.

At the individual level, one member would always take things personally and struggle to see the larger perspective. Another had difficulty delegating. Over time the patterns of attempting to confront these behaviors unsuccessfully led to resignation at the ‘we’ level within the team. A cultural belief developed ‘we cannot disagree with Jane’. And yet the whole team knew this is what is necessary to move forward into the next phase of growth for the organisation. Past events (for example, where the organization was misrepresented publicly without appropriate defence), were eating away at the basic sense of integrity of the organization to function among its peers. Innovation and creativity seemed to pack up and move out whenever one of these stuck patterns started to show up.

We decided it was time for a detox. It was time to ‘get complete’ about what from the past was hanging around that no longer served them – individually and collectively.

We worked at the 3 levels of I (individual), we (the team) and it (the organization or system). We started by having team members write down their answers to the following questions (found below) for themselves, the team and then the system or from the perspective of the organization. Perhaps the most surprising results showed up in getting complete at the level of the organization. As team members acknowledged and took responsibility for the organization, even in areas they were not directly involved, a sense of pride and possibility started to emerge. Gestalt theory posits that whatever is not complete will continue to ask for attention. Once the attention is paid and dealt with, energy can be freed up to apply to new possibilities.

Immediately following this activity, they went to an industry conference where contentious competitor relationships usually meant collaboration, that would otherwise benefit this company, were held to a minimum. Having been viewed as an underdog for several years, this year they showed up complete about the past, with new energy available and a new foundation present on which the team could build relationships on even ground. They showed up as powerful, equal players on the stage, and as a result, offers of strategic alliances and new ventures started to show up all over the place.

When was the last time you or your team did a detox to look at what is hanging around the system that is not complete and therefore dragging on the system and siphoning away precious energy and resources?

We invite you to have a detox conversation with your team following the questions below and let us know how it goes!

Completing and clearing out for the new to emerge
Cultural detox questions:

1. What do you want to be acknowledged for? (Something you have done or not done that you want to be noticed, witnessed, or seen)
2. What do you want to be appreciated for or what do you want to appreciate others for? (Something you have done or not done that you want to express gratitude for or others to express gratitude toward you for)
3. What do you regret? (Something you have done or not done that you wish you had/hadn’t)
4. What are you not communicating or withholding? (Something you have not communicated but need to or want to)
5. What untruths do you want to correct or speak to? (Something that you have allowed to be said or understood about someone or something that is not correct)
6. Is there someone or something you are making wrong or blaming?
7. What do you want to ‘let go’ of?
8. What do you want to invite to ‘let come’?

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This ability to step back, look at the bigger picture and see what is important – or to put it another way, to change the rules of the game (or even to change the game you are playing!) – is an act of leadership. Having the ability and insight is one thing; enacting it can take courage and a willingness to expose oneself to criticism or worse. Not to do so is at best limiting and at worst may be dangerous. Knowing when to change the rules of the game for a higher purpose is an act of liberation of energy, creativity and humanity; doing it may be the most important act of leadership you can take.

Of course when we are “in the game” and playing hard our capacity to see beyond the given rules may be severely diminished. The old adage that “the fish doesn’t notice the water” is another way of expressing this. The culture in which we swim can be as invisible to us as the water to the fish.

The “rules” – real and self-created – may have served us well and may still be doing so. But…

• Can we see them clearly enough to be able to inquire whether they are still serving us?
• What are the “rules” of your game that are now stopping you from seeing and doing what may be needed?
• Are you willing to change the rules of the game?

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Approximately 45% of respondents felt that their ability to act with their life’s purpose as their compass was entirely dependent on their ability to afford it, or, has been left with the younger, more idealistic version of our former self.

Rather than simply report a statistic, I thought that it maybe interesting to do something with the data, so I have created a small activity as part of this post for those who would like to add some self-reflection to their day.

Below is a visualisation of the data that the survey presented at the end of last month (you can click it and it will increase in size):

Having glanced at the image, I would like to invite you to take 2-5 minutes to reflect (perhaps with pen and paper) on the teams that you have been a part of and those you have led and ask yourself the following questions,

• Which teams have you been involved with that have mirrored the above infographic?
• At what points have you felt like the blue person at the front – when you felt that your work and decisions were in line with your purpose?
• When were the moments that you experienced being the dark grey person nearest to the back – when you felt that your personal purpose had little to do with your work and your role in the team?

Now that you have had a chance to identify a couple of specific moments where you say that you have been “on purpose” and “off purpose”, let’s spend a little time analysing what were the conditions to create these environments. For a further 2-5 minutes:

• Compare the conditions/context of each of the times that you experienced being the blue man and the dark grey man. How are they similar/different?

If you have been writing your thoughts down, what you should have now is a fairly brief, but tailored set of thoughts, feelings, actions and needs to create the right space for you to be making decisions on purpose and feeling at the top of your game. How can you modify your personal work interactions and space so that they better enable you to live your purpose everyday, and helps you to become the “blue man”?

For those who want to go a little further, imagine that the visualisation above is no longer a team from the past, but the one that you are leading (or apart of) right now. Imagine if the entire team were able to say that they were acting on purpose:

• What would this look like?
• What would be the benefits of such a team?
• What would it take to create the shift?
• What is your role as a part of the team to contribute to this, if any at all?

It may be an interesting idea to think that perhaps purpose isn’t determined by pounds and pence or the idealism of your university years, but could be rediscovered in less than 20 minutes at your own desk.

I would like to hear from those readers who do decide to take the challenge and take the time out for some personal reflection. If you would like to share what comes from it, then please leave a comment below, as it could be helpful for other readers.

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Gen Y is in a prime position to successfully face today’s world, and one of our challenges is to understand what makes these people ‘tick’ in an otherwise complex web of systems.

From 15 years of experience working with global youth leaders, there have been a couple of stand-out themes that continue to ring true, even now as I work with a millennial in Future Considerations.

1. Provide ample opportunities for learning, growth and impact – development has a long term value for Gen Y, as opposed to an arguably “short term” benefit like cash
2. Leverage their affinity for collaborate on and networking – be playful: who doesn’t enjoy a bit of fun at work?
3. Develop and value genuine relationships – the quality of the relationship is, in my experience, the most important factor for Gen Y in the workplace

While salary packages remain a key hygiene factor for any employee, is the offer you are making to a millennial truly compelling, and, takes it into consideration potential additional expectations that they have for their working environment?

I would invite you to take 3 minutes and watch the video below:

The Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle Video from Holstee on Vimeo

• If this video were to accurately describe the outlook that Generation Y has for their world, then what would need to shift in the way you currently work with millenials to generate the feeling of truly achieving their passion and sharing their dreams in your workplace thus actively contributing to the long term success of your business?
• Perhaps another way to look at the question, what role does your workplace take in the dreams and aspirations of Gen Y?
• When was the last time you shared your dreams and passions with a work colleague? What impact do you think that would have on the teams that you lead?

I would invite you to please share your thoughts in the comment box below about how you interact with the WHY in your workplace.

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An intrapreneur is defined as “a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.” When this notion is applied to addressing key social or environmental challenges, this is referred to as social intrapreneurship.

If we consider Daniel H. Pink’s findings published in his 2009 book Drive!, we discover three key ingredients for creating engagement: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Autonomy means the ability to determine how we reach our goals, mastery looks at the inherent motivation and satisfaction we find in surmounting a challenge, and purpose relates to what we find important.

A growing number of brave individuals, many from Generation Y, are looking to lead meaningful change from their position in the organisation. These intrapreneurs are not subversive to the company goals, rather they are taking initiative for meeting an unaddressed need which they also personally find important. It is both good for the employee’s engagement, and benefits the company’s bottom line.

As leaders, we need to be open to new initiatives which are not in the plan. We need to allow ourselves to back new ideas and support the individual change makers. In doing so, an emerging and engaging form of leadership will surface, bringing out the best of employees so they feel empowered to take initiative. Intrapreneurship is not only good for business; it’s also a key component to Generation Y retention.

• How does intrapreneurship fit as a strategic investment in your business?
• How do you as a leader or as an oganisation create the space for your employees to step forward as (social) intrapreneurs?

Add your perspective by posting a comment below.

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The live recording, a concert by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, was made in Prague in 1939. Czechoslovakia had just been invaded by the Nazis. The Nazi flag had been hoisted at Prague Castle. Dissent was punishable by arrest and potentially death. Certainly, any nationalistic Czech displays were verboten. The national anthem had been replaced by the anthem of the Reich.

And here, on an evening in 1939, the people of Prague had gathered to hear Václav Talich conduct their own orchestra, playing their own music: Smetana’s My Country and Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. The performance was a rousing one; but what made the hair stand up on the back of my neck was what followed. At the end, after a sustained standing ovation, the audience slowly, spontaneously began singing the Czech National Anthem. First just one or two voices, then several more, and eventually what must have been the entire concert hall, singing with all their might.

In doing so, they risked their own safety. But so strong was their commitment to their motherland that they were prepared to take the risk. Knowing that there were probably Nazi officials in the crowd, they nevertheless continued this spontaneous show of defiance and patriotism.

I wasn’t the only one to be moved. Countless listeners to the radio station called and texted to say how they had been moved to tears by this recording. Just typing this blog post brings back the strong emotion, which we felt so viscerally.

Patriotism. That’s not such a popular word these days. It’s particularly rare in corporate circles. But it got me thinking about purpose. I’ve worked with a number of companies in the process of redefining their purpose in the world. At worst, this is regarded as a necessary communications exercise; an opportunity to put something on a poster on the walls; a tick-box.

Many leaders have moved beyond this, though, and see the definition of purpose as an opportunity to create focus: an analytical exercise to better define “what’s in and what’s out” of the corporate mission. Google’s mission to “organise the world’s information” is a good example.

Rarer, though, is the sort of purpose that instills the level of patriotism displayed in that Prague concert hall in 1939. It’s not about the words. It’s about how that purpose lives in the hearts and minds of the people who work 40, 50 or 60 hours a week to bring that purpose to life.

In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras found, through rigorous research into companies’ share performance over time, that companies with a more compelling and shared sense purpose, vision and values were significantly more successful. I had the privilege of working in one of the companies in their study – Procter & Gamble. (Indeed, in my organisational development role there, helped to build alignment around a new purpose statement in the late 90s). P&G’s purpose is about producing “products & services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers”. Last weekend, I met up with a P&G friend who has recently moved on, now to a pharmaceutical company. I noticed something interesting about how she described her new job. It gave her a chance to improve consumer’s lives, and therefore she was happy. The resonance between her own sense of purpose, and the company’s, was key for her.

Collins and Porris, writing in the Harvard Business Review in 1996, said: “Truly great companies understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is genuinely sacred and what is not.” Have a look at some of these examples, quoted by Collins and Porras:
Wal-Mart: To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people
Merck: To preserve and improve human life
McKinsey & Company: To help leading corporations and governments be more successful
Walt Disney: To make people happy

If you worked in those companies, would the purpose provide clarity and focus? Would it inspire you? Would it create genuine, spontaneous “patriotism” towards your employer – if, of course, you felt it was genuinely lived?

In Future Considerations, we redefined our vision, purpose and values three years back. Our purpose – “to enable the world’s leaders, institutions and systems to evolve, and to influence the great challenges of our time” – has proved very powerful in creating both focus and inspiration. It has helped us to be clear, not just on what sort of work we want to take on, but how we want to do it. At times it has galvanised the team and helped us to draw out that extra ounce of discretionary effort that’s sometimes needed. It resonates because we wrote it by asking ourselves what it was we truly cared about; our unique role in the world.

I realise that not all of our readers are corporate CEOs, able to define the purpose of a global organisation. But I would suggest that the definition of purpose is a powerful and important exercise – at whatever level you’re leading. I have worked with numerous teams where the creation of a team purpose was instrumental in ramping up the team’s effectiveness.

Ask yourself these questions:
:: as individuals, what are our personal reasons for being in the world? why do we care about these? (get to the core… listen intently to one another expressing these personal purposes, without judgment.)
:: as a team/business, what can we, together, uniquely do in the world?
:: if we didn’t exist, what would be lost?
:: what do we most deeply care about contributing?

I’d like to close this blog post with another story – also about patriotism. A long-term multinational client experienced a hostile takeover a few years back. I visited their head office and had lunch in the staff canteen while the acquisition negotiations were in full force. As a show of defiance, many staff were coming to work dressed in the company’s well-known brand colour. In knew, from my experience, the degree of commitment to the company, its vision, purpose, values and brands that everyday there people felt. Staff were symbolically prepared to take a stand for what they believed in.

As a leader, what level of patriotism do you believe you are unleashing among your people?

Mark is the Managing Director of Future Considerations. Click here to find out more about Mark and contact him for further information about his experience with the growth of the company.

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