Global Outlook from the NorthShore

Re-imagining Collaboration For A New Age

2010-02-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

We have entered a new age. Large scale and complex change occurssuddenly and sometimes without much warning as in the 2009 economic crisisof the global economy. Virtual collaboration creates opportunities to escape the constraints and perceived barriers of the physical world to address complex issues and access expertise on a global scale. Using technology, organizations of every form are moving beyond online meetings that imitate unsatisfying face-to-face or phone meetings and re-imagining collaboration. Why re-imagine?

By designing and facilitating processes that integrate the newest forms of interactive technology with organizational and human and needs it is easier to create the conditions in which collaboration can occur.

For example, the natural anonymity of online tools frees us from tacit biases or self-doubt and encourages individual leadership. Asynchronous tools allow global work teams release from the bonds of time zones to tackle projects with increasing effectiveness and productivity. And social networks now become visible through community tools allowing financial, time, human and other organizational assets to be redeployed toward developing innovative approaches to unique problems, rather than reinventing solutions to problems that have been previously solved.

The promise of virtual collaboration can occur across functional teams within an organizations or across organizations. It can occur in corporations, foundations, non-profits, government agencies and pubic communities of interest. However, virtual collaboration technology can onlyfulfill its promise when it is appreciated and understood as the dynamic that it is, occuring at theintersection of business, organizational and/or social issues, technology and group needs.

To realize the promise of virtualcollaboration, leaders and collaborators alike, need to learn to thinkstrategically and critically about the most appropriate ways to choose tools,adapt processes and work in virtual spaces.

Principles for Virtual Collaboration.
Several principles of what I call social collaboration strategy point the way. The first is to consider the purpose of the collaboration and the intention of the work to be accomplished before selecting a collaborative tool. There are hundreds of collaborative tools available and more being introduced every month. Some are integrated and some are stand alone. Just as you would not use a screw drive to make a milkshake or a spoon to dig a ditch, selecting video conferencing or blogging before considering your purpose is not the most optimal way to approach virtual collaboration. In one team I work with we use a combination of chat rooms, wikis and voice conferences to work together. In another, I use a blog combined with face-to-face meetings.

The next principle is to consider who will use the tool and how best to customize the tool for your intended purpose. All users will require ongoing forms of orientation and training as your project evolves. Many of the newer tools are flexible and provide creative ground for specific kinds of work. Others are better at organizing and tracking content and project milestones.

One of the realities of virtual collaboration is that the tools change how we work, and as well, we change how the tools work for us.

Consider the micro-blogging tool, Twitter. Surely its inventors did not envision it as a tool for global social change, yet millions of people around the world spontaneiously used it to share news and pressure public opinion during the 2009 presidential elections in Iran.

The idea of re-imagining is to integrate adaption into every fabric of the working world and to use virtual tools to increase productivity and effectiveness. The message here is to think about what you intend before you invest, but to also be willing to experiment and try new things. To re-imagine, it is necessary to think carefully about what should be preserved and what should be let go.

Designing For Change - Not Always So Serious

2010-01-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

As leaders of change, we take our work seriously. Still with all the seriousness in the world, it's important not to take ourselves too seriously. This video from our friends from The Fun Theory shows how designing for change can change behavior and make for fun.

Five Essential Habits for Collaborative Teams

2009-12-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

I'm often a bit suspicious of lists that promise “the answer” to complex questions. They are a bit like the rear view mirror that reminds us that things may appear smaller than they are. Such lists can leave us with the impression that problems and dilemmas of good collaboration a simpler than they are. After all, human beings are living systems and living systems are highly sophisticated and complex. Since collaborative teams are a collection of human beings it only makes sense that groups are equally complex by nature. Nevertheless, simple lists can be helpful and in that spirit, I offer here Five Essential Habits For Collaborative Teams, gleaned from both being a member of collaborative teams, and consulting to help them to become more effective. Layers of skills and coordinated behaviors work together to enable collaboration. These five habits can be practiced with all kinds of teams, those that meet in person, in virtual spaces, and in blended spaces that combine virtual and face-to-face elements.

Download my entire paper at Radical-Inclusion

Rethinking the Organization

2009-11-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Graphic recording notes from the recent Pegasus Systems Thinking Conference in Seattle.

Find more photos like this on Pegasus Conference Community

How The 2nd Industrial Revolution Is Changing Organizations

2009-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Dan Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, explains how new web technologies is revolutionizing organizations, economics, and in turn, social systems.

On Becoming A Scrum Master

2009-08-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

This week I became a Scrum Master I was in fact, certified, through training conducted by the amazingly talented, wise and committed Agile consultant, Tobias Mayer and improv artist and trainer, Matt Smith.

A heady notion to refer to oneself as a master. I keep seeing an image of Yoda... "Master Lucy, Don't try, only do"

What is scrum? Scrum is a systems approach to product development. The term, scrum comes from the game of rugby. By systems, I mean it is based on several foundations of organizational systems change - a sort of change management on steroids that is applied to agile software development. In fact scrum can be applied to all kinds of complex creative work.

The scrum approach reflects at least two elements associated with organizational systems change: team and wholeness.

Scrum is a team-based approach to product development in which:

all members of the team are valued equally
all team members learn to demonstrate individual and team leadership
all team members are responsible to learn from iterative products development cycles and from each other.

Wholeness is realized in three ways:

Greater than the sum of its parts. All members of the team are accountable to each other, rather than to a positional leader.
Work collaboratively to tackle tough design issues and in so doing exchange skills and knowledge thereby building the team's overall adapt and adjust to forces outside its control.
Focus vigilance, while building the product in small iterative increments helps to manage complexity of design, the team should never loses site of the larger vision of the outcome and quality that delivers value to its customers/clients.

Scrum demands more of everyone in an organization, not just its team members.

It demands more of product stakeholders because they are actively involved in the process of product and quality acceptance prior to deployment. It requires more of organizational management because scrum surfaces patterns of team and organizational dysfunct and provides opportunities for systemic change.

Scrum, when truly practiced according to its principles, demands much, and in return, it delivers products that meet customer expectations faster, with fewer defects and a a side effect that may be even more valuable that the product itself - a higher performing organization. Primarily used to manage the creative work of software and product development, scrum is capable of simultaneously creating organizational change.

The Myth of Scrum Master:

The scrum master replaces the role of a traditional project manager in software development, yet great scrum masters are not masters because they have been trained and certified. They are masters because they never forget that they are always becoming better masters. They are courageous and invite enough disruption to motivate without overwhelming. They are able to bring out leadership behaviors in others by allowing them to learn and think critically.

One becomes a scrum master by developing practicing the use of the scrum tools, personal mastery and holding a space for organizations to practice supporting scrum with abandon. It is the scrum masters job to educate the organization on the process and its value throughout a project.

Going through scrum master certification was a valuable experience for me, in spite of graduate degree in organizational systems change and years of consulting experience. Organizational change methods look simple but really require the same kind of mastery previously mentioned. Scrum is a concrete application of systems change that can be adapted to deliver real value in my life and profession.

So...with humility I offer Yoda and those who wish to master scrum, be they product owners, certified scrum masters, or part of the development team, “Don’t try, only practice doing, learn and then do some more.”

For more on scrum certification.

New Tools for Change Inevitably Emergent

2009-08-04T12:57:00.001-07:00

I've been making use of social media a lot lately to follow the work of people with whom I share common interests. I find the whole emergent nature of social media fascinating and actually quite surprising. My pragmatist nature would normally make me skeptical that real business value could come from the twitter- or blogoshere.

I just found this fun map of social media which points out both the opportunities and the challenges of social media. The creators call it the conversation. Makes sense because social media is about creating relationships in which conversations are possible.

Holy cow! Look how many choices you have. It can be overwhelming! So much so that many people just throw up their hands and say "no way."

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

Personally, I believe it's generally a mistake to put your head in the sand and ignore the inevitable. Just yesterday I asked a new colleague if she had a profile on LinkedIn or FaceBook, and she replied:

I avoid such groups because I have entirely too much connection already (via email, etc.) I'm swamped by the people I really have to connect with....I can't quite deal with enlarging that. Perhaps an entirely misguided notion.

I thought this was ironic since I had met her via a Google group listserv (very old social media technology on the internet).

Why is it inevitable that social media will be a tool for change? It's the emergent nature of social media that makes it both difficult to control and a risk to ignore. Consider this.

This vast array of platforms above holds the promise of connecting you to resources that you would otherwise never find. In the past several months I have founded a new enterprise, Radical Inclusion,, discovered someone who can be both a partner for research and a potential client and heard from the President of the United States - all through social media.

There are more examples emerging all the time and not just for me. The new Nora Ephron, Meryl Streep movie, Julie and Julia that opened this past weekend is the story of a young woman who finds herself and a writing career through blogging about French cooking. For everyone who chooses to ignore the inevitable there are hundreds of millions who aren't. For organizations that choose against open collaboration there is a competitive risk.

On a more conventional note, I learned about a pharmaceutical firm posts its lab's most intractable scientific questions anonymously on the the internet. They find solutions to about 30% of these questions, often from scientists outside their discipline. All those solutions have the potential of turning into lucrative innovations. Such results might give you pause to think about the attitude of not invented here.

How To Begin To Embrace The Inevitable Emergent

1. Take some time to think about what you hope to accomplish? Are you using social media for professional aims and just for fun.

2. Ask someone to coach you on how to use a one or two social media tools that interest you. Tip: Don't assume you know what a tool can be used for until you learn to use it. For me the most productive tools for professional purposes have been LinkedIn Groups and Twitter. I also use Facebook, but mostly for connecting with friends and fun, but more and more people use it for professional connections.

3. Use links and connections you come across to find new sources of information and expertise. Just like in the physical world, you need to pay listen and observe to learn.

4. Try using social media to request information, get help, find referrals to others. One of the features of social media is that it can bridge networks of people and connect you to new resources.

I've learned is that if I experiment outside my normal circles of connections and am active I start getting the benefit. If you just sign up and then never interact, not much is likely to happen, and that's the emergent nature of social media; new value emerges through use.

I'm not suggesting that social media is the best thing or the right thing for everyone. I am saying it is a powerful tool for changing yourself and working with others, if you choose to engage.

The Trust Model Is Dead, Now What?

2009-07-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

In the late 1990s, I developed an institutional trust model for clients involved in online business transactions. These clients stake their livelihoods on the belief that mistrust is a natural human state. That institutional trust model, like all models was false but useful – but only in specific situations. It was based on a hierarchical view of control in which experts tell us who we can trust. The foundation of that trust model was that the authentication of an individual or institution could be verified in the physical world. Information about the trust-worthiness of that entity could flow from that physical authentication in the form of a rating or score similar to credit scores with the addition of new measures of trustworthiness that go beyond financial stability. This thinking that created this model was not based on natural human behavior, but on our inability to connect, communicate and share information.

Today, that institutional trust model and it's associated assumptions are being turned upside down by the phenomena of social media on the Internet. Example after example of real work and valuable services and product offered abound. These services and products are created by people who are operating in the re-emergence of a communal trust culture that is much closer to the way natural personal trust is achieved. What is happening right under our noses is evidence that personal trust is contained in the collective trust of social groups and that its availability need not be limited to the availability of formal leaders and so-called experts. What is so different in this model? Innovation comes not just from understanding needs and problems in search of solutions, but that when people gather around a topic of real passion and interest, real value can be created that rivals traditional expert-controlled products and services.

In truth, the institutional trust model has always been broken, but we humans, in search of certainty, prefer to believe otherwise. In the world of business-to-business transactions, trust between companies often begins with an identity established by a trusted expert such as a credit agency, i.e., Dunn and Bradstreet. In theory, the authentication expert validates the existence of the business and then purveyors of online trust models such as digital certificates and data mining services provide expert opinions in the form of data encryption, ratings and scores. In truth, physical verification rarely takes place. No one physically visits the business to ensure it exists. The scores and ratings are simply patterns of data transactions analyzed by algorithms based on certain assumptions that may or may not be reliable. And as we've seen by our recent global financial melt-downs and high-profile ponzi schemes – such models tend to become self-serving over time. And while they might protect those currently holding control over others, they are not the only accurate representations of trustworthiness and value.

People across geographic and generational boundaries overcoming institutional trust limitations are coming together around relevant similarities and providing value in the form of information, services and programs. Re-emerging in place of hierarchical trust are some very old forms of communal trust. The patterns of communal trust became repressed as people became physically separated and communication systems evolved from few-to-few, to one-to-many and one-to-one.

As social media allows people to share more things without expert intervention, the time to evaluate how we develop individual and collective leadership in organizations has come.

The communal model of trust begins with individual internal trust. People who trust themselves tend to be good global citizens. Collective global governance, in turn, reduces incentives to game a system. This, in turn reinforces the ability to trust the system. The collective trust of people in the system provides a positive self-reinforcing feedback loop. This sort of feedback can both redirect unintentionally inappropriate behavior and expose those who willingly game the system at the cost of the collective.

The individuals’ ability to trust the collective has lead to some pretty spectacular developments made possible by social media and new financial models in which the cost of sharing is sublimated by the benefits of learning. Wikipedia, Mozilla Firefox, Couch Surfers and a recent software development contest for open government sponsored by the City of Washington DC are all examples of real value being created through a new organizational model that looks much more communal than hierarchical trust.

There is no question that social media are changing social systems and that social systems are changing social media. Since organizations are also social systems it is time to elevate the conversation about social media from water cooler to strategic.

Even with all the training and focus on teamwork and flattened organizations, most modern organizations, profit, not-for-profit and government still operate primarily as leadership hierarchies. Hierarchies, while useful for control, are extremely inefficient for disseminating information and driving innovation to create competitive differentiation. To remain competitive, 21st-century organizations will need to think strategically about not only social media but also the collective knowledge, creativity and good will that is available to them to create value and reduce costs. Social media is much more than a way to market virally. It is a way to build and develop organizations. It is now possible to share knowledge across the arbitrary boundaries of org charts and organizational identities and therefore provide an infinite source of knowledge and creativity for organizations willing to learn new ways of working with others.

An excerpt from a video, Us Now, provides some examples of how social media is bringing about change in social systems.

Us Now Excerpt by courtesy of Youtube creative commons

What's Changing About Change? Education For One Thing

2009-07-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

A recent article on the blog site mashable.com, Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education points to yet another way people are using Social Media. Lon Cohen points out that people are learning about meaty topics from Twitter surreptitiously,

Many of them [Twitter users] don’t even know it and that’s the beauty. There is no course outline, no costly tuition (yet anyway), no declared major, and you can take as many electives as you want. There’s also no hard and fast list of required experience to be my personal Twitter Professor and tenure is non-existent. I do have very simple guidelines I keep in my head when designating my Twitter Professors:

RT really smart stuff from the people they follow saving me from sifting through even more of a stream of Tweets.
Have insightful Tweets in and of themselves (not just links).
Inspire me to engage in conversation with them or with others.
Write really great articles/blog posts on subjects I want to learn about or point to interesting articles I would never have read otherwise.
Expand my world experience through their stream of Tweets.

One of the most innovative examples of Twitter Professors I have seen is was created by colleague Holger Nauheimer, creator of the Change Management Toolbook, an online resource for change management facilitators. Holger's Twitter identity is hnauheimer. He lives in near Berlin in Germany and is a long-time change facilitator and trainer and created a Twitter seminar called, 10 Tweets, The Change Journey. What I like about Holger is that he really gets the culture and spirit of open collaboration using social media.

The seminar was promoted beforehand and then at a specific time interested participants converged on Twitter to read and tweet about ten topics related to the Change Journey. Each tweet included a link to another expert on change in the form of a website, blog and even YouTube videos. A couple of example tweets from the seminar:

Change is a mental construct. Organizations need new thinking, co-created in a dialogue

All people have purposes, concerns, circumstances. Being appreciated, they will collaborate

The seminar lasted for about 60 minutes. Not only did I get some new resources on change management thinking, I made some new contacts and widened my own Twitter following. Holger is now planning another seminar for later this summer. Follow holger on Twitter for details on topic, date and time.

Read a summary of the entire 10-Tweets seminar at Holger's Blog

If Leading Means Being The Expert, What Should You Be Expert At?

2009-06-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

While conducting a recent workshop I was reminded about the pitfalls of thinking that as leaders or managers we have to be experts. Leading is not about “getting it right” every time. Nor is it about telling other people what they should do or why they should do it. Leading does not have to mean that you should always share your eternal wisdom or save someone from impending peril. It’s not that those actions are never called for. Leadership is about being aware of what is real and making choices for action and sometimes, even inaction. As leaders, all too often we help and forget to be asked.

For every dilemma there are almost always multiple solutions. For every skill, tool, or process there are many effective ways to apply them.

What is the purpose you are trying to achieve in a given situation? That is where leadership begins. When I get confused about what to do, who to listen, how to proceed, I find it helpful to go back to this question. I find when I am clear about my purpose or our purpose, everything else becomes easier.

There are other important considerations once your purpose is clear. Consider: what is intriguing about the issue you are considering? What assumptions are you holding about it? Are these assumptions true at this time? Personal reflection helps me to understand why I might be considering certain options. What am I reacting to? What are the possible impacts of th choices ahead? The questions can and should go on for some time (unless you’re in a life and death situation). Too often we forget about the reflection and the asking. We focus prematurely on the decision-making and the directing. But more than anything, leadership is about asking.

Ask for what you want. Ask for help. Ask for clarity. Ask for insight. Be an expert at asking.

Lessons from Real-time Virtual Collaboration - May 09

2009-05-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

To view this slide show in a larger format click on menu and then click link to google docs.

We Don't Resist Change, We Resist Its Impact

2009-05-27T16:31:00.001-07:00

The most common myth about change is that we resist it, but this is a misunderstanding of change. Change is an event. Change is a point in time when something old stops and something new begins. What people resist is not the change itself, but the impacts of change. Change is external to people, yet the impact of change is not. The impact is not only personal, it's emotional. The impact is something that author, scholar and teacher William Bridges named transtion.

Change is outcome or results-focused, often the consequence of a perceived solution to a problem or opportunity. It is quick and has a well defined start and stop. Yet problems remain unresolved and opportunities are lost when the impact of the change is ignored.

The most significant impact of change and what we are truly resisting is some form of loss and the experience of disorientation. For example, if I have been teaching for a living and I get laid off or quit my job, my identity as a teacher is challenged. For better or worse, in most cultures our jobs, marital status, possessions, relationships and even our natural capabilities . . . define us and help us make sense of our place in the world. So when a change occurs it challenges us to redefine ourselves and until we do we experience disorientation.

Even when we are happy about a change and it's something we've chosen to do, such as getting married or having a child, we leave something behind and take on something new. Transition is a process of letting go of the beliefs, assumptions and expectations we have held in relationship to something else. Unlike change which is quick, transition is a process that gradually reforms new beliefs, assumptions and expectations in order for us to regain our energy and enthusiasm for something new.

Understanding what this transition process is and how the process works helps us to understand what we are losing and how to deal with it. Whether the change you face is simple or complex, it will carry transitional impacts for everyone involved. Planning for transitions is change is part of creating a successful foundation for change.

Did You Know?

2009-05-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

So what? It's a bit overwhelming, right? Important information can be overwhelming, but the important question is more interesting how to harness this as power for collaboration for positive change. Thinking about collaboration is about thinking about the future. Online collaboration provides a way to stay connected to issues and people who matter. Contact us for a free consultation on how we can help?

The Time For Global Collaboration Has Come

2009-05-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

In the last month I helped design and facilitated the world's first real-time global collaboration on the subject of positive change. This work excites me because as technology is providing new ways to connect and work together, RTVC provides an opportunity to reconfigure the way people collaborate in organizations as well as across organizations, communities, institutions and governments.

What is real-time global virtual collaboration (RTVC)?

RTVC is a group of change consultants and facilitators who adapt and integrate traditional collaborative change tools and facilitated techniques, such as inquiry, dialog and other group processes, for positive change.
  
The concept of the world’s first Real-time Virtual Collaboration Conference was to hatched about four weeks ago. It demonstrates what is possible when integrating facilitative change tools such as Open Space, World Cafe, Three Lens Conversation, etc. with real-time social media, such as VOIP, wikis, online collaborative tools and social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, or facebook.

Conference participants prepared for the conference through a Mind Map portal created especially for this event.

The 1/2 day conference was designed and organized by the RTVC Team, itself a self-organizing group of consultants and facilitators living in seven countries: Germany, S.Africa, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ontario, USA, and Canada – most of us have not yet met face-to-face.

Conference participants from 30 countries convened on Skype Chat for the opening plenary session, posting topics for break-out sessions on positive change. Break-out sessions were held on the a variety of social media chosen by conveners of the break-out sessions. Think of a sort of virtual, conference hotel.  Over 50 participants from around the globe signed on to the opening session using Skype Chat.  Opening and closing sessions were facilitated by members of the RTVC organization.

Reactions To The Conference Taken from the Closing Session Transcript
thrilling  
excitement  
multilevel  
smooth  
encouraging  
engaging  
conversations  
learning
like riding a roller coaster
technically challenging 
possibility  
engaging
falling off the cliff  
bacterial  
crossing boundaries
engaging  
exhilarating  
surfing  
disruptive  
just starting  
difficult connections
interesting  
complex  
What's next?  
calls for more  
germinal

Click on the RTVC Mind Map to see facts, key learnings, session topics and more. Note instructions on how to navigate the mind map in the lower right corner of the page.

To learn more about RTVC join us at the RTVC Forum on the Change Management Toolbook.

Click to see how countries were represented at the Conference. RTVC%20skype%20sign%20ins.pdf

Organizations of the Future

2009-04-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

IBM recently released the 2009 version of the Global CEO Study. The study included in-person interviews with 1,130 CEOs, general managers and senior public sector and business leaders from around the world. The study was intended to understand the differences between financial out-performers and under-performers. While financial performance is just one facet of success, no organization can exist without revenue or income of some kind.

The results of the study indicate that organizations are bombarded by change. 80% of the CEOs see significant change coming and a growing gap between the expected changes and their ability to manage it. The outperformers see demanding stakeholders not as a threat, but as an opportunity to innovate.

Whether your organization calls those it serves customers, clients or the public, there are lessons to be learned. The study reports that financial outperformers are making bolder plays. Nearly all CEOs are adapting their business models, two-thirds are implementing extensive innovations. The organization of the future is characterized as:

Hungry for change - capable of adapting quickly, shaping and leading change. They see change as a chance to move ahead of others competing for the same resources and revenue.
Innovative beyond imagination - surpassing the expectations of increasingly demanding constituents and customers, the out-performers form deep collaborative relationships to make primary stakeholders, partners and themselves more successful.
Globaly intergrated - ready to access the best capabilities, knowledge and assets wherever they reside in the world. If you're a local or regional organization, the implication is also true for you. Allow your thnking to take you beyond traditional narrow boundaries while delivering value and services locally.
Disruptive by nature - spend time thinking about where the next disruption will come from and be ready to design and lead changes to the way you create and deliver value to your partners and primary stakeholders. For non-profits this means creating solutitions that benefit your mission as well as the communities in which they live and work.
Genuine, not just generous - are you collaborating with non-profits and for-profits? Are you gaining insights from current government initiatives that can be applied to serve your primary stakeholders? How are you ensuring that the value you create is consistent with your stated values and policies?

Leading systemic change is about creating the future you desire for your primary stakeholders, employees and organization. You can't do one for long if you're not attending to the other two. These findings should not be considered as an answer, but a catalyst to build the capacities your organization will require to sustain itself now and into the future.

Part 2: The Sources of Innovation: Understanding The Impact of Organizational Systems

2009-04-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Have you wondered why the current economic crisis felt like it hit us so quickly and severely? Have you wondered why fixing the economy is both slow and difficult. Understanding the impact of organizational systems in the context of the change continuum (see Part I) may shed some light on both the cause and how best to respond.

Innovation and change leadership go hand-in-hand and involves much more than the creation of flashy new products and services, information systems and management fads. Innovation is really the only engine that can move us forward in complex and uncertain times. Understanding organizational systems is an invisible gateway to understanding how to access the sources of innovation in any organization.

Organizational systems is a term I use to describe almost any social system, be it businesses, governments, non-profits, agencies, communities, work groups, and even individuals. All organizational systems are social systems with a set of inter-related and interdependent sub-systems. A good way to picture the dynamics of an organizational system is to envision a hanging mobile with concentric rings and a small sphere at its center. Each ring represents a critical organizational sub-systems and the center sphere represents both the inter-section of all sub-systems as well as a fourth sub-system created by the inter-dependence of the other sub-systems. No sub-system is more important than the others; all rely on each other and are impacted by the health and stability of the rest.

In most organizations, there are three primary sub-systems that can be described as:

Organization Systems: the formal rules and structures by which an organization operates and plans for the future. These systems include such things as the espoused mission and values, formal policies and procedures, strategic plans, and organizational development.
Technology Systems: the administrative, technical and physical resources and activities that allow an organization to operate and monitor its performance day-in and day-out. Examples include training, information technology, human resources, financial management, and roles and responsibilities.
People Systems: all of the ways that human being interact such as team functioning, leadership performance at all levels, personal and professional growth and learning.

At the center of our mobile is the fourth sub-system we call culture. Culture is at the intersection of the other three organizational sub-systems. Cultural Systems includes the assumptions and norms that people operate under, both consciously and unconsciously and their behavior. Another way to think about cultural systems is that they tend to be how things really get done. Cultural systems tends to be most stable and therefore the most difficult to change.

Reflecting on the number of variables of any sub-system and how each impacts one another is a tiny microcosm of what we experienced when the the global economy began to fail and slow down. The shear number complex systems involved is one reason it was difficult to predict precisely when the market crisis would overcome market stability. When the dynamic patterns of the financial markets finally reached a tipping point, the impact seemed quite sudden, yet the forces leading to that point has been in place since the 1980s. Further when a sub-system as large at the global financial system changes its pattern, the ripple affect is quite severe creating an economic tsunami.

The importance of understanding organizational systems and the complexity continuum provides a rational guide to a chaotic situation and a way to understand how to best leverage the sources of innovation.

Coming up: More about complexity and why it matters.

-- Sources of Innovation is based on collaborative work developed in partnership with my colleague and friend, Dee Endelman. For information on workshops and speaking engagements email inquiries info@northshoregroup.net

(c)2009, Lucy E Garrick. All rights reserved. Written permission is required prior to reproduction.

A Way To Ease The Current Stress

2009-02-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

A recent interview with Parker Palmer on PBS's Bill Moyers' Journal got me thinking about how the way we view the current state of the world might be worthy of further examination.

What I experience from talking to clients, colleagues and friends is that the long-anticipated cultural shift is well underway and has been for some time. In many ways, it's a good thing AND it's scary as all get-out. The media is really focusing attention on governmental intervention. Will it work? Is it enough? Who likes it? Who doesn't? On and on, ad nauseum.

The current crisis didn't start with the failure of banks last Fall anymore than the CO2 emitted today is responsible for the hole in the Ozone layer. The hole is already there. The CO2 that created it was emitted a long time ago. The process that started it began in the 1940s. Our current economic and cultural shift didn't start when banks began to fail. When former Secretary Poulson decided to let Lehman Brothers fail, he created a tipping point. A change that was already underway became visible, impossible to ignore and began to accelerate. There will be no going back to way things have been in the sense that huge shifts tend to create transformational change - change that is lasting -- And paradoxically, the pattern of cycles of change continue. Eventually, we will return to a more prosperous world and probably right on schedule.

It seems worthwhile, in light of the scale of this change, to do what we can to buy some time to get some new things going to replace the old -- to ease the pain a little where we can, even if the change is inevitable. It's a little like giving a person in hospice morphine. They are going to die, but with some morphine, perhaps a little more comfortably.

In my work with organizations, what I notice is that most organizations and projects fail because of people -- people who choose either short-term gain or long-term gain instead of both. For publicly-held businesses, our regulatory system actually mandates short-term gain. This creates tremendous momentum for our culture and even the world, given our influence -- to numb out on issues that create long-term damage.

It is possible, even if our regulatory environment and even in these funky times to choose both short- and long-term gain, but it's harder. First, it requires us to let go of the notion that there is only one way to do something. It's not the way we think in our culture. We are more about right or wrong. We treat most situations like there is only one way to handle it, and that way if the right way, the best way, and by the way, it's "my way." It's simply not true. In fact, there are nearly always many ways to address any issue or situation. (Note, I said, 'nearly always. There are exceptions to everything).

There is an interesting book, called The Fourth Turning in which the authors, Strauss and Howe demonstrate how going back to the 14 century, every four generations (4 x20 -= 80 years) there is a large scale crisis. They also demonstrate how the 20 year cycle in which you are born predictably determines how each generation feeds into the next 20 year cycle and the inevitable patterns of crisis and prosperity and cultural growth. Therefore, amidst all the gnashing of teeth about right and wrong, you might consider this -- the context will be different but so far, the pattern has been quite reliable and is likely to continue.

Being part of a pattern doesn't imply that we should give up an active role in growth and development of a better way of doing and being, because both good and bad things come out of every generational cycle and situation. It just provides an opportunity to see how we might seize the opportunities of this time.

Seizing the opportunities of this time is one way to express your personal creativity and leadership. It is a concrete alternative to thinking about how we can be part of the current government interventions or whether those interventions are the "right ones." Thinking about this time as both a crisis AND an opportunity opens up many possibilities a little more.

Click here to watch the video of Moyers' interview with Parker Palmer or read the transcript.

Part 1: Sources of Innovation: If You're a Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail

2009-02-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

This article begins the first in a multi-part series about uncovering and utilizing the Sources of Innovation in businesses, non-profit and other institutions. Because this work is based on social systems it provides insight into how we can lead change in times of great upheaval or chaos for individuals and organizations. When I talk about innovation I'm thinking beyond the common idea of creating new goods and services. It makes practical sense that organizations who produce break-through products and services and overcome difficult obstacles also have to become more innovative in the way they work internally and how they partner and serve customers. To paraphrase Albert Einstein: Problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them. Have you ever wondered why?

Some dilemmas seem quite straight forward and others are more complicated, but what makes them so? Study after study shows that 90% of all formal plans do not reach their expected outcomes. Is there something wrong with the way we plan? Or are the difficulties somewhere else?

To understand why this happens, it's help to understand the complexity of the issue you are working with. I use a model called, The Stacey Agreement-Certainty Matrix. This model helps us understand an anticipated change on a continuum of complexity rather than as a fixed phenomena. At the intersection of the two axes you'll see "close to certainty" and "close to agreement." I like to think of certainty and agreement as two forces that create a field in which change can occur -- the matrix represents a sort of "force field" for examining the forces of complexity for the change you are anticipating.

Those changes that are close to certainty and agreement as thought of as "simple." Simple change, in this instance, is not meant to infer that the proposed change project is undemanding; rather, it means the the process of achieving the change is fairly linear and straight-forward. For a change to be considered "simple" there must be strong agreement among stakeholders on:

What the needed change is
The underlying, issues, resources and competencies needed resolve them

AND a good deal of certainty that:

The processes and methods proposed are likely to be available and successful at achieving the desired change.

A good test for simple change is one in which the number of variables are limited and the issues are likely ones with which you and your organization have had a lot of experience and a successful track record. Any challenges that engages you in new territories would likely not be considered simple. Many organizations approach these types of simple changes successfully using traditional management methods and tools designed to focus your attention on producing outcomes. Such tools tend to be effective at managing tactics such as MBOs, gantt charts and the like.

The further you move out on either axis, the more complicated your change becomes. The more complex an anticipated change becomes, the less effectiveness you will find in using management tools aimed at improving tactics and processes. While those traditional tools are still needed to accomplish all changes, they do not provide the kind of organizational lift needed to consider possible options for complex and chaotic change situations. For those situations you must learn to tap the sources of innovation.

Coming Up: We'll take a look at the things that contribute to complexity.

-- Sources of Innovation is based on work developed in collaboration with my colleague and friend Dee Endelman. For more information on workshops or speaking engagements send inquiries to info@northshoregroup.net.

(c)2009, Lucy E Garrick. All rights reserved. Written permission is required prior to reproduction.

Acknowledgements: Ralph Stacey, Professor of Management, Director of the Complexity and Management Centre at the University of Hertforshire, UK.

The Two Greatest Organizational Strengths

2008-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Sustainability and resilience are always valuable, but in times of great uncertainty our competencies in adaptation and renewal will be tested for sure.

So what are we talking about when we say "sustainability?" The root idea of sustainability is that both natural and human systems need to be generative and balanced in order to last. That means all kinds of systems: economic, environmental, social, political, organizational, and personal.

Whether good times or tough times, the question should always be: How can we design and build organizational systems in which people and organizations thrive in uncertain environments?

The systems in which most organizations operation have become increasingly complex. We can be impacted by events half a world away and therefore we cannot control everything. We may be called upon to respond to adverse conditions of our own making or those of others inflicted on us.

The word, resilience means to bounce back. It comes from the Latin root resilir. The verb resile is based on the same Latin root and means to abandon a course of action or an idea. Notice that the ability to be resilient is based on the ability to let go, change and adapt. The ability to let go starts with the examination of our limiting assumptions. It is the ability to adapt to adversity through regenerative processes that creates sustainability. If organizations are expert in nothing else, they should learn how to be good at these two things:

Resilience
Sustainability

What are your limiting assumptions and those of your organization? What do you need to let go of in order to create the conditions for resilience and sustainability?

Economic Crisis: A Focus for Leadership Development

2008-10-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Economics and Money. The economic crisis is on everyone’s mind. In a recent conversation about financial matters, a distinction between money and economics was suggested by a colleague. I can see his point. Money and economics are interdependent and separate concepts. It’s important to be aware how we relate to both.

Economics is about how we meet each other’s needs. We enter the world as economic beings, innocent and vulnerable. How our needs are met from this time forward influences our intellectual and emotional capacity to meet the needs of others. The concept is essentially about trust: if we do for others, they will be able to do for us.

Leaders are called upon to both give and receive trust in service to others. Their relationship to economics, therefore, influences the complex dimensions of both personal and organizational leadership.

Money, my colleague argues, is an agreement. Legal tender holds a signature. The signature implies that in your hand is a contract. The tender represents value that can be exchanged for capital, goods and services.

The relationship between economics and money is a timely metaphor of the interdependent functions found in organizational structures. Consider the need for mutual support between marketing and sales, organization development and human resources, or supply chain management and manufacturing. Each plays a vital role in supporting needs and holds a space for the integrity of operational agreements between stakeholders.

Perhaps the most important, and least acknowledged distinction between economics and money in organizations, is between leadership and management. Leadership has to do with providing vision for the organization to achieve its mission through commitment, service, accountability and innovation – made possible by creating the conditions for trusted relationships to emerge. Those trusted relationships are foundational for holding all mutual agreements.

Management is about the agreements themselves. Agreements include things like the use systems and processes, delivery of value in exchange for knowledge and labor, and the authority granted by others to monitor, control and react to business conditions. Confusing one for the other, can lead to serious consequences. And as current events remind us, ignoring one or other can be nothing short of perilous.

Organizational Capital. How we are as economic beings informs how we perform as stewards for all forms of organizational money, often referred to as capital. In today’s organizations many forms of capital are needed to conceive, produce and maintain the profitable delivery of modern products and services. Organizational capital is not limited to materials, facilities and labor, but includes broader definitions, such as human capital and knowledge capital. The development of all is essential for sustained economic growth.

How leaders personally relate to economics informs how they prioritize an organ-ization’s needs for capital development. All forms of capital can be likened to a rubber band at rest – potential energy waiting to be realized. We can see clearly by the collapse of the world’s financial systems that no country, organization or individual is immune to the impacts of globalization. Developing all forms of organizational capital creates the tension needed to transform potential energy into the kinetic energy needed for adaptation in a complex global system.

Adaptation. Examining one’s relationship to economics and all forms of capital provides timely insights for leaders about what is currently needed for organizations to thrive in the future. The current chaos of global financial markets is creating only one thing we can count on: unexpected change. Everyone is affected. Expertise in adaption will be needed to deftly navigate these waters.

At no other time has the ability to lead change in organizations been more important. A single leadership style reveals inadequate understanding of the value and need for adaptation. Such leaders cannot be expected to adequately deepen the development of an organization’s human and knowledge capital. It will no longer be enough to simply establish a clear mission using technical know-how and hard work. In order to make the leap to greatness, leaders need to be able to mobilize all capital effectively through unanticipated change.

Considering the current state of ambiguity brought about by the chaos of global financial markets, now is the time to assess and strengthen change leadership capacities in organizations. Only through these competencies will leaders be prepared to release the genius of their organizations and thrive in the years ahead.

Thinking Differently

2008-09-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

It's high time to resume expansion of our global outlook.

I'm pleased to announce an article I co-authored with scholar, social activist and author, Riane Eisler, has just been published in The Systems Thinker, a quarterly publication targeting leaders of systemic change in organizations and communities throughout the world.

In case you're not entirely clear about what is meant by systems thinking, you might find it interesting that's systems thinking is already incorporated in many fields when it comes to innovation and change for what ails our businesses and society.

For example, I'm working with a client who uses Agile software development, which is based on systems practices. In the performing arts we know it as improvisation. In physics its the basis of string theory. Systems thinking is driving much of the leading edge work occurring in the physical and life sciences, engineering, design, the social and behavioral sciences -- and even the arts.

Here's one example that might help connect the dots.

You may have heard about TED, a most unusual conference and awards program featuring some of the most accomplished innovators of our time. TED speakers and award winners share stories about amazing accomplishments in technology, entertainment, design, business, science culture, art and a host of global issues.

Weary of the typical election year diatribes, I happened upon a recent TED talk by Peter Diamandis. Diamandis runs the X Prize Foundation, which gives rich cash awards to the inventors and engineers who'll get us back to the moon, build a better car and explore the genome. At TED he recently spoke about the moral imperative to explore space and what's ahead with light-weight, low-cost jets that can fly outside the earth's atmosphere and into space! It's called, "The Next Giant Leap."

Amazing things are happening all around us, yet we seldom hear these stories from network or cable new media. Perhaps its time we demanded more from pop journalism than gossip or innuendo at a time when so much is at stake on a global and even planetary level.

Yes, there are plenty of challenges to which we should give our attention, but how we pay attention has everything to do with what can be done about it. The most important challenge of our times is not what we do about the energy crisis, terrorism, global warming or space exploration. The most important challenge is how we learn to think about what is wrong, how it came to be that way and how to change it. Why?

How we think skews our perspective about what is possible.

Systems thinking tools help expose how things work together and how to change what might seem unchangeable. Einstein once said, "“Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current patterns of thought.” Hmm?

When people feel discouraged about the state of the world, they often say to me, "nothing really changes." The opposite could not be more true. Change never stops and as it continues things get more and more complex, i.e. the global economy, global warming, the domestic economy, foreign relations, the fullness of our modern lives and all the mechanisms we have to communicate... provide both more ways to get it right AND more ways to get it wrong.

Maybe one reason "nothing seems to ever really change" is because we keep trying solve our problems using the same thinking we've been using for for centuries. It's no wonder that with the occasional exception, the results are, you know . . . the same.

We have no shortage of opinions about what should be done, right? But how often do we stop and ask, "How is our thinking about the solution truly different from the thinking that created the problem?

At this point, many of us would say, "I don't know what else to do!" One thing we can do is to start thinking differently about the problems as well as the solutions. And many other resources built on systems theory.

That TED video is about the first light-weight jet capable of leaving the atmosphere and how it was funded by an organization whose mission is "to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity." Pretty amazing stuff that most people never hear about. The connection between this kind of innovation and what ails societies is that there are some very amazing things happening that come about by thinking creatively and differently. They can serve as reminders of what is possible when we stop trying so hard to solve our problems with the same thinking that created the problem.

What is new about the way you are thinking about your problems?

Where You Spend Your Time Determines Your Future

2008-01-23T17:29:00.001-08:00

There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will. — Albert Einstein

With all the bad news this week about the economy, war in the Middle East, America's declining reputation as a global super power, it's easy to become fearful. All the smart pundits feed into into our fears with their shouldn't pay attention to reality and consider our options, but we should also never lose sight that we have the power to design a future we'd prefer when we are open to the possibilities around us and fear blinds us to what we can do. Fear breeds more fear and other dysfunctions.

The truth is that no one can predict the future, but we can design it, and lots of other smart people are doing just that. So where do you spend your time?

America and indeed the rest of the world is, in fact, likely at a crossroads and so the opportunities exist that we could design the world we want or get the world others design for us. We can still design a much better place. We can design a new civic life that resembles the shining city on a hill to which our founding fathers aspired. Its ecology might be freshly repaired and newly sustainable, its economy rejuvenated, its politics functional and fair, its media elevated in tone, its culture creative and uplifting, its gender and race relations improved, its commonalities embraced and differences accepted, its institutions free of the corruptions that today seem entrenched beyond correction. People might enjoy new realms of personal, family, community, and national connection and fulfillment. America’s borders might be redrawn around an altered but more cogent geography of public community. Its influence on world peace could be more potent and more uplifting on world culture. All of this is achievable if we design for that future.

How can you help? Speak out for what you want to our public and corporate leaders. Ask them to create incentives for us to invest our time, money and resources in a cleaner environment, more educational opportunities for children and adults, creativity and innovation, physical and mental wellness, nutrition, affordable housing and care-taking professions for the least able. It's all possible.

What Makes Good Leaders, Makes Good Followers

2008-01-23T17:25:00.001-08:00

What Makes High Performnig Teams?

Participative leadership - creating an interdependence by empowering, freeing up and serving others.
Shared responsibility - establishing an environment in which all team members feel responsibility as the manager for the performance team.
Aligned on purpose - having a sense of common purpose about why the team exists and the function it serves.
High communication - creating a climate of trust and open, honest communication.
Future focused - seeing change as an opportunity for growth.
Focused on task - keeping meetings and interactions focused on results.
Creative talents - applying individual talents and creativity.
Rapid response - identifying and acting on opportunities.

We're all in hurry. But where are we going?

2007-12-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Fall seems like a blur to me. In late summer I started a large strategic planning project and by November the completion of several other long-term project converged. I felt like I was catching as fast as the balls were being thrown.

It's now December and winter is beginning to show itself with snow forecast for later today. I am able to slow down a little and think about what I've been learning about where leadership can take us.

Something I noticed lately is the rate and speed of change. It seems like everyone is busy every minute of every day - all in a hurry to get to the next thing, but I wonder sometimes, are we really clear about where we're heading or just trying to get away from where we've been?

A highlight of my Fall activities was attending the annual Pegasus Systems Thinking Conference, held this year in Seattle. If you and your organization are challenged by the volume of work and change which seems never ending, this is THE conference to consider attending. No thinly veiled sales pitches, just pure substance and cutting edge thinking.

The theme I noticed throughout this year's conference had to do with examining more closely where we lead from. As a active follower of leadership studies, I believe this simple concept is worth deeper attention and consideration. If we are to make the sort of progress called for by the complex, changing and connected world we now live in, we need to try new ways of interacting. We might agree that it would be a good idea to abandon the same old patterns that aren't working. But what do we do instead? Most people assume that these are things that cannot be changed. That's life, right? Maybe not!

Old Concept - New Context

You may have read about super star athletes or great artists and musicians who talk about rare moments in "the zone" of peak performance." That sort of experience is also what drives great moments in leadership -- It's the ability to fully connect with what is happening now, without the baggage of the past, and then to tap into a deeper sense of wisdom that can create effective action.

Otto Scharmer, from the MIT Sloan School of Management has studied this phenomenon in organizations and written a book about it called, Theory U. Otto calls the ability to tap into this place "presensing" meaning to simultaneously be fully present and sense what is wanting to emerge. Scharmer believes that what is missing in our current organizations and societies is a set of practices that enables "this kind of deep seeing -- "sensing"-- to happen collectively and across boundaries of multiple social systems. I agree.

The practices he suggests starts simply enough -- by convening the right set of players, frontline people who are connected with one another through a common chain of values. Think of values here as what we value materially, socially, psychically. Scharmer's practice concepts are not difficult to understand, but to become a virtuoso anything, requires a lot of practice.

Leadership is not just for the persons in positions of formal authority. Opportunities to lead are embedded in almost anything we do. Most of us can master these leadership practices if we choose to make the effort.

Advanced Leadership Practices

Listening -- to yourself, to others and for what what wants to emerge from the group of "right players" you convene.
Observing -- with your mind open, suspend your voices of judgment, cynicism and fear.
Sensing -- add other types of knowledge to your analytical or cognitive knowledge by considering how you are part of the situation you seek to address; what is going on between you and others that perpetuates the status quo? Consider the unconditional value of what is going on, rather than its conditional usefulness - have a truly open mind and heart.
Presencing -- This is about really tuning in and giving the undivided attention of your mind, heart and body to what is happening now and what is about to happen; and then trusting that all of what you sense is about to happen; perhaps conditioned by and separated from the past.
Committing to the collective purpose -- this is not about putting in strenuous effort against opposing forces, but about trusting what you recognize you have learned from the first four practices and nurturing it to fruition.
Prototyping -- Integrate steps 1 to 5 in the context of a practical application - improvisation, reflection and staying connected to your intention or purpose and making minor adjustments will likely produce the best results.
Performing -- It's like doing steps 1-6 simultaneously, effortlessly and in a living cycle of action, learning and fine-tuning. Understanding that there is no "one right way." Get beyond yourself.

Click here to catch some of the highlights from the 2007 Pegasus Conference. Next year the conference will be in Boston, MA.

Theory_U_Exec_Summary.

Rethinking Strategy and Planning

2007-10-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

What is Strategy?

Strategy is a business topic that is both widely discussed and misunderstood. This is due in part to the fact that there are many kinds of strategies including product strategies, marketing strategies, corporate strategies, communications strategies and development strategies.

It is the job of all types of strategy to choose the most effective course for achieving organizational objectives. The product of strategic planning is most often a business plan. and eventually an operational plan. And regardless of whether your organization is a start-up, non-profit, or Fortune 100, strategy development begins with understanding what your most important stakeholders need and value.

a Common misunderstanding

The most common misunderstanding is confusion between strategy creation with strategy execution. These are two interdependent and separate processes. Both are essential to realizing an organization's vision and achieving its mission. Both consider a variety structures, systems, processes and relationships, but each serves a different purpose.

Strategy creation usually results in a business plan and strategy execution results in an operational plan supported by action plans from functions and individualls. Effective strategies and plans rely on a solid processes that consider key factors that will enable or prohibit an organization from achieving its mission as well as short- and long-term goals.

Strategy Creation helps an organization to:

Understand its stakeholders and the environment in which it must perform
Clariy the problems it will solve and the value it will provide
Define high-level organizational goals
Consider opportunities and competencies
Examine alternatives and contingencies
Deliver a business plan

Strategy Execution helps an organization to:

Communicate specific objectives
Define functional goals and contributions
Prioritize the use of human, financial and other resources
Manage accountability
Define milestones and measurements
Provides a method for feedback and course refinement
Deliver an operational plan

minimizing the impact of change

Strategies and operational plans are not permanent. Today's strategies become quickly outmoded due to rapid changes brought by a dizzying array of information, global world views, technology, economic and socio-political issues..

Organizations can do a number of things to minimize the impact of the rapid pace of change and the complexity of the environments in which they must perform. The core competency required is to think systemically.

Thinking systemically requires seeing your organization, its stakeholders and the context in which it operates as both interdependent, inter-related, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

The entire system is required to create and deliver value. Organizations can minimize the impact of change by learning to:

Understand how each part of the organization contribute to and eliminates obstacles that block its ability to execute effectively.
Promote and support innovation by encouraging and rewarding risk-taking and experimentation.
Shift the focus from problem-solving to building capacity to design what is required to create value.
Expand what is possible by looking at dilemmas with an eye for both/and, instead or either/or.
Optimize the rate of growth by challenging the status quo without overwhelming your organization's structures, systems and relationships.
Balance investments in the organization’s capacity to overcome long-term issues and short-term needs.
Find opportunities for high leverage, rather than those that are most obvious by looking for underlying structures rather than events.
When you must problem-solve, ensure solutions to problems do not merely shift problems from one part of the system to another.
Recognize that cause and effect are rarely close in time and space and acknowledge that there may be discomfort in letting go of old ways of doing and being.
Reduce rigid internal divisions that inhibit inquiry up and down and across organizational boundaries by learning how to shift from team cooperation to true collaboration.