The paradox of the client and the employee

Many large companies are very good at pinpointing their target markets. Those that depend on more youthful customers are very aware of viral marketing, social media etc and some use them very skillfully. Some have become very advanced in interactive marketing and product development.

Those that perceive that they sell to a more “mature” market will eventually be touched by this, although some seem to be reluctant to face up to that some “oldies”, like me use social media and expect an entirely different interaction.

But what really gets me is the awareness of the younger generations as customers, but not as employees. The marketing strategy and tactics have adapted, but so few seem to have realized that this cadre of customers also are potential employees. If I were younger I would react when I realize that a company’s apparent social media savvy probably is dependent on their choice of advertising bureau and that there is no connect whatsoever with management practices.

Management Innovation conference

Three of us have been in Copenhagen for a conference on Management Innovation. Many asked what Management Innovation actually was and claimed that a definition was needed. While at the same time ignoring those that attempted do do so.

One speaker suggested a typology with on one hand either total system or part of the system, on the other hand incremental or radical. Many of the studies were quantitative studies and needed large number of well defined innovations. In moor opinion most of those were improvements in managerial tools. Very little of what had been studied was both radical and total systems.

We who have initiated this blog want to investigate the new world of work and ask ourselves which new forms of management and organizing are requisite for the younger generations of employees now rapidly filling the workforce.

Several of the speakers spoke of the spread (diffusion) of new management ideas and techniques. Professor Birkinshaw claims that radical managerial innovation rarely is diffused. Sadly he also claims that such innovation rarely is sustained over time, which if the theme of “The age of the heretics” by Art Kleiner.

Birkinshaw exemplifies why present management paradigms are outmoded and says that we are stuck with hem as they suit those in power, that most cannot envisage any alternatives and that innovation in management is perceived as risky.

Birkinshaw describes a business model as describing choices about sources of revenue, cost structure, what to make/buy and how to make profit. Where as a management model describes choices about defining objectives, motivating effort, coordinating efforts and allocating resources.

He goes on to describe                     Tight                              Loose
Ends
Managing objectives                         Alignment      <->      Obliquity
Managing motivation                       Extrinsic         <->      Intrinsic
Means
Managing across                               Bureaucracy   <->      Emergence
Managing down                                Hierarchy       <->       Collective wisdom

And plots this is a four-square graph

• Tight Means, Loose Ends, “Scentific mode” (Schools). Broad purpose, not clear objectives, emphasis on intrinsic motivation. Well understood methods for making progress
• Loose Means, Loose Ends, “Discovery model” (Google). Broad and often vague goals. Emphasis on intrinsic motivation.Many pathways to success, all equally valid)
• Tight Means, Tight Ends, “Planning model” (Apple). Clear objectives, clear incentives for achieving these objectives. Tight control.
• Loose Means, Tight Ends. “Quest model” (King Arthur & the holy grail). Clear objectives, clear incentives for achieving those objectives. Enormous degrees of freedom in how objectives will be achieved.

Summing up the vagueness in the definition of what management innovation has made it very clear to us that Trajb needs to be very clear on what kind of a Quest we are on. We want to discover our holy grail – what is the future of management and organization. As this need is driven by demographics we also have to be clear that there is no escape, any management innovation needs to be sustained and has do be diffused, being adopted and adapted at the same time.

Dan Pink – TED Talk

A great TED talk from Dan Pink on motivation – but as it turns out also includes a lot of evidence on the need of management innovation!

//jan

What is management innovation?

In the Trajb we are obsessed by the idea of exploring what is happening in the world right now and what implications that will have on society, organisations, corporations as well as on individuals. We´re initiating a tribe, because we don´t have the answers. What we do have is some questions we would like to explore.

One of our areas to explore is management innovation. Winning companies will be those that understand the changes that are taking place in their business environment, customers and organisation. They will challenge assumptions and accepted wisdoms, leaving behind old practices. They need bold managers that dare to innovate – dare to challenge the existing management system. There are not many of them, although they are getting more and more common as people realise what is actually happening in the world right now.

Management innovation is  defined as “the implementation of a new management practice, process or structure that significantly alters the way in which the work of management is performed and furthers organisational goals” (Hamel et al). There are not many examples of “real” management innovation. Though, we believe there are many bold people in contemporary organisations that are trying to do things differently. Management innovation is not disruptive to its character, it contains of many small changes, often facilitaded by an external change agent. But it´s always driven of internal change agent(s) or management innovators that are convinced that their organisations have to change behaviour in order to prosper in the future.

Unfourtunately, very little is known about the work of management innovators. Of the few case studies that have been written, most focus on the CEO and his work. Of course it´s necessarry to have support from top management in a process of management innovation. We are convinced that if managagement innovation is to happen one have to encourage all wise people further down in the hierarchy. There are many of them – but most are feeling restrained of systems, structure or managers on higher levels than themselves. Because many incumbents in higher positions would feel a threat in those new thoughts coming up. Their power will decrease. As people being empowered to do what they have capabilities to do managers added value will change. They will be more of a facilitator and less of decisionmaker.

It´s our experience that there are so many people in organisations whose capability don´t being utlilized because of existing management systems and culture within the organisations. There are so much power and energy that could be liberated. That´s why we need management innovation.

Many companies are today struggling for survival. Some are having problem to find and attract the right talent to perform their activities. Others to decoding sustainability in order to be able to attract future customers as well as talents. Something has to be done!

Tomorrows organisations have to be more self-organised, be more ideal and trust their employees much more than is the case in most organisations today. Vision and values will be even more important in future organisations. If we are going to have engaged employees in the future we have to change the way we manage our organisations. Otherwise we won´t be able to compete in a much more competetive global arena!

Management innovation is not a fad! It is the next necessary step in changing the world we are living in. It is rather challenging for many of the incumbents within the corporations today. They will loose their power.

Many of contemporary examples of companies having dealt with management innovations (i.e. Google, WL Gore) started from the very beginning with those new ideas. The challenge most companies (and CEO´s) are having today is how to transform from how they operate today to what is needed in the future.

We are meeting them every day in our assignments within the organisation we are consulting. The change agents. They have realised that something has to be done. They are seeing what is happening in the market, they hear people talking, they realise what their competitors are doing. We will need to help those internal change agents, som call them renegades or heretics. We need to give them tool and arguments so they could start experimenting and building prototypes in their organisations. We will show them new threats and opportunities they can use in communicating why they would like the change. We will supply them with new ideas and thought experiments. Finally we will support them in their trial and error testing in their organisations. We will help them reflect and link to theory. We will encourage them to invent and prototype not only on the surface, but dare going deeper challenging existing practices and underlying principles. We will help them into the boardrooms, to encourage the needed dialogue with top management and board of directors.

Management innovation is here to stay. It´s still underdeveloped both academically and in practice. We like to be a bridge between consultants and practitioners in exploring the new world of working.

Oh please arrive, exiting future!

/Mikael

Management Innovation Conference Copenhagen

We are going to the Management Innovation Conference in Copenhagen September 3rd-4th.

The new science of leadership

Meg Wheatley was thrown into the public spotlight in 1992 with the publication of Leadership and the New Science. It was a groundbreaking look at how new discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory, and biology challenge our standard ways of thinking in organizations. It showed how our reliance on old, mechanistic models stand in the way of innovation and effective leadership.

Industry Week magazine called it “The best management book of the year” in 1992 and it went on to become a bestseller. A story in National Journal described how it even found its way into the White House where several members of the Clinton staff apparently took its message to heart.

Wheatley is president of the Berkana Institute, a research foundation working on the design of new organizations. She has also been a practicing consultant for some 20 years. Her other books include A Simpler Way (co-authored with Myron Kellner-Rogers), Turning to One Another, and, most recently, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time.

You´ll find a interview with her cunducted by Scott London here:

http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/wheatley.html

Management Innovation at Google

Google built an original system of corporate governance based on a triumvirate that allowed the company to develop and shielded it from shareholder pressures that could have derailed it.

In an excerpt from his book The Google Way, author Bernard Girard examines the company’s exceptional triumvirate management structure.

http://www.the-chiefexecutive.com/features/feature56028/?WT.mc_id=MS_CEO_0609_CEONL

/Mikael

Ten rules for generating sustained wealth

Recognized by Fortune magazine as “the world’s leading strategy expert in business today”, Gary Hamel has outlined ten design rules for innovation for companies intent on generating sustained wealth in the future:

1. Unreasonable expectations: The beliefs of the organization set the upper limit on how much innovation is possible for the company. Set goals that reflect a higher reach.
2. Elastic business definition: Do not let your company be bound to a narrow self-concept. Searching for unconditional opportunities will expand your opportunity horizon.
3. A cause, not a business: A business can draw strength and courage from allegiance to a transcendent purpose.
4. New voices: Revolutionary strategies must be found by listening to revolutionary voices. Seek input from the youth, the periphery and newcomers.
5. An open market for ideas: Create a dynamic internal market for ideas within the organization.
6. An open market for capital: Don’t set hurdle rates for new projects when those projects promise to be innovative, sustainable and financially beneficial.
7. An open market for talent: If you give people the chance to do interesting, innovative work and solid compensation, they will join you and stay with you.
8. Low-risk experimentation: Know how to manage the consequences if a risk doesn’t work out.
9. Cellular division: Divide your company into a large number of revolutionary cells. When your company stops dividing and differentiating, innovation and growth slow.
10. Personal wealth accumulation: If you want an entrepreneurial spirit at your company, you must pay people like entrepreneurs. Offer stock options as incentives.

/Mikael

To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.

CEO of Campbell, Douglas Conant, transformed the company from a “bad” company and lifting its performance to “extraordinary.” He has done it with cost-cutting, smart innovations, increased marketing and, especially, a concerted effort to reinvigorate the workforce.

Great article in Forbes about management innovation within Cambell:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/23/employee-engagement-conant-leadership-managing-turnaround.html

He replaced 300 of the company’s 350 leaders within the first three years. Half of the new leaders were promoted from within the company. As you can imagine, that changed the culture and sent a message that few could ignore.

The total return on Campbell stock, assuming reinvested dividends, is more than 30% over that period, during which the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has lost more than 10%.

It is possible to change a system if you are bold enough!

/Mikael

Summer time…

As you may have noticed activity here at Trajb just started to pick up a little and then slowed down the last two weeks.

This coincides with us Trajb members moving into summer mode. As Swedes and free agents this is the time of year when there is a strong correlation between weather, individual freedom and productivity.

I imagine there will be posts now and then from members during our summer breaks, but the real action won’t pick up again until mid-August.

We hope to re-connect with you then and wish you a great summer!

Jan, Mikael, Jens & Paul