The Two Greatest Organizational Strengths

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 regenerative 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, comes from the Latin root resilir.  The verb resile is also based on this root and it means t0 abandon a course of action or an idea.  It is interesting to note that the ability to be resilient is based on the ability to change and adapt.  The ability to change and adapt starts with letting go of limiting assumptions.  I  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: 

1. Sustainability
2. Resilience

What is your organization doing to improved its knowledge and skill of sustainability and resilience?

Economic Crisis: A Focus for Leadership Development

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

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

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

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?

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

1. Listening -- to yourself, to others and for what what wants to emerge from the group of "right players" you convene.
2. Observing -- with your mind open, suspend your voices of judgment, cynicism and fear.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
   
7. 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

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 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 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 and parts of a larger continuum or system.

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

1. Understand their contribution to the obstacles that block their ability to execute effectively.
2. Promote and support people in innovation by encouraging and rewarding risk-taking and experimentation.
3. Shift the focus from problem-solving to building capacity to design what is required to create value.
4. Expand what is possible by looking at dilemmas with an eye for both/and, instead or either/or.
5. Optimize the rate of growth by challenging the status quo without overwhelming your organization's structures, systems and relationships.
6. Balance investments in the organization’s capacity to overcome long-term issues and short-term needs.
7. Find opportunities for high leverage, rather than those that are most obvious by looking for underlying structures rather than events.
8. When you must problem-solve, ensure solutions to problems do not merely shift problems from one part of the system to another.
9. 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 that have not worked well in the past.
10. Reduce rigid internal divisions that inhibit inquiry up and down and across functional and division boundaries by learnign how to shift from team work to true collaboration.