 | The Enterprise of the Future |
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IBM has just published a very interesting study based on interviews with 1000+ CEOs from around the world, at http://www-935.ibm.com/services/uk/gbs/pdf/global_ceo_study_08_exec_ukisa_final.pdf Summary - the enterprise of the future is:
I would like to open a discussion here on what that means for us as Change Facilitators. Are we ready to guide our clients into that future? Do we have the skills, attitudes, knowledge, tools? Do our consulting organizations work along these principles? Or are we repeating old patterns? Join the discussion and let us shape the future, together. |
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Judging from my experience in the development sector, I'd say, yes we need to change. and yes we are repeating old patterns. In a talk by Tim O'Reilly, I watched the other day, he mentioned the following quote: "[T]hey have a "deliberately unsustainable" business model. In other words: do great stuff while you can, and when you can't do it anymore, stop. This is the model that governs most businesses and artistic endeavors. It's the reason terms like "jump the shark" exist. Most companies, rock bands, and sports teams are only brilliant for so long. Then they start to slide. Then they die." --http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/03/deliberately-unsustainable-business.html This should, in theory, be the business model of the development sector: help until people can help themselves, work yourself out of the job. Instead, organizations and consultants have become very good at creating their own follow-up work and aid often puts countries into more dependence than they were in without the aid. |
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...It is certainly true that Change Facilitators, for the same behavioral reasons that challenge our customers, often exhibit 'anchoring' at times when change and uncertainty is at it's most dominant. We also have to balance what we know to be true, with the commercial driver to satisfy our customers 'wants'...rather than 'needs'... ..I think our role is changing...from that of 'Change facilitator'...to more 'Change Liberator'...we will increasingly have to challenge our clients..particularly at the leadership level...to take those 'leaps of faith' that will maximize returns. A classic example of this is the uptake of Enterprise web 2.0 technologies.....in order to do this we need a new skill set...encouraging risk taking at a time of economic crisis...not an easy formula for US or THEM... Stuart |
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The work of change management, at least for me, has always been about helping client organisations to package the past and move collectively into a new future or paradigm designed by all participants. And while the technologies we use change constantly, the techniques of change management go back to our ancient past. According to the IBM survey if I compare ourselves as the enterprise of the future's criteria:
Steve Banhegyi www.storytelling.co.za / www.isivivane.com |
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I just found out that what we have posted here is just the executive summary. The full report of 80 pages can be downloaded from here: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/ceostudy2008.html |
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Firstly, thank you for providing a forum for such discussions and for bringing this study to our attention. I appreciate the questions - are we ready ... do we have the skills ... Really has prompted me to think harder about our role. At Symphini, we have always believed that the more complex our world becomes the more change we will have to face, and create, to thrive - and the more we will benefit from the competencies required do so well. Likewise that strategy, planning and change management are inter-connected. As such, we always work in multi-disciplinary teams where individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and competencies to the table. Is this enough? At the strategy formulation level I would say that current frameworks and processes for developing strategy are sound however our thinking, 'old patterns', are weak and focus too much on developmental and transitional change rather than transformational change - for anyone looking to expand their thinking have a read of "The Black Swan". There is much opportunity for all of us to do better here but it requires us to open our minds. With respect to change management, I find it very difficult to tell because in so many instances it does not really get enough traction. I believe our first question should be: "Are "we" (clients and consultants together) doing a thorough enough job with the current best practices that we have?" There are real benefits in the 'old patterns' when deployed properly - we generally see much more opportunity than our clients have appetite for. For example, we often recommend that organizations set up a Centre of Excellence for Change Management (invest in building organizational competency) and that they build rigorous change management processes into their standard project management methodology. Unfortunately to-date, few have had the discipline to start, finish or deploy either. If they did, they would have a platform from which to build out, become better, think smarter. Perhaps we are reaching a tipping point where leaders, managers and consultants will realize that today is not the same as yesterday - in fact, that luxuries our past economy has provided to us are not a given. It has been said that pain is the most compelling motivator. So to your point - are we ready - I think no. We will evolve - I beleive some will. Thank you for making us better by prying open our eyes to new information. |
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I think that Change practitioners can facilitate change on an ongoing basis so long as they sit out side the organisation. I have a firm belief that there is a hugely valuable and important role for the outsider in challenging and changing the norms of a business. I can see why corporations like IBM need to be globally integrated but can see loads of opportunities for smaller, more focused local businesses. A restaurant can be fabulous and local... Genuine is key but that implies an alignment with its cost society and and a far wider set of concerns than most companies exhibit currently. I like the image of a pop band that is 'of the moment', the question is are these businesses going to be 'one hit wonders' or someone like the Stones or the Beatles??? There has to be a willingness to explore and to be wrong sometimes if one is to constantly experiment; that requires very different measures and rewards |
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Considering the scale we are talking about - entire organizations needing to change all of the time - I agree with Sylvie and think change competency needs to built within the organization. The outside consultant has a role of course. I just have trouble thinking the paradigm of a someone (or some team) from outside the organization being able to acheive what is needed needs to change. |
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| This looks similar to Dee Hock's Charodic work. It is encouraging to see that enterprises are beginning to embrace the concepts. In my experience, organizations still struggle to understand the implications when it comes to building internal capacity for change leadership. Perhaps this is a natural part of the overal change toward Orgs of the Future - the path so to speak. |
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| The key shift in organizational change practice is to include customers as the primary stakeholders. Most of us haven't and therefore miss what's really driving change. |
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The interesting thing here is that, as Lucy and Roderick (& Sylvie - although I could not find her post??) have also pointed out, change has to come from within - as the old adage goes. In this context, unless there are agents or institutions within the organization that have the characteristics of the enterprise of the future, change will be difficult for the organization. As always, we as change facilitators can play our classic role if we understand the particular industry our client is sitting, and we're alway at a client for a minimal time - and do not always get to the crux of the bottle necks that are change inhibitors. So part of our focus should always be how to instiutionalise change management and the change culture within the organization - that is something we can always do - however it is something far easier said than done as it alway requires a perceived organizational overhead. |
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Holger Very relevant post and I have been thinking about this for a while. I think there are 2 areas that we change/OD folks need to examine. 1. What we do 2. How we do it 1. What we do. I think the days of helping/facilitating an organization to change are going to die out. Either slowly or very quick indeed. The rate of change, the rapidity of response required, the quantum of individuals spread across vast geographies and cultures, all necessitate a radical rethinking of our role. I think our role will change from being evangelists and facilitators of change to that of mentors. We will be called upon to ensure organizations have the DNA to change rapidly in-built. Like genetic scientists we will be called in to genengineer organization DNA. This will call for thought, for a lot of us are adept at leading or facilitating change but not at the above. It's like asking a surgeon to create a radically new technology by which a patient becomes self healing! This will place immense challenges on us to change our game, evolve new methods and technologies. 2. How we do it Some of this is indicated above and pretty blue sky. However, there are already some signs of light in this dark tunnel. Web 2.0, is the way. Each one of us will have to become conversant with and then begin to harness the power of social media and other emergent tools and technologies in order to increase the speed and reach of the change we will be called upon to facilitate. Holger has already experimented with an open space kind of intervention online, and I think it is immensely powerful to do so. Imagine the power of a corporate Twitter implementation. Imagine all the key influencers of a city on a special Twitter implementation working together, sharing ideas,moving to execution. Distance and time boundaries are overcome. I hope to see some comments and some more back and forth on this subject. We have only just scratched the surface. My question, so if we have to become change DNA transplanters, then what are some: 1. Ways to do it? 2. Technologies to use? 3. Existing skills that will be useful? 4. New skills needed? 5. Anything else? |
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Hi Gurprriet (how do I pronounce your name?), thanks for your input. I am not sure whether I follow you whether on we should become mentors. Maybe. In our network, we are discussing the term "partnership". We want to become partners to organizations which go through change. This could mean, we could be - facilitators - mentors - experts - etc. depending on what the situation requires. But we are thinking of longer relationships to clients You are right, we need to radical rethink our tools. I see that in the enterprise of the future, changeability becomes a key skill for everybody. What means changeability? Probably the ability to constantly challenge yourself, inventing yourself, changing your direction; then: developing a new approach to teamwork, including radical honesty and transparency; being able to hold meaningful conversations, listening and being able to explore others' mental maps. Some lines I wrote yesterday: 1) We have to accept that each member of an organization has a different perception of what is going on around them. Nobody can ever know exactly what terms other people use to describe and understand the world. We call these different world views "mental models". As leaders however, we can strive to capture as many information about the different world views, the needs, hopes and fears of our collaborators, and we can also attempt to create images that hat are shared by many. There are many tools that help in this respect and they will be described in other chapters of this book. 2) In times when uncertainty and complexity of our lives are increasing every day, the classical strategy design becomes an awkward undertaking: How can we belive that a plan holds true for longer than the ink needs to dry on the paper? In modern organizations, common purpose, passion and responsibility are the vehicles to drive with. Organizations become places where the future is co-created, not commanded. Yes, Web 2.0 tools will be a part of our tool box but not the only one. I share your passion for Twitter but we shouldn't but all eggs in one basket. Twitter (and maybe the corporate version Yammer) is one powerful tool if implemented in an organization. In our network, we adapted a new tool for creating constant conversations: We have all 50 members connected by a constant Skype chat. So, whenever you want to say something, you write into the chat box. You can dip into the stream whenever you want. It has become a kind of internal Twitter for us, without the limitation fo 140 characters. I'd love to continue the conversation with you. |
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We have to remember that change is INEVITABLE; Progress however is not. So much 'change' is in practice 'progress lite'. For me developing conversations about the directions in which progress may lie usually leads to powerful and positive change. It honours the emergent nature of change and does not rely on change management, planning change or any other change agent holy grails. Frequent, honest and powerful conversations (121s, 12 few, 12 many, F2F and online) discussing the nature of progress is in my experience all that it takes. Need to ensure that conversation networks are open and connect different idea spaces. Just invite more, different people to particpate. Exposure to these narratives allows individuals to act in pursuit of progress and Bobs Your Uncle! Scary really! |
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Just came across this post and had to respond. First of all, this is a fantastic stream of contribution and I am appreciative of everyone’s passion for the topic. One of the important themes I inferred from the commentary is that we’re putting a lot of thought into all of this: morphing our toolbox, improving our conversational skills, shifting organizational expectations, ensuring that we do not become enablers to our clients, and recognizing that we need to be “up to speed” on the power of social technologies. One of the questions that I have been asking myself for years is “does it really matter which new tool or technique we innovate and apply if the constants in our work are the human thinking and emotional processes?” My current answer to my own question has been that it does matter what and how our change work gets accomplished, however, there are limitations on the external techniques and practices that we can bring to an organizational system. I always ask myself, “which root constraints are preventing my client from moving forward in this given business situation?” In many cases it comes back down to basics: how open the client’s mind is to new ideas, how confident he/she is with themselves as an individual, how safe he/she feels in their professional role, and how influential they are in their organization. To “bottom line” my above commentary, I believe that the effectiveness of our role as future as change facilitators, influencers, agents, mentors, and consultants will depend not only on our ability to bring new work practices to our clients as they change their business model, but also in our ability to help our clients become more comfortable with their emotions and their entrenched thinking patterns. |
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Hello, I am brand new on this site, but I think I'm in a good time and on a good place. I think these point are all correct, but what does it mean in real? The questions are the same that Holger started. We need to know about that, to do our best in the professional. I would like to connect to these questions from another side. We call the next time organizational non conventional organizations (NCO). We have a research on the topic of non conventional organizations. We have some critical definitions to identify them: 1. Some major aspect of its value proposition, performance, accomplishment , result ( something clearly tangible, measurable ) is extraordinary , drastically different, much above „industry” standard/average . 2. Some aspect of their business model, processes, way of operandy leads to the special performance described point #1. Contact (name, phone, email, web, Skype) Do You know this kind of organizations? Please send me your suggestions. Gergely Further information www.odworldsummit.org |