This blog describes the fourth step in the NOBO Virtuous Circle by exploring how the art and practice of the learning organisation in the knowledge economy can bring about social entrepreneurship.
In the last few decades, especially in the US, the dominant view of business has become that its only legitimate goal is to make money for its stockholders. However more and more people take into account their non-financial values in deciding how they want to work and invest their money hence this view is no longer sustainable. Social entrepreneurship is gaining credence.
“Social entrepreneurs differ from traditional entrepreneurs not only in terms of their motives with respect to profit and personal wealth but also with respect to their time-frames, being more concerned with long-term capacity building than with short-term outcomes. Equally they are different in terms of their ‘scavenger-like’ use of resources, recognizing that most communities have under-utilized resources that need to be harnessed for the good of society. Whatever, there is an increasing interest in this form of entrepreneurship…” says David Kirby, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Surrey, England and author of “Entrepreneurship”.
Structural changes in the economy have also exacerbated knowledge-based acrivities. Globalisation has increased competitive pressure on manufacturing firms which has led to a shift in production capacity to low cost countries. These changes have led to opportunities for new entrepreneurial initiatives particularly in the area of knowledge work and associated services. However, the capacity to adapt to economic change is crucial for competitiveness. To become the most competitive and dynamic, knowledge workers in a learning organisation need to develop social entrepreneurial competencies and act on the following;
Exploit creativity and innovation – Social entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset. It takes creativity and innovation to enter and compete in an existing market, to change or even to create a new market.
Learn from the best - in many aspects of social entrepreneurship some knowledge workers may outperform others and might serve as inspiration. It is wise to learn from each other on the basis of 'winning by sharing'.
Develop ‘wisdom’ networks – Identify the people who share their expertise consistently and effectively. Build and maintain networks of people who share NOBO values.
Knowledge workers in organisations of the future need to foster social entreprenerial drive more effectively so the next blog will describe how knowledge workers can increase prosperity through value networks.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation
This blog describes the third step in the NOBO Virtuous Circle by showing how a shared vision can support the art and practice of the learning organisation.
Peter Senge popularised the concept of the ‘learning organisation’. His idea of a learning organisation as a group of people who are continually enhancing their capabilities to create what they want to create has been deeply influential. This paper explains the five disciplines Senge sees as central to a learning organisation. The five disciplines are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. This blog focuses on the significance of building a shared vision in network-centric learning organisations looking at generative learning, systems thinking and leaders’ stewardship.
“Shared vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning. While adaptive learning is possible without vision, generative learning occurs only when people are striving to accomplish something that matters deeply them. In fact, the whole idea of generative learning – ‘expanding your ability to create’ – will seem abstract and meaningless until people become excited about some vision they truly want to accomplish.” (Extract from Peter Senge’s “The Fifth Discipline) The practice of shared vision creates increased clarity, enthusiasm and commitment.
Senge also believes that the discipline of building shared vision lacks a critical underpinning if practiced without systems thinking. “Vision paints the picture of what we want to create. Systems thinking reveals how we have created what we currently have.” Systems thinking in network-centric organisations transcends linear thinking in traditional hierarchical organisations thereby increasing the possibility of the realisation of a shared vision.
Peter Senge also argues that learning organisations require a new view of leadership. He identifies three aspects – leader as designer, leader as steward and leader as teacher. Within the context of building a shared vision leader as steward is the most critical. “In a learning organisation, leaders may start by pursuing their own vision, but as they learn to listen carefully to others’ visions they begin to see that their own personal vision is part of something larger. This does not diminish any leader’s sense of responsibility for the vision – if anything it deepens it.” Senge believes being the steward of a vision shifts a leader’s relationship toward her or his personal vision. It ceases to be a possession and becomes a calling. You are part of the shared vision as much as it is yours.
The learning organisation is able to adapt to change and move forward successfully by acquiring new knowledge, skills, and/or behaviours. By building a shared vision a learning organisation can transform itself. The simple fact is a shared vision in a network-centric learning organisation becomes a living force whereby people truly believe they can shape their future.
The next blog describes step four of the NOBO Virtuous Circle. It explores how the art and practice of the learning organisation in the knowledge economy brings about social entrepreneurship.
Peter Senge popularised the concept of the ‘learning organisation’. His idea of a learning organisation as a group of people who are continually enhancing their capabilities to create what they want to create has been deeply influential. This paper explains the five disciplines Senge sees as central to a learning organisation. The five disciplines are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. This blog focuses on the significance of building a shared vision in network-centric learning organisations looking at generative learning, systems thinking and leaders’ stewardship.
“Shared vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning. While adaptive learning is possible without vision, generative learning occurs only when people are striving to accomplish something that matters deeply them. In fact, the whole idea of generative learning – ‘expanding your ability to create’ – will seem abstract and meaningless until people become excited about some vision they truly want to accomplish.” (Extract from Peter Senge’s “The Fifth Discipline) The practice of shared vision creates increased clarity, enthusiasm and commitment.
Senge also believes that the discipline of building shared vision lacks a critical underpinning if practiced without systems thinking. “Vision paints the picture of what we want to create. Systems thinking reveals how we have created what we currently have.” Systems thinking in network-centric organisations transcends linear thinking in traditional hierarchical organisations thereby increasing the possibility of the realisation of a shared vision.
Peter Senge also argues that learning organisations require a new view of leadership. He identifies three aspects – leader as designer, leader as steward and leader as teacher. Within the context of building a shared vision leader as steward is the most critical. “In a learning organisation, leaders may start by pursuing their own vision, but as they learn to listen carefully to others’ visions they begin to see that their own personal vision is part of something larger. This does not diminish any leader’s sense of responsibility for the vision – if anything it deepens it.” Senge believes being the steward of a vision shifts a leader’s relationship toward her or his personal vision. It ceases to be a possession and becomes a calling. You are part of the shared vision as much as it is yours.
The learning organisation is able to adapt to change and move forward successfully by acquiring new knowledge, skills, and/or behaviours. By building a shared vision a learning organisation can transform itself. The simple fact is a shared vision in a network-centric learning organisation becomes a living force whereby people truly believe they can shape their future.
The next blog describes step four of the NOBO Virtuous Circle. It explores how the art and practice of the learning organisation in the knowledge economy brings about social entrepreneurship.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Changing Conversation in Organisations
This blog describes the second step in the NOBO Virtuous Circle and begins with an extract from Arthur Battrams's "Navigating Complexity" to set the scene for NOBO...
“Because complex systems have built-in unpredictability, the certainties of the ‘command-and-control’ approach to management no longer hold true. The implications of complexity theory for organisations are massive.... Dialogue is the tool which we can explore the complexity space. It is a special kind of conversation and requires people to listen at the same time, which isn’t easy. As a result dialogue requires the application of simple rules which allows one person to speak unchallenged while others listen and seek clarification of their understanding." Dialogue is a valuable tool for leaders to bring forth new and previously hidden meanings and understandings.
Along with dialogue, NOBO leaders need certain capabilities to effectively change conversation in organisations. These capabilities are described in this MIT Leadership Centre paper “Leadership in the Age of Uncertainty”.
Briefly the capabilities are:
Sense-making: making sense of the world around us. The act of sense-making is discovering the new terrain as you are inventing it. In the very process of mapping the new terrain, you are creating it.
Relating: developing key relationships within and across organizations. Leadership is not an individual sport, and in out networked age the ability to connect and build trusting relationships is a key competency. The core capability of relating centres on the leader’s ability to engage in inquiry, advocacy, and connecting.
Visioning: creating a compelling vision of the future. While sense-making creates a map of what is, visioning is a map of what could be. Visions are important because they provide the motivation for people to give up their current views and ways of working in order to change.
Inventing: creating new ways of working together. Inventing entails creating the processes and structures needed to make the vision a reality. It involves implementing the steps needed to achieve the NOBO vision of the future.
These four capabilities, along with dialogue, are complementary but they can also create tensions that need to be managed. It is difficult to hold an image of the future and the present simultaneously. Balancing people and processes, action and understanding, individual and collective aspirations, can be challenging. Yet it is inherent in the framework that managing these very tensions is the essence of leadership and changing conversation in organisations.
The next blog describes step three of the NOBO Virtuous Circle. It explores how a shared vision can support the art and practice of the learning organisation.
“Because complex systems have built-in unpredictability, the certainties of the ‘command-and-control’ approach to management no longer hold true. The implications of complexity theory for organisations are massive.... Dialogue is the tool which we can explore the complexity space. It is a special kind of conversation and requires people to listen at the same time, which isn’t easy. As a result dialogue requires the application of simple rules which allows one person to speak unchallenged while others listen and seek clarification of their understanding." Dialogue is a valuable tool for leaders to bring forth new and previously hidden meanings and understandings.
Along with dialogue, NOBO leaders need certain capabilities to effectively change conversation in organisations. These capabilities are described in this MIT Leadership Centre paper “Leadership in the Age of Uncertainty”.
Briefly the capabilities are:
Sense-making: making sense of the world around us. The act of sense-making is discovering the new terrain as you are inventing it. In the very process of mapping the new terrain, you are creating it.
Relating: developing key relationships within and across organizations. Leadership is not an individual sport, and in out networked age the ability to connect and build trusting relationships is a key competency. The core capability of relating centres on the leader’s ability to engage in inquiry, advocacy, and connecting.
Visioning: creating a compelling vision of the future. While sense-making creates a map of what is, visioning is a map of what could be. Visions are important because they provide the motivation for people to give up their current views and ways of working in order to change.
Inventing: creating new ways of working together. Inventing entails creating the processes and structures needed to make the vision a reality. It involves implementing the steps needed to achieve the NOBO vision of the future.
These four capabilities, along with dialogue, are complementary but they can also create tensions that need to be managed. It is difficult to hold an image of the future and the present simultaneously. Balancing people and processes, action and understanding, individual and collective aspirations, can be challenging. Yet it is inherent in the framework that managing these very tensions is the essence of leadership and changing conversation in organisations.
The next blog describes step three of the NOBO Virtuous Circle. It explores how a shared vision can support the art and practice of the learning organisation.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice
This blog describes the first step in the NOBO Virtuous Circle by stressing the importance of human values and NOBO...
Placing human values at the centre of NOBO is fundamental for ensuring people not only make money but also realise other needs too. In our world today, especially in the advanced industrial regions, many people’s basic needs are fulfilled. They are searching for a deeper meaning to their lives and look towards NOBO as a way of committing to some purpose larger than themselves.
To support and sustain a values-driven NOBO, a new approach to business organisation and leadership is required. Communities of practice demonstrate that it is natural for people to seek out those who share values, knowledge and experience. As people discover each other and exchange ideas, relationships develop and a community forms. This community becomes a place where collective learning occurs and builds into an incubator where new knowledge, skills and competencies develop around core shared values.
As communities mature leaderships emerges to coordinate and cultivate activities. Supporting and sustaining these new leaders is an imperative in allowing communities to build healthy and robust working practices. How can leaders be helped? Margaret Wheatley describes a framework in “Supporting Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice: How to Rapidly Develop New Leaders in Great Numbers”.
In summary, there are four key areas of work that can support the development of new leadership-in-community.
Name the Community. Community forms among people acting from the same values and visions. Their practices are varied and unique, but each practice develops from a shared set of values. In this way, the community is very diverse in its expression, and very united in its purpose.
Connect the Community. A community becomes stronger and more competent as new connections are formed with those formerly excluded, as it brings in those who sit on the periphery, as communication reaches more parts of the system, and as better relationships are developed.
Resource the Community. Communities of practice need to be nourished with many different resources. They require ideas, methods, mentors, processes, information, technology, equipment, money. Each of these is important, but on great gap is that of knowledge – knowing what techniques and processes are available that work well.
Illuminate and Interpret the Community. There is a critical need to tell the stories of this community, to get public attention for their efforts. It takes times, attention, and a consistent media focus for people to see them for what they are, examples of what’s possible, of what our new world could look like. To develop this level of public awareness requires skilful working with the media.
Communities of practice develop from a need to do one’s work more effectively but also, more importantly, to align with shared human values.
“Whatever is important to you, you probably have more opportunity than you may realize to pursue those things in business, even in for-profit companies. You don’t have to be limited by the misconception that corporations always have to try to maximize their profits. Nor must you be limited by what other people think are the social responsibilities of business. You are really only limited by what you can imagine and by what you can find other people to support.”
(Extract from Thomas W. Malone’s “The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life”)
The next blog explores step two in the NOBO Virtuous Circle by describing how NOBO leaders can initiate changing conversation in organisations.
Placing human values at the centre of NOBO is fundamental for ensuring people not only make money but also realise other needs too. In our world today, especially in the advanced industrial regions, many people’s basic needs are fulfilled. They are searching for a deeper meaning to their lives and look towards NOBO as a way of committing to some purpose larger than themselves.
To support and sustain a values-driven NOBO, a new approach to business organisation and leadership is required. Communities of practice demonstrate that it is natural for people to seek out those who share values, knowledge and experience. As people discover each other and exchange ideas, relationships develop and a community forms. This community becomes a place where collective learning occurs and builds into an incubator where new knowledge, skills and competencies develop around core shared values.
As communities mature leaderships emerges to coordinate and cultivate activities. Supporting and sustaining these new leaders is an imperative in allowing communities to build healthy and robust working practices. How can leaders be helped? Margaret Wheatley describes a framework in “Supporting Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice: How to Rapidly Develop New Leaders in Great Numbers”.
In summary, there are four key areas of work that can support the development of new leadership-in-community.
Name the Community. Community forms among people acting from the same values and visions. Their practices are varied and unique, but each practice develops from a shared set of values. In this way, the community is very diverse in its expression, and very united in its purpose.
Connect the Community. A community becomes stronger and more competent as new connections are formed with those formerly excluded, as it brings in those who sit on the periphery, as communication reaches more parts of the system, and as better relationships are developed.
Resource the Community. Communities of practice need to be nourished with many different resources. They require ideas, methods, mentors, processes, information, technology, equipment, money. Each of these is important, but on great gap is that of knowledge – knowing what techniques and processes are available that work well.
Illuminate and Interpret the Community. There is a critical need to tell the stories of this community, to get public attention for their efforts. It takes times, attention, and a consistent media focus for people to see them for what they are, examples of what’s possible, of what our new world could look like. To develop this level of public awareness requires skilful working with the media.
Communities of practice develop from a need to do one’s work more effectively but also, more importantly, to align with shared human values.
“Whatever is important to you, you probably have more opportunity than you may realize to pursue those things in business, even in for-profit companies. You don’t have to be limited by the misconception that corporations always have to try to maximize their profits. Nor must you be limited by what other people think are the social responsibilities of business. You are really only limited by what you can imagine and by what you can find other people to support.”
(Extract from Thomas W. Malone’s “The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life”)
The next blog explores step two in the NOBO Virtuous Circle by describing how NOBO leaders can initiate changing conversation in organisations.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Purpose of this blog
This blog should be of interest to all those who wish to understand how NOBO can be successful in the growing knowledge economy. It is targeted at a wide audience.
To succeed in today's knowledge economy, organisations should transform themselves into communites of practice. Etienne Wenger, a globally recognised thought leader in the field of communities of practice, writes "Knowing is not merely an individual experience, but one of partaking in the knowledge of a community." He asserts that it is the practitioners themselves that manage their own knowledge therefore, connecting practitioners is the heart of their approach for cultivating and co-ordinating knowledge both inside the organisations and beyond its boundaries. They can do this by developing a comprehensive and visionary business strategy grounded in the practical and effective use of Web 2.0 technologies. This strategy can then be implemented rapidly and incrementally in the form of the NOBO Virtuous Circle:
Step One: Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice initiate Changing Conversation in Organisations
Step Two: Changing Conversation in Organisations supports the Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation.
Step Three: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation brings about Entrepreneurship.
Step Four: Entrepreneurship calls for Increasing Prosperity through Value Networks.
Step Five: Increasing Prosperity through Value Networks builds Alliances.
Step Six: Alliances lead to Social Computing.
Step Seven: Social Computing enables Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice.
The next set of blogs will take a closer look at the NOBO Virtuous Circle and each of the steps within it.
To succeed in today's knowledge economy, organisations should transform themselves into communites of practice. Etienne Wenger, a globally recognised thought leader in the field of communities of practice, writes "Knowing is not merely an individual experience, but one of partaking in the knowledge of a community." He asserts that it is the practitioners themselves that manage their own knowledge therefore, connecting practitioners is the heart of their approach for cultivating and co-ordinating knowledge both inside the organisations and beyond its boundaries. They can do this by developing a comprehensive and visionary business strategy grounded in the practical and effective use of Web 2.0 technologies. This strategy can then be implemented rapidly and incrementally in the form of the NOBO Virtuous Circle:
Step One: Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice initiate Changing Conversation in Organisations
Step Two: Changing Conversation in Organisations supports the Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation.
Step Three: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation brings about Entrepreneurship.
Step Four: Entrepreneurship calls for Increasing Prosperity through Value Networks.
Step Five: Increasing Prosperity through Value Networks builds Alliances.
Step Six: Alliances lead to Social Computing.
Step Seven: Social Computing enables Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice.
The next set of blogs will take a closer look at the NOBO Virtuous Circle and each of the steps within it.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Adoption Strategy for Enterprise 2.0
Gartner says Web 2.0 offers many opportunities for growth, but few enterprises will immediately adopt all aspects necessary for significant business impact.
“While Web 2.0 offers many new opportunities for companies to grow their business, few enterprises realize how to implement the full range of capabilities to succeed. By 2008, the majority of Global 1000 companies will quickly adopt several technology-related aspects of Web 2.0, but will be slow to adopt the aspects of Web 2.0 that have a social dimension, and the result will be a slow impact on business, according to Gartner, Inc. The challenge is that Web 2.0 is not just a set of technologies, but also has attributes that have a social dimension…”
What are the challenges?
Recently Socialtext, an enterprise wiki provider published a well documented case study of wiki deployment within Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the international investment banking arm of Dresdner Bank. Wiki had been heavily used by IT since 1997 but DrKW wanted to bring business people on board to enhance collaboration and communication between IT and the business. The wiki deployment was a success and is now being used by approximately 2,500 DrKW employees.
As user numbers were growing, social software consultant Suw Charman was brought in to manage and support and adoption. Charman subsequently wrote an adoption strategy which provides valuable insight into the challenges and process of deploying social software. The adoption strategy is written in the context of wiki deployment but I believe it is appropriate for other social software technologies too.
Briefly, the adoption strategy focuses on four main challenges:
Fostering grassroots adoption. This challenge centres around identifying users who would clearly benefit from the new software, helping them to understand how it could help, and progressing their usage so that they can realise those benefits.
Management support. As well as supporting bottom-up adoption, it is beneficial for there to be top-down support, but that support has to be based on openness and transparency.
Understanding time-scales. Having a clear adoption strategy, and ensuring that the correct key players are identified and 'converted', helps to speed up the process, but it remains a fact of human nature that it takes time for people to become comfortable with new technology, new ways of doing things and, most importantly, new cultures.
Remember what your goals really are. Adoption isn't a goal in and of itself. Lots of people use email an awful lot, but that doesn't mean that it's being used well. Think about what your ultimate aims are; make them discrete, measurable and attainable.
Social software is a very powerful tool within enterprise, but like any other business project, it takes thought and planning to ensure successful adoption.
“While Web 2.0 offers many new opportunities for companies to grow their business, few enterprises realize how to implement the full range of capabilities to succeed. By 2008, the majority of Global 1000 companies will quickly adopt several technology-related aspects of Web 2.0, but will be slow to adopt the aspects of Web 2.0 that have a social dimension, and the result will be a slow impact on business, according to Gartner, Inc. The challenge is that Web 2.0 is not just a set of technologies, but also has attributes that have a social dimension…”
What are the challenges?
Recently Socialtext, an enterprise wiki provider published a well documented case study of wiki deployment within Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the international investment banking arm of Dresdner Bank. Wiki had been heavily used by IT since 1997 but DrKW wanted to bring business people on board to enhance collaboration and communication between IT and the business. The wiki deployment was a success and is now being used by approximately 2,500 DrKW employees.
As user numbers were growing, social software consultant Suw Charman was brought in to manage and support and adoption. Charman subsequently wrote an adoption strategy which provides valuable insight into the challenges and process of deploying social software. The adoption strategy is written in the context of wiki deployment but I believe it is appropriate for other social software technologies too.
Briefly, the adoption strategy focuses on four main challenges:
Fostering grassroots adoption. This challenge centres around identifying users who would clearly benefit from the new software, helping them to understand how it could help, and progressing their usage so that they can realise those benefits.
Management support. As well as supporting bottom-up adoption, it is beneficial for there to be top-down support, but that support has to be based on openness and transparency.
Understanding time-scales. Having a clear adoption strategy, and ensuring that the correct key players are identified and 'converted', helps to speed up the process, but it remains a fact of human nature that it takes time for people to become comfortable with new technology, new ways of doing things and, most importantly, new cultures.
Remember what your goals really are. Adoption isn't a goal in and of itself. Lots of people use email an awful lot, but that doesn't mean that it's being used well. Think about what your ultimate aims are; make them discrete, measurable and attainable.
Social software is a very powerful tool within enterprise, but like any other business project, it takes thought and planning to ensure successful adoption.
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