Leading Through Complexity: The Core Four Actions - Part #1

THEME: Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: Leading Through Complexity: The Core Four Actions - Part #1

Monday morning: October 26, 2009

Dear friends,

It was a hot summer day as the senior team and I gathered for another meeting in the strategic planning process. As we walked into the corporate board room, the CEO took me aside and said, “I’d liked to make some opening remarks. You don’t mind do you?”

My response was “No. This is your team and your planning process. Feel free to set the tone for the meeting.”

Once we all were seated, he started the meeting with a passionate call to arms. As he explained, “we are getting sucked into operations, systems and problems at the micro level. We are so focused on fixing everything that we have forgotten the customer. We are not concerned about their service as much as we are concerned about our own welfare. We need to stop focusing so much on fixing everything and instead ask our selves the most important question of all, namely ‘What kind of organization do we want to become in 2-3 years?’ If we do not answer this question, then we will have everything fixed but, alas, have no customers. It is time to stop letting the tactics trump the strategic.”

I smiled as his words came pouring out. I agreed 100% with his analysis. In this organization, operational leadership was trumping strategic leadership. Furthermore, an operational focus at the team level was trumping strategic thinking and action at the executive level. They were, in essence suffering from strategic blindness.

This has become a common problem this fall. Complexity is creating strategic blindness, namely that the leaders within the organization do not see their strategy as a whole organization. They see bits and pieces of strategy but they do not comprehend it as whole.

Furthermore, another problem is surfacing this fall. Some leaders think that having a strategy is the same as executing a strategic plan. When people in leadership positions look at the parts and do not see “the whole”, the result is fragmentation and a general disorientation amongst all employees. When leaders think having a strategy is executing a strategy, there is a complete break down within the organization’s ability to synchronize it’s action and deliver a unified course of action.

When I encounter these kinds of problems, I always ask The Core Four Questions, namely “Who will lead?”, “Where is the vision and who has it?”, “What pace do you want to go?”, and “What should not be lost during the journey?”. The answers to these questions will point out whether or not the organization is caught in a pattern of institutional decline as described in Jim Collins newest book, How The Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In, HarperCollins, 2009. They also will determine the path to recovery.

Once I have explored The Core Four Questions, I often have to instruct or coach those involved to utilize The Core Four Actions. They are as follows:

- what you feed, grows.

- what you envision, guides.

- what you steward, endures.

- what you provide, activates and energizes.

Today, we are going to examine the first of The Core Four Actions, namely what you feed, grows. Based on my early adventures when I first moved to Iowa many decades ago, this phrase is a popular one amongst those I have worked with over the years. The challenge is that many people focus on the word “grow” but do not comprehend the key word “feed”. When we turn to the dictionary for clarity, we learn that the word “feed” is defined by the following definitions: to give food to, to give as food, to furnish something essential to the development, sustenance, maintenance, or operation of, and to become nourished.

When we take these definitions and think of them as leaders, we learn some important information. The first definition states “to give food to.” Here, executives need to build capacity, collaboration and commitment. They can do this by rerecruiting their best people and recruiting new people with perspective and information. In a time period of sustained instability, people are looking for clarity, order and direction. Clear and consistent information about what is happening and where we are going is vital. The key is communicate more to your key people.

On a side bar for a moment, a second wave of people leaving organizations by choice is happening in the work place right now. While there was a small lull in late spring and early summer, now there is another level of activity that is starting to take place now. The good people are on the move and seeking to work with healthy and progressive companies.

Second, when we follow The Core Four Action called “what you feed, grows”, then we need to give as food things that build awareness and understanding. At this time period, we need to over-communicate a tremendous amount of historical perspective so people understand what is happening now, but also why it is happening. At the same time, it would be good to share an outsider’s perspective so that people do not loose touch with the customer and shareholder’s thinking. When we provide constant support and a well defined and executable strategy, we have the potential to shape cultural values and standards, align culture and strategy, and define what is and what is not important within the organization. We also define what needs to be monitored and understood outside the organization. In short, when confronted with complexity, we need to not loose focus on the whole.

This week sit down with your team and help them regain perspective and see the whole picture. Review with them what has happened in the past that has lead you and the organization to this point. Then, help them see how your current strategy is positioning you for the future.

Have a delightful week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257

The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #4

THEME: Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #4

Monday morning: October 19, 2009

Dear friends,

The fourth principle, based on the research and writings of Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja in their book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, that we explored during the Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable was the following: “You can disturb but never wholly direct a living system.”

Whether we like it or not, linear logic does not always apply to a living system. Optimization seldom yields radical innovation. Most of the time, it maximizes the preexisting model. These points alone can be quite difficult to accept. Senior executives love logic and they love optimization. Thinking like Spock from Star Trek and focusing on making things better has been a hallmark of many seminars. However, in fitness landscape terms, the above authors note that “it is impossible to get to a distant and higher fitness peak (discover radical breakthroughs) by climbing still higher on the peak one already is on (optimizing).” Rather one needs to descend into the unknown and experience a journey of sequential disturbances and adjustments. Think Trough of Chaos.

With that in mind, here is the big question for this Monday morning: Are there guidelines that can help us disturb things in the general direction we’d like them to go? The answer is “yes” when we follow the following three rules. First, “design, don’t engineer.” Second, “discover, don’t dictate.” Third, “decipher, don’t presuppose.”

Let me explain using an example from the previously mentioned book. Airport lounges surround each gate. There are no signs or attendants who tell us what to do or not do in an airport lounge. The seats are arranged so conversation is with the person nearby. The arm rests are fixed in order to prevent people from lying down. The seats are usually bolted together so they are not easy to move. The result is that this design achieves the desired behavior with no overt rules or commands. Thus, Goldilocks smiles. Remember the Goldilocks Principle from last week: “neither too many rules nor too few.”

This week, remember that “you can disturb but never wholly direct a living system.” Therefore, design with an outcome/purpose in mind. Discover what is working and build on this platform, and decipher what are the second and third order consequences rather than presuppose that it will all work as programmed.

Have an amazing week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257

The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #3

THEME: Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #3

Monday morning: October 12, 2009

Dear friends,

The third principle, based on the research and writings of Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja in their book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, that we explored during the Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable was the following: “... the components of living systems self-organize, and new forms and repertories emerge from the turmoil.”

On the surface, this principle seems completely obvious. Yet, we need to remember that self-organization is “the tendency of certain (but not all) systems operating far from equilibrium to shift to a new state when their constituent elements generate unlikely combinations.” The result of self-organization is called emergence. An example of this is when a jazz ensemble creates an emergent sound that no one could have imagined from listening to the individual instruments.

Now, remembering what we explored last week related to fitness landscapes, we need to understand that self-organization generates new routes on the fitness landscape. Emergence, on the other hand, generates new destinations on the fitness landscape

With this in mind, those gathered examined six guidelines for harnessing self-organization and emergence. The first, according to the book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos, is to “decide whether or not self-organization and emergence are really needed.” Ask yourself whether you are dealing with a technical problem or an adaptive problem. In particular, are new routes and new destinations sought?

Second, “analyze the health of your network.” Self-organization arises from healthy networks. If there are dysfunctional teams, personal or cultural elements in place, then this could reduce the ability of a social network to self-organize.

Third, “remember the Goldilocks Principle: neither too many rules nor too few.” I really like this one a great deal. In many organizations, there are too many rules and regulations and not enough common sense. In other places, there is so much freedom that it feels like a scene from the movie, “The Lord of the Flies.” The authors note that “the key to self-organization resides in the tension between discipline and freedom.” From my experience, this tension is manageable when there is a healthy strategic nexus in place, i.e. mission, vision and core values plus a high ownership strategic plan.

Fourth, in order to create self-organization and emergence, we must harness the power of Requisite Variety. As you may remember, The Law of Requisite Variety states that “... survival of any organism depends on its capacity to cultivate (not just tolerate) variety in its internal structure.” With this in mind, we need to bring more people together from different fields and backgrounds and then let them work on the problems before us together. This generates fresh perspective and new lines of thinking.

Fifth, we need to look for the preconditions of emergence. As one who does a lot of executive coaching, I often see these preconditions as problems that keep surfacing, or contradictions between words and actions. In an organization, there may be an incongruence between supply and demand, or unexpressed needs at the employee or customer levels. All of these elements hint at emergent possibilities and help identify when an issue is bubbling toward the surface. For those who have been with me for quite some time, think of Heifetz’s observation about ripe and ripening.

Sixth, self-organization and emergence should not be thought of exclusively as episodic occurrences. They can occur episodically and they can become a sustaining competitive advantage. More than one issue can lead to multiple moments of self-organization and emergence at the same time.

This week, remember that “the components of living systems self-organize, and new forms and repertories emerge from the turmoil.” Review the above six guidelines for harnessing self-organization and emergence. Ask yourself if you are living and working in a healthy network.

Have a terrific week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257

The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #2

THEME: Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: The Union of Evolution and Strategy - Part #2

Monday morning: October 5, 2009

Dear friends,

The second principle, based on the research and writings of Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja in their book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, we explored at the Fall 2009 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable was the following: “Nature is at its innovative best near the edge of chaos.”

First off, Pascale and others pointed out that “the edge of chaos is a condition, not a location.” It creates upheaval but not dissolution. It is not the abyss. It is a sweet spot for productive change.

Next, they explained that “Innovations rarely emerge from systems high in order and stability.” Andy Grove, retired chairman of Board at Intel explained it this way: “First, you must experiment and let chaos reign. That’s important because you’re not likely to successfully stumble on the answer at the first sign of trouble. Rather, you have to let the business units struggle and watch the dissonance grow in the company. As this unfolds, you enter the second phase of change, which I describe as the Valley of Death. Doing away with established practice and established people - tearing apart before you can put together something new - is not fun. Talking prematurely about changes that disrupt people’s lives and are not truly believed can undermine efforts before you really know what you’re doing. But once they are in place, it is essential for leadership to speak clearly about what to do. At this point, you are on the other side of of the Valley of Death and you can describe the future that lies ahead.”

Now, before we go any further, I like the term Trough of Chaos much better than “Valley of Death.” The latter term would scare the pants off every beginning middle level manager and quite a few senior executives if it were used on a regular basis. Therefore, I will stick with the Trough of Chaos.

Recognizing that the trick is to navigate close to the edge of chaos without falling into it, Pascale says there are three essential navigation devices. First, there are attractors, analogous to a compass, which orient a living system in one direction and create an impetus to migrate out of the comfort zone. An example of an attractor is a vision or BHAG. It generates a compelling aspiration amongst employees to move.

The second navigation device is the use of feedback. How and when an organization amplifies or dampens feedback can act like a throttle or brake to the move in the first navigation device.

The third navigation requires us to understand the concept called the “fitness landscape.” This is a term used by ecologists and other life scientists to map the relative competitive advantage of species. As Pascale notes, the “higher degrees of fitness are depicted by linear height on the landscape,” and “the loss of fitness is visualized as going downhill in this three dimensional territory.”

Here is a great example of this concept from the book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business. “When a threatened species, such as the North American coyote, is driven from it’s traditional habitat by human extermination programs, it descends the fitness landscape toward the edge of chaos.... It must learn to cope with different terrain, climate, and rivals, and to find new sources of food.” Once it learns to adapt and urbanize, the coyote’s fitness increases and it carves out a niche on a superior fitness peak. As it moves uphill, i.e. better adaptation, a species will reach a subsidiary peak. Biologists call this perch on the fitness landscape, “a basin of attraction.” They also note that to get to higher peaks, a species must “go down to get up.”

In the world of business, Monsanto developed genetically improved crops, and the innovation catapulted it to a new peak. However, once the cultural environment changed and genetically improved crops fell out of favor, especially in Europe, then Monsanto was seen as “the instigator of Frankenstein Foods”. The result is that it went downhill from it’s new peak.

This week, first remember that “nature is at its innovative best near the edge of chaos.” Second, review the three navigation devices with your team and in particular where you are in the “fitness landscape.”

Have a wonderful week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257