Month: April 2011

The Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies here in Washington DC, has been running a series of roundtable discussions on various aspects of technology and innovation. Last week I was one of the panelists at the discussion on policy and innovation.

Since I'm not a policy wonk and nor a technology nerd ("A PolicyWonk is related to the Technology Nerd, but understands people" according to Policywonk.com). I was a bit baffled about how to contribute effectively, however, once I got the email telling me that I was to provide an overview of my point of view, to go in the participant info pack and reminding me that I also had to speak to for ten minutes on this, I knew I had to get my act together.

It was good to find that actually I did have a point of view: reminding me of the phrase that I enjoy "when I hear what I say, I'll know what I think" . Policies are part and parcel of any organization design and can work in favor or against innovation. However, it's not that simple.

Policies are just one aspect of what I think of as the 'red tape structure'. Explicit red tape includes formal rules, regulations, policies, executive orders, guidelines, frameworks, and so on. Some of this red tape is legally binding and some isn't. Organizations and their members generally have to comply with a mass of both internally and externally generated formal red tape. Think of health and safety regulations as a case in point – there are government impositions and usually additional company requirements on health and safety.

Beyond the formal red tape structures are all the informal ones – the implicit cultural red tape that guides the way people in organizations do things. You hear this coming out in phrases like: "That's what we do", "We've always done it that way", "I'll have to ask my supervisor" , "It's more than my job's worth ….", "It's our policy …" , "It's against the rules …." The Agatha Christie story illustrating this is one I tell in Chapter 5 of my book on Organisation Culture. Whether or not it is true it is a fun example of the type of informal red tape story that people encounter everyday.

Agatha Christie (a thriller writer) was the guest of honour at a Foyle's literary luncheon. The doorman asked her for her invitation and refused to admit her when she couldn't produce it. She didn't make any fuss but just went home.

This is an example of someone who feels that the thing he is being held accountable for is more important than taking responsibility, showing initiative, or even acting sensibly. For the doorman it is more than his job is worth to take the risk of being penalized for contravening the rules and expectations of his employment i.e. to only allow people into the event who can produce their invitation.

My line is that both formal and informal red tape is far more likely to stifle innovation and creative thinking than to generate it. (I'm not going to define 'innovation' which none of us participating in the roundtable attempted). To mitigate that risk it's important to ask a number of questions first when thinking about initiating or introducing a piece of red tape, and second when reviewing its efficacy. Sadly, more often than not the initiating questions are glossed over, and it's very rare that systematic organizational reviews of red tape ever take place. However, let's assume that people wanted red tape to foster rather than restrict innovation. Here are the questions to ask when introducing it:

• What do we want it to do?
• Why is it needed?
• When does it work well?
• How will we know?
• Who will monitor and track its efficacy?
• Where is the other organizational infrastructure support for it?

Peter Drucker, called for the systematic review and then 'planned abandonment' of things like out of date policies, business processes and so on. But before getting to that point we need to be clear that reviewing is necessary by asking:

• Why don't we review?
• What are the benefits of reviewing?
• How can reviews be instigated?
• Who would do the reviews?
• When should they happen (time frame)?
• Where should review accountability lie?

Once we are clear we need to review then we can go on to the planned abandonment phase.

Sometimes reviews and abandonment come quickly on the heels of introducing a policy. As, rather than stifling innovation, people are very inventive in doing red tape workarounds. Take the example of the London bus drivers who when asked to get their buses to the destination at the time indicated on the schedule or lose their performance related pay, responded by not stopping to pick up passengers as that ran the risk of not getting back in time!

I like the fact that both President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron have taken up the cudgels against red tape. Cameron issuing both a letter on it and setting up the 'red tape challenge' and Obama issuing an executive order on the topic.

Most organizations would do well to take up Cameron's injunction – posed in relation to specific sets of regulations:

Tell us what you think should happen to these regulations and why, being specific where possible:

Should they be scrapped altogether?
Can they be merged with existing regulations?
Can we simplify them – or reduce the bureaucracy associated with them?
Have you got any ideas to make these regulations better?
Do you think they should be left as they are?

Let me know if your organization regularly reviews its formal and informal red tape.

Several people during the past week have asked me what I see as the organizational trends that are having an impact both on organization designs and on the Human Resource/Organization Development functions.

It's an interesting question that you can look at from a macro/global level, or at a single small organization in a specific market sector or geography. It seems that the people who were asking were more interested in what the macro level trends were that they would then be able to interpret and assess the impact of in their local markets.

But how useful is to know about a macro level trend? Everyone knows that rapidly advancing communication and collaboration technologies are having a major impact on organizational operations, but maybe that macro level statement is too general to be useful. Would it be more helpful to ask "Are there some specific communication and collaboration technologies that are having more of an impact on organizational designs than others". For example, is Twitter more of an organizational game changer than Facebook? Or Google more than Microsoft? Or Cisco's telepresence more than webcams on individual computers?

One way of thinking about this is to list macro trends and then to ask a series of questions about each. I have a trend list that I keep an eye on that comprises:

1. New business models: for example the rise of new conglomerates.
2. The shifting boundaries of organizations: where do organizational responsibilities begin and end?
3. Changes in ownership structures and governance models – for example the emergence of more joint state and public ownership
4. Challenges to western organizations from BRIC organizations
5. Technologies around collaboration and communication
6. Supply chain innovations
7. Sustainability discussions

Looking at that list suggests that other people would be keeping an eye on other trends. There probably isn't a list that would suit everyone. Why haven't I got anything related to finance and economics on the list, or legal and compliance frameworks, or new models of leadership? My list reflects my interests, the work that I do – which is mainly around organization design and change management. It seems to go without saying that beyond the potentially radical or transformational trends organizations are the incremental continuous trends looking at cost and efficiency savings, improving customer service, and ways of building creativity and innovation.

Five questions that I ask myself (in relation to organizations I am working with) when I see an article, or blog, or video that captures my interest and seems to be part of a trend:

1. Should I look at this more closely? Why/why not?
2. What risks or opportunities does this trend imply or suggest if we ignored it/if we investigated it?
3. How could I use this example to illustrate possibilities to the leaders in the organizations?
4. What is this article/blog/etc telling us about what's going on more generally in this field of play?
5. How/where can I find out more about it and similar related stories?

If you're interested in organizational trends where do you go for information? Sites that I look at regularly, and that discuss both continuous and radical trends include:

Techcrunch. It bills itself as a "leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news." A recent post there was headed E-Books See Triple Digit Growth As Paper Book Sales Dive, prompting me to ask what other businesses are doomed by e-methods of delivering products and services.

Fast Company that tells us it is "the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design. Written for, by, and about the most progressive business leaders." A blog that caught my eye last week was about business models: Why Groupon And It's Clones Won't Last

TED Say it "is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Our mission: Spreading ideas. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers."

One of its themes is collaboration, and there is a medley of talks loosely related to the theme. Chris Anderson's talk on How web video powers global innovation is a good listen and learn for organizations.

RSA. "For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. " A talk scheduled for May 11 2011 is called The future of power, Joseph S. Nye is talking on the topic How is power changing in the 21st century? How do the financial crisis, global epidemics and climate change affect an increasingly interconnected world? How can empowering others help us to accomplish our own goals? What are the resources that confer power in the global information age?

Strategy + business says that it is "an award-winning management magazine, published in print and on the Web for decision makers in businesses and organizations around the world. Our purpose is to illuminate the complex choices that leaders face – in strategy, marketing, operations, human capital, public presence, governance, and other domains – and the impact of their decisions." the Spring 2011 issue has an article on The Coming Wave of "Social Apponomics about "the secret to profitability on the Internet [that] has finally arrived in an innovative blend of social media, Web mobility, and creative e-commerce applications."

Stanford Social Innovation Review which tells us "Our mission is to share substantive insights and practical experiences that will help those who do the important work of improving society do it even better." I liked the report What's Next: Retailing with Heart on Panera cafes which are opening some branches that operate on the honor system of paying.

Any other thoughts and suggestions on where to look for organizational trends – let us know.

Every so often I read in Fast Company or TechCrunch or somewhere else, a list of useful websites someone has compiled in relation to some topic that they're interested in. Usually, reading these, I find one or two sites that I take a look at. One week, a few weeks ago, I notice that people were giving me links to websites that they'd come across. So below is a random list of websites that came my way one week in March!

The first came through my own website and is from someone at ExperiencePoint. He says that – "I am with ExperiencePoint, and we have a family of web-based change leadership simulations that I am hoping would be a fit within your work. They are engaging learning tools that can help build the change and innovation competency necessary to transform organisations. Executive education centres at LBS, Ashridge, Manchester Business School, Wharton, Duke CE, and others use them with world leading organisations."

Out of curiosity I took a look and liked what I saw so passed on the info + link to the leadership development person at work. She too was impressed and, I think, has contacted the company.

Then someone who was doing a presentation for us sent her slide deck via a website yousendit. It's a secure online file sharing software that allows you to easily send large files and email attachments which was a find for me as I often need to send large files to people and then end up coming back because they're too big for the recipient's mailbox.

Then another person doing an teleconf with presentation did it with joinme, which is a 'ridiculously simple' on-line meeting forum. "Get together, up to 250 people, without actually getting them together. Just click share to download and run the app and share your screen, instantly. No need for a plane, train, or sandwich platter. Just gather at join.me. So what is it exactly? It's an impromptu online meeting space, the opportunity to share your screen to collaborate, meet, train, demo or show-off, and the last two words in an invitation". It worked well so you may find me using that.

At somepoint during the week I was discussing customer satisfaction with someone and they recommended a website called communispace. This is a forum for connecting organizations with their customers with the stated goal of redefining "customer engagement and insight-forever changing what it means to engage and intimately understand your customers." Hmm – can this be done in government circles? Well, I took a look at it and government in relation to its customers did not pop up but what I did notice was a lot of references to managing online communities and I wondered whether managing communities of teleworkers (one of the pieces of work I'm involved in) was similar to managing communities of customers. So I'll investigate that further.

One that I really like the look of and will cast around for an opportunity to try out is Crowdcast which describes itself as "the leader in Enterprise Collective Intelligence." The British among us – noted in an Economist article I just read as being "grumpy and uncivic" will probably remark that they'd be hard-pressed to find any "intelligence" in their organizations, let alone "collective intelligence", but assuming that they could what happens next? Well Crowdcast "aggregates your team's intelligence to deliver insight and unbiased forecasts related to your projects and initiatives. We use a combination of prediction markets and discussion forums to highlight risks and opportunities earlier, enabling a more agile, efficient organization."

Finally, from someone I work with, came Ideascale another customer listening/engagement/satisfaction site. That tells us to "Collect ideas from your customers, give them a platform to vote, the most important ideas bubble to the top."

What I haven't worked out is how do you find these websites in the first place? If you want to send large documents, for example, how would you know to go to yousendit? How do you know that there is a really useful website out there for you? As a test I typed into my search bar "how to send large documents" ok – it came up with a bunch of websites that do that (including yousendit). I tried the same technique with "how to crowdsource" but didn't get anywhere with that search. However, "crowdsourcing websites" did produce several. But I couldn't get to 'communispace', in any general search term.

Maybe my method of listening out for what people mention, and noting down those I read about that sound interesting is as good a method as the search bar for finding helpful sites?

In a spirit of reciprocation one that I passed on last week – a colleague I used to work with who is now, as they say in the US, "in transition" (which means looking for a job) asked for suggestions on how to get into strategic consulting in the clean tech arena. I'm no expert on clean-tech but I did remember a course I looked at myself a while ago at the Said Business Schoool: the Diploma in Strategy and Innovation.

I think I'm sitting in my home office. It's actually the local coffee shop. I've just read an article titled Designing Your Own Workspace Improves Health, Happiness and Productivity. It tells me that "Studies have revealed the potential for remarkable improvements in workers' attitudes to their jobs by allowing them to personalize their offices." Why do I need to personalize my space? Well here's the answer: Because "When people feel uncomfortable in their surroundings they are less engaged — not only with the space but also with what they do in it. If they can have some control, that all changes and people report being happier at work, identifying more with their employer, and are more efficient when doing their jobs."

Oh, but my employer wants me out of the space for all kinds of reasons that add up to a whole range of cost and efficiency savings plus the noted productivity gains. (If you're interested, another article I read lists all the pluses of having a mobile workforce from both employee and employer perspectives). So, when I go to the bricks and mortar office where my employer is based I don't have an office. I am one of the growing band of mobile workers who books a hoteling space and sits as and where.

But here's my question: if I can't I personalize my offices – which today are:
• The coffee shop I just mentioned
• The train I will be traveling on to meet with a client
• The hotel space in the 'real' office
• My space at home where I do a lot of my work

will I be unhappy, less engaged, and less productive because I can't control my space? After all, I'm reading "If employees can have some control, [over their workspace] people report being happier at work, identifying more with their employer, and are more efficient when doing their jobs. Well, as a passenger, I don't have a lot of control over Amtrak. So what can I do to feel in control of my workspace – wherever it is – in order to be happy, productive, and engaged.

Thinking about this I realize that, of course, my back pack is my office space. How could I be so dumb as not to instantly know this? It reflects my work habits and personality – anyone could take a look at or in it and get an impression of who I am. So, here are my twelve tips for personalizing and feeling in control of backpack office space:

1. Get a good backpack (or wheely bag) that has pockets but not too many. I've found that a square backpack works best for me. It seems easier to find things in than the traditionally curved ones. One I like is by Kenneth Cole.
2. Do not to fling things randomly in the bag but to put the items back in their 'own' pocket. (I've learned this the hard way!) That way you won't be searching through a jumble of stuff when, for example, you need a pen because someone is about to tell you an address or important piece of info.
3. Have small baggalini's for stuff within the pockets. I now put my small travel mouse in a nylon bag because it kept falling apart when it was loose in the pocket. You can get little ripstop nylon bags in multiple colors which helps locate them in the depths of a black backpack.
4. Get a travel mouse – it makes life a whole lot easier than trying to work just with the laptop keyboard. Mine is a gigaware one and the receiver stores in the mouse so no fear of losing it – at least I haven't yet and I've had it several years
5. Carry a basic office kit of supplies: mine includes highlighter pen (you can get a nifty one that also has flags in it for marking pages. A pencil with eraser, small stapler, scotch tape, paper clips, small pair of scissors. I put these in a small clear box – rather like the pencil case I used to have at elementary school with compartments.
6. Pack a bamboo reusable cutlery set from To-Go Ware. Mine was a gift from someone so it's both a reminder of him and incredibly useful. It means I don't have to use disposable stuff, it's easy and light and come in a case made from plastic bottles – so sustainability all round.
7. Stick on each of the various tools of the trade that you need at all times: laptop, power cord, blackberry, notebook, mouse, ear-piece, etc. a sticker with your name and phone number on each item. I've had my power cord and my ear-piece returned when I left them places because the finder was able to contact me.
8. Tag the backpack with a luggage tag or identifier that really speaks you. Mine has just a simple red heart one but every time I pick up my pack I am reminded that my daughter gave it to me. You can also get photos made into luggage tags which is the equivalent of photo on desk. It's very easy when black backpacks are so lookalike to seize the wrong one from an overhead bin.
9. Always have a few documents or stuff in hardcopy to work on. If your battery fails, or your standing in a line or you have to switch off 'all portable electronic devices', it's a good use of time to be reviewing, researching, catching up on reading or whatever.
10. Develop the mindset of 'anywhere is my office'. Small personal touches – color of your luggage tag, pink crystal stapler, or silver rhinestone computer mouse (yes you can get these!) will help you feel you've personalized your space
11. Clear out the backpack every single evening. It's amazing how many items you can inadvertently collect in a day – business cards, napkins, receipts, pens, documents you don't need after the meeting you just went to. Don't let it get cluttered up.
12. Carry a couple of empty Ziploc or small plastic bags, and a ripstop folding nylon shopper, and a packet of travel wipes – they all come in handy. (Take my word for it).

Mostly I feel in control of my backpack as office space. Days it's not so good are when one of the zips gets stuck in a paper tissue, or when I accidentally put it down in a pool of spilled coffee (but hey, I have wipes!) or when I forget my rule of putting everything it's correct place and spend a long time searching for my locker key which has fallen to the bottom of the last pocket I look in. But oh well, bricks and mortar office life is full of small irritations and backpack office life is no different. For me the pluses of it totally outweigh the minuses of it. Give it a go sometime – you'll never look back.

NOTE: The piece I was going to post this week on useful websites I've come across will now appear on April 11.