Agents of Change @ Work

Why the events at Copenhagen Inspire Me

Regardless of the outcome at the COP 15 Summit, what I see happening there gives me enormous hope for the future: 

1. I see thousands of people of all ages ( and many once strangers to one another) actively engaged in communication, collaboration, spontaneous acts of sharing and generosity and focusing on issues that affect the whole. 

2. Every form of social media is being fully deployed to enable many-to-many conversations that only result in a greater appreciation for and tolerance of complexity, diversity and ambiguity so necessary if we are to make our way forward. 

3. I see individuals taking responsibility for their own actions, caring for their communities; striving to find a better way; questioning and not just following trends or authorities because it’s the easier path; and
4. I see incontrovertible evidence that people are not just seeking to solve a problem but to find meaning and purpose in their lives. 

And while I was seeing all that, I came across this wonderful post by Calgary-based author, Stephen Joyce, titled What Has Meaning Got to Do with Anything? on an excellent blog, Getting Clever Together. 

Stephen draws our attention to Victor Frankl – a childhood hero of mine – who has shaped a life of thinking and I’ll quote Stephen’s introduction to his post and include the video because it is so uplifting. 

Why do we do it? I mean our work. In 1942, Viktor Frankl stood naked and completely alone in the world in a concentration camp. His captors planned to execute him – he was sure of it. They had taken everything he had in the world away. All those he loved and cared for had either been already murdered or would meet that fate soon.  Those around him were in various states of psychological collapse and were resigned to their fate.

And yet amongst all this horror – Frankle discovered something else – an earth shaking idea as potentially trans formative as the discovery of fire. He realized that the only thing we really have control over in our life….. is the meaning we create from it. Frankle describes the search for meaning as our ultimate quest.

Stephen concludes:

We are the meaning makers – whether we wish to accept the responsibility or not.  In other words nothing has any meaning until we create it and our children are crying out for meaning. We must help them find one and a meaning that enables them to aspire toward the highest potential of humanity.

Copenhagen isn’t just about climate change and geopolitics. It's not even about GDP, growth, targets. It's about mankind's search for meaning. Why are we here? - to lead lives that are prosperous but meaningless or lives that are nasty, brutish and short where the search for meaning is a luxury?  It’s also an event that is showing on our TV screens, in our Facebook pages, on our Twitter and Flickr streams just how interconnected we are; how humanity is converging into one community.It’s a mirror that’s illustrating the deep and exciting evolutionary spurt that’s occurring in humankind; and it’s an important milestone (not an end in itself). That's why I am more inspired today than a week ago..

PS. Stephen's great book is: Teaching an Anthill to Fetch - Developing Collaborative Intelligence@ Work

Agents of Change Busy Rebooting Britain

Thanks to SwitchNewMedia I was able to avoid 8 hours of train travel yesterday and participate in Reboot Britain from the rural heart of the country.

Faced with economic meltdown,  dismally low levels of public trust in political leadership, growing concerns about the ability of big government to succeed let alone sustain itself, there's an urgent need to "re-imagine, re-invest, and re-invigorate our economy and society." These words of Diane Coyle, editor and facilitator, apply beyond the shores of the little island that formed the focus of yesterday's event...

To provoke debate, the organizers (NESTA) commissioned a series of essays that are well worth reading. I also recommend you  bookmark the site as all the presentations will be available shortly and check out #rebootbritain to sense the Twitter pulse.

While the focus was on the public economy, there was plenty of interest to the private sector and associations in all facets of life and business in the UK and elsewhere.

Kudos to Stephen Moore(@stevemoore4good), NESTA and the organizing team for initiating the conversation - even though the format (mostly in the main lecture hall) was surprisingly conventional with limited opportunities for audience participation. Next time, a split screen would enable online participants to see what the speaker was referring to and it would be great if moderators could accept questions from tweeters/bloggers regardless of their location......

It was a rich experience - even from a distance and without the benefit of F2F buzz, but, despite Howard Rheingold's insightful conclusion and optimistic wardrobe, the title left me feeling very uneasy.

While eye and ear catching in its modernity, the concept of  ReBoot, is on reflection merely a 2.0 version of "kickstart." It implies an assumption that a traditional economy, which has gone into nosedive, can be brought back to life with a reset button and all will be well. Remember, it comes after the messages: "Abort", "Retry", and "Fail"! But the intent of the conference suggested that it isn't a reboot that's needed but an entirely new operating system, based on a fundamentally different set of operating assumptions and guiding principles - far greater even than a switch from PC to Mac! I notice that some other bloggers came to similar conclusions separately.

The term ReBoot also implies that a new economy (networked, open, lightweight, environmentally responsible, socially just, creative, agile and resilient...) will come about as a result of external intervention when, in fact, it's already emerging because the conditions are right.

Truth is, we're being carried forward by a host of change forces that have generated sufficient pent up energy to cause a tectonic shift in perception regarding who we are as human beings on a finite planet and how we should behave...

Talking about 2.0 versions of government, marketing, journalism, healthcare, leadership, HR and manufacturing is really healthy but will only move beyond talk to action when we can sustain our attention spans long enough to understand these deeper forces and harness their dynamics. It's ironic that here we are a pivotal point in human history when we could become conscious of our own evolution and the technology that binds also shatters our attention into tiny fragments such that we seem to be viewing reality through a kaleidescope rather than a microscope.

One agent of change never shy to use the term Paradigm appropriately and forcefully is Don Tapscott (@dtapscott) who, like David Weinerger and crew (Cluetrain authors), and Tim O' Reilly cut his intellectual teeth on IT problems but has just gets wiser and more insightful with age.  For those of us whose time is limited between meetings, tweets, emails, the following 2 minute video clip reminds  us that it'll take more than a reBoot to move Britain forward.

Another agent of change, Paul Hawken, recently author of Blessed Unrest also affirms that the ground is already shaking beneath the feet of traditional institutions. Every time I watch the following clip from the Bioneers conference a few years ago, I am reminded why we're living in such an exciting time, so full of opportunity, so filled with consequence.

Brands should be "agents for change," says Unilever cmo - WARC News - WARC.com

The big firms are slowly waking up. At Media Week's Media 360 Conference, Simon Clift, the global CMO of Unilever responsible for selling €40bn worth of "soap, soup and tea", said the world had changed more than marketers have accepted or absorbed, and heralded "a new era of remarkable opportunity" - see here

While that may not be earth shattering, what I did find exciting to learn is the fact that Mr. Clift went on to say that "brands should be an agent of change" - a sentiment my colleague Leon Benjamin and I have,  in our own more modest way,  been pushing for nearly a decade as you can see here on an old, homemade site called Business For Good. 

See: Brands should be "agents for change," says Unilever cmo - WARC News - WARC.com.

If Simon Clift or someone at Unilever is reading this (he, he), I would strongly recommend Terry Barber's excellent post on what business leaders can learn from non profit organizations. He gives four suggestions:

1. Inspire customers by helping them believe in something they once thought was impossible. (It worked for Barack Obama)

2. Show genuine appreciation for their business (how many companies have you ever received a thankyou card or email from?)

3. Help him see that he is a part of a bigger community of world changers. One of the most powerful fund-raising terms is the word join. “Join the fight.” “Jointhe cause. “ “Join me”—all indicating that you can be a part of something much bigger than yourself.

4. Communicate how you are making the world a better place - see excerpt below...

I recently met with a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and saw this principle illustrated in the most dramatic fashion. Throughout the building there were maps with pushpins marking various towns, cities, and villages around the world where this company and its employees were providing clean drinking water for indigent people groups. There was an underlying message there that said, What we are doing as a company is helping to make the world a better place. No matter what kind of business you are in, learn from the nonprofit sector that you can inspire your customers by illustrating how you are making the world a better place.

Do you aspire to inspire your customers? Give them something to believe in that they once thought was impossible. Demonstrate genuine appreciation for their business. Help your customers connect with other customers to illustrate that they are part of a bigger community, and communicate how you as a business are making the world a better place.

Lead and they may follow. Teach and they may learn. Inspire . . . and they will never be the same.

Alot of my work is for destinations - very rarely do Destination Marketing Organizations lead their communities and invest in making the destination a better place. As marketers they feel they can and should leave this to others. New Zealand is different - if you read their tourism development strategy. they believe that tourism should take the lead in ensuring the country lives up tothe highest standards of sustainabiility. They have to, after all, they're 100% Pure.

What Keeps Us Marching?

It was Margaret Mead who said, "never understimate the power of a few to change the world". Imagine if that few had already reached millions in number. Back in 2004,  when Paul Hawken began his research into the number of non-governmental, largely volunteer groups working to achieve environmental sustainability and social justice, he counted a couple hundred thousand. Now he confidently predicts they exceed 1 million. We "change agents" are becoming a new super power as decribed in Paul's latest book: Blessed Unrest. The book title was extracted from Martha Graham's wonderful remark to Agnes de Mille:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.....You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the other.

Paul's speech at the Bioneers conference in 2004 gives me boose bumps and inspires me every time I watch it so it is appropriate to include here. Enjoy and circulate. The earth's immune system appears to be alive and well...

I'm involved in two such groups: 1. The Change the Dream symposium developed by the Pachamama Alliance is now being lead by over 350 fully trained facilitator volunteers - a remarkable feat given that a year ago there were just 30 such volunteers who had completed a five day program at their own expense. 2. The Icarus Foundation - a grass roots movement starting in Canada developed to help the tourism industry own up to its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

DOPA: Protecting Children or Containing Their Freedom?

In another example of the application of "the Politics of Fear", America's politicians are trying to suppress the most democratic, grass roots phenomenon to appear in years: As mentioned here: "Chatroom websites including MySpace, Facebook and Friendster could be banned in America's schools and libraries under legislation aimed at sexual predators that is working its way through Congress.

The deleting online predators act (DOPA), which was passed by an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives last week, had been expected to go before the Senate this week, but opponents appeared yesterday to have postponed the battle there until next month. The bill identifies "social networking websites" as hunting grounds for paedophiles, and requires federally funded schools and libraries to limit access to them"

This is a highly regressive step and shows either the ignorance of laziness of legislators. Any technolgy is neutral. It attracts the so called "good" and bad" elements of our society. But to deprive this generation of the tools on which they now depend to communicate, socialise, and express themselves for the sake of their own protection is madness and, obviously, illogical. The same legislators did not show the same zeal to protect smokers from the adverse effects of nicotine and withdraw tobacco from the market or tax carbon to slow down the adverse effects of particulants in the upper atmosphere.

For another good article on the negative effects on youth see the Guardian here or a very valuable discussion between two knoweldgeable professors at MIT here.

Take a look at Don Tapscott's panel of four stellar representatives of the net Generation and you'll see what the politicians might be worried about. This is the Web 2.0 generation whose manifesto was best described in The Cluetrain Manifesto.

If our society spent more time in the classroom dealing with bullies or in the malls and streets dealing with molesters and, if we as a society dealt with the problems of child neglect and abuse within families, I could understand the legislators motives. It would be a last resort. But this is not about protection, really, is it?

How Management Demotivates

The following summary of the HBS paper referred to in our previous post says it all!

How Management Demotivates
by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer

There are several ways that management unwittingly demotivates employees and diminishes, if not outright destroys, their enthusiasm.

Many companies treat employees as disposable. At the first sign of business difficulty, employees—who are usually routinely referred to as "our greatest asset"—become expendable.

Employees generally receive inadequate recognition and reward: About half of the workers in our surveys report receiving little or no credit, and almost two-thirds say management is much more likely to criticize them for poor performance than praise them for good work.

Management inadvertently makes it difficult for employees to do their jobs. Excessive levels of required approvals, endless paperwork, insufficient training, failure to communicate, infrequent delegation of authority, and a lack of a credible vision contribute to employees' frustration.

Reprinted with permission from "Stop Demotivating Your Employees!" Harvard Management Update, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2006

When Your Assets Have Feet

“There is nothing permanent except change.”
Heraclitis, approx. 500 BCE

Talent is hard to keep. Everyday, the real asset in a company walks out the door and may not come back. Today, the main nightmare within the minds of most managers is the ability to retain valuable employees. Hiring good people is tough. Keeping them is even harder. Demographics tell us that the cycles of available staff have substantially decreased and will continue to do so for some time to come. Technology adds to the problem in that globalization provides an open marketplace ... people not only move from their current place of employment, they move from their current geographical location.

For more and more people, it’s most definitely not just a job – it’s a career, a cause, a passion, a chance to make a meaningful contribution. These individuals are characterized and motivated by deeply embedded life-interests. If the organization and the individual share in those interests, a match is made and valuable knowledge workers will be retained. That is why it is critical for any organization to openly espouse its values - what do you stand for? What behaviors will you and will you not tolerate? What are you passionate about as a company – over and above making money, that it is!

And it’s not enough to adopt and espouse a brave and bold sounding vision in an age of transparency and instantaneous global connectivity.  Behavior must flow directly from the claimed value system. In short, you must walk your talk.

Sadly, few companies do walk their talk and create an environment that inspires, retains and enables their primary assets to create value. A recent article published by the

Havard Business School

adds further evidence of a de-motivated workforce. The author’s found that in 85% of companies interviewed (52 companies of 1.2 million people), employee morale declines sharply after their first six months.

You draw and retain your staff through your tacit structure – the implicit, invisible sum total of company values and behaviors over time. But, if by its very nature a tacit structure is hidden, how do you find it? Corporate culture is a buzzword that makes little sense unless you can grasp what your particular culture entails. One way to bring this type of information into concrete form is to conduct a cultural measurement. This provides any manager a baseline for continued use.

One of our favourites to use is the Q12 devised by the Gallup Organization. This series of 12 Questions can be found in the book, First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It is a measure that is simple to conduct and informative in results. We recommend that your key knowledge workers within your organization complete the questionnaire and then have the results interpreted. We also favour keeping the results from professional and support staff separate for two reasons. One, the aggregate responses provide a baseline by which to measure any internal development program for a specific group. The second reason is that these responses will give you an indication of whether a potential problem is endemic to one group or systemic of your organization. You can then tailor your approach in change management.

There is a difference between managing and coaching knowledge workers. When the majority of assets possess feet, a parent-child management relationship is no longer functional.

The same HBS study found that one of the most counter-productive rules in business is to distribute information on the basis of “need to know”. It is usually a way of severely, unnecessarily and destructively restricting the flow of information in an organization. Workers’ frustration with an absence of adequate communication is one of the most negative findings we see expressed in employee attitude surveys. The HBS study adds “ a command and control style of management is a sure-fire path to demotivation”

Most organizations today are not known for their flexibility, a left-over approach from the industrial age. But, as the world of business becomes more and more competitive, even the most conservative of organizations are coming to the realization that their previous style of management must change.  For example, take at look at your turnover statistics. If they are high, it is time to review your management style and underlying philosophy. It may also be time to communicate with your staff and ask for input from all levels of your organization. Why would anyone stay with your organization if they have no voice in their own future? Again, participatory management enhances your ability to retain valuable intellectual capital.

If your organization is not aware of the deeply held beliefs of your key people, how do you hope to retain them? Most people remain within an organization that actively supports and enhances their common belief structure. Skill-sets can be moved in many directions, but if those directions do not complement embedded life interests, passions and values you run the risk of employee dissatisfaction and fostering a lack of commitment.

While there is much talk today of work/life balance, we believe the issues is deeper than that. People get sick when they are forced to act out multiple personalities, in other words, if we feel we cannot be who we really are at work; if we feel we must put on a mask or bury a vital part of ourselves when we walk through the office lobby. If we live only by our persona, we live an inauthentic life not resident in our own skin. Such a life is characterized by a longing for something that cannot be expressed, dissatisfaction in general ... anything purchased or accomplished brings but temporary relief. Then, once more, we are faced with this hunger that seemingly cannot be fed.

As individuals we ignore this condition at our peril. If we do not pay attention we will fall ill; psychically, physically or both. As employers, we too ignore this condition at our peril. At the very least we’ll see systemic reductions in productivity and morale accompanied by increased turnover.

So, how to respond?

We believe that companies are made of warm, complex, dynamic, intriguing, creative and for the most part caring people – individuals, who are each trying to make sense of their brief existence as well as “earn a crust”.

Each of those individuals has a unique calling, purpose and destiny and a unique set of talents that exist to help fulfill their life’s purpose. Those companies that also know what their corporate calling, purpose and destiny is can attract people whose personal values and goals are in alignment. If they do; and if they nurture the talent and creativity latent within each of their employees, such companies will literally see magic in the making. Agents of Change @ Work is devoted to making magic @ work! Subsequent blog posts and our seminars will explore how.......