Category: Blog

Do you know how much influence your work environment has on you? It has a positive or negative impact on your mind, your daily activities, interactions with colleagues and clients, and productivity. Look now at your work place. How organised is the space? Where are you sitting in the office? Where are your colleagues? What is the noise level? These are just some elements we experience every day at work. Curiously, we tend to get used to them after some weeks and rarely think back. Let’s discover some of the factors which nudge towards productivity.

People

Many are familiars with open spaces, cubicles, personal offices, meeting rooms or any combination of these. Each of these spatial arrangements influence how colleagues interact with each other on a daily basis. These settings comes with pros and cons. For instance, open spaces lower the barrier to interact with colleagues in close vicinity. The main cons are related to noise and regular interruptions.

In the book: “Work Rules” by Laszlo Bock, former Senior VP of People Operations at Google, there is a description of how the company strategically locates snacking spaces, in the buildings, to foster communication between people from various departments. A similar reflection has been made by Pixar Animation Studio, where the toilets were initially located on the plans of the Steve Jobs building to maximise random meeting of people from various crafts.

Process

Are you aware of the fact that a room distribution is an indicator, sometimes silently, of the dynamic and process which will happen during a meeting? For the same amount of people, one can expect a circle or rows seating plan for instance. The second for a one-way information sharing, while the first would be better for multiple-ways sharing. Furthermore, small rooms can be good for calls, private meetings and/or some personal work. While a bulk of 5 to 7 workstations indicates a close collaboration between the people sitting there.

In Creativity Inc, by Ed Catmull, current president of Pixar, there is a story that describes how a piece of furniture turned out impeding the quality of the interactions for projects’ development. The company holds weekly meetings with producers. These meetings were taking place in a big room at the centre of which was a long table. The attendance could go to, at times, over 30 people. Even though it was not planned, some kind of tradition settled in. Ed Catmull and the key people at the meeting would be sitting at the centre of one of the width side. Consequently, this disposition, which put the “key” people in the centre, tended to push the others further away. It started to hinder the quality of these reviews up to a point which threatened the proper development of projects.

They had to find a solution that would:
– reaffirm that everyone involved in a project could speak no matter her/his rank,
– bring back the interaction the meetings were supposed to bring forth, and
– correct a situation which was not intentional.

They removed the table.

Place

One might think that we should let such discussion to an architect, an interior designer or even the HR people at the company. At Leadership in Business World we think that managers are also directly in charge of the working environment of their teams. Choosing the right place for a specific work, setting the daily work space to maximise comfort, productivity and camaraderie among colleagues. Apply and be ready to add a practical layer to your teamwork capabilities.

The 21^st century started in a world’s economy which like to describe itself as Darwinian. It’s actually another, Herbert Spencer, who coined the term “survival of the fittest” by transposing Darwin’s biology concept to his own economic theories; a re-branded concept which justifies that modern start-ups have to single-mindedly grow and acquire as much market share as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. Some centennial companies take the same concept to make it mean crushing mercilessly any form of competition to keep their position as market leaders, and cheat if necessary. Wouldn’t it be better to move towards cooperation?

The origin of the story, in Westerner societies, tend to start from early school years. In cultures where making mistake has a negative connotation, students learn pretty fast to buckle up or give up trying. Combined with concept of personal success: only the best ones make it, it can lead to positive behaviours like perseverance, hard work, etc. It also can give birth to destructive behaviours: lying, cheating, selfishness. Competition can contribute to moving forward though by its nature, one party will eventually reap the benefit over the rest. Having winners and losers leads to never ending fights over resources which become scarce.

The paradox is that we know that Bill Gates didn’t make it to the top by himself; nor did Steve Jobs, Larry Page or Elon Musk. They made or are still making major contributions to our current life styles through their genius. That being said, they are the first to acknowledge one fundamental truth. The fact that they were surrounded by great teams to achieve these outstanding results.

Warren Cassell wrote in his book “Swim or Drown: Business and Life Lessons that I’ve Learned from the Ocean”, that The position of “top player” in business is merely an illusion and its definition is impossible to determine because we all offer our unique features and strengths.

“An example in business would be the clothing industry. If we define this area as general clothing (not narrowing it down into different niches) and use profits as the measuring stick, it’s probably chain stores that are at the top. However, if we use brand recognition or prestige as the scale for the best, high-end fashion companies will come out on top. And if we measure by quality, much smaller companies might rise to the top.”

Kids are taught to make it on their own. However we know by now that cooperation is key for personal, community and business sustainable development.

What can happen when we cooperate?

To cooperate one has to discover and bring forth their strength and resources. We must find partners and agree to engage in a mutually beneficial exchange. As Peter Diamandis claims in “Abundance, the future is better than you think” that the world faces challenges which forces us to go beyond scarcity we see from seemingly limited resources to fight for. In order to do so, we will have to cooperate. We’ll have to develop solutions from various fields, most of which don’t even evolve in the same realms.

Among the touching illustrations, one can think about how teaming saved the lives of 33 Chilean miners from the 2010 Copiapo mining accident. Miners were trapped thousands meters below the surface. Some experts even considered the rescue, bringing them all alive, an unreasonable possibility.  Professionals from various industries, organisations and sectors came to provide their expertise. Rescuers made many attempts. There were parallel work and sharing of the accumulated knowledge. It’s been said that no one person, organisation or agency, could have successfully innovated to solve this problem by themselves. They could have failed at any moment. Though they used their failure to learn and inform next steps until they succeeded.

Your quest to develop cooperative related skills for organisational management can start by applying to Leadership Business World. Participants will develop teamwork talents and focus on cooperation to contribute to their comapnies’ development.

How would 2018 look like to a person who lived in 1918 or even 1968? One of the elements which can differentiate these periods can be linked to more systemic creative processes set in place to creatively solve problems human kind encountered in the past, or created. Innovation is mainly about applying an open and receptive creative methods, and technologies, to bring forth changes in the form of services, products, solutions, that will impact part of, or the whole, society. Stay tuned to read about decoding idea generation!

Creativity is still perceived as a gift disseminated to a chosen few, who, in turn, become able to awe their audience or shape the world by binding it through their crafts. Contrary to such beliefs, more and more people are turning up their sleeves and learning how through their wit and the acquisition of knowledge, methods and skills, they can learn to influence their ability to solve the challenges they face, transforming the existing problems into viable solutions.

Key principles for idea generation

The Leadership Business World program will develop topic around innovation in business and we’d like to share with you elements linked to the first part of the innovation process which is Idea Generation. In his book: “101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving”, Arthur B VanGundy, an US communication professor and internationally noted expert on problem solving, presents some key principles for encouraging creativity:

• Separate idea generation from evaluation.
• Test assumptions
• Avoid patterned thinking
• Create new perspective
• Minimise negative thinking
• Take prudent risks

Separate Idea generation from evaluation

If you have to remember only one thing from this article, keep the following motto: No Evaluation with Generation!

Unknown to many, when we evaluate a just generated idea, we limit the number of ideas produced while discouraging people, whose ideas have been discarded or are already too reserved, to intervene by nature or fear.

Creative problem solving requires two thinking processes: a divergent one and a convergent one. Idea generation is divergent – you want as many ideas as possible. Idea evaluation is convergent – you narrow down the pool of ideas and select the best ones.

First generate ideas then, and only then, take the time to evaluate them.

Test assumptions

People often react differently on same stimulus because each of us provides meaning to it that might be very different. To know why we provide these meanings, we must test assumptions.

Similarly, each one’s response to idea generation activities will be influenced by the assumptions we carry around coming from our knowledge, experience, practices and/or beliefs.

The point of this principle is not to discard these assumptions. It is to collect as many and varied responses as possible through the number of participants and ideas. Collecting all these assumptions along with ideas, will provide hints towards the solutions and increase the chances to resolve the problems.

How to test assumptions?

“The important is never to stop questioning.” A. Einstein

One way to enhance questioning process is to use the basic “five w” (who, what, why, when, where).

By asking a lot of questions, one will have a better understanding of the problem and its context.

Avoid patterned thinking

We all have a comfortable, secure way of doing things. Experience is about repeatedly doing things in specific ways, which we label: “more efficient”. After a while, we stop challenging our practices and might find ourselves stuck with only limited responses to a given problem.

To prevent being stuck, we need to increase our awareness of the habits we form and detect when we fall into them. Then, at times, consciously make the effort to re-evaluate and break out of some damaging patterns.

First become more aware of your habit-bound thinking; then deliberately practice changing it.

Create new perspective

When facing a problem, it can help to produce new perspective. It can be about finding techniques which combine unconnected stimuli or provide sight of a bigger picture, or see the problem with from a different angle.

To produce something new, you must see something new.

Minimise negative thinking

Most of us are very good at finding problems and issues preventing an idea to work out. We have learned and practised to analyse and criticise anything new, it’s like a second nature.

It is good to be aware of the possible elements which can block the path towards a solution. The keyword here is “possible”. By being too negative we tend to inflate obstacles and discourage action while what we want is to be aware of them and find ways to go beyond.

When a new idea arrives, we should learn to see them as raw materials which need polishing, and reflect on what is positive about the options. Moreover, we can consider the detected or possible obstacles as challenges to overcome.

Try to develop more balanced responses to new ideas.

Take prudent risks

“A failure is an opportunity to start over again, but more intelligently.” H. Ford

Many people fear risk as sometimes risks can surely lead to failure. However creative thinking involves a certain amount of risk taking and not all the risks are equals.

The main point of generating ideas is to provide elements which will lead to a change. Voicing a potentiality of change can lead to discomfort though nothing fatal about it. Speaking up, or not, about an idea could turn your company into an Apple, from computer making company to a digital behemoth, or a Kodak, market leader brought to the brink of extinction by discarding a technology wave, numeric cameras, it created.

This principle is about willing to suggest whatever ideas pop up as raw material of solutions and not receive them as immutable final products.

Initial ideas have the potential to spark more practical solutions. They don’t all have to be winners. 

Conclusion

By separating generation from evaluation, testing assumptions, being aware of our thinking bias, observing the problem from different angle, minimising our inner negative critic, and accepting to take risks, we generate ideas as raw materials leading to solutions. They have the potential to spark innovation. Many won’t be winners though adopting a philosophy which remove a lot of pressure when generating them will pay off. Apply Now and join the event to learn more about innovation in business, with companies, in order to get things done.

You have been asked to supervise an intern or fresh colleague on a project you are familiar with. According to you, the tasks s/he will perform are simple even though they may take some time. However, the intern keeps coming back with tons of basic questions and imperfect implementations. You feel it is becoming a burden on your own tasks. For projects lasting more than a few weeks, you will find yourself with this big dilemma: let the intern learn and rise through the challenges or do the work yourself to get rid of the annoyance. Though the person has been put under your guidance. What about using such opportunities for raising leaders?

There is a difference between being able to do everything and doing everything. Every day, professionals received tasks and challenges that raise their competencies and abilities to solve a wide range of problems. Then comes a time you will be able to do everything in your field of responsibility. The wider the field, the busier you are. You are probably very good at your job, achieving high quality results. Unfortunately possibilities to grow beyond your current zone of influence and develop professionally are impeded.

By assigning you a person to supervise, your organisation is providing a growth opportunity. By allowing other people to acquire know-how on practices that you master, they are diffusing your it throughout the business and opening spaces for you to grow. The experience will reveal strengths and weaknesses of the working process and/or the people working on the project. Correcting process related errors will improve productivity and quality of the outcomes. The human made ones allow various kind of correction which will raise the fresh comer to the level of field seasoned professional. Because you are present, chances are that the consequences of the mistakes will be limited as you can help resolve them. Hence technical expertise, knowledge acquisition, skills honing, organisational management will become some of the many elements you will be able dedicate newly found extra time on your hand; allowing you to venture in new territories while the work keeps being performed at high level.

Importance of Delegation

Delegation is not just a management technique for freeing up the someone’s time. Delegation is a very helpful aid for personal development and succession planning. It allows everyone to gain experience and take responsibilities. It’s how we grow in the job.

As a provider of delegated tasks, you must ensure delegation happens properly. Here are some delegation tips:

Define the task

Make sure the task is clear for the person having to work on it. Very often, this may lead to writing a process which used to be performed or ensure comprehension and compliance if it was already written.

Assess ability and training needs

Ensure that the person can do the task and understand the expected result. If something is lacking, ensure s/he receive proper knowledge transfer or training.

State required results

Clarify understanding by getting the other person to provide feedback to the task. Make sure they know what is important and expectation leading towards a successful job.

Agree on deadlines

Ensure that the milestones and deadlines are clear and expected outcomes understood. You and the person on the task should agree on methods of checking and controlling work progression. Failing to agree in advance will cause the monitoring to seem like interference or lack of trust.

Feedback on result

It is essential to let the person know how they are doing, and whether they have achieved their aims. If not, you must review with them why things did not go to plan, and deal with the problems. You must absorb the consequences of failure, and pass on the credit for success.

Delegation marks a style of management which raises leaders; allowing any staff to use and develop their skills, and knowledge, to their full potential. It helps propagate best-practices throughout the organisation saving time and other resources. It contributes to increasing the capacity individuals, and the organisation, of taking ever more complex tasks for the advancement of the business. Apply Now and join the program that will prepare you to increase efficiency of your team and yourself.

Knowledge has been all around us from the beginning of times. Integrating it, passing it on and managing it has made possible all the advances we have nowadays. By knowledge, we mean a set of expertise, and skills acquired by a person or organisation through experience or education. Here is a reflection to move knowledge towards decision.

In business, being knowledgeable tend to give an edge on various transactions. It brings certainty and security to the present. It also provides useful hints on the near future. Knowledge is also a double-edged sword which can lead to paralysis, when we receive too much conflicting information. It also can mislead decision makers when analysts devise patterns in a place there is none.

The infogineering Model

Knowledge is acquired. The infogineering model explains how data, information, knowledge and decisions, relate to each other.  By understanding the relationships between these elements organisations can use data and information more effectively in our work and lives.

Data is a collection of discrete objects. It is also known as unprocessed information. Inside the spread sheet of excel in each cell we store data, on its own it does not give any information.

When we processed data, we get information.

Knowledge happens when we apply our experience, jurisdiction or judgement to the information we get. Knowledge is the result of learning.

Appropriate knowledge can enlighten decisions that every business make for their development.

About Knowledge Management

Once knowledge is created, it exists within the organisation. However, before one can reuse or share it, one should properly categorise information for others to recognise it. Knowledge management is the process of identifying, creating, distributing, using and managing the knowledge, insights and experiences of an organisation. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organisational processes or practice.

Knowledge Management in a community is important to make people understand and be an active part inside a community with a developed knowledge management culture, there are three points to emphasise:

• Will: the person needs to understand the importance and usefulness of the knowledge;
• Means: the person needs access to the tools that make participation possible;
• Skills: the person needs to be trained to put in practice the 2 points above.

From that concept, we can move towards Knowledge Discovery: a system that discovers the knowledge that the business possesses all over the organisation. Some systems extend into alerting users when something interesting becomes available within their daily workflow context.

Knowledge Management and Discovery lead to quality decision which are critical for business development, team management and personal growth. Apply Now and join us in March 2018 to explore this topic with various professionals.