A
Quiet
Passion
Consulting
In keeping with our overall philosophy, our consulting work aligns with what we define as the core characteristics that define value creating teams and organizations :
Flat
There should be robust decision making frameworks and clear points of managerial accountability, but limit hierarchy and don’t concentrate too much information in “top management” or throttle disseminated when you don't have to. Business and HR managers should continually undo bureaucracy creep, prune layers, outdated systems and redundant/unnecessary processes. What managers there are should be the highest quality and best trained, as they are significant leverage points of power (or destruction) for organizations. Good managers, rather than creating over-engineered top-heavy command and control structures, should add energy to the system, inspire compelling reasons to collaborate and foster emergent action: bottoms up, seemingly spontaneous self organization of individuals around common objectives.
Photo credit: AQPC
Photo credit: JSC
Open
Not only mature companies, but organizations based on technology and innovation can become insular, complacent, self obsessed and victim of “captive thinking” -- in other words, they can become stagnant, closed systems and therefore tend toward entropy, or disorganization/chaos. Maximize transparency, enhance knowledge exchange and innovate organizational design to reduce or attempt to dissolve boundaries across divisions, functions, teams, clusters etc. within a company as well as between it and the outside world. Create an environment where people do not hoard ideas or information and are not afraid to share facts even if they are not positive or seem "inconvenient." Work hard to bring people with different experiences and perspectives into the company and ensure they are accepted. The culture should encourage people to challenge consensus, raise doubts, flag possible unintended consequences, risks and potential problems. Truth seeking should be a core competency.
Diverse
Diversity of employees, managers and outside advisors such as boards is essential as it has been shown to correlate with enhanced value creation and better risk management. It is diversity not only of race and gender but also more broadly, of background, experience, intellectual perspective, and functional points of view--what we refer to as cognitive diversity. This requires active management and oversight of all processes to achieve. There needs to be buy-in and accountability for diversity across and up and down the organization, but focus on expertise and relevance not quotas. Instead of incremental changes for the sake of optics, diversity needs to be thought of as an important innovation, a new way of thinking--a disruptor.
Photo credit: AQPC
Engaged
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Much energy is spent on surveying, researching, measuring and evaluating workforce "engagement." But, while the focus generally falls on the employee side, there are two parts to the engagement equation: the employee and the manager. Engaged management should not be confused with "micromanaging." Engaged management means that team leaders as well as senior leadership are present and visible and deeply involved in what their people are doing, what motivates them, how to develop them, and what obstacles they face. They work in conjunction with employees to surface and evaluate ideas and to inspire individuals and teams that their work has meaning and purpose. Engaged managers are active and close listeners, they are transparent communicators, and they are proactively reading the subtle signs in the organization and they enable the success and energy of others.