Cracking Great Leaders Program
  • Home
    • About Human Energy
    • Attention all consultants
  • The Book
    • The Book
    • Reviews of the Book
    • Contents of the Book
    • Get the 1st & 8th chapters for free
    • Where to Buy the Book
  • The Programs
    • IP for sale
    • Who the Programs are for >
      • New consultants
      • CEOs wanting to change culture
      • HR & OD Specialists
      • Double check your suitability
    • The benefits
    • 23 Modules (workshops) >
      • Summary 23 Modules
      • 23 Modules >
        • How to Liberate Human Energy at Work
        • The Power of the Subconscious Mind
        • Understanding Ourselves and Others Thinking Preferences (HBDI) >
          • Could You Be Missing Out On Three-quarters of Your Business Opportunities?
        • Making the Most of Your Genius Factor
        • Building Your Personal Brand
        • Cooperation, Collaboration and Connectedness
        • Colour Your Customers and Staff
        • The Power of Questions
        • Managing Your Manager
        • Confidence, Influence & Personal Power
        • Trust & How to be a trusted advisor
        • My Personal Power Program
        • Strategic Thinking
        • Strategic Execution
        • Organisational Architecture
        • Systems Thinking in Business
        • Increasing Innovation and Ideas
        • Customer Service Tools
        • Improving processes & Eliminating unnecessary work
        • Networks
        • Review & Dragon's Den
      • Pamphlet for 23 Modules
      • To buy the Modules
    • The 8 Programs >
      • Strategy Program >
        • Who it is for
        • To buy the Program
      • Cracking Great Leaders Program >
        • A typical program
        • Who it is for
        • Case study: The Correspondence School
        • Program Pamphlet
        • To buy the Program
      • Customer Intimate Program >
        • Who it is for
        • Program Pamphlet
        • Case Study - interview with Canary Industries
        • To buy the Program
      • Thought Leader Program >
        • Who it is for
        • Program Pamphlet
        • Case Study HTS-110
        • To buy the Program
  • Free Stuff
    • Introduction >
      • Why we give it free
      • The Business World Is Changing >
        • Doing Business in a Changing World
    • Free consulting advice >
      • Getting started >
        • Are You in a Corporate Cage?
        • Your Personal Power Program
        • Taking the plunge to go consulting
        • It took me 25 years but it doesn't have to!
        • Save Yourself the Cringe-factor
        • How Consultants can remain positive
        • Answer Your Calling >
          • Do you want to make money or be happy?
          • The difference between a ‘job’ and a ‘calling’:
      • Finding customers >
        • How to be top of mind!
        • 7 ways to identify your best customers
        • How to get an appointment next time you want to catch up with your client
        • Stand in your customers' shoes
        • Why Consultants Can’t “Sell” and Clients Won’t “Buy”
        • Stop Closing
        • How to develop strong relationships
        • How to get more sales more quickly!
        • Going consulting? It’s all about relationships.
        • Should consultant treat clients the same or differently? >
          • The secret great consultants know
        • What are you selling?
      • Building trust >
        • The worst advice I got
        • Why Trust Matters
        • Why Trust is important
        • Why You Must Build Trust
      • Free diagnostics process >
        • Why diagnostics is important
        • Become the expert they ask for, listen to and pay higher fees to
      • Developing Products/IP >
        • Cracking Great Leaders Program
      • Measuring a project >
        • Assessing a project
      • Success is Beyond the Conscious Mind >
        • Body Language
        • Talking without words
    • Free workshop advice >
      • 10 secrets to running successful workshops
      • Setting up folders for workshops
      • A great icebreaker
      • Rules of the workshop
      • Setting expectations for the Program
      • Ancient wisdom on facilitation
    • Free leadership advice >
      • Is Your Biggest Asset Under-utilised? >
        • Your belief in scarcity could sabotage your success
        • How to empower your frontline to be as committed as you are
      • Develop your leadership skills >
        • How to be a more powerful manager
        • Leadership boils down to 3 things. Forget all the rest of the guff!New Page
        • To Be Successful You Need To Know Your Core Of Greatness. Do you?
        • What is your Genius Factor?
        • Operate beyond the conscious mind
        • Work with Human Nature, Not Against it
      • The Business of Love >
        • ​Unbounded Human Energy
        • Manage Body, Head, Heart & Soul
        • Manage energy fields
        • Focus on the Whole Person
        • Are Leaders Mentors or Tormentors?
        • Rescuing hug
      • Do your people pull together?
      • ​Leadership Development is on the Wrong Track
      • A Glass Ball or a Mirror? >
        • The Power of Vulnerability
    • Free Strategy Advice >
      • How To Complete Your Strategy in Two Days Rather than Two Months
      • Why 76% of Strategies fail. How to do it successfully
      • Is your strategy being hijacked by numbers?
      • How to implement strategy and get it right in a fraction of the time
    • Free Organisational Development Advice >
      • Old Ways of Managing Don’t Work for Online Workers
      • Todays management challenge is to evolve the management model
      • A 30,000 year view of where business is going.
      • Will business be the Breaker of the world or the Maker of the world?
      • Creating Unbounded Human Energy
      • Emergence changes the way we think about scale
      • Sweet-spot - organisation without top-down control
      • Culture for new age
    • Free HR Advice >
      • 3 simple steps for H.R. success at Top Table
      • Getting Top Management Attention
      • 2 Secrets To Make Leadership Development More Successful
    • Free videos
    • Free blog
  • Bruce Holland
    • Bruce Holland
    • Bruce's confession
    • Bruce's LinkedIn page
  • Contact

How The Smallest Behaviours Lead To The Biggest Changes

13/8/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Many managers are surprised to find the extent to which small behaviours make a big difference. As a result they tend to disregard these small behaviours to their detriment.

Here are a five examples:

In 1988 I was Group Strategic Planning Manager at the Bank of New Zealand. The day I joined the Bank (8/8/1988) the directors asked the government for a $350m bailout to stop the bank from going into liquidation. Three months later a new Chief Executive was appointed. One of the first things he did was to lock-off his personal lift that took him directly from the basement carpark to his 24th level office without stopping. This tiny change signalled something much bigger to Bank employees who until then had seldom seen the CEO let alone travelled in the lift with him. Of course there were many other things that happened but it was an inspired first step. Three years later the Bank went from bottom to first or second in most industry indicators and was sold for $1.5b to National Australia Bank in 1992.

One of my favourite managers took over as Interim CEO of a major vehicle testing organisation and I asked one of his second-level managers how he was getting on. He said the difference was amazing and immediate. He said that when the previous CEO had come out of the lift he turned left and walked directly to his office without passing anyone else. When the Interim Manager came out of the lift he turned right and took a slightly longer route that took him passed every staff member before going to his office. This tiny change showed that he cared, made him more visible and kept him in touch.

I was facilitating an empowerment process in an engineering company. Nothing we did had any effect until the clock-card machines were removed. This tiny change symbolised trust, respect and equality. 

I was facilitating the implementation of a customer-first strategy in an Electricity company. Two small behavioural changes made a major difference. First, everybody (including the CEO) was rostered to answer customer queries on the phone; this not only sent a powerful message to the customers who were sometimes surprised to find themselves talking to the boss, but also kept the CEO and his top team more closely in touch with what mattered to customers. Second, they installed a large electronic message board at the front of the office. It lit up immediately the phone rang and clocked-up the number of seconds before the phone was answered. 

One of my colleagues was the Manager of a large New Zealand bank that had a “customer first” strategy. They discovered a computer error that resulted in a large number of customers being over-charged by a small amount. The amount was so small it would have been tempting to forget about refunding the over-charge; after-all, the customers didn’t know about the problem, and the fix was far greater than the refunds. By fixing the over-charge they reinforced the importance of customers and symbolised the importance of doing the right thing no matter what the cost.

I have dozens of other examples but I hope these five have made the point: Managers disregard small behaviours to their detriment. 

This may sound strange to many managers fixed in a mechanical mind-set; but, it makes total sense  to those  who understand Systems, Complexity Theory and Emergence. I may get into this in a later post. Heads-up: ever heard of the “butterfly effect”? In the meantime if any of your people need beefing up in these areas please let me know.

Bruce Holland

0 Comments

Consultants get a bad rap. Is it deserved?

2/5/2019

0 Comments

 
When I mention to people that I am a consultant they sometimes think it is somewhat distasteful. Even my wife has joked that I am a “conslutant.”

I’m sure you have heard the joke, “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time, and then keeps the watch.” Well, I’m sure that some consultants deserve a bad press; but so do some policemen and some priests. Others provide real benefit. They work for a cause, know who they are and how they add value.

Who you are is who you decide to be, what you decide to do, and who you decide to work with. My work has always been about ‘Liberating human energy at work.” It’s how I assess each assignment before accepting it. The people I chose to work with believe in their people, usually more than the people believe in themselves.

I have always chosen my assignments by answering positively to three questions:
  1. Will this be positive for me?
  2. Will this be positive for others?
  3. Will this be positive for the planet?

Bruce Holland 
0 Comments

The worst advice I got when going consulting

31/1/2019

0 Comments

 
​The worst advice I got when going consulting

When I went consulting in 1992 I received some really bad advice from a partner of one of the big 3 consulting companies. He recommended I use the “FUD Factor” which he described as “Fear”, “Uncertainty” and “Doubt”. In other words scare the hell out of clients so they would want to buy your services to fix the problems.

This turned out to be exactly the wrong approach. When clients focus on problems they only find more problems. It leads them to see parts rather than the whole. Worst of all it drains the client of energy and ideas.

I found a far better approach was the “HOPE Factor” which I describe as “Hope”, Opportunities”, Positiveness” and “Energy”. In other words to focus on “what could be”, “what they hoped for” and “what is working at present” that we could amplify. When clients focus on possibilities, they see possibilities everywhere. It leads them to see the whole as it could be. Best of all it increases energy and ideas and they create what they focus on. 

It’s the way to become an essential ingredient to your clients’ biggest hopes.
0 Comments

January 17th, 2019

17/1/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Many Internal and External Experts feel that their skills are not appreciated enough by top managers and the Board. It’s really frustrating to have studied and mastered a discipline that should be critical, only to be ignored. I’ve heard this complaint from HR Managers, IT Managers, Accountants, Strategy Managers, Risk Managers and external consultants.

An interesting study reported in the Harvard Business Review, July-August 2013, shows why some Experts (Influential Experts) manage to be central to Top Management decision-making and others are dismissed as “just technicians” or “just required for compliance”.

The study shows that “Influential Experts” have strengths in four key competencies (as shown in Chart 1 below):

Trailblazing. The ability to find new uses for expertise. Individuals high in this competency cast a wide net in order to identify and frame issues that top management has not adequately addressed. They understand the business and the environment and how their expertise can add value to the business.

Toolmaking. The ability to develop and deploy tools that embody and spread expertise. Individuals high in this competency are able to develop tools that help chief executives analyse and interpret important issues. These tools include reports, budgets, scenario planning, business models, technical models and other thinking frameworks.

Teamwork. The ability to work with other managers to use their expertise and convince them of the relevance of their expertise. Individuals high in this competency are able to co-opt people into collaborating on the creation and improvement of tools, seeking out their feedback and incorporating it into the design.

Translation. The ability to personally help decision-makers understand complex content. Individuals high in this competency are able to explain complex issues simply, in a language and context that chief executives understand.
Picture
​At the other end of the influential scale are “Compliance Experts” (see Chart 2). They are tolerated because of some legal or regulatory requirement but seldom listened to where it matters; because they are only skilled in building their tools. Think of the classic bean-counter.
Picture
​Nearly as non-influential are “Technical Experts (see Chart 3). They know about toolmaking and even trailblazing but are dismissed because they lack the ability to translate their expertise and are unable to work with other managers. I once worked in a major bank where the Strategy Manager and Finance Manager (in charge of budgets) were competing for influence and worked almost independently of each other. As a result, when the budgets were completed, they had no relationship to the strategies the organisation had agreed to. 
Picture
“Business Partners” (see Chart 4) have more (but still limited) influence; because their influence depends on the managers personal involvement with senior executives. I saw this happen in the bank where sometimes bankers with no expertise in the discipline where promoted into functional roles such as HR or IT but did not have the technical skills to succeed. The wise ones relied more on the experts on their staff, and gave them more freedom and exposure than the others.

​Bruce Holland
0 Comments

How consultants can standout and be noticed

14/1/2019

0 Comments

 
To standout and be noticed you must stand for something important. It must be something different. You must become remarkable, like a “purple cow”. As Seth Godin said in his book of the same name; you need people to tell others about you in the same way they’d tell others if they saw a purple cow. 

You don’t need everyone to like you, but those who like you must like you enough to tell their friends. When I started out I aimed to attract 10%. Today with the reach of the internet the percent is probably far smaller. I had no more than 20 fans but these people kept coming back and they recommended me to others who were like them: birds of a feather.

Don’t worry too much about words. People forget them. Speak more than write. Better still, do something that’s a symbol of what you stand for. It’s how you act and look that matters more. People will never forget about how you made them feel. Simplify it.

I had a background in large corporates and I was concerned that people were giving only a small fraction of themselves to work. I saw that this was largely due to the way they were managed and the structures they worked in. I was determined to change it. 

As a founder of Virtual Group we launched our consultancy in a pinstriped tent in a park in front of the tower blocks of our major competitors. Nearly 30 years ago at the height of the rational, neoliberal ideas it did not appeal to most potential clients. But it was different. It was remarkable. It was a symbol of pinstriped quality, canvass-thin overheads, flexibility and what’s possible if you remove all the unnecessary barriers. We called it: “wisdom without walls” and my personal message was “liberating human energy at work”. Nearly 30 years later these remain the things that sustain me and the things people remember about me.

How will you standout? How will you be different? What will people remark about you?

Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other internal and external consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property to help their clients develop organisational genius and strengthen their human energy fields.

Bruce is also a mentor at GoConsult.nz. The early years of consulting can be a jungle with many risks before the rewards. GoConsult.nz mentors help maximise the rewards of consulting and minimise the risks of transition. GoConsult.nz products include 23 ready-made workshops that reduce the time it will take you to become successful.
0 Comments

Going consulting? How to be much more successful. Know your fingerprint of "smarts"

4/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
If you are going consulting it’s important to understand your “smarts” and what makes you special because this is what your consulting clients will be buying. 
Your fingerprint of intelligence is what makes you special. Like your other fingerprint, it is something that is unique to you, yet many people don’t think about it.
Everyone has a different fingerprint of intelligence
There are nine types of “smarts”:
  1. Linguistic ("word smart")
  2. Musical ("music smart")
  3. Logical-mathematical ("number/reasoning smart")
  4. Spatial ("picture/strategic smart")
  5. Bodily-kinesthetic ("body smart")
  6. Interpersonal ("people smart")
  7. Intrapersonal ("self smart")
  8. Naturalist ("nature smart")
  9. Spiritual/Existential ("purpose smart”).
Example of Bruce Holland
Bruce's Intelligences are from strongest to weakest are: 
  1. Strategic smart
  2. Purpose smart
  3. Self smart
  4. People smart
  5. Word smart
  6. Reasoning smart
  7. Nature smart
  8. Music smart
  9. Body smart.
The fingerprint you will need for success depends on your field of consulting. For example Bruce Holland’s consulting has been mostly in Strategy and Leadership development.
For strategy the most important intelligences are:
  1. Strategic smarts is important, first, to be able to see how the organisations fits into its environment, second, how the parts could fit together better to make the whole stronger, third, to see what’s missing from the whole, and fourth, to see what’s important so they can focus their resources at this point.
  2. People smarts is important because everyone is different. It’s important to understand the client and what drives them and what makes them special, even if they don’t know this themselves. If you treat them all the same (or the way you like to be treated) you will get lukewarm results. If you treat them how they want to be treated you’ll get magic. 
  3. Self smart is important because if you don’t understand yourself on the inside there is no way you can be strong on the outside. If you don’t know who you are, there is no way anyone else can know who you are, and you’ll lack authenticity.
  4. Purpose smart has been important to me from the start. I have always had a very clear understanding about my purpose (To Liberate Human Energy at Work) and this has strengthened me whenever I worried whether I was brave enough to approach someone who seemed important and it also carried me through down times that inevitably happen.
For leadership development the fingerprint required is a bit different. People smart is probably the most important followed by self smart and purpose smart. People smart is vital to understand the person, their needs, what drives them, what is holding them back, how to communicate in words that they will understand, otherwise, you will struggle to add value to them. Again, self smart is vital for your authenticity. Purpose smart is important because unless you believe strongly why you were put on Earth you will probably not believe strongly enough that other person also has a purpose, especially if they have no idea about it themselves. For leadership development strategy smart is less important.
Recommended process
I recommend you ask at least 6 people who you trust and who know you well to rank your “Smarts” from 1 to 9. Then think very carefully about the smarts that are most important for your area of consulting. Make sure there is a close match or find some way to overcome any deficits.
Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property to help their clients develop organisational genius and strengthen their human energy fields.
Bruce is also a mentor at GoConsult.nz. The early years of consulting can be a jungle with many risks before the rewards. GoConsult.nz has mentors and ready-made products to help maximise the rewards of consulting and minimise the risks of transition.
0 Comments

How consultants can standout and be noticed

4/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
To standout and be noticed you must stand for something important. It must be something different. You must become remarkable, like a “purple cow”. As Seth Godin said in his book of the same name; you need people to tell others about you in the same way they’d tell others if they saw a purple cow. 

You don’t need everyone to like you, but those who like you must like you enough to tell their friends. When I started out I aimed to attract 10%. Today with the reach of the internet the percent is probably far smaller. I had no more than 20 fans but these people kept coming back and they recommended me to others who were like them: birds of a feather.

Don’t worry too much about words. People forget them. Speak more than write. Better till, do something that’s a symbol of what you stand for. It’s how you act and look that matters more. People will never forget about how you made them feel. Simplify it.

I had a background in large corporates and I was concerned that people were giving only a small fraction of themselves to work. I saw that this was largely due to the way they were managed and the structures they worked in. I was determined to change it. 

As a founder of Virtual Group we launched our consultancy in a pinstriped tent in a park in front of the tower blocks of our major competitors. Nearly 30 years ago at the height of the rational, neoliberal ideas it did not appeal to most potential clients. But it was different. It was remarkable. It was a symbol of pinstriped quality, canvass-thin overheads, flexibility and what’s possible if you remove all the unnecessary barriers. We called it: “wisdom without walls” and my personal message was “liberating human energy at work”. Nearly 30 years later these remain the things that sustain me and the things people remember about me.

How will you standout? How will you be different? What will people remark about you?

Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other internal and external consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property to help their clients develop organisational genius and strengthen their human energy fields.

Bruce is also a mentor at GoConsult.nz. The early years of consulting can be a jungle with many risks before the rewards. GoConsult.nz mentors help maximise the rewards of consulting and minimise the risks of transition. GoConsult.nz products include 23 ready-made workshops that reduce the time it will take you to become successful.
0 Comments

Do you want to be a Consultant or  a Conslutant?

12/12/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
When I mention to people that I am a consultant they sometimes think it is somewhat distasteful. Even my wife has joked that I am a “conslutant.”

I’m sure you have heard the joke, “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time, and then keeps the watch.” Well, I’m sure that some consultants deserve a bad press; but so do some policemen and some priests.

Who you are is who you decide to be, what you decide to do, and who you decide to work with. My work has always been about ‘Liberating human energy at work.” It’s how I assess each assignment before accepting it. The people I chose to work with believe in their people, usually more than the people believe in themselves.

I have always chosen my assignments by answering positively to three questions:

  1. Will this be positive for me?
  2. Will this be positive for others?
  3. Will this be positive for the planet?​
Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property to help their clients develop organisational genius and strengthen their human energy fields.
0 Comments

How Could I have Been So Blind?

3/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
You’ve probably heard the story about the blind men who were trying to describe an elephant. The first touched its ear and said, “It's a great big fan.” The second touched its trunk and said, “No, it’s an enormous snake.” The third touched its leg and said, “It’s a column”. The fourth touched its tail and said, “It’s a hose”. The fifth said, “It’s a solid wall”.

Each ‘saw’ the parts but not the whole. This is really important because the elephant is so much more than its parts. Describing the parts gives us no idea about the power and intelligence of such a magnificent beast.

In a similar way, for the last few years, I have been studying four subjects in isolation. These are: 
  1. Systems (watch the video),
  2. Complexity, 
  3. Networks (watch the video) and 
  4. Chaos.

Each is a fascinating subject in its own right and each has provided me with loads of deep insights into how to do business more successfully in a changing world. But my intuition is that I may have been looking at the parts and not seeing the elephant. I may have missed the most important part.

I think I’m getting closer to seeing the ‘elephant’ but it remains frustratingly fuzzy and any insights you have would be very welcome. Before I describe my understanding of the ‘elephant’ I want to briefly describe the four subjects independently.

1. Systems

When you learn to look for them, systems are everywhere. Systems Thinking is about seeing the parts and the whole as well as the relationships between the parts and the whole including whats outside the whole. For example, in the case of the elephant, systems is about seeing the ears, the trunk, the legs, the tail and all the other parts of the elephant as well as the elephant as a whole and the relationship between all the parts and the elephant and the elephant and its environment. 

Without understanding Systems, managers are more likely to make decisions that may fix some short-term localised problem, only to find that the problem pops up somewhere else in the organisation or at a later time.

Without understanding Systems, managers are more likely to focus on their silos, ready to do battle for turf and avoid anything that will make them look bad. 

But when managers are trained in Systems and have the tools to see the connections and the whole, they are more likely to work together for the benefit of the whole organisation.

2. Complexity

The study of Complexity is about how things are organised in relation to each other. Physicists used to see their science as the study of matter; today they are seeing it as the study of how matter is organised and relates to each other. For example, ice, water and steam can all be described as H2O but the properties of each state are very different because of the way oxygen and hydrogen atoms are organised and relate to each other.

What many managers see as a complicated mishmash becomes far more simple when they start to see things in terms of fractals of a complex living system. 

Complexity shows that throughout the natural world, organisation is largely bottom up; only man would be arrogant and stupid enough to structure business in such a top down way. Rather than focusing on rigid hierarchical power structure, business enterprises are better conceived of as a web of nested parts all shaped into the same pattern as the whole. 

In my opinion the biggest benefit from studying complexity is how complex behaviour emerges from the simplest behaviours at a local level. Examples include: human brains, the Internet, the economy, the ecosystem, many animal behaviours like fish in schools and birds in flocks and humans self manage when trusted to work together.

Comlexity is important to business because, unless managers understand it they undervalue emergence, and nearly everything of value emerges from people following some simple rules. These include: teamwork, communication, trust, customer service and culture.

3. Network Science

Networks are about flows and connections. Networks are important to business because, unless managers understand networks they think they are managing a hierarchy (organisational tree) and act accordingly, whereas they are more likely to be managing a network of relationships, and this is managed in a completely different way. You can control and constrain a hierarchy, but a network can only be influenced, prodded, and guided in the right direction.

Networks can describe how people actually work; such as who they communicate with, who they get information from. This is important to business because the most valuable people are not always at the top of the tree or even known to the management team. Unless managers understand how information really flows in their organisation and how decisions are really made they are likely to undervalue people with critical process and customer knowledge.

In the last 10 years, mainly as a result of computer and communication research, the Laws of Networks have been codified and a whole new science of networks has been developed.

4. Chaos Theory

For the last 30 years Chaos scientists have known there is a “sweet spot” at which all living systems have the ability to self-organise or “emerge” without any top-down control. This sweet spot occurs near what scientists call the “edge of chaos”. This is where the system is delicately poised between one steady state and another steady state. 

In nature, these transitions occur often, especially in living systems. The membrane of every living cell is delicately poised between a solid state and a liquid state (on the edge of chaos). This is what makes life so creative; change a single protein molecule and you can produce enormous changes in the function of the cell. Brain activity lies on the edge of chaos. This is why random thoughts pop into your head. This provides brains with their amazing capacity to process information and rapidly adapt to our ever-changing environment.

The membrane of a living cell is a wonderful image to help managers think of their business: just ordered enough to give some sort of form/meaning and open enough to its environment to allow movement (of people, ideas and information) in and out of the organisation and just closed enough to have an identity.

Chaos is important to business because when managers understand Chaos they are less more to allow their organisation to move towards the sweet-spot. Otherwise they are more likely to make their organisation too ordered, too top-down, too controlled, too centralised. The paradox is that over-control leads to less order and less-control leads to more order. When too much order doesn’t work (and it won’t because it can’t) these managers flip to the opposite extreme and the system becomes too disordered and behaves like mob-rule with a great deal of energy wasted fighting turf battles and trying to survive and protect against unruly behaviour. Many managers dance a mad waltz. Round and round they go, flip-flopping from centralisation to decentralisation. It’s a never-ending, soul-destroying, energy-sapping dance; and it’s totally unnecessary.

It's important to understand that the sweet-spot is a law of nature. You don't manage your way towards the sweet spot. Instead, you need to do the opposite — remove restrictions and barriers and trust the system to gravitate to the sweet-spot. Chaos shows why to open your organisation, remove barriers, break down walls, remove silos.

Understanding Chaos is also important because close to chaos small things can lead to major results and certain points in a system have strong leverage points. It’s called the “butterfly affect.” Its like a client of mine said: “big doors swing on small hinges”.

What’s the Elephant?

From the brief description of the four subjects I hope you can see that there are many areas of similarity between them. But the big question for me is am I being blind?: Am I seeing the elephant?

My hunch is that the elephant is about connectedness based on life-force energy and vibrational resonance. By connectedness I mean relationships and belonging.

For years sociologists have known that the need for belonging is one of the deepest of all human needs — maybe as deep is the need for food. It seems that physicists studying systems, complexity, networks and chaos are now saying the same thing.

If my hunch is right then connectedness, relationships, belonging and life-force are much more important than most managers and management theory suggests. 

If my hunch is true the key to leadership is:
  1. To connect to ourselves, so we know deeply who we are and can work more authentically and effectively. This is what I call the world within.
  2. To connect to each other so that we can work together to achieve more than on our own. This is what I call the world between.
  3. To connect to the world so that virtuous energy and forces emerge (like love, truth and beauty, relationships, culture, understanding; and trust) and reduce vicious energy and forces (like shame, guilt, and fear). This is what I call the world outside.

Can you help me inch closer to a deeper understanding? I’d be very grateful. Listen to your head and your heart and let me know.

Bruce.

Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property.






0 Comments

Two schools of Strategy: 1. Logic and 2.Magic

27/6/2017

0 Comments

 
To think about anything requires a mental model or an image of it. To think about an organisation requires a vision and a strategic framework that makes sense of the whole. 

It’s like the story by Remi from ancient Persian literature. The story is about a group of people who encounter a strange object in complete darkness. Since the storyteller is in the dark himself, he cannot provide a clue about the object. All the efforts to identify the object by touching its different parts prove fruitless until someone arrives with a light. Rumi’s story shows that the ability to see the whole requires an enabling light in the form of a methodology or mental model.

A shared mental image is at the centre of any process for changing an organisation. This is why visions and strategic frameworks are so important. They provide the light. Getting a senior team together from different perspectives can be just as frustrating. The Marketing Manager sees it as a customer issue, while the Production Manager sees it as a product issue, and the Finance Manager sees it as a cash flow issue.

Starting with an analytical approach is equally frustrating and limiting. Here is what the Harvard Review article (Sept. 2012) said:, “Bring Science to the Art of Strategy” said:

“Strategic planners pride themselves on their rigor. Strategies are supposed to be driven by numbers and extensive analysis and uncontaminated by bias, judgment, or opinion. The larger the spreadsheets, the more confident an organization is in its process. All those numbers, all those analyses, feel scientific, and in the modern world, “scientific” equals “good.”
“Yet if that’s the case, why do the operations managers in most large and midsize firms dread the annual strategic planning ritual? Why does it consume so much time and have so little impact on company actions? Talk to those managers, and you will most likely uncover a deeper frustration: the sense that strategic planning does not produce novel strategies. Instead, it perpetuates the status quo.”

Two schools of thought


The Logic school of thought is by far the most common, however, on its own it is seriously lacking. It is based on several unspoken assumptions that are highly questionable:
  1. That you can create a powerful vision of the future after thinking extensively about the present. In my experience, thinking too deeply about the present tends to limit the possibilities considered for the vision. 
  2. That analysts are the best people to drive the Strategic Process. In my experience Line Managers are far better drivers of strategy because they understand the issues and reality in the market place. They are also the people who must execute the strategies and therefore their ownership is vital. Managers do not have sufficient ownership or understanding when strategies are presented to them by analysts.
  3. That the ideas needed to create a winning strategy do not exist within the organisation and need to be imported from outside. In my experience this is simply untrue. I think it’s vital to have an outsider to lead the Process so they can challenge thinking that is not strategic or innovative enough; but I’ve found the content is always available from within.​
Picture
Both schools have their strengths and weaknesses. It would be wrong to disregard either; however, in my experience most western organisations rely far too much on the linear approach. As a result, many strategic workshops are boring, and not nearly as successful as they could be. 

Bruce Holland is the author of the book: Cracking Great Leaders Liberate Human Energy at Work and the supporting Program designed for other consultants who don’t have the skills or time to develop their own intellectual property.
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Author

    Bruce Holland is the author of the book Cracking Great Leaders and developer of the Cracking Great Leaders Program.

    Archives

    August 2020
    May 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed