Here’s a great speech from Gary Hamel, one of our favorite management thinkers. In this video he talks about the management challenges we are facing today and explains key aspects of modern management models that you need to be successful.
Competitive advantage as we know it has vanished. The value of knowledge is declining everyday because it dissipates so quickly. The game is about “how fast can I create new knowledge?” To excel at in this game you need to:
1. Change as fast as change itself.
2. Make sure innovation is the work of everyone all the time.
3. Get your people to bring you the gifts of their creativity.
The management models that go with this are:
1. Adaptive
2. Supporting innovation
3. Engaging
The key question is; how do you get this done in a large corporate? First of all there is a mind shift where managers morph into being leaders and facilitators. They are no longer dictating what needs to be done, but should answer the question: “How are you helping your employees succeed in their job?”
Secondly a lot can be learned from the Web. The web is an immensely innovative ecosystem that is constantly changing. Much of this is caused by some deep values:
1. Openness
2. Meritocracy
3. Flexibility
4. Collaboration
To summarize Hamel’s speech: companies should start to lead and facilitate their employees to succeed and become an ecosystem with deep values comparable to the values the internet has.
We agree with Hamel’s take on management 2.0. Social business can be a great facilitator of the process of moving a company to a state where they again become more competitive. Social business potentially holds the same values as the Web and can bring a tremendous pace of change to a company. However, many organizations will try to resist these values at first. With our programs we help our clients find fertile ground for change. In these sweet spots we carefully create and nourish the right examples. You will not succeed in creating core values like openness, meritocracy, flexibility, and collaboration by dictating your employees. It is through creating the right examples and encouraging people to follow those examples that you will manage to evolve into a competitive organization.
OrangeTrail’s perfect track record is due to our unique combination of skills and experience of change management and social business.
Enjoy the video!
