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Social Collaboration, or social business, is becoming a more common term in the workforce. With the advancements of social networks, mobile and cloud 
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Today's teams are not well designed for getting work done in the twenty-first century, argues Professor Amy C. Edmondson . One starting point: learn the skill of teaming.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Take care of the point If you are not careful you will miss the point of Amy Edmondson's book - teaming is a necessary skill - not only for the organization but for individuals. However, most organizations have not desinged work to take advantage of the power of team work or to develop teaming skills. Project teams do not create the same type of team skills that work teams (longer term single focused teams) create. What's the difference? Imagine that you are are asked to join a scouting patrol on a battlefield. Your choice is to work in a unit where the team members are picked at random and then disband at the end of the patrol. The other choice is with a team that has had the same team members for several weeks...maybe months. Which one would you trust to have the skills necessary to succeed? In most cases, the second team would be my choice. The best team skills are developed in small units (6-8 being most ideal) with enough time to challenge, test and develop each member and the group as a whole. For many years now, organizations skipped basic work team formations and have tried to work soley with temporary project teams. They have done this to take short cuts to results. However, when you bypass they flow of work in the usual organization integration and sustainability becomes problematic. What's the opportunity? Work system design...or redesign. Design work systems where teams are the main unit of work. Make sure you support the success of these teams and your temporary project teams will get better...automatically. In the late 80's and early 90's significant effort was put in by some organizations to do just that they redesigned work to maximize the performance of team units. They were called self-managing, or self-directed, or "work cells". Results were mixed depending upon the design and understanding of leadership of how Team System functions and how to sustain results and maintain skills. Those that did this well found they were also significantly more successful with temporary, project teams. Work today is not more fast paced than before - it just looks like it is due to the chaos most organizations create with ineffective work design and disconnected processes, and inadequete tools.
Do you want to move forward with your teams? Try taking a step back and rethinking how work should...well, work. Billy Bennett and Pyramid ODI have helped a number of organizaitons revitalize performance with improved design of teambased work systems>
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Here are four trends the author believes we’ll see in 2013. Via The Learning Factor, Paul Thomen
Billy R Bennett's insight:
There many trend predictors out there at this time of the year. This looks to be a good one. When you see data actually showing trends, it adds to the story. These are interesting and applicable to your organization. Billy
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By Billy Bennett Failure can be a great teacher. I prefer to call them “Do-Overs.” A good review of initiatives always asks three questions: 1. What did we do? … 2. How did we do...
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The Hospitalist OnlineThe Hospital Home Team: Physicians Increase Focus on Inpatient CareThe Hospitalist OnlineFor most of my medical career, the hospital functioned more as a swap meet, where every physician had his or her own booth, than as an...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
You may have seen some of the other articles I have curated on this same topic in our Organization Design magazine. If you want to see Alignment of People in systems keep your eyes focused on healthcare. All over the world the realignment of people is taking place in a rapid fashion. There is an understanding that the hospital will become the home base team for much of care delivery. That can be a very good thing - however there is much work to be done developing the team system and collaborative behaviors necessary to pull it off. Billy Bennett
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Six years ago, Cleveland Clinic got rid of all its employees. This was no small task. Cleveland Clinic is the second largest private employer in Ohio. We had 40,000 people on our payroll. But as of 2
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I promised to curate the next article by Daryl Conner on the four types of burning platforms stories and how they are used in org change work. Well, here it is -- and it is really good.
Any leader, business, or consultant needs to know the particulars in this article. Here is a sneak preview -- the burning platforms stories are NOT really about creating urgency for change. I appreciate Daryl for clearing up these misconceptions about this story. And don't forget to read his first blog post about the burning platform that I curated below. This review is written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Karen Dietz curated this article by Daryl Conner on four types of burning platforms. A burning platform is a concept leaders use to define the reason for change. As Daryl points out this may be based on a negative problem based appeal or a positive, future opportunity. Which is better? Research on personal change has reported greater long term success with positive images. In most serious change projects, we usually use both. You cannot and should not hide business challenges from employees. However, once they understand the challenge they will then want to hear your reasoning about why they should consider giving more of themselves to the organization. I would make it good.
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Wharton JournalJamie Peace (WG'13) : Leadership under FireWharton JournalHumility and Empowering subordinates: Jamie built endearing followership with his subordinates by accepting his mistakes candidly and regularly engaging in feedback sessions...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Jamie Peace is a Wharton student with 10 years of military service. In this student profile, every aspiring leader should take a few tips from someone who leads facing each day where the consequences of decisions are life or death. So what does a life or death leader rely on? 1. Being a student of leadership 2. Confidence, Competence, & Proficiency 3. Humility & Empowering Subordinates 4. Setting The Example Yep. That's the guy I would follow if I had a choice. What about you? Who do you want as your son or daughter's leader in harm's way? I know... I bet you want the guy who has all the answers and gives great powerpoint presentations. Why is is that when I walk into a failing or soon to fail workplace the leaders rarely check any of these boxes? In the past six months most western businesses have been working through some of the most difficult times since the Great Depression. So was working on your leadership skills at the top of your list? Perhaps you should test yourself on the last six months...
You do not want to compare your pay and responsibilities with the pay and responsibilities of Jamie Peace as he was leading in Afghanistan. I know I don't. As a U.S. taxpayer, I believe we got our money's worth. I wonder if my shareholders and customers would say the same about me? What about you?
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How To Win At Office PoliticsForbesWin at office politics by getting alignment around a shared purpose first and then taking a principle-based approach to navigating through the politics. Let's unpack ...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
It all starts with purpose doesn't it? Politics is such a dirty word these days. It conjours thoughts of divisiveness more than alignment. However, as George Bradt so rightly points out "Even if you’d like to pretend your organization is politics-free, it isn’t. Even if you’d like to ignore the politics and get on with the real work, you can’t. Politics is a good thing. It is the process of influencing ideas. How you use or play the process is a different story. Are you advancing organization sucess, personal gain, or both? Just what is your political agenda? We all have one. Yes even you. So you had better put a little thought into it. George says to start by..
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Recently, I had two similar meetings. Each began with “we tried [fill in the blank] …. but it didn’t work” Meeting #1 was with a CEO. He told me of their initiatives to engage a very...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Do you find that your initiatives just don't work when they really should? Could be that you the trust issues are worse than you anticipated. Our latest blog post as we continue to develop the thinking around Aligning People Skills #2 Cultivating Trust Billy Bennett is CEO of Pyramid ODI. Pyramid helps organizations build "great work and workplaces" www.pyramidoi.com
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How Has the Rise of Physician Employment Changed Hospitals' Recruitment ...Becker's Hospital ReviewThe answer depends on whether physicians are appointed to leadership positions, whether incentives are aligned, and other determinants.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Our U.S. healthcare model is changing - and changing fast. This articles mainly focuses on recruiting but a few lines give a glimpse at how significant that change is becoming. Here are the drivers: Hospitals facing a growing shift from fee for service to performance based payments are realizing they need to redesign and build a well organized delivery system with the doctor as team leader and team player. Physicians - who were rarely great at managing a business - are bailing on private practice and choosing to do what they do best - practice medicine. The smart CEO is the one putting resources into redesigning the organization and its processes to support the meeting of these two strategic drivers. This will take time but hospital leaders can start today:
Start with picking a starting place- a "mini system" where you can focus on specific services and outcome areas. Pick an area where you can compete and have a good chance of becoming a game changer in your market if you get it right. Pull together organization design resources AND process improvement resources. Make sure they know how to involve everyone in this mini system - medical staff (nursing, physician assistants, etc) , administrative. This is not just a process change - it is not just "leaning and aligning" this is total system change. Get people excited and passionate about delivering real results. Get staff out to see great delivery examples. Drive learning and application from those visits. Start building a true shared vision among all of the people who will need to play in the system. Provide opportunities to bring ideas into the design our your new mini-system. The right physicians will get excited as well. Soon, recruiting becomes easy. Be Aggressive. If you build it, they will come. Don't worry if you do not have the medical staff yet. As this article implies they will come but you need something for them to come to. Hence the reason for starting with the model mini-system first. However, you must be aggressive. Mini-systems cannot stand on their own for long. To survive you must build out other services soon after. Remember ...This is not just a process change - it is not just "leaning and aligning" this is total system change. Billy Bennett is CEO of Pyramid ODI. Pyramid helps organizations build "great work and workplaces"
Billy R Bennett's curator insight,
November 29, 2012 11:55 PM
Our U.S. healthcare model is changing - and changing fast. This articles mainly focuses on recruiting but a few lines give a glimpse at how significant that change is becoming. Here are the drivers: Hospitals facing a growing shift from fee for service to performance based payments are realizing they need to redesign and build a well organized delivery system with the doctor as team leader and team player. Physicians - who were rarely great at managing a business - are bailing on private practice and choosing to do what they do best - practice medicine. The smart CEO is the one putting resources into redesigning the organization and its processes to support the meeting of these two strategic drivers. This will take time but hospital leaders can start today:
Start with picking a starting place- a "mini system" where you can focus on specific services and outcome areas. Pick an area where you can compete and have a good chance of becoming a game changer in your market if you get it right. Pull together organization design resources AND process improvement resources. Make sure they know how to involve everyone in this mini system - medical staff (nursing, physician assistants, etc) , administrative. This is not just a process change - it is not just "leaning and aligning" this is total system change. Get people excited and passionate about delivering real results. Get staff out to see great delivery examples. Drive learning and application from those visits. Start building a true shared vision among all of the people who will need to play in the system. Provide opportunities to bring ideas into the design our your new mini-system. The right physicians will get excited as well. Soon, recruiting becomes easy. Be Aggressive. If you build it, they will come. Don't worry if you do not have the medical staff yet. As this article implies they will come but you need something for them to come to. Hence the reason for starting with the model mini-system first. However, you must be aggressive. Mini-systems cannot stand on their own for long. To survive you must build out other services soon after. Remember ...This is not just a process change - it is not just "leaning and aligning" this is total system change. Billy Bennett is CEO of Pyramid ODI. Pyramid helps organizations build "great work and workplaces"
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Support Your Team... Quietlyblogs.hbr.org (blog)Harvard Business Review. Sponsored by. The Magazine · Blogs · Audio & Video · Books · Webinars · Courses · Store · Most Popular · HBR Blog Network. Support Your Team... For a short article, this can be heavy reading. Unless, like me, you are a behavioral science geek who loves sniffing out interesting research. Recent research by Niall Bolger from Columbia University looked at the differences between implicit and explicit caring and the impact on outcome. Or in non-jargon If you see someone in emotional distress due to a recent failure or challenging situation - How direct should you be in your help? The research says don't be too direct. Direct (explicit) help is telling. It is prescriptive. It is standing above or behind the person. It is directive. "You should..." " Go and say..." It is what a boss might say to a subordinate. Indirect (implicit) help is thinking out loud. It is showing empathy. It is standing alongside the person: "If I were in your shoes I would feel..." " I might be thinking..." "When I was in a similar situation it really made me feel..." "I made the mistake of ... " "If I had it to do over again..."
It is what a peer might say to a colleague. Once again, we learn that peers and friends can have more influence than leaders...when leaders act as bosses. There is a time and place for each style of leadership. Are you meeting your staff where they are and walking them forward? Or standing over them telling them where to go next?
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A small, wealthy region feels at odds with Spanish rule. Taxes are too high; political representation is limited; the elite feels unheard and ill-treated; unrest and popular opposition spread.
Failure to listen and adapt can have disastrous results.
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Related Posts:Agile: From the Business Analysts’ perspectiveUser Documentation in an Agile Development EnvironmentRequirements Elicitation – Important QuestionsSelection of right Code Analyzer tools to build first time rightAgile development is not...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
This article by Anil Giri addresses a problem SCRUM practictioners have experienced: A "too large" and "too distributed" team. However, rather than allowing the team to fail by stopping the project he suggests ways to work around the challenges and considerations to make next time. I like Anil's approach for a few reasons - first he's right. I say that not from experience, but also from the best team research. Co-location is the term for putting people in the same physical space to work as a team. In a previous article I noted the necessity of team members needing to build skills in a co-located team before doing too much work in virtual - remote member - project teams. Here are some other lessons he offers that can be adapted for any team based challenge:
Do you have a team challenge that you would like to be a focus of an article or blog response? Leave a comment or email me at Billy@pyramidodi.com
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by Brian Meharry Smart comp and benefits pros are resolving to make 2013 a year of thoughtful, deliberate change. Here are five important New Year’s resolutions to consider. 1. Embrace change in your employees.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Another good set of New Year's resolutions. You will see much this year about "sustainable engagement." Why? The global workforce is tired. Reductions in force which during the recession have been maintained . People were removed but little was done to make work easier or better. Productivity increased but how sustainable is it? With the economic fog in the west beginning to clear, we should see significant "ramp ups" in activity and competition for people will intensify. Hence the emphasis on "engagement"... how to keep productivity up, and people focused on the work of the organization instead of the greener pastures elsewhere. Let me hit the high points with some important questions:
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Billy R Bennett's insight:
Shootings of children. The Fiscal Cliff. The 2012 appocalypse. There are plenty of news items to keep you out of the holiday spirit. However, if you open yourself up to possibilities you never know what gifts life will send your way. Here is one gift I received very unexpectedly just this week. You can read more in the article, however I did take away several lessons. Here are additional points for our Align People readers:
What lessons would you take from this? Happy Holidays Billy@pyramidodi.com
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The CMO Whisperer: Five Insights To Drive High-Performing TeamsForbesMy formal coaching sessions have finished, and yet I know that organizational development, talent nurturing and elevating my team to new heights will NEVER be done.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Brave and excellent tips from a top executive on driving high performance teams. There are some good lessons but the overall lesson here is twofold: 1. Recognize that putting the right things in place does not mean that people will know how to execute the "recipe". The same dysfunctions can still exist after the correct strategy and metrics are in place. Which means be open to lesson #2 2. Ask for help. In this case she went out and got an organization development coach - I would suggest that you look at the many options you have for an intervention and support. There are many needs that can accelerate changes. It is smart to use external resources for much of this because the development need is not constant. Your career benefits from taking risks for success There is another benefit... your career. Getting help, helps you succeed. When you succeed your career follows. I was reviewing the progress of the leaders who brought us in to support the changes they wanted to implement. Nearly every one of these leaders recieved promotions or career opportunities two levels above where they started when we began the work. Nearly all, made the biggest moves in less than two years of implementing the change. It is not just the help they received from us... as much as I would love to take credit for that. No, It was their own willingness to risk going outside their organizations for help and openness to learn new ways to accelerate change. Billy Bennett
Michael Salmon's comment,
December 13, 2012 5:42 AM
Asking for help is energising. Effective mentoring helps you organise, prioritise and focus on your goals.
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Performance measurement and management systems have proliferated in the past 20 years, with executives in both the private and public sectors relying on performance metrics for strategic planning, and decision-making to drive bottom line results.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Ouch. Ray is right on target. He is taking a big risk bursting the bubble of performance management systems. There may be studies that show that various methods are improvement over others but in my own research, I've never found studies showing where the benefits of the system were greater than the total cost of the system. Ray points out the main failures or reasons that performance management systems fail to deliver -
When we place numbers on things we think that creates objectivity. Nope. As soon as ratings are given by one human about another human subjectivity leaps in. System designers try to minimize the damage of subjective variability with panel ratings, 360's behavioral cues, etc. In the end, ensuring subjectivitiy across an organization is difficult to impossible. In a world of rapid change and difficult and distant relationships the concept of performance management needs a total makeover for most organizations. Billy Bennett
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Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This ArticleWall Street Journal"It is an epidemic," says Lacy Roberson, a director of learning and organizational development at eBay Inc.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
What will get in the way of your alignment initiative? The same thing that gets in the way of work...the inability of today's worker to focus. There are the social media, email, and other electronic distractions however, this article highlights something we've seen reach dangerous levels: overloading of complex projects onto too few people. For 2013, make one of your resolutions to simplify and balance work from one end of your organization to the other. How do you know when you have a problem? If people talk as if the measure of success is how many projects you have in house at any given time instead of the number of on time deliveries...you could be drowning. Think about leading into the new year by
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Aviation International NewsRealignment Heralds Critical Period for Boeing CommercialAviation International News“I'm announcing a new organizational structure for Commercial Airplanes, effective immediately, that incorporates best practices and...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
Boeing has a big challenge ahead of it and a lot of egg to clean from its face regarding promises versus delivery. Over the next 18 months Boeing expects to increase output across its commercial product lines by 25 percent while it manages no fewer than five development programs. Still smarting from the three years of delays to the 787 program, Boeing appears unwilling to risk any further loss of credibility, at least due to its own organizational shortcomings." it is not easy getting the balance right when you try to maximize resources, minimize duplication, and keep hierarchy to a minimum. there is an ideal state - unfortunately it requires and ideal organization and ideal conditions. When was the last time you had that? Aviation is an industry that is constantly battling issues of control and security against empowerment and speed. The secret is to avoid the battle and to incorporate the objectives into the design and into the design of the implementation Billy Bennett is CEO of Pyramid ODI. Pyramid helps organizations build "great work and workplaces"
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Not winning? It might be the “trust thing”. For all of our talk of “Social” media, developing real relationships in our workplace can be uncomfortable for many leaders. The ones we hear...
Billy R Bennett's insight:
This blog post contains an infographic modeling trust as an organization "mechanism". People who are uncertain of how winning - success - is defined, will create their own definition. As a result they will work to preserve self interests above the common good. This brings certain dysfunction and performance drops. So, if you want to re-build preformance begin with clarity around the requirements for success as you work on the relationship piece. Billy Bennett is CEO of Pyramid ODI. Pyramid helps organizations build "great work and workplaces"
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Engaged workers are happier, more productive, and more enthusiastic about their work.
Billy R Bennett's insight:
A great Infographic from Mindjet. The word "engaged" when applied to employees is so often diluted. This does a good job and should be an example for us all. 1. Define Engagement and Disengagement. I've known many companies because they had an 80% satisfaction rate - they thought the 80% meant engagement. Ive seen many "satisfed" and disengaged people. Haven't you? 2. Spell out the benefit of engagement versus disengagement. If you are not clear, you cannot justify the investments in engagement creating initiatives. If you cannot justify it, it is a cost not an investment. Costs get cut. 3. Plan to Re-engage. So just how are you going to get them back? Hmmm? I would love to see comments about what keeps you passionate about your work...
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Buckminster Fuller was a not only a gifted designer,
Billy R Bennett's insight:
I scooped this article earlier but felt it needed more exposure. If we "make it' through the challenges of the coming years, we look to "Bucky" Fuller as one of the main sources of inspiration. Bucky was a designer. Not just in the architectural sense... in every sense. He looked at the world as a series of interconnected systems. His leadership style evolved and respresented his thinking. Trim Tab You will notice on his grave marker his self appointed nickname "Trim tab" the mini rudder on larger rudders that influence directional changes - minor adjustments that have big long range impact. Many people shy away from systems change because they stand so close to the problem they cannot see the system or they see it but think of it as too big. Bucky could see systems because he looked at them, stood back to appreciate them, then looked for the place where small but significant changes could create a chain reaction of change. It is the difference between being smart and being wise.
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Hospital system's win boosts entire regionNortheast Mississippi Daily JournalOrganizations find it valuable because it helps create and sustain alignment – having the entire organization from administration to front-line employees on the same page.
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Business 2 CommunityLead Generation Tips – Predicting MisalignmentBusiness 2 CommunityOne problem is contacting a decision maker who suffers a lack of alignment with their organization. Tip: Not sure if your organization is aligned? Ask your suppliers! An interesting view on misalignment ...from your external vendor! The next time a key or long term vendor ask for a few minutes of your time, give it to them and pay for lunch yourself. Take advantage of the opportunity to interview this person who sees how you do business. How do you thnk you look to people who work to supply your needs? Do they know you better than you now yourself? Another lesson you might learn from this... if you are too misaligned there is another cost: you might not be getting the best service or the best offers because it's too difficult to do business with you!
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Too much emphasis on the word social may distract older leaders from comprehending the real power of social business collaboration - faster, better results.
Daanish Kahn offers a great set of five myths about the use of social collaboration tools that needs to be understood by any leader seeking to get results and high levels of engagement.
My favorite is the first one...
Myth 1 – Social Collaboration platforms are not safe and secure.
I remember when a client's CEO (of a very large global company) thought that the entire corporate knowledge could be carried out on a few disks so he prevented connections between product design teams for the sake of security- I thought that didn't say much for the amount of real knowledge in the company. However, it does say something about how some security myths can put competitive handcuffs on your workforce - and your results.
Aligning and engaging people more quickly in your organization are some of the best reasons to look seriously at adopting social collaboration tools. We've seen this in our work when such tools allowed teams to connect and overcome natural barriers to get work done.
I heard someone say recently, if you are not engaging them at least don't do things to disengage them! Most work systems do just that for many workers. Allowing and learning Social Collaboration Tool use is an excelleng step in the right direction.
www.pyramidodi.com