Why Servant Leadership Works

April 12th, 2010  |  Published in Articles

Servant leadership works because it liberates intrinsic motivation. Because even though the people are the same . ..they have taken on a new state . . .before they were water, now they are ice.

Corpus Optima Senior Partner and Complexity Science Advisor Chris Welsh and I have been discussing this experience of emergence.  Complexity Science provide the night goggles to see the intangible field of culture – especially the physics of transformation.

Nonlinear Interactions. Emergence. Increasing Returns. Self-Organization.

One Tuesday morning’s return to Houston, in The Superperforming CEO Book Tour & Executive Seminar, sponsored by Oracle, Club Corp, Old Live Oak Books, American Prudential Capital, Visible Applause!, and CEO Netweavers, we will explore what it  looks like when an organization’s right brain hemisphere is liberated – creating “organizational “mind wide open” – through 15 distinctions –   unconventional paradigms, patterns and people. They are new and they come straight from the Superperformance frontier. Together we will answer the question, “What does the discovery of  The Superperforming CEO pattern say about what to lead and what to manage?”

Further, this shockingly straightforward and accessible ‘steady state’ (“Superperformance”) is not only a condition available to organizations – it can also be produced in projects, communities, schools, and in many other systems. These exciting implications are nothing short of profound for distributed leaders and managers everywhere. On Tuesday, we will use this new knowledge to provoke personal action. We will add the missing optimization hemisphere and re-invent the concept of executive to include both hemispheres and both tasks. Hence “Tacking” one of the most prominent expressions of this “fluttering at the end of the flag” as David Marsila so poetically describes it.

 

We’re going to explore Superpeformance through the lens of physics and biology together. We’re going to inform the living condition of the organization as we pull back the skin of biology and the lessons from improvement science. (homeostasis, feedback, system flow, interdependence of parts) and we will also apply the physics (self-organization, steady state, phase transition, nonlinear interactions, fractal self-reference, simple rules) of Superperformance  to learn how to repeatedly unleash the Superhero that is available to all of us.

 

 

Share
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Lean, Agile, & Rapid Cycle Process Improvement

July 29th, 2009  |  Published in Articles

The Triple Crown of 21st Century Operational Improvement Methods

As a result of the recent economic downturn, organizations are being driven to obtain greater visibility and control over their critical operational processes. Many have turned to continuous improvement (CI) as their primary approach to taming bulky processes. However, with more than 70% of organizations reporting increased financial pressure, CI teams are struggling to keep up with a growing appetite for accelerated operations improvement.

Organizations must acquire new knowledge and capabilities in the use of Lean, Agile, and Rapid Cycle Process Improvement methods, as well as identify best practices for integrating these critical new methodologies into all facets of their CI initiatives. They must not only acquire a practical appreciation for these critical new capabilities, but also be able to evaluate potential cultural risks associated with adopting these methods, assuring there is a complementary human dimension to blend with these essentially technical tools, which is a critical success factor for Superperformance.

This will lead them to:

  • Understand the trends and best practices at the Superperformance frontier, in order to make informed decisions and gain competitive advantage,
  • Identify and quantify the potential cost savings of adopting Lean, Agile and Rapid Cycle Process Improvement best practices,
  • Apply learning in simulations and cases,
  • Network with peers facing similar goals and challenges, and
  • Develop an action plan to incorporate repeatable and predictable Lean, Agile, and Rapid Cycle Process Improvement methodologies into CI initiatives.
Share
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,