LEVERAGING KNOWLEDGE TO UNLEASH A CULTURE OF INNOVATION THE ACT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FORUM 5TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE David Rymer, Director Know-How Minter Ellison October 2004

OUTLINE

• Why Emergence as a strategy? • Applying complexity • Organisational DNA • Cultural dynamics • Innovation • Implementation models • Work in progress

EMERGENT STRATEGY

Intended Strategy Deliberate Strategy Unrealised Strategy Realised Strategy Emergent Strategy Henry Mintzberg: The Rise & Fall of Strategic Planning

PROBABILITY

Definition:

• Probability = the % of time an outcome happens • Event = single occurrence • Outcome = result of an event • Implications: • Field multiple initiatives to mitigate potential delays/roadblocks • Select final solution late to manage risk/turbulence

APPLYING COMPLEXITY

Business Drivers

KNOW-HOW ARCHITECTURE

Know How Strategy (Emergent) Organisation (Facilitator) Infrastructure (Elements) Capability (Enabler) Know How Organisation (Innovations, Know-How Operations, Divisional KHC’s)

P & C Collaboration SNA Communities Content Precedents Library Stories Process Tran’s Maps Change Mgt PM Reviews Commercial Discipline Costing BI process Networks Champions Taxonomies Pipeline Fill Client work R & Recog’n

Technology Infrastructure (WCMS, databases, eRoom, SDX, e-work)

CULTURE

WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

Culture is:

• The way work is organised and experienced • How authority is exercised & distributed • How people feel rewarded, organised & controlled • Values and work orientation • Degree of formalisation, standardisation & control • Scope for individuality, risk-taking and initiative • Emphasis given to rules, procedures and results, • Team or individual work

FOUR BASES OF ORGANISATIONAL DNA

Most companies are dysfunctional!

MINTER ELLISON = PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE Neilson. Pasternack, and Mendes Booz Allen: strategy+business Winter 2003

CULTURAL DYNAMICS

Typical legal traits:

• Risk averse, change resistant • Revenue focused (billable hours) • Trained to deconstruct not create • Decisions often ambiguous & not communicated • Anti-managerial • 6 min blocks

LOUIS XIV SYNDROME

PLAY THEORY

Play Theory allows us to safely explore:

• Our physical environment to learn how new ideas and tools work.

• Social interactions and the spaces in between. (Reflecting on new experiences can help teams learn to adjust to an intervention.) • The new, the unfamiliar and the evolving without incurring performance penalties. In play, there are no REAL consequences

CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

From:

• Managing things • Single lawyer • My way • My team • Struggle to survive • “Can we”

To:

• Managing complexity • Team view • Standard portfolio • X functional team • Collaboration • “Should we”

INNOVATION

IDEAS ARE WILD...

Ideas demand:

• Anticipation • Boundary spanning • Probing for fit • Seeding experience • Pilots • Prototyping • Sense making • Transferring experience • Skunk works

APPRECIATIVE ENQUIRY

Discovery

Appreciating “the best of what is ”

Destiny

Sustaining “what will be”

Positive Topic Choice Design

Co-constructing “what should be”

Dream

Envisioning “what could be” (Ludema J.D., Cooperrider D.L. & Barrett F.J. 2001 in Reason P. & Bradbury H. (eds) Handbook of Action Research. Sage, London)

ITERATIVE APPROACH

OPENING UP TO NEW EXPERIENCES

OPENING UP TO NEW EXPERIENCES

Map

MBOT MANTRA

Build Operationalise

Transfer

PROGRESS REPORT

PROGRESS REPORT

Enablers include:

• Futures • Emergence • Champions & advocates • Self-organising teams • Physical environment • Strategic conversations • Storytelling • Collaboration • Social networks • Reward & recognition

Minters: ?

!!!



50% X X 25% 50% X X

PROGRESS REPORT

Enablers include:

• Mentoring & coaching • Implementation model • Search engine • Business process mapping & re-design • Change management • Environmental scanning • Taxonomies & thesauri • Workflow automation • Intranets • Document management

Minters:



75% 25%



50%

 

25%

 

“Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”

Ken Wilber Futurist

QUESTIONS?

David Rymer, Director Know-How [email protected]