What bothers me most in the last months is how uninspired managers deal with the crisis. Every day we read about more layoffs and other cost cutting measures. But no idea how to reorganize companies to restart very fast and to avoid the same situation in the future. It it is the same helplessness in management like in politics – as Davos has shown us.
I am no financial or economical expert, but for companies I have some ideas how to overcome the next crisis.
Improvement of Adaptability
We cannot escape and not control the complex reality of business. What’s to do? The answer is: Improve adaptability!
Adaptability has two directions. First, something is changing in the market, technology or whatever, and the company has to adapt as fast as possible to the new situation (assimilation). Second, there is an opportunity – merger, new market, research outcomes … - and the company has to take it faster than the competitors (accommodation).
There are three main factors hindering or fostering improvement of adaptability
1. Mindsets
2. Company structure
3. Organization
Mindsets
To foster adaptability you need an open minded management. Curious what could be different and open to discuss the assumptions behind decisions. A management able to use the power of the whole intelligence within the system.
What is needed is a learning culture, rewarding learning and openness. Such a culture will be also more innovative and creates faster problem-solutions.
For higher adaptability you need a Fleet Structure
Today, the question is no more about centralization or decentralization, big or small. Important is to develop the right goal setting process and the coordination of information. The network technology allows to delegate most functions to the operations. That is my picture with ships and a central “Tower”.
Ships around the world, acting as competent management systems and a central tower, to allocate information.
There are some principles to follow
• Each ship has its own market and future perspectives
• The management on a ship knows the business the best
• Ships may cooperate locally (same customers) and/or topically (logistics, aw materials) on
their own decisions
• Each ship can see and approach all others virtually
The functions of the Tower
• Set the genetic code
- What are our general business values
- What we not accept as company or individual behavior
• „Start-up“ function
- Financing a good idea with limited risks
• Goal accepting, financing and tracking
• Global information hub and Innovation Source
- Gather, analyze, interprete information from all units
- Give advice, support about opportunities and threats
• Defines the management systems
– IT/IS, Strategy Development, Goal Setting and Tracking
Using new organizational principles for higher adaptability
In my opinion the most important question will be, how to combine standardized processes with principles of self organization.
We learn from neurology that our brain manages complexity in such a way. There are standardized modules we cannot change. After a craniocerebral injury someone can’t perhaps indentify pots and other items any more, but he can recognize faces – there is a face recognition-module.
There are also visual modules. You see the world always foreshortened, but correct it through experience and knowledge.
Other processes are open organized. We learn and adapt. Imagine to be the first time in a self service restaurant. You will come in, sit down and wait. After a while you will realize: nobody want to serve you, there are no waiters. Now you start to learn: checking the situation, reorganizing your knowledge and behave in a proper way to get your food.
With such principles I am organizing complex processes. E.g. an analytical department in pharmaceuticals. There we can standardize some elements like chromatographs very easily, but let the whole group process with self-organization. We have given very few rules: Quantitative goals and GMP quality. And it works.
It is like the move from traffic lights to roundabouts. Roundabouts have in principle only one rule, but absorb more traffic with fewer accidents.
What do you think about these aspects? What is your experience in projects? What is your methodology to organize complex systems?
Thanks for your contribution.
Willi
