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  • 7/27/2019 Unleashing the Power of Creative Collaboration

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    Unleashing

    of Creative

    by CAROL KINSEYGOMAN

    Carol KinseyGoman,

    president

    of

    Kinsey Consulting Services,

    coaches executives,

    facilitates management retreats,

    helps change teams develop strategies

    and speaks

    to

    business audiences

    around the wor ld.

    She is the author

    of nine boohs including,

    This Isn't the Company

    I

    Joined-

    How

    to

    Lead

    in a

    Business

    rurned Upside Down.

    from which this anic le

    is

    adapted.

    Find more informationat

    www.ckg.com.

    mill

    n i l

    At Caterpillar's

    European headquarters

    in Geneva, Sw itzerland,

    Gottardo Bontagnali

    kept thinking about

    the role played by the

    central m arket square

    p i a z z a

    in Italian

    in virtually all

    European villages.

    A Look at Three Real-Wo

    hen thinking about factors

    that distinguish top-

    performing companies

    from the also-rans,the

    rootof their success often

    can be tracedto the

    human equation. How

    many

    of

    today's com panies are able

    to

    tap more

    than a fractionoftheir w orkforce potential? How

    many are abletotake advantageoflatent talents,

    ideas and contributive strengths waiting tobe

    switched on? The companies that do best arethe

    ones that find the meanstouse a larger fractionof

    their human resources than their competitors do.

    That is their edge

    in

    the global economy.

    And they hone that edgebytaking action b

    on two fundamental principles:

    1 ,

    Rely on human potential

    as

    central

    to

    corpo

    strategy,

    2 , Liberate that potential through creative

    collaboration.

    A company's competitiveness factor is a

    combinationof the potentialof itspeople,the

    quali tyof information those people possess an

    wil l ingnesstoshare knowledge with othersin

    organization. The leadership challenge is to lin

    these components as tightly as possible. Rest

    assured that thereis a lot of untapped potenti

    all organizations waitingto beliberatedand

    knowledge waitingtobe shared.Asproof, let's

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    e Pow er

    ories Ab ou t Hu m an Potentia l

    w Caterp illar created an environm ent in which

    ployees from m any d ifferent b ackground s and

    backgrounds, they're also interact ing with people

    from dif ferent communicat ion cultures. The

    challenge was how to make members of this diverse

    population begin to think of themselves as a team .

    Employee Communicat ion Manager Gottardo

    Bontagnali kept thinking about the role played by

    the central market square piazza in I tal ianin

    virtually all European villages. In addition to going

    to the piazza for necessities of daily life, vil lagers

    went there to exchange news, pick up gossip, pass

    on information and socialize. It was, and stil l is in

    many places, the vil lage's most efficient

    communicat ion

    fool .

    So Bonfagnal i decided to create a piazz a at

    Caterpillar's Geneva headquarters. Local artists

    n i l

    m il

    In a d d i t io n to g o in g

    t o t h e p ia z z a f o r

    n e c e s s i t ie s o f d a i ly l i fe

    v i ll a g e r s w e n t t h e r e

    t o e x c h a n g e n e w s ,

    p i c k u p g o s s ip , p a s s

    o n i n f o r m a t i o n a n d

    s o c i a l i z e . I t w a s , a n d

    s t i l l is in m a n y p l a c e s ,

    t h e v i ll a g e ' s m o s t

    e f f i c i e n t c o m m u n i c a t io

    t o o l . S o B o n t a g n a l i

    d e c i d e d t o c r e a t e a

    p i a z z a a t C a t e r p i l l a r

    G e n ev a h e a d q u a r t e r s .

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    LESSONS

    FOR

    CORPORATE

    COMMUNICATORS

    In their own way,

    the

    case studies

    of

    Buckm an Laboratories,

    J. M,

    Huber Corp.

    and Caterpi l lar reflect how businesseven corporate com mun ication i tselfhas

    been turned upside down. There are

    a

    number

    of

    lessons

    to

    be learned,

    1 . The key issueistrust.

    > Developing employee trust iscr i t i ca l intoday's post-E nron, post-W orldCom

    envi ronment,

    > Trust begins[or isre in forced} through t imely, t ransparent com mun icat ion,

    > Communicators have the opportun i ty

    to

    become ambassadors

    of

    that

    message. Without trust, everything else

    is

    just fancy footwo rk.

    2 . Think "Little C," not always "B ig C."

    > For every example

    of the

    B ig

    C

    (the overal l company culture), there

    are

    often

    a

    dozen examples

    of the

    L i t t le C incre d ib le pockets,

    or

    min i -cu l tures, ofcreativi ty and col labora tive sp ir i t.

    >

    In

    any environm ent, even

    a

    repressive one, comm unicat ors can create

    whatever kindofmin i -cu l ture they wish wi th in the i r depa rtmentsorteams,

    > Often,

    in

    fact , creatmg a co llaborat ive c u l ture makes a communicat ion team

    shineand wi l l become an example others wish

    to

    emu la te .

    3. The roleofcom m unicat ion has expanded .

    > Communicators are helpmg people interact and connect with each other.

    > They have, even

    in a

    l i teral sense, become arc hitects . They are using the ir

    expertise not onlytodesign events an d speeches inways that signalash i f t

    from traditional top-down message giving

    but

    also

    to

    belp design office

    envi ronments that encourage co l laborat ion.

    > The traditional role

    of

    the communica t ion sta f f has changed from in format ion

    gatekeeperstodevelopersofenvi ronments conduciveto in format ion shar ing.

    >

    Put

    another way, th is isn ' t the communicat ion department most

    of us

    jo ined,

    either.

    If it

    is

    it

    shouldn t he.

    were brought in to paint the wallsof the top-floor

    cafeteria with large village scenes, dotted with

    bright yellow Cat machines,

    of

    course, as well

    as

    sights from multiple Cat locations. The

    vi l lagers portrayed inthe panoramas were

    actual Cat employees. With

    a

    l i t t le imagination,

    employees could actual ly p icture themselves

    in a

    European market square surroundedbyfamil iar

    faces and sights.

    Employees were encouragedtouse the piazza

    K o s k i n i e m i e x p e r i e n c e d t h e p o w e r o f t r u s t :

    I f k n o w le d g e s h a r i n g is h u i l t o n t r u s t ,

    t h e n t o m e t h i s m o m e n t o v e r a n y o t h e r

    d e m o n s t ra t e d t h a t B o h B u c k m a n

    r e a l l y t r u s t e d t h e a s s o c i a t e s o f B u c k m a n L a b o r a t o r ie s

    to t a k e t h e c o m p a n y f o r w a r d .

    for informal meetings and discuss ions. Let's

    discuss itover a cupofcoffee inthe piazza h

    become part

    of

    Caterpillar's culture

    in

    Geneva

    And because so many people use the piazzafo

    regular exchanges,it'sbecome an importan t

    means

    of

    sharing information on an impromp tu

    basis as

    wel l .

    But the most impressive result

    i

    how workplace design helped build workforce

    camaraderie ^nd

    a

    comm on sense

    of

    purpose.

    W H O ISTHAT GUY T T H E B A C KOFT H E R O

    H ow B o b B u c k m a n re in fo rc e da k n o w l ed g e - sh a

    cu lture based on trust. Buckman Laboratoriesh

    been

    in

    the specialty chem ical business since

    1 9 4 5 Under the leadership

    of

    Robert

    H.

    (Bob

    Buckman,

    it also has becomeaworld-class,

    knowledge-sharing organization. Buckman wou

    tell you that converting a command-and-contro

    organization intoanetworked one was not w ith

    its challenges and setbacks.

    St i l l ,by

    1 9 9 4 ,

    Buckman Labs had jumped into full-bore

    knowledge sharing: new software and connecti

    had been installed, mostof the associates wer

    equipped with laptops and online forums were

    and running. To honor and reward the top

    150

    people who had done the best jobofsharing

    knowledge,a Fourth Wave Me eting was held

    Scottsdale, Ariz,, USA. The meeting was three d

    of fun, celebration and workspecifically, critic

    discussions about business trends and strategie

    was also the setting for a remarkable story.

    Throughout the conference,aman wearing

    shorts,

    a

    T-shirt and sanda ls sat

    at

    the back

    o

    room,

    chronicl ing the meeting onhis laptop an

    posting live messages on the forumforthe res

    the company

    to

    read. His name was Mark

    Koskiniemi. About midway through the meetin

    one ofthe organizers approached Koskiniem ia

    asked him

    to

    stop sending out

    his

    notes,

    Koskiniemi refused, saying he didn't feel that

    appropriate. When the organizer suggested that

    request came from the top, Koskiniemi counter

    by saying he'd appreciate hearing

    it

    personally.

    A few mmutes later,

    a

    break was c alled ,

    an

    Koskiniemi found himself face-to-face with

    B

    Buckman,

    Hereishow K oskiniem i reca lls the

    conversation:

    Koskiniemi: Hello,

    sir,

    Buckman:

    Mark,I understand that you have

    been posting notes from the meeting on

    the

    forum.

    I

    have

    to

    say that

    I

    have

    not

    read th em

    are you sure that issuchagood idea?

    Koskiniemi: Do you trus t me?

    Buckman broke into abig smile, nodded

    slightly, and nothing further was said about

    Koskiniemi's continued reporting

    of

    the events

    Two results emerged from Koskiniemi's

    report ing.

    First, he sent more than50messag

    related

    to

    the reports com ing from the m eetin

    sharing knowledge with others

    in

    real time.

    Second,

    Koskiniemi (now the headof Buckma

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    d the power of tru st: If knowledge

    ECOMING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

    w After Ac tion Reviews d rive know ledge-sharing

    innovation at the J. M. Hu b er Corp . 2 May

    00 3 at the J. M. Huber Corp, headquarters in

    He rem arked : I selected this team because

    plan,

    using AARs to implement a cr i t ical ly

    AARs? What are they? And why are they so

    The After Action Review was developed by the

    Army during the 1 970 s to help American

    What tiappened?

    Why did it happen?

    Central to the process at Huber is a

    In just a few years, Huber transformed i tself

    culture . In 2 00 2 , Huber employees conducted

    than 2 ,00 0 AARsagamst a goal of 1 ,000

    C o m p a n i e s c a n ' t d e v a l u e w o r k e r s

    a n d e x p e c t to c o m e o u t a h e a d .

    G i ve p e o p l e l e s s , a n d t h e y g i v e le s s h a c k .

    T r e a t th e m l ik e u n d e r l i n g s , a n d th e y b e h a v e l i k e u n d e r lin g s .

    O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , o f fe r t h e m m o r e , a n d t h e y r e p a y

    t h e c o m p a n y ' s i n v e s t m e n t w i t h i n t e r e s t .

    than 90 percent of the action items they

    com mitted to in their 2 00 2 AARsgreater than

    the stated target. Now more than half of all AARs

    focus on the company's critical success factors,

    aligning learning with areas of strategic

    importance to the company.

    THE MORAL OF THE STORIES

    Three different stories, three different locations

    and three very different companies. But all lead to

    one cr i t ical conclusion.

    Success in today's global economy boils down

    to the single, universally recognized objective of

    getting more for lesswith one exception: human

    resources. Human labor is not a disposable

    commodity. It is a unique creative resource for the

    future of the organization. Companies can't devalue

    workers and expect to come out ahead. Give people

    less, and they give less back. Treat them like

    underlings, and they behave like underlings.

    On the other hand, offer them more, and they

    repay the company's investment with interest.

    We're not talking about money now. We're talking

    about l iberat ing untapped potential , about

    energizing employees and engaging their

    commitment and enthus iasm.

    Give people a chance to grow and they will

    blossom. Entrust them with greater authority and

    they will take on greater responsibility. Educate

    them to understand the changing business

    dynamics and they will make excellent business

    decisions. Encourage them to collaborate and they

    will amaze you with their inventiveness. Treat

    them like full partners in the organization and

    they wi l l part ic ipate hke owners.

    Companies that make human potential the

    corporate strategy will be ready for the new

    business age,Q i l

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