Extreme events, whether they are man-made (such as the
European imbroglio, global financial crises, or radical political events such
as the Arab Spring), or natural disasters such as tsunami, floods and
earthquakes, seems to be occurring more frequently. In reality, the frequency
may not be any greater, but our perception
of the frequency has increased thanks to the 24 hour news cycle and our
increased global awareness.
Business has taken notice. The economic and social
consequences of such viral events are a matter of enormous concern and uncertainty for business.
In fact, some of the only things that are certain are complexity,
interdependence, and change. In the face of such unavoidable change, wise
leaders return to the most fundamental questions of corporate leadership:
- "What is our business?
- "What is our vision, and mission?”
- (And perhaps most importantly) “What are our values?”
Values guide people’s decision-making in uncertainty.
While people may feel disconnected with each
other at such times, the reality is that when everyone in a company shares
common values, and it is these values that give people a framework and
parameters within which to operate.
On April 12, 1970, when Apollo 13 mission changed from
lunar landing to rescue mission, NASA flight director Gene Krantz galvanized
the team by firmly reconnecting them with their core values – prioritizing the
lives of the three stranded astronauts - with the following words, “We have never lost
an American in space. We are sure as hell not going to lose one on my watch!
Failure is not an option.”
How do you place value on values? The leadership team must
strike a balance between freedom and
constraint, chaos and structure, that helps to create empowerment and
facilitate the emergence of creativity (an absolute necessity for responding in
the unchartered territory of uncertain times)Finding this balance is a paradigm
captured in the Taoist literature and articulated
in present day social innovation and strategy literature. The approach
seeks to create “minimum structure” in order to avoid too much rigidity and
to harness the innate intelligence, creativity, and capacity for
self-organizing and self-actualizing in people and groups. Too much planning,
structure, and intervention will stifle adaptive capacity. Too little structure
will leave a system vulnerable to the entropic forces of habit, conflicting
self-interests, and lack of vision and direction.
A good strategic design is
elegant in its simplicity. Such a design also provides a way to discern the needs
of the future by reaching deeply into the evolving patterns of the present,
rather than simply projecting the assumptions and lessons of the past. The
learning and data gathered in the past may be useful but will also have
diminishing relevance in a rapidly changing world. When confronted with extreme challenges,
a nimble organization whose employees are well-tilled in regard to the
organizational values will respond to challenges with emergent leadership and
creative solutions from all levels of the organization.
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