* * * A tightly knit
group of champions meets every Monday morning to
update each other and surface
issues as they role out a complex,
global change initiative. Together
they identify common
problems, develop solutions they will coordinate across
the
organization, and provide each other with personal and professional
support as they prepare for the week ahead.
* * * Core communication
constituencies meet with the CEO and Senior
Management Team at biweekly coffees.
In a relaxed atmosphere they share tasty desserts and brainstorm how strategic
objectives can gain better traction internally. When they go back to their
offices they talk about their visit "upstairs," batting around ideas with the
president. The follow up conversations with colleagues bring important insights
that feed the next coffee with the CEO and spread news organically throughout
the organization.
* * * In the cafeteria on the 3rd Wednesday every month
technical experts have lunch together and troubleshoot problems that are cropping
up in the cracks between their silos. Together they identify issues and generate
grass roots solutions, sidestepping bureaucracy and keeping their projects
on the fast track.
Each of these is an example of a Business Performance
Community. Business Performance Communities are groups of people who assemble
voluntarily to work together toward goals that benefit organizational performance.
They increase performance capacity and business acceleration. Because membership
is voluntary, a new dynamic takes place inside these groups: contribution.
This new way of working together gives birth to collective intelligence which
drives business acceleration.
Business Performance Communities are:
*
Voluntary - members may come and go of their own accord
* Autonomous
- the community has its own sensitivities and evaluation process and will not
be constrained by organizational bureaucracy
* Care-driven & Contribution-oriented
- common concern is the primary driver. This stands in contrast to a traditional
competitive environment in which individual achievement is the primary driver.
* Ecological rather than Hierarchical - subgroups are in constant flux,
coalescing and dissipating based on interest and available resources.
*
Free to Cross Organizational Boundaries - members at the top and bottom of
the organization may have equal status in the community, and communities can cross
organizational silos.
The emergence of Business Performance Communities can
be traced to progress in areas that include the study of tacit and social knowledge[1]
, the large scale practice and acceptance of Communities of Practice[2]
, the wide recognition of the value of emotional intelligence[3] and pride
as a chief motivator for increasing personal and organizational performance[4].
Healthy Business Performance Communities identify and develop three critical
forces:
Business Drivers - these are the benefits the sponsoring organization
will receive from community activities.
Community Concerns - these
are the common causes that unite the membership, causing the community to form.
Participant Benefits - these are the value propositions for membership.
EXAMPLES
Business Drivers:
~ Improved Operational Performance
~ Better Internal Communications
~ Increased Skill for Staff Members
~
Raisingthe Bar on Core Competencies
~ Increasing Fungibility of Staff Members
Community Concerns:
~ Social & Political Goals; e.g., Save the
Whales
~ Development of a Body of Knowledge; e.g., Project Management Community
of Practice
~ Professional Association; e.g., Association Executives Council
Participant Benefits:
~ Skill building
~ Networking for Employment
Opportunity
~ Proximity to Power
~ Affiliation & Loyalty
~ Enhancing
Reputation
~ Access to Peers for Problem-solving
~ Belonging
~ Building
Alliances
For more information, see also Guidelines
for Growing Business Performance Communities. ____________________________________________________________________
[1] Ikujiro Nonaka, Toshihiro Nishiguchi, editors; Knowledge Emergence:
Social, Technical and Evolutionary Dimensions of Knowledge Creation; Oxford
University Press; 2001. See especially Chapter 3 by Georg Von Krogh, Kazuo Ichijo
and Ikujiro Nonaka entitled, Bringing care into knowledge development of business
organizations.
[2] Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M.
Snyder; Cultivating Communities of Practice; Harvard Business School Press;
2002
[3] Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis, Primal
Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Harvard Business
School Press; 2002
[4] Jon R. Katzenbach, Why Pride Matters More
than Money: The Power of the World's Greatest Emotional Force, Crown Business,
2003.
©2003 Seth Kahan. Reprint with attribution allowed.
