The Battles We Have to Win: Ignorance

What's the leader’s Job One? 1) Protect the core business with Lean/OpEx, and 2) Ignite new Growth using Digital methods. Such ambidexterity does not come easy. Here’s the second in a series on the battles we have to win.

Doing nothing is the riskiest option.

The deadly risks of our day are Volatility, Black Swans, and Obsolescence. Doing nothing is our riskiest option. When the ocean is in furious flux, alertness, agility and speed are of the essence. And the clearest expression of these qualities is ambidexterity – the ability to both protect the core business with Lean/OpEx, and also, to ignite new Growth using Digital methods.

What are the proverbial transformation ‘battles’ we have to win? Ignorance, Fear, Scatter, Guesswork and Space. Today I’ll talk about Ignorance.

Ignorance

When I launched our advisory service (in 2000), the Toyota Production System was all the rage. TPS was the ‘machine that changed the world’, and companies around the world were anxious to absorb & apply its secrets. Toyota even opened its factories and shared its methods with the world. And yet, 70 to 90% of Lean transformations have failed to achieve their goals.

Digital Transformations also have failure rates exceeding 70%.  Will the results be any better for AI?

So, why is it so hard to absorb & apply new ways of working like ‘Lean’ or ‘Digital’ (or ‘AI’)?

Change is hard, life is hard.  In these tumultuous times, many people are just hanging on, and just showing up is a triumph. Awash in a sea of data, factoids and impressions, people understandably shut down, numb & exhausted.

Plato viewed the mind as a “wax tablet" which receives and retains impressions. One’s experiences are like drops of water that create self-reinforcing channels. The more experiences, information and data, the deeper the channels, and the harder it is to create new ones. Ignorance, seen in this light, is a shutting down, a closing off to new experiences. How does one stay open?

The challenge of leaders and learners is ‘stay young, stay foolish.’ I paraphrase Steve Jobs, of course, who famously celebrated the ‘crazy ones, the misfits, the troublemakers, the round pegs in square holes, the ones who see things different…”

So, how do we overcome Ignorance in our organizations?

For a start, we should hire people who score high on openness and who believe they have control over events in their lives (‘internal locus of control’). And we have to give our people the opportunity to learn.  Here are more detailed countermeasures. (Note: below I’ve focused on the ‘Igniting New Growth’ ‘swim lane’. The same activities & principles apply for ‘Protect the Core’, but the content is of course different.)

Countermeasures to Ignorance:

Senior Leaders:

• Small Group Mentorship:
• Short focused lessons, practical activity, followed by applied homework

(Pardon the plug; >150 senior leaders have completed my Protect the Core and Ignite New Growth programs).

Executive ‘Forums’

·       Ecosystem meetups with Tech orgs and peers facing similar challenges.

·       Tech ‘deep dive’ workshops that provide Executives with a practical understanding of key methods, thinking & technology.

·       Learning expeditions - explore prominent ecosystems in innovation hot spots

·       Innovation ‘showcases’: focused projects that showcase new ways or working, and lead to effective commercial pilots.

·       Key Enabler: Executive ‘air cover’ against corporate antibodies

 Middle & Front-Line Leaders:

Practical Learning Academies

These entail hands-on boot camps wherein practitioners learn by doing. Design Thinking, Growth Hacking and Lean Experimentation are core curriculum elements. Key enablers:

• ‘Centre of Excellence’: small team of practitioners who manage curriculum & network
• Focused curriculum based on key learning gaps,
• Network of practitioners who share learning, problems and innovations
• Multiple communication channels including regular meetups, study groups, and intranet

These are some activities that help dispel Ignorance. Next time, I’ll talk about Fear.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

#transformationblockers #businessambidexterity #Ignitingnewgrowth # businesstransformation #battleswehavetowin

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

Transformation - the Battles We Have to Win
Ambidexterity-in-practice