The Postage Stamp, twitter & management innovation

The postage stamp.

That little tiny piece of adhesive paper

so powerful it can travel across the globe

and find its way from one address to another

bringing a thought, a message,

a package, a revolution.

First used in Britain, then Brazil

it moved our words, our dreams and our destinies

for the past 170 years.

It took 20 years to become

a worldwide phenomenon

and 120 years before it’s first major innovation

the ZIP code

also known as; the Zone Improvement Plan

So?

what’s that got to do with management, you ask?

a lot.

a lot.

Hmmm

Then came the telegraph,

the telephone,

the fax,

email,

text messaging,

instant messaging,

twitter

twitter?

140 characters or less

The postage stamp, without the picture.

or the actual stamp.

And electronic….instantaneous..

and only 4 years old.

And it went global in about a nanosecond!

I’m exaggerating…….

…….but not by much.

What’s that got to do with management?

A lot!

everything

everything

Hmmm

management is the postage stamp

it was fit for purpose

but in today’s world

it’s no longer one-size fits all.

It was built for a different world.

Traditional management was needed

for a DIFFERENT world.

Management is about the same age as

the postage stamp,

when the Zone Improvement Plan came along.

But nothing really changed,

the stamp remained the same.

It just got delivered more quickly.

Each time a quicker product comes along

and we want our communication more instantly

the stamp gets left behind, again.

Management needs innovating

Not just a better model,

a different model.

A model built for people.

A model built for people.

Uh huh!

Management Innovation

Management Innovation

huh?

Let me explain

with an example

Businesses have always been run by rules

There were many, and one for every occasion.

But what if…….

…you learned from the postage stamp?

…or twitter?

What if ?

Every rule had to fit on a postage stamp?

Every rule had to fit on a postage stamp?

Huh?

OK, what if all messages at work

had to be 140 characters or less?

Shouldn’t connecting with people at work,

communicating with people at work,

be as simple as that?

‘As if’ you say?

‘As if’ you say?

Yeah…as if!

A weekly recap of performance

shouldn’t take more than 140 characters

…surely?

Especially, if you

say it face to face.

routinely, and casually….

No fancy forms that people hate

filled with fancy words.

That have little affect

on performance.

Performance reviews have long since worked

effectively,

but were a tool used since we started to work.

It’s time we

reinvented the performance review

process;

a management process.

Just one of many management processes

in need of innovation.

What management processes

will you innovate?

to better fit

our world

and us,

the people in it?

WHAT DO I WANT TO CHANGE?

My Manifesto Pamela HackettIt’s time to innovate management!

1 For years I’ve studied the results of surveys the globe over, aimed at determining how happy, how satisfied or how engaged we are at work. For years, the results have not been a pretty picture. They speak of doom and gloom, a veritable ice age of dislike, disenfranchisement, disgruntlement, an epidemic of under-engagement. People in general, are not exactly chipper about showing up at work each day. And totally showing up they rarely do, often choosing to leave their heart and spirit at home while they drag themselves through their jobs, dreaming of a life that doesn’t require work! It’s costing businesses billions in low productivity and lost opportunity, and people their health and happiness.SO, WHY ARE WE UNDER-ENGAGED? 2 I speculate that much of the reasons we are under-engaged at work centers around the way work gets managed & done in organizations today. We built our businesses around production management & military commands, where we followed our leaders without question; they were brighter, better or they were simply, the boss. This doesn’t work anymore. Businesses that don’t recognize the need to engage their people in meaningful work, those that lack a true purpose, that don’t practice collaboration or help their people connect, and haven’t found a way of managing the organization to bring out the best in people, will surely fail, given they are failing their people. These companies are perpetuating the myths of old style management.

We have spent more than a few lifetimes focused on business models and strategies, on functional expertise and operational excellence. And while we’ve focused on creating smart, productive organizations, we’ve forgotten to focus equal attention creating healthy, fit organizations. Organizations that are fit for human consumption. It’s time to create businesses that work for people, and focus on management approaches that help people do remarkable things.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? 3

WHAT IS A BUSINESS FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION?4 A workplace of teams powered by common sense &

trust, energized with initiative at every level, who know what they’re aiming for and how to use their business

infrastructure to its best. A highly engaged leadership team providing a sense of purpose greater than profit

and financial results; a business bubbling with opportunity for sales & people growth; and people who

totally show-up for work each day! They feel known, cared about, helped, inspired, led and moved, and they have the freedom to act on behalf of the organizations good. This is a different way of managing. It’s time to

focus on our management models not just our business models. MANAGEMENT MODELS?5

For years we’ve run our businesses in a similar fashion, no real changes to the way we manage the

business. We select, train, organize, lead, reward, recognize, develop and grow our people principally,

the same way we did decades ago. We motivate, connect, manage, compartmentalize, define our strategies, develop our objectives and make our

decisions in a similar way we did years ago. These things, when placed together, form a management

model. This is the underlying way we run the business; command and control through to explore

and discover. Businesses need to rethink their management models, and in so doing will become

more productive and consume less profit!

It means management innovation is as important as product, process of service innovation. We need to

reinvent the principals, practices and processes we use to get the work done in our business, to better connect with

and engage our people. Until we really change the way we manage and lead our businesses, we’ll continue to fall short of the results we could achieve, and our people will

continue to be under-engaged in their work. Engagement and the vehicle to get their, management innovation, is the battleground of the future, if you really want to stick

with a military analogy. But beyond that, military style organizations, should be history.

WHAT DOES THAT REALLY MEAN?6

©Copyright 2010 Pamela Hackett www.pamelahackett.com

How come people will take to the streets for

what they believe in, but find it hard to take to the street that takes them to

work?

Building businesses fit for human consumption with less profit consumption

www.pamelahackett.compamela@pamelahackett.com

Author: getGruntled!

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