A Culture of Thinkers
Jane Hartman Frankel, Founder, The Art of Performance LLC
“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.” (George Patton, World War II General)
Organizational leaders do not always reward thinking. Work “within the box” is acceptable. It is easy to manage. But this paradigm points out the difference between managers and leaders. Managers monitor work activity based on a set of dates and deliverables. Leaders enable and encourage people to set their own dates and deliverables through a balance on independent and interdependent thinking. 21st century organizations will not survive without that component of leadership. The 21st century environment provides too much diversity of thinking, mobility, and information to even attempt to contain work activity to a set of hard and fast dates and deliverables. The job of today’s leaders is to engage, empower, and enable today’s workforce in thinking, which then must be rewarded as it adds value to the enterprise.
It is not enough to talk about engagement, empowerment, and enabling programs and policies, the support to think must be felt by the members of the organization. Reinforcing the risk-takings necessary to demonstrate these new behaviors will ensure that these behaviors continue and will make those companies grow. Leadership today requires no less than a formal strategy around thinking.
Sometime in the 1950s a group of actors created Tri-Star Productions, a new phenomenon in the industry of cinema. The established system had been focused on making and distributing the movies. Vertical integration with distributors and movie houses and long term contracts with actors summed up the business model. The big studios had controlled everything. As charges of monopoly were filed, as television, big screen, and 3D effects rose in popularity, as movies started to grow in other countries, and as they started to reflect changes in societal norms in the US, general questioning of the establishment model emerged. Independent movie companies and the notoriety of independent actors created an alternative to this model, challenging the established mode of the industry. This allowed the independent actors to demand higher salaries and to even start their own studios. They could sustain themselves without the big movie houses, such as MGM and Warner Brothers, and without their contracts. This turn of events also made the actors responsible for their own destinies and successes. In some cases they became partners with their old bosses. The rules of engagement had changed. Movie producers had a new relationship with the actors, their formerly contracted and owned assets, and they needed to manage differently to ensure the continuation of the movie industry. Movies without actors would not work.
The evolving scenario in the world of cinema prompted its participants to develop new thinking. The new thinking affected a shift in power for all involved. This was enabling for the individuals as well as for the studio organizations, but only as long as the culture of these organizations evolved concurrently with this new mode of thinking. The leaders of these organizations had to understand the ripple effect and make adjustments to their management style. Actors’ share of revenue was dramatically changed. Actors now had opportunity to select roles carefully. The studios had to nurture them in order to establish and maintain good relationships. Because actors had new power to demand larger salaries, owners then had to develop different priorities in managing these independent assets. The studio leaders needed to engage and work with the actors to identify and resource profitable projects, whereas in the establishment model, the leaders only concerned themselves with making and distributing movies.
A new sense of accountability entered the culture, with actors now negotiating salaries and roles in very competitive ways. Actors now worked directly for themselves. The leader’s job was to maintain high levels of productivity and quality, and maximize the expertise of the actors in identifying good projects, all while carefully managing finances.
21st Century Workers
If we consider the knowledge worker of the 21st century, we see certain elements of independence, mobility, and accountability which raise a new set of challenges for business owners and Human Resource professionals. Because of today’s business need for growth, competitiveness, interconnectivity, and availability of information, workers and business leaders have a similar situation to that of the actors and studio leaders. The workers’ new found mobility, independence, and empowerment have management implications, for sure. Businesses also have evolving needs as today’s complexity requires people to contribute in more independent and integrated ways. The complexity and speed of engagements today require that workers apply their expertise to a continuously changing world of events. They must be able to think, analyze, and make decisions in relevant ways. This implies that they work as informed authorities in their areas of competence, integrating their thinking with others, and move on to the next project in a timely manner. Daily operations and customer relationships must be everyone’s responsibility. Leaders can only set parameters for aligning these efforts. Detailed tracking and directing are not possible. It is up to the individual worker to make good decisions and then adjust these decisions as integrated thinking with other experts takes place.
Business owners and leaders walk a fine line between fostering independent thinking and requiring accountability to help the enterprise sustain itself. Creating an environment of transparent communication in which workers are encouraged to think and analyze in their areas of expertise and to contribute in ways that build value is the job of business owners. They can do this with the help of their HR support staffs.
Just as the actors experienced, workers can be independent as long as they add value to the organizations that employ them. These workers not only need to work in an environment that allows them to be independent, responsible, and accountable; they need the structure of knowing where the organization is going and what resources are available to get there. They need the flexibility of an environment that encourages them to think: inside the box, outside the box, and even beyond, into other boxes.
New Rules of Engagement for Leaders
So, Human Resource leaders, you have a new call to action. Your CEO and other leaders need your support in creating an environment in which the balance of order and of creativity is the ultimate goal.
Today’s leaders need a thinking strategy that is focused on three activities to recognize and enable the independence and interdependence of workers:
- Creating Readiness Sharing of enterprise direction, goals, and general information creates a sense of readiness by establishing a comprehensive and common knowledge of the business, engaging workers to make well-informed decisions.
- Developing Relevance Ensuring that workflow, including every business activity and connection, builds a collaborative environment in which people can see the relevance and value of their contributions, empowering workers to integrate their work with others and to understand internal and external customers’ needs.
- Ensuring Reinforcement Implementing a structure of rewards recognizes independent thinking and interdependent work, ensuring that everyone understands the values and behaviors, including risk-taking, that contribute to achieving enterprise objectives and goals.
Thinkers and Innovators
Creating a culture that engages and encourages independent thought is not easy. Leaders and Human Resource executives need to routinely encourage workers to exercise the power of independence, the constraints of accountability, and to understand the interdependence necessary to work with others to ensure a successful enterprise. These empowering initiatives ultimately enable workers to innovate. Independent thinking and collaboration facilitates relationships with customers, both internal and external, that effectively direct new product and service development.
People who are empowered and expected to think do just that. This cannot help but lead to innovative ideas that ensure the future of the enterprise.
Conclusion
Many circumstances led actors to become independent thinkers. Many circumstances led to 21st century business requirements and scenarios. Just as the movie moguls had to adjust their operations to work with their more sophisticated workers, business leaders have to recognize the need for creating a culture that supports their workers, as well. Behaviors and activities that recognize and support the new sophistications of independence and interdependence will encourage the innovation that will sustain the enterprise. All stakeholders are recognized for their importance to long term success.
Do all of your stakeholders know how critical their thinking is to enterprise success? Do you reward thinking in all directions? Is risk-taking rewarded? Do you have your thinking strategy in place?
Gen. George Patton was very insightful. Well before the studio system or even today’s business environment evolved, he knew that the power of independent thinking was unparalleled when sparked and expected by a leader. Needs change, so the work must change, and environments that support that work must accommodate as well. The job of a leader is to ensure that the work environment supports the expert as an effective decision maker. In a culture of thinkers, the expert knows the goals, understands the dynamics of the business situation, feels rewarded for making decisions, and innovates regularly.