In the last post I write about how organisations must change to face global competition in the knowledge economy. But the way we consider our job, the fact of working itself and the role of people in the companies and organizations is also changing radically.

From human resources

If yesterday we talked about human resources, today we talk about people and team management. If yesterday working was an obligation for everybody, today (and increasingly tomorrow) more people want to link their jobs with the passion for something they love to do. Yesterday jobs were for life and tomorrow we will participate in a lot of projects during our lives.

To people collaboration

Competition between peers should become cooperation and collaboration. Presence in the workplace should be replaced by rewarding and analysing people performance through goal achievement. Control and supervision must be replaced by help and coaching to achieve those goals.

Traditional companies´opacity should become total transparency if they seek to attract talented people teams. And these people are not yes men/women anymore, we need them to to have a capacity to criticize, detect problems, think about better and different ways to solve problems and do things.

As people are not resources anymore but the main company's asset, we have to find out ways to imply them with the company's goals and vision. For that reason, we should give up talking about human resources management and talk about internal marketing. And the Chief internal Marketing Officer (or Chief People Officer) clients are the company's employees and collaborators, so she should attend their needs with the same perspective, for the company's better benefit.

I know that maybe you are thinking about what is happening right now in your company, and what I am saying may sound crazy. But that's the way. If people are not happy working for your company, they will not stay, as it used to be.

So if you are an entrepreneur or manager, you'd better think how work philosophy is changing and implement work innovation in your company to succeed in the future.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To understand how our organisation has to change in order to be effective in the current competitive environment, we have to understand the major transformations the global economy is facing due to the transition from the industrial economy to an information and knowledge based economy.

Organisations change

The way we did things yesterday (the past) has nothing to do with the way we should do them today and tomorrow (the future), and we should be prepared for that.

Yesterday we were talking about huge company conglomerates, but today we talk about networks of companies. Yesterday we talked about company hierarchy, while today we have to talk about people networks. Yesterday we called them suppliers and distributors, but today we'd better call and consider them our value network. Yesterday we talked about stability and slow bureaucracy, today we are talking about everyday change and alliances. Yesterday was the time for centralized control, but today is time for decentralization and delegation.

Yesterday we talked about self-centered and product-centered organisations, while today we talk about absolutely client-centered organisations. Yesterday, humans did jobs that machines can do perfectly well, but today we must talk about avoiding any single process that does not contribute with a real value for the client. Yesterday we talked about "real" organisations, meaning by that sharing the same physical space, but today we should talk about virtual organisations.

Organisational change

It is pretty obvious that companies and organisations of the future (for the leading ones is already the present) will have nothing to do with the organisations in the industrial economy and the way of managing and organising people has to be radically different. People with capacity to lead competitive companies in a global information economy require other type of organisations. Are you driving that organisational change in your company or organisation?.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am currently conducting a research addressed to the Government of Catalonia through which we try to determine the public policies -with a long term perspective- that can enhance the creation of innovative start-ups, a key point for a country or region to compete in the global economy. The first question arises just at the beginning: what do we have to consider as an innovative company?.

That is the great question if we want to create an environment that enhances and supports such new companies .

If we look at Wired magazine's criteria to choose their list of more wired companies we find four priorities of the "wired" companies:

1.- Strategic vision
2.- Global reach
3.- Killer technology
4.- Hunger for new ideas and impatience to put them in practice

I would add two more:

5.- An organisation culture absolutely oriented to innovation (in connection with #4) and to constantly find new and better ways to do things.
6.- A goal that goes beyond "creating value for our shareholders" and centers the company in an innovative manner of making life easier and happier to people.

Of course these criteria are being applied to already consolidated companies, but I think are also applicable to new start-up companies, that in my opinion should have, at least in mind:

1.- An elevated goal or mission that makes the world a better place ("let people better access to information", "everybody can fly", "everybody can access to knowledge" or "allow micro companies access to easy technology") and drives the organisation development, making it attractive to people to collaborate with.

2.- An strategic vision that develops the mission in an absolutely different an innovative manner for providing value to users or clients

3.- A global approach just from the beginning, and a well settled strategy to support that global reach. And, of course a value proposition from which a global growth capacity can be expected

4.- A killer technology platform that, again, supports that global reach and make things absolutely easy for everybody using it. Note that I think the most important is the platform, not the technology itself.

5.- The commitment to built an organisational culture that enhances hunger for new ideas, innovation and new ways of doing things. And that stands the dark side of doing so: mistakes and failures.

6.- The capacity of constantly rethinking the organisation and the business model

And finally, I would say to find venture capitalists that understand those priorities from the beginning, which probably will be the most difficult one to achieve for new companies.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)