Monday, August 3, 2015

Collaborative Chaos

Innovations generally don’t take us from point A to B…... 
They take us from point A to Chaos.

Any significant development or change through history has almost always proven disruptive and often thrown institutions and conventions into chaos.
 
The new reality of the "blogispere" for example has clearly disrupted the publishing industry. The fact that I am able to write this article is challenging the way publishers and media agencies deal with the prolific reality of amateur and self publishing and the future of their businesses. The internet and social networks may have provided the vehicle and mechanism, but the rest is out of any institutions control and is developing under its own power. It is now also challenging conventional laws.

the mechanisms not the structures have the power to deliver the solution

The "mechanisms" therefore, not the products, have the power then for organisations to completely rethink how they achieve otherwise difficult and complex development.
Creating or utilising mechanisms, not institutions, to create and develop within, without any apparent ownership by you, may seem a bit scary or "chaotic" but they also hold the power to provide a vehicle to deliver significant outcomes for your organisation.
How much of what you may have identified in needing to obtain, develop or achieve traditionally involves structural investment and management to deliver. How often does this become too heavy to manage or create?

Letting the problem out

 Whilst it is nothing new, very few of us actually "let the problem out". In other words "not own" the development, but provide a collaborative tool that gives the market source (the apparent chaos) the power to organically produce the outcome for you.
Two things will happen. The source providers will give you more than you could actually produce inside your own capabilities and the the market consumers will show you the real focus of where you need to go.

Retaining or trying to institutionalise knowledge will only limit what can be achieved with it

Knowledge is one thing, that is the key to success, however retaining or trying to institutionalise that knowledge will only limit what can be achieved with it. The limitations being the very institution that tries to control and manage it.

Real innovation is achieved when the the knowledge it let loose.

What can you let loose today?

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Perverse Incentives




Does it seem like you hit a brick wall every time you ever seem try to make that change or push ahead?

What is it then, that's running a counter campaign against your objectives?

Are there incentives that are outweighing the choices that your customers, stakeholders or employees are making. Not just in a commercial sense but even in what they seem to value. Incentives that may run counter culture even to what is outwardly expressed or observed.

If you are experiencing this sort of environment then step back and think about what it is that causes you to buy a product or or undertake an activity that may be against your better judgement. What was the trigger or incentive that goes on in that space for you?

It may not have even been a conscious thing, but it influenced your decisions at the time?

These are "perverse Incentives”.

If you haven't heard of them you certainly will have experienced them. They are happening every day in every way, and unless you are seeking them out and understand how they influence you and your stakeholders then you can keep doing what you do with no effect.

Perverse incentives may also be emotional or cultural and may not follow logic. They will also be affected by personal beliefs, so understanding the core default responses by others is essential in influencing or harnessing change.

Some may come from outside sources that may materialise momentarily or through social constructs or connections that have no direct contact with your business or its products.

It's the reason you change your buying habit purely because the product you don’t want, comes with something you do! It's why affluence lessens giving, and social disadvantage strengthens it. 

Its why certain communities respond to volunteerism, and others don't.
It's why a supported community will actually become less resilient.
If you understand how an adrenaline fix and a sense of purpose experienced in people responding to significant events, you will understand how this can discourage attention to preventing them taking place.

Look at how people totally remote from events want to emotionally engage with them.

If you train all your life to go to war and never see a battle then what is the outcome. Is your readiness state providing an inverse climate for other vulnerabilities or behaviours?

You may not think so at first but look below the surface and tease out the butterfly effect. On your product or service? Your people? Your service providers?

Retail marketers and strategic advisors understand this more than others but many organisational leaders often overlook these as they endeavour to drive change or introduce innovation into the business. They also write off activities or alternatively, pursue them pointlessly, because they have not understood the perverse influence that is currently in control.

Whilst some perverse incentives are enduring, others are constantly changing. So if you think you’ve found them, keep looking.

Its not all about the obvious.