I love the phrase often used by my friend and colleague Cheri Torres— “pause, breathe,
and get curious.” We cannot overuse that mantra during these incredibly VUCA times
(Volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous). Precisely when the situation seems to call
for quick decision and action, we are often better served by slowing down just a bit, taking
a slow, deep breath, and getting curious. But about what? I suggest focusing on three
elements–Learning, Strengths, and Possibility.

Learning

1. What are you learning that might be helpful going forward? Over the next few weeks?
   When shelter-in-place restrictions start to lift?
2. Who has stepped up and demonstrated new competence (talents,
   knowledge, or skills)?
3. Who has displayed great character or shown unexpected leadership and
   because of that has helped your organization thrive?
4. Have there been the new influencers in your organization?
5. What have you done differently that worked? What have you tried that with
   some rapid prototyping and adaptation could prove valuable?
6. Who else might it be helpful to include in ongoing conversations?
7. Those most affected by any changes?
8. Those with different perspectives who could help enlarge the possibility
   set?
9. Customers, clients, or those you serve?

Strengths

1. What strengths (in competence and/or character) in your people have you tapped into
   over the past two months? How could you amplify the impact of those strengths?
2. What capabilities, resources, knowledge, wisdom, and wonder that give life to your
   organization when it’s most alive, and most successful have you tapped into over the
   past two months? How could you amplify the impact of those gifts?

Possibility

Given everything you have learned, what might be possible now that would have
been unimaginable two months ago?

1. In your business model? (How you create, deliver, and capture value.)
2. In your operating model? (Your organizational structures, processes and
   practices.)

You can use these questions first to reflect on the past couple months. Then, incorporate
them into short weekly sessions with diverse groups of people to ensure you stay current. I
think you will find the brief pauses spent in getting curious will generate robust returns for
your people and your organization.

Side note on why strengths matter

University of Wisconsin researchers studying team performance videotaped two bowling
teams. The members of each team then studied their video to improve their skills. But the
two videos had been edited differently. One team received a video identifying only its
mistakes; the other team’s video, by contrast, showed only what was working well; i.e., the
good performances and their strengths-in-use. After studying the videos, both teams
improved their game, but the team that studied its successes improved its score twice
as much as the one that studied its mistakes.

Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova from Pexels

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The post David Cooperrider on The Business of Building a Better World appeared first on Co-Creating Mutual Value Collaborative.

The switch to prospering BY forging a better world can be complicated. Toward that end we approach our work with the spirit of low cost, safe, and rapid experimentation. Engaging in regular structured reflection with our client partners, we jointly adapt and quickly improve our work together, and build internal capability for future work of this kind.  Revolutionary goals, evolutionary steps.

The big plan, big design, big change project—these strategies, though seductive, are seldom effective in the real world. Because all innovation decisions are simply best bets about what will work in a given environment, learning your way into the future through iteration is better than jumping off a cliff with a “grand plan”. Iteration involves a series of relatively simple, low risk, and quick cycles of trying things out (acting), followed by reflecting on results (learning) and creating the next version (adapting) to deepen the understanding of what is working (or not) and evolve the best solution. This approach of “learning our way into the future,” combined with openness to surprise and a sense of spontaneity in responding, are key to designing business and operating models that co-create mutual value in your ecosystem

 Most businesses are good at “acting” and even “adapting”, but often key step of “learning” is skipped. And if we do remember to spend time in reflection, we minimize it by excluding external ecosystem members who could offer different perspectives.  It is these other viewpoints which, if valued, often provide the insights leading to breakthrough innovation.

What can you do to build capability in “learning” this way?

We have found one tool particularly useful in learning to do so, the Ladder of Inference developed by Chris Argyris, a professor at Harvard University.

At its essence, the Ladder is a simple model of how we think; how we process our experiences, create inferences about them, and take action; all at lightning speed without noticing we are doing so.

How can we use the ladder to improve “learning?” First, we become aware that we are always “jumping up our ladder” (and know that others are as well). Second, with that awareness comes a choice to be genuinely curious about the other person’s conclusions, meaning and data—to explore their story and walk down their ladder with them.  Most often we will discover that we have two very different, and equally valid data sets that have led up to two very different, and equally valid conclusions. By using the ladder we can now jointly develop new meaning and new conclusions and thus arrive at a new action based on our expanded data set. Thus, creating the possibility for innovative solutions.

At the CCMV Collaborative, we apply this same approach with our organizational learning partners, as we continue to evolve the practice of Co-Creating Mutual Value. Throughout every phase of the CCMV journey, we engage members of the ecosystem in dialogues about their experiences with our overall approach, our tools, and our support. Using our process of generative evaluation, we understand what worked well (and why) and what would make it even better in the future. 

One added benefit of such an approach to learning is how it facilitates building capability within the business ecosystem for self-guiding the future work of Co-Creating Mutual Value. 

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Neil Samuels

The strategy of prospering BY forging a better world can be full of white water. A high performing, adaptive set of paddlers is needed. One key to this is everyone knowing each other’s strengths and everyone using their strengths.

With that in mind, which raft better reflects the working relationships you have with stakeholders in your business ecosystem raft today? Is it the one on the top, thriving in the water, in which everyone is fully absorbed in the task, and working in sync to enable a safe smooth journey no matter what challenges the river throws up? If so, count yourself fortunate. AGILITY in the face of turbulence of turbulence is a huge asset to any organization

Like the river, your business environment is full of unexpected rapids. And when all the people in your raft (both your organization and the organizations of your stakeholders) are bringing the best of their strengths to bear on “running the river” successfully, then chances of adapting effectively to every new rapid are substantially increased.

Is there evidence for this? Yes! Let’s start with the numbers. According to the Gallup Organization’s State of the American Workplace report, teams leveraging their strengths every day generates a 17% improvement in productivity, a 21% increase in profitability.

What underpins the numbers?

Research by Marcus Buckingham indicates that while corporate cultures vary by country and industry, our most powerful human need at work is to discover our strengths and to use them frequently. Trying to take advantage of new business opportunities with a mindset of reasons why we cant generates fatigue, blame, and resistance.  Identifying, magnifying, and connecting the strengths and capabilities of your organization and its ecosystem partners moves us to a “how might we” mindset. This creates performance that resembles the raft on the right.

If your “ecosystem raft” resembles the one on the left—in which paddlers are not combining their strengths in smart ways. then of the ten people in your raft, three are pulling with all their might, six are paddling gently while admiring the canyon walls, and two are poking holes in the sides creating unresponsiveness. Can your ecosystem raft really afford that in today’s world?

The strategy of Co-Creating Mutual Value is a way to prosper. It is rooted in our practice of approaching any challenge by asking questions like:

• What are we good at, what resources do we have?
• What are others good at and what resources do they have?
• If we combined our strengths and resources, what might we accomplish?

We leave you with this thought: The ageless task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make the system’s weaknesses irrelevant. —Peter Drucker, Father of Modern Management

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Mirror Flourishing and What It Means When An Organization’s Ecosystem Thrives? 

Neil Samuels

A thriving business ecosystem consistently delivers remarkable products and services that leave customers (or clients, or patients) feeling valued and respected, –  in economically, environmentally, and socially beneficial ways. And it’s more than that! It’s about high performing workplaces where people experience personal well-being, have trust in their colleagues, and take pride in their work. Places that bring out their best to achieve organizational and societal goals.

Of course, in a world with increasingly complex socio-economic and environmental challenges, attaining unprecedented, enduring business advantage is just one side of the coin.  Producing positive social, economic, and environmental impact—the total positive effect of your organization on the well-being of the individuals, families, and social fabric of the communities in which you operate– is the other side. Fortunately, doing well and good are inextricably intertwined. As Paul Polman (recent CEO of Unilever) shares in his book Net Positive, this idea that organizations thrive when society thrives is increasingly accepted in the C-suite. In their book, Firms of Endearment, Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, and Jagdish N. Sheth also provide a mountain of evidence. They show that organizations aligning the strengths of their ecosystem partners create not only organizations that other companies love partnering with, and people love working for, but also organizations that the market loves investing in and that produce economic results blowing away the S&P 500 averages.

Innovation, both of your products or services, AND your organizational architecture (i.e. your practices, processes, and structures) is key. As David Cooperrider, co-originator of Appreciative Inquiry, and Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University) says, “it’s about people being inspired every day and bringing their whole selves to work; it’s about innovation arising from everywhere; and it’s about realizing remarkable relationship value with stakeholders”.

The thriving of your ecosystem and the thriving of your business are inextricably connected.

We have always known that flourishing workplaces drive flourishing in our ecosystems, Now we are learning that a thriving ecosystem is mirrored by a flourishing workplace. We invite you to learn more about how Co-Creating Mutual Value with your ecosystem stakeholders initiates this natural phenomenon we are just now beginning to recognize – called Mirror Flourishing.

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