Donald W. de Guerre
Emeritus Faculty, Concordia University and Member of the CCMV Advisory Council
“Nothing feels better at work than collaborating with others
to find innovative solutions to difficult challenges.”
People not only have the right to be involved in the decisions that affect them at work, they have the psychological need to be involved. The good news is that radical participation processes work, add value and accelerate positive change in health care, education, social services and in business! Partially participative processes (sometimes called consultative participation such as many Design Thinking approaches) just don’t deliver the best results. The difference involves shifting from “You said… we did” to “we said, and we did,” which builds radical participation into the organizational culture as a “way of being.”
Radical participation includes everyone affected by workplace innovations in designing the innovations. Of course, everyone can’t be involved in everything so creative ways to provide opportunity for involvement is part of the process. In small organizations everyone can be involved in all innovation activities and in large organizations, everyone can be involved in some innovation activities. A wide range of evidence-based and well-developed tools exist for engaging hundreds even thousands of people, in both face to face and virtual processes of participation in the co-discovery and design of innovations. These include but are not limited to Search Conferencing, Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry Innovation Studios and Summits, World Café, Social Labs “town halls,” and more.[1]
Think about this for a moment. Without the ability to affect the environment in which one lives and works, one is powerless, and this can result in a deep sense of self-doubt that affects not only the workplace but also our families, our community and our countries. A workplace characterized by people who are not actively engaged, but rather passively doing only what they are told is not productive and innovative. To have the ability to produce intended results, one needs to know “why” and this requires being involved in creating the solutions as well as implementing them. Emotions arising from top down or partially participative workplace innovation and change include contempt, humiliation, guilt, shame and anger.[2] These illicit natural and strong defenses that end in the refusal to work with others, disengagement (the lack of caring about my work) and sometimes, active sabotage.
Consider the radical participation alternative. Nothing feels better at work than collaborating with others to find innovative solutions to difficult challenges. In an environment where one is involved in a fast-moving dialogue searching for new ways to work better, people feel valued for their knowledge and skill, respected and included. They feel involved, engaged and that their contributions are valued and worthwhile. Strengths are recognized, appreciation and positive emotions are generated, and a work climate of high energy is created. Creativity and innovation are at their best and so are productivity and human health. In the face of conflict or tragedy, resilience and agility are demonstrated. Positive human relations develop and lead to high trust, and trust leads to a willingness to engage and take risks that can only result in better solutions. A virtuous cycle of continuous innovation and design develops for the organization. Participation in the process of designing innovations leads to learning how to use participation in the day-to-day functioning of the workplace. The result is a continuously adaptive agile organization.
How might we co-discover and co-create such a positive workplace? Research has shown that intrinsic motivation at work stems from six psychological factors.[3]
- Having some area of responsibility that is yours in which you have the autonomy and the accountability to make decisions and to innovate.
- The opportunity to learn and get better at your job and to get to do more complex or difficult things.
- Not always, repetitively doing the same thing but having some variety in the work that you do.
These first three factors are quite personal. What is energizing for you may be terrifying or far too simple for me. So, we all need to participate together to figure out what is right for us in our workplaces. Radical participation is essential in this working through process.
We all want more of these second group of three factors (below) all the time. They are embedded (or not) in the workplace by the choices that we have made as managers about the design of the organization – the structures, systems, and policies.
4. The trust and respect of others so that when I ask for help, I get it and when I suggest or offer ideas to improve our work together, I am listened to and I feel heard and understood.
5. A meaningful job that provides some sense of contributing to the whole organization and society. A feeling of pride when telling others what you do, and
6. A clear path to a desirable future. A sense that if I participate fully here, I will be able to realize my dreams.
Research also shows that even though this second set of factors is desired by everyone, not many of us experience all six of these critical psychological factors at work. A radically participative organizational culture is necessary, and it can be created with radically, not partially participative processes of workplan redesign and innovation.
Today, managers, consultants and academics are learning that full participation by all those involved in implementation in the process of designing innovations really works – but it is still rare enough to be called radical. The next challenge that some are learning is even more radical. That is how to capture and use the learning from radically participative innovation and design as a day-to-day way of being to continuously innovate business and operational models. That is a future blog.
[1] See Mohr, Bernard and Dessers, Ezra , p#284, “Designing Integrated Care Ecosystems: A Socio-Technical Perspective” 2019, Springer Nature, Switzerland
[2] See de Guerre, D. W., Emery, M., Aughton, P., and Trull, Andrew (2008). Structure Underlies Other Organizational Determinants of Mental Health: Recent Results Confirm Early Sociotechnical Systems Research. SPAR, http://www.springerlink.com/content/glq28t156367213n/.
[3] Emery, Merrelyn (2008). The Determinants of Creativity and Innovation at Work. Unpublished Manuscript available from the author.