In my discussions with people in public radio over the last 10 months, I have heard many tell me that to move forward we need many more resources, (to build a digital back end, to produce more and better programming, to hire more talent etc), and that, by definition, will cost a great deal of money - something that Public Radio does not have when compared to the mass media.
As a 10 year resident of PEI, I hear all the time that we are condemned to be a sub optimal economy and hence society because we do not have enough financial or natural resources. If only we had much more money in equalization payments, we could offer the same standard of living as say Ontario.
Both these assertions - that it is a shortage of money that blocks progress - may have been correct by proxy only a few years ago but are now ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!!!!!!
What is happening now is starting to tell us that there is another way of looking at resources. The new model is of course the old model of Barn Building.
We call it Open Source now. It is the use of Community Capital. Once communities become central to an organizing idea - Barn Building becomes available. This is surely a great source of potential competitive power for communities - as money based organizations cannot access Community Capital. A Community can always build a barn at a radically lower cost and at a radically higher quality than a commercial alternative. "Oh we all know about open source and open space - this is not new!" you may say.
But what mindset for resources are you using? If you are not using an Open approach, you are missing out. Of course what I am saying is not new. But what may be new is that some of the details of how this works and some of the details of its power are becoming more clear.
So first we look at the web and some information that is familiar to a few but which maybe has not sunk in as it should.
From the Church of the Customer
Here is the new 1% rule. If you seek resources in an open manner, it takes about 1% to gear up to a huge result.
So why would Public radio consider any other perspective for building its technology platform or indeed any infrastructure. Why would PEI rely on commercial models either for say a new local food system or wind energy?
While barn building as a model has always been available to a group that defines themselves as a community. Most communities themselves have forgotten the latent power that resides within them. So again the idea of Open Source while not new is still held too small.
Using an Open approach today also enables the community to cope with a massive increase in complexity. Has it been a lack of will. of intelligence and resources that has confounded Microsoft in building its new operating system? Surely the barrier has been complexity. The challenges that confront us today are building in complexity. This is why we used an Open Process of investigation in Public radio in the US to "discover" what was really going on and to help us find some pathways to a better future. We knew from the outset that no one of us was smart enough to see it all. Even if there was such a genius, we would not have believed him either.
Such a "distributed" approach to coping with complexity can be applied to business when the business leader adopts a legitimately distributed model. This effect of lowering the load, increasing accuracy and increasing pace of development is not anymore confined to the web , software or information. This process of "Opening" is now working at the highest levels in engineering.
Airbus announced recently that they will miss the release date for the A380. Why - Because they have been overwhelmed by complexity. Boeing is having no such problems with the Dreamliner. Why? They are using a genuinely Open Source approach.
If you see resources in a control and hence in a financial mode - you cannot access this new opportunity. So what is both the lock and the key to acting on this idea? It is Mindset or Culture. If you cannot understand the cultural aspect of the choice before you - you may be stuck.
The idea of Open has traction or not depending on the ability of any leadership to locate what they are doing in a cultural context. To do this, it helps to have a map. So here is a map that has helped me more than any other tool to locate any issue culturally
This was developed by Dr Brian Hall of Values Technology (More posts to come that will share his story and achievement)
The map represents many sets of supporting tools but let me give you a quick heads up of how this can help you reframe marketing, hiring, promoting, performance, teams, mergers and most important of all leadership.
At the top line you will see 4 phases of human cognitive development. These roughly approximate Maslowian but are more detailed.
Phase 1 (The world is a mystery over which I have no control) is called Surviving and has two sequential parts Safety and Security. We live in this world as a small child. To progress, you have to have most of the foundation issues in here well asssimilated. If you don't, then the chances are that you may be stuck here. You look like an adult but your needs are here. The test? When someone you know is all about ME! We all know this person. People stuck in Phase I are not people that you want on your team, in your department and certainly not as your leader unless yo are in extreme crisis and need a tyrant.
The map however is also dynamic. Under threat, we shift here as individuals and as groups. Germany did after their loss in World War I. Many Americans are moving there post 9/11 or post Katrina. In crisis, it is smart to go here. As a 2 year old you need to be here. As a mature person you need to have learned the lessons from here.
These shifts in Phase affect leadership styles. It is no wonder that a frightened and humiliated Germany looked for an authoritarian leader. This is the quandary of the Democrats today. Many traditional organizations that are under siege are moving here. Tyrants are defined here as having "oppressed followers who are totally dependent" Paternalist leaders have followers who are "Dependent and obedient". Anyone familiar with this? Of course we also know that living like this is very bad for your health.
As more people fear for their jobs in a global world, a very large segment of the population in the west will regress here. We can see the response in the mass media. The mass media has moved here and seeks to attract by using the most foundational appeal and stories of survival. Clear channel is the music media here - we tell you what to listen too. If you are a small radio station that fears for its future you are here. If you are PEI you may be here. In survival - cooperation is all but impossible. If you need to cooperate with a person or a group here - you have to deal with their fear first.
Phase II (The world is a problem with which I must cope) is called Belonging and has 2 sequential parts - Family and Institution. This is where most of us live today. This is where being controlled, orderly is vital. As is being obedient and fitting in. It is the world of a teen ager. You profess to be an individual but fitting in is the most important thing. Social affirmation, management, competence, duty obligation are all key values. Without a core here, any organization would not be competent. But if the leadership is all here, then the purpose of the organization becomes control itself as an end. This is the essence of bureaucracy.
Marketers love this group. This is all about using things to identify as myself. I have a BMW so I am good. Good people to have on your team, but not if they are in the senior leadership role. But you do need a group of people at the top who are really competent doers. Truly great visionary leaders have to have come through here on their way.
The quality newspapers and some aspect of NPR today feed the higher end of this group who seek to know more so that they can be more competent. These listeners trust the authority of the New York Times or NPR.
Until recently this was the leadership model though. The Manager Leader is efficient with followers who are loyally devoted to the organization. This was the GM of the 1930 - 1970's. Unfortunately it still is. But the bonds of loyalty have been broken and merely being efficient is not enough to cope with a complex world
Phase III (The world is a creative project in which I want to participate) is called Self Initiating. It has two parts as well. Vocation and New Order. You can see that phases I and II are on a linear progression. Phase III is a bifurcation in development. here the world is turned upside down. In phases I and II everything is extrinsic. In phase III everything becomes intrinsic. It's all about me but in a more evolved way. Here participation is central to being me. This applies to learning, to my health, to my work and to my leisure.
In the past there were very few people in this group. Now, higher living standards, have pushed an early group into this sector. This is where the back to the landers came from. This is where many of the geek community is. But now a trickle is becoming a tidal wave. What is driving this?
It is the social web. The social web is the key to the Self Initiating world.
It gives the individual their voice back. This is the essence of wikipedia and open source. This is what the web is facilitating. Where eBay now have 1 million self employed people in their system and growing. This is where blogging is awakening people. The social web is unlocking this deep need and people are flocking to be free. For until the social web, there was no structure to allow this - the pressures of the Phase II world were too great. In marketing this is where peer reviews count the most. In education this is where dialogue counts the most. In health this is where taking back my power counts. In teams this is where I take responsibility for my bit. In life this is where my word and my reputation mean the most. In competence this is where being acknowledged as being good counts for more than a credential. It is a personal world of adults who take legitimate responsibility.
In media this is the "many to many" idea made flesh. This is where distributed networks can be built because the idea of control has shifted from direct to a systems perspective.
The two leadership styles are very different from Phases I and II. Here the leader is either a Facilitator who is a listener, clarifier and supporter with followers who are also listeners, clarifiers and supporters. Or at the next level is a Collaborator who is a Facilitator, producer, creator with active peer participation. Here the doing, the listening and the ordering are all integrated. The reward is Wholeness and integration for the person. Knowledge Insight, Human Dignity Being self are the goals.. One of the tests of such a person is that they at least acknowledge their own limits and then celebrate them. A phase Ii person hides these and talks only of their successes.
This is is the future that represents a vision of what we want to become if we are fully developed as a person. This is the most compelling vision that we can imagine. It is not a place but a state.
The challenge is that we have to cross a divide from phase II to get to phase III. Many fear the loss of identity involved from going from extrinsic to intrinsic. Many will see phase II as their enemy and we see a reaction. This then is the real competitive arena today.
Southwest is a phase III organization - all the other airlines are phase II at best - most phase I. Southwest competes by culture. eBay represents a phase III market place. Google is a phase III working environment. Microsoft is phase II. Open Source is Phase III.
Where will the audience for Phase III radio come from? Is the future of Public radio to be found in phase II?
Phase IV (The world is a mystery for which we care on a global scale) Has two parts - Wisdom and World Order. Mandela, Gandhi, Havel fit this phase. The leadership styles are Servant - interdependent administrator with collegial participation and Visionary - Liberator with a global network of visionaries. It is rare but it also has a powerful attraction. This is the point. The bigger the potential for a future vision the more powerful it is.
Any new kind of organization that will be sustainable in calling the energy and the hearts of people to act as collaborators in the grand mystery that is life itself, has to put part of its vision out here.
Summary - For me the choice for all of us in the future is this. Where best can we locate ourselves on this map? If we locate ourselves in Phase III - what does that mean for all our supporting processes?
If you are in phase II you had better be big. Because in the end game for phase II it will be a battles of the giants. The giants will die anyway. For Phase III can act more surely, more quickly and for much less cost.
Sorry that this has been such a mouthful but I will explore this values map a lot in the near future as I struggle to make sense of how best to see a better way through. I will do my best to explore the parts that make up this systemic view of values in later posts
Technorati Tags: Brian Hall, Culture, Organization, PEI, Public Radio, Values Technology
