The concepts and research from the “new sciences” challenge our current thinking (theories-in-use) and challenge some sacred beliefs and ethos about how best to do good business. Creation companies (whether they realise it or not) embrace new psychology and new science ideas. This thinking is in line with other iconoclast thinkers of our time such as, Russell Ackoff (Systems Thinking), Edward de Bono (Design Thinking), Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow Thinking), and Eric Jensen (Brain-Based Thinking)

Let’s look at some of the major differences between  Compliant and Creation Companies:

COMPLIANT Companies tend to have the following characteristics:

• Leadership Style that is Command and Control
• Order maintained by Policies and Rules
• Competitive Internal Departments leading to sub-optimisation
• Focus on Activity and the need to work faster, and measuring the things that can be easily measured but may not be that important
• Asking people to improve but not giving them the method or means by which to do so (carrots and sticks offered rather than a method for improvement)
• Lack of Trust (Old Psychology suggests that people cannot be trusted -extrapolated from the 1% or less who can never be trusted)
• A Blame (and Fear) Culture. Asking, “who went wrong”  (If things are not working, look for what the people are doing wrong and then give them a rollicking). Little opportunity to learn in a Blame Culture
• People (particularly the leaders) confuse models with reality
• The valued thinking is “Expert Mind”
• Risk Avoidance
• Black and White Thinking (shades of grey are discouraged)

The focus of Compliant Companies is on “conformance”. Compliance is maintained through the rules and structures, the management mechanism is mainly command and control, there is a blame culture for mistakes. Conformance (to standards and best practice) is a cultural principle.

The focus of Creation Companies differs, in that the people have guiding principles rather than rules, there is a noticeable freedom from command-and-control mechanisms, there is a no-blame culture, and there is continuing positive change and joy in the work.

End Piece: And of course Creation Companies will know about and understand the factors that encourage humans to be creative. The next posts in this series look at some additional to creativity ‘Identifying and Nurturing Personal Creativity’ and ‘The Circumstances for Creativity’. The real Creation Companies are also likely to be very aware that the reward culture sabotages creativity and also the consequences of paying large bonuses to make things happen (unfortunately they make the wrong things happen and select the wrong people to best do the intended work)

Tweet This Post

The first three principles mentioned in Tom McGehee’s book Whoosh are:

1) a leadership style free from command-and-control principles

2) a corporate culture that values individual expression and collaborative work

3) An understanding that success means creating the new not replicating the old

The two additional principles of those Creation Companies that will survive for the Long-term is that they learn to:

4) Inoculate themselves from the seven deadly diseases of management which are endemic “diseases” in ‘Compliance Companies’.

5) Apply the principles of “New Psychology” and “New Science” to “how we do things around here”. This includes continually applying new knowledge (as it is acquired) about the brain, the human spirit, learning, and human potential etc

Let’s look at these last two principles in more detail

First, the seven deadly diseases of management? (as outlined by W Edwards Deming)

• There is a Lack of constancy of purpose.
• There is an Emphasis on short-term profits.
• There is Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance.
• There is Mobility of management (resulting in high staff turnover)
• There is Running a company on visible figures alone.
• There is Excessive medical costs (this point is related more to the American Market, but we could reframe this as the cost high costs that companies bare of early retirements and redunduncies)
• There are Excessive costs of warranty and Litigation, fuelled by lawyers who work for contingency fees.

There are these Lesser Category of Obstacles also mentioned by Deming:

• Neglect of long-range planning.
• Relying on technology to solve problems.
• Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions.
• Excuses such as “Our problems are different”.

Here are three different perspectives on these seven deadly diseases:

1. csqa
2. riskmanagementinsight
3. curiouscat

Coming next: The final principle of Creation Companies: Applying “New Psychology” and “New Science” to the Business

Tweet This Post

A Creation Company can be thought of as a place (business) where the work systems, work processes, work culture, work management and work leadership are aligned with people and how people work best.

Where such alignment occurs this can lead to extraordinary results.

When the systems do not get in the way of the work, human spirit and human joy and passion unfold.

When alignment happens between people and systems, the work can “flow”, unimpeded by artificial constraints, boundaries, controls or hierarchy.

When the work is aligned with how people like to work, then every person in the business is able to perform at their very best, such that everyone has the opportunity to produce extraordinary results.

When there is such alignment, individuals have a sense of control or influence over the work and a sense of responsible for their own work

The Fundamental Principles for creating a Creation Company

Tom McGehee says there are three fundamental principles for a Creation Company (and ANY company can generate the excitement, energy, confidence, and audacity of the “whoosh” of a Creation Company by subscribing to these fundamental principles):

1)     A  leadership style free from command-and-control principles

2)     A corporate culture that values individual expression and collaborative work

3)     An understanding that success means creating the new not replicating the old

From my personal experience, I would also add two additional principles required for (long-term) Creation Company performance (this makes it five principles in all) and these will be discussed in the next blog

Coming next:  Five Working Principles of Creation Companies

Tweet This Post