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Five Working Principles of Creation Companies

On 07.29.09, In Creating Creation Companies, by Barry Mapp

Five Working Principles of the Creation Company
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 [...]

Five Working Principles of the Creation Company

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:

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

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What makes a “Creation Company”?

On 07.28.09, In Creating Creation Companies, Know-How, by Barry Mapp

Adapted from a Paper presented by Barry Mapp in 1994 at the ERIK Network European Conference “Regional Successes in Creating and Connecting Companies – European Union Perspectives”
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 [...]

Adapted from a Paper presented by Barry Mapp in 1994 at the ERIK Network European Conference “Regional Successes in Creating and Connecting Companies – European Union Perspectives”

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

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Tagged with: Audacity • Collaborative Work • Company Performance • Connecting Companies • Control Principles • Corporate Culture • Creation Company • Culture Work • Human Joy • Human Spirit • Individual Expression • Leadership Style • Mapp • Place Business • Tom Mcgehee • Whoosh • Work Culture • Work Leadership • Work Management • Work Processes

On Creating Creation Companies -an overview

On 07.27.09, In Creating Creation Companies, by Barry Mapp

Creating Creation Companies
(Adapted from a Paper presented by Barry Mapp in 1994 at the ERIK Network European Conference “Regional Successes in Creating and Connecting Companies – European Union Perspectives”)
Let’s take a preliminary look at the differences between a “Compliance Company” and a “Creation Company”. These are terms that I like, that were first penned by [...]

Creating Creation Companies

(Adapted from a Paper presented by Barry Mapp in 1994 at the ERIK Network European Conference “Regional Successes in Creating and Connecting Companies – European Union Perspectives”)

Let’s take a preliminary look at the differences between a “Compliance Company” and a “Creation Company”. These are terms that I like, that were first penned by Tom McGehee in his book Whoosh.

Today a key business challenge is to recognise and realise the full potential of each organisation. However when we continue to lead and manage our organisations in the same way as we have always done, we are going to get what we have always got. The call to lead and manage in a totally different way – to transform “western management”- was first issued by W.Edwards Deming. Many have cherry-picked from Deming’s ideas but few have attempted to transform management along the lines that he proposed.

Most organisations continue to be run in “the old ways” based on “old psychology”,“old science” and “old management” principles (each of these terms will be explored more fully in later blogs). As Russell Ackoff pointed out a few years ago, most business schools are part of the problem because they still teach “old way” approaches. However more and more iconoclasts of our era, from different fields and domains, are backing the need to transform management thinking. Tom McGehee is one of many calling for a change in our thinking. He calls the transformed organisation a “Creation Company” and the old-style organisation a “Compliance Company” – terms that I will use also.

Compliance Companies, whether they realise this or not, erect barriers to change and innovation by insisting on control of (1)information, (2)resources and (3)decision making, in order to preserve the status quo. In such companies (which remain the vast majority) people have never been trusted to supervise themselves and inspect their own work. People are never able to do their best efforts because the management systems get in the way.

Coming Next: So what makes a “Creation Company”?

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Tagged with: Business Challenge • Business Schools • Compliance Company • Connecting Companies • Creation Company • European Union • Innovation • Key Business • Management Principles • Mapp • Old Science • Old Style • Organisations • Perspectives • Psychology • Russell Ackoff • Successes • Tom Mcgehee • W Edwards • Western Management

Barry's SuperBlog

Five Working Principles of Creation Companies

What makes a “Creation Company”?

Adapted from a Paper presented by Barry Mapp in 1994 at the ERIK Network European Conference “Regional Successes in Creating and Connecting Companies – European Union Perspectives”

The Fundamental Principles for creating a Creation Company

On Creating Creation Companies -an overview

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