A free e-newsletter spotlighting systemic thinking and innovations in leadership, management, and organizational development. Please forward to your colleagues.



November 21, 2002 Issue 32



"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
—Samuel Adams

"Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied."
—Pearl S. Buck


Audiotapes and CDs of the 2002 Pegasus Conference, Leading in a Complex World: Systems Thinking in Action
Turn your daily commute into a lively learning experience! Listen to this year's Systems Thinking in Action Conference on tape or CD! If you didn't get all the tapes you wanted while at the conference, or if you weren't able to attend this year, now you can enjoy the next best thing to being there. Order the complete set of tapes for $188 or CDs for $236. Tapes are $19.95 each; CDs are $22.95 each. Review our selection and order tapes or CDs here.

 


The Ultimate Change Seminar, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
January 8-9, 2003

In this two-day, fast-paced interactive seminar, executives learn the power of ultimate change through short lectures on soft- and hard-skill subjects followed by experiential business simulations. Executives get first-hand experience with making effective change that results in business benefits. Led by Greg Fields of Bridgewright Management Consultants and Greg Zlevor of Westwood International Inc. For more information, visit their site. To register call 1-866-462-2838.
 


Special Site License Offer for The Systems Thinker Newsletter

Now is the best time to start your organization-wide site license for The Systems Thinker! Act now and your subscription can begin with the first issue of Volume 14. By providing your entire organization instant access to leading-edge articles and case studies on systems thinking concepts and other essential management tools, a site license can dramatically improve the quality of collective thinking and decision-making of your workforce. The introductory price for a one-year (10-issue), organization-wide site license subscription is $1,000.00—less than the price of 10 full-rate subscriptions. To take advantage of this offer or for more information, e-mail Julie Turner or call 781-398-9700.


Books and Resources
on Leadership

Accountability Leadership:
How to Strengthen Productivity Through Sound Managerial Leadership
by Gerald Kraines
Gerald Kraines presents a unique approach to helping companies improve their business effectiveness by implementing accountable leadership principles. His creative, commonsense framework is based on widely recognized principles of clear communication and commitments. The book includes a detailed description of the accountability process, its implications for the future of business, and case studies. To order, go to this site.

The Essentials of Servant Leadership: Principles in Practice
by Ann McGee-Cooper and Gary Looper
Servant-leadership is a powerful leadership model that has proved successful in a growing number of organizations. Companies are experimenting with unprecedented and accelerated changes in how they define leadership—in whom employees choose to follow, what it takes to effectively lead others, and how individuals can come together to address constant flux. This volume differentiates servant- leadership from traditional models, shares case studies, and offers practical suggestions for putting servant-leadership principles to work. Order #IMS016, $10.95
Order

Leading in a Complex World Video
At this year's conference, Pegasus launched The Leverage Points Video Series, designed to catalyze intelligent change by introducing innovative management approaches in a concise, entertaining, and energizing presentation. Our first video, Leading in a Complex World, introduces elements of self-inquiry, collaboration, shared vision, and systems thinking to inspire everyone in your organization to recognize new possibilities for leadership and achieve uncommon results.
8 minutes, color, $295.00

View clips on our web site.
VHS Item #VLPC01
PAL Item #VLPC01P
Order VHS
Order PAL

"Moving from Blame to Accountability"
 by Marilyn Paul
Marilyn Paul discusses why blame seems to be a natural reflex when problems arise and how resorting to finger-pointing limits productivity and innovation. She explores ways in which organizations can shift from blame to accountability and offers guidelines for using systems thinking tools to surface and break reinforcing cycles of blame and for developing accountability skills to maintain long-term organizational health. Order #PDF080101R, $6.00, PDF article
Order



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Pegasus Communications provides resources that help people explore, understand, articulate, and address the challenges they face in the complexities of a changing world. Since 1989, Pegasus has worked to build a community of practitioners through The Systems Thinker® Newsletter, books, audio and videotapes, and its annual Systems Thinking in Action® Conference and other events.
FACE TO FACE
Accountability for the Bold of Heart: An Interview with Gerald Kraines
LEARNING LINKS
Societal Learning: Creating Big-Systems Change
FROM THE FIELD
Business Games That People Play
 



FACE TO FACE
Accountability for the Bold of Heart: An Interview with Gerald Kraines
by Kali Saposnick

How much time do managers spend doing what they were hired to do versus chasing after problems created in other parts of the organization? "I rarely hear figures greater than 50 percent," says Gerald Kraines, CEO and president of The Levinson Institute, a Boston-based consulting firm that offers programs and consultation services to improve the effectiveness of people and work systems. "In fact, because of lack of clarity around accountability at almost every level of the organization, most companies are delivering only a third of their potential."

What is accountability and why is it so important to organizational success? According to the definition in Gerry's new book, Accountability Leadership: How to Strengthen Productivity Through Sound Managerial Leadership, accountability is "the obligation of an employee to deliver all elements of the value that he or she is being compensated for delivering, as well as the obligation to deliver on specific output commitments with no surprises." In other words, as Gerry explains, all employees at every level are accountable for "keeping their word and earning their keep." Yet most organizations have not implemented a system to support them in making that happen.

For the past two decades, Kraines has been developing a principle-based, scientific approach to building accountability leadership systems. He has based his framework on the work of Harry Levinson, who created a sound body of knowledge about how to help managers effectively leverage their staff's potential, and Elliott Jaques, who has identified methods for objectively identifying the requisite elements of a managerial system and an organization's levels of complexity. Why is such an integrated approach crucial for today's organizations? "First," explains Gerry, "to get better business results. Business owners have a right to demand more value, and we have demonstrated that they can double or triple their results by implementing an accountability-based system. Second, to advance public health. In a healthy system, people can realize their individual potential and collectively yield the organization's potential, which can then be reinvested in our families and communities."

To implement such a system, however, takes a disciplined leader. "This is not for the faint of heart," Gerry concedes. "Developing a leadership system where managers deliver on their accountabilities and instill accountability in their subordinates requires people who are intellectually curious, who value leadership, and who are not afraid of the hard work it takes to get the system right."

The Cornerstones of Accountability
In his book, Kraines explains the four cornerstones of building an accountability leadership system: "LEAD"—leverage, engagement, alignment, and development. In this approach, managers are accountable for leveraging the potential of their people by engaging commitment, aligning judgment, and developing capabilities. Effective managers engage commitment by understanding what goes into a healthy psychological contract, a term coined by Harry Levinson in the 1950s to describe how managers understand and create the conditions necessary for people to feel supported and successful. Aligning judgment means setting context so that subordinates understand how their work jibes with the activities and goals of the larger organization and can act on that understanding. Developing capabilities begins with assessing people's potential and actual effectiveness and then coaching them to narrow the gap between the two.

Read the complete article.

To learn more about resources on leadership, see "Pegasus Highlights."
 



LEARNING LINKS
Societal Learning: Creating Big-Systems Change
by Steve Waddell

Innovative approaches to solving large societal problems are producing some impressive results. For example, banks are teaming up with community groups to find ways to generate profits and support local economic development. Construction companies are working with nongovernmental organizations to produce income and develop sustainable water and sanitation systems for the developing world.

These new patterns of working together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes represent "societal learning." Related to individual, group, and organizational learning, societal learning almost always involves the collaboration of three key sectors—government, business, and civil organizations (including labor, community-based, religious, and nongovernmental entities)—in ways that enhance society's capacity to innovate. Such collaboration is particularly challenging to achieve because the organizations involved must embrace diverse viewpoints, forge new visions, and be willing to operate differently in the future than they have in the past.

Developing any societal learning initiative requires patience, vision, and commitment. Participants must: 1) adopt a learning framework that includes agreement on how to collect and analyze data and opportunities for skill-building; 2) develop knowledge about and create a strategy for how to approach an issue; 3) thoroughly consider the current situation and the intended outcomes; 4) identify all stakeholders and analyze the relationships among them; and 5) follow the traditional planning-acting-reflecting learning process.

For more than a decade, through experiments with societal learning collaborations, we have vastly improved our knowledge about how to develop and sustain them. In this way, we have increased our capacity to effectively address complex issues such as environmental degradation, war, and poverty—and to create win-win outcomes for all segments of society.

Read the complete article, or see The Systems Thinker,
Vol. 12, No. 10 (Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002).
 



FROM THE FIELD
Business Games That People Play

In the past, organizations have relied on extensive training sessions to give middle managers the financial understanding they need to make effective business decisions as they rise through the ranks. However, a new trend in executive education employs online custom-designed business simulations to achieve the same results. Similar to widely used computer games such as SimCity, which allows users to build virtual cities, business simulations replicate various aspects of running a company. Workers can practice analyzing the business, allocating resources, negotiating mergers, launching new products, and investing in quality management. In the process, they reveal their thinking about business issues and learn new skills quickly.

By 2006, e-learning simulations will probably draw more than $6 million. One reason simulations have become so popular is that they are a cheaper investment than sending employees to weeks of workshops or hiring outside consultants. Another is that they provide opportunities for ongoing training; once installed, the program is always available so that a manager, for example, can practice giving performance feedback before an employee evaluation. Finally, employees like using them. When they engage in simulations together, they're enthusiastic about learning, and they'll often choose playing the game during their lunch break over surfing the Internet.

As interest in simulation tools grows, companies have begun to ask for games that teach more basic financial skills, such as how to read cash flow, balance sheet, and income statements. Senior executives have recognized that increasing knowledge capacity is useful not only for making long-term business decisions, but for helping employees understand how the "game" is played in the short term.
—EK

Source: Louise Story, "Simulations Evolve As Training Tools," The Boston Globe, August 5, 2002

 



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