Living up to Your (Business) Ideals

Illustration by Kevin Cornel

by Geoff DiMasi


I believe that most people are good. Most people really want to live up to their ideals. So why do companies fall short on living up to their missions, credos, mantras, or ideals?

For example, why does a company that says it supports local businesses jump at the chance to work with Walmart just to get a “big name” client on its roster? I have started to believe it is because they haven’t taken the time to clearly articulate company values and, more importantly, establish routines and practices that intentionally frame their decisions to factor in their values.

At our design firm, P’unk Ave, we decided to change that by developing a model for evaluating potential clients, giving us a practical, standardized way to make decisions that stay truer to our values. While it may seem like being picky about who we work with is bad for business, we’ve found the opposite to be true: the more we’ve stuck to our ideals, the stronger our business has become. In this article, I’ll show you how it worked for us—with the hope you can learn from it and do the same for your business.

Establishing your values

You can’t live up to your ideals until you have a clear grasp of them. If you have been in business for some time, you might be surprised to realize that they already exist and are just waiting for you to be more intentional about identifying and writing them down.

SET A TIMER

My partner and I began our process with some borrowed time on a layover heading back from a conference. We took out our journals, set a timer for 10 minutes, and began writing down our core values. The ideas took form quickly because they had already been part of our DNA. This allowed us to make a rough list of values that resonated with decisions we had made in the past—values like “innovation,” “trust,” and “responsibility.” We’ve since refined these somewhat general ideas using an exploratory process that includes all members of the team, but setting a timer during this early phase forced us not to overthink things, and helped us to get started with ideas that came more from the gut than from the brain.

TAKE INVENTORY

Then we did a whiteboard audit of our current and past clients to look for trends and to test how our values applied (or not). We paid particular attention to those clients we were most excited about. Through this process we identified a pattern of partnerships with people who work to strengthen our cities (urban planning, local food, bicycle advocacy, waterfront improvement), create knowledge (universities, education initiatives), improve people’s health (advocacy, research), and enhance our quality of life through arts and culture (museums, photography collectives, arts organizations).

GET OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE

We followed this up with a workshop led by a friend, which allowed us to further explore our values, strengths, and goals. This led us to create a series of active phrases about our work, including we are part of a community and we dream. These phrases now form the basis of the P’unk Guide, which includes our shared values and principles to run the business we all want to work in. As part of our ongoing reflection, we have also evolved the guide to include “guiding metaphors.” One of those metaphors is based on the notion of sailing upwind: “The shortest distance is not always the quickest.”

Building a framework

Becoming more aware of our values helped us make more intentional choices with prospective projects, but it didn’t necessarily provide us with a framework for quickly evaluating potential projects and relationships. That came when we read the bookDrive, by Daniel Pink.

In Drive, Pink talks about the principles of autonomy, mastery, and purpose as powerful motivational elements for modern workers. For Pink, jobs that require deep thinking and applied analytical skills are not easily simplified to an assembly line process, and measuring productivity within a certain time limit isn’t an effective way to track their success. Rather, people who have the freedom to work in the way they see fit (autonomy), who are constantly honing their skills (mastery), and who understand the intention of their work (purpose) perform best in these positions.

There was no turning back. We used Pink’s principles as a starting point to create our own framework for evaluating potential relationships with partners and clients: the AMP scoring system. Evaluating projects through our new lens of autonomy, mastery, and purpose helped us ask whether or not that relationship would motivate us to do good work and help us live up to our ideals of trust, innovation, and impact.

The AMP score

In considering a new project, we take the time to get to know the client, with the goal of determining whether we will we be truly pumped (or “AMPed”) if the project is a success—not because the project is done, but because of the impact it has on something we care about. Then we score it, using a series of questions in each of the three categories. Each category then gets a score from 1 to 5, and we total up the results at the end.

AUTONOMY

• Will this client respect us?
• Will they seek our counsel?
• Will they give us the space to bring our experience and knowledge to impact the project positively?
• Do they trust us?
• Basically, will they let us do what we do best in service to their project?

It is always a good sign when a potential client is genuinely interested in understanding how you work. If they take the time to ask you about how and why you make decisions, they’re telling you that they respect your experience, and are seeking a partnership that is productive and valuable. It is an especially good sign—usually a 4 or 5 on the AMP scale—if they listen carefully and ask thoughtful follow-up questions, since it indicates that they are genuinely interested in working towards a relationship built on understanding and trust.

MASTERY

• Is there space to practice our skills and grow as craftspeople?
• Is there time to do the project well?
• Does the client value a job done well?

For example, if a client emphasizes how simple a project is by saying something like, “All we need is to code this page. It is simple. How long will that take? A week?” or “Do we have to do the research? Couldn’t we just copy the design of this website?” then they may not respect the work we do—especially if this perspective persists after we explain the value of a thoughtful and measured approach. In this scenario, we would rate the mastery score a 1 or 2, since they seem more interested in rushing than in allowing us the time to do thoughtful and considered work.

PURPOSE

• Do we understand the purpose of their project?
• Equally important, do they understand the purpose of their project?
• What kind of impact will this project make?
• Do we feel aligned with that impact?

For example, sometimes a webmaster at a larger organization contacts us, but is only interested in technology. This is common when an organization puts the management of their website solely in the hands of their technical or IT team, instead of seeing it as a communication tool for the entire organization. When this happens, we try to bring leadership into the process and educate them before signing an agreement—but if that cannot be done, the project would score low on the purpose scale. It is particularly difficult to walk away from an organization that is doing work we find interesting and aligns well with our values, but we have learned that when leadership isn’t involved, the project is not likely to be a success.

What does all this actually look like? Practically speaking, we post a message with details about all potential projects in Basecamp, and each member of the team has the opportunity to respond with their thoughts and personal AMP score for the project. Once everyone has weighed in, we compare scores, looking for a total of 12 or higher. We will consider lower scores, but not below 10.

This system creates a paradigm where we are asking ourselves if there is a compelling reason we should work with a client, rather than just looking for a reason not to work with them. That distinction may seem subtle, but it has powerful implications, supporting a proactive versus reactive culture.

Intentional projects are successful projects

This may seem one-sided and only to our benefit, and maybe an unsustainable business practice. However, being thoughtful and intentional in this way has turned out to be a great thing for our clients as well. Once we commit to a project, we are truly committed. We even share how this benefits them in our project proposals:

Most projects will hit bumps in the road that will require persistence and dedication to see it to a successful completion. With that in mind, our philosophy is to only work on projects where there is a strong alignment of values. We truly care and you can see the difference in that approach.

They get that. It resonates with them because anyone that has some business experience knows that unanticipated problems will inevitably rear their head at some point. Because we took the time to evaluate the project using the AMP score, we’ve already decided that we are committed to the success of the project, and any bumps in the road will be tackled with gusto and passion. This knowledge gives our clients greater confidence in working with us.

What’s good for the goose…

As a consultancy, much of our “everyday” revolves around clients and projects. This is the lifeblood of our company and sets the tone for our interactions. If we are not in sync with our clients, our lives can turn miserable pretty quickly.

We always cared about our work and had good relationships with our clients before, but intentionally pursuing projects that align with our business values has brought a higher level of investment and internal motivation from all members of our team. We have become true partners in the success of our clients’ projects.

A lucrative project that doesn’t align well with your values is like the siren’s call to start your day with a sugary doughnut. Of course, getting sidetracked is easy. Using a framework to evaluate potential business has become a way to stay on course—a way to make healthier choices.

When we made compromises in the past, it never resulted in great work and often had other unintended consequences, like burning out our team. The attitudes you develop working on a project you don’t care about can carry over into all of your work. Our framework has helped us stick to our guns and not work on even a single project where we don’t see an alignment of values.

Ideals are good for business, too

The AMP system has had a positive ripple effect throughout our company. Everyone knows that we make decisions based on our shared and agreed upon values. We have chosen not to pursue work that does not garner a high AMP score, and we have even stopped working with clients when they turn out not to allow us to live up to our ideals. In the short term, we may have turned down some potential business, but in the long term we have increased our revenue while working with clients we respect. That growth comes from our participatory culture, where everyone is invested in and focused on their projects—leading to happier clients and a lot more word-of-mouth referrals and opportunities.

This is not something that can happen overnight. If you want to live up to your business ideals, you have to take the time to authentically identify your values, the things you care about. You also have to commit to the ongoing tending and cultivation of those values in your organization. It is not a “set it and forget it” scenario. At P’unk Ave, we think about this regularly, and especially during our quarterly “State of P’unk” and twice-yearly retreats. Building in those rituals, as well as creating tools like the AMP score, helps us stay on track in creating the kind of company we want for ourselves.

But the commitment is worth it. Once you have a framework for evaluating the kinds of people you want to work with, you have power: the power to say “no”—and the power to do the work you know matters.

Предпринимательская и управленческая деятельности: основные отличия

Функция исполнителя в деятельности

Для того, чтобы перейти к анализу управленческой деятельности, нам необходимо "отграничить" ее от исполнительской и предпринимательской деятельностей. Поскольку, без исполнителя нет управленца - начнем анализ с исполнительской функции.

До тех пор, пока человек сам себе ставит задачи по изготовлению чего-либо и эти же задачи выполняет - нет разделения на "исполнителя" и "управленца". Или, точнее, человек сам себе и управленец (при выработке норм), и исполнитель (при реализации норм). Но, строго говоря, нет отдельного исполнителя и отдельного управленца - есть деятель.

По функции исполнитель - это человек, адекватно реализующий нормы деятельности, переданные ему управленцем, по производству продукта. Для того, чтобы исполнитель справился со своей задачей ему необходимо иметь способность по адекватному применению средства преобразования материала в продукт (способностный аспект). Кроме того исполнитель должен правильно понять и принять норму его действий в этом преобразовательном акте (самоопределенческий аспект).

Способности исполнителя-деятеля, как правило, формируются на учебных площадках педагогами.

Не менее значимым, чем способности исполнителя к реализации своих функций, предстает процесс включения ("вхождения") исполнителя в решение поставленных управленцем задач.

Процесс вхождения человека в деятельность включает процесс понимания и принятия деятельностных норм (О.С.  Анисимов, Ю.Д.  Красовский, К.  Кимен, Р.Л.  Кричевская, Г. , Г.П. Щедровицкий), что и понимается как самоопределение в деятельности. Для адекватного самоопределения будущего исполнителя к требованиям деятельности ему необходимосопоставить "желаемый" образа себя и "образ себя требуемого". Результатом самоопределения должен стать выбор нормативно-значимого способа поведения человека в рамках детельности. Преобладание "желаемого" над "требуемым" (с редукцией существенного в требованиях) является негативным самоопределением. Человек с таким самоопределением либо не "входит" в предлагаемые нормативные рамки совсем, либо, при вхождении, становится деструктирующим фактором – разрушителем нормативной базы и, следовательно, деструктором организованной деятельности (т.к. ведущим в его поведение будет удовлетворение индивидуальных потребностей в ущерб правилам, которые он отвергнул в своем негативном самоопределении). Другими словами, поскольку преобразование исходного материала в конечный продукт (что является неотъемлемым атрибутом любой деятельности) имеет свои жесткие технологические законы, человек должен подчиниться этим законам, если он не хочет выступить препятствием в процессе получения социально востребованного продукта. Только человека подчиненного нормам деятельности можно считать "исполнителем".

Управленческая и предпринимательская деятельности: есть ли отличия?

В литературе по менеджменту, маркетингу, экономике, предпринимательстве и т.п. недостаточно однозначно разделяется специфика деятельностей предпринимателя и менеджера. Чисто предпринимательские функции (вложение капитала, расширение доли рынка и др.) часто встречаются в описании деятельности менеджера (напр. "Основы менеджмента" Мескона и т.п. ). И наоборот. Давайте попробуем разобраться есть kb отличие между менеджером и предпринимателем. И насколько оно принципиально. Начнем с предпринимательской деятельности. 

Сущность предпринимательской деятельности

В кратком изложении сути предпринимательской деятельности мне не обойтись без некоторых банальностей, которые, надеюсь, мне простит искушенный в предпринимательстве читатель. Но не введя эти банальности, с погружением сразу во все хитросплетения предпринимательства, трудно разобраться в данном вопросе.

Итак, предпринимательская деятельность строится на основании критериев рационального хозяйствования и считается ставшей, если:

• во-первых, есть производство необходимого обществу продукта;
• во-вторых, предпринимательская деятельность удовлетворяет критерию прибыльности;
• в-третьих, предпринимательская деятельность оформлена в воспроизводящийся предпринимательский цикл.

Исходными предпосылками предпринимательской деятельности являются недостаточность индивидуальной жизнедеятельности и предметов в своей зоне владения для преодоления индивидуально значимых затруднений. Другими словами, у человека появляется потребность к выходу за пределы индивидуальной жизнедеятельности посредством привлечения имеющейся у него собственности в качестве начального капитала организуемого им дела.

Для успешности и устойчивости дела предприниматель должен спроектировать дело, которое принесет ему прибыль. В свою очередь прибыль может принести только дело, имеющее социально значимый характер. Следовательно, предприниматель должен изучить социальную потребность (заказ общества): исследовать существующий спрос.

Выявив содержание спроса, он должен разработать конкретный бизнес-план по производству и реализации продукции, соответствующей выявленному спросу. В связи с этим предпринимателю необходимо всесторонне исследовать рынок ресурсов и выяснить наличие на этом рынке требуемого товара, уровень цен и т.п. Кроме того, при ограниченности собственных денежных и иных средств, предприниматель должен изучить рынок финансовых средств на предмет их наличия у потенциальных кредиторов, уровня процентов при взятии банковских кредитов, условий их получения и т.п. При недостаточности собственных ресурсов, он берет ссуду в банке с обязательством возврата.

Если предприниматель проигнорирует данные шаги его бизнес-проектирование может превратиться в “прожектерство”.

Построив конкретный нормативный план своей деятельности, предпринимателю необходимо обеспечить запланированное производство необходимыми ресурсами. Для этого он должен приобрести на рынке ресурсов необходимые ему ресурсы (людей, сырье и т.д.). После этого предприниматель включает ресурсы в деятельность и запускает производство запланированной продукции. Для того, чтобы производство было бесперебойным и соответствовало нормам он осуществляет контроль и коррекцию процесса производства.

Произведенная продукция реализуется на рынке. Полученный доход предприниматель перераспределяет, т.е. осуществляет расчет с банком, покрывает расходы производства, платит налоги и т.п. и подсчитывает прибыль.

Итак, в предельно краткой, общей форме мы изложили основные шаги предпринимательского цикла. Таким образом,предпринимательский цикл (далее по тексту: П-цикл) включает в себя [1]:

1. Исследование содержания потребительского спроса.

2. Разработка бизнес-плана (проектирование) по производству и реализации продукта.

3. Исследование рынка ресурсов, необходимых для производства продукции.

4. Заем в банке финансовых средств, необходимых для обеспечения ресурсами своей производственной деятельности.

5. Приобретение ресурсов для производства (исходный материал, средства, работники и т.д.).

6. Производство запланированной продукции.

7. Сбыт произведенной продукции на рынке реализации.

8. Перераспределение дохода (возврат займа в банк с процентами, выдача зарплаты и прочее) и подсчет прибыли.

В схеме 1. дается графическое изображение П-цикла.

Схема 1. Цикл предпринимательской детельности.

“Жизнестойкость” предпринимательского цикла характеризуют следующие основные критерии.

Цикличность П-цикла. Это требование к завершенности любого дела начатого предпринимателем. Предприниматель может одновременно вести несколько “линий” бизнеса. Но каждая “линия” должна быть завершена – вложенный капитал должен вернуться с запланированным приростом. Остановка в движении капитала (например, долговременное складирование произведенной продукции) нарушает принцип неразрывности движения капитала, как бы разрывая П-цикл. Критерий гарантированности завершенности цикла является одним из ключевых в оценке предпринимательской деятельности. Несоответствие этому критерию может быстро привести предприятие к глубокому кризису и даже к банкротству.

Воспроизводимость П-цикла. Предпринимательскую деятельность можно считать устойчивой только в том случае, если после завершения П-цикла сохраняется потенциальная возможность к его воспроизводству. То есть, часть прибыли предпринимателя должно пойти на восстановление “боеготовности” участников предыдущего цикла. Это относится и к средствам производства (профилактические, ремонтные мероприятия), и к включенным в дело на постоянной основе работникам (полноценное стимулирование). 

Скорость оборота капитала. Немаловажной компонентой успеха предпринимательского дела можно считать скорость оборота капитала. Известно, что одна и та же величина прибыли может быть экономически целесообразной или не целесообразной в зависимости от продолжительности времени от начала П-цикла до окончательного получения прибыли. Та прибыль, которая очень выгодна при продолжительности П-цикла в три месяца, может быть “преступно” низка, если П-цикл длился три квартала.

Скорость оборота капитала зависит от организованности и технологичности типовых предпринимательских процедур.

Повышение скорости оборота капитала и обеспечение прибыльности дела можно обеспечить не только за счет реалистичности планирования, оперативности снабжения, производительности производства, но и в значительной степени за счет оптимальной организованности процесса сбыта продукции. Сбытовая деятельность в условиях рынка насыщенного товарами (предложение превышает спрос) сталкивается, как с временной продолжительностью реализационной фазы, так и со срывом сбыта продукции. А это, как указывалось выше, может приводить к “разрыву” в движении капитала по П-циклу. Для снятия затруднений в сбыте произведенной продукции появляются такие мероприятия как реклама, стимулирование сбыта и т.п.

Если предприниматель не справляется со всем циклов задач самостоятельно, то он может делегировать часть полномочий специалистам, вовлекаемым в предпринимательский цикл на какой-либо отрезок (или "слой") П-цикла. Так предприниматель может поручить управление производством привлеченному специалисту - наемному менеджеру (наемному управленцу). В этом случае предприниматель делегирует менеджеру функции, связанные с конкретным планированием исполнительской деятельности, запуском производственного процесса, контролем и корректировкой его протекания вплоть до получения запланированной продукции.

Постепенно, развивая масштабы своей деятельности, предприниматель может делегировать и другие функции своего предпринимательского цикла: исследование спроса, взятие кредита в банке, снабжение ресурсами, сбыт продукции и т.п., оставив у себя только функции, связанные с принятием стратегических решений и с распределением прибыли.

Сущность управленческой деятельности

Рассмотрим управленческую деятельность наиболее общим образом. В рыночных условиях возможны как минимум трипринципиальных типа существования управленческой деятельности.

1тип - "Наемный менеджер".

Управленческо-производственный цикл является частью предпринимательского цикла и выполняет производственные задания предпринимателя (наемный менеджмент, встроенный в П-цикл, сх. 2).

 Схема 2. Место деятельности наемного менеджера (1 тип)

2 тип - "Менеджмент под заказ".

Управленческо-производственный цикл имеет стабильные заказы, обеспечивающие полную загрузку имеющихся мощностей (например, регулярные госзаказы). Здесь мы имеем дело с технологическим способом существования управленца (Сх. 3). Деятельность его предприятия мало подвержена влиянию рыночной динамики и имеет устойчивый производственный характер.

Схема 3. Управление производством продукции под заказ (2 тип).

3 тип - "Менеджер-предприниматель".

Управленческо-производственный цикл, настроенный на производство только определенных типовых продуктов/услуг (без возможности переключится на производство продукции другого типа). В этом цикле управленец самостоятельно занимается поиском заказчиков (например, крупный завод, рекламные и PR агентства, консалтинговые компании и т.п.). Здесь налицопроизводственно-предпринимательский способ существования.

Схема 4. Поиск заказчика и производство продукции под заказ (3 тип).

Опишем кратко процесс управленческой деятельности. Управленец, получает заказ, содержание которого должно отражать потребности какой-то группы в какой-то продукции (если это регулярно воспроизводимый заказ - 2 тип; если этому предшествовал поиск заказчика - 3 тип). Управленец должен понять содержание заказа и (если он принимает заказ) взять на себя ответственность за своевременное и качественное производства предметов (услуг), способных удовлетворить заказчика (точнее: удовлетворить потребности группы, от лица которой выступает заказчик).

Непосредственное производство продукции осуществляют под руководством управленца привлеченные исполнители. Поэтому для реализации заказа руководитель должен спланировать производство необходимой продукции, поставить задачи исполнителям, снабдить деятельность необходимыми ресурсами, осуществить контроль и коррекцию исполнительских действий в рамках нормативных требований процесса производства.

Таким образом, целью управленческой деятельности является организованное производство продукции исполнителями в согласованные с заказчиком сроки, в нужном объеме требуемого качества. Адекватное самоопределение руководителя в этом контексте, возможно только при "отходе" руководителя на время деятельности от логики удовлетворения своих жизнедеятельностных (т.е. до-деятельностных) потребностей и строгом подчинении им требованиям управленческой функции. Эффективность управленческой деятельности предопределена качеством принятия управленческого решения, т.е. уровнем управленческой аналитики.

Кратко цикл управленческой деятельности можно представить так:

• Понимание и принятие заказа (1).
• Планирование исполнительской и управленческой деятельности, по производству заказанной продукции (2).
• Снабжение производства ресурсами (3).
• Запуск (организация) производства продукции (4).
• Контроль и Коррекция деятельности исполнителей (5).
• Передача продукции заказчику (6).
• и расчет заказчика с управленцем-производителем (7).

Если мы имеем дело с управленческо-производственным циклом 3-го типа (производственно-предпринимательский способ существования), то первыми шагами будут дополнительно поиск и мотивация заказчика.

Схема 5.  Цикл управленческой деятельности

В таблице 1. приведены различия управленческой и предпринимательской деятельности по целям и ответственности.

Таблица 1. Сравнительные характеристики управленческой

и предпринимательской деятельностей

	Цель	Ответственность
Предпринимательская деятельность	получение максимальной прибыли за счет наиболее полного удовлетворения спроса.	ответственность перед кредиторами и потребителями.
Управленческо - производственная деятельность	производство продукции в соответствии с требованиями заказа.	ответственность перед заказчиком и перед владельцем предприятия.

При производственно-управленческом подходе базовой является производственная деятельность. Снабженческая и реализационная деятельность имеют сервисный характер, т.е. обеспечивают функционирование производства (1 тип).

При предпринимательском подходе предприниматель может изменять тип производственной деятельности в зависимости конъюнктуры рынка.

Однако если предпринимательская деятельность строится на основе крупного стабильного производства, то свобода предпринимателя ограничивается типом производимой продукции. При этом существенным становится, наряду с целью получения прибыли, появления ценности сохранения и развития производственной структуры. Не имея возможности сменить тип рынка, предприниматель вынужден вести конкурентную борьбу за потенциальных клиентов. Такой подход можно назвать производственно - предпринимательским (3 тип). При производственно - предпринимательском подходебазовой деятельностью становится следующий ряд процессов - снабжение ресурсами, организация производством, организация сбытом.

Стоит отметить, что “равная значимость” частей базового процесса (снабжение, производство, сбыт и т.д.) обостряет позиционные противоречия между ними, вызванные различиями типов деятельности и принципов их организации. Так, если для производства самый благоприятный режим - выпуск больших партий одинаковой продукции, стабильное функционирование в течение длительного времени, то для системы сбыта - необходима возможность быстрого реагирования на изменения потребительских предпочтений и рыночных тенденций. Снятие этих противоречий возможно лишь в случае взаимного учета особенностей деятельности и согласования условий совместной деятельности работниками служб на основе понимания и принятия общих кооперативных целей, или (более развитый вариант) согласованных кооперативных ценностей, выступающих основой корпоративной культуры. 

Литература

1. Анисимов О.С. Основы методологии. Учебное пособие./ Российская академия менеджмента и агробизнеса. - М.: 1994. В 2-х томах. Т.2. Параграф 8: Методология и культура предпринимательства.

Верхоглазенко В.Н.

The meta list of frameworks and visual guides

I have been blogging about strategic and operational frameworks for close to five years now. In the course of that work, I have come across a number of sites that will be of interest to others as well. Some focus on frameworks, some focus on creative graphics, some focus on providing definitions of key business terms. Each has their own unique perspective. So here is the “meta list:”

Visual Literacy

One of my all-time favourites. Scroll down to the periodic table and roll your mouse over the various concepts and frameworks. A great idea!

Quick MBA

One or two pages on some specific topics, usually (but not always) with a relevant graphic. I find the chapters on strategy, operations and marketing the most relevant. 

12manage
A lot of frameworks, again grouped into chapters, similar to 12manage. You need to sign up to actually see the content. 

Knowledge Communication
A site from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, focused more on visualizing knowledge than on basic frameworks.

Mind tools
This site focused on short tools in many different categories (e.g. time management tools, stress management tools), but it also has some interesting strategy and leadership concepts.

Value Based Management

A classical site with a list of concepts and frameworks and a short explanation on each term. 

Business Balls

A quirky site, with everything from cold calling to cockney rhyming slang. Plus they bring you the “quiz of the week.” Look for the section on leadership / management. 

RFFlow

Any questions on flow charting? This is your site. 

Chart it now
This site will sell you PowerPoint and XLS templates for specific format, for something like $20 or 30. But they also provide some relevant background information on some of the concepts. 

Protovis

Protovis is a software designed to provide unique data visualization opportunities. I find the examples that they show fascinating, but I haven’t actually used the software.

Proven Models

A visually very appealing site, very nicely done. The number of relevant frameworks is quite small, but the site provide a lot of details. 

Wikipedia

And if all else fails, there is always Wikipedia.

Apply Empathy Within Your Organization

In an excerpt from her new book, Practical Empathy, Indi Young explains how to make change on the inside.

by Indi Young

Each organization exists for a purpose: to bring something to the world, make it available to people, and enable those people to capitalize upon it.Many organizations exist to also make
 a profit. Whether for profit or not, all organizations seek to sustain themselves, so they can continue bringing their things to the world.

Within each organization, there is usually a healthy awareness of the purpose, as well as a focus on being sustainably successful.

Organizations Focus on Both Success and Support

• Success: Enable the organization to continue achieving its purpose, which might be defined by profit, membership, giving, respect, invitations, or other metrics. An organization might change directions repeatedly in order to sustain itself.
• Support: Help people inside or outside the organization achieve their purposes; e.g., obtain what is needed, make better decisions, understand choices, enjoy something, feel safer, and so on.

Support and success are not opposites on a spectrum, but separate interests that are both important. Each waxes and wanes. Whensuccess and support are both robust, they can work hand-in-hand: support comes from good functionality and experiences for people and deep understanding for their aims. This strongly connected support, in turn, assures success.

Even in small groups or teams, this success/support framework can be applied. For example, the board of a homeowner’s association may contain only five people. Success means keeping the group active over the years, with interested members, and attracting new members when wanted. Support is providing collaboration, ideas, and a place for discussion where members and homeowners feel that they can contribute without censure. The opposite of this scenario is when a homeowner’s association board fails to attract new members because the meetings are known for being forums for argument, aspersions, and judgments. Or where homeowners offering ideas at the meeting don’t feel rewarded for exploring concepts. So even a small group like a board can benefit from wielding listening and empathy to sup- port its members and sustain itself over time.

See from Your Organization’s Point of View

Sometimes it’s really hard to tell whether your organization has a healthy level of interest in either success or support. Your organization’s intentions might be muddled or not clearly communicated.

What you seek is larger than the motivations behind particular initiatives; it is the overall direction of the organization—its reason for being. Try to get a grasp on what you are doing as an organization and who you are doing it for, both externally and internally.

One way to clarify what the intentions are is to go back in history to the beginning of your organization. What was written then about the purpose being pursued? With long-lived organizations, this original purpose surely shifts. For example, in the United States, early airlines in the mid 1920s focused on getting airmail contracts from the U.S. Postal Service within local geographic regions, because the range a plane could fly was limited. To increase the throughput, nighttime operations were added. Soon after this change, these airlines started carrying a few passengers in addition to the mail. As plane technology improved, the decision-makers at the airlines aimed to fly longer distances, and eventually they established routes. These attracted more passengers than mail.

As airlines grew, their purpose shifted. Early purposes of the airlines were to get mail to its destination faster and to fly passengers to destinations safely. Lawmakers legislated fairness in mail contracts, safety, and access to airports. Later, the focus was on amenities and comfort, such as in-flight meals and better seating as the routes became longer. Then higher oil prices and labor costs started reversing the focus toward carrying the maximum number of passengers per flight. Several airlines focused on offering discounted, minimal services with shorter routes. Others focused on loyalty programs to retain customers. An industry downturn influenced by the hijackings and crashes of September 2001 caused the airlines to further minimize services, and they were also required to follow “security” processes to avert a repeat of the intentional crashes. Because of these conditions, many airlines in the U.S. merged. Now, one of the purposes of some airlines seems to be keeping passengers distracted while in flight, with amenities such as Wi-Fi, television, magazines, shopping, movies, and games, as well as communicating updates to passengers before flights.

Another way to understand your organization’s purpose is to look at marketing taglines. Taglines do not necessarily represent the aim of the organization, but taglines are meant to communicate to an audience. Hence, they are a good place to see what decision-makers chose as a message to the people you support. They are also an indicator of whether the focus is on the offering itself or on the people being supported. “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” (M&M candy) and “All the news that’s fit to print” (The New York Times) both describe the offerings. “Just do it” (Nike); “Reach out and touch someone” (AT&T); “Thrive” (Kaiser Permanente); and “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” (LifeCall) all imply a person’s intent and related emotions.

An organization is only as strong as the humans within it. If all of you understand the purpose and direction of your organization clearly, imagine how powerful that would be. Every decision each one of you makes could be aimed at supporting the current purpose. There would be fewer complaints about work that seems pointless, and so on. While this vision is mostly fantasy,empathy for your organization can actually make a subtle difference.

If you can grasp the direction of the organization, then your own decisions and suggestions can aim in that direction.

Make Small Changes

When it comes to making suggestions to people internally, several barriers arise. What if changing something upsets the people who are happy with it now? Seth Godin, a well-known marketing expert, author, and speaker, says, “One of the most essential tasks a leader faces is understanding just how much the team is afraid of making things better.” So instead of emphasizing change, minimize it. Make small changes.

There are several things you can do that are small:

• Include support objectives in yearly goals.
• Seek the root cause of problems rather than fixing the structure or the approach.
• Pivot toward a slightly different direction based on the empathy you have developed.
• Don’t let technology define your projects.
• Don’t be too focused on methods or the need to hurry.

Include Support Objectives

With the empathy you developed, you are especially equipped to nudge the health of the support variable. For example, at an organizational level, maybe the last set of quarterly goals was worded with success objectives, and not with support objectives. You can collaborate with the people who wrote it to add support objectives, as well as key results to define how you hope to see successmeasured. 
You could apply a similar shift if your organization’s tagline is unclear about support. This suggestion is not a small thing, however, and large organizations often hire agencies to develop their taglines. You might be able to volunteer yourself for the review committee.

Seek the Root Cause

When an organization seems to be faltering, one of the things decision-makers try to fix is how the company runs—the structure and the processes. They look at what exists presently and make changes in what are considered lever points. When this doesn’t work, perhaps it’s because the existing structure isn’t the right fit in the first place. Try looking for the root problem. Empathy about the way your organization actually functions will help. 
For example, if the root issue is that several departments want
 to “own the website,” and the department that owns it now was recently invented, then it’s probably a structure issue. In human history, there have been myriad solutions for how a group might achieve objectives. There have been many structures for governing, for trade, for battle, and for building. Some of these structures have even been inspired by the natural world. For example, a hive of bees contains a single entity directing all activity, the queen. A corporate hierarchy is somewhat derived from this natural structure, with the 
idea that control is hierarchical. Is there another structure out there or in history that could inspire a way of working together that takes into account human tendencies? Are there other approaches used in less-known contexts from which you can derive a process of working together? Thought experiments like these might lead to discussion, which might lead to a small change.

Pivot

In new organizations and start-ups, there is great pressure to be successful quickly. Small groups scramble to test out their idea under real conditions, and when things don’t look encouraging, they shift their course a bit. This is call a pivot, which means taking a step
 in a slightly different direction while using the knowledge you’ve gathered to support the decision. A great foundation for this knowledge includes the empathy you’ve developed with those you intend to support, your understanding of those who are guiding or funding your effort, and empathy about how your group collaborates best.

Don’t Let Technology Define Your Projects

With every fresh wave of hardware and software, there comes excitement about harnessing it for your organization’s advantage. Decision-makers discuss the advantages of making solutions for this platform or that environment. They might focus, for example, on the ability of a mobile device to be location aware or what a movement sensor can sense. This means they are, regrettably, building solutions for the GPS and for the accelerometer. That’s how it gets phrased, too. “We’re building an app for the iPhone that takes advantage of location-awareness.” People don’t seem to come into the equation until after it’s produced.

When you hear these phrases in discussion, use your empathetic mindset to ask about the purpose behind it. Bring up the subject of the people whom it will serve. Repeat some of the things you heard while developing empathy. The excitement of something new that couldn’t be done before is good for the energy of a team, so try not to deflate it. Simply sharpen it and redirect it, toward a stronger purpose in support of people.

Define Your Projects By Whom You’re Supporting

Many organizations still define new initiatives by the way a person might access it. “That’s the mobile app project.” “That’s the kiosk initiative.” “This is the project we’re doing for subscriptions.” Gently try to guide this tendency toward project names that reference the people you are trying to support. Next time you say, “We are building X for Y,” make absolutely sure the Y is the name of the types of humans you are trying to support.

Don’t Be Too Focused on Methods and Speed

Adding to the ways an organization can get snared by its own habits are methodologies. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day steps of a technique and cease to think about how applicable the results are, or how you might use a different approach for a new scenario. If you are good at using a hammer, then lots of things look like nails. Many groups do have a way of staying up-to-date with evolving methodologies, and can thereby audit the effectiveness of what they are doing. You can help your team by periodically asking yourself, “Are we doing this because it’s what we do?”

A specific example of one of these habits is how organizations foster a sense of hurry. There are many reasons to hurry: be first to market with a new idea, keep up with the competition, finish before spending deadlines, make the most of limited funding, adhere to a strict production schedule or a seasonal horizon, etc. While every culture seems to have a saying about how hurrying makes for poor-quality craftsmanship, these maxims are often ignored by most business processes. You can’t slow down the processes at your organization, but you can introduce a slow-rhythm process. Continuously collecting stories, developing empathy with the people your organization supports, dipping into this process every couple of months—this is the unhurried approach that yields fine workmanship. Add this routine of collecting knowledge at a slow frequency in parallel with all the other work going on at your organization.

Blaze a Trail from Established Paths

Without consciously realizing it, you and the decision-makers at your organization might be contributing to a mindless chase. The quarry might be new technology, or the quarry might be the competition. You might get swept up in the excitement to be first to market with a new technology, first to invent or discover something, or first to leverage new functionality. The big idea captures all your attention. On the other hand, copying what has been successful for other organizations in their market feels risk-free. You might be so focused on technology and the competition that you forget to measure the worth of an idea against a particular audience’s purpose. The overall focus of your organization is on racing to get ahead of the other organizations, rather than an effort to truly be supportive of people.

Of course, there are organizations, or branches of organizations, whose sole purpose is to constantly push the boundaries of what
 is technically feasible. These are usually research groups. In these cases, the people they aim to support are those professionals who might, in turn, make use of the discoveries in support of people who can benefit from it. Research groups can be exempt from focusing on end-customers, but in many cases, such as pharmaceutical research, a detailed understanding of humans helps researchers choose the promising paths.

The fear of being left behind represents a real risk. What if your organization doesn’t offer as broad a set of services as the other company? Won’t people flock to the other offering and leave you? This is a zero-sum mindset, where features or services make up the numbers in the calculation. And it’s quite a compelling argument. Supporting people is not a zero-sum game. However, innovation and creativity are not zero-sum either because new ideas keep getting added to the equation, continually unbalancing it.

There is a middle road. That road combines all the tactics: innovate because it’s possible, keep up with the competition, and manage risk. The key is to add your knowledge of real people and differing purposes to your focus on what’s possible and what the competition is doing. Think of it like blazing a trail through the mountains. All the competitors are toiling along the same valley, jostling to be in the first position. The trail gets defined by different leaders in this competitive rotation, which means there is no individual strategic direction.

Because you have worked to understand the larger intentions of the people you support, you have effectively been exploring nearby terrain. You can confidently branch off the well-trodden trail and form new tracks and loops outside of that particular valley. The empathetic mindset helps your organization map out more of this unknown territory, so you can confidently branch away from competitors.


This photo depicts the mountainous region around Tuolumne, California, during winter. If you know the terrain, you can confidently go off-trail. The same goes for knowing the people you support—you can confidently depart from what the competition is pursuing.

Address the Broader Landscape

There is often a sense that you can grab your piece of land by marking it out with a unique idea. In particular, this is a widespread undercurrent of the digital arena. Consequently, services and apps get launched that address the generalization of a problem. They make no attempt to address subtleties or perspectives that might represent different audiences. And while it used to be true that you could launch a simple version of a digital service or product and people would flock to it, it’s not a frontier anymore. There are many neighbors in the community now.

Typical digital services and apps are not complex or interconnected. When a frontier changes into a settled landscape, among the changes are the way that participants specialize. The general store gets replaced with a hardware store, a dry goods store, and a pharmacy, etc. A baker comes to town, and years later there are bakers from five different cultures, each offering their traditional breads and pastries—each supporting the nostalgia or the adventurousness of different people. The bakers source their ingredients from different specialists, and depend upon different craftspeople to update and maintain their different types of ovens. Not only is there variety, but also each specialist continually strives to make the best connections with peers, service providers, and customers. A larger community develops.

The empathetic mindset helps you learn how to specialize and how to form a network. Aim to build for the long term, with the idea that you fill a niche in a complex ecosystem of services.

Practice These Skills

Even if there’s not a chance in the world that you can change the way your organization works, you can still benefit personally from trying out these concepts. If you can clarify for yourself what drives your organization as a whole, the knowledge can’t help but influence the way you do your work. If you discuss these drivers with people you work with, together your small component of the organization might make decisions that more effectively support people.

Practice: Clarify the Purpose

The purpose of your organization may or may not be clear. Either way, this exercise will edify you and your immediate peers.

• Examine the history of your organization. Chart the path it has followed through the years. Try to summarize the purpose the organization had during different eras, if it has been around for a long time.
• Look at the tagline and various marketing campaigns the organization has sponsored over the past several years. If you can, ask people who were responsible for the campaigns what the decision-making process was and what philosophies the ads represent. Summarize these meanings.
• Write the clearest summary you can of the current purpose of the organization.
• In all your notations, notice when the purpose has had a healthy focus on both success and support, and when it has leaned more in one direction than the other. Also check whether technology or methodology seemed to drive the decisions. Finally, note how audiences were defined, whether by needs or behavior or not at all. These will all fluctuate over time, but it’s good to see what has happened.