Business, Leadership and Consciousness. Part 1.

 

Business, leadership, and consciousness are connected through the concept of conscious leadership, which involves a heightened self-awareness and ethical approach to managing a business. A conscious leader works to understand their own biases, values, and how their actions impact others, fostering a more responsive, authentic, and wise organizational culture. This approach is crucial for navigating complex modern environments by focusing on holistic decision-making, clear communication, and long-term organizational and employee well-being.

Key components of conscious leadership

Self-awareness: Conscious leaders are aware of their own thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, which helps them to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively. This includes understanding personal biases and how they might affect decisions.

Authenticity and integrity: By aligning their outward actions with their inner values, conscious leaders build trust and genuine connections with their teams.

Holistic decision-making: This approach involves considering the wider impact of decisions on the entire organization, its people, and the broader context, leading to wiser and more strategic choices.

Clear communication: Conscious leaders prioritize clear, concise, and transparent communication to avoid misunderstandings and create a constructive feedback culture.

Humility and responsiveness: They are humble enough to seek feedback and acknowledge their own limitations but also assertive and responsive to the needs of the organization, rather than being driven by personal ego.

Delegation and trust: Conscious leaders are able to delegate responsibility and relinquish control by trusting their team while also maintaining the necessary structures for security and guidance. 

Why it's important in today's business world

Navigating complexity: In today's fast-paced and unpredictable business environment, conscious leadership provides a framework for making sound, long-term decisions amidst uncertainty and constant change.

Fostering transformation: Conscious leaders go beyond transactional management to become catalysts for positive transformation within their organizations.

Driving growth: An awareness-based approach helps leaders to spot their own blind spots and make more inclusive decisions, which can lead to organizational growth, says The Diversity Movement.

Conscious Change Leadership

Conscious Change Leadership is a comprehensive Field of Study and Practice about human development and large systems transformation.

It contains a vast knowledge base and innovative methods for evolving human systems and performance.

Conscious Change Leadership is key to solving our social, environmental, organizational and cultural challenges.

This Approach is leadership at the highest level. It expands leaders’ abilities to take on the biggest problems we face in our organizations, communities and world.

Conscious Change Leadership is comprised of three distinct, yet fully integrated areas of development represented by the three words:

Transforming leaders and teams from the inside out.

This area of development catalyzes breakthrough performance in leaders and teams and initiates their journey of self-mastery.

Leaders become self-aware of their interiors, able to see their mindsets and beliefs in action so they can move beyond those that limit results. Their self-discovery and personal change increases their mindfulness and generates new perspectives and possibilities.

Your leaders develop the self-management skills of high performers. They become able to transform their mental, emotional and behavioral patterns. They learn to overcome personal barriers to innovation and creativity, and how to operate in the “flow” of optimal performance. This work fundamentally is about the “vertical leadership development” that expands leaders’ worldview, makes them more strategic and better able to solve complex strategic challenges.

Designing and leading organization and culture transformation successfully.

This capability teaches your leaders how to consciously design and implement complex organization and culture transformation, from start to finish.

It includes – yet goes far beyond – change management and project management to provide the strategies, roadmaps, methodologies and tools to address all the human, organizational, technical, cultural and process dynamics required in transformation.

Your leaders learn strategic roadmaps for leading transformation, specifically The Breakthrough Process and The Change Leader’s Roadmap (CLR). These powerful navigation systems are built on four decades of proven best practices. They enable leaders and change consultants alike to lead transformation like pros. Fully customizable, these guidance systems ensure leaders are attending to the right change activities in optimal ways, for any type or scale of transformation.

Leading co-creatively to unleash human potential and performance.

Leaders learn how to lead “co-creatively,” beyond the limitations of command and control.

They develop a more relational way of being, working and relating that stimulates others to contribute more of themselves and their talents. They learn to partner across hierarchical and functional boundaries to generate greater innovation.

As they develop co-creative leadership skills, they naturally promote positive cultures of accountability, collaboration and trust, where people are committed to enterprise success above personal agendas. They communicate more openly and authentically, listen deeply and speak their truth without attachment. They align people to vision and strategy and engage them in ways that instill a deep desire to contribute to the transformation required to achieve them. Co-creative leaders coach, build strong relationships and bring out the best in others.

Conscious Change Leaders deliver breakthrough results.

With larger worldviews, advanced transformation strategies and a co-creative style, Conscious Change Leaders see solutions and innovations and know how to get them implemented.

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Conscious Business Leadership – A Checklist

By Jamie Pyper and Paul Levy

“The old leadership models increasingly no longer apply. A new type of conscious leader is emerging whose style is fit for 21st century purpose.” Jamie Pyper

There’s been a lot written on leadership in recent years. We’ve heard of visionary leaders, charismatic leaders, strategic leaders, and even servant-leaders.  Less has been written about conscious leaders. Conscious Leaders lead conscious businesses.

A conscious business is a business that is able to sense internally and externally in real time. It is awake and aware, a bit like a person, not just in its “head” but also in its ability to sense emotions and act on intuitions. A conscious business is led, not only by one or more leaders but also by leadership as an inherent process. Leadership can arise in different people, at different times in a conscious business, even though there may be people designated with the more permanent role or title of “leader”. In a conscious business, leadership never becomes stuck in habits. It is flexible and emergent. Leadership is a conscious activity inasmuch as it forms itself appropriately around organisational needs.

The leader in a conscious business will tend to exhibit some identifiable behaviours that reflect the notion of being “conscious”. Here we present some of the major elements of conscious leadership that we have identified so far in working with conscious businesses largely in an European context.

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Nine Characteristics of a Conscious Leaders

Conscious Leaders…

1. …are reflective, and invest in lifetime learning

2. …act as enablers not dictators

3. … distribute power where it is needed

4. … share credit

5. … share knowledge

6. … are collaborative

7. … are future focused

8. … invest in relationships with all stakeholders

9. … are awake and responsive to real need rather than a filter for their own ego

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A Deeper Dive…

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Conscious Business Leaders are reflective, and invested in lifetime learning

Too many businesses are almost compulsively in ‘action mode’ for too much of the time. Too many leaders tend to equate “busyness” with productive business. Yet silence is vital in so many areas of performance. The silence of a pause in a play, and the silence of resting after a long day. Silence and pausing are the essential spaces between activity. They are opportunities to pause to reflect. When we reflect on our experience we can turn that reflection in learning; we can develop wisdom from experience. That wisdom can be put to good use, but only if we take time to reflect. Reflection is an essential part of the ‘cycle of learning’. Reflection helps us to harvest wisdom from experience.

A conscious leader experiences reflection as being as essential as being active. Reflection is the means of making action more productive and effective, via the process of learning that arises: Learning from mistakes, learning from success, identifying knowledge and skills gaps, developing new insights for innovation.

Reflection is a life time process, necessary as long as we are in action. A conscious leader practices reflection and ongoing learning and embeds this as a critically importantbehaviour in the rest of the organisation.

Conscious Business Leaders act as enablers not dictators

In a conscious business it is a sign of strong leadership that the leader enables work to get done. This isn’t about ordering people but, instead, encouraging “order” around the realisation of work in action. The leader directs, not the work, but the narrative, holding the role of providing overview when needed, guidance and direction when situations rise into such complexity that a “helicopter view” is needed. The leader inspires others (literally “breathing in”) by acting on behalf of the organisation and sensing externally and internally needs to be done , then becoming the assertive and motivating mouthpiece for it The leader articulates direction through dialogue. The leader holds authority as a role not a rule. Authority is given by the organisation. Leadership is always a response to the organisational and community need. That response will often be proactive, anticipatory. Sometimes it will be reactive, arising from a direct response to urgent, real time signals.

Conscious business leaders, when needed, articulate the conscience of the organisation, encourage its conscientiousness, and raise the quality of its consciousness. A conscious leader waves the flag for the need for the business to act consciously and consistently.

Conscious Business Leaders distribute power where it’s needed

Conscious business leaders are never power-mongers. Power in organisations to the more or less bounded permission and resources to get things done. When power is linked to formal consequences and threat, people are “forced” to comply. When power is born of dialogue and freely given mandate, it becomes “empowerment”. A conscious business leader, with an often unique helicopter view, senses the power needs of the organisation ensuring resources, and mandate to act is located where and when it is needed, with whom and for how long. The culture of the business is one of respecting power to act; power is temporary and moves in different places. In a company making computer games, project leaders may become very powerful at different times. Power is given to enable work to get done, not to boost egos or allow power games. A conscious business leader removes power when it is misused.

A conscious business needs leaders who understand power as resources mandate to act in the best interests of the organisation. It is a skill and draws on negotiation, diplomacy, assertiveness and dialogue. It requires humility and sensitivity, an ability to be flexible and to hold a clear overview. Literally, with this kind of power role, comes great responsibility (Response-ability!).

Conscious Business Leaders share credit

Egoism can be what gets a dream realised. It can also atrophy and become a barrier to consciousness. Conscious Businesses do not set their employees up against each other. Motivation tends towards being intrinsic. Self-motivation is linked overtly, not to bonuses and “prizes” but to organisational need. Employees are committed citizens, freely committing to the organisation’s evolving purposes, exiting when that commitment wanes. Self-esteem arises from personal and collective victories and successes. Naming and celebrating success energises and this is recognised fairly and consistently by conscious business leaders. Conscious business leaders are “tuned into” the local challenges of individuals and teams, as well as the overall business goals. When success is realised, celebration is specific and aimed at authentic recognition and motivation. Conscious leaders do not take the credit for the hard locally based work. Credit is also shared openly so that local learning from success can take place fully and usefully.

Conscious Business Leaders share knowledge

Knowledge is a vital part of internal and external “sensing” in a conscious business. Conscious business leaders ensure that knowledge is located where and when it is needed, in the right form and with as much clarity, accessibility and accuracy as possible. Knowledge is never couched in bullshit and unnecessary acronyms. Knowledge is never “tossed over the wall” nor is there information obfuscation or overload. Knowledge sharing is focused on learning, proactivity, needed reaction and innovation. Often a conscious business leader ensures that the right “inquiry” is taking place – targeting research and the asking of questions to elicit further knowledge. Conscious business leaders foster a climate of openness to enable knowledge sharing. Staff are trained to knowledge share effectively, and the conscious business leader leads by example.

Conscious Business Leaders are collaborative

A conscious business does not respect departmental or functional boundaries that inhibit openness, learning and flexibility. Roles and job descriptions are designed to capture the needs of the moment, and are never fixed forever. A collaborative culture pervades, through skilled overlap between systems, shared access to knowledge as needed. Collaboration involves developing trusting group behaviours, internally and externally. Trust is a core value and forms part of the leadership’s strategic agenda. Conscious Business Leaders do not lock themselves away on office, are accessible and treat others as colleagues, bot subordinates, trusting that their “strategic leadership role” will be honoured and respected. When don’t mind being told what to do because they trust the role of the leader and “suspend disbelief” in favour of longer term trust. Equally, there is no collusion of niceness, and feedback is welcomed in ALL directions.

The business uses collaborative platforms (including digital platforms) that foster collaboration, seeking synergy where collaboration creates a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Conscious Business Leaders are future focused

Through a culture of continuous learning, the conscious business leader harvests learning from the past, clearly senses emerging business needs in the present, and then ensures a realistic and inspiring vision is created, shared, agreed, and regularly reviewed. This vision is based on a pathway into the future that the organisation is awake to and committed to. Consensus has been reach where, even if there is disagreement, all have authentically committed to the plan of action.

The future begins to reveal itself and the conscious leader articulates this, adapting to it, and ensuring the vision is never unhinged from emerging “reality”. This is always openly shared and also open to correction from real time feedback from internal and external “viewpoints”

The future is never framed in unrealistic dreams and, though the leader may offer a “vision” for the organisation, sometimes this vision will be offered by other people inside or outside the organisation. Not all conscious business leaders are personally “visionary”; some will articulate and realise the vision created by other connected to the enterprise. In all cases, the vision is drawn from a clear picture of the “future”.

Conscious Business Leaders invest in relationships with all stakeholders

A conscious business is only “conscious” in terms of the relationships that help it to sense effectively internally and externally. Conscious Business Leaders are an overview “hub” for that dialogue, ensuring that relationship nurture the quality of its consciousness as an organisation. A conscious business leader ensures that all of its stakeholders are able to give useful and often vital input into the organisation’s strategy and activities. Suppliers feel safe to be open and honest, and share in the schedules of the business, able to plan and innovative in harmonious ways. Customer feedback becomes part of the lifeblood of innovation.

The conscious business leader invests time and resources into the development of partnerships that enable learning, knowledge sharing, innovation, and the lean and effective use of resources.

Conscious Business Leaders are awake and responsive to real need rather than a filter for their own ego

Being a leader of a conscious business requires that leader to work on themselves – to remain awake and self-aware, in tandem with the organisation they lead. A conscious business leader will regularly “check in” with others, may have a mentor, and will seek out feedback on their own biases.

Conscious business leaders are humble. Their humility ensures that  their own ego doesn’t become a distorting filter for truth.This humility doesn’t mean they are weak or lacking in assertiveness; quite the opposite, conscious business leaders need to be highly responsive, prepared to challenge and to keep challenging, prepared to be formal and directive if needed. But this comes from organisational, not personal need. Conscious business leaders regularly check in with their own behaviour, attitudes and ensure their personal and professional development harmonises with unfolding change in the organisations they lead.

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A Scorecard for Process Managers

by

Paul Harmon

Kaplan and Norton published their first article on the Balanced Scorecard approach in the Harvard Business Review in 1992 [1] The essence of the scorecard approach is twofold. First, it forces everyone in an organization to consider multiple criteria for judging the success of the organization. Second, it provides a conceptually easy way to understand aligning performance criteria from the organization down through divisions and departments to line supervisors. Each manager has a performance evaluation based on a scorecard designed for that manager, but all scorecards are aligned upward to the ultimate organization scorecard.

Figure 1 illustrates the four broad categories that Kaplan and Norton use to define their scorecard.

Figure 1. ECI’s Balanced Business Scorecard
(After a Figure in Kaplan and Norton’s article “The Balanced Scorecard – Measures that Drive Performance”
in HBR in the Jan-Feb. 1992 issue.)

Nominally, the Balanced Scorecard approach was supposed to support business processes, but, in fact, most organizations have used it to support a more traditional department-based organizational design, and, frankly, the models that Kaplan and Norton use do not represent a very sophisticated understanding of business processes.

Most companies, today, use some kind of modified scorecard system, tailored to their specific organizational needs. Similarly, several process groups, as for example the Supply Chain Council (SCC) have developed their own scorecards, tailored to the needs of a process-based approach. In a similar way, BPTrends has worked with companies to adopt the scorecard approach for organizations that employ a matrix design and have both departmental and process managers. [2]

Figure 2. Using Balanced Scorecards for Both Departments and Processes.

Increasingly, however, BPTrends has found that trying to fit process concepts into the four categories of the traditional scorecard is an unnecessary frustration.

We have found that a better way of thinking about a scorecard is to tie it closely to the source of the measures. Using the BPTrends approach, derive our key process measures from an analysis of the stakeholders in a process. In essence, we generate a diagram like the one shown in Figure 2, and ask what each stakeholder expects from the process. Obviously we pay considerable attention to what customers want, but we are also concerned with measures required by senior executives and other key stakeholders.

 

Figure 3. The stakeholders of a bank process that provides teller services in branches.

In essence, when we begin to study this diagram, we look at each stakeholder relationship and describe our goals for the relationship and the measures we will use to evaluate the success achieved by the process in satisfying that stakeholder.

In some cases it helps to evaluate the stakeholders of our stakeholders. Thus, for example, the Bank Executives are not only concerned with the success of the teller process, but they have to satisfy the board and shareholders. Thus, they are interested in things like the ROI generated by the process, and need on-going financial data that can be used to prepare the financial reports sent to shareholders.

In a similar way, employees are not only interested in the work environment and the pay derived from enabling the process, but they are also interested in things like health care, pensions and their career development.

In the past we have created a stakeholder diagram like the one shown in Figure 3, then developed a worksheet that lists each stakeholder and described what would satisfy or please the stakeholder, and then rearranged all of the resulting measures into the four categories provided by the classic scorecard pictured in Figure 1.

Increasingly, however, we find it is easier to simply use the stakeholder worksheet as the scorecard. Thus, for example, we might create a stakeholder scorecard, like the one shown in Figure 3, to capture metrics initially developed by the stakeholder diagram. The goals, in this case, involve satisfying the stakeholder.

Figure 4. A scorecard organized around process stakeholders.

Obviously the scorecard in Figure 4 is only related to the specific business process. It becomes more interesting when we consider this process and its scorecard in the context of an entire organization. At the top of our hierarchy is a bank scorecard for the entire organization, which also has its stakeholders. Then there are the major processes within the bank, perhaps a value chain entitled Provide Financial Services for Individuals, and Provide Financial Services for Businesses. These value chains also have their stakeholders. In essence, we simply organize these into a hierarchy. Management can always add other goals, like a management directed initiative to develop a relationship with a stock broker so that branch customers can buy and sell stocks from their savings accounts. Similarly, support processes may drive initiatives, like a change in the employee healthcare system.

Figure 5. Some relationships between processes and stakeholders.

By examining each process carefully, in a hierarchical fashion, one can identify the goals and measures for each process. As a generalization, as one goes down into the hierarchy, external stakeholders, like customers and suppliers, get replaced by other business processes that the stakeholders initially interface with. All this can be incorporated into a stakeholder scorecard for each business process, and can, in turn, serve as a way of evaluating both the performance of the business process and the work of each of the process managers.

This approach can capture the same information captured in a more traditional balanced scorecard approach. The stakeholder scorecard approach, however, doesn’t require that measures be rearranged or arbitrarily grouped, but allows them to displayed in a way that improves tractability and clarifies the priorities of the process in question.

Notes

1. Kaplan, Robert S. and David P. Norton. “The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance.” Harvard Business Review Jan/Feb 1992.

2. Harmon, Paul. “Using a Balanced Scorecard to Support a Business Process Architecture.” www.bptrends.info Oct 16, 2007.

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How to Shift Your Mindset - The Essential Cheat Sheet

 

Transforming an organization requires a fundamental shift in mindset. In many cases, this means moving away from traditional approaches and embracing new paradigms that drive growth, innovation, and collaboration. Here are a few key mindset shifts that can help you and your organization achieve greater success and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

From Profit to Purpose

Traditionally, organizations focused primarily on profit. This meant that the main goal of every meeting and new initiative was to somehow benefit financially. Shifting towards a purpose-driven mindset means recognizing that purpose drives everything, including profit. By aligning your organization’s activities with a broader mission and values, you can inspire and engage employees, foster customer loyalty, and ultimately achieve sustainable success. And the numbers support this. Purpose-driven companies often outperform their peers because they attract passionate employees and loyal customers who resonate with their mission.

From Hierarchy to Network

The traditional hierarchical structure, where instructions flow from the top to the bottom, can stifle creativity and slow down decision-making. Moving towards a network-based approach emphasizes collaboration, allowing unique ideas and skills to flourish. This shift encourages a more agile and innovative environment where all team members can contribute their expertise and insights. In a networked organization, teams are often cross-functional, and communication flows freely across all levels. This structure enables quicker responses to market changes and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Companies like Google and Valve have adopted network-based models, which have significantly contributed to their innovative capabilities and competitive advantages.

From Control to Empowerment

In a control-based environment, the focus is often on monitoring and driving performance. However, all too often, this can lead to excessive micromanagement. Shifting to an empowerment mindset means trusting and empowering motivated employees to take ownership of their work. This approach helps to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and higher engagement, as employees feel valued and trusted to make decisions. Time and time gain, empowerment had been shown to lead to higher job satisfaction and motivation, as employees are given the autonomy to leverage their strengths and creativity.

From Plan to Experiment

While planning for the future is important, plans that are "overly rigid" can limit an organization’s ability to adapt to change. Embracing experimentation involves utilizing available resources to adapt and innovate on a more continual basis. This mindset encourages taking calculated risks, learning from failures, and iterating quickly to stay ahead in a dynamic environment. Companies that prioritize experimentation often lead their industries due to their ability to quickly pivot and respond to new opportunities and challenges.

From Privacy to Transparency

Safeguarding knowledge, data, and information is now - more than ever - essential to maintaining   a competitive edge. However, shifting towards transparency means learning to share and be inspired by one another. Open communication fosters trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement, as team members are often much more willing to share ideas, feedback, and insights. Transparency can also lead to increased accountability and stronger relationships between stakeholders, customers, employees, and management. .

Implementing Mindset Shifts in Your Organization

Of course, adopting these mindset shifts requires a commitment to change and a willingness to challenge existing norms. Here are some steps that you can follow to help facilitate this transformation:

• Communicate the Vision - Clearly articulate the new mindset and its benefits to all team members. This means ensuring that everyone understands the purpose behind the shift and how it aligns with the organization’s goals.
  
  
• Lead by Example - Leaders should embody the new mindset through their actions and decisions. Demonstrating a commitment to purpose, collaboration, empowerment, experimentation, and transparency can help to set the tone for the entire organization.
  
  
• Encourage Feedback - Strive to create an open environment where employees feel comfortable providing feedback and sharing ideas. This practice helps identify areas for improvement and fosters a culture of continuous learning.
  
  
• Provide Training and Resources - Equip employees with the skills and tools needed to thrive in the new environment. This can differ from business to business, but generally involves offering training programs, workshops, and resources that support collaboration, innovation, and adaptability.
  
  
• Celebrate Successes - Recognize and celebrate achievements that result from embracing the new mindset. Highlighting successes reinforces the benefits of the shift and motivates others to adopt similar behaviors.

Transforming an organization requires more than just implementing new processes - it demands a fundamental shift in mindset. While they can be difficult to implement, these shifts not only enhance internal dynamics but also resonate with customers and stakeholders, resulting in a more resilient and adaptable business.

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The role of people-centric groups in organisation design

 

People-centric groups, or "people-centric groups," are essential in organization design because they advocate for and integrate employee needs, experiences, and values into the core of how the company is structured and operates. This approach, also known as a people-centric or human-centered design, leads to a more positive, inclusive, and effective workplace by improving productivity, retention, and engagement through supportive policies, environments, and systems. 

Key roles of people-centric groups

• Improving employee experience and engagement: By focusing on the employee's perspective, these groups ensure that systems, policies, and environments are designed to be supportive and user-friendly, leading to greater satisfaction and emotional connection to the company's mission.
• Increasing productivity: When employees feel valued and supported, they are more engaged and motivated. This results in higher productivity and better performance.
• Reducing turnover: A strong people-centric culture fosters employee loyalty and a sense of belonging, which significantly lowers attrition rates and the associated costs of recruitment and training.
• Fostering innovation: By empowering employees and giving them a voice in decision-making, people-centric groups encourage a culture where individuals feel safe to take risks and propose new ideas, which is crucial for adaptability and growth.
• Enhancing resilience during change: During periods of organizational change, people-centric groups ensure that the human impact is considered, helping employees adapt to new structures or processes more effectively through transparent communication and support.
• Streamlining processes: Focusing on the people who use the systems and processes allows for their redesign to be more efficient, making it easier for both employees and customers to interact with the organization.
• Bridging the gap between leadership and employees: People-centric groups act as a crucial link, bringing employees' needs and insights to leadership to shape strategy and ensure that the organization's design aligns with both business goals and the well-being of its workforce. 

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