"How to Unreasonable (in a Reasonable Way)" -Julian birkinshaw

Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016

New Ways of Working for

the 21st Century

HR Innovation & Strategy Meeting, October 2016

Professor Julian Birkinshaw

London Business School


A Changing World

New Ways of Working

Implications for Leadership

and Management


How do you rate the honesty of the

following professions?

Medical doctors

Police officers

Clergy

Journalists

Bankers

Lawyers

Business executives

Car salespeople

67%

56%

45%

27%

25%

21%

17%

8%

2015 Gallup Survey


The failure of leadership


Who are you happiest with?

Friends

Parents/relatives

Spouse

My children

Co-workers

Clients/customers

Alone

Boss

3.3

3.0

2.8

2.7

2.6

2.4

2.2

2.0

(Rating is on a 1-5 scale)


In search of better role models


Types of innovation

Product innovation

Technology innovation

Process innovation

Business model innovation

Management innovation

Service innovation


Changes in how we work are vital to

productivity improvement

0

2

4

6

8

High

investment in

Information

Technology

Low

investment in

Information

Technology

Traditional workplace

practices

Innovative workplace

practices

Annual productivity

growth in 1990s for

US manufacturers

Source: Arnal, Ok, Torres 2001


Shifting basis of competitive advantage

INDUSTRIAL AGE: 1860s-1960s

INFORMATION AGE: 1970s–2020s


Ray Kurzweil: Accelerating Returns

“Information-based technologies will encompass all human

knowledge and proficiency, ultimately including pattern-

recognition powers, problem-solving skills, and emotional

and moral intelligence of the human brain itself.”


The dark side of big data

Analysis Paralysis

Blind Faith in Data

Answers in search of

Questions

Loss of Contextual

Understanding

Loss of Differentiation


INFORMATION

+

KNOWLEDGE

ACTION

+

CONVICTION

LABOUR + CAPITAL

Towards an “agile age”?


A Changing World

New Ways of Working


and Management


How should we respond to a more

complex operating environment?

• Fight complexity with complexity?


The downsides of complexity

Turf wars

Unclear roles

Steering committees

Layers of rules & procedures

Alienation and disengagement

Risk aversion and lack of creativity


How should we respond to a more

complex operating environment?

• Fight complexity with complexity

• Fight complexity with simplicity


Alternatives to bureaucracy Under what conditions does this work?


Emergent order: Less is more

Hans Monderman – the “Shared Space” model


So, what do you do for a living?


Three ways of describing yourself in the

workplace

Your position on the org chart

Your knowledge and experience

What you do on a day to day basis


Three distinct models of organising

Your position on the org chart

Your knowledge and experience

What you do on a day to day basis

Bureaucracy

Meritocracy

Adhocracy


Adhocracy – a classic example


Adhocracy – a current example


Zappos – the holacracy experiment


Adhocracy-based methodologies


Three distinct models

People motivated by…

Decisions made through…

By Rules

Hierarchy

Extrinsic Rewards

Coordination achieved…



Around Opportunity

Experimentation

Achievement


Bureaucracy Position is privileged

Adhocracy Action is privileged



Mutual Adjustment

Logical Argument

Personal Mastery


Meritocracy Knowledge is privileged

Which models does your organisation use? And

which ones should you be using?


INDUSTRIAL AGE

Emphasis on

productivity and efficiency

BUREAUCRACY

INFORMATION AGE

Emphasis on

rational analysis and expertise

MERITOCRACY

‘AGILE’ AGE

Emphasis on

agility, intuition, and decisiveness

ADHOCRACY

Shifting emphasis over time


A Changing World

New Ways of Working


and Management


Adhocracy at a personal level


Men’s world high-jump record

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000


John Thomas vs. Valeriy Brumel

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000


Dick Fosbury: Mexico Olympics Gold

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Olympics


Three waves of innovation in the high

jumping industry

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

The Fosbury Flop

The Straddle Jump

The Western Roll


in praise of “unreasonable” people

The “Hyperloop”


How to be Unreasonable

(in a reasonable way)

• Think different

• Experiment early

• Locate the safety mat

• Seize the moment


So how do you get the

most out of these

people?


A big part of the leader’s job is

enabling initiative and experimentation


Google’s Project Oxygen


Google’s Project Oxygen

1. Be a good coach

2. Empower your team and don't micromanage

3. Express interest in team members' success and well-being

4. Be productive and results-oriented

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team

6. Help your employees with career development

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team.

Adam Bryant, New York Times, March 12th 2011


Need for control Recognition-seeking

Overconfident

Give space to others Give them recognition

Make careful judgments

Enabling others doesn’t come naturally to

most senior executives


There is also a tricky linking role when

you are encouraging experimentation


And occasionally you need to step in

decisively, to make things happen


Knowing when to take charge: the

“strategic inflection points”

SENSE

RESPOND

SCALE


BUREAUCRACY

Emphasis on productivity

and efficiency

Leadership is about

monitoring and controlling

MERITOCRACY

Emphasis on data and analysis

Leadership is about

expertise and information

flow

ADHOCRACY

Emphasis on flexibility and decisiveness

Leadership is setting a direction,

enabling others, experimentation


Book to be

published

March 2017

Stanford

University Press

"How to Unreasonable (in a Reasonable Way)" -Julian birkinshaw

Leadership & Management