Systems Thinking versus Linear Thinking
December 21, 2009 by senterra
The Lotus Leaf is a stunning example of adaptation and served as the inspiration for a new surface coating that allows buildings to self-clean.In a previous post, we had alluded to the environmentally sustainable ideal of systems thinking versus the reality of linear thinking, particularly in manufacturing processes, and promised to provide examples of each to better explain these concepts.
Systems thinking has multiple applications, from problem-solving to enterprise philosophy, but it is most evidently contained within our existing ecosystem. The concept is simply based on the holistic view that the components of a system are best understood in context to each other and their environment. Although our ecosystem was readily available for copying at the start of the industrial revolution, we chose to go with linear thinking instead, where one step follows another in a cradle-to-grave approach, if you will. Today, 150 years later, we have realized that this is not an indefinitely sustainable production strategy and are consequently evaluating concepts like cradle-to-cradle and biomimicry.
There are millions of products designed by linear thinking. Any single item that faces an end-of-life stage at which it has no further use falls into this category. Look around your home or office and you will see them, from sofas and rugs to computers and televisions, even the materials that comprise the building itself, to name just a few. Do you have a gadget on your desk that consists of several materials fused together, maybe a picture frame or business card holder? Most lamps consist of multiple materials, too, as do most shoes. All these items are bound to end up in landfills one day, because they cannot be broken down into useful materials…………………….
Full article at http://senterra.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/systems-thinking-versus-linear-thinking/
Month: December 2009
Building your network
Building Your Network
Posted by Brian Tracy on Dec 28, 2009
We live in a society, and as a member of that society, it is likely that every change in your life is strongly influenced by other people in some way. The courses you take in school that shape your career are often at the instigation of a friend or counselor. The books you read, the tapes you listen to, and the seminars you attend are almost invariably the result of a suggestion from someone you respect.
The occupation you select, the job you take, and the key steps in your career are largely determined by the people you meet and talk to at those critical decision points in your life. In fact, at every crossroad in your life there is usually someone standing there pointing you in one direction or another.
According to the law of probabilities, the greater number of people you know who can help you at any given time, the more likely it is that you will know the right person at the right time and in the place to give you the help you need to move ahead more rapidly in your life. The more people you know, the more doors of opportunity will be open to you and the more sound advice you will get in making the important decisions that shape your life……………..
Service for the Nation in the One Planet World
This post highlights the debate taking place in the UK about youth unemployment and the malaise and strains it is creating in society as a result of educating for a multi-planet future on the one world we have.
Comments welcome
This post is part of this article Service for the Nation in the One Planet World
dd
The End of a Coherent UK?
As indicated above we have failed to recognise that the UK has had a propensity to educate for industrial and environmental decline for more than a century and that a society that no longer possesses the knowledge and skills to maintain and extend its infrastructure will not viable in the One Planet World.
Putting these pieces together we now find ourselves in a critical national position with regard to the ‘energy gap’ acknowledged in 2005 by Professor Sir David King – the short political timeframe and the planning regime has led to the deferment of decisions on the mix of energy we need, leaving us at the mercy of foreign sources of energy and reliant on a number of aging nuclear power stations.
Service for the Nation
Paraphrasing the FRESA comment
“In terms of job losses the bulk are expected to come in elementary trades, process operatives, skilled metal and construction trades and are expected to be dominated by males.”
This is a forecast of potential disaster for the UK. It will at best lead to a position where a large proportion of males feel excluded with probable social unrest – we see this already happening; any job gains are predicated on the assumption that service industries will grow
As we transition to the OPW the only way this scenario can be avoided is by addressing the issue of National Service – or Service for the Nation, not primarily the traditional military service to provide constructive mandatory and voluntary work for primarily males across the age range that will otherwise be idle.
Tomorrow’s organisations are only beginning to sense the change of paradigm required for sustainable, profitable business in the One Planet World and the leadership it will require. They certainly cannot act to prevent the disintegration of the UK as a coherent society on the timescale required.
Many foreign owned utilities also have no obligation or the will to do so beyond the economic ‘profit’ generated and will not create OPW skills and jobs without this incentive.
Society itself has to find the will to generate the new knowledge and skills required, and also the old knowledge and skills that will have to be relearned in the OPW – these are best created through Service for the Nation – National Service.
A 21st Century National Service
The UK Government has just introduced a requirement for 11 year olds, starting secondary education in September 2009 to stay in Education or training until they are 18.
There is currently much debate about how this translates into positive outcomes and Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity, which is the outcome least required as we shift paradigms into the OPW. A 2005 OFSTED report finding that only 12% of 19 to 30 year olds interviewed thought that school had enabled them to be creative or understand risk.
In addition the change to fee paying in Further and Higher Education has led to most learners deciding to stay local to complete their education.
Similarly, with no form of National Service, young people not in continuing education experience no other input than their local area and as a result, in most cases, have no expectations beyond their limited boundaries. There is clear evidence that this is causing a dependency culture and an underclass, as is being widely reported.
So where do we stand at the start of a new decade and halfway through the UN Decade for sustainable Development 2005-2014?
It can be stated
◦ There is a wide spread of achievement output from the UK’s Education System
◦ This is aimed at satisfying a paradigm that no longer exists.
◦ This results in high youth unemployment.
◦ Leading to disaffection and continuing underachievement.
◦ And withdrawal from involvement in the wider society
◦ Causing violence and crime, fuelled in many cases by drugs.
Clearly, increasing the age of compulsory education will have no effect on this vicious circle unless we recognise the paradigm we need to educate for is shifting rapidly as we move into the One Planet World.
We have to recognise, as stated throughout this article that education has to liberate the creativity that will enable citizens to help create the OPW within the UK. This can only be achieved through ‘service above self’.
This is not the politically correct thing to say at this time, but it is central to any future that can be envisaged in a UK of around 70 million citizens.
Conclusion
Our conception of National Service is coloured by its compulsory and in many cases arbitrary nature, where outcomes were not tailored to the needs of individuals, or even society.
This is not the aim of Service for the Nation; the aim is to provide rounded citizens with a range of knowledge and skills appropriate to their talents and the creativity to use them effectively and efficiently in helping create the One Planet World.
This does not mean that military service will not be part of the mix for those attracted to such service and we need to acknowledge the part played in current conflicts by our young people.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel as there are service organizations, Scouts etc. who know how to create future citizens and leaders that we can use as templates.
These things are critical
◦ There must be an element of compulsion for all to contribute in their own way.
◦ There must be a controlled but significant element of risk.
◦ Service should be away from home for realistic periods
◦ Learning and work undertaken must result in value added to society.
◦ All must have access to achieve to laid down standards
◦ Rank must be available for significant leadership ability.
Many will argue that this cannot be afforded but the real question is “can we afford, not to be able to afford it?” – if the alterative is societal collapse.
Copyright Derek Deighton 2009
See C Barnett, Audit of War, 1989
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audit-War-Illusion-Reality-Britain/dp/033034790X
Community Service Organisations in the One Planet World
Like the rest of humanity, Community Service Organisations are in transition, whether we, or they, realise it or not; the tranistion to a future decided by the One Planet Equation and the One Planet World Gaia creates for us from balancing it.
This analysis is based on Rotary International, with which I have an association and whose creed is ‘Service Above Self’. It is part of an article about ‘Learning to Lead in the OPW’ aimed at its junior sections, Interact and Rotaract.
dd
The complete article can be downloaded here Interact & Rotaract – Learning to lead for the One Planet World
Interact & Rotaract – learning to lead for the One Planet World
Derek Deighton 23 December 2009
Rotary in Transition
As we enter the second decade of the third Millennium it is clear that Rotary International faces, like the rest of humanity a period of transition, of opportunities and threats. A future that can be seen as a challenging adventure or an impossible challenge; the choice is ours.
To face this adventurous challenge we must rethink our role as an organisation, as individual clubs and as individuals.
Asking, bravely, the question –
“What are we here for in the 3rd Millennium?”
To which the answer can only be –
“We are here to liberate the creativity and leadership that will help societies transition successfully to the coming One Planet World.”
An important part of this is how we attract and enable the learning of future leaders in Interact and Rotaract. Clearly the most pressing issue facing Rotary if we are to move forward and be an effective force in the One Planet World, see the appendix.
As a starting point we must acknowledge that Rotary is still fixed in the paradigm of economic growth based on exponential use of resources; where many will continue to be wealthy enough to help those who are not so fortunate.
In the One Planet World, where Gaia will decide major issues like population and resource availability, this is no longer a viable strategic model for Rotary. We must work with Gaia to create the best possible world, where humans are integrated into its cycles.
A Blip on Geological History
It is becoming increasingly clear that the past 200 years have been a blip on geological history where we have consumed at least half of recoverable resources and at the present rate of use many, particularly oil will not last more than 30 years. This is the backdrop to our, and Rotary International’s immediate future.
Learning to Lead
Rotary has a proud history of enabling the learning and application of leadership, not only in its main body but also within Interact and Rotaract, but this has been for the current paradigm
This has also been against a backdrop of a powerful psychological force that said ‘we can self-actualize without worrying about the future – an act of self -deception of epic proportions.
We are now suffering from what Alvin Toffler called ‘Future Shock’, a state of confusion that arises when the past offers little guidance to dealing with the present and the future. This has enormous implications for Rotary but this article is concentrating on Interact and Rotaract.
Learning to Lead for the OPW
The Appendix explains the implications of the One Planet World, but summarized
We can say that in the One Planet World
◦ Energy, water and other resources will be constrained
◦ Human resources will be plentiful
◦ In a resource constrained environment, goods and services can only grow at the rate at which their resource intensity can be reduced beyond balancing the One Planet Equation’
All at Sea
To use a nautical metaphor, we are floating in a sea at the peril of the wind, tide and current, without a chart or a serviceable compass. The young are particularly feeling the effects of this, uncertain of their immediate and long-term futures.
What does this mean for Rotary?
Firstly, it means finding and charting our current position, but even now we can say certain things about the OPW, see appendix. From this we can say what businesses will be part of it.
Tomorrow’s businesses must
◦ Satisfy emotional and spiritual need rather than gratuitous wants
◦ Satisfy essential needs in the lower orders of Maslow’s Pyramid
◦ Employ people rather than energy
◦ Create or use renewable energy and other resources
◦ Minimise water use or create the technologies that do
◦ Create and deploy climate stabilising and mitigation technologies
◦ Be increasingly local
◦ Provide a service rather than a product
◦ Practice lifecycle stewardship of their resources
◦ Manage value rather than cost
◦ Be able to operate at continually reducing resource intensity
Rotary must prepare itself and society for these organisations and the opportunities they will provide; we must be in the vanguard, not just dealing with the fallout the future reality will doubtless produce.
Instantaneous Adaptability
Leading in the One Planet World requires us to be almost instantaneously adaptable as individuals, with the vision and skills to create the same adaptability within the organizations we serve.
The resources available to us will be reducing over time and we must marshal them to continually increase the supply of goods and services that meet the essential physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our society.
Tomorrow’s leaders must have the skills and ability to liberate the creativity and ingenuity in their people and other stakeholders that will enable and drive change.
Interim Conclusion
These thoughts are part of a process developed from using the One Planet Equation Mind Model, which is a conceptual model of under-standing, that once created, gives us the power to extract more information from it, than went into creating it.
From it we can say
◦ Energy, water and other resources will be constrained
◦ Human resources will be plentiful
◦ That we are addicted to the hugely ineffective use of energy and other resources
◦ That the current discourse centred on the ’symptoms’ our addiction causes – climate change, environmental, social and economic failures, is failing to motivate change.
◦ That human beings are, and have been, creative, ingenious and enterprising since the dawn of our species.
◦ That ’our’ future is ‘our’ problem – that the Earth will most probably manage very well without us.
Rotary cannot from the above analysis expect anymore, its members or its youth to find a way to the One Planet World on their own. We must chart a way forward for ourselves and society.
◦ Interact and Rotaract and must be part of the educational system, delivering its implicit outcomes, not targets.
◦ They must also deliver the unstated need of society – service above self and the leadership it requires.
◦ They must liberate the creativity needed to help create the One Planet World.
◦ Critically, members must know their membership is leading to positive life chances for themselves – the ‘feel good’ and ‘fun’ factors are no longer sufficient reasons for belonging to the Rotary Family.
So in the interim, what can we say?
◦ Rotary can and should be proud of its history but recognise that this is not a complete guide to helping create the OPW.
◦ We should transform Interact and Rotaract Clubs into explicit ‘learning’ and service organisations.
◦ Rotarians should endeavour to provide ‘internships’ to Interact and Rotaract members in their organisations on whatever basis can be arranged.
◦ Rotary should create a body of knowledge and recognised achievement awards that can be achieved by all for Continuing Professional Development.
◦ Create ‘virtual clubs’ for other service organisations – so that Scouts, Air Cadets etc. can achieve CPD awards and their own Rotary Badge whilst developing their own specialist areas.
◦ Local, District and Regional equivalents of Ambassadorial, GSE and Peace work can be established
◦ Clubs should move away from the elitist sounding ‘Presidents Balls’ to ‘Rotary Achievement’ nights; where all CPD achievements are recognised, Interact, Rotaract and Rotarian alike.
Once set on this course of learning to help create the One Planet World, Rotary will be able to devise many more appropriate strategies on this theme for its own development and the development of its members.
A need and opportunity exists for Rotary to take big strides into the futures.
It is a challenging opportunity for sure, but then Rotary International has never shirked a challenge or Service above Self.
The information age is over?
The Information Age is over – What’s next?
At a time in history with unprecedented access to global information streams, it may seem odd to some that the “Information Age” is already behind us. Traditionally a period of history can be characterized by the dominant technology that separates the leaders from the followers. Today is no exception. Power and influence is often associated with those that master the novel technology and rapid changes in economic and/or political fortunes soon ripple across societies. The dawn of the “Industrial Age” coincided with global changes in how physical materials were transformed and distributed. The costs of manufacturing and distribution plummeted raising the standard of living for many. The commoditization of material goods began and the control of capital, raw material sources, and production capacity reshaped the thinking of the day.
The “Information Age” extended this paradigm to a world focused on planning, forecasting, and predictability. Data and information were often expensive to produce, manage, and manipulate by hand, so mainframes took over and created a world dominated by computation speed and efficiency. However, as the underlying technologies improved and were reduced in cost, the application of computing evolved toward a more distributed framework. Once again, the commoditization of technology changed the nature of how value was being created and how benefits would be recognized. Data flows are now expanding exponentially – driven by computing machines, digital imagers, intelligent devices, and RFID tags that have become ubiquitous and interlinked through multi-tiered networks.Dawn of the “Systems Age”
As the amount of information and data expands exponentially, the value of any average datum is being reduced to near zero. Intelligent systems will be increasingly responsible for sensing, collecting, and manipulating data in near real-time with little to no human supervision. More importantly, most discrete data will be actively forgotten once it has passed through filters and pattern recognition systems that ultimately feed into a new type of system memory. Decision making ability will no longer require perfect recall of every piece of data (There is often simply too much information to process in a tractable, timely manner).
A simple extension of the logic behind Metcalfe’s “law”, suggests that the value of any telecommunications network is some power function of the number of connected users/devices. Intelligent devices/machines will ultimately dominate many of the networks we use today, and create value in an automated fashion. Traditional decision engines will be augmented with sophisticated pattern recognition algorithms and high-level reasoning and learning capability. Ultimately a type of machine “self-awareness” will be developed in response to the enormous amount of locally generated, near-real time data available for processing and sharing. The first generation of lightweight interactive intelligent machines that behave in this way are already around us in the form of smart phones and GPS-enabled telematics devices. Networks of these devices will form a cloud of knowledge that can be shared and traded based on a fluid set of value propositions.
The “Systems Age” will spawn a type of social networking for machines where the opportunities for value creation will no longer be limited to purely physical transformations of matter, but rather to the overall efficiency of compute power, network configuration, decision management, and idea creation. Rather than strive for the impossible goal of perfect predictability, the “Systems Age” paradigm accepts the inevitable uncertainty in the world and quickly responds to it. Since readily available computing power continues to increase at an exponential rate, while the cost of computation continues to plummet, those that fail to incorporate the value of “Systems Thinking” into their products, services and future vision will soon be at a great technological disadvantage.
See http://scienceblogs.com/collectiveimagination/2009/12/the_information_age_is_over.php
Suggested reading for perspective:
Between Human and Machine : Feedback, Control and Computing before Cybernetics by David A. Mindell
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 2002Managing for the Future, Alf Chattell 1995, Macmillan Press Ltd, Basingstoke
Driving change in government: get knowledge or go home
Driving Change in Government: Get Knowledge or Go Home
Monday, December 7, 2009 by Tripp Babbitt
Seems like each time I read something coming from the Ash Institute from Harvard, I am left shaking my head in disbelief. It has now advanced to the point where I just accept that they will say things that defy all reality. They can spin a web faster then any spider I know.
In the latest travesty John O’Leary in Driving Change: Go Big or Go Home likens government to driving a bus where everyone has access to a brake. Meaning anyone can kill any change program in government. He uses this as an impetus to basically run over people to achieve change.
With apologies to one of our fine educational institutions this is ridiculous. What got us in the mess we are in today is our inability to seek knowledge before seeking change. Government management can only make assumptions about one thing . . . that they need to get knowledge before introducing change.
The cost of not getting knowledge is to guarantee failure in any organizational change management program. The result is higher costs, worse service and a poor culture. The political spin of this has to be exposed as they administrations point to those costs that go down and not to the ones that increase due to this flawed approach…………………..
see the full article at http://blog.newsystemsthinking.com/blog/bryce-harrison/0/0/driving-change-in-government-get-knowledge-or-go-home
It’s about the journey, not the destination
Monday, December 21, 2009It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination
by Robert F. Brands
In the C-suites of corporate America, innovation has become a mandate. Executives – from CEOs to marketing officers – believe that to innovate is to embrace the Holy Grail of 21st Century business.But is innovation alone the answer? Is the end – innovation – capable of surviving solely as a mandate?
Or is innovation a process, journey that seeks a destination refined and polished along the way? “Total Innovation” is a sojourn that mandates a total approach philosophy.
However, to create the Culture, foster Ideation and sustain a focus on thoughtful New Product Development, innovation requires a complex combination of and continued adherence to imperatives that must be introduced, embraced and nurtured. Innovation imperatives must start at the top, the CEO. They must be written into the Mission Statements; “Innovation” must have the backing in the strategic plan.
To thrive, Innovation must have the support of long-term growth objectives and capital support. Beyond support, Innovation must gain Inspiration from leadership, who will create and foster a Culture of innovation and motivate the organization. Leadership must acknowledge the role of Risk, and understand the possibility and benefits of failure.
For without such inspiration and continued communication, Innovation will not survive. It will become little more than a once-promising concept left to wither on the vine of fanciful corporate initiatives that never quite took root.
Therein lies the paradox of innovation. Companies cannot succeed without innovation. Yet few executives understand how to introduce, nurture, or capitalize on the promise of innovation within the organization………………..
The importance of project management in the One Planet World
Terry Schmidt makes the point cogently that that a ‘Systems Thinking’ approach to project management is critical to achieving major goals. This is essential to solving our major project – how do we create a One Planet World by helping the Earth balance the One Planet Equation, in a way that allows the human species to be part of its integrated functioning.
This should be read in conjunction with https://trailblazerbusinessfutures.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/the-bigq-%e2%80%93-leading-for-competitive-advantage-in-the-one-planet-world/
dd
The Importance Of Project Management: An Interview With Terry Schmidt
Dr. Hendrie Weisinger
Psychologist, speaker, author of The Genius of Instinct (FT Press, 2009),
Posted: December 21, 2009 11:41 AMI will start by asking you, “How many projects do you have on your plate?” Weddings, family trips, the upcoming conference, rolling out a new customer service program or compensation system, or having to turn a blueprint feature of a car, plane, bus, or into a reality are only some of the diverse samples of projects that we attempt and want to be successful doing.
Yet, as research would indicate, most projects never achieve the success desired. How can you ensure that your projects are succesful? What can you do so you can cofidently assure your boss you will deliver the goods–on time?
I’d recommend a starting place is to meet Terry Schmidt — a globally recognized strategy consultant and project management expert. He is the founder of www.ManagementPro.com, and the author of Strategic Project Management Made Simple: Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams (Wiley, 2009).
Dr. Hank: You have developed great expertise in Project Management. How did you get interested in this field?
Terry: My love of projects began in high school when I launched a small rocket loaded with guppies. That project earned national press coverage and motivated me to study aerospace engineering. During a summer internship at NASA, I devoured all the project and program management books in their library. This ignited my passion for Project Management and systems thinking, which considers how all the elements of large and complex systems work together to accomplish the big picture goal.
In a later career as a management consultant to developing nations, I witnessed the futility of piecemeal solutions to complex problems. For example, a project designed to reduce childhood mortality in Africa may provide inoculations and health education, but these good efforts will fail unless there is also access to clean water, which may not be part of the project. So we need to think, plan, and act from a larger perspective and address all the solution elements.
Given the nature of the problems we face today, it is essential to use systems thinking combined with Project Management.
Dr. Hank: Should “Project Management” be formally taught in our school systems, or just integrated into teaching methods?
Terry: Learning to use and apply Project Management is a valuable and essential life skill. Students need these skills because they’ll use them life-long, on the job and off. Everyone who works deals with projects, but projects extend beyond the job to include personal projects, family projects, volunteer projects and so forth.
Project Management skills help you achieve better results. Mastering the art of Project Management can help you become a better parent, neighbor, and citizen as well as a stellar performer at work.
Project Management is a broad field. Let’s be sure we teach the right kind. Typical Project Management gets too granular too quickly by focusing on activities, budgets, and schedules before first establishing the overall goals.. I’m a big believer in Strategic Project Management, which begins with clearly defining the big picture before delving into details.
Dr. Hank: If turning the Country around is a project, how would you approach it? What would your consulting advice be to President Obama and the Congress?
Terry: I can’t think of a more crucial project. The place to start is to ask where we as a nation want to be in the future, and then develop a strategic plan to get there.
It’s outrageous that the United States doesn’t have a national strategic plan. Singapore has one; Dubai has one; China has one–but we don’t. Sadly, right now there is no common vision, measures of success, or agreement on strategies to reach that vision. We have become too fractionalized and single-issue oriented to even discuss a common vision or projects that can get us there. By the way, I’ll donate my time and expertise to help make that happen.
Dr. Hank: Since you lecture a lot on strategy, I am sure that you have met many people who are more “strategic” than others. In the scheme of evolution, I am sure that strategic thinking would be favored by natural selection. Do you think the capacity for this type of thinking needs to be in the genes, or can it be learned?
Terry: No doubt among primitive tribes, the man who had the Project Management knowledge needed to organize others and successfully hunt gazelles became the leader. Those less skilled in Project Management got eaten by tigers. Contemporary master Project Managers like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson would have made great tribal leaders because it is in their genes to triumph in any context.
While we can’t alter our DNA, we can polish our strategic skills. Unfortunately, whole field of strategy and projects has become overly complicated and filled with buzz words. We need to get back to the basics. Everyone can master simple Project Management concepts like if-then thinking and assumptions-testing. Learning these increases your strategic I.Q. and multiplies your ability to make things happen.
Dr. Hank: You have been a consultant on some very exciting projects. Which stands out the most?
Terry: I’m fortunate in that my client base spans 34 countries and has involved just about every type of project imaginable.
One of my most exciting current projects involves helping the US Government’s effort to reduce proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to combat terrorism. I am a consultant to CPOIS – The CounterProliferation Operations Intelligence Support Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There are a lot of smart people involved – Scientists, Engineers, Mathematicians, IT pros, Military experts – but their efforts need to be organized into a coherent whole. CPOIS leaders have adopted the Logical Framework Project Management approach as a way to leverage their resources and keep nasty weapons away from the bad guys.
Project Management skills apply in every sphere of life. When you begin to appreciate that your life consists of multiple interrelated projects and manage them strategically, the quality of your results will skyrocket.
Dr. Hank: Thank you for taking time off from your busy projects to meet my readers. My new project–get your book today!
see original article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hendrie-weisinger/the-importance-of-project_b_395007.html
Book at http://www.managementpro.com/
Also essential reading
Critical Chain http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0884271536
Systems Thinking in the Public Sector http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/book5.htm
ISO 9004 and your organization – leading in the One Planet World
This should be read in conjunction with https://trailblazerbusinessfutures.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/the-bigq-%e2%80%93-leading-for-competitive-advantage-in-the-one-planet-world/ for a vision of where this initiative must lead if we are to lead as businesses, where our politicians have failed to lead as our elected representatives.
dd
ISO 9004 and Your Organization
Why we should care about sustainable success?
Denise Robitaille
The final draft of the revised ISO 9004 standard is out for ballot. This means that it will hopefully be available before the end of this year. It’s radically different from the last version. For one thing, the title has changed. It’s now: “Managing for the sustained success of an organization—A quality management approach.”
What’s so special about this new version? Why should we care? The answer to both of the questions is in the new title. We all have a vested interest in the notion of sustainable success. Particularly in these days of globalization and outsourcing, the importance of the sustainability of organizations is becoming increasingly apparent.
If you were to ask a supplier if they hope to be in around in six months and they responded: “No, we expect to close our doors within 90 days,” how would you feel about continuing to do business with them? You’d probably start shopping for a new supplier. Most organizations don’t deliberately conduct themselves in such a way as to ensure their premature demise. But many times they fail to pay adequate attention to trends in the market, to fluctuations in raw material availability, to amendments to laws and statutes, to the emergence of new technologies, or to changes within their own four walls. They don’t notice that lead times from suppliers are getting uniformly longer or that customers may be giving them repeat orders but are not inviting them to bid on new projects. They don’t take the time to periodically assess their organization’s status and performance.
That’s what the new ISO 9004 standard is all about. It moves an organization beyond simple conformance to a management system, to a level of maturity that facilitates its ability to anticipate and respond to change.
Why should we all care about ISO 9004? Because the integrity of our supply chains is inexorably linked to the robustness of our suppliers’ management systems. Suppliers who aren’t committed to establishing and maintaining systems that espouse the practices of monitoring their environment (both internal and external) and taking appropriate action will eventually cease to be able to meet your needs. This in turn means that as their systems unravel or become obsolete you will have diminished ability to serve your customers’ needs.
Consider how costly it is to deal with the consequences of late delivery. Think about the drain on your resources as you rework sub-standard parts or sort through batches looking for the anticipated defective components. Or, calculate the expenditure to find and qualify a new supplier. There’s the initial research, the multiple calls and requests for samples. There may be one or two visits, followed by a supplier qualification audit. Then there are trial runs of material or probationary periods for service. Finally, you’re able to qualify the new supplier and add them to the ubiquitous Approved Vendor List. How much money has been lost from the moment you realized you were going to have to find a new source for a critical part?
In Out of the Crisis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982), W. Edwards Deming discusses the folly of buying on price alone. We should be attentive to our suppliers and to the many varied factors that affect their continued ability to serve us.
It is more cost effective to monitor the existing suppliers and (when appropriate) to partner with them for improvement so as to ensure their continued ability to respond to changing demands in the market place. One of the tools you can use is ISO 9004. Use it as an assessment benchmark for your organization as well as your suppliers. Teach them how to use the assessment tools.
ISO 9004 creates the tangible link between the seemingly esoteric requirements of ISO 9001 and that which ultimately matters to an organization. It illustrates how those requirements, by promoting the sustainable success of the organization and using the guidance from both standards, allows the organization to achieve both its own goals and those of its customers.
Organizations who deal with multiple tiers of suppliers should endorse both ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 right down the line. It’s the domino effect in reverse. Rather than causing the next tile to fall, we establish systems that ensure that we all continue to stand. The better your suppliers are the better a supplier you will be to your customers.
See http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-column/iso-9004-and-your-organization.html
The BigQ – leading for competitive advantage in the One Planet World
The BigQ – Leading for Competitive Advantage in the One Planet World
Download PDF version The Big Q
The One Planet World
It is clear that the pressure we are putting the Earth under is leading to resource shortages, both in absolute terms and relative distribution. For many of us, our experiment in living a multiple planet existence on the only planet we have is coming to a close.
This has far reaching consequences for how we will ‘manage for a One Planet World’ and the leadership skills it will need.
It is often said that the past is another country, when the ‘customer was king’ and the drive was ‘quality’, ‘integrated teams’ and the work of Deming, Crosby and the other quality gurus.
Today we live in seemingly more complex world where the customer is no longer king, only the most important ‘stakeholder’ in a confusing mix of social, environmental and economic drivers.
The Little and the ‘Big Q’
Up until now we have thought of Quality as the ‘Little Q’, as fitness for purpose rather than the ‘emergent property’ it is; the property a collection or complex system has, but which the individual members do not have – the ‘BigQ’
In the One Planet World we can no longer say that because a product or service satisfies, nay delights the customer, that it possesses ‘quality’ – if it leads to a ‘loss to society’ overall, as Taguchi would say; through economic, social and environmental failures.
Ask Nature
This isn’t the way nature does things. Nature seeks to maximize the value added to society that results from its creation, use and disposal of eco-system products and services, without loss. This is the BigQ definition of quality we must aspire to. Quality is that which
‘Maximizes the value added to society that results from the creation, use and disposal of products and services at continually reducing loss.
This is a journey of integrated continual improvement, not a destination.
A Mind Model
Using the One Planet Equation Mind Model (OPE) 1 = P x C x RI, we are inevitably drawn to its consequence; the First Law of Sustainability ‘In a resource constrained environment, goods and services can only grow at the rate at which their resource intensity can be reduced beyond balancing the One Planet Equation’.
From this vantage point we can look dispassionately at the One Planet World and say what this means for us as suppliers and customers of its products and services.
Resource Intensity
At our starting point on our journey towards the One Planet World we have
1 = P x C x RI or 1 = 1 x 1 x 1
And as we move forward from this point, the 1 planet remains the same so the right hand product always has to equal one. The only way this can happen in a resource constrained environ-ment is if the Resource Intensity, (RI) is never more than 1/PC.
This is the key to future strategic leadership and competitive advantage. We must
◦ Seek to eliminate the cannots
◦ Base our business models on the musts.
◦ Work to continually reduce the Resource Intensity of the products and services we create, use and dispose of.
Don’ts and Do’s
From this we can say that in the One Planet World
◦ Energy, water and other resources will be constrained
◦ Human resources will be plentiful
And from these come the ‘we cannots’
◦ Create growth faster than we can reduce Resource Intensity (RI)
◦ Waste or ineffectively invest resources
◦ Freely transport resources or goods
◦ Use a linear system of creation, use and disposal
◦ Keep creating products and services that allow unlimited forms of self-actualization
◦ Invest in inflexible technology, infrastructure and buildings
◦ Design for obsolescence
◦ Use Energy and water ineffectively
And the ‘we must
◦ Evolve our democratic processes to enable process learning and continual improvement
◦ Leave behind the reductionist, compliance approach to organizational management
◦ Think local
◦ Educate for RI minimization
◦ Continually reduce the RI of non-essential processes to zero (eliminate them)
◦ Replace energy with people (Ingenuity and creativity) in processes. These are your customers!
◦ Replace products with services
◦ Design for maintainability
◦ Design for reliability
◦ Complete the cradle to cradle loop as far as possible
◦ Mimic natural processes
◦ Group symbiotic processes together
◦ Work to continually reduce the losses in the essential processes remaining (improve quality).
Only in this way can we perceive
how we are to lead for competitive advantage in the One Planet World and how we are to manage and maintain that advantage.
The Double Headed Coin
In the Big Q One Planet World we have to see environmental and social failures as much a part of the costs of poor quality as economic ones. That quality and sustainability are the two sides of the same coin, toss it and you can only win.
Business in the 3rd Millennium
It is increasingly being recognised that we are coasting to the top of many resource curves, and are at or near the reality of the OPE deciding our futures
In managing for the future, businesses will have to cope with this reality. Fortunately humans are creative and enterprising and some organisations will survive and many more will be created.
Our past has been characterised as reductionist, but our future depends on our being able to shift paradigms to ‘systems thinking’, of not managing local time and costs but creating value and managing its flow through the system.
We have to work to continually reduce the combined ‘resource intensity’ of the essential processes that contribute to the flow of value through the system
This is best viewed as integrated, continual quality improvement – of reducing the loss in those processes – the BigQ.
Future Shock
We are suffering from what Alvin Toffler called ‘Future Shock’.
This being a state of confusion that arises when the past offers little guidance to dealing with the present and the future and we are in such a time, where the past offers few signposts to the future – when increasing demand for goods and services meets declining resources to create them.
Tomorrow’s businesses depend on their abilities to continually transform what they do and how they do it, and to achieve this they need a regeneration of the mindset that led them to this point in time.
They must have the ability to think beyond the boundaries of the organisation to the wider system and seek to attain their organizational outcomes at continually reducing resource intensity.
Creativity and Ingenuity
Deming created his circle of improvement, Plan, Do, Check, Act and it has stood the test of time but it doesn’t explicitly show the need for the creativity and ingenuity required to drive continual improvement, towards system sustainability.
Including these vital ingredients creates a Virtuous Circle that, using ‘in process control’ and a synergy of an entire organization’s stake-holders and their combined knowledge and skills, enables process learning, which after sensing and absorbing external signals will liberate the creativity and ingenuity within to drive the process design in the direction of sustainability.
As the process becomes more sustainable, the losses are by definition minimised, reducing the need for appraisal costs and eliminating the costs and risks of internal and most importantly, external failures.
RI of Failure Demand
“Failure demand’ is caused by a failure to do something, or do something right for the customer and ‘value demand’ – is what the system exists to provide”, – John Seddon.
It is evident that such failure demand within systems will increase their Resource Intensity and in a resource constrained, One Planet World, these will increasingly be social and environmental failures.
Approaching their elimination from our current reductionist paradigm can only lead to the weakening of the links of Eliyahu Goldratt’s ‘Critical Chain’; which can only be strengthened by seeing these failures as part of a
an organization’s costs of poor quality; of its failure to live up to the Big Q.
Product or Service?
Tomorrow’s organisations must think how they can transform what they provide from a product to a service. They must think in terms of resource ‘stewardship’ and completing the ‘life cycle loop’.
All stakeholders must be ‘in the loop’ to maximize the ‘value added to society’ as the value flows around it; creating a synergy of knowledge and skills that will drive the Virtuous Circle.
As was ever the case we must be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, right. The anticipation of competitor and customer actions makes the difference between success and failure. Peter Drucker said “what the customer sees, thinks, believes and wants at any time determines if value is being created”
Instantaneous Adaptability
Leading in the One Planet World requires us to be almost instantaneously adaptable as individuals, with the vision and skills to create the same adaptability within the organizations we serve.
The resources available to us will be reducing over time and we must marshal them to continually increase the supply of goods and services that meet the essential emotional and spiritual needs of our customers.
It is unlikely that there will be many businesses supplying gratuitous wants in the One Planet World.
Tomorrow’s leaders must have the skills and ability to liberate the creativity and ingenuity in their people and other stakeholders that will enable and drive change.
Zero-based thinking
Zero-based thinking, as written about by Brian Tracy, is usually asking the question:
“Knowing what I know now, would I get into this business, job, or situation again?”
If the answer is yes, continue and improve; If the answer is no, get out of the situation as soon as possible and start from scratch.
As we coast over the top of the oil and other curves, this is the critical question we must all answer continuously, both professionally and personally to live the BigQ.
Managing for the Future
Tomorrow’s businesses must
◦ Satisfy emotional and spiritual need rather than gratuitous wants
◦ Satisfy essential needs in the lower orders of Maslow’s Pyramid
◦ Employ people rather than energy
◦ Create or use renewable energy and other resources
◦ Minimise water use or create the technologies that do
◦ Create and deploy climate stabilising and mitigation technologies
◦ Be increasingly local
◦ Provide a service rather than a product
◦ Practice lifecycle stewardship of their resources
◦ Manage value rather than cost
◦ Be able to operate at continually reducing resource intensity
Leading and managing for the future means understanding that the One Planet Equation and the world it is creating will arrive whether we choose to ignore it or not; that the BigQ is an opportunity and a challenging adventure.
Learning and Teaching
In the One Planet World we must learn what our customers are uniquely able to teach us if we are make maximum use of the resources available to us in the creation use and disposal of our goods and services.
This learning must be instantaneously part of our ‘Virtuous Circle’ of improvement to ensure continual process learning and Resource Intensity reduction.
Education for system RI reduction, the BigQ, will be an integral part of the organizational learning of those businesses, and the new ones created, that will successfully transition to the One Planet World
Leaders for ‘Future Advantage’ will
◦ Remember Deming’s adage that ‘Survival is not Compulsory’ for a business, or the human race.
◦ Understand that time is not on our side.
◦ See the future as a challenging adventure and not an impossible challenge.
Conclusion – Future Advantage
This article is predicated on four tenets
◦ That we are addicted to the hugely ineffective use of energy and other resources
◦ That most current discourse is centred on the ’symptoms’ our addiction causes – climate change, environmental, social and economic failures
◦ That human beings are, and have been, creative, ingenious and enterprising since the dawn of our species.
◦ That ’our’ future is ‘our’ problem – that the Earth will most probably manage very well without us.
Most other sources are concentrating on the problems our addiction is causing from a ’symptoms’ perspective, which appeals to many, as it gives the appearance of concern, whilst putting off action until tomorrow.
Many have a genuine desire to see immediate change but through a natural and emotional wish to deal with the symptoms are having their efforts dissipated.
The OPE makes clear the effect our addiction is having and makes explicit the action needed to create the One Planet World – to continually reduce the resource intensity of all the products and services we consume.
This is the real challenge we face if we are to create an economic future that is more equitable, whilst eliminating the risks of environmental and social failures in its creation.
We want as organizations, communities and societies to continually improve the ‘quality of our lives’ and this can only be achieved, logically, by continually improving the ‘quality’ of the products and services we create and consume over their life-cycle.
We must ‘Do the Right Thing’ – be effective in our use of resources and ‘Do it Right Every Time’ – be efficient in our use of those resources. This is a Journey, not a destination and has at its core the need for an effort of ‘quality improvement’ driven by human creativity that the world has not yet experienced – the BigQ
We face many challenges to achieving this, not least, the economic failure we are now experiencing and the natural response to ‘fight the last war with obsolete weapon’s’ but we have no option but to enter the future and we must envision what this future will be.
Human ingenuity and enterprise will ensure that some societies and organizations will exist and thrive as we attempt to ‘keep ahead of the oil curve.’
All future ingenuity, research, education, legislation and incentives must be directed to this end.
©Derek Deighton and Jackie Ansbro
Keeping Ahead of the Oil Curve 
