Traditional organisations aren’t inactive. The difference with a Responsive Organisation is how information is used. Responsive Organisations create and share information to guide action greater effectiveness of purpose.
Every organisation is busy. Management’s focus on efficiency ensures that activity is everywhere. Many organisations excuse their inability to be more responsive on the grounds they have so much going on. They just don’t have the budget or people to do more.
Responsiveness is not about doing more. ResponsiveOrgs do better. Focusing on effectiveness at delivering purpose changes their decisions.
In a focus on efficient execution traditional organisations choose to exclude information from decisions and limit decision making. They limit the sources of learning and potential. Efficiency can work on an internal logic. Effectiveness demands external orientation.
The challenge for a traditional organisation looking to become more responsive is not how to do more. The challenge is how to use information differently and how to shape different actions. Ultimately an organisation might get more done with less but that comes from greater effectiveness and better decisions.
Responsive Organisations learn. Better use of information helps shape more effective decisions. That is responsiveness in action.
