Category: Uncategorized

Guest Post: The Dizziness of Freedom by Diana Renner

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Diana Renner and I were discussing working out loud this week when Diana mentioned that she had an unpublished blog post in development that I recognised as the feeling of the ‘trembling finger’ when I am about to work out loud. This guest post is a result of that conversation. It is too good not to be widely shared.

–

The Dizziness of Freedom

“…creating, actualising one’s
possibilities, always involves negative as well as positive aspects. It always
involves destroying the status quo, destroying all patterns with oneself,
progressively destroying what one has clung to from childhood on, and creating
new and original forms and ways of living”
Rollo May

 It has been almost two years since I stepped
into the unknown and became an independent consultant. Looking back, it feels
less like a step and more like a leap. In a single gesture of defiance, I
traded security for freedom, leaving behind a relatively comfortable,
predictable role in a large organisation. I had never expected to end up
working on my own. But the promise of freedom was alluring. It still is. At the
same time freedom opens up possibilities that are terrifying.

In his book The Concept of Anxiety,
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard explores
the immense feelings of dread that accompany that moment when we find ourselves
at a crossroads in life. The moment when the choice to do something hangs in
perfect balance with the choice to do nothing. Kierkegaard uses the example of
a man standing on the edge of a tall building or cliff, from where he can see
all the possibilities of life. As he looks over the edge, he experiences both a
fear of falling and at the same time a terrifying impulse to throw himself
intentionally off the edge.

Every edge I have stood on has provoked
feelings of dread and excitement. Whether going into a first meeting with a new
client, writing a few pages in my book, or facing a bored and unmotivated
group, I have struggled with what Kierkegaard calls our dizziness of freedom.
Just like Kierkegaard’s protagonist,
staring into the space below, I have contemplated many times whether to throw
myself off or to stay put.

However, what seemed risky and largely unknown
two years ago rapidly has become part of a familiar landscape. It would be
natural to relax and enjoy the view… Yet I have
learned that it is at this very point that I need to become more vigilant than
ever and exercise my freedom to choose in three key ways:

  • To rally against the safe but numbing comfort of the status
    quo    . I need to keep reminding myself that the
    greatest learning is just outside of my comfort zone. I need to keep stretching
    myself to keep growing.
  • To resist the strong
    pull of the crowd    . I have found perspective on the
    margins, not looking to the outside for approval or acceptance, not following a
    trend just because everyone else is following it.
  • To interrogate the
    world    ’s criteria for what is good or successful. I am suspicious when I am being offered a formula to quick success
    or many riches. It is powerful to be able to question mainstream expectations,
    and carve my own path with courage and purpose.

The responsibility that comes with the freedom
to choose is terrifying. But the cost of not choosing is even more so.

We need to welcome this dizziness of
freedom as a sign that we are, in fact, just where we need to be. A sign
that we need to slow down and reflect on the risk, then step off the edge
anyway.

Diana Renner – Leadership consultant, facilitator, author of ‘Not Knowing – the art of turning uncertainty into opportunity’, Chartered Management Institute Book of the Year 2015, UK.

www.notknowingbook.com
www.notknowinglab.com
Twitter: @NotKnowingLab

From Bucket List to Purpose

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

I am beginning to have a problem with the bucket list. A bucket list is a list of experiences or achievements to have fulfilled by the time you die. My problem with bucket lists is that they are too often laundry lists of notable achievements, socially recognised moments and exotic travel destinations. It is rare to see a bucket list with an internal logic.

If a bucket list takes this form, then it is simply another manifestation of the overhang of expectations.  The image of the grim reaper cutting short bucket lists creates an unnatural urgency.  That urgency can be used to create consumer demand. Promoting experiences as ‘bucket list-worthy’ have become a way to market experiences from the mundane to the sublime. The bucket list is the latest manifestation of consumer marketing, the experience you have to have. There is no end to things that we just have to have on our bucket lists.

Life isn’t determined by what we have to have. There is precious little that we have to have. Once we move beyond meeting the needs of living standards, quality of life is determined by more than what we have. Quality of life is determined by the impact we choose to have on the world.  

Those choices arise as you make each decision on work, on relationships and on living. Many of these choices are the mundane, everyday living choices that are a far remove from the exotic one-off experiences of the bucket list.  However, over time what these choices will share in common is your personal sense of purpose.  Realising a personal inner purpose over the many obstacles is how each of us can help realise our potential. That is far more important than the fleeting experience of ticking off a random list.

A fully ticked bucket list will keep you busy but won’t necessarily let you die happy. A life of fulfilling purpose will.

I am and I do

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Birthdays come around once a year. They are a repeating milestone. This year I have a small gift for myself – an absence of expectations. Instead I am focusing on what I am and what I do.

There is much discussion these days on the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves. Every day’s to do list is a reminder to me that I fall easily for creating these expectations. Much of my life’s experience has taught me that most of the time we are neither quite as bad or as good as we think.

So this birthday, I am changing my expectations. I am.

On previous birthdays I have reflected on what I wanted to be. I set myself all kinds of milestones. I challenged myself to do more. Some I achieved but far too many became part of the overhang of what might have been. That overhang was mine alone, an unreal fiction and entirely unconstructive. Nothing more gets done because I once thought that I would have done more by now.

The last two years of working for myself has been a wonderful lesson in the importance of being & doing. I wondered what I might become when I began this process. I didn’t become anything. I am and I do. However, along the way I discovered:

  • I am helping people & organisations with collaboration, leadership, learning and the future of work, because it interests me and I work at improving my capabilities & connections every day
  • I am a baker because I bake whenever I can and I learn new techniques and approaches
  • I am a writer because I write whenever I have something important to say and I seek to get better with feedback.
  • I am enjoying a different life, because every day I am making new and better choices
  • I have a sense of purpose, because the purpose is in the work
  • I am happy. I just am. If I wasn’t, I would do something about it.

When other people want to hire your expertise, it is a solid reminder you are growing more every day.  When people admire your baking, or your writing or some other activity, it is a reminder that those skills are growing too. If nobody else notices, then you still know you are growing. When you ask yourself what made you happy today and there is always an answer, you are happy.

What you are now doesn’t matter. It just is. 

What you want to be doesn’t matter now. What matters is what you do today. 

Live and work your way forward day by day. I am.

CEO: This job is almost impossible

Posted on by simongterry in Collaboration, Leadership, Uncategorized

I am very pleased to be sharing with you today my first post as CEO. Apologies if it seems a little frazzled. I am by the challenges ahead but that’s also because I am writing at home surrounded by the turmoil of my young family. I thought I would pass over the usual inspiring memo and start a conversation here in our enterprise social network. I am humbled by the many posts here that saw me selected as your CEO. I now have a great challenge ahead to honour that confidence in my potential as a leader and to use my new position wisely. We have many challenges ahead and we will need to work together to solve them.

As he was leaving the organisation, my predecessor remarked “This job is almost impossible. You are going to need a lot of help to fix things”  Yet again he was incredibly insightful. 

A Big Challenge

I suspect I see the job of a CEO slightly differently to my predecessor but I agree on its challenges. I see the CEO as less of a commander atop a hierarchy. I haven’t won this role for my expertise or ability to make all the decisions needed. For me a CEO is a guardian of the organisation’s purpose and its impacts for customers, community and people. Ultimately, the CEO is held accountable by these stakeholders for their ability to facilitate great outcomes from the whole team.

To advance our purpose and improve our effectiveness, I will be less of a boss and leading the way as a change agent helping to create the needed focus, better performance and accountabilities in our organisation’s network. At the same time I recognise in a time of rapid change I need to lead the way as learner in chief. That will be easy for me. One of the reasons I am frazzled is that I have a big learning curve ahead and our organisation has a lot to learn.   

Learning on the job as CEO is almost impossible, how can you help me to learn the role, learn better ways of working and learn the future of this organisation?

Only A Job 

I am acutely aware that CEO is only one job. Some CEOs confuse the job and the role thinking that their personal power and expertise is the answer to the organisation’s challenges. I know too well that I don’t have the expertise and I don’t have the answers. You know that well. It was discussed aloud when you chose me.

My authority comes not from the role but from your confidence in my ability to help realise our purpose and to create the answers we need together. That is the only sustainable basis of your decisions to follow. We need to replicate relationships based in understandings of capabilities, effectiveness and authority for every role in the organisation so that anyone can lead, can contribute their expertise and realise their potential. Working together in this way and working explicitly on our relationships will make our interactions can be rich in trust and quickly identify those who would rather work elsewhere. 

Changing our leadership approaches and relationships is almost impossible, how can you help me to create new relationships in this organisation?

We’re Together in Change 

We need trust and strong relationships because we are going to work to use all our talents to fixing things together. We need the people closest to our customers and those with new ideas and new information to have the authority to make change and to call on the support of their colleagues to see it through. At times, we have valued processes and rules over outcomes for our customers and our people. Not all of our ways of working deliver the outcomes we want. We aren’t as responsive as we would like. We have work to do. All our employees have the responsibility to find fixes to the issues that they see in our business. They won’t be able to do that on their own. They will need your help too. 

We will only succeed in the harsh competitive environment if we have the ability to better leverage the talents and potential of all our people. Together we will focus on how we improve everyone’s effectiveness, autonomy and agility to deliver better outcomes for the organisation, its customers & community and importantly for themselves. Our collaboration will be critical to connect us, to share information and to solve the daily obstacles we face to better performance. Everyone has a role to play in this.

Realising the potential of all our people to contribute to purpose is almost impossible, how can you help me to accelerate our change?

Let’s Continue the Conversation

Attached to this post is a memo that the executive sent to the CEO some time ago outlining the importance of this enterprise social network to our strategy. Unfortunately, as it was a email it was only seen by the CEO and the executive team. As all our employees will contribute to creating value for our customers through collaboration and continuous improvement, it would have been wiser to share this with you earlier. As we move forward, our leadership team has agreed to write fewer politely worded memos and to engage in real conversations out loud here in the enterprise social network. I would ask you each to work out loud too.  Sharing our work as it progresses is a way to help us learn and improve.

Our future success is a real challenge. It always is. You might even say it is almost impossible, but nothing less would suit our very capable people. We will improve and deliver our purpose one day at a time. I am frazzled but I couldn’t be more excited as CEO as I have confidence that this amazing group of people will help find each day’s answer to the question: 

‘What Do We Need to Improve Today?’

It is almost impossible to believe that I am CEO of this great network of talented people. I know you will help me get over that too!

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Previous posts:

#1 The Last Thing We Need Is An Enterprise Social Network

#2 Dear CEO: This Enterprise Social Network Doesn’t Work For You

Use Digital Capabilities to Build Digital Capabilities

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Our traditional management models die hard. 

Many organisations are starting to consider how they build new digital capabilities like agile, hypothesis-based experimentation, design thinking, analytics and collaboration. Yet when they start to plan these changes to more digital ways of working, they use management models from pre-digital management:

  • transactional approach to interventions
  • solutions defined by expertise
  • linear implementation approaches
  • waterfall project plans
  • push compliance and competency models focused on supply of new skills to employees
  • narrow delivery models using only learning and classroom learning
  • limited if any measurement of the changes

These approaches seek to make organisations ready for more digital management using the methods of traditional management.

Digital Dog Food

We can do better than this. We can start by asking projects to build digital capabilities to eat their own dog food. If nothing else, they will learn on behalf of the organisation the challenges and opportunities of new digital ways of working. 

New Digital Capability Building

Projects to build digital and responsive capabilities in organisations can be role model projects for those capabilities. Taking a leaf from the digital tool suite challenges those building capability to consider capability building that offers:

  • many paths on the learning journey as part of career paths and achievement of learner goals
  • mobile options, social learning and performance support to sustain learning in the digital work place and wherever is convenient for employees
  • offers people pull and push options across the range of 70:20:10 learning with options also for the depth of content and timing of learning experiences
  • encouraging people to seek out and share learning options from the depth of learning available in their personal networks 
  • engaging programs built from deep insights into the change and capability challenges for employees in working in new ways

New Digital Delivery

The projects to build new digital capabilities themselves can adopt digital approaches by shifting to:

  • agile delivery
  • minimum viable solutions
  • hypothesis-led test and learn iteration
  • considering needs for adaptive change and related changes on the wider organisational system
  • encouraging learners to act as a community to support successful delivery of the project goals.
  • strong analytics supporting not just the delivery of learning but also the strategic contribution of the capability building  
  • leveraging collaboration and networks in and outside the organisation to build capabilities, particularly in making smart decisions on what to build and what to buy.

More Effective

Working on transformation projects in these new ways won’t always be efficient.  It definitely won’t be easy. However, using the tools and approaches of digital management enables organisations to learn and evolve their goals through the process of transformation. This learning will be the path to step changes in effectiveness and a better match to employee and organisational needs.  At a minimum, it helps ensure that the project creates a team of highly capable change agents to help drive the next phase of the journey.

You need change. Don’t settle for less.

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Changing structure is just rearranging deck chairs. You don’t need a new system. You don’t need a new process. More rules won’t fix what your current rules can’t fix. You don’t need more expertise because most of the potential you have goes wasted now. More data will mean more confusion not less. You won’t become more effective by being more efficient.

There are no transactional fixes. If you could flick a switch to create transformational change, everyone would.

There is no proxy for the hard work of change.

To create transformational change in the system that is your organisation you are going to need new conversations and new capabilities. At the start these conversations and capabilities will be uncommon and uncomfortable. You will need change agents to start the conversations, sustain debate and action and help others build the capabilities.

Your unique path to change will emerge guided at first by the few and eventually by the many. Find your change agents. Invest in their development and back their action.

When you need change, back the people who bring it about. Anything else is just a distraction.

PS: if you still think you need new structures, processes, systems, rules, expertise and data to change you will need change agents to be able to make use of them in your organisation

Create a space – #RebelJam15 reflection

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Moderating the Asia Pacific part of RebelJam15 yesterday was a joy. The event, a 24 hour series of talks was a global celebration of those rebels making work better, changing their organisations and grappling with how to create a more human future of work.

Part of the magic of Rebel Jam was that the event was a space for a conversation. Speakers volunteered themselves. They chose to step into the space and share something of themselves to advise or educate others. The contributions were diverse and remarkable.

The future of work needs more conversations not less. A key role for any rebel or leader is to create the space for new conversations. The more wicked the problem the more important the conversation. Equally important is that it be a real human conversation with passion, emotion, conflict and a sense of shared goals and trust.

We cannot always predict what will come from these conversations. Many won’t work. However every space we create that allows others to show us their potential is a step forward. Every interaction that creates learning and new ideas is a step forward. Every bond that grows from understanding and dialogue is a step forward.

There will be steps back too. As one of the great slides yesterday noted: ‘An optimist is someone who recognises that a step forward followed by a step back is a Cha Cha’. We can carry our hope and our energy into more conversations in the space we create together.

Create the space for new conversations.

The Gig Economy

Posted on by simongterry in Uncategorized

Being on the board of Melbourne Chamber Orchestra gives me a few insights into the life & careers of classical musicians.  There are some interesting parallels and hints for the potential future of work.

Responding to Disruption

By no stretch of the imagination is classical music a growth industry. Largely a creation of the late 19th century, public orchestras face a challenging & disruptive environment. The economics of this art form and cultural practice are dependant on ticket sales, the work of philanthropists and shifting government support. The predictable upfront income of subscriptions are harder to sell in an immediate world. Ticket sales can be a challenge when there are many competing sources of cultural and popular entertainment. Sources of revenue from music recordings have declined with digital media, if not vanished.  Classical music that was once sold at a premium is now a budget category.

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra is itself a response to these conditions. The orchestra is not a full-time orchestra like many of the state and international orchestras. The organisation depends on its agility, its creativity, its exceptional talent, the support of its community and its ability to attract support to artistic projects. Every season is a delicate balance of private philanthropy, ticket sales, subscriptions and some government support for projects. Essential to the ability of the organisation to fulfil its purpose are innovations, like the Australian Octet, and collaborations, whether with local arts organisations in MCO’s extensive Regional touring program or in performances with other arts organisations.

A Work Life of Gigs

For the musicians in MCO this means that their working life has a range of facets that may be more common for everyone in the future of work:

  • Work for Purpose: You don’t choose an artist career for its financial returns. You become an artist to fulfil a personal purpose and to share your art with others. There is little reason to stay around for the money if you are disengaged and certainly no reason for that to be your only artistic endeavour.
  • Gigs: When jobs are few and far between and highly competitive, then work becomes a series of gigs. The diversity of gigs is something that appeals to even those who have a steady job because it offers the chance to play new or different works or develop new skills with new teams of people.
  • Specialists and Generalists: Musicians need a specialisation in an instrument and often a style of music because there is usually a focus to their practice and their purpose. However many will have a general range of other instruments and styles to support themselves and adapt.  A few will compose or conduct to add to their opportunities. Musicians may well back up their music with even more general talents from media to administration to an unrelated day job that helps support a life.
  • Constantly learning:  Musicians are constantly learning. They practice to improve. They work to improve. They want to challenge themselves to better their art. The demanding and competitive nature of the industry means that you must keep learning.
  • Global: Australia is a small market. Creative talent operates in a global economy. To learn, many artists travel overseas to work or to study. With global connection, they can collaborate and learn from people all around the world. Artist can build international reputations through collaborations, teaching, performing or winning competitions.
  • Entrepreneurs: Many musicians need to be entrepreneurs to survive. They have to run their own small chamber groups, orchestras, programs, festivals or events to get the diversity of performance opportunities that they want and to expand their opportunities.
  • Agile organisations: Because of the dynamic opportunities available to talent in a global economy, the organisations need to be agile shifting and reshaping as things change.  If your best artists leave or are unavailable due to other gigs, you may need to hire new talent but you might even need a new repertoire or organisations. These agile organisations can be project based or short lived.
  • Teaching: When everyone is always learning, many people earn a living from sharing their expertise and teaching.

Community Matters

One of the key reasons that Melbourne Chamber Orchestra exists is to enable chamber musicians to practice their art in Melbourne and to help create a rich and deep community dedicated to fine music in this city. Melbourne has great music schools, halls and many performance opportunities. Young and experienced musicians need a diversity of opportunities to practice their art. I am very proud MCO can support artists at the beginning of their career but also allow experienced artists to return home from overseas or interstate and make a career in Melbourne.  

With the support of the Melbourne community, MCO can provide artistic and commercial support to talented musicians to learn, connect and work in the city and help take great music to new and existing audiences in Victoria and beyond.  At the end of the day, the quality of the music and the growing talents of the artists are the surest measure of success for any chamber orchestra.

MCO is currently conducting its 2015 Annual Campaign. Help support the work of the organisation.