Monthly Archives: July 2011

Inclusion’s Ripple Effect

Posted by Judith Katz on July 29, 2011 None comments

A few years ago, when we at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group began thinking through the concept of Inclusion as the HOWSM, we could not have imagined how many dozens of business practices it might impact. Today, we don’t have to imagine it—we are seeing it happen.

Our clients are using Inclusion as the HOWSM in an ever-widening array of applications. Kaizens are incorporating the Inclusion as the HOWSM mindset to enhance the effectiveness of their teamwork. Global R&D functions, for whom communication from site to site can be a major challenge, are building online tools to foster greater awareness of people’s expertise—creating a global community, sparking collaboration, and increasing the speed of knowledge transfer. Manufacturing sites have brought people together to translate corporate strategy to their own specific operations. Supervisors and managers are listening to front-line people in the effort to identify pockets of waste and areas for innovation.

Inclusion as the HOWSM is becoming foundational in many day-to-day interactions—from one-on-ones, staff meetings, and yellow belt projects to tier meetings and town halls.  It is becoming a critical dimension in changing interactions within the organizations with which we work, accelerating results and performance.

Moreover, organizations have adopted Inclusion as the HOWSM to navigate traditional business milestones:

  • Emerging from bankruptcy
  • Merging with or acquiring another company
  • Closing plants and offices
  • Creating new ways of interacting with vendors, suppliers, and customers
  • Managing rapid expansion
  • Breaking through competitive barriers
  • Reinventing brand value propositions

These applications illustrate something we have always believed about inclusion: that, far from being a peripheral or conceptual tool, it is an imperative for how to do business, a new way to interact and lead organizations toward sustained success. Moreover, Inclusion as the HOWSM can serve as a fundamental mindset in nearly every aspect of business, in nearly every corner of the world. Almost any issue or change confronting the organization can be addressed more effectively by including the right people, at the right time, doing the right work.

When organizations approach Inclusion as a HOW to achieve organizational results, extraordinary things happen. Decision makers gain a 360-degree view of the issue at hand—a view necessary for making better decisions. Knowledge and success practices transfer rapidly throughout the organization, allowing good ideas to be shared and applied more quickly and eliminating the waste of reinventing the wheel. People feel safe enough to speak up and share their ideas and perspectives so that problems are solved faster. Individuals and teams are willing to make problems visible more quickly and identify innovative solutions in collaboration within and across business units. The entire organization can begin to perform at unheard-of levels.

Organizations using Inclusion as the HOWSM are experiencing these changes—which is why many of them have committed to driving an inclusion mindset throughout their systems. They stand as evidence of the power of Inclusion as the HOWSM to accelerate results and drive ever higher performance.

Creativity + Organization = Impact

Posted by Katrin Haldeman on July 14, 2011 None comments

I was recently at the 99% Conference in New York City, held by Behance, a company that grows creative people. (I almost expect to walk into their office and see little plants or incubators with people planted in them, getting watered and lit by the sun, stretching out and walking out into the conference room.)  When I went to Behance’s home office more than a year ago, I was, for the first time, aware that there are other people in the world like me.  People who work differently, who think in odd—often wildly chaotic—patterns, people who have a difficult time assimilating to regular work environments. 

I had often felt that as a creative—a writer and an artist—I would never really succeed in the real work world.  Sitting at a desk from 9 to 5, quietly working away, attending meetings, making appointments, taking calls, etc.: it was (and still can be sometimes) like having my right hand tied behind my back and being expected to not only perform, but perform at a high level. 

There isn’t a school that teaches creatives how to seek out opportunities that promote growth and development in their specific skill sets. There isn’t a guide to organizations that give members the latitude to ground themselves for doing their best work in the way they can.  I am fortunate to already be in an organization that leads with possibility—and opportunity. In fact, that organization is the reason I landed at the 99% Conference. 

One of the many challenges facing creatives in work environments is how to use their skills in a way that is successful for both themselves and the organization.  It is one thing to be a creative and another to be a successful creative member of a team.  The obstacle I have faced (and was happy to hear at this conference that others have faced as well) is hitting a brick wall while trying to meet the needs of my teammates and function at my highest level.  It’s difficult to do both—an enormous amount of energy is expended trying to assimilate, complete tasks, and problem-solve in a shared accountability environment where you need to work with other members and their style of working.  More often than not, the expenditure of that energy is depleting your creative center—not allowing your best work to come forward.  Having the space to find and foster ways of successfully doing both requires a commitment from both you and your team. 

Honoring your end of the commitment will mean compromise, which can be equally difficult.  You can be a great artist, a great writer, a phenomenal idea person, but just “being” those things isn’t enough.  We are living in a time of enormous change—technology is coming and changing by the second—”creatives” are taking over! And the competition for the “next greatest thing” is coming from a creative near you. 

In order to make an impact, to be the change you want to see, you need to get organized. Organized in whatever way you can—and if you can’t by yourself, find someone who can organize you.  Creativity alone can leave you as the tortured artist. Creativity + organization will yield impact and success.