new ways of working for the 21st century
TRANSCRIPT
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
New Ways of Working for
the 21st Century
HR Innovation & Strategy Meeting, October 2016
Professor Julian Birkinshaw
London Business School
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
A Changing World
New Ways of Working
Implications for Leadership
and Management
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
The failure of leadership
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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)
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
In search of better role models
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Types of innovation
Product innovation
Technology innovation
Process innovation
Business model innovation
Management innovation
Service innovation
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Shifting basis of competitive advantage
INDUSTRIAL AGE: 1860s-1960s
INFORMATION AGE: 1970s–2020s
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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.”
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
The dark side of big data
Analysis Paralysis
Blind Faith in Data
Answers in search of
Questions
Loss of Contextual
Understanding
Loss of Differentiation
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
INFORMATION
+
KNOWLEDGE
ACTION
+
CONVICTION
LABOUR + CAPITAL
Towards an “agile age”?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
A Changing World
New Ways of Working
Implications for Leadership
and Management
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
How should we respond to a more
complex operating environment?
• Fight complexity with complexity?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
The downsides of complexity
Turf wars
Unclear roles
Steering committees
Layers of rules & procedures
Alienation and disengagement
Risk aversion and lack of creativity
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
How should we respond to a more
complex operating environment?
• Fight complexity with complexity
• Fight complexity with simplicity
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Alternatives to bureaucracy Under what conditions does this work?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Emergent order: Less is more
Hans Monderman – the “Shared Space” model
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
So, what do you do for a living?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Adhocracy – a classic example
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Adhocracy – a current example
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Zappos – the holacracy experiment
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Adhocracy-based methodologies
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Three distinct models
People motivated by…
Decisions made through…
By Rules
Hierarchy
Extrinsic Rewards
Coordination achieved…
People motivated by…
Decisions made through…
Around Opportunity
Experimentation
Achievement
Coordination achieved…
Bureaucracy Position is privileged
Adhocracy Action is privileged
People motivated by…
Decisions made through…
Mutual Adjustment
Logical Argument
Personal Mastery
Coordination achieved…
Meritocracy Knowledge is privileged
Which models does your organisation use? And
which ones should you be using?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
A Changing World
New Ways of Working
Implications for Leadership
and Management
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Adhocracy at a personal level
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
in praise of “unreasonable” people
The “Hyperloop”
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
How to be Unreasonable
(in a reasonable way)
• Think different
• Experiment early
• Locate the safety mat
• Seize the moment
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
So how do you get the
most out of these
people?
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
A big part of the leader’s job is
enabling initiative and experimentation
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Google’s Project Oxygen
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
There is also a tricky linking role when
you are encouraging experimentation
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
And occasionally you need to step in
decisively, to make things happen
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Knowing when to take charge: the
“strategic inflection points”
SENSE
RESPOND
SCALE
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
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
Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016
Book to be
published
March 2017
Stanford
University Press