Franc Haverkort:
In the first part of this two-part blog series, we read how strategy is changing from a static document to a ‘rolling’ process. We also saw that leadership is about giving frameworks and daring to let go. But how do you make sure employees actually grab that space? And how do you make sure everyone gets out of their own silo and looks at the bigger picture?
When you decide as an organisation to make strategy not in the boardroom, but with each other, it requires different behaviour. Different behaviour from both leaders and employees. In the second part of this blog series, we dive deeper into the dynamics of ownership with Franc Haverkort, partner at GroupMapping. The key message? If you care, you have to step in, and those who participate must be willing to look over their own fence.
In many organisations, the sidelines are the safest place there is. It is the place of great non-commitment where colleagues whisper to each other, “Well, what they've come up with now... If they asked me, I'd do it very differently.” But what happens when you remove that non-commitment? Doing the strategy process fundamentally differently requires the next new rule of the game: if you like it, you have to get in.
When you invite colleagues to help think about the future and strategy of the organisation, you take them out of the role of spectator. They can no longer sit back and review afterwards. You invite people to step in. This is exciting, because as soon as people step in, you give them responsibility. Exciting for leaders, but also exciting for employees themselves. Instead of saying something from the sidelines, they have to show what they believe in and help build.
After directors have set the frameworks and direction (see blog 1), for strategy making, equivalence is an important prerequisite in an inclusive process. Franc: “In practice, this means that at sessions and working groups organised by GroupMapping, titles are left at the door. We prefer to see only first names on name badges, not ranks, titles or positions. Whether you are a director, manager or employee, everyone brings a perspective and everyone's perspective carries equal weight.”
There are several ways you can ensure that people then really dare to step in and make an active contribution. Franc: “By having people work in small groups, for example, you can make sure that everyone gets to speak. You can also have participants in a working format write down their opinions individually before sharing them. This prevents the display of socially desirable behaviour or boss parading.”
There is often a tendency to keep critics and troublemakers out to keep the atmosphere good. Franc turns this around and encourages inviting veterans who have ‘seen it all’ and the critical works council. After all, if you ignore them, you organise your own resistance. In addition, critical voices ensure that ‘groupthink’ is prevented and plans can be tested against unruly reality. By involving them too, the dynamic often changes from ‘us against them’ to cooperation.
Finally, Franc notes that employees at government organisations often take the step to get involved more easily than in many commercial companies. People working for government organisations often feel an intrinsic connection with the organisation's social mission. As a leader, you should nurture this motivation. You do this by giving people the space to get involved. By doing so, you give people room to turn their intrinsic motivation into ownership.
When you opt for an inclusive strategy and really engage the organisation, you quickly encounter departmental boundaries. People are used to being managed on a specific task. It is a human tendency in organisations to demarcate the field, or department, and protect it from outside disruptions. It feels safe and orderly in the silo (the policy tower). Targets are met, budgets monitored and every bit of “us” is done right. But this, without realising it, implodes the system rather than the customer or the task.
This focus on its own square metres leads to huge sub-optimisation. Franc outlines a fitting example of a public sector organisation: “At one trial, there was a 30-day wait to transfer a file to the next department. It was finished after only a few days, but 30 days was the legal deadline for it. You saw this behaviour recurring throughout the chain. The end result was that something that should really only take two weeks took months in practice. A typical example of how people do things perfectly according to the rules in their own silo, but lack a sense of responsibility for the overall chain. The structure becomes leading and the intention gets out of sight.”
Policymakers sometimes need to leave their silos to put their feet in the clay and implementers need to understand why policies exist. If, as policymakers, you start filling in the practice too much, you create a ‘potato chip cutter’: policymakers devise policies that apply to everyone. If they start thinking too specifically and too practically, they start filling in the practice for everyone. It makes much more sense for policymakers to write framing and setting policies that can be fleshed out by practitioners. ‘Practice’ comes in many different shapes and sizes. It requires leadership that dares to say that the basic idea is good, but an eye must be kept on reality and practice.
When silos hinder the process, the tendency often arises to break them down by changing the structure of the organisation. The tragedy is that a new arrangement often creates new silos. People will always look for an answer to the question: what are we from? When they find themselves in a new structure, they naturally start delineating their own piece again.
Silo thinking is not solved simply by adjusting an organisational chart, but by asking: why are we doing this? So the solution does not always lie in reorganising, but in connecting. Stop thinking for each other and start talking to each other. Step out of that comfortable silo. When you understand why your puzzle piece fits into the bigger picture, real connection is created.
Franc: “The key learning point in applying inclusive strategy is that you have to stay fully behind it and follow through once you make that decision. This way of working does not necessarily make the process easier, but it does make it better. And is absolutely worthwhile for that reason alone.”
Ready to make strategy a collaborative process?
Contact us to find out how to harness the brainpower of your entire organisation.
