I know the value of good processes to reduce the chaos and avoid repeated mistakes. Many smaller business could benefit from some level of processification. Large corporations could, on the other hand, benefit from a reduction or loosening up of their processes.

Good processes by their nature seek to retard thinking – especially holistic thinking that accounts for matters outside those processes.

Good processes make organisations stupid!

Together with a …

This is a follow-on thought from my post on Daniel Pink’s TED talk.

Research has shown that the Carrots & Sticks approach to motivating people actually destroys their creativity.

What does this say about jobs where the issue of money, of being paid a decent salary, is very much based on such an approach? Such as in sales – the commission-based remuneration model is clearly a Carrots & …

This TED talk by Daniel Pink presents some counter-intuitive and interesting research on the relationship between motivation and performance in problem solving/creative thinking jobs.

More money or more threats only work on simple process-based jobs. Extrinsic motivation only works when the work does not really matter beyond doing it.

Intrinsic motivation, doing something because it is meaningful, because it matters, is what is needed to motivate the new set of …

Not surprising. Via tweet by Bob Jacobson.

http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/08/the-best-board-meetings.html

Boards need to be forward looking. Surely this is obvious. The people who steer the fleet must look forward.

But it is so much easier to look backwards. The majority of the way business operates is looking backwards. Most board members were trained as administrators, or worked themselves not visionaries

And because uncertainty is scary. And visionaries could be wrong.

The following is a collection of somewhat related thoughts I found on my Blackberry:

Empathy requires active involvement and constant flow of information. So as to help us stay in character. Trying to stay in someone else’s shoes without this stream of input (the active and present engagement with someone) is hard!

Second-guessing is working from a position of minimal info. It is making assumptions about what someone …

The problem with status quo systems is that there is a huge inertia against change – whether this is externally imposed (change in an environmental factor) or internally driven.

Any change (variation or disruption to the status quo) is quickly absorbed by this inertia, and the status quo is reinstated quick smart. The more disruptions and change a status quo system absorbs, the more resistant the system appears to …

When faced with change, there are three big-picture strategies an organisation (or indeed an individual) can adopt:

Continue to do the same thing; or look to historically proven paths.
Ignore the change; or walk the safest, best-trodden path.
This is the path of least resistance, and least cost. It is the most crowded path. And you walk it at most risk of irrelevance.

Emulate others’ breakthroughs.
This is the …

A friend recently asked me: “you can help others see patterns in situations, and find clear ways through difficulties. So how come you can’t do it for yourself?” (I am going through a what-do-I-want-to-do-with-my-life phase…)

Many designers find it hard to design for themselves. The removal of many of the constraints associated with clients, plus working with personal, emotionally-charged requirements, can be debilitating for a designer.

The same situation exists …

When it comes to choosing to work with big or small suppliers (say a global advertising agency versus a local web developer), businesses tend to swing in cycles.

Say a business is looking to set up their website. They may choose to go with a large global agency for the sake of “safety” and stability.

Over time they come to realise that the large agency has policies and practices …

I had the unfortunate cause to visit the Eye Centre and Surgery in the Gleneagles Medical Centre in Singapore several weeks ago.

I turned up on an extremely busy Friday afternoon. The small waiting area was packed. The small staff was clearly fully occupied. Patients were being moved between the different treatment rooms and diagnostic stations. Staff were calling out to each other. Patients were milling around. In addition …