Are your people the key to succeeding with strategy?

I’ve been following the Brightline Initiative for a little while and its People Manifesto caught my eye recently. 

At its heart the manifesto argues that people are the least understood and leveraged asset in an organisation. This makes a lot of sense and I believe this is why we are seeing an acceleration in the move towards next generation workplaces - where people are experimenting with less hierarchy, less focus on extrinsic rewards and more autonomy. 

It's easy to sleepwalk into the view that a human can be regarded as a uniform cog in the corporate machine. A Programmer Cog, an HR Manager Cog, a Salesperson Cog. Interchangeable parts that can be found through pattern matching on the output we want from them.

But it’s now becoming clear that both employers and employees are looking for a more nuanced, equitable and meaningful relationship in the workplace. 

In this post I explore the 4 elements of Brightline’s People Manifesto, which speaks directly to this, particularly in the context of delivering on organisational strategy.

Leadership is over emphasised

Auteur theory asserts that one talented individual can oversee the workings of a whole organisation and raise it beyond what the individuals are capable of on their own. This is reinforced by tales of exceptional leaders in war, like Ghengis Khan, in the arts where we see rockstar directors and in business where larger-than-life legends like Steve Jobs are lionised. 

Such leaders are rare - the exception proves the rule. The very fact that this phenomenon results in success so infrequently as to create legends proves that for the remaining 99.99% of the world, leadership doesn’t work that way. 

HBR article The Founder’s Dilemma puts it like this: as a founder you can either have control or money as you grow your business. Not both. So leaders should understand that they don’t need to lead everything in the company, and in fact, they shouldn’t because not only do they not have the bandwidth, they also don’t have the talent. This is may be the single toughest lesson and it’s one that frequently has to be learned and relearned. It requires a great deal of honesty and self-reflection.  

Collaboration is key, but isn’t everything 

So together is better… isn’t it? Everyone can cite a time when they have seen the harm caused by silos and more recent work practices like Agile bake in regular points for collaboration into their processes. 

But collaboration also needs to be seen for what it is, a technique to be used mindfully. I was once on a call with 8 people trying to collaborate on web copy. You can imagine what that was like. 

Collaboration is a key method for sharing information and cross-pollinating ideas, it’s less suited to synthesis. Look for processes that build in collaboration for a reason, not as a default. The Advice method of decision making is one example of how collaboration can be balanced with individual authority to get things done. 

Culture is never built

It’s a common mistake to think that culture can be implemented top down in an organisation, and it’s a sheer vanity to think that it exists in isolation from the way your business is run. Just as brand is how your company is perceived in the mind of the customer, culture is how your company is perceived in the mind of your employees. It arises from your actions and those that you encourage in your organisation, it’s about what you do more than what you say.

People act in their own self-interest 

This one may seem obvious, but we see time and again that individuals exhibit unexpected and sometimes irrational behaviours. We have to remember that each person is not a one-dimensional creature, like Homo Economicus, or a model drawn from Game Theory. We are complex beings and we each have our own drives and fears. Change is so often a threat in people’s lives - taking care over managing it and preparing for the unexpected is essential. Some people thrive in change, others don’t. Simon Wardley talks often of Pioneers, Settlers and Town Planners when describing this differentiation.

Conclusion

Implementing strategy in your organisation presents many risks, and the Brightline Initiative's People Manifesto highlights the fact that your people are a valuable factor in making your strategy a success, if you understand and support them proactively as part of your plan.