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Explore with PO potentials

In digital times, not many people are aware of how limited bivalent choices are. Even though the analogue reality takes place between the two poles of one and zero. The Western value system shows, how strongly this thinking affects every single pore. They oscillate between good and evil; between right and wrong; between black and white. The fact that the area in between contains an immeasurable number of alternatives does not always seem to be clear. The huge gray area is ignored. There is for a long time a way out of the dilemma of yes and no – by exploring with PO potentials.

Edward de Bono described the concept in detail already in the seventies. And yet, it seems to have slipped past everyday life. For this reason, here are a few possibilities for PO.

  • Use the impossible
    An alternative, which is to be rejected for good reasons, is far more than what speaks against it. Just as everything always has two sides, there is in every rejection additional potential for further solutions. Instead of using the classic No to suppress further reflection, the application of PO prevents to terminate the thought process prematurely. The associations attached with the negative alternative can be further used. Good examples are Post-its. The question of the meaningfulness of an adhesive which does not adhere would have been prevented removable notes and papers of any size. PO creates the freedom to continue toying with a thought, instead of immediately burying a proposal with a No. The number of solutions that is prevented is infinitely great. PO helps to rephrase the No.
  • Use the nonsense
    A major challenge is dealing with obviously absurd connections. The potential for completely new solutions can be found exactly here. Let us take the current trend of agility in bureaucratic companies as an example. How do you disrupt the inertia of the participants? Take an object that is within your reach. Connect agility with the object! Overcome the incomprehension of the first moment. Do not reject the context a priori! Use PO to step back and look at the two facts with a fresh look. If you have already overcome your resistance, you are already creating unexpected connections. Transfer your insights from the links that you’ve found. Whatever it is, it will make the introduction of agility more likely. PO is the fuel that enables to think the unthinkable.
  • Further develop feasible
    If you found the right thing, the spontaneous joy of the Eureka slows down the further kneading of the thought. And there is always more in something good. The best solution is always connected to further alternatives. The tendency to interrupt the flow of thought is the greatest hurdle for more. This could lead with additional tinkering to further or even completely new solutions. If, for example, the complete juice was pressed out of an orange, one might be tempted to throw away the skin. Although it contains active ingredients that help with respiratory problems, skin problems and an increased cholesterol level. This will enable further use of the already positive effect of the vitamin C. PO increases an already effective result.

Bottom line: PO opens up the world of possibilities. It helps not to give in to the first impulse, and to interrupt the productive flow of thought by not making any further thinking. A negative result is not sufficiently exhausted by rejection, although it provides the basis for further ideas. The accidental linking of completely absurd aspects can lead to entirely new inspirations. Even the positive solution can be multiplied by continuing thinking about it, despite its good results. PO is the missing link in yes-no cultures for an open approach to the endless opportunities that could be discovered. No more $ale of the century. From now on, more often exploring with Po potentials.

Agility does not tolerate a bonsai style

Bonsai is the art of influencing the growth of trees in such a way that the trees have a beautiful growth habit through artistic designing, but kept small in pots by regular cuts. The result is a large variety of original, apparently wild trees. In nature these trees would grow into the sky. A similar approach has evolved within enterprises. Bonsai style is the art of keeping employees small. This micro management affects the employee activities, like the scissors on the growth of trees. Agility that depends on pro-activity, initiative and flexibility of the people, cannot tolerate bonsai style.

What defines the bonsai style that undermines agility?

  • More criticism than praise
    Representatives of the bonsai style have the tendency to nip the however small commitment of employees in the bud by caviling incessantly. It makes no difference, whether the objections are justified or not. The whole is intensified by the absence of praise. In an agile world such leader could not take a stand, since nobody would follow them.
  • Devalue results with formalities
    The agile employees are driven people of their own aspiration. The attention is limited to the resolution. This leads to the fact that aspects that do not have much to do with the solution are faded out as of minor importance. Does the tie fit? Did you use the official forms? Is the Font correct? The result consists of eighty-percent problem solution. The bad evaluation of the formalities completely misses the goal and tramples all over the tender seedling of the employee commitment.
  • Consistently pulling the superior joker
    After many years of the development, the learning organization, the employee participation, and the teambuilding with their standards, evaluations and decisions from above, the power structures are still in place. Now those, who came to their limits, expect a debureaucratization and the utilization of the inherent employee energy of wanting to create something. However, if no one comes forward voluntarily, the volunteers are determined. If nobody delivers what the superiors expect, the employees get their result adapted by micro management. For safeguarding the business, the hierarchical structures are kept besides the agile ones.
  • Disparaged in the plenum
    A very effective approach, in order to keep the employees small, are offending comments in the public. Devaluing remarks on the personal work style, on small mistakes in the argumentation or on the editing, guarantee that the employees lose their face. The anticipatory commitment of the agile employee is then no longer probable.
  • Micro management
    The always not available, but obsessed with details 24/7 micro managers are actually their best agile employees. Their commitment always is at maximum. They worry about everything and they are decisive. Unfortunately they don’t have the time to consider, because they have incessantly tasks, which they obviously have to worry about. Since everything excites their attention, they cannot manage to get used to the work and contribute thereby nothing. Understandably, they cannot accomplish their actual function. Micro management is one of the largest hurdles on the way to the agility.
  • Missing covering
    The attitude to correct at any time each detail at discretion leads to the fact that the employees are quickly alone without covering, exposed to the problem in case of crisis. In order to be able to act agilely, they need however the trust from above that their actions always take place in the interest of the larger whole. Where a lot of things happen, there happen also many errors. Error tolerance is an approach, to provide good covering. In the context of agility a remaining leadership task is the boundless support and employee shielding, when they process the topics self-organized.
  • Rule one and two
    Apart from the micro management the largest agility killers are the rules of power. Rule 1: The boss is always right. Rule 2: If he is not right, then automatically rule 1 is valid. Thereby the budding initiative has no chance to prove itself on a long-term basis and to develop an effective solution.

Bottom line: As long as the old approaches for the company design remain unchanged, like the hierarchical structure, the chain of command, or the superior joker, the associated disadvantages also remain. The generous authorization of the employees with sufficient resources, powers and support is crucial for exhausting the advantages of agile approaches. Bonsai style prevents thereby the desired effects since an employee initiative nipped in the bud cannot flourish.