Look Before You Leap, Part 5

3.1. Moving from Analog to Digital - One of the primary changes that we face in the environment today is technology driven. We're transforming into a digital society, and that involves moving from an Analog world to a Digital world. It involves learning a new language, the language our kids are speaking as Digital Natives. (See a post I wrote in April Town to Gown - and all points in between for more on the Digital Immigrants / Digital Natives meme).

The Analog world has people moving information manually - processing paper documents by hand - where the Digital world uses technology to streamline processes. The Analog world has people picking up the telephone to convey information, the Digital world amends the process until often the human interaction of transferring information is removed altogether, leaving the humans to do a higher value activity. (See also these recent posts: From Analog to Digital - What a Long Strange Trip, and Digital Adolescents, Stuck in Digital Puberty).

3.2. Moving from Manual to Automatic - The Latin stem for the word "manual" refers to using one's hands. Manual processes involve a human being touching an object. In looking at how we get things done in any organization, it's important to consider that each one of those manual processes is subject to a cost and is prone to human error. Ultimately, we can't change everything over to automatic, but much of what we call progress has involved taking human touches out of processes. We saw it in the move from craft shops to factories, the primary innovation of the 20th century. In this new century, we'll see more and more process reform, because reducing time and costs makes more things possible. This is the nature of improved standards of living.

From a city perspective, reducing costs in this way offers the opportunity to manage growth without adding more labor costs to the budget - in essence, keeping taxes low and spending citizen's money more wisely. Full leveraging of the Internet has only just begun, because it's such a new tool and we don't fully understand how we can use it to move away from old ways of doing business. But rest assured, many more efficiencies lie in this direction if we will keep on looking.

3.3. Moving from Fixed to Mobile - This transformation is best imagined by thinking of a plug into a wall socket and a hand-held device. This is moving from a telephone at your desk to a telephone on your hip. This is moving from a radio plugged into the wall to a radio powered by batteries and plugged into your ear. It is the moving from the world of the desk phone, the desktop PC, and the clock radio to the cellphone, the laptop, and the iPod.

We started this transition when we put radios in our cars and trucks. We finish this transition when we carry those devices on our persons, wherever we go. Full mobility involves changing our business processes, because we can get everything we need, wherever we are. We no longer have to move around to access information, whether it is out on the Internet, or out in the field. With mobility, we're freed from the constraint of location.

This change is bigger than most think, because we're used to having to move our bodies to get what we want. As climate issues gain more attention, look for more people to consider moving information over broadband networks instead of moving bodies in cars, trucks, and airplanes, burning fossil fuels, and polluting the air. (See the 2005 MetroNetIQ White Paper March to Mobility for a fuller discussion on this inevitable trend.)

3.4. Moving from Coercion to Collaboration - In the old days, employees did what they were told and if they didn't, they were fired. That's the essence of coercion, gaining one's way through aggressive threat. Later as bureaucracies ossified and became less effective, employees who would otherwise be fired were overlooked, disciplined in some manner or transferred to another task where they could cause less harm. Otherwise, the same model was in place - top-down coercion by management to force compliance to a set standard of performance. Sure, management tools are available to make the model work better, with limited success: annual performance reviews for feedback, raises in salary or wage (or more likely, withholding of raises), bonuses, training, junkets, and award ceremonies. All these formal mechanisms were devised to oil the cogs in the Coercion Machine and keep it running. We see this model continue in many, if not most businesses and organizations. Old habits die hard, but more and more, we see another model on the rise.

In the new collaboration organizational model, workers share responsibility for outcomes and work much closer together. Professionalism is expected equally from managers and those managed. Work practice may be far less formal, but even with all the informality, more is expected. Independence is demanded by employees, who see themselves as better equipped than their bosses to know what needs to be done, since they're right there on the spot, where the action is, so to speak. In a more dynamic economy, jobs come open more often, and good employees recognize that they have more freedom of movement. The good ones are more likely to move on if not treated well, but if they're happy in their job, they'ill stay and become ever more valuable. Training is not so much a perk as a necessary expense, given the increasing complexity that technology brings. Having invested so much in their employees, and likely relying on fewer employees to do more, employers are eager to see that they stay on the job and remain productive. As tasks become more unique, problem-solving skills are more valued. In a complex work environment, it often takes multiple perspectives and skill sets to solve a problem, and this is especially true in smaller organizations, where fewer employees mean everyone wears multiple hats and carries greater responsibility. The only way this model works is if everyone works well together - if they collaborate, which when broken down means "to work together."

This aspect of change has a better chance of being embraced if there is a move towards cultural transformation or if there is intense pressure to reduce labor costs. For this, of all the dimensions of change, involves cultural change, which is always slower than one would think. So, the change potential here will depend upon the degree to which the workplace has already changed, and the degree to which those in management envision a changing workplace and embrace the potential of a more collaborative environment for workers. (See also In Assessing Change v. MOTS, Start with Putting Consensus Ahead of Coercion and Something in Common).

3.5. Moving from Dependent to Independent to Interdependent - In a similar vein, in the old style of management, workers were dependent on information and other necessary resources from their bosses. As information and tools have moved to the desktop, workers have grown more independent, empowered as they are with all the tools they need to do their jobs. But as the work they do has grown more complex, there's a growing need to engage across the organization, and increasingly, with other organizations, in order to fulfill their goals and complete the necessary tasks of the job. In an effort to trim costs and become more efficient, more organizations have recognized the potential of outsourcing, where they break up their typical processes and farm out to external contractors the less critical functions to more efficient firms.

As work becomes more complex and as more tools move out to the edge of organizations, as power and information spread throughout the organization, teams are formed to take on tasks. But the teams no longer need to be in one place. Information and communication technology enables dispersed teams to work together as if they were in the same place. The rise of wiki software enables teams to collaborate on information work product over the Internet. But for such interconnectivity to be leveraged to full advantage, workers need to develop skills in working together, and over time, they become more and more interdependent.

Only the more advanced firms are moving in the direction of using Wikis, video communication and other tools to enable dispersed teams to function effectively, but this is a growing trend and these tools are increasingly available and affordable. The degree to which they're adopted and integrated into work processes is a sign of both the competitiveness of the organization and its sense of urgency. (See these posts as well: Stick to Your Knitting, Work Within Your Circle of Control and I Know You Are, But What Am I?).