Keeping the value

Keeping the value is about the need for sustaining profit margins. Over decades organizations have focused on cost cutting measures to maintain profit levels. Some organizations, the ones that have invested in innovation, have seen exponential growth. However most have failed to create value out of innovation. What are the secrets for keeping the value up and succeed in profitable innovations?

According to authors of Exponential Organizations the way to realize exponential result is by marginalizing the costs of demand and costs of supply. That sounds easy but where do you start? I have been investigating this from a Human Resources point of view because I believe it is the people part that creates successful transformation in profitability.

Analysis – what is your value position in relation to the competition?

1. Overview and rating of known competitors
2. Shortlist of disruptive start-ups
3. Innovation listing of own ideas, co-creation projects and new market propositions

Ideally you could bench mark your organization position agains others but that is impossible because in today’s highly disruptive world we do not know who will bring the completion or disrupt the market place. This analyses is a way to monitor what is out there in the market place, to investigate and learn about new businesses that are using emerging technologies and to actively create and participate in new business generation focussing on organizational core competences.

When focussing on the people part, what does this mean for an employee, a specialist professional or a board member?

1. who is my competition? People that work with me internally, professionals who work at competitor organizations or tech experts or younger generations that bring about new and complementary skills?
2. What do I need to do in order not to become obsolete? I know that in the rapidly changing world that I need to learn, transform in order to perform, but where do I start and which path do I take?
3. Is the future a position without a job description? Do I join a team with a tem objective and do I figure out how I contribute? In the chaos of today’s disruptive business it is vital for every employee to re-create your value by taking initiative, presenting ideas, discover new opportunities, investigate your potential, co-create to harmonize strengst and become entrepreural. Re-create you means taking responsibility own your career, redefine your potential like every organization should redefine it’s MTP (Massive Transformational Purpose)

How To – Transform to MTP

Maintaining value has two components, the external (SCALE) and the internal (IDEAS) part. The authors of Exponential Organizations use SCALE and IDEAS to explain the ingredients for how to manage and how to create exponential organization. I will use these elements to examine the professional considerations and choices employees, managers and owners have in deciding the professional and personal way forward.

SCALE

• Staff on Demand: where do you belong? Do you want to be part of a fixed workforce and why? Should you enter into the independent professional industry and be hired by organization on a flex basis of are you starting your own business opportunity according to the new organization structure ideas?
• Community & Crowd: are you presenting ideas to the word? Do you inspire people with new insights, like market research, vision, opinions or are you sharing relevant experiences? Then, you are interesting to follow, you may acquire a crowd of followers in social media and you may be invited to join a community of peers. Are you following others, digging information, aggregating relevance and contributing by comments? Then, you may find yourself in an engaging community of professionals with shard interests. Are you a reader, interested in the latest developments and are you consuming information for professional purposes or haven’t you started yet? If you belong t this group you are invited to discover your strengths, to redefine your professional contribution and the value you want to deliver for the organization(-)s you work for.
• Algoritms: this may sound technical but the idea is simple when I bring it back to HR perspective. What do people see when they Google you? What is it people should see, what is your personal mission, where is your passion, how open are you and how do you create value. Algorithms are about about relevance. It indicates who you are with your personal strengths, ambitions and objectives. In the transformational world, you should recreate you, redefine you, go for it!
• Leased Assets: what are your professional assets and how can they be leased? Leasing refers to assets ad ownership but when it is about your knowledge, your personal strengths and your value, how do you view leasing? Leasing is about the choice whether you ar willing to invest in you or that you decide to borrow, rent or buy the knowledge of somebody else. So in terms of independency, what is it you need to learn and experience in order to sustain valuable? Do you invest in education, business courses, business trips, reading books, blogs and social media? Do you learn by exploiting new activities like entrepreneuril events, mentoring, teaching or coaching? Do you invest time in out-the-box activities, spend time outside your comfort zone – the place you are likely to learn something new? The relevance of leased assets is knowing where you stand for and what you need to do to not only remain competitive but how you can actively contribute as value creator for exponential organizations.
• Engagement: did you know that there is no official definition of engagement applicable in the context of the digital world? I found an interesting blog about the term Engagement on Mashable where the explanation I like the most in term of HR relevance is: “engagement is a short word for a complex set of emotions, and the strategies used to capture those emotions.” Yet, I see emotions as acts of vulnerability, having the courage to express feelings, opinions, ideas and to share, contribute, debate and discuss the present time and future when it comes to professional performances, industry developments and the great impact of digitalization and disruptive market developments. Again, looking at it from an HR perspective the questions you should answer are the following: Why – what is your objective, does your participation match with professional mission – should you engage? Where – in which community of crown – will you engage? What will be your contribution? Do you create vision, explore research, debate strategies, challenge professionals, contribute by comments of actively promote new developments for example. Your engagement is not a level rated in a percentage form 100% to zero but a well thought through strategy in your professional career.

IDEAS

• Interface Processes (IP): refer to the intellectual property of an organization. The way processes are designed determine an organizations effectiveness, succes is especially clear from the new born companies who do not have to cope with old fashion tools, dated procedures and legacy systems. From an employee point of view it is important to know how you as a professional will transform your knowledge and experience. You have to know how your work and information supply will benefit the IP. How do you use the new ways of collaboration tools, where do you interact and co-create, how do you know when and what to contribute? It is important to invest time to discover how IP will empower you and your colleagues in the Exponential Organization.
• Dashboard: in order to realize goals a dashboard is of vital importance to drive organization success through transparent and time-bound priorities. Managing objectives and key results (e.g. O&R metrics) is also of key importance to individual motivation. Knowing how you can contribute to drive organizational success, being able to participate with dedicated work, relevance and in co-creation with others help define and evaluate key results on an individual level. To turn it around: when you know why you are needed, when you are appreciated for your contribution and you oversee how your knowledge, experience and personality are a required, desired and valuable piece of the pie, proves to be very motivating. It will bring  both transparency in your value creation strengths and prove of your professional assets.
• Experimentation: what is your contribution in taking risks, learning about emerging technologies, improving current products, processes and value propositions. Are you participating in the latest developments or are consumed by operational tasks and not able to experiment? Ask yourself the question? Where should you be busy with and what will bring you to the next role, assignment and business need in the near future?
• Autonomy: the will to be independent and,  in the context of HR, your freedom to develop you into your personal strengths, professional interests and to work with and for an organization that best meets your mission. Delivering individual value is best met when you can harmonize your qualities with organization needs. if you are an innovator, currently working for a traditional industry with no clear need to transform the business, you will e unable to harvest on your autonomy. In reverse, an organization desperately aiming for transformational resources will be in need for self-starters who ar able to use their qualities for the benefit of the organization’s mission.
• Social Technologies: where are you in the real time world? Which tools, apps and platforms do you use to be informed, interact and use to present and share your contributions to communities and crowds? Which tools define you, why do you use them and how is it to transform across social technologies?

The Naked Truth

The naked truth is that most new born companies arise from a great aspirational mission or a basic need. Technology empowers us and the start up professionals are making it happen with a certain skill set that is defined by personal and professional characteristics. No individual does it alone, it is about the willingness to succeed, the chemistry of the team and the shared mission that gives a start up wings to fly. Courage – being the ability to do something that you don’t know or that you do know to be difficult or dangerous – is the key component of value creation. The way forward is a mix of professionals with core values in improving performance – delivering on the IDEAS – and a group of professionals with values in expand performance – delivering on the SCALE elements. But what personal characteristics define these elements and how do you measure your HR potential in transforming to an Exponential Organization?

I work with a team of professionals together to deliver these services:

1. Analyse your organization, including redefining your mission
2. How To transform to from a People Perspective. A tool is used to assess your current potential and to define and acquire your optimal mix to transform to an Exponential Organization.

Please contact me if you would like to keep value, increase value or transform your organization into an Exponential Organization.