The 4 Enabling Disciplines
DexterityDynamism
Discourse
Discovery
The essence of our collaboration with a family-owned business over the years has been to develop unique ways to maximize the innovative potential of their meetings. The resulting new meeting strategy captures the knowledge and experience of clients and employees as a means to further develop their business. The following case study illustrates how the power of adopting a 21st century approach for the design of participatory meetings provides concrete and usable results for businesses. The meeting in question took place over the course of a full day. In this instance, 60 participants representing key stakeholders in an industry took [...]
From time immemorial, leadership has been associated with learning. Put simply, leaders are always learning. The caliber of any leader is revealed in the way they deal with uncertainty and/or novel situations. Especially during these moments, leaders must learn as much as possible about the environment which they are encountering. Their capacity to learn and adapt is closely correlated to the quality of their ability to lead. "Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other." [...]
Solving the Challenge of Sustainable Learning in a Business Setting: Introducing Peer-to-Peer Networking Peer-to-Peer Networking is a flexible and agile concept which consists of bringing four people together with an experienced Learning Enabler for a 90 minute learning session. The content of these Peer-to-Peer sessions draws from a growing library of more than 100 modules on topics which have been written by a select group of the world's leading business experts. When special company topics are required, custom-designed Peer-to-Peer modules can be developed by Ensemble Enabler to meet a company's distinctive needs. All Peer-to-Peer modules can be made accessible to [...]
Any promising change initiative begins with identifying the projects focus and clarifying its goals. Digital transformation is so all-encompassing that companies often find it difficult to adhere to these fundamental best practice principles for change management initiatives. Part of the dilemma is that various misconceptions prevail about digital transformation: What exactly is it? How and when can it be achieved? Diverse views on the matter crop up and inevitably lead to a lack of alignment across the organization. Ensemble Enabler has developed a special modular experience consisting of 6 core topics to support organizations to address the digital transformation process at [...]
In order to tell thought-provoking stories about the power of networks, I would like to share notable examples of the impact which network leaders can have in their organizations. I cannot think of a better example to start this series of NETWORK HEROES than Dee Hock. Dee Hock was a manager at a local bank in Washington state (USA). This bank had been franchised by the Bank of America to issue its credit card which at the time was called the “BankAmericard”. Dee Hock convinced Bank of America to give up its ownership and control on their BankAmericard credit card [...]
In a sleepy valley in California in the early 1970s, something big was stirring. In 1971 Bill Hewlett of Hewlett Packard fame, issued a challenge to his engineers: fit all of the features of their desktop scientific calculator into a package which would be small enough for his shirt pocket. The result? The HP-35, the first hand-held calculator which was advertised as “a fast, extremely accurate electronic slide rule”. As a result of these developments, (mostly) young men were tinkering in their garages to develop diverse electronic devices. Magazines such as “Radio Electronics” featured stories on how to build these [...]
I would like to reflect on food for thought which I received from a DGUV International Strategy Conference on Safety and Health at Work where I was serving to facilitate a portion of the event. A comparison with a survey from the Handelsblatt confirms that we are living in a world of a surprising and very disturbing paradox. From a global perspective, the state of human well-being has never been so good as it is now AND not since the 1930s have people’s views of the future been so bleak. The opening speaker of the conference was Matthias Horx of [...]
What makes an organization’s purpose statement truly powerful? A key driver of motivation and engagement is PURPOSE. Our understanding of the impact of purpose has expanded over the past several decades. In the mid-20th century, Viktor Frankl – an Austrian psychologist and a concentration camp survivor - built an entire school of psychology around purpose. He advanced his understanding of the importance of purpose in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Decades later, Jim Collins, a business management and company sustainability / growth consultant wrote his seminal book “Built to Last” . In this book he delved into businesses which [...]
I recently read a story which merits retelling . It is a powerful story about how an unwavering focus on a specific value can help to turn a company around. The year was 1987. The company was the A luminum Company of America otherwise known as Alcoa. The business results in the last few years had not been good. A new CEO was being brought on board to see if the ship could be turned around. That new CEO was Paul O’Neill – a former government bureaucrat. The investment community did not know too much about him, so when he [...]
What is innovation? …AND how can we better foster innovation in our organizations? A recent trip in the Bavarian countryside provided me with a wonderfully simple example of what innovation is and what it takes to make it happen. As I was driving back to Munich after an extended business trip in the north of Germany, I stopped for dinner at a charming and modestly simple local restaurant in the town of Amerdingen. The weather was warm enough on this early autumn day to permit sitting outside on the terrace. Meticulously taken care of was the garden where benches invited [...]
Inspiration from scholars in the field Ensemble Enabler is continually exploring new approaches to capture the wisdom of the crowd to support strategic initiatives, foster creativity and encourage innovation. Our experience has demonstrated that a key factor in this process is the intentional use of dialogue and conversation. A broad spectrum of scholars have explored the conceptual underpinnings which make Peer-to-Peer Networking an effective process. We would like to share a compact selection of authors who have informed our thinking on the value and impact of its use in organizations: Lifelong Learning through conversations Coaching Ourselves© is a process for [...]
Refreshing the design approach of an Expert Forum Boehringer Ingelheim's Vetmedica division initially conceived the idea for a Forum over 10 years ago. The aim is to create a meeting place to exchange perspectives and practices among some of the main players in the industry. Initially the meeting was labeled the European Forum because the main emphasis was on developments occurring in Europe. However over the years, interest was peaked all across the globe and, as a result, the number of participants coming from countries worldwide has increased every year. Krakow - location of the 7th Expert Forum The original [...]
How does Peer-to-Peer Networking support the Five Disciplines? The Five Disciplines of the Learning Organization include: Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Team Learning, Shared Vision, and Systems Thinking. The discussion which follows demonstrates how Peer-to-Peer Learning supports all five of these disciplines. Discipline 1 - Personal Mastery Personal Mastery describes the strength of people to be proactive and keep on learning in order to continuously achieve results which are important for them. The two key factors of this discipline are: 1. Defining what is important to us and 2. Being able to see the current reality as it is. The essence [...]
Since the onset of the Corona virus, we have all experienced a rapid change in our daily lives and work. Both our sensibilities and priorities have shifted during our own current personal journeys. At the same time, we are all coping with the impact of the crisis in every aspect of our lives. The emotional nature of current blog postings, chats during webinars and zoom calls with friends and colleagues – just to name a few examples - reveal a deep need to collectively reflect upon how we are feeling in this moment and to identify ways to grapple with [...]
Feedback loops are often an untapped resource to enhance creativity and innovation in companies. Astute organizations recognize the value and use of feedback loops to stimulate learning and innovation at all levels. Why? Feedback loops lay down the foundation for an organizational mindset which is favorable for scalable learning and innovation throughout the organization. Through the cultivation of an environment which intentionally promotes the use of feedback loops, an organization benefits from the wisdom of employees which is harvested to reap productive insights for the business. Definition of Feedback: Information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a [...]
