Visiting Professor | Facoltà di Economia | Università di Trieste | Organizational Behavior and Design 2013 | with Professor Francesco Venier
Series Description
The definition of organizational success continues to evolve, and the “bar” is constantly raised. Leaders of modern organizations face many pressures, both external and internal. The key to addressing these pressures does not lie in allocating or reallocating scarce resources, although that is important. Achieving and sustaining high performance requires leaders to learn to design or redesign their organizations to create value for the workforce, customers, investors, suppliers, partners, the community, and the environment. In other words, “successful leaders in the future will have to become architects of enduring organizations by designing systems that create sustainable results for multiple stakeholders” (Latham, 2012).
The five main sessions in this series at the University of Trieste, Italy, are based on the most recent research, executive education curricula, and application experience from the Monfort Institute at the University of Northern Colorado. The Monfort Institute is an integral part of the Monfort College of Business, a 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipient. These sessions are designed for an undergraduate audience and emphasize the practical application of “leading-edge” practices and contemporary theories and concepts. Participants explore the impact of leadership, culture, and systems on organizational performance.
Leadership + Design = Sustainable Excellence
Most change initiatives fail! Yet, change is needed to compete in a constantly changing, highly competitive environment. In this session, participants will learn how high-performing business, healthcare, and education leaders defied the odds and transformed their organizations to achieve sustainable excellence. What does it take to achieve and sustain high performance? Achieving and maintaining sustainable excellence requires the alignment of stakeholders, strategies, systems, and a comprehensive scorecard. This session will explore a framework for leading successful transformation, including the “tension” for change (forces and facilitators), the leadership “system” (systematic leadership approaches), the leadership “style” (leader behaviors), the “habit” of excellence (high-performance culture), and a look “below the surface” (characteristics of high-performing leaders).
Designing Organizational Systems
This session explores a flexible framework for designing organization and management systems that create sustainable value for multiple stakeholders. This positive approach to design builds on a foundation of performance excellence concepts and principles. It integrates systems theory, design thinking, appreciative inquiry, and sustainability (economic, environmental, and social stakeholders). Case examples are included to illustrate key concepts related to the “art and science” of organization system design. Participants learn to apply the design principles and practices by redesigning a workforce performance management system.
Leadership “System”
This session focuses on the design of systematic approaches and activities for leading organizational transformation. Nine interrelated activities are explored, and world-class examples are used to help illustrate the key concepts. While the design of the individual activities is sometimes different for each level of leadership, the leadership systems concepts are applicable at all levels of leadership. Participants engage in discussions exploring how the design framework concepts apply to a leadership system. Participants apply those concepts by evaluating a “real world” leadership system and developing an improved design.
Leadership “Style”
This session focuses on the nine leader behaviors for leading the transformation to sustainable excellence. The relationships among the nine behaviors and the relationships to the nine leadership activities (system) are explored in detail and applied to transform an organization for high performance. Behaviors include role models, respect, collaboration, communication, persistence, accountability, systems thinking, personal involvement, and personal learning. Participants learn to apply the concepts by evaluating a “real world” leader and the implications for their organization.
The “Habit” of Excellence
Part 1 – This session explores the process and role of culture change in creating and sustaining excellence. As Aristotle noted, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” High-performance organizational culture is defined, and key concepts are explored, along with the transformation of culture to ensure the changes to achieve excellence become embedded habits in the organization. Participants explore the key characteristics of a high-performance culture and how it combines traditionally competing values into a complementary culture.
A Look “Below the Surface”
Part 2 – The series ends with an exploration of the individual leader. In this session, participants explore several questions regarding the characteristics of successful leaders of a transformation. Who are they? What are the common characteristics of successful leaders of sustainable excellence? What drives them? Why is the individual important to sustainable excellence? Participants will assess their own behaviors and motivations, and attitudes and compare those to successful leaders of organizational transformation.
Special Session: Global Excellence Models
This session is part of a Speaker Series, “Global Mindset: be a Citizen of the World,” at the Rivalto Residenza Universitariais. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, it becomes more necessary to expand our knowledge and attitudes to participate successfully in the emerging global community. In this context, it’s impossible to remain physically or conceptually inside our city or nation’s boundary without considering the world as the ordinary arena where we live and act as workers and citizens. This presentation focuses on leadership in a global environment using global excellence models.