Free Videos, Workbooks, and Worksheets
The [Re]Create Application Labs go beyond the book to help leaders learn how to design, build, and lead the organizations they really want and society needs. The labs help leaders learn how to align and integrate their leadership, strategy, systems, scorecard, culture, people, and organizational learning to fit their organization’s unique context and produce sustainable value for multiple stakeholders.
“The [Re]Create Application Labs are valuable for those aspiring to build a sustainable organization in an ever-changing world. I found the Labs to be well-ordered, giving clarity on where to begin (collectively capture the ‘Forces for Change’ so that there is a shared purpose on the desired reality) and what to do next. The concepts introduced in the course support a big-picture view, making all the components of any organization visible while providing guidance through ‘reflection questions’ on how to discern each component (customers, processes, measurements, etc.) and harmonize and integrate them to thread the organization together. What I also found especially helpful was that complex concepts, such as systems perspective and culture, were explained in simple language, making it easier to comprehend and that the course helped me better understand how to connect and apply some concepts I had some familiarity with, such as empathy maps and the Baldrige Excellence Framework. I highly recommend these labs for anyone seeking a defined and clear approach to designing an organization to achieve its purpose and exceed stakeholder expectations.”
Kaleo Kuroda | Senior Vice-President Organizational Transformation | HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union | Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
There are 14 Free Application Labs, one for each chapter in the [Re]Create book. Each lab includes a Video along with a downloadable Workbook and Worksheets.
1. Forces for Change
While the motivation for change varies widely, there must be enough tension to overcome the inertia of satisfaction with the status quo. The framework identifies the forces of change specific to your organization and context. What are the external “pushing” forces for change? What are the “pulling” forces of change? What is the vision of a new desired future? Are these sufficient to overcome the inertia of the status quo? How can you leverage these forces to move your organization forward? | Visit the Lab
2. Stakeholder Value
The focus of a transformation to sustainable excellence is to increase the value created for multiple stakeholders, including the workforce, customers, investors, suppliers and partners, community, and environment. The focus on stakeholder needs and relationships helps provide a common alignment point for the strategy, systems, scorecard, and overall organization design for sustainable excellence. In short, high-performing organizations create an efficient system and value for other stakeholders such as suppliers and partners, society, and the environment. The task here is to understand the stakeholders’ needs and desires. | Visit the Lab
3. Compelling Directive
The needs of the stakeholders inform the creation of a “compelling directive.” The format of the compelling directive varies but typically consists of the organization’s purpose, mission, vision, and values. The vision describes the desired reality. The vision is essential to creating positive tension, a vital force of change to overcome resistance to change. The compelling directive builds a bridge between the stakeholders and the strategy. | Visit the Lab
4. Focused Strategy
How will the organization achieve the desired reality described in the compelling directive? The focused strategy translates the compelling directive and stakeholders’ needs into more specific goals, objectives, and clear expectations. The key here is to focus on a FEW critical goals at a particular point in time. Some organizational transformations require hundreds of changes. Success depends on picking just a few to work on at a time, executing the plan, and then working on the next priorities as the journey unfolds. The focused strategy is continuously evolving to meet current requirements and challenges. The focused strategy aligns the priorities through the organization and provides the foundation to enable, empower, and engage the workforce. | Visit the Lab
5. Enable, Empower, and Engage
While many leaders claim that their people are their most valuable asset, their actions often tell a different story. High-performing organizations develop and engage their workforce to accomplish the strategy. Creating an engaged workforce consists of (a) acquiring and placing talent, (b) developing (enabling) and empowering people, (c) involving and engaging the workforce at all levels, and (d) addressing the whole person. Acquiring and retaining the best talent is a challenge for most organizations. The best people will only work for organizations where they feel valued, enjoy their work, and achieve their full potential in a win-win arrangement. Note: If you don’t need the best people, then consider automating the work. | Visit the Lab
6. Organization Systems
The focused strategy also drives the implementation of action plans to accomplish the strategy. There are typically two types of strategy deployment projects — those focused on new products and services and those focused on building the organization systems to develop, produce, deliver, and the products and services. Even new product launches are organization systems that must be designed or redesigned to achieve a particular goal. The deployment of the strategy focuses on the [re]design and further development of one or more key systems to achieve an objective. The Design Framework, combined with a focus on system design, provides the structure to design, develop, and deploy any new or redesigned initiative or system in the organization. The only way we know if our redesign efforts are improving performance is to measure performance. | Visit the Lab
7. Comprehensive Scorecard
The progress and performance improvements resulting from the deployment of the action plans are measured and tracked by a comprehensive scorecard that measures the stakeholders, strategy, and systems. The comprehensive scorecard goes beyond a simple bottom line to a deeper understanding of the organization as a system. This includes both current performance and performance trends over time. Measuring performance and comparing your organization’s performance to other high-performing organizations helps create dissatisfaction with the status quo and is a vital part of creating tension: productive tension. The scorecard is designed to facilitate dialogue during the periodic organization performance reviews. | Visit the Lab
8. Organization Performance Review
Scorecard results are analyzed and periodically reviewed by the leaders at all levels, who then revise the action plans and operations as necessary to accomplish the strategy. While much of the learning during these reviews is limited to single-loop learning and keeping things on track, occasionally, the dialogue will result in an examination of the underlying assumptions and double-loop learning that enables the team to address root causes and prevent similar future problems. This fact-based approach to management includes organization performance analysis that informs the reinforcement of the desired behaviors. | Visit the Lab
9. Align, Coach, Appreciate
There is an old saying, “What gets measured gets done, and what gets rewarded gets repeated.” Reinforcing behavior is based on progress toward the overall strategy and includes recognition, rewards, promotions, and sometimes the removal of individuals. All too often, incentive systems are counter-productive and drive behaviors inconsistent with the compelling directive and strategy. So caution is warranted when evaluating and incentivizing performance. High-performing organizations align their incentives to ensure individual performance supports the best overall system performance. | Visit the Lab
10. Learn and Improve
Successful transformation leaders are never satisfied with the organization’s performance and learn from experience. To fully develop the organization’s systems, culture and individuals requires that the organization learn from its successes and failures. Organizations that have achieved sustainable excellence by learning from success and failure use four common methods or approaches: strategic management cycle, organization assessment and improvement, continuous improvement, and benchmarking. These methods are often integrated into the other eight leadership system components. | Visit the Lab
11. Collaborative Leadership Style
The framework offers leader behaviors that support the leadership system to achieve sustainable excellence. You might consider these the art of leading transformation — or HOW leaders accomplished the activities. The collaborative style includes nine behaviors. Leaders establish their credibility by role-modeling the behaviors and actions they want to see in a new organization. Organization architect leaders respect everyone, which helps them develop collaborative relationships to [re]design and transform the organization. OAs are great communicators and deliver a consistent message regardless of the situation. At the same time, they hold people accountable for the changes. They are systems thinkers who are always learning from their involvement in the design and change activities. It is a style that helps people create the organization that they want. This style, along with the activities, shapes the culture. | Visit the Lab
12. Culture of Service
Ultimately, sustaining excellence requires new systems, processes, and practices to become habitual and embedded in the culture. Culture is composed of values and norms that are manifested in rituals, heroes, and symbols. Organizations that have achieved sustainable excellence have five cultural characteristics in common. They are a complementary combination of valued employees who trust each other and work as a team. At the same time, this trusting team focuses on delivering customer excellence. Ultimately, individuals working together are the essence of any sustainable change. | Visit the Lab
13. The Individual Leader
Organization architects have five common characteristics that increase the odds of achieving and sustaining high performance: purpose and meaning, humility tempered by confidence, integrity, systems perspective, and motivational and attitudinal patterns. While the other leadership components of the system and style are visible and observable, this one is below the surface. What would it take to make this leadership style authentic for you? What motivates you to do the key activities? | Visit the Lab
14. Facilitators of Change
Some leaders of successful change doubted they could do it. It can seem overwhelming. There are a few critical facilitators of change to help you along the journey. First, you are not alone, so start by developing your team of organization architects. Second, begin with the senior leadership team so you will have the credibility and personal knowledge to lead the journey. Then develop a plan to guide your [re]design and transformation. There is an old saying, “If it has been done, it must be possible.” | Visit the Lab
“Four years ago, I took on the task of leading a mature, successful independent real estate brokerage that required an infusion of new sustainable strategies to ensure continued growth and financial success. The [Re]create Book Application Labs were the perfect resources for the senior management team and provided the tools, resources, and guidance on how to uncover and then refocus on the key strategic initiatives to ensure the sustainable growth plan could be put in place and executed successfully. The “knock-on” effects on culture and overall improvement in operational excellence were evident as well. I highly recommend the [Re]Create Labs to any company leader looking to reinvigorate their team and drive positive results!”
John Lusink, MBA | President | Right at Home Realty Inc. | Toronto, Ontario, Canada