INSIGHTS EDITION 4 • April 2009 (Current Issue)
Place in the Face of Obscure Dependencies
by Scott Francisco, for DEGW North America
If you can invest in one thing to strengthen an organisation, invest in the places where people interact
Larry Prusak, Knowledge Management Guru
Change Anyone?
It is often said that ‘change is the only thing that stays the same’ – a truism that offers very little direction to today’s manager, consultant or designer. Amidst the current whirlwind of change, most of us are trying to find our bearings, dust ourselves off and lead change, rather than be pummelled by it.
Standing out in this storm is something particularly dangerous to organisations. The growing reliance on metrics, data and new technologies has an alarming side-effect: Obscure Dependencies (ODs). These are critical relationships, connections, parts, or modules in human-centric systems that, like the infamous iPod battery, are invisible or inaccessible to their users.
Almost no sector or industry today is spared from obscure dependencies. From professional sports to children’s education, from automobile engines to agriculture and investment banking; innovative techniques for measurement, calculation, regulation and automation have been incorporated to increase efficiency, validate decisions and produce “measureable results”: More games won, higher test scores, better fuel efficiency, higher yield on crops or investments. It’s difficult to argue with these goals or their numbers. But these same innovations have also created a new kind of relationship between the parts and people in these systems. Pathways and connections become more complex, less visible and less accessible, resisting direct engagement, interaction and dialogue. In automobiles, for example, engines have changed from coherent machines that once encouraged user knowledge and maintenance skills, into ‘black boxes’ that resist any comprehension or interaction. Picture a ‘75 VW Beetle beside today’s Prius. Now imagine yourself under the hood trying to make an emergency repair!
Clearly, systems filled with obscure dependencies can be very efficient in reaching specific or short-term goals. But are there unforeseen consequences and risks? What happens when organisations begin to look and function like the Prius engine?
Leadership and design are near-identical twins. They are both based on a capacity to see, understand and imagine the relationship between particular actions and outcome, then guide change that is intentional, transformative and sustainable. But what kinds of change should be embraced today in the face of obscure dependencies? What are the most effective tools at our disposal? Constantly inundated with new techniques, technologies, strategies and models, we are left looking for a place to begin.
A ‘place to begin’ may hold a key for leading organisational change. To the extent that organisations depend on people, they are also spatial. They are miniature cultures, filled with symbols, languages and icons that contain and transmit knowledge, habits, skills and behaviours. Successful organisations are magnetic and didactic: They draw us in and then change us once we arrive. The places that organisations create and occupy may be their most elusive and valuable asset. While this may be difficult to measure, leadership and design are at home beyond the realm of calculation. They are propelled by insight, intuition and narrative, and they are evaluated by experience, knowledge and human affirmation.
If businesses, corporations, schools and governments are systems that truly depend on people - obscure dependencies threaten their very lifeblood. Learning, knowledge, communication and culture are human qualities that must be developed, refined and refreshed over time, and constantly transmitted to new members. When obscure dependencies lurk in layers of management, technology and bureaucracy, they stifle organisational development by concealing or even detaching the relationship between experience, behaviours and consequences.
Obscurity gets in the way of tinkering, improvisation, negotiation, and many other vital skill-building activities that encourage growth and development. It should be no surprise that when things ‘go wrong’ in these fragile systems there will be a lack of knowledge and time to react or adapt. They are prone to “crash” suddenly and completely like an overstressed laptop.
The financial sector had become just such a system: full of highly innovative ‘products’ and instruments that performed brilliantly until a sudden catastrophic and unexplainable collapse. When the components began to fail, neither the market nor so-called experts understood the dependencies well enough to know what to do, or which direction to run.
Changing Places
Obscure dependencies pose a looming hazard for any organisation wanting to survive, let alone thrive, in today’s environment of adaptability, speed, and creativity. Today’s flood of leadership literature, diverse and daunting as it is, underscores the common theme: Successful organisations are made up of people who are connected and inspired, who learn through collaboration, share ideas and are motivated towards excellence. Leadership in these organisations permeates all levels as a shared ‘attitude’ more than a structured hierarchy.
To even visualise such a utopian organisation is to create a spatial image. To imagine ‘learning’, ‘inspiration’ and ‘innovation’ we need to see and hear people. We imagine a place where people are present and engaged in mind and body.
Place offers a powerful antidote to obscure dependencies, and the necessary soil for knowledge and culture to grow. Compelling and magnetic places connect people directly and transparently; people can see, discuss, negotiate and transform the subtle but vital elements of organisational culture. When brought together, even for incidental reasons, people talk through problems, opportunities, ideas and insights. Physical place supports the development and transmission of knowledge, skills, values and ideas, as well as the opportunity for leaders to express visions and inspire action. Places support the characters and narratives that make an organisation meaningful, memorable, coherent and relevant. In short, places make organisational culture possible. If this is true, and DEGW’s legacy is staked on it, it follows that a strategic approach to space is paramount to any organisation.
Shovel-Ready Change
“What can be done right now” is a common question these days. And the range of place-change is almost infinite, from new vocabulary to new furniture; from workplace neighborhoods to global space guidelines or master planned campuses. It is critical, though, that change can be designed at multiple levels simultaneously and there are three essential themes for successful places that apply at almost every scale:
1. Establish Design Priorities:
Priorities are statements of value. More than design principles, they counteract ODs by engaging people in a conversation around organisational goals. They encourage communication, negotiation and accountability. Top DEGW design priorities include
Magnetism: If a place pulls people to it, it’s working, if not, it’s a failure. We always try to analyse why some spaces do this better than others. Design should synthesise both elusive and concrete qualities.
Functionality: Does a place support real needs? Ask the users. We combine observation and discussion to create a complete needs assessment picture. Needs go beyond what we know now. Design should also lead into an undefined future.
Expression: Great places tell a story and create a ‘mental map’. Places should look and feel unique and celebrate the history, function and characters of a particular place. Great places capture and reveal changes over time: the past and the present can coexist.
2. Harness the Design Process:
Process sets the tone for change. Nothing breaks down ODs better than bringing people into a transparent and inclusive process. From the first meeting or conversation, every interaction is an intervention.
- Always engage a variety of stakeholders directly in defining vision and needs.
- Inspired visualisation and dialogue is critical for success. The right tools and activities will help elicit direct, honest and accurate input.
- Design should be a learning activity. Participants should come away with new skills and vocabulary; integrating design thinking into the DNA of their organisation.
- Always balance between ‘culture’ and ‘calculation’. Synthesise relevant research and data with user input and narratives.
3. Invest in Design Communication:
Visualising problems, solutions and new ideas are critical to success. We help our clients see hidden barriers in order to develop transformative solutions. And we create images, narratives and graphics to help clients share their vision; internally and to outside stakeholders.
- Develop the right language and tools for the client’s culture: drawings, diagrams, models, pictures, case studies and metaphors can all be used to ensure clarity of vision and communication.
- To understand user needs and ensure consensus, we regularly reflect aspirations and constraints back to the users for discussion and validation.
Transparent communication is vital, especially if a significant organisational change is expected.
People working in places that are responsive in these ways will be uplifted and connected. As organisational complexity and obscure dependencies increase, place-making becomes a more and more important tool for organisational leadership and development. In this volatile economy DEGW helps organisations see the extraordinary value and leverage potential of investing in place for both immediate and long-term excellence. Amidst the rising flood of technical gadgetry, information, procedures and pass-codes, it may be a low-tech combination of bricks, mortar, natural light and decent coffee that brings us together and keeps our organisations afloat.
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