WOULD YOU RATHER BE IN AN ECHO CHAMBER, OR A ROCK TUMBLER?

The Echo Chamber:

In the past, maintaining the status quo was fundamental in corporate policy. It kept things nice and simple.? Everyone, including leaders, had job descriptions with clearly defined parameters. There was very little room for innovation, creativity, experimentation, or pushing the boundaries. Doing so could easily backfire, endangering credibility and future career prospects.?

New hires often fit the current culture of coloring strictly within the lines. This made things easier. No pesky contrary views, or uncomfortable requests to try something different. No one pointing out existing flaws in the system. Why would they? Who wants to take the risk of coloring outside the lines and possibly ruin their career prospects?

Today, we’d call this type of environment an Echo Chamber.

The pros are that it’s stable, comfortable and there are not too many surprises. No great failures, no great successes. It’s the safest way to go. At least, while the business environment is good. Things generally run relatively smoothly. There’s a well-defined hierarchy and career progression path. If business conditions change however, it might signal rough weather ahead.? Suddenly, things aren’t quite as stable and safe any longer.?

But, by the time those changes become obvious, the road to recovery is tough, with many challenges along the way.? And, by then, agile competitors have gained market share with innovations designed for the current market conditions.?

Echo chamber organizational mindsets find it difficult to adjust quickly.?

Changes take too long to filter through the layers of bureaucracy to be implemented timeously. Before too long, catch up becomes so much more difficult. Short-term cost-cutting solutions outweigh long-term investment, placing the organization at a disadvantage, especially once conditions improve.

The Rock Tumbler:

On the other hand, an agile, innovative mindset and culture can shatter the status quo, and captivate the market’s imagination, simply because it isn’t limited by the status quo. Change is seen as an opportunity. Challenge is seen as an indicator to discover new and better ways of doing things.

A perfect example is Steve Jobs return to Apple after John Scully’s leadership. His intuitive approach to understanding, and wooing the market, with technology ‘for the rest of us’, opened the door to a new way of doing things. One that was about as far from traditional echo chamber dynamics as it was possible to get, at that time.?

Today, we talk about how being innovative, being creative and forward thinking is at the top of our priorities.

We talk about how to inspire, motivate, collaborate and lead others to perform at their best.? Which, of course, will lead to improvements in every area, including bottom-line profits. It’s the antithesis of the echo chamber approach. But, is it all that’s necessary to achieve success??

Running an innovative organization isn’t a bed of roses with only beautiful blooms and rose petals softly lining the path to success. It’s a gritty, often uncomfortable, and sometimes even scary progression.

In this clip , Jobs explains how even innovation and creativity isn’t a guarantee of a successful product.

That we have to temper these behaviors with practical constraints. That we need to take into account the ‘tremendous amount of craftsmanship in-between a great idea and a great product.’?

That we have to understand that the ‘great idea’ is going to evolve throughout the development process. The finished product won’t end up being exactly the same as the initial idea.?

He said, “…. designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain - these concepts - and fitting them all together …. continuing to push and fit them together in new and different ways to get what you want.? And every day you discover something new… a new problem, or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently, and it’s that process that’s the magic….”

He goes on to illustrate this by sharing a childhood experience where a neighbor introduced him to rock tumbling. He was amazed at how the process, using ‘a little bit liquid, a little bit of grit, a little bit of friction and noise’, could turn ‘ugly old garden rocks’ into beautiful polished stones.

He likens this process to how a team operates.?

“… that's always been in my mind. My metaphor, for a team working really hard on something they're passionate about, is that it's through the team, through that group of incredibly talented people, bumping up against each other.? Having arguments. Having fights. Sometimes making some noise.? …working together, they polish each other and they polish the ideas, and what comes out are these really beautiful ‘stone’s'…”

The key here, I think, is that when everyone involved is passionate about what they’re working on, and what the ultimate vision for the product is, they’re 100% engaged. Being passionate about something can lead to a ‘little bit of friction and noise’ as the excitement levels rise.?

It takes a leader who is both focused on the end result and is a skilled manager to ensure that this excitement is constructive and not destructive in how it manifests.

To be that kind of leader, we need more than skills, drive, experience and commitment. We also need to be empathetic, fair, open to actively listen to others to hear what is being said. We need to understand who, or what we’re working with.

It’s like being the driver in a rally race. We have the vehicle comprised of many different parts. It is designed to handle the rough patches, and the necessary speed. The fuel is the team’s excitement, motivation and engagement. The vision is the road map. The driver’s job is to guide the vehicle, pushing where necessary, proceeding with caution, where necessary. Avoiding pitfalls. Steering it to the ultimate destination, ensuring that all the parts are functioning to their optimum potential in a harmonious synergy.?

These thoughts all came to mind as I listened to Steve Jobs speak. I realized how true to life his analogy still is. We so are conscious of the importance of ensuring that Optevo facilitates the kind of productive, open, fully engaged, collaborative teamwork which Jobs talks about, as well as streamlining work management. Both of which are essential for an agile, innovative organization in today’s uncertain times.

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