Audio ARTICLE
OF THE MONTH
Stranova Interviews Carol Sanford
Carol Sanford's MP3 interview on an Innovative Approach to Strategic Planning.
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Consciousness At Work
You may think of consciousness as a subject related to contemplation
and Eastern spiritual practices - relevant only to "far out" business
founders who meditate. Or maybe you relate it to psychology and the
working of the brain - of interest mainly to brain researchers or
shrinks. It may surprise you to know that it is a capability used
by great executive teams in the:
- development of markets they can own forever (P&G used it
to develop Tide and dozens of other products based on a highly
tailored segmentation model)
- development of systems-integrated products that others cannot
displace (DuPont owns the safety business in every product field
as part of the customer’s system)
- building of workforces that have the same view of the business
as the shareholders, the executives, and the community (Kingsford’s
employees make strategic decisions in every major business arena)
- creation of cross-functional integration without constant meeting
and memos to keep people informed (C-P Europe has seamless handoffs
across nations and languages that single companies, even departments,
long for)
- alignment of the organization behind the thrust of the company
without
repeating and raising the volume every week. ( Deer Park
employees are all on the same page)
These feats are possible because these companies built a powerful
capability across their entire workforce called consciousness. It
is foundational to seeing bigger, further and understanding how things
work together. In fact, we believe that the amount of individual
and group consciousness at a company is the best predictor of its
growth and sustained success.
Consciousness is the name we give to the
ability to self-start,
overcome adversity/restraints and demonstrate the greater intelligences
that are critical for creativity and strategic thinking.
Here are a few of our premises regarding Consciousness at Work:
- An individual, or group, cannot do what they don’t
have the consciousness to do.
Sometimes it will seem like a person or team has “everything
they need” and yet they’ll fail. Often, they simply lack
the required level of consciousness. Levels correspond to abilities
to integrate thinking, lead, decide and act. This is true from top
to bottom of the organization.
- When you pay for “Top Talent” you are paying
for a higher level of consciousness.
Higher levels of consciousness allow us to mobilize more intelligence,
responsibility and energy. When we meet a “High Performer” that
impresses us with the amount they can do, do well and do while interacting
fluidly with all kinds of people around them – we are reacting
to their high level of consciousness. As we know – we pay more
for people like this and we can never find enough.
- Higher levels of Consciousness (and the increase in intelligence,
responsibility and energy that go with it) can be developed in
every person (starting from where they are) throughout their
whole life. This means you. This means your employees.
Consciousness in individuals happens through reflectivity, the use
of Systemic frameworks and other practices. Individuals, who are
self-motivated learners, particularly if they have overcome hardships,
may “develop themselves.” Group consciousness does not
develop spontaneously. InterOctave Group develops individual and
group consciousness in a systematic and reliable way working with
teams of people representing strategy, leadership and operations.
We usually work with 5-10% of the organization directly. As consciousness
as a capability works into the culture of the whole group, overall
80-95% will demonstrate improved levels of consciousness.
- Consciousness is a good infrastructure investment.
Consciousness, based on our track record, is a very good investment.
It can be viewed as a “build or buy” decision. You can
either locate, recruit and pay for a team of rare superstars or you
can develop yourself and the people around you into those high-performing
superstars – with a level of consciousness that will be rewarding
for you personally, for your company and for your community.
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