Rotman Management Winter 2013

IF YOU COULD DESIGN an optimal work environment, what characteristics would it include? While there is no definitive list, certain things are bound to appear on most wish lists: a clear strategic vision, an integrity-filled culture; a dedication to innovation; engaged, productive employees; and passionate, authentic leaders. The question is, what can each of us do to move towards this idyllic scenario? As we will show in this issue, plenty. People often say, “It’s not personal — it’s business.” But that simply isn’t true: what happens inside organizations has deep psychological impact on employees. Unfortunately, while many leaders talk about building a strong culture and engaging people in the company’s strategy, in reality, they are more likely to turn their attention to more tangible matters such as finance and operations. In this…

FOR FAR TOO MANY LEADERS, strategy is a struggle. Despite all the different tools available (or perhaps because of them), strategy can seem mysterious and scary, with huge rewards for success, disastrous implications for failure and many unknown dangers lurking along the way. That needn’t be the case. We believe strategy can be defined and created using a simple framework that entails answering five questions — the same five questions, no matter the type, size or context of the organization: 1. What is your winning aspiration? 2. Where will you play? 3. How will you win? 4. What capabilities must be in place? 5. What management systems are required? The answers to these questions are the fundamental choices every leader must make to craft a successful strategy. Make no mistake about it, strategy is choice; it is…

You have compared today’s organizations to ‘complex adaptive systems’. Please explain. A complex adaptive system contrasts with a mechanical system. With a mechanical system, cause and effect are clear and linear: if you push on a certain lever, a particular part of the system will be affected in a predictable way. In contrast, complex adaptive systems have multiple interrelating parts with complex relationships, so that if you push on a lever over here, what happens ‘over there’ is not predictable and is likely to be non-linear; it could even lead to an extreme reaction. This makes these systems sound a bit chaotic, but they are also dynamic and adaptable. Much like the systems found in nature, they self-regulate — they change in response to both internal and external triggers. Examples include an…

OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS, we have seen dramatic interest in building sustainable organizations that have the capacity to endure and simultaneously satisfy a triple bottom line of economic, environmental and human performance. Yet, in comparison to the environmental and economic dimensions, substantially less attention has been paid to sustainability’s human dimension. An important mechanism for understanding the human dimension of sustainability is the concept of thriving at work. When thriving, employees are energized to grow and develop, and are creating resources rather than merely depleting resources. In this article, we will describe what it means to thrive and what leaders can do to enable more thriving in the workplace. What It Means to Thrive Thriving individuals are growing, developing and energized, as opposed to stagnating. In workplace terms, thriving can be defined…

THE SEARCH FOR THE SECRETS of high performance organizations has been intense in recent years, yielding countless best-selling books and imitators in the process. However, a relatively new quest has emerged on the organizational front, for something that cannot be as easily imitated: a high level of integrity. In large part, this newer quest can be attributed to increasing expectations from society and customers, which have led to lower tolerance for behaviour perceived to be unethical or otherwise inappropriate. Digital communication and social media have only intensified the demand: transgressions are now nearly impossible to hide, and employees increasingly have incentives — and the means — to speak up. When integrity breakdowns occur, they can be extremely costly. Financial service organizations such as UBS and Société Générale have suffered considerable losses because…

Let’s start at the beginning: How do you define a ‘high-potential employee’? A good rule of thumb is that ‘HiPos’ represent the top three-tofive per cent of your organization’s workforce on two key dimensions: performance and living the company’s values. These individuals consistently and significantly outperform their peers in a variety of settings and circumstances, and at the same time, they ‘live’ the culture. The HiPo title doesn’t automatically come with a big promotion; it’s a label that is earned over time. Companies hire people that exhibit a ‘fit’ with their values; but as people move up the hierarchy and into the high-potential cadre, it’s no longer enough to fit with the values: you have to begin to role model the values, and eventually, to actually teach them. You have found that…