CEO Monthly Issue 7 2018

20 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 7 2018 , This shift shouldn’t be mistaken for automation. Automation changed how we accomplish work. Digital transformation has forced us to rethink how we actually organise to even decide, distribution and coordinate the work. Automation required processes to change, digital requires people to change. In short, if we want our people to change, we need to reconfigure how we work together in radically new ways. And we can look to open source communities - where so many pioneering models of organising to get work done have emerged - as a guide. Configuring for change What we’ve learned at Red Hat is that you need to build the capability to change into your organisation from the bottom-up using an open source approach. As I noted earlier, this is more than a technology story: it’s about empowering and enabling people inside the organisation to think and act in new and innovative ways. It’s about embracing a culture shift that embraces limitless possibilities and ideas worth exploring - without sacrificing speed, performance or security. We’ve found that when it comes to rethinking how we organise to get work done, we need to focus on three primary pillars that have been foundational in open source communities for decades: 1. Planning must be replaced by configuring for constant change: • Processes inside the organisation must be focused on experimentation and learning (try, learn, modify) rather than planning. • Organisational structures need to become more focused on modularity and on the end customer more than on efficiency and specialisation. 2. Prescription must be replaced by enablement: • Rather than making decisions from the top down, driving direction now requires pushing decision-making power - and the information required to make them - to the people closest to the impact of those decisions. 3. Execution must be replaced by engagement: • Rather than enforcing rules and dictating actions through a compliance model, organisations must embrace new techniques for motivating the right behaviours. It’s essential to recognise that you can’t micromanage complex work. • More than a focus on collaboration, organisations must be more focused on how teams and individuals coordinate with each other to get their work done. Of course, this is a suggested framework that requires a few disclaimers. There is no better/ worse or right/wrong way to organise. Rather, there are simply better ways to optimise organisations for different contexts. Every organisation has a mix of activities that fall on different points of the optimise/ innovate spectrum. Recognising this, and that there are different approaches required to optimise for each one, is a critical step in defining how your organisation should be configured. Finally, it’s all about culture. But culture is an output, not an input. Observing well-functioning culture is interesting, but what’s really required is to define the context that generates that culture. So, while good culture can overcome any of these problems, it’s these problems that impede you from achieving the culture you desire. While culture change is hard, ultimately, it’s only possible if leaders are willing to open up and change themselves. Planting the seeds for change The CEO of one Fortune 100 company described the kind mind-shift needed to lead change in our new digital world as a “transformation of self.” It requires moving from defining direction and driving performance, to creating the context for your people to do their best work. That’s what makes the people component of open source so powerful, engaging, and dynamic. You can even think of leadership along these lines as something like farming. Your role as a leader is to create the context and the conditions for your plants to grow from the seeds you plant. You can’t order your plants to grow - or to avoid disease and rot. You have to assess which plants might grow best given the conditions you create. You can’t expect a cactus to thrive in a rainforest, for example, just like thirsty tomatoes can’t survive in the desert. You need to give your plants the best possible shot, given their nature, and get out of the way. When you can do that, you’ve created the optimum conditions to reap incredibly positive results even in the face of massive disruption and change.