Concept

 

Waykm (pronounced wake'em) has its origins in the practice of administration by the British Colonials in India. The structure still runs the Government Of India but the administration now practiced is a shadow of the honest flow of knowledge and feedback philosophy built into the system. Peter Drucker has reviewed the success of the colonial system in his article ‘ Coming of the new organization ', Harvard Business Review , January-February, 1988. He traced the effective administration, by personnel distributed over remote areas with very poor communications and a span of control of 100:1, to the sincere practice of dialogue.

 

David Bohm ( Dialogue - a proposal , 1991) has written extensively on the power of dialogue to emerge the reality. The power of reality to progress success is revealed by the following time tested observation of Sun Tzu (500 BC): “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

 

It was Peter Senge who developed the philosophy of Learning Organizations in the 20th century to emerge the Reality. He used the concept of feedback in control systems to explain the importance of dialogue to human systems and how it assists an organization for developing the trust, teamwork and volition for emerging the reality and responding to it. He identified five disciplines or skills needed to define and respond to reality, and how dialogue with its free flow of knowledge and feedback helped to practice these skills. He has cited several examples to project his belief that Learning Organizations acquire the power to heal themselves and get what they want. The attached article by Senge sums up his philosophy.

 

Senge's philosophy is at the core of a team's power to drive success. Development of the power requires a long term focus, and practice of skills that take time and effort to acquire. Today it is firmly believed only personnel can organize and drive knowledge work. In Drucker's words ‘ nothing else will work at all '. The priority of personnel is results. Working to deliver against power equations, distrust, misguided incentives, unsupportive cultures, and heavy odds common in the workplace exhausts the time and energy of personnel. Consequently, though the well-spring of the power to inspire extraordinary teams with ordinary personnel is well known today, its practice is regarded as an art and teams rarely develop to exploit their potential.

 

Defeated by the discretion and unpredictability in conduct of interactions IT has concluded that the one-size-fit-all knowledge process needed to organize and drive knowledge flows is inconceivable. It has submitted to the conventional wisdom that personnel must self-organize and motivate themselves to share knowledge for feedback. Consequently ‘IT is a tool' is the prevailing paradigm for knowledge work and the delivery of dialogue remains as personnel dependent as ever. In the process 'sharing' has replaced 'feedback' as the goal of knowledge work.

 

Waykm is based on the observation that team work has evolved and is composed of repeatable actions. Norms apply to all evolution. Thus, norms are available to assemble the actions on an event as needed. These norms are a function of the organization structure and the expectations associated with each action. The colonial administration has been used to define these norms and create an effortless all-sizes-fit-one knowledge process for assembling interactions on each event.

 

1. What is the problem solved by the process ?

Even vast knowledge cannot prevent grave consequences if reality is misinterpreted. In the last century Quality Circles of the assembly line proved feedback emerges the reality and drives innovation. They grew productivity over fifty fold in manufacturing. It grew only marginally in knowledge work as even today a single process for knowledge flow is inconceivable. Personnel must follow a culture for organizing and driving systematic flow to create the trust and teamwork needed for feedback and sharing. The culture is rarely realized despite incentives as power equations, self-interest, the priority for results amidst the rapid pace of change, and wishful thinking vitiate trust and either exhaust or inhibit the time and energy personnel need for disciplined teamwork. The ability to pursue success is declining. This is reflected in upheavals across the socio-economic spectrum.

2. How will the process solve the problem?

According to the acclaimed philosophy of Learning Organizations dialogue assures feedback and fosters skills, both beyond collaboration, to lift ability. Today IT is just a tool that fails to assure even collaboration. The single process needed to found a culture for adoption of IT and sharing of knowledge for collaboration is believed impossible. My work uses teamwork norms to anticipate the repeatable actions that build all knowledge processes. The actions integrate with a flexible organization structure to deliver an all-sizes-fit-one process for coordination. Anchored by replication, not email, the process converts IT to intelligent energy that organizes and drives a compelling means for work and interaction amidst chaos. The means uses popular IT tools, saves time and energy, and builds volition, all of immense meaning to personnel. All exchange is captured in context and cast as dialogue. A flexible assembly line to muster the enterprise's knowledge on each event, a feedback culture for superior judgments, and collaboration across the internal boundaries for innovation are natural by-products.

3. Why and how will the process transform human endeavor?

The meltdown has shown inefficient administrations make people vulnerable. Reforms to create a performance culture rarely succeed. Workplace relationships are now far too numerous and complex for any personnel driven system to progress trust and teamwork. Consequently, teams rarely leverage more than 20% of their potential ability. The process can be easily rolled out across governments and enterprises to assure a means for the discipline and skills that drive success. It unlocks team ability to create potential for a quantum jump in performance in the near term in all spheres of activity. Remarkable results may be expected. For example, today a 15% rise in US Government efficiency will lower per capita tax by $445.

4. What makes the problem solution particularly meaningful in context of present times?

Incentives were believed to foster self-regulation. Business models were based on stability. The melt down has dumped both. Unable to pursue success by legitimate means organizations are failing. Desperate, Governments are offering aid that disregards their own solvency, and raising regulation. Given their usual inefficiency this demands either a global transformation in public administration to avoid compounding the mess or responsible corporate governance. The proven philosophy of Learning Organizations opened the way for constructive human effort in 1990. The philosophy has made poor headway since inception as it demands a culture for feedback and sharing. Today the culture depends on personnel. Fostering it is simply beyond their human capacity in terms of energy and nature. My creation of intelligent energy releases the demand on personnel for conducting feedback and sharing of knowledge.

5. What is the measurable impact that could be expected in 3-5 years?

The consistent coordination, feedback and sharing powered by the process induces trust and teamwork in the near term. An authoritative and noted study has determined: “For every 10% gain in teamwork and trust, the company can improve financial results by 30% within two years“. My prototype lowered work related anxiety over 80%, improved cycle time over 75% and reduced staff over 35% within a year though the workload grew near 30%. Superior decision making, innovation and empowerment were valuable by-products. Adoption of the system built around the process did not disrupt operations and was total at both the government and corporate site.

6. What is the modus operandi for releasing the energy of personnel to pursue success?

We expect to complete a pilot at any site, comprising about thirty personnel, within six months. We estimate this time is enough to put in place an infrastructure that can be rolled out for work and interaction across the extended enterprise, comprising the enterprise, its customers and business partners, under the supervision of a core managerial team. It should be possible to train the core team and define the process for fast forwarding the enterprise vision within the initial six months. Thereafter, periodic visits will be sufficient to monitor the health of the infrastructure and its response to the goals of the enterprise. IT vendors will be able to build bridges to enhance convergence of the infrastructure with existing assets and resources.