Assigned reading A4 summaries
Understanding “New Power”
Challenging traditional leadership, there’s a power shift from “Old Power” to “New Power”
Old Power New Power
Currency, held by few Current, made by many
Closed, inaccessible and leader-driven Open, uploads and distributes
Own, know or control Peer coordination, capacity and desire
Just more than consumption Beyond consumption
New Power models - growing to active consumption
- Sharing and shaping (Facebook) Share and shape content, participation, adaptation
- Funding (Kickstarter) Crowd-funding by giving, lending and investing
- Producing (YouTube) Creating or delivering content yourself
- Co-ownership (Wikipedia) Partial or complete ownership in content
New Power values: feedback/feed-in loops, payoffs of peer based collective action
- Governance Informal, opt-in decision making, self-organisation
- Collaboration Reinforce instinct to cooperate, open source collaboration
- DIO Do It Ourselves
- Transparency Radical transparency
- Affiliation Short-term, more overall participation
Framework
Old Power Values New Power Values
New Power Model Connectors (Facebook, UBER) Crowds (Lyft, Kickstarter)
Old Power Model Castles (Apple, Obama) Cheerleaders (The Guardian)
Possibility to move from quadrant to quadrant
Cultivating New Power The essential tasks to develop new power
- Audit your power Plot your organisation now and in the future, start conversations
- Occupy yourself Introspection, engage in honest conversation, inside and outside
- Develop a movement Mobilize wider community of people, true believers
mindset
Challenge for New Power
- Respect you communities Respect expectations of critical stakeholders
(don’t become the Man)
- Go bilingual Deploy old power connections to get what you need
- Get structural Operate with a superstructural design
Those capable must turn their energies to something fundamental: redesigning society’s systems and
structures to meaningfully include and empower more people. Willingness to engage with the
challenges of the least powerful.
Uber fast-growing network with no physical infrastructure Building trust and good behaviour
, Assigned reading A4 summaries
Harnessing everyday genius
Number of good jobs is declining Widespread assumption that low-wage jobs are filled with
minimally capable people Need for increased authority and accountability on the front-lines
Empowerment of the frontline workers, decentralization of power, increase in productivity.
In practice: Nucor (coordination), Buurtzorg (part-time roles), Svenska Handelsbanken (responsible)
How the Journey began – mid 2000’s
Concerns that Michelin was crowding out local initiative and creativity, “risk of losing their soul”
Jean-Michel Guillon agreed that frontline teams need to pursue own goals and improve local
operations
Bertrand Ballarin developed a sense of shared purpose, upgraded workers skills and given freedom
Step 1: Launching the movement
The path to empowerment
- Pitch to local managers, encourage
- Focus on what, not how 1. Begin at the bottom
- Shift role from “deciding” to “enabling” a. Frontline teams
2. Make it voluntary
Step 2: Converging on a shared view
a. Invite teams
- Connect teams 3. Encourage discovery
- MAPPEDIA to share findings and address a. Give freedom
common problems 4. Keep your commitments
- Effect on productivity and engagement a. Original goals
5. Upgrade skills
Step 3: Scaling up a. Get the training
- Challenge plant leaders to redefine 6. Be patient
- Adopt MAPPEDIA solutions, brainstorming a. Takes time to grow
sessions 7. Work for win-wins
- Trust is key a. Both you and team
Step 4: Redefining boundaries and roles
- Bigger roles, weigh in on decisions
- Launch courses, invest in skills
- Frontline empowerment freed managers to focus on more-rewarding work
Step 5: Renegotiate relationships with HQ
- Traditionally depended on central functions
- Delegating target setting to all plants
- Central control shrank instead of growing
Major reorganisation further decentralized decision-making. Responsabilisation kept early objectives
broad and means purposefully vague. Goal was to build commitment rather than force adaption.
Michelin provided opportunities for personal growth, and contribution, had faith in their potential
and is prepared to invest in their skills and reward their contributions.