We believe in a new natural state of organization, a new era that turns companies into living systems, more liquid realities that multiply their learning capacities and their power for the creation and transforming of society.
An exciting scenario that inspires us, where we want to transform by acting together.
We at DOT want to invite organizations to join us in this new era to design ecosystems that are more rich and fertile to create new solutions.
Let’s start with some learning.
Everything revolves around people and their transforming power.
We can cross-reference innumerable lists full of characteristics and criteria to design the organization of the future, but it all comes from a basic concept, the Individual and his/her ability to transform reality.
This seems obvious but reality shows us the opposite. We find realities where people and teams are “deactivated”, where we don’t find the energy and passion necessary to create our shared projects and future together.
Organizations must be designed to create situations where people are happy and their audacity can emerge. Where they can be authentic and reproduce what makes us irreplaceable, our ability to imagine and create, to inspire and excite, believe and learn. This is how we can create and execute this new era.
A famous Basque group sings about passion being the minimum required. Certainly, we believe that organizations where people find fervour and pride in what they do often radiate a different energy and this is the basis for creating something different.
Although, as Daniel Pink points out, just pure passion, in itself, is not enough to do difficult things and persevere. As humans, we usually develop the passion to learn and practice something we like, but this passion evolves through the learning process itself and the exploration into something deeper, more sustainable and trustworthy: the pursuit of a purpose or desire. To do something different that make a change.
So, we need to create environments that help us explore, imagine and experience, to find our own passion, and connect it to the pursuit of a purpose greater than mere enjoyment, a purpose that emotionally binds people and companies to transform reality.
Are the organizations prepared?
Companies that solve challenges in an osmotic environment
We are living in an extremely fast and highly connected reality, where the pace of change has increased significantly, and whether we want it to be so or not, we are stronger and better when we collaborate openly with others. Connections and collaborations that in the past seemed impossible are resulting in disruptive solutions to global challenges.
Caption: Open Agriculture (OpenAG) Initiative at the MIT Media Lab It is an open source ecosystem of food technologies that allow and promote transparency, network experimentation, education and local production to create more sustainable and healthy food systems
Placing the boundary of innovation based on the organization’s limitations does not seem to make much sense in this increasingly shared world. Understanding that a company will not find a black hole once they cross boundaries, but that a new fertile space of collaboration with other companies or users is created, meaning the design of a new system of relationships that is more open and diverse.
If in the past ecosystems and collaborations between different agents were based on the creation of knowledge or on the development of a complementary offer/value for the client, we now create ecosystems of innovation, where collaborations are more diverse, multidisciplinary and their origin or the connection between agents is often emotional and not so strictly economic.
Reality and especially the future, leads us to transcend from problem solving, and to be bold in solving the challenges of society and the millennium.
Caption: Tesla and Toms, although with very different business models, represent a new business paradigm in the role of organizations as agents of impact and social transformation.
On the other hand, people, in general, but most especially we, the new generation, feel attracted to working for companies whose brands we admire not only for their products but also for their position and values. Organizations that are innovative, creative and able to generate social impact.
Entrepreneurial teams as engines of change
In times of difficulty and uncertainty, a habitual pattern of behaviour in people and organizations is usually not to take risks, restrain themselves, stay in the same position, protect themselves, and even hide.
In contrast, we also find some behaviours that go beyond the norm and are capable of doing extraordinary things. They are people and organizations that, in the face of adversity and uncertainty, are able to arouse their curiosity and have the courage to lead the future that is emerging.
We have observed that there is a direct relationship between the result, in terms of innovation or impact produced, and the degree of people involvement or commitment to a higher purpose.
The connection to that purpose produces behaviours in people and teams that resemble those we can see in a start-up or entrepreneurial team. Teams focused on creating greater value are able to lead disruptive innovations.
To reproduce these behaviours, we design multidisciplinary environments that encourage collaboration and continuous learning. Environments where there are structures that are flexible and open enough to foster an open and networked innovative culture.
Caption: Creating alignment, preventing bureaucracy, and engaging employees is a constant struggle for many fast-growing organizations. Spotify seems to have found a good recipe to do this.
Creating a deep-rooted culture that supports innovation, facilitates creativity and experimentation, where people feel connected and have the desire to seek out new solutions, is the way to respond to the new paradigm, a new era. A connected company, open to collaborate and innovate with other organizations and disciplines.
A new exciting era is awakening.