"Warm-up" Blogs

The following is a list of blogs made in the years up to 2015.

Announcing "Discovery Leadership and Management (TM")
Announcing "quantum co-creativity (TM)"
Announcing "Rapid Synchronous Process Change (TM)"
A super auditor for extraordinary times
Achieve win-win with value networks
BEIN(2)
Big Society Programme - The MakeItZone
Christmas Greetings - the Trinity / Triune value network
City firm adds value networks to portfolio

"Collaboration rather than conquest" could be a new mantra.

We have renamed this site as "Succeed in the value network space" and wish all our readers "power with good purpose."

Christie Sarri  ....... and ........   David Meggitt ......

...

.......at the grave of Nikos Kazantzakis, author of "Zorba the Greek," high on the ancient walls of Heraklion, Island Region of Crete, Greece.

Epitaph: "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

Posted...Remembrance Sunday (UK) 9th November 2014.

You are here: http://tinyurl.com/n7xkx8w

A peer reviewed Technical paper for the flagship journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers that introduced the value network approach to the profession has the following summary:-

"Civil engineers have a systems approach to model the behaviour of designed facilities and an appreciation of the complexity of natural environment. Yet many clients and implementation teams are constrained by management principles derived by 19th century industrialists which hinder the release of co-creativity required to deliver complicated infrastructures. This paper outlines and appraises the value network approach as a way for the industry to overcome these restrictions. It presents other case studies from other industries that show how the ingenuity to conceive, create and manage novel organizations can lead to a step change in project and programme performance."

An earlier summary was as follows: 

"Civil engineers have a systems approach to model the behaviour of designed facilities and an appreciation of the complexity of natural environment. Yet many clients and implementation teams are constrained by management principles derived by 19th century industrialists. These hinder the necessary release of co-creative potential required to deliver complicated infrastructures. This paper outlines and appraises the value network approach as a way to overcome these restrictions. It presents other industries’ case studies showing how the ingenuity to conceive, create and manage novel organizations can be harnessed in practice by adopting a new mindset. It concludes that, through using value networks, the construction industry can co-evolve solutions to cultural and practical obstacles by putting people at the centre of purposeful activity with a new way of perceiving how work is really done.  With the construction industry sector results in 2011 continuing to fall significantly, doing more of much the same is not a sustainable option. It is time to experiment."

Take your pick!

View and download the Paper here

Concept sketch for showing the relative significance of Formal and Informal contributions during the "Maturity Cycle" of an enterprise.

In some respects, the art and science of non military life cycle costing see here has advanced since the pioneering work undertaken for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu in the early 1980's.

A Google search for life-cycle costing or whole life costing will now yield a tranche of standards and synthetic values for project designers.

However, a significant stumbling block to their intelligent application in the UK was the silo'd devolution of budget responsibility between:

• development of facilities and
• operations

For organisations still struggling with this artificial division perpetuated by blinkered adoption of 19th century management principles, is now an opportune time to explore how business models built on traditional thinking can be adjusted to reveal where the true value lies in organisations and their built environment?

As usual, the value exchange system (VES)  "lens" allows participants to introduce this innovation and simultaneously engage participants / stakeholders in intelligent conversation about "sustainability," promoting growth and success.

You are at http://tinyurl.com/ooavdyl

Identifying and formulating projects that fit coherently with the national "will" is a complex affair. Even if a formal process be established, implementing it is complicated.

To illustrate, in the 1980's, a major kingdom in the Middle East used over 5,500 information elements in the preparation of its five year plan, where a single information element could consist of many tables of subject data or accompanying reports.  

The corresponding information flows (developed by this author and approved by the Client)  were as shown in the following diagrams.

a) Overview:-

b) More detailed view of Five year "Development Plan Preparation" in above diagram

Having developed the above diagrams with the planning Ministry then, it would be interesting to learn, now, what process the UK government uses to formulate the National Infrastructure Plan and the types of models and simulations used, if any.

It may also be instructive to appreciate the frequency and nature of the internal communication between relevant departments and agencies and other stakeholders. The following chart shows how that could be represented - an early version, perhaps, of Social Network Analysis (SNA). Interesting that it was criticized as being more of a sociogram rather than an exchange of information / ideas about National Planning issues!

Fast forward 25 years and new systems approaches could illuminate the process further and reveal the otherwise hidden connections that support and empower participants to achieve, together, growth and success. Recommended as a primary candidate systems approach is our co-evolved Value Exchange System (VES), a diagnostic and leadership tool for use at every level within the value network space.

You are at http://tinyurl.com/c974xef

In the late 1980's, strategic planning was the new replacement for the moribund corporate planning of earlier decades.

In 1988, the then Business Development Director of Y J Lovell Holdings PLC sanctioned a review for the Group of key information needs, resulting in a report and recommendations for the "Cultivation of use by staff of information of strategic value." This was undertaken on condition its findings could be made public to the industry when appropriate.

The purpose of the report was to set out the issues which drove the need to develop throughout the Group an outward perspective, to identify information of strategic value and its potential use, and to suggest tentative action plans.

The scale of the changes taking place in the external environment in which businesses operated could be illustrated by long term trends. For example, a trace of the variations in economic growth in the UK displayed intervals of some 50 years between the repeating cycles of peaks and troughs. These suggested that the 80's and 90's were set for another peak of innovative activity and change.

Although the Group was performing well within its sectors, to sustain that performance, entrepreneurship was required to exploit sources of opportunity through systematic innovation. The new age skill to be developed was "insight."

Longer term, changes in Group behaviour could be achieved by changing mindsets to develop an outward entrepreneurial attitude. This was expressed in traditional consulting methodology at the time as "unfreezing current attitudes and then refreezing them after an outward entrepreneurial attitude has been developed." (1)

A key challenge was to develop information flows that support thinking and analysis of strategic issues. Such a task required an understanding of:

• The processes involved in formulating business unit strategy.
• The pivotal role performed by the concept of competitive advantage in sustaining corporate performance. 
• The potential role of scenario variables and related causal factors as focal points for gathering market and business intelligence.

Further, a powerful diagram technique for representing how information could be used was proposed and a draft prepared that could be developed internally to reflect the Group's strategic planning needs.

To develop an outward business perspective, a four phase implementation programme was envisaged consisting of:

Phase 1 - Initiation. With centre staff, the development, use, testing, and agreement to an approach for achieving the programme objectives, to be conducted in two parts, Part 1, development; Part 2, use, testing and agreement.
Phase 2 - Critical Mass. Through a prototype project with a specified Division, the development of a critical mass of interest by implementing the approach agreed in Phase 1: - "Unfreezing of attitudes."
Phase 3 - Implementation. Group-wide implementation of new procedures: - "Changing of attitudes."
Phase 4 - Consolidation. Group consolidation of new administrative systems: - "Refreezing of attitudes."

It was recommended that:-

a) A diagram be developed showing strategic information flows, see following draft:

b) The implementation programme be adopted and action plans developed, using a Goal Directed Project Management approach.

................

In parallel, specific recommendations were made in conversation with the then Managing Director of the Clugsten Group to cultivate services of high value to project commissioning agencies prior to their formulation of civil engineering projects.

..................

Fast forward to 2012, now.  Consider, how to represent business models that neatly span the divide between the, understandably, sanitized versions of business models that appear in audited annual reports and the somewhat messy reality at the coalface.

Note that the value network approach is ideal for underpinning the representation of business models, understood to be a description of the structure of product, service and information flows and the roles of participating parties. (2)

Notes:

(1) Now, more participative methods using a mix of focused conversation, powerful questions and Appreciative Inquiry are recommended when time permits. Try, for example a new form of questionnaire that incorporates these methods ..... http://tinyurl.com/ccgsclo

(2) Defined in "Exploring corporate strategy," by Johnson et al, 7th edition, Prentice Hall, UK, 2005.

You are at http://tinyurl.com/c5k4nuv

Classical, methods for analysing value networks have been presented by Allee and Schwabe. These incorporate a mix of parameters including many that derive from Social Network Analysis. Resulting reports are packed with metrics, explanations, and charts for more than 50 network indicators including resilience, risk, stability, reciprocity, agility, perceived value. Their subsequent work has extended to a branch of analysis called "Predictive Analytics," and requires a "deep dive" into the underlying theory to explore how it is validated.

However, experience has shown that such comprehensive data collection and analysis can be overwhelming. Accordingly, we now recommend that focusing on a few critical factors at first, closely linked to the problem situation being addressed, to be both quicker in practice and more effective.

An early example of this simplification was given by Dr Laurence Lock Lee and Cai Kjaer in their 2008 paper "The Partnership Scorecard" which addressed just three factors: value, cost / risk, and an algorithm to compute "performance." Later in that year, in an assignment for Rolls Royce Marine, Meggitt selected a set of variables for each transaction comprising perceived: cost/risk to sender; criticality to receiver; value to receiver; value to network as a whole. These are readily assimilated by participants who have had no previous exposure to the approach.

During 2011, Martin Cleaver of Blended Perspectives, collaborated with Meggitt to create for on line use a prototype to support the value network approach. This includes special features that allow users to click on any element of the value network diagram and call up Roles, Deliverables and related transactions. Currently the system is set to allow scoring of each deliverable covering for both sender and receiver: perceived value; criticality; risk factor. The results are  portrayed both graphically and in table form.

Currently (2012), an online system, with a different platform, is being created for release in the civil engineering and built environment sector.

Links to subsequent guidance will be posted here.

You are at http://tinyurl.com/6zlxe79

For some, Christmas is a time for renewing relationships and deepening those we allow to flourish. 

Christians have some rather special relationships to consider, and we can use value networks to help illuminate these. This blog focuses on the Trinity - a key model we have of God.

Some history: in the 2nd century AD, the first major Christian theologian, Tertullian, a Carthaginian who thought and wrote in Latin, coined the term Trinitas. He had some pretty deep disagreements with an important school of thought at the time - Monarchianism. Usefully for us, they had developed a model of, or approach to understanding, "God" as "modalist." This saw the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit  as corresponding merely to different aspects or modes of the same divine being, playing transitory parts in succession, like an actor on the Classical stage donning a theatrical mask to denote a tragic or comic role or "Persona."  (MacCulloch, D. A History of Christianity. London, 2009).

Fast forward to the theologians of the 19th and 20th centuries and we discover a real attempt to interpret classical trinitarian doctine, to get beneath its surface grammar and penetrate its deepest intention. It is now affirmed that God is Triune, the reality of shared love and life rather than in terms of domineering power. (Migliore, Daniel.L Faith seeking understanding - an introduction to Christian Theology, 2nd edn. USA. 2004).

So, turn to our diagram below. We can still with theological credibility depict three "role plays" shown in our circles with a direct connection to ourselves as a person. But the mix of God as three roles (to our limited understanding, of the mystery of God) is not sequential but a dynamic mix or dance of interplays between aspects of God and each person who allows it. The contributions to our lives can be identified and assessed.

There has to be some "mechanism" for this transfer, and we can utilise the discoveries and theories from physics and other sciences to glimpse how this may occur. This is represented as an inner cloud.

Infusing this, though, is the activity of the "Maker," represented as an overarching outer cloud.

What questions does this depiction evoke? 

I am grateful for:

• conversations with our home group members, Margot, Cathy, Jaysie, Sandy, Stafford, Simon who have patiently endured my contributions and for their prayers
• guidance from Rvd. Phillip Johnson, vicar of All Saints' Weston for illuminating further the mysteries of the Trinity and his inspired leadership.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

You are at http://tinyurl.com/cawyhxw

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in an address in St Paul's Catheral, London on Tuesday, 31st March:-

"Markets need morals.

The reason I have been long fascinated by Adam Smith, who came from my home town of Kirkcaldy, is that he recognised that the invisible hand of the market had to be accompanied by the helping hand of society, that he argued the flourishing of moral sentiments comes before and is the foundation of the wealth of nations.

So the challenge for our generation is now clear: whether or not we can formulate global rules for our global financial and economic systems; global rules that are grounded in our shared values."

Adam Smith also referred to the "stupidity of mind" induced by being over mechanistic. We should be careful not to over regulate.

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The epitaph read - "She empowered the co-creativity of millions."

Sounds good! Why? Because I, for one, believe that, as co-creators with a Divine entity in the world (a Christian would say "co-creators with God in the world;" a Muslim, "creators under Allah on earth;" and in Buddhism, "consider Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom and creativity")  we have an obligation to utilise our capabilities to leave the world in a state that is fit for purpose for future generations.  

Some may align with that purpose. Yet, no endeavour that is hard to achieve can be accomplished in isolation. Consider, instead, creating with trusted colleagues a purposeful business ecosystem that meets both collective goals and aspirations and individual ones. Use the value network approach. Not only will it help to get to the crux of a situation, It will also help engage with and empower your collaborators. Details of the method and its enthusiastic followers can be found here.

The suggested roles that can be played in the ecosystem are shown in orange below and consist of:

• Prospect / client and cluster in which it resides
• Promoter / service formulator
• Alliance partners / participants
• Discipline expert
• Information product developer
• Standards maintainer
• Behaviour guiders
• Competitors

We use the roles to co-develop a value network view of the business ecosystem. My own first pass is sketched out below. It illustrates the mix of deliverables that could be exchanged, either directly or indirectly, between participants playing one or more of the above roles.

Having co-evolved a sense of the possible, decide a mix of strategic thrusts that address market opportunities and work up the detail. It will become clear, in so doing, that you will be able to answer the following questions:

• Where are your innovative contributions hampered by lack of wider co-operation, co-investment, and adoption of your ideas?

• What innovative idea could you take to customers if you could orchestrate a wider community of players to endorse it that would be profoundly more effective than what you can currently offer?

(Source of the above questions: "The death of competition - leadership and strategies in the age of business ecosystems," James E Moore, 1996, Harper Business.) 

I look forward to the journey ahead. ...

My development action plan within the CPD process developed by the Institution of Civil Engineers is here... ICE_Form%203190_DMeggitt.pdf

David Meggitt

You are at http://tinyurl.com/4lxynxr

Business is an agent of world benefit with the "sustainability" lens. Refer ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRtsZ7peYc

Let the value network lens underpin the valuing of each other, the generative dialogue between diverse cultures and the co-creation of new business models through team contribution at every level.

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Knowledge Archetype.pdf

The turbulent economic environment in the UK calls for “out-of-the-box” thinking linked to action that “engages.” The uncertainty and unpredictability of future events suggests that such action is now urgent.

The good news is that flexibility is now the mantra and organisation leaders have tended to hoard staff on renegotiated terms rather than seek immediate cost cutting lay-offs.

However, with reductions in overall demand for products and services predicted in many sectors (see comment below), a “reorientation” to identify and meet customer needs and wants in the value chain is this week’s priority.

But how is this achieved? Traditional management thinks “Reorganise!” with the inevitable disruption and delays that associated with identifying and filling new job positions: all accompanied by a lowering of morale over a critical, often prolonged period.

An alternative approach is offered by pedigree marketing and technology specialists Hunter Hastings and Jeff Saperstein in their new book “Bust the Silos – opening your organization for growth.” They are a new breed of specialists who are embracing the value network approach to tackle complex business and organisational challenges.

To tackle the demand deficit, their approach is simple. Wear a “value network” hat and conceive a “Demand Creation Network,” with new roles that are open to all who feel they can contribute. No reorganisation; just a reorientation.

Figure 1-1 in the book illustrates how they replace structure with a network in order to build growth capability. The diagram following captures the essence of the role plays and deliverables shown in the Figure whilst embodying the authentic value network approach that Hunter and Jeff depart from slightly in their representation, which devotees will be quick to spot.

Ideas for moving from top-down Government control to encouragement of more participative government at a local level are in the air. For example, the UK Conservative Party Manifesto published yesterday makes this a core theme; getting stuck in as a volunteer and building a nation of people who look out for others and not assuming that politicians have all the answers.

Pilot to transform supply chains from efficient supply

to innovation pipeline

You are at http://tinyurl.com/yeu29xj