Slides for a talk I shared at KM Asia Conference in Hong Kong on the models & thinking that underpinned the design of Amplify to catalyse a learning organisation and culture of innovation and collaboration across business eco-systems

1. Business eco-systems and a culture
of innovation
KM Asia, Hong Kong
18 Nov 2015

2. –George Box, Statistician, 1976
“All models are wrong,
but some are useful.”

3. Dave Snowden: Cynefin Model

4. https://youtu.be/IGQmdoK_ZfY
“Inattentional blindness.”
Arien Mack and Irvin Rock in 1992, MIT Press 1998

5. Incite a culture of challenging the
status quo and “having a go”

6. Change

8. –Richard Seeley, Emergence in Organisations, 2003
“Emergence is a key property of complex
systems. It is also, many believe, the key to
fundamental change in human organisations.
….. while emergence is neither predictable nor
controllable there are some factors which
predispose an organisation towards emergent
change. ….
these factors can be ‘tuned’ in such a way that
not only is the emergence of new patterns
made more likely but also that these patterns
will be similar to the patterns which are desired
by the members of the organisation.”

9. Seeding Emergence
Process
Everyone speaks with many others
Relevant & ‘irrelevant’ inputs
Many short ‘rounds’, iterative, agile
Safe, egalitarian environment
Freedom within a framework, set a
deadline, tight time-keeping
Compelling vision,
Sit with discomfort and apparent
inaction
Conditions for emergence
Connectivity
Diversity
Rate of information flow
Lack of inhibitors
Good boundaries
Intention, positive interaction
Watchful anticipation

10. Push ( directed, controlled) Pull ( emergent)
Organised in ‘silos’ of
accountability
1. Build connectivity
Ensure everyone ‘salutes the flag’ 2. Encourage diversity
Manage communication messaging 3. Have conversations in corridors
Consistent bureaucratic processes 4. Acknowledge & deal with ambiguity
Appointed leader is in charge 5. Give everyone an opportunity to lead
Announce new changes 6. Seek input on change
Tell people what to do 7. Tell people what not to do ( boundaries)
Specified objectives and KPIs 8. Agree energising goals, set deadlines
Blame people for failures 9. Learn from events
Micro-manage & steer 10. Watchful and patient anticipation
Emergent design for innovation
culture transformation

11. “The only sustainable competitive advantage
is to learn faster than the competition”

12. Typical L&D investment

13. From Hierarchy to Wirearchy
- credit Jon Husband, 1998

15. Show and Share EXPO

16. AMP’s petri-dish for experimentation

17. From Corporate HQ
to festival of learning

18. Online ideas challenges

19. Creativity Partnerships

21. Impact

22. Old Change/ New change

23. The new UNICORNS

24. “Torn Between Two Worlds
“Today, leaders and change makers across all
institutions are torn between worlds:
On the one hand they are confronted with a set of
unprecedented 21st- century leadership challenges;
and on the other they find themselves equipped with a
20th-century management toolkit that is inadequate to
fix the problems they face.
Between these two worlds there yawns a wide chasm
that today’s leaders struggle to bridge.”
– Otta Scharmer, MIT

26. Thank you