Get more done with fewer resources by using internal networks to their highest potential

In today’s economic climate, many business leaders are thinking about how to do more with fewer resources. Cutting budgets, delaying projects and layoffs can only help so much. Old methods are not producing the desired results and it seems like there are no alternatives. Decision makers want real solutions to tough problems and need a different approach.
When the economy is down, it is a great time to embrace innovative methods for moving a business forward. How can productivity be improved? How can the best and most influential employees be retained to get the work done efficiently? Obvious options include restructuring or reevaluating current resources. Workers are asked to do more and more for their organizations to meet goals and remain competitive. But is this effective?

Let’s consider a new way to view people as resources in an organization.
A typical view of an organization relies on an organization chart. We often relate to the functions of an organization based on this view of people as resources; they support the organization and produce business results. But is this how work really gets done: by following the organization chart flow? Don’t answer too fast.

We all have work relationships. It is part of human nature to develop relationships – even at work. These informal relationships develop organically based on trust and according to work circumstances. Exploring these relationships explains how the work actually gets done in any organization.
How do you stay on top of an ever-changing business environment, business demands, and increased competition? The best answer is to make informed decisions based on objective information about how the work really gets done in your organization. A network analysis uncovers information that is often hidden about an organization’s current and most valuable resources of its people.

Once a company’s network is accurately analyzed, it’s possible to prepare and position the business now to respond when the economy improves.

The who, what, when, where and why of understanding the power of informal relationships in the workplace are:
Who: All people in an organization no matter level or title
What: A network analysis of how the work really gets done in an organization
When: Now – for those looking to beat the competition, increase business results, do more with less, and manage based on information unavailable through any other method.
Where: Within any company/organization
Why: To address the causes, rather than the symptoms of organizational problems

As an example, a business owner is making budget cuts but still wants to move forward with some plans put in place for employee development needs that cannot wait. Some communication issues (a symptom) among departmental groups are apparent. A teambuilding session would offer a resolution to this issue while providing some teamwork training at the same time. To most, this may sound like a good plan and good use of the company’s precious dollars. Never before has it been so critical that the money spent produces the desired results.

Therefore, it’s important to consider: Is communication really the problem (the cause)? Could it be something else? Is there a way to be sure? There are some options.
1. Do nothing
2. Go ahead with the teambuilding session and hope for the best
3. Address the cause, not the symptoms of the communication issue

Addressing the causes, not the symptoms of issues in any organization is best done using the Knowledge, Experience, Skills (KÄ’S) Network Analysis system. The networks become visible through maps, a visual display of work relationships – the connected knowledge in an organization. Patterns emerge and the maps are combined with metrics that offer a valid interpretation of what is really occurring in the organization. The analysis identifies key players and other information for leaders to make informed decisions that reduce the risk of wasting budget dollars.

KÄ’S Network Analysis is useful for several applications in the workplace including such things as organization restructuring, succession planning, change management, and mergers and acquisitions to name a few. The analysis provides rich information and recommendations about what is working in an organization and what is not working. Networks are dynamic and provide a snapshot of what is occurring real-time for objective information to make informed decisions.

As a business leader, you can continue to base your decisions on the organization chart (do the same thing and expect different results – the definition of insanity). Or, you can use the network and make informed decisions that will exact change and results that are swift and essential. Which will you choose?

Dr. Deborah Peck is the president and principal consultant at Seity, Inc. (www.seity.com). She is the developer of the Knowledge, Experience, Skills (KÄ’S) Network Analysis system, which physically maps work relationships and productivity paths within organizations. Dr. Peck will introduce how KÄ’S unlocks information and knowledge leaders need in order to understand how their organization is connected at the Unlock It! Forum, taking place September 17, 2009 at the Desert Willow Conference Center in Phoenix. For more details or to register, please visit http://www.seity.com/eventregistration. Dr. Deborah Peck may be reached directly at 480.922.7102 or dpeck@seity.com.

NEWS

CONTACT:
Deborah Peck
(480) 922-7102
dpeck@seity.com
http://www.seity.com/eventregistration

LEARN TO DO MORE WITH LESS IN BUSINESS
Unlock It! Forum to reveal fresh approaches for leaders

Are you a business leader who is struggling to do more with fewer resources? Does it feel like the business world is changing and you just can’t get a handle on it? You’re not alone. A shift is happening; in the way your teams work together, the way you communicate, and in the need for providing everything cheaper/better/faster. It is all about information, who’s using it and how, and who’s influencing others in your organization.

Uncovering your organization’s hidden potential and leveraging the power of the connected knowledge will be the focus of the upcoming Unlock It! Forum, taking place on September 17, 2009, from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Desert Willow Conference Center, 4340 East Cotton Center Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85040. This conference will give leaders a must-know overview of business trends and introduce an analysis tool that illustrates how these trends are directly affecting their organization’s needs. The forum presenters will provide specific solutions to address those needs and make change happen.

Anyone who feels challenged to do more with less, make correct decisions quickly, respond to changes in the marketplace and make effective plans to help their organizations thrive should attend. Middle managers and above, innovative leaders, and small business owners interested in moving forward faster will all benefit from this knowledge exchange forum. Attendees will discover if their organization culture includes trust among team members, which will help to gain intellectual capital and increase the organization’s competitive edge. Participants will also learn objectively how work really gets done, to best maintain and promote talent, and to reduce turnover and improve succession-planning results.

Speakers will include futurist Mary O’Hara-Devereaux, Ph.D., who will lead a visionary presentation discussing trends that drive the shifts we’re experiencing in business today, and management consultant, Deborah Peck, Ph.D., who will guide attendees through an interactive demonstration of her Knowledge, Experience, Skills (KÄ’S) Network Analysis system. The KÄ’S system physically maps work relationships and productivity paths within organizations. Dr. Peck will introduce how KÄ’S unlocks information and knowledge that leaders need to understand how their organization is connected, and to manage risk inherent in the business shift.

The cost of the 3 ½ hour forum is only $125 per person. This includes tools and interactive guidance to outline both long-term and immediate solutions which can be applied to resolve the cause of workplace problems, not just mask the symptoms. Each participant will also receive a copy of Dr. Mary O’Hara-Devereaux’s latest book Navigating the Badlands: Thriving in this Decade of Radical Transformation and Dr. Deborah Peck’s (Knowledge, Experience, Skills) KÄ’S Network Analysis booklet. Hot and cold hors d’ouvres and nonalcoholic beverages will be served.

Registration is available online at http://www.seity.com/eventregistration. For more details, please contact Deborah Peck at Seity, Inc., 480.922.7102, dpeck@seity.com.

ABOUT SEITY, INC.:
Seity, Inc. (www.seity.com) works with people throughout the organization to increase effectiveness, build trust, and improve results. Methods are tailored to the clients’ needs and business objectives. We have more than 25 years in organizational improvement methods that focus on business development from the perspective of the most valuable asset to an organization, the people. Seity is positioned to support the shift in business functions caused by technology, outsourcing, and a virtual workforce, while focusing on the impact to people, workgroups, and the organization. Expertise is industry independent and has been effectively applied in technologies, financial, healthcare, and education. Seity specializes in KÄ’S Network Analysis, which uses Social Network Analysis methodology.

ABOUT GLOBAL FORESIGHT, INC.
Global Foresight (www.global-foresight.net) helps courageous leaders scan, scout, and steer their way through a turbulent new phase of global transformation to targets no one else can see. Its mission is to help leaders and companies to thrive not just survive the Badlands by building a flywheel of serial innovation. Founder Mary O’Hara-Devereaux, Ph.D., and the Global Foresight team believe breakthrough innovation is the “holy grail” of sustainable profitable growth. Their approach is collaborative, rich with inspiring experiences and supported with good data and very cool processes.

# # #

Seity, Inc. 2008 -

This information is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or used without express written permission from Seity, Inc.

KÄ’S Network Analysis
The 3rd Dimension to 360 Feedback and Leadership Coaching

The KÄ’S Network Analysis maps the Knowledge, Experience and Skills that are distributed among members of individual work groups or entire organizations. The analysis identifies key players, critical knowledge sources, information brokers and maps how work is actually done. It may also be used to add value to the management coaching and development efforts within an organization.

KÄ’S Network Analysis offers the 3rd dimension to 360° feedback and leadership coaching. Here is how the process might work:

A well known leadership coaching tool is a 360° feedback analysis. The 360 analysis is built using input from peers, other executives and employees in the organization. As an example, let’s assume this leader is an executive and has over 30 direct reports in the organization. The 360° analysis survey asks about items such as leadership, decision making, communication, problem solving, team building and other skills which we believe are required for leaders to be effective.

Although the 360° instrument is very useful to give candid feedback to a leader, it doesn’t tell the whole picture of how that leader is functionally integrated with his or her organization. KÄ’S network analysis offers the 3rd dimension to the coaching process. Using a simple survey of 5-7 questions, the leader will discover just how much he or she knows about how the work really gets done in the organization.

How does that help with coaching and 360° feedback?

Using a map of the organization’s informal networks highlighting workflow, innovation processes, social interaction, locations of expertise and sources of learning, the leader can see how and where the work really gets done in the organization. The KÄ’S data is an excellent reference for strategy and tactical planning purposes; for such things as succession planning, improving relationships (including the leaders), communication, and one of the most important elements of trust. Trust is not obvious from a 360° assessment yet this analysis is designed to provide that measure because all sucessful work relationships are built around trust.

The analysis also offers a wealth of information that the leader can use for other organizational activities. As an example, if the leader is planning a organizational change of any kind, the KÄ’S results will higlight the informal change leaders. The executive may then assign these informal leaders key positions in the change project. Leveraging these defacto leaders will insure that informal resistance is reduced, change is accepted, and a new status quo is in place sooner. Decreasing the resistance to any change is invaluable to a leader and organization because it reduces cost, increases employee engagement and satisfaction, and insures that the change goals and objectives are met on time, on budget, and likely with efficient resources.

The KÄ’S Network Analysis is very straightforward. The analysis discovers the informal system of relationships using a 5 phase process that requires very little time from the employees and produces a valuable insight for the organization. The 6th phase described below is optional for organizations that want to implement or use the information from KÄ’S to develop organization specific improvement activities. The map and analysis are delivered as a business tool which can be leveraged by the organization to lower cost, improve work processes, lower turnover or to help provide a competitive advantage.

Phase 1: Definition of Project
The objectives, scope are defined with the client. We will jointly formulate the diagnostic questions, define access rights, agree upon a debriefing process and confidentiality measures to establish a common framework.

Phase 2: Preparation of Diagnosis
We will construct the survey and test it with sample participants. In addition, communication strategies for publishing the survey and participation incentives for are defined.

Phase 3: Survey Deployment
We work to insure a maximum response rate for the survey. Participants are notified and receive directions and support as needed.

Phase 4: Analysis of Results
The data analysis begins immediately after survey closure, and the results are processed, graphical maps and text-based reports are produced which identify the core organization alignments and leverage points.

Phase 5: Recommendations
We provide detailed results with customized analysis, conclusions and recommendations for management opportunities.

Phase 6: Implementation of Recommendations
As a follow on activity, Seity may support you in optimizing your social networks by conducting or assisting in activities such as; talent management, teambuilding, management development, change management, knowledge and process mapping and others.

The information that Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides is an important first step for Knowledge Management (KM) system development. KM systems are primarily intended to identify the knowledge level and skills of workers, creating a knowledge worker org chart. Knowledge workers are people who think for a living (Davenport, 2005). However, having a database of knowledge workers offers little to any organization other than a depository of data. Getting employees to use KM has been an issue for many companies. Perhaps there is a method to not only use KM data but also to offer characteristics of each individual based on their work relationships and interaction. Actually using the knowledge and the skills is what is important. Getting relationships identified will enhance the potential for using the knowledge and identifying the key players for any project. SNA provides this added value.

SNA is a tool, which uncovers a wealth of information that can be used for such things as: change management, strategy or tactical planning, leadership and management development, decision-making, problem solving, innovation, creativity, teamwork, trust and communication, as well as others. SNA identifies the informal work relationships in any organization; how the work actually gets done. For KM purposes, identifying the key contributors to any work environment is essential to succession planning, disaster planning, project assignments, or preparing for a pandemic. These work relationships bring KM to life and makes the information useful.

Peter Drucker suggested in 1997 the productivity of knowledge and knowledge workers will not be the only competitive factor in the world economy. It is, however, likely to become the decisive factor, at least for most industries in the developed countries. Why are knowledge workers important to the world economy? They are a large and growing category of workers making up at least 25% of the employed population. Mary O’Hara-Deveraux (2004), a noted futurist, discusses the importance of identifying social networks in the workplace. She suggests that in a knowledge work economy, social networks (social capital) are key and must be understood and measured just as much as human capital. Identifying social networks based on the human capital already present gives the advantage that organizations want, hire for, and require for ongoing success. This advantage (combining social and human capital) is the intellectual capital of an organization, which is a key to KM.

There are many reasons why KM is important for any business. But how do you get started identifying knowledge workers? Why is it important to business and productivity to identify knowledge workers? Once knowledge workers are identified, what then? This paper will answer each of these questions using SNA as a tool for simplifying the answers.

How do you get started identifying knowledge workers?

Most managers have an intuitive sense about the workers in their organization, who are the key people, and those that they must retain. Organizations need to identify which workers require training or which provide a return on investment to the business; who should be offered career growth opportunities. Enhancing the human capital investment of an organization is one effective method to improve the bottom line. However, an intuitive sense by a few managers offers nothing more than personal opinion and perhaps favoritism and bias about certain workers. Knowledge workers are important to the success of an organization; connected knowledge workers are even more vital.

Identifying knowledge workers can be done quite easily using SNA. If an organization has a KM database and already identified some key worker’s skills, SNA then offers added value to that data. SNA highlights who the critical resources are in the organization beyond knowledge, skills, and abilities. This insight might help with leadership identification, trust issues, communication strengths / deficiencies, or innovation skills that are intangible and hidden in most organizations.

SNA presents this analysis in the form that common KM tools do not; who are the key people, why they are key and what happens to the organization should these individuals leave. KM identifies explicit knowledge while SNA identifies tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is the intangible information or the learning that occurs in interaction between employees. For example, explicit knowledge includes documents, project plans, manuals, databases, or anything that is written and documented as a source of information. Tacit knowledge is a new idea, a newly learned fact from a class or discussion, or what is stored in people’s heads that they use to do their jobs.

A common KM database does not provide the intelligence to determine which of these knowledge workers are intricately involved in the organization and also the relationships developed among employees within the organization. It is these relationships that are developing or have developed that cannot be taught, trained, or planned for without some type of identification and understanding of how these networks developed and the impact to the organization should they be disrupted. Identifying these networks allows organizations to manage strategic plans and business objectives more effectively.

Is it important to business and productivity to identify knowledge workers?

It is critical to an organization to know who the key contributors are in the organization. It is important to identify these knowledge workers and map their connections. The mapping process identifies relationships and assigns a weight for each link in the map The process also identifies key individuals and the functions they perform to strengthen the network. The social network functions much like a machine there are many key parts and should any part be removed there is an impact. Arbitrarily change the social network will have an effect upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Knowing the importance of these key functions, an organization can plan what can be done to encourage and retain these individuals, offer backup to them so there is depth in the organization, gain visibility into their methods, and increase productivity.

KM is even more important in organizations today to prepare for baby boomer retirement, outsourcing trends, or social issues such as pandemics that can affect organization stability. SNA shows how knowledge flows through the organization; this is the feeder process for KM and can be done quickly and easily to determine how best to proceed with any KM initiative.

Social networks develop naturally and are built based on trust. These networks share tacit knowledge; the knowledge in people’s heads that is not captured by company processes and procedures. The informal nature of the social network is an even more important reason to map these relationships to identify these key networks and who shares the tacit knowledge who owns the wealth of information the organization depends upon for growth, competition, and survival. SNA will map the networks, identify key people and their connections and offer any organization an opportunity to optimize and support them with business objectives, strategy, and goals.

Once knowledge workers are identified, what then?

Once knowledge workers are identified using the SNA process, they can be compared to any other database or documentation already used within the organization to validate and enhance the information. If the SNA process is the first identification of knowledge workers, it can be used as the starting point.

Using the SNA data collected, the network members are identified according to the role or function they perform in the network. Common SNA roles or functions may be connectors, gatekeepers, and pulsetakers. Identifying individuals and their role offers the organization opportunities for developing strategies, tactical planning, change management effectiveness and leadership development. Individuals may be identified for special projects based the roles they naturally perform in the informal networks thus shaping the process for the best chance of success.

SNA is an effective tool that provides a high level view of the organization or a more granular snapshot of particular groups for planning and development purposes. SNA may be used to increase productivity, employee satisfaction and motivation, overall organization well-being, and capitalizes on the most important asset in an organization of the people.

Consultant builds organizational value

Helping organizations and individuals increase effectiveness, build trust and improve results, Deborah Peck, Ph.D., owner of Seity, Inc., is known for taking businesses to the next level. With effective solutions tailored to the client’s needs and business objectives, Peck has positioned her company to support the shift in business functions caused by technology, outsourcing and a virtual workforce, while focusing on the impact as it affects people and organizations.
A former systems programmer who worked her way through the ranks of technical management, Peck realized that her true passion was working with people. Motivated to find a career that combined both her skills and interests, she earned her doctorate in Organizational Psychology and began Seity, an organizational consulting firm.

Improving relationships within the workplace
“My goal is to collaborate with individuals and organizations to enhance value by focusing on increasing performance and productivity, says Peck. The value I bring to companies is meaningful and realistic solutions that improve individual and team effectiveness. The solutions are related to human factors, organization design, workplace relationships and improving workflow based on human behavior and interaction.
Peck employs a variety of methodologies, including social network analysis, which looks at how people get their work done by mapping actual working relationships rather than reviewing an organization chart; continuous learning for employees; change management for a variety of initiatives; and offering a guaranteed return on investment to her clients.
I look at an organization’s strengths” the things that they are doing right, says Peck. After a simple evaluation process, I use the information to identify requirements and business objectives to get to the next level.

Easing the path to success with trust and integrity
Using various techniques, Peck identifies expertise and information within an organization that builds on what works, and creates an action plan for improvements.
I offer tools to clients that encourage growth and innovation in the workplace, says Peck. It’s a win-win situation for both employees and employers. Together we find the best fit for employees, identify growth opportunities, and improve organizational productivity.
Working with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies in industries ranging from technical to finance to health care, Peck says the positive reception she has received can be attributed to the value and integrity she strives to bring to each organization with which she works. My methods produce a return on investment. Companies discover that people gain knowledge and effectiveness, while improving the workplace.