Attention Deficit, Corporate Style +
... a few interesting items from a recent MeansBusiness newsletter...
Attention Deficit, Corporate Style
Thomas H. Davenport*
It's hard for an organization or even an individual to know what information they're missing if they're focused on the wrong places. But if there's a general feeling of information overload and stress, then there's probably attention deficit. If you have a sense that the attention of a large portion of your employees is going in the wrong places, then there's attention deficit...From an organizational standpoint, the primary downside is missing something important in your competitive environment. That might include things like the growing dissatisfaction of a large customer, or a competitor developing a new product or deploying a new technology. These are things you won't notice if you're too busy dealing with the day-to-day information that comes at you. From an individual standpoint, the downside is an inability to reflect, to get a sense of the bigger picture. We're all awash in the information stream, and we don't take time to pull ourselves out and ask, What does it all mean? Attention management enables you to focus your scarcest and most valuable resource on the problems that matter most to you. We pay knowledge workers for their attention -- some combination of their time and the number of brain cells they engage. If their attention isn't going to the problems of your business, chances are those problems aren't getting solved. Attention is a leading indicator of
what's getting worse, and what's getting better, in your organization."
[ From: The ROI of Paying Attention, by Thomas H. Davenport with sas com, November 2002 ]
Information Flow and the Hidden Organization Chart
by Art Kleiner
Start with the conventional image of an organization: the hierarchy, as represented by any formal organization chart. Then imagine laying over it diagrams of various other kinds showing human networks that are influential within the organization. One overlay might depict day-to-day assignment contacts, which Professor [Karen] Stephenson calls the 'work network.'
Another diagram might show the social network - people who spend time together outside work. A third might show whom people turn to for career guidance (the career advice network). Like the transparencies in a medical textbook, organizational network diagrams all reveal different circulatory systems, but instead of showing the flow of blood, they depict the circulation of information... Because networks of trust release so much cognitive capability, they can (and often do) have far more influence over the fortunes and failures of companies from day to day and year to year than the official hierarchy. 'People have at their very fingertips, at the tips of their brains, tremendous amounts of tacit knowledge, which are not captured in our computer systems or on paper,' says Professor Stephenson. 'Trust is the utility through which this knowledge flows.'
[ From: Karen Stephenson's Quantum Theory of Trust, by Art Kleiner, strategy+business, Fourth Quarter 2002 ]
Attention Deficit, Corporate Style
Thomas H. Davenport*
It's hard for an organization or even an individual to know what information they're missing if they're focused on the wrong places. But if there's a general feeling of information overload and stress, then there's probably attention deficit. If you have a sense that the attention of a large portion of your employees is going in the wrong places, then there's attention deficit...From an organizational standpoint, the primary downside is missing something important in your competitive environment. That might include things like the growing dissatisfaction of a large customer, or a competitor developing a new product or deploying a new technology. These are things you won't notice if you're too busy dealing with the day-to-day information that comes at you. From an individual standpoint, the downside is an inability to reflect, to get a sense of the bigger picture. We're all awash in the information stream, and we don't take time to pull ourselves out and ask, What does it all mean? Attention management enables you to focus your scarcest and most valuable resource on the problems that matter most to you. We pay knowledge workers for their attention -- some combination of their time and the number of brain cells they engage. If their attention isn't going to the problems of your business, chances are those problems aren't getting solved. Attention is a leading indicator of
what's getting worse, and what's getting better, in your organization."
[ From: The ROI of Paying Attention, by Thomas H. Davenport with sas com, November 2002 ]
Information Flow and the Hidden Organization Chart
by Art Kleiner
Start with the conventional image of an organization: the hierarchy, as represented by any formal organization chart. Then imagine laying over it diagrams of various other kinds showing human networks that are influential within the organization. One overlay might depict day-to-day assignment contacts, which Professor [Karen] Stephenson calls the 'work network.'
Another diagram might show the social network - people who spend time together outside work. A third might show whom people turn to for career guidance (the career advice network). Like the transparencies in a medical textbook, organizational network diagrams all reveal different circulatory systems, but instead of showing the flow of blood, they depict the circulation of information... Because networks of trust release so much cognitive capability, they can (and often do) have far more influence over the fortunes and failures of companies from day to day and year to year than the official hierarchy. 'People have at their very fingertips, at the tips of their brains, tremendous amounts of tacit knowledge, which are not captured in our computer systems or on paper,' says Professor Stephenson. 'Trust is the utility through which this knowledge flows.'
[ From: Karen Stephenson's Quantum Theory of Trust, by Art Kleiner, strategy+business, Fourth Quarter 2002 ]
posted by epiclectic at 4:43 PM
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