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Leading at Light Speed is an essential new leadership book by Eric Douglas synthesizing the best business practices into 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.
In Chapter 6, Stimulate the Creative Flow, Eric talks about Emergent Intelligence.
By taking advantage of bottom-up decision making, leaders encourage a form of behavior called “emergent intelligence.” Emergent intelligence is the concept of research that studies how societies with complicated systems and organisms function.
The organisms operating on the most basic principles, according to emergent intelligence theory, are those which has the best chance of evolutionary success. Ant colonies are cited as a prime example. One rule of ants is that everyone but the queen is a multi-tasker. A second rule is: “Do what the ant next to you is doing.” A third rule is to let the ants carrying food in first, moving out of the way. These three simple rules enable the colony to communicate and adapt to change very rapidly. One moment you take out the trash; the next you forage for food. Survival in a colony of ants to an extent depends on their ability to accept sudden changes that are a result of specific methods of operation employed.
Positive effects of continual restructuring and developing of organizations and companies are beyond imagination. It suggests that simple rules might be very powerful when applied to people. Applying the emergent intelligence theory to creation of Visa during the 1970s and was initiated by Dee Hock who informed a banker’s team of the valuable use of this tantamount principle. Up to that point, local banks had offered a variety of different credit cards – each with different rules. Dee’s team planned to initiate one credit card with clearing processes allowing unlimited transactions throughout the globe.
The concept that banks run independently under clearly defined regulations was thoroughly understood by Dee. So his team worked hard for more than a year to define those rules. The process of genius was this. The first rule they came up with was: “You keep what you earn.” Banks that became Visa members would keep all but a tiny fraction of whatever fees or interest they generated.
The second rule was: “No limits on membership.” Any bank was free to join the Visa alliance.
The third rule related to ownership. Since the banks needed the freedom to operate independently, no one should “own” Visa. Further, Visa was developed as a corporation with no stock and governance was to be instilled in banks of members. Not one shareholder gained a speck of interest control in Visa as stock had not grown or developed, yet.
The final rule related to management. A separate company would manage Visa’s operations. But it would answer to a system of regional boards and to an executive board. Of the fees collected by the banks, a small fraction would go to this management company to take care of marketing, back office operations, reconciliation, and so forth. But it would not be in a position to “control” Visa. The authority flowed the other way – from the member institutions. Visa was developed as a basic item, however, fine print was minimal. The hard work was in all the engagement and planning that preceded those operating rules. Thus a worldwide form of currency was born.
From this experience, Dee invented the term “chaordic” organization. It reflects his belief that successful organizations are “chaordic” in nature. By that he means they walk a fine line between chaos and order. An organization’s decision processes are shown in a top to bottom order. Chaos is represented by bottom-up decision making. The way Dee views it, companies of charordic processes use a delineated value structure, clear vision and strong concepts where operating principles are applied. They also have clear systems for monitoring performance. Within that framework, people are left to create strategies and devise solutions as they see fit. It is a model that aligns perfectly with inspiring flow and building a high-performing organization.
Organizations that set these kinds of simple but profound rules enable their people to play on the waves of emergent intelligence. By investing in both trust and spark, by balancing order and chaos, they become capable of operating at light speed.
Take this free work survey to discover how well your company measures up to the 10 Quantum Leaps.
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