The Dialogue Model and Responsive Innovation

Most companies that made it through the first few years of this new millennium, especially the smaller ones, are now in the process of responding to another tough economic period - and hoping to be adequately prepared for the worst if the economy continues to tighten. The capability to rapidly respond to markets and customers has been a winning characteristic of small companies, but having the resources to innovate and maintain services and products through the storm usually is the edge that larger companies have.

One competitive edge that all companies have nowadays is the capability to inexpensively maintain ongoing communications with markets and customers - the key to rapid response and cost-effective innovation, which actually results in products and services that are sought after.

As I said in a previous post, I believe in a dialogue model (through integrated and interactive messaging and conversations), facilitating customers and partners to discover their own reasons for using the company's products and services, and therefore owning the results. I focus on working with partners and customers to transform their concerns into shared goals.

In Bruce Clay Inc's "Social Media Is Where The Conversation Starts", April 3, 2008, Lisa Barone says, "[bloggers are] the ones starting and keeping those conversations going. ...the majority of social media outlets are sharing their thoughts on products, services, organizations and brands. Whether it’s a blog, a forum, or an all-out social network, people are going online to talk to “friends” and make connections to gain insight about certain companies and share experiences. Heck, fifty nine percent of 18 to 34 year-olds say they find social media at least somewhat important in learning about products, services or brands. That’s [more than] half of that key demographic. You don’t think that affects their buying decisions?"

In Where Will Management Innovation Take Us? HBW, March 5, 2008, Jim Heskett discusses Gary Hamel's book, The Future of Management.

Heskett says, "Hamel envisions a future in which the goal of management is to build "nimble" organizations in which innovation is everyone's job and there is
- slack among human and other resources that allows people to think, innovate, and take measured risk outside the core activities of the business;
- more freedom and self-management and less management as we know it;
- more community and less hierarchy; and
- more shared sense of purpose and less need for management "exhortation."

"[Hamel] sees many of these things in each of several organizations—including Whole Foods Markets, W. L. Gore, and Google—that he examines in some depth. These organizations share some things in common.
- All are operated in a team mode, with power given to the teams to run mini-businesses, including hiring, training, and firing personnel.
- All reward teams at all levels for performance.
- All provide generally unmonitored time for employees to develop product and service innovations as well as either redesign their jobs or relocate themselves within the organization.
- All share an extraordinary amount of information at all levels and devote a great deal of resources to making sure that all employees are connected.
- All "herald a future in which the work of managers is performed less and less by 'managers'."
- All are among the most outstanding places to work.
- All produce unusually high profits in their respective industries, which Hamel implies is the result of management innovation."

In my perspective, some of these organizational characteristics that Gary Hamel discusses require the resources (“resource slack”) of an organization that is large and stable, or at least a supportive investing and economic environment during startup - to wit his star examples--Whole Foods Markets, W. L. Gore, and Google.

However, extraordinarily high levels of shared information and communications, reduction in hierarchy, team empowerment, and shared vision and sense of purpose throughout the organization are things that consistently pay off in higher productivity for any organization. In smaller organizations, especially those with less than 50 employees, these characteristics have been the reason they can be nimble, proactive, and responsive. Communications technology has brought the capability for these same characteristics to even the largest organization, and reduced costs for the small organization.