Flourishing Organisations: Moving Beyond Performance (LnOD Conference 29-30 Apr 2024)
A sneak peek of what went on, in case you missed this!
What does it mean to flourish as an individual, team and organisation? How can we create the conditions in our systems to enable flourishing and sustain it?
I felt inspired by the speakers and energised by the various conversations and connections at the conference! In this blogpost, I will share my top 3 key takeaways, focusing on the overarching themes observed, accompanied by insights and practical tips/strategies for L&OD practitioners and leaders. I will also include my personal reflections in italics.
Three key takeaways:
Being Adaptive is key to flourishing.
Care for the People is critical to build a flourishing organisation.
Flourishing over time: shifting patterns in times of uncertainty.
This is my attempt to consolidate my learnings across all speakers. While not every speaker's contribution may be equally represented here, this summary provides a glimpse into the insights, reflections, and decades of research that each speaker brought to the table. For a more comprehensive overview, you can read my personal notes from the conference here.
Celebrating the end of LnoD conference 2024!
#1. Being Adaptive is key to flourishing.
#Learning #Change #Possibilities
“To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often.”
— Winston Churchill
In her opening speech, Gee Keow underscored the significance of adaptability in navigating the challenges confronting the Public Service. With mounting public expectations and cumbersome bureaucratic and staffing procedures, the role of civil servants becomes increasingly demanding. Moreover, amidst competitive job markets in other sectors, attracting and retaining talented civil servants becomes a formidable task. Thus, it becomes imperative for the Public Service to embrace adaptability and effectively address these emerging challenges.
Opening Speech by PS Gee Keow
Keynote 1 - A Leader’s role in Building a Flourishing Organisation by Ravi Menon, Former MAS Chief
Ravi shares insights and practical strategies for leaders to foster adaptability and cultivate flourishing organizations:
Look ahead: Horizon Scanning. Leaders at all levels need to look ahead and prepare. It’s a strength of the Singapore Public Service that has brought us far. Being anticipative is an important leadership practice that has been echoed by my boss! It starts small - even from finding out the context and having necessary conversations to clarify with various colleagues about an issue before preparing for a piece of work or for a meeting.
Look across: Achieving coherence by recognizing the interconnectedness of policies and programs is crucial. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Policies and programmes are mutually reinforcing. E.g. Understanding how our CPF, HDB policies are interconnected to support home ownership. It is important to connect the dots so we don’t undermine policies and efforts. Joint efforts matter.
Look again: Leaders should continuously question the status quo and seek deeper understanding by asking "why" and "why not." Maintaining a spirit of inquiry and detachment from outdated practices ensures alignment with the organization's purpose and prevents stagnation.
Look within: Where are your convictions? What are your principles? Hold your principles lightly, as a hypothesis. Principles are a guide, not markers in which we can’t move, it’s essential to not get attached in an unthinking fashion.
Reflect: How much of my time have I spent on the above for each?
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
— George Bernard Shaw
Change is inevitable, we need to continually change and improve. To do so, we will need to hold experiments and test things out. Ravi talked about ‘safe-fail’, the importance of sharing/celebrating our failures AND learnings from it, and what we will do differently moving forward. It’s about creating spaces where people feel safe to fail. We tend to punish ourselves, and feeling like we are “losing face” when we fail.
He emphasised that it’s not about ‘fail-safe’, i.e. failing safely - After all, how is a pilot a pilot when it must be successful? It’s also not about swinging to the other polarity of radically experimenting - we need to manage the risks that come with it and know what risks we are willing to bear.
“These barriers exists in our minds, not in our systems.”
— Ravi Menon, Former MAS Chief
It could be as simple as this: When your staff presents a new idea, even if it initially feels uncomfortable, instead of immediately responding with a 'No' or 'Yes but…', consider saying, 'Yes, let's explore how it looks like… how might we test it out?' This approach, highlighted during one of our group activities on Day 2, sparks possibility conversations that generate energy, autonomy, excitement, and a sense of safety to experiment. Such conversations contribute significantly to fostering an adaptive culture within the organization.
#2. Care for the People is critical to build a flourishing organisation.
How do we care for the people in our organisation, and what does it mean?
#Purpose #Workload #Empathy
Leading with Purpose
Wellbeing is an important aspect that has been emphasised by our Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong. In her opening speech, PS Gee Keow mentioned that it’s about bringing out the best in others, driven by purpose and passion, and not by compliance (“cos xxx boss said so!” > “rolls eyes”). Ravi also mentioned about purpose being the strongest motivator, and he used the Induction programme as a platform to converse with staff about the purpose and values behind the work at MAS.
I personally find this so important - having the clarity of purpose and intent drives me. It can be frustrating if I’m tasked to do something when I don’t see the bigger why behind it. I also think that this is what the younger generation is looking for - meaningful, purposeful work - and sometimes this is not obvious at first glance, so the role of leadership is to help connect the dots and how even the smallest efforts matter. I don’t think the younger generation expects leaders to have all the answers and a clear why, but the purpose and overarching direction behind choices and decisions made needs to be articulated and not assumed or glossed over thoughtlessly. This ‘data’ laid on the table - and how it is framed - is useful for followers/teammates to work with the leader together to figure things out amidst challenging times and uncertainties. To all leaders, I hope this brings some comfort in that you don’t have to carry the burden alone! :)
The Public Service Division (PSD) has rolled out Wellbeing@Gov initiative, and most recently, the Intellect app which provides 1-1 coaching and counselling services, amongst others. I’ve recently used the coaching services and found it really helpful! The Leadership Competency Framework was also crafted to support leaders in developing the necessary competencies to lead well.
Ravi mentioned the importance of care, concern and regard to every person in the organisation. Caring for Wellbeing means also being aware of the Mental and Physical challenges that affect how staff work, and being understandable that each staff faces unique challenges in the various seasons of their lives.
Managing Workload
A particularly resonant (and possibly met with resistance) point centered on Managing Workload. Most Singaporeans are overworked! Leaders may face the challenge of creating psychological safety for discussing workload concerns. How might leaders create psychological safety to talk about workload? How to optimise the work we are currently doing, and reduce ‘unnecessary/non-critical’ work? It may feel shameful or wrong to raise up an idea to drop a piece of work - especially in hierarchical organisations where we feel like we do not have the permission to do so. This is a perception that can be changed.
Sometimes, this will need to start from the top leadership team:
“You can’t clean the steps by cleaning the bottom step only - it means we have to involve our leaders.”
— Chris Worley, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School
Leaders will need to use their power by convening conversations on most important issues faced by the organisation.
I encourage leaders to have open conversations with their staff on managing workload, primarily to understand where their staff is at, to better support them. You don’t need to feel the burden to resolve all issues that are raised up, hold these data lightly and communicate the constraints where necessary. Sometimes team members are more than appreciative of you checking in, they may not expect things to be resolved in the near term either. If you are struggling with heavy workload, explore having a conversation with your boss, and not suck it up My team recently had a conversation on this and I am happy to share the process if it helps! (Pm me or comment below!)
In our second panel dialogue on What enables people to flourish, Andrew, Chief Wellbeing officer at NUS reinforced that work and life is not a dichotomy - what happens at work affects our personal lives, and vice versa. Eileen Nah, Managing Director and Head of Futuresmart, OCBC, shares that she has a potted plant outside her doorstep, and before she enters her home, she touches the plant and leaves the work related worries at the door.
One might wonder: How might we flourish and balance the need for accountability? We need to hold people accountable in order to flourish. Prioritising wellbeing doesn’t mean that we let people get their way and in some situations, this may require holding a difficult conversation with the staff on how they are impacting yourself and others. There are links to this with Psychological Safety - In our first panel dialogue, Christian Chao, CEO of Care Corner mentioned that leaders need psych safety too. True safety comes with willingness to engage, and it is not about being overly sensitive and overwhelmed by the fear offending others. He encourages leaders to think about how can they ready themselves to engage in such conversations, and how to engage in conflict in a constructive way. Finding a balance of performance and well being - providing high challenge and support - is a hallmark of a flourishing team.
Some leadership practices mentioned to enable a flourishing organisation include:
#triedandtested by the panellists!
1.Creating Connection
Have regular 1-1 time with team members - Christian has done it for over 2 years, and attests that it makes a world of difference in terms of their willingness to collaborate.
Crafting personalised emails for promotees, highlighting expectations to prepare them for the role, while infusing with a touch of humour. E.g. “I regret to inform you that you cannot gossip anymore.. as your words carry more weight - though you might not intend it to be so. I regret to inform you that you will now experience more stress than before. So it’s important that you care for self. ” [from Clarence Ti, Deputy President, Administration at NUS]
2. Running effective meetings
Meetings that overrun: plan for agenda to take up 66% of the time and have a 1 min introduction about presenters themselves, a fun fact - so people can relate to them. [Clarence Ti]
At Senior Management Meetings, an unconventional approach is taken: no tables, just members seated in a circle. Everyone comes prepared, and slides are assumed to taken as read, allowing the focus to be on clarifying and engaging in conversation. To encourage open discussion, an Elephant soft toy sits in the middle, signaling permission to address any lingering issues or concerns (the proverbial "elephant in the room"). There are also check-ins designed during the meeting for people to feel safe to pick up the elephant. This setup heightens awareness of interpersonal dynamics and promotes more authentic interactions. [Christian Chao]
In addition, Quarterly Pitstops are integrated into the meeting schedule. These designated sessions provide a safe space for addressing any lingering concerns or issues. It's a time for reflection and an external practitioner is invited to offer constructive feedback on how the team interacts with one another, fostering continuous improvement and growth. [Christian Chao]
Create a fun atmosphere when talking about serious topics e.g. get icecream [from Shie Yong Li, Commissioner at SPS]
3. Managing Self
Personal Routines - time with family, exercise, sleep - discipline to help us manage our day to day challenges. [Christian Chao]
You can also take the Free PERMAH Wellbeing survey here to develop your own wellbeing plan. The PERMAH framework, developed by Prof Martin Seligman is widely used and also adopted by ILOD for our wellbeing interventions.
“Take care of your people, and they will take care of the work.”
#3. Flourishing over time: shifting patterns in times of uncertainty.
How might we sustain performance and flourish over time?
#Noticing #Learning #ActOnIt #RinseandRepeat
Chris Worley's keynote on "Building Agility and Resilience in the Singapore Public Service" emphasized adaptability as a crucial capability for organizations. The ability to adapt repeatedly is essential in navigating changing circumstances, a characteristic often referred to as being an "agile" organization.
Defining Agility - Chris Worley
OD Practitioners must adopt a systems perspective - orchestrating multiple changes, not just one, when and where it makes a difference. The Burke Litwin model, widely utilised by many OD practitioners I know, facilitates the design interventions across interconnected areas, at three levels of the system, to maximise the chances of ensuring that change is sustained.
Similarly, the Action Research cycle highlighted below is a cornerstone of the OD field, facilitates continuous learning. Through multiple learning cycles embedded within the diagnosis and design phases, practitioners gain insights into the organization's evolving dynamics, answering the critical question, ‘What do we know about the organisation now that we didn’t know before?’
Action Research Cycle shared by Chris Worley
Chris echoes Ravi’s point on ‘safe-fail’:
“When dealing with uncertainty, best way is to test stuff out and see which is best!”
— Chris Worley, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School
And he also builds on Ravi’s note on ‘Looking ahead’:
“Get leadership teams to look outward - when organisations are stressed, they typically look inwards - but to adapt, we need to look outwards, bring information from outside to learn better.”
— Chris Worley, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School
I really enjoyed Chris’ sharing of the case study, there were practical tips esp for OD practitioners. Highly recommended to check it out here (under Day 2, Keynote 3).
To sustain change over time, it’s also important to be cognisant of the patterns in interpersonal and group dynamics. The tricky thing is, they often become ‘invisible’ over time, and taken for granted. When issues happen, they tend to be seen as a singular part or problem to be solved. One simple thing to differentiate problem from pattern, is to notice the times of occurrence - three times forms a pattern.
Glenda Eoyang, a pioneer in the field of Human Systems Dynamics, suggests that perhaps many of the emerging challenges we face are not problems, but ‘wicked issues’. Wicked issues are not problems to be solved, but a pattern or polarity to be managed.
Keynote 2 - Flourishing: Excellence in Uncertainty (Glenda Eoyang, Human Systems Dynamics)
If you think about your problem as a pattern, how does it shift the way you approach it? What would look different?
Some examples below:
How might we shift patterns? (A frame for consideration)
Container x Difference x Exchange = Pattern
Container holds the system together, marked by boundaries and similarities.
Difference holds the energy and meaning, it allows you to see the pattern. Tension is formed around difference, and opportunity emerges from them.
Exchange is the flow and movement of energy within the system.
Some reflection questions:
What was the container I have to hold for the change to happen? As a leader - what are the narratives or purpose that holds us together? What is the most generative question or image people could gravitate towards?
What is the quality of exchange? What is the quality of conversations? Introducing new people (referencing earlier example as to how Christian invites external practitioner to provide feedback on their team conversations) changes the container and the exchange.
Differences that are irreconcilable are termed as ‘Dualities’
I see parallels between Glenda's concept of dualities and interdependent pairs and Barry Johnson's concept of Polarities Management. While I'm not entirely clear on the distinction between both models, their overlap suggests a valuable insight: when we experience recurring tensions, what is the duality or polarity that might be playing out? Once we are able to name it, it would be easier to work with it, manage it and leverage on them constructively.
More about the workshop can be found here under Day 2: Problems and Patterns: Living with and Learning from Intractable problems (Glenda Eoyang).
Thanks for reading till the end!
I am curious to know how this blogpost landed for you, the insights you have gained, or if you have any burning questions! It’s quite a wordy piece, so I tried to make it more fun to read with some pictures and quotes; and i also wanted to add a personal touch by sharing my reflections.
Also I’m still thinking about how best to structure my posts, and if you have any suggestions, please share too! Feel free to connect with me over LinkedIn or comment below :)