Stewardship: Difference between revisions
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'''Book. Peter Block. Stewardship. 1993.''' | |||
=Description= | |||
= | Dave Pollard: | ||
"Stewardship attempts what might just be an impossible task: The converting of large, established companies into what I call Natural Enterprises. Chapter by chapter explains how to dismantle the obstacles to true entrepreneurship, slowly convincing the people in the enterprise that you are absolutely committed to radical change, that you mean it (lots of big companies talk a good empowerment story, but have absolutely no intention of acting on it). One of the hardest parts, he says, is convincing managers to give up managing (in favour of stewardship) and at the same time, ironically, convincing line employees to give up comfortable dependency, where they're not really responsible for anything. It's a difficult trade-off, and I am sure it would take enormous patience to pull this off, but Block is the master, and he's covered all the angles. | |||
Stewardship attempts what might just be an impossible task: The converting of large, established companies into what I call Natural Enterprises. Chapter by chapter explains how to dismantle the obstacles to true entrepreneurship, slowly convincing the people in the enterprise that you are absolutely committed to radical change, that you mean it (lots of big companies talk a good empowerment story, but have absolutely no intention of acting on it). One of the hardest parts, he says, is convincing managers to give up managing (in favour of stewardship) and at the same time, ironically, convincing line employees to give up comfortable dependency, where they're not really responsible for anything. It's a difficult trade-off, and I am sure it would take enormous patience to pull this off, but Block is the master, and he's covered all the angles." | |||
(http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/07/03.html#a1577) | |||
=Principles= | |||
Dave Pollard: | |||
Block's stewardship modelis one of equal partnership of all co-workers. Block outlines five principles for such partnership: | Block's stewardship modelis one of equal partnership of all co-workers. Block outlines five principles for such partnership: | ||
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* The prohibition of abdication. No sitting on the sidelines. Full engagement. | * The prohibition of abdication. No sitting on the sidelines. Full engagement. | ||
"He then moves on to operating principles for organizations that are governed by such partnerships. I've 'radicalized' these principles a bit, because I think Block tends to get a bit mired in traditional operating methods, and compromises the statement of these principles to the point they lose some of their power: | "He then moves on to operating principles for organizations that are governed by such partnerships. I've 'radicalized' these principles a bit, because I think Block tends to get a bit mired in traditional operating methods, and compromises the statement of these principles to the point they lose some of their power: | ||
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* Equal compensation: No individual ratings or rankings means that everyone shares equally in the success of the organization. Block is a bit equivocal about this, for good reason -- it's the hardest tenet of traditional hierarchical enterprise to give up, especially when competitors still operating under the traditional pay-for-rank model may seduce some people to bolt. I say let 'em go. I go even further, and say compensation should be based on what the partners need, not on their impossible-to-determine 'individual' performance. That needs to be spelled out in the partnership agreement. You have kids and a mortgage, you need more compensation than the 60-year-old with no debts; the traditional compensation model gets it exactly backwards." | * Equal compensation: No individual ratings or rankings means that everyone shares equally in the success of the organization. Block is a bit equivocal about this, for good reason -- it's the hardest tenet of traditional hierarchical enterprise to give up, especially when competitors still operating under the traditional pay-for-rank model may seduce some people to bolt. I say let 'em go. I go even further, and say compensation should be based on what the partners need, not on their impossible-to-determine 'individual' performance. That needs to be spelled out in the partnership agreement. You have kids and a mortgage, you need more compensation than the 60-year-old with no debts; the traditional compensation model gets it exactly backwards." | ||
(http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/07/03.html#a1577) | (http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/07/03.html#a1577) | ||
=More Information= | |||
#[[Hierarchy]] | |||
#[[Leadership]] | |||
Revision as of 02:46, 10 July 2008
Book. Peter Block. Stewardship. 1993.
Description
Dave Pollard:
"Stewardship attempts what might just be an impossible task: The converting of large, established companies into what I call Natural Enterprises. Chapter by chapter explains how to dismantle the obstacles to true entrepreneurship, slowly convincing the people in the enterprise that you are absolutely committed to radical change, that you mean it (lots of big companies talk a good empowerment story, but have absolutely no intention of acting on it). One of the hardest parts, he says, is convincing managers to give up managing (in favour of stewardship) and at the same time, ironically, convincing line employees to give up comfortable dependency, where they're not really responsible for anything. It's a difficult trade-off, and I am sure it would take enormous patience to pull this off, but Block is the master, and he's covered all the angles.
Stewardship attempts what might just be an impossible task: The converting of large, established companies into what I call Natural Enterprises. Chapter by chapter explains how to dismantle the obstacles to true entrepreneurship, slowly convincing the people in the enterprise that you are absolutely committed to radical change, that you mean it (lots of big companies talk a good empowerment story, but have absolutely no intention of acting on it). One of the hardest parts, he says, is convincing managers to give up managing (in favour of stewardship) and at the same time, ironically, convincing line employees to give up comfortable dependency, where they're not really responsible for anything. It's a difficult trade-off, and I am sure it would take enormous patience to pull this off, but Block is the master, and he's covered all the angles." (http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/07/03.html#a1577)
Principles
Dave Pollard:
Block's stewardship modelis one of equal partnership of all co-workers. Block outlines five principles for such partnership:
- The need for agreement on shared purpose among all partners. The organization reflects everyone's vision, not just "management's".
- The need for unanimity in major decisions. "Every partner has the right to say no".
- The acceptance of joint accountability and responsibility. No blame games.
- The need for absolute honesty. "Not telling the truth to each other is an act of betrayal".
- The prohibition of abdication. No sitting on the sidelines. Full engagement.
"He then moves on to operating principles for organizations that are governed by such partnerships. I've 'radicalized' these principles a bit, because I think Block tends to get a bit mired in traditional operating methods, and compromises the statement of these principles to the point they lose some of their power:
- Empower everyone: Day-to-day decision-making is entrusted to those closest to the customer, those on the front line. Learning from experimentation means learning by making mistakes.
- No managers, no hierarchy, no titles: Everyone manages themselves, and collectively manages the organization.
- Only long-term, qualitative measures: Collective, meaningful results, not behaviours and actions to get there.
- Local solutions, not standard solutions: Except where health and safety is at stake, standard answers are suboptimal. Diversity and innovation need to be encouraged, not crushed.
- Promise of commitment to service: Partners are in the business to serve others, not to maximize their self-interest. The freedom of equal partnership bring with it responsibility for service and full engagement.
- No secrecy: Complete information and the complete truth, all the time. That includes training everyone to understand the whole business ("business literacy") so they can make meaning of this information.
- Equal compensation: No individual ratings or rankings means that everyone shares equally in the success of the organization. Block is a bit equivocal about this, for good reason -- it's the hardest tenet of traditional hierarchical enterprise to give up, especially when competitors still operating under the traditional pay-for-rank model may seduce some people to bolt. I say let 'em go. I go even further, and say compensation should be based on what the partners need, not on their impossible-to-determine 'individual' performance. That needs to be spelled out in the partnership agreement. You have kids and a mortgage, you need more compensation than the 60-year-old with no debts; the traditional compensation model gets it exactly backwards."
(http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/07/03.html#a1577)