Esther Dyson, Thought Leader on Engagement, Leadership, and Accountability

By Michelle Malay Carter on June 29, 2009 

Dog Chasing Its TailI read Art Kleiner’s strategy+business interview with Esther Dyson, a thought leader in the field of high tech innovation.? Some thoughts from this article parallel what I’ve been saying here at Mission Minded Management.? (Emphasis added)

On Engagement
“The really good marketers will become much more clever about what they do, and engage with people more effectively.? Conventional media will lose a lot of those marketers, because the marketers don?t need the media as much anymore.? Coca-Cola used to need Time magazine or television to reach consumers.? Now Coca-Cola can sponsor contests and get people to put Coke badges and links on their own Web sites.”

Why the War for Talent
On the War for Talent issue, I’ve said that high potentials no longer need hierarchical organizations to find employment.? They can work for themselves.?

Organizations, by their ignorance surrounding requisite work levels and human capability,?often force their high potentials out the door by not providing them with leadership aligned with their capability?or?work appropriate to their capability.?

Tweaking?Ms. Dyson’s quote for My Purposes
Organizations will need to become much more clever about what they do, and engage employees more effectively.? And by clever, I mean, designing work-enabling, trust inducing people systems.

What Doesn’t Lead to Lasting Engagement
What’s NOT effective when it comes to engagement?? Compensatory techniques e.g. perks, teambuilding exercises, bonuses.

We Don’t Need to Motivate, We Need to Provide an Appropriate Work Environment
Remember, I’ve said people are wired to work.? They do not need to be coerced.? They only need (1) work suited to their level of capability and interests?and (2)?as leadership suited to their level of capability.

Here is what Ms. Dyson has to say:

“Many people work much harder on a World of Warcraft role-playing team than they ever work in a paid job. They are very skilled and they do painstaking work, usually for only brownie points and recognition, because that work gives them a feeling of control and camaraderie.”

“It?s a mystery, and as an investor and as someone who?d like a better-run world, I?d like to solve it. Whatever makes work unpleasant, it?s often not really the nature of the task itself; it?s the involuntariness, and the fact that you can be punished by the person running the game.”

Ms. Dyson – it’s the system!!!!? We put employees in impossible situations every day and then blame them when things don’t go well.

All of the Accountability with None of the Authority
One of the things we do to induce dysfunction is we mismatch accountabilities and authorities.? We ask employees to be accountable for things for which they have no control.? This is fundamentally unfair, and fairness is necessary for engagement.? Ms. Dyson, you referred to it as “involuntariness”.

Ms. Dyson, you provided an example here when you were discussing Internet security and the ISP’s role:

“Until the costs of abuse are assigned to entities capable of stopping the abuse, it?s not going to get much better.”

Organizational Systems and Structure are an (Unenforced) Executive Leadership Accountability
What have I been saying for years here at Mission Minded:? Until executive leadership is assigned accountability for designing and implementing work-enabling, trust inducing people systems, it’s not going to get much better.

I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system!

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management, Work Levels

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