How Strong Is Your Organization's Emotional Infrastructure?

Sometime ago, I heard an inspiring podcast interview featuring Subroto Bagchi of MindTree Consulting. Among many other things, Subroto talks about the emotional infrastructure of organizations. It is his belief that the ties that bind people to organizations at an emotional level are the hardest to destroy and are potentially some of the greatest assets of organizations.

The notion of an emotional infrastructure immediately brings to mind a company like Apple with it's die-hard fans who will keep the company going even if everything else is taken away. At a smaller scale, one is reminded of a company called Experts-Exchange. Experts-Exchange went bankrupt in 2001 but was brought back largely through the efforts of unpaid volunteers who loved the concept and operating mode of this site.

Many leaders who are used to the idea of seeing the world in black and white (with hard facts and figures) fail to recognize the power of building the emotional infrastructures of their organizations. They focus on hard-metrics that they can deliver to shareholders, employees and customers. This is important and fundamental. But what separates a great company from a good company is not just size but rather the emotional connection that stake-holders have with the company.

So how does a leader develop the emotional infrastructure of his organization (be it a whole company, a division or a project team)? Here are some ideas :

• Create conventions, customs and traditions - At Ascendus we've been having the concept of a "Friday Forum" for the last 5 years. The idea is that each week, on Friday, all the staff members gather and one of the members makes a presentation on a topic close to his heart. While a lot of initiatives have come and gone, this little tradition has remained at Ascendus. And when I speak to ex-Ascendus employees, they mention that they miss the idea of the Friday Forum. A few of them have tried to carry it forward in the new organizations that they've joined.
  
• Recruit from related networks - Hiring a new employee? Try finding them through referrals. Same goes for investors and customers. This creates a tighter and more connected web with your organization acting as an additional link that binds and strengthens existing networks.
  
• Do stuff together outside of work - When the association with your organization is only because of work, the relationship becomes very black and white. But when you do things outside of work (playing a game on weekends, catching up on movies together, traveling together etc.) a deeper-level association gets created.
  

Hope these ideas have jogged your imagination about building your organization's emotional infrastructure. If you have any further ideas, please do let me know.

Parkinson's Law

The 4-Hour Workweek has been creating buzz lately. The author - Timothy Ferriss in a recent podcast promoting the book mentioned Parkinson's Law. Simply stated, it says:

"Work increases in proportion to the amount of time available."

Stated another way, "a task will take as much time as you will allot for it."

This is complementary to Pareto's principle - the notion that 80% of the results or effects arise from 20% of the causes or inputs. By extension, this means that the longer we work, the more we tend to focus on the trivial tasks with minimal impact on our careers. The problem is far greater in larger corporations with rigid, in-built structures that require people to put in long hours carrying out mundane tasks and sitting-in on meetings.

At Ascendus, while managing projects, we've noticed that having more time on a project does not necessarily translate into better output. What works is having short, tight deadlines with clearly defined outcomes. Periods of intense work should be punctuated with periods of rest, recuperation and rejuvenation.

What do you think?