Designing a living organism

Sophia’s organization is 30 years old. For the last 30 years she has been intentional to make sure that her company lived within its own unique dignity and destiny. She had a rhythm of design time for the organization. Such times was often exciting and challenging simultaneously. Looking back during a coaching session, she was overwhelmed with gratitude for the effect of this small habit. She realizes that her company would not have been what it was purposed to be if not for this foundational habit.

Each company has its own place to fill in the market. If it stands strong in its unique place, it will uplift the market and also bring the best out of its competition. I believe that each company is its own person; a person with beauty, dignity and destiny. As a leader it is our responsibility to allow the person to grow and become a mature contributor to the market, the competition and society at large.

For this to happen, we as leaders need to take time to discover and design the next steps of growth for the company. Peter Drucker said “The best way to predict the future is to create it”. I believe this wholeheartedly. Some of the most sustainable companies today are the result of intentional design. For intentional design to happen, you have to get into a rhythm of design.

There are crucial periods in the life of any organization. In these moments, time should be spent on design for the next phase. I am not just talking about digital transformation of a company. I am talking about the complete person, not just the clothes they wear. The inner working, the culture, the home we build as leaders for the staff, the way we serve customers, our interaction with the market and competition. All these and many more are parts of the whole system we should look at as leaders. The question to you as leader is, do you have the right design time, tools and processes.

Here are some more questions to get you started:

  1. Do we have a healthy rhythm to design our company?
  2. Do we use the right tools, processes and measurements during this design time?
  3. Do the tools interlink or do they bring confusion?

Leaders are quickly becoming designers. Design takes time, resilience and intentionality.

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