 |
Individual and Team Empowerment: Human Dynamics at Digital
Chris Strutt
Consulting Engineer, Systems Thinking Methods
Network Integration Software Segment
Digital Equipment Corporation
Copyright © 1995 by Chris Strutt
Permission to electronically reproduce this article granted by
Pegasus Communications, Inc. PL-1412.
The meeting was in full swing. Key players from management, technical
leadership, engineering, and marketing had assembled to discuss
several critical strategic product decisions. But as the meeting
progressed, a serious disagreement emerged between a technical
leader and a business manager.
Both people were convinced that their perspective was right. The
technical leader was focused on the longer term - what he knew
could be done to delight the customer 12 months down the road.
The business manager, on the other hand, was focused on the customers'
present needs. She wanted the team to look at the problems that
needed to be solved in the next product release, due out in three
months. The argument escalated until the two were shouting at
each other across the table.
Although it appeared that the two perspectives were in opposition,
the truth was that both people were in violent agreement on the
underlying value of meeting the customer's needs. Their conflict
was due to fundamental distinctions in the way they thought about,
processed, and perceived the world. The technical leader was focused
on the longer-term vision, while the business manager was focused
on the next practical step - both equally important and valuable
perspectives that held the customer as the number one priority.
Fortunately, another team member noticed this distinction and
explained what was happening. He pointed out how their different
personality dynamics were leading to this disconnect, and that
they really were on the same track in many ways. The two players
both stopped in silence, suddenly realizing how they were caught
up in their own perspectives. Meanwhile, another engineer, expressing
his characteristic gift of empathy, admitted, "And I feel your
pain!" Everyone in the room broke up with laughter, releasing
the tension that they, too, felt. The group was then able to move
on and develop some productive solutions that would serve the
customers' long-term needs, while still addressing the immediate
issues that needed to be resolved.
Human Dynamics
This incident, which took place earlier this year within Digital's
Networks Software Group, is an example of how many people are
beginning to apply a fundamental new understanding about how human
beings function, called Human Dynamics. This technology has been
researched and developed by Dr. Sandra Seagal since 1979, and
it offers a framework for understanding differences in the way
people learn, communicate, relate, and develop as human beings.
Human Dynamics presents a systemic approach to the complexities
and wonders of human functioning that is clear, logical, and structured,
yet broad and flexible enough to encompass the infinite nuances
that make each of us unique human beings (see Human Dynamics: An Overview).
Human Dynamics was introduced into Digital Equipment Corporation
in 1993, and it has since become a central part of everyday functioning
for people in many groups across the organization. Some say it
has become as fundamental as knowing the alphabet-so much a part
of the way they think and communicate that they take it for granted.
The Beginning
It all began in August 1992, when we in the Networks Group recognized
that Human Dynamics was a critical technology that could enhance
and leverage Digital's return to profitability. That was also
the beginning of two years of restructuring, downsizing, and cost
containment, which was the mandate if we were to survive as a
viable company.
As the company launched itself into that difficult work, our concern
was, "What are we doing for the survivors?" Research statistics
on large corporations who downsize clearly show that only a fraction
of them actually return to profitability - and an even smaller
fraction return to previous levels of employee productivity and
morale. From our prior work with systems thinking and learning
skills, we knew that the most fundamental obstacle to improved
product quality and customer satisfaction-and hence profitability
lay in the absence, avoidance, or breakdown of authentic communication
between human beings (see "A Journey Through Organizational Change,"
The Systems Thinker, April, 1995).
Our work in Human Dynamics initially started as a grass-roots effort. Funds were tin-cupped from five concerned middle managers and used to train two people
to become licensed Human Dynamics facilitators. When they returned
from their training, the two facilitators could hardly stop talking
about the power of Human Dynamics for helping build team synergy
and productivity. Soon the first formal request for a workshop
came in. In May 1993 this workshop was delivered, and it received
an evaluation of 5.5 on a 6-point scale.
That same month, Sandra Seagal and David Horne came to Digital
in Littleton, MA, and delivered a workshop for the Networks Group
vice president and his newly forming leadership team. As a result
of this experience, the team was able to recognize, understand,
and appreciate the special gifts that each of them brought to
their work - knowledge they used over the next several months
as they established Digital's core Networking Business.
A Boost in the Middle
From initial experiences like these, word of the power and usefulness
of Human Dynamics soon spread. For example, a program manager
needed some critical decisions to be made by a technical leader.
She knew her own personality dynamic and his, and she was aware
of the distinctions and potential points of conflict in their
communication processes: she would naturally approach the issue
by building up from the details until the structure emerged, whereas
he would identify the principles and structure first, and then
fill in the details. Knowing this, she designed her communication
to best suit his process, by starting with the structure first.
As a result, they secured the required decision in one 15-minute
conversation. Prior to her understanding of the significance of
personality dynamics, the same issue would have been addressed
through multiple two-hour arguments and discussions. While the
result might have been the same, the cost-in terms of time, energy,
and goodwill-would have been much greater.
Such anecdotes drew the attention of the late Peter Conklin, who
was then serving as leader of the Engineering Excellence Program.
He saw the importance of this work in engineering, where teams
deal with increasingly complex issues that require the clearest
possible communication to make rapid decisions that are also sustainable.
So, in January 1994, Peter funded the training of four new facilitators
- and Human Dynamics became an official educational program under
the auspices of Digital's Engineering Excellence Program.
Over the next four months, we began offering four to five workshops
per month, each one jointly facilitated by two of our Human Dynamics
facilitators. Workshops were delivered to intact teams who focused on delivering a product, service, or specific
set of results. These teams usually spanned organizational, functional,
and hierarchical boundaries.
We were very encouraged by the ongoing requests for workshops.
Our past experience showed that the best indicator for the value
or usefulness of any new technology is the level of continued
demand. Since the Human Dynamics work began as a bottom-up effort,
and continued as a middle across effort through the Engineering
Excellence program, we knew that no one was seeking a workshop
just because he or she was being pressured by upper management.
Naturally, there were people who were somewhat skeptical of what
they saw as another team-building workshop. Engineers in particular (who made up about half of
the participants) were very wary of what they called touchy-feely stuff. The vast majority of these skeptics, however, saw the practical
value of Human Dynamics by the end of the first day of training.
This was in large part due to the open, interactive process of
the workshop, and the fact that it centers on self-identification.
In addition, people seemed to appreciate the holistic nature of
the Human Dynamics technology, along with its recognition of each
individual's intrinsic value and infinite developmental capacity.
A few people (about 3%) continued to be skeptical, even after
the training, because of their fundamental objection to any form
of categorization or labeling, as they saw it. These negative reactions were rooted in past
experiences with traditional typologies, where people were not
only categorized by an expert, but they often felt judged as being of lesser value than other
types. There is no such value judgment inherent in the Human Dynamics
work, but it clearly remains a concern for some people.
A Setback
While the groundwork in Human Dynamics was being laid, Digital
was still struggling to get back on its feet financially. The
quarter ending in December 1993 was a profitable one - the first
in a very long while. It felt good, but many of us were afraid
that it was only a blip on the screen due to short-term actions and symptomatic fixes.
As it turned out, the company was seriously back in the red the
following quarter. As a result, starting in May 1994, the company
underwent the severest belt-tightening yet. Among many things,
this included an immediate stop to most training expenses. Overnight,
the Human Dynamics program came to a halt. Even worse, five of
our six Human Dynamics facilitators left the company as a result
of cutbacks in overhead functions.
Yet although no new people were being trained in Human Dynamics,
those that had been trained continued to use their understandings
to work more effectively. One group vice president faced a reporting
structure above her that changed four times during this period.
Fortunately, she knew her own personality dynamic and that of
each new manager. From her Human Dynamics training, she understood
what this meant in terms of differences in communication preferences,
and the way they each approached problem solving and decision
making. So she used her understanding to tailor her communication
to each person, consciously using the most helpful language for
that individual. As a result, she continued to get much of the
support she needed for the success of her business, despite the
many changes in the hierarchy above her.
Many of us using Human Dynamics at Digital continued to deepen
our understanding of the methodology through tutorials and lunchtime,
brown-bag seminars. The aim was to share our actual experiences with Human
Dynamics and to coach people in its everyday application. By this
time, we were using Human Dynamics as a kind of shorthand that
alerted us to listen more effectively to each other by understanding
the special gifts and perspectives that each of us brings.
By late 1994, the company was finishing the final stages of its
restructuring, and it was settling down to about 60,000 employees
world wide-half its original size. The moratorium on training
expenses began to lighten. After a seven-month hiatus, a Human
Dynamics workshop was delivered in December 1994. As before, word
quickly spread and more requests followed.
Margaret Ledger, the new manager of Digital's Technical Competency
Development Group (TCDG), began to see Human Dynamics as a foundational
technology for effective project team leadership and operation
across the company. With support from key people in the newly
formed business segments, including Peter Conklin and Jean Proulx,
Margaret incorporated Human Dynamics into the TCDG's core curriculum,
to be delivered on demand across the company. Once again, Human
Dynamics is formally embedded in a middle-across program, this time alongside the delivery of technical training
such as C++, Object Oriented Design, and Windows 95.
Sustainment
Today, Human Dynamics has reached almost 600 people across the
company, and the demand for more workshops is steady. In April
1995, three new facilitators were trained.
A key challenge we now face is to establish more frequent and
regular mechanisms for sharing experiences and offering refresher seminars. Also, we have yet to learn how to surface the really
difficult "undiscussables" that Chris Argyris talks about. But
we do know that Human Dynamics has given us an immensely valuable
springboard from which to begin this work.
Digital has now enjoyed three consecutive profitable quarters.
But many of us feel that we cannot sustain this forward momentum
without enabling the continued empowerment, connection, and creative
potential of each and every employee. What better foundational
technology to utilize than Human Dynamics, which goes to the very
core of human functioning and development. We hope, in time, to
build on our bottom-up and middle across success and add a third
and final piece to the strategy of Human Dynamics at Digital -
top-down engagement and action.
|
|
