COCOONERS - Making It Happen - No 1, September 2016

Cocooners - n° 1 - September 2016
Cocooners - n° 1 - September 2016
PLAY.
SERIOUSLY.
In the previous issue of Cocooners, Michele Luconi said:
“It’s definitely true: a company starts growing when
people in that company start growing” and I totally agree
with him.
Usually, in a company people work together to achieve the same
goals and I have heard some managers talking about teams and
their business results. That sounds good but, they often aren’t
talking about teams. These are groups.
To be part of a team isn’t running a 4x100 meter relay in an
athletic competition, it is playing in a basketball team.
Really working together means learning to have trust in each
other, to be ready to support the teammates, to share the
same root and to understand when it’s time to lead and when
CLAUDIA
PELLICORI
it is important to step back and leave space for others. People
involved in a team have more accountability towards the
results, they work better and are more motivated. The first rule
in a team is: “win all or lose all” and it’s not only the destination
that matters but, sharing the way is the real value.
The evolution of the path isn’t simple and the relational
dynamics are complex to manage, but the real power of a team
is: to learn to sail through these dynamics and grow in order to
turn from a group to a team.
Today, working life is changing and companies cannot aim for
results without thinking about people and their wellbeing.
ALESSANDRA
CIANCHETTINI
As Michael Jordan once said: “Talent wins
games, but teamwork and intelligence
win championships.”
So….Timeout! It’s time to start growing as
a Team!
Did you ever hear about Swarm Intelligence?
The way in which animals can coordinate their behaviors
has always fascinated and intrigued humans. The
harmony in which thousands of birds can fly together like
a single organism, the complex bee structure, the perfect synchronized
movements within a school of fishes.
Today many researchers are investigating how it is possible replicate
these behaviors, named “stigmergic”, in human organizations.
The term “Swarm Intelligence” was introduced by Gerardo Beni,
professor of electrical engineering at University of California, in the
context of cellular robotic systems. In fact, the concept was initially
employed in work on artificial intelligence, and then applied at biological
systems. Eric Bonabeau and Marco Dorigo, some of the world’s
leading experts in complex systems, argue that Swarm Intelligence is
based on three characteristics:
• Flexibility – the colony can adapt to a change environment;
• Robustness – even when one individual fails the group can still
perform its task;
• Self Organization – activities are not centrally controlled and not
locally supervised.
In nature, biological systems use Swarm Intelligence to survive at
predators attacks, and environment changes. In some way the interconnections
of these single being allow them to access to more smart
abilities. According to researchers the key is enabling a positive feedback
within the system. Each individual amplifies the actions of the
previous one leading to the emergence of an “intelligent” global
behavior unknowns to the single. Simple organisms, as termites,
are able to build air conditioned “castle of clay” more sophisticated
VALERIO
CIANCI
than the vast majority of human constructions
without any centralized control. How can we
enable such behaviors in our organizations?
How is it possible wake up the awareness about
the deep interconnections among people?
Nowadays something is moving and according
to Cocoon Projects people need new tools and
practices to engage each other in effective
collaboration, exploiting collective intelligence
and individual diversity for value co-creation.
In the age of Disruptive Innovation, I couldn’t find any better
landscape than the Chinese Market.
Two years ago, arriving here I felt lost in this confused mix
of different ages mashed all together, while innovation
randomly explodes and culture and society trying to keep up. Then,
approaching many organizations, I figured out how they were able to
manage all this: continuously adapting to the context. Surprisingly,
despite the enormous number of people, products and services are
perfectly shaped around them.
And that’s wonderful. But the deeper you dig into organizations the
more you realize that often the principles they’re built on don’t take
into consideration people as they should. How can a hiring process
be compelling if there’s no attention to the way each individual
approach may impact on the effectiveness of the team or more
broadly on the organization?
Are you sure I am just talking about China? Aren’t you familiar with
this, wherever you come from?
Everywhere the mania to control complexity converts organizations
- naturally complex systems – into something just complicated.
Exchanging tools with purposes twists the very idea of innovation.
So you can now see a bunch of people reading books and taking
certifications, but how many of them are really willing to involve
their coworkers in decisional processes? Curiously, in a time where
machines are already human, companies still think of coworkers in
terms of executors. Confusing leadership with power raises up the
gap between strategists and executors. And that’s where the black
ALESSANDRA
COSIMATO
hole lies, where companies lose the chance to
create value.
COCREATION INITIATIVES
10 DAYS OF PUBLIC WORKSHOPS
3 CITIES
130+ PARTICIPANTS
FROM THE WHOLE WORLD
TALKING ABOUT US
IN COSA CONSISTE IL METODO
LEGO ® SERIOUS PLAY ® ?
If organizations can’t face this, they won’t
see the Elephant with the whole Savannah in
the room. So let’s rethink mindsets to change
behaviors, processes, and organizational principles.
This could be an innovative start.
What are you afraid of? Have you ever noticed
how you relate with your fears? Think about a
situation that time ago got you completely nuts.
Personally, I’ve got several situations where my
only wish was to run away, disappear, earth-please-eat-me…But
today, I can even smile thinking of how much I was scared about
things, contexts and people.
We are constantly in touch with Fear, often through its most
daily nuances such a continued uncertainty in doing anything;
Fear tends to block us and it will not disappear for itself because
it’s just in our minds. We have to face it, even by small steps
because it’s the only way to get a change and move ahead. When
something is blocking you, find the smallest thing you can do to
get a solution and start, otherwise, the risk is to get used to not
act at all and always leave decisions and actions to something or
someone else.
Reflect on the way we deal with Fear, even when it’s present in
small doses in our everyday life, allows us to understand ourselves
a little more deeply and it can cause a change or an improvement
in our approach to life. It can make us more proactive and free.
Cocoon Projects tends to attract and to continue its path with
people with a proactive attitude, caring and committed. It’s an
open enterprise, so everyone interested in joining and compatible
with our values has free access. The path and what this
MILUSKA
OJEDA
SOME OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE 1ST HALF OF 2016
COCOON LABS
3 NEW LABS
16 COCOONERS INVOLVED
3 CONTENTS PUBLISHED
THE NEAR FUTURE OF WORK HOW YOU ARE GOING
TO WORK TOMORROW WITH STELIO VERZERA
person can give and gain in this context
always depends on his actions. We believe in
collective intelligence, and I personally trust
the “Butterfly effect”.
CP OPEN GOVERNANCE
1 NEW MEMBER
9 NEW CONTRIBUTORS
SHIFT-OUT DYNAMICS INITIATED
BOSSLESS ORGANIZATIONS
IN PRACTICE
2 3