COCOONERS - Making It Happen - No 3, September 2017

COCOONERS
N°3 - SEPTEMBER 2017 MAKING IT HAPPEN
OPEN UP.IMPROVE.
OUR STORY, YOUR STORY
Merging beyond
boundaries.
Any boundaries.
FROM THE FAMILY: IM-MEDIA
People have
the power.
In this number we are proud to share the story of
two top-level IT companies in Italy that decided
to merge. In this story you’ll find an example of
huge openness, inclusiveness and agility. All the
boundaries, internal and external, faded letting
the new and the unknown emerge powerfully.
Read at page 6
When problems arise in our Agency, i.e. obstacles
to our work, we often focus on technological
problems, or issues regarding tools and methods,
or people.
Read at page 4
COOKING IN OUR LABS
• Nalu
• Rory’s Story Cubes ®
• LSP
• Core 2
Read at page 8
A word about Cocoon Projects
Read at page 10
Meet LiquidO TM
Read at page 12
COCOONERS IS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
WHAT’S UP
Some days ago I went to a concert expecting to spend an
evening listening to good music but it was more than
this and I want to share with you what I learnt from that
experience.
At the beginning it was immediately clear that the concert would
have been different from the others because some violinists, two
cellists and a rock drummer were on the stage. What can this
instruments apparently dissonant among them create together?
The experience was surprising and I experimented what happens
when people see the things in a new way.
The first thing I learnt was the importance to let go the usual
knowledge to open the mind and letting things happen.
In music to experiment means to go out of the comfort zone
playing Beethoven and Led Zeppelin on the same track. In our
life, it means to have the courage to break the boundaries to go
beyond the limits to discover the unexpected.
The second one is the charm of innovation.
To innovate means to have new ideas how some things can be
done. I thought this listening to the drummer and the cellists
to play together. We are used to expect the cello only in classical
music and the percussions in rock songs but to change the rules
of the game and find new chords to play classical and rock music
with both instruments was the key of success of this ensemble.
So, for taking our life to a new level, I think we have to experiment
and innovate without fear because the magic is just around
ALESSANDRA
CIANCHETTINI
the corner and to find it can be amazing
like a midsummer night’s concert.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, feedback is “Information
about reactions to a product, a person’s performance
of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for
improvement.”
The keyword is “improvement”, we can’t make any real progress if
we don’t know what we want to improve. Through feedback we can
see how others perceive our weakness and strengths, and sometimes
we can discover new aspects we can’t see by ourselves.
One of the things that pushed me into the User Experience world
were usability tests.
I did some simple usability tests for an app and I was surprised to
see how different people did not see or do what I expected and this
aspect fascinated me a lot!
It made me understand the importance of a user-centered design
approach and how early feedback can really help my design process.
In Cocoon Projects’ Open Governance, a way to understand how
our contribution in a task is perceived by others it’s the retrospective
shares evaluation (part of credit accounting system, for
more info check www.liquidorganisation.info), each task’s participant
declares how much value (not time or effort) each person has
brought in the final result for that particular activity. In this way,
everyone can see how their work were perceived by the whole team
and observe if they tend to overestimate or underestimate, too
much, their own contribution.
MILUSKA
OJEDA
People are hungry for opinions about themselves,
by now my social streams are full of
personal links to receive anonymous and
honest feedback. Maybe it’s just a fad, but I
think it’s an interesting experiment because
often reactions and opinions we generate can
have a weight in our path.
Let’s say it once and for all: *the* leader does not exist.
For years we have tried to find the characteristics that a
good leader must have, so that he could cultivate, learn,
and even teach them. Technical, psychological, relational
characteristics. And every time the feeling is that we were missing
something.
That’s because *the* leader, as such, does not exist.
Following what Harrison Owen suggests, leadership is something
that shows at the intersection between passion and responsibility.
People who have true passion for something and feel a sense of
responsibility are those who can inspire others, so that “the efforts
of many coalesce as one”.
If so, and I believe it is, it is obvious how each of us has passion and
responsibility to certain themes and not to others. Then it’s easy to
understand how a person can be a leader in some activities and not
in others, even within the same workgroup and the same organization.
Thinking that one can choose to be a leader or, worse, that the position
in the org-chart determine who has leadership is a mistake
that at the minimum does not create value and at worse, more
commonly, causes real damage.
So, within every organization and every team we should look for
those who, in any given moment, are showing sincere passion and
strong sense of responsibility instead of building some super-power
or standardized characteristics. Once we found them we should just
EMANUELE
RAPISARDA
CUSTOMER PROJECTS
22 ITERATIONS
30+ FACILITATORS INVOLVED
10+ COUNTRIES
TALKING ABOUT US
COSTRUIRE UN’IMPRESA
È UN’OPERA D’ARTE
give them the opportunity to express their
leadership, providing resources and letting
them express their unique way to lead.
Doing this, we will not have static “leaders”
(as a title), but we will have a dynamic leadership
(as a quality).
So, stop looking for leaders and start looking
for leadership. Also because, you know,
*the* leader does not exist.
When work rhythms are very high and we have to
face emergencies and deadlines, it’s easy to overshadow
our evolutionary path and then overthinking
the time that we couldn’t preserve. How
can we manage work staffs and simultaneously devoting time to our
growth? I heard about this dilemma so many times and I have been
through it myself.
We all know very well that by improving ourselves, our team and
organization will profit too.
Though putting ourselves above customers, deliveries and projects is
still very hard to do.
I believe that if we align who we are and what we care with our work
we can avoid all frictions and this is the only way to dispel wastes, as
the two (energy) streams are pointing in the same direction.
Easier said than done!
In my opinion the development of operational reputation is the way,
namely the focus on the only possible sustainable reputation which
is based on what we have done and the experience gained by cooperating
with other people.
It relies on our true skills and on the real contribution we can give to
our community.
SOME OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE 1ST HALF OF 2017
COCOON LABS
11 COCOONERS INVOLVED
3 COUNTRIES
8 PUBLIC INITIATIVES
CREATING DESIGN TOOLS
FOR THE AGE OF NETWORKS
This is quite a long-running process, thus we have to invest time and
energy in it and we have to be coherent and constant. Today this is
one of the most powerful means to achieve major goals: to advance
CLAUDIA
PELLICORI
in full alignment with our identity, to be recognized by our community,
to attract what we need, to create tangible
value for us and others.
Operational reputation represents today one of
the biggest chances for us to unleash our potential
and to offer our unique contribution to the
world.
And it is for this purpose, that is to support
systematic and effective work of professionals
and organizations that we designed CORE2 tool
for lean reputation development.
CP OPEN GOVERNANCE
9 NEW CONTRIBUTORS
1 NEW MEMBER
26 PEOPLE SHIFTS
INSIGHT TO ACTION - EVOLVING THROUGH
THE CONFLICT OF SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS
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Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
FROM
THE
FAMILY
In this issue of Cocooners we love to give space
to our friends at IM*MEDIA, who are sharing a story
about what people can do once they are freed from fear.
PEOPLE
HAVE THE
POWER
COCOON PROJECTS
WEBSITE
HIGHLIGHTS
Cresce la facilitazione
con LSP
immedia.net
Era settembre quando abbiamo pubblicato l’articolo
“Ci siamo riusciti: adesso LSP parla italiano!”
e da allora già tante cose sono cambiate.
When problems arise in our Agency, i.e. obstacles
improve this I could do this other, let’s try!”.
starting, we choose relevant and measurable data
solutions in areas not properly belonging to them.
to our work, we often focus on technological
to evaluate the results of a possible improvement.
problems, or issues regarding tools and methods,
We understand that it’s crucial to neutralize the
Our Agency understood that the person’s expertise
or people.
fear of making wrong decisions and cyclically
Slowly we are abandoning the concept of the
has much more value than its’ job title.
Often we end up judging superficially what
analyze the results of it. These new “experiments”,
“position” of people, shifting our focus to their
Moving the focus on expertise it is possible to
surrounds us because of our irresistible temptation
if taken with careful and common sense (eg small
passion. We all have something close to our heart.
redirect decision making processes within organ-
to categorize what we still do not really know.
targets in short terms), allow us to evolve quickly
We are convinced that talented people have a great
izations and companies (we are already testing it).
Rather than being pleasantly curious about what’s
towards new production standards.
passion and, by virtue of it, also have a great sense
Also testing new ideas and focusing on talented
new, we prefer to make judgments with the aim of
The experiments give us a great deal of infor-
of responsibility. It doesn’t matter what the job
people allows one to move to more prosperous
“rejecting what’s new”.
Perhaps we should remember that knowledge is
mation, which can be collateral and unexpected,
but still very useful. For this reason, before
or position are. Everyone’s contribution is fundamental.
Sometimes it is easier for people to find
systems, better able to challenge so many
unforeseen changes of the modern world.
COCOONERS N° 2 is online!
Making It Happen.
a seedling that needs to be continually watered,
People are the real driving force for change and
The N°2 of our “Cocooners” half-yearly publication
and that without passion and daily care, it will stop
we are working to ensure that their passions and
is online in digital version!
giving its results. This is why we should always be
responsibilities are always at the top.
ready to question each day what we have learned.
So today we can better understand others, avoid
What if the reason why we don’t question our
endless meetings, identify wastes and oppor-
knowledge is simply fear? In this era of sudden
tunities coming from the changes of business
change, fear is a major obstacle for organizations
processes. Thanks to this we are now able to focus
and people who are dealing with new challenges
on specific and major goals. We work better and
and opportunities, as well as facing the same old
our customers are happier.
problems. It is probably something atavic that, in
Once all the non-relevant information is gone, and
the end, has brought human kind where it is today.
all the involved people are listened, this is when
Our digital Agency (with the help of Cocoons’
people) has started a path that we know will be
hard and long lasting and that will lead us to a
continuous change (i.e. improvement).
DECISIONS
ACTIONS
FEEDBACK
the perfect value can be reached.
What’s up by Claudia
Pellicori
I’d love to tell you a brief story. When I graduated I felt the
urgency to start to work, first of all to be economically
We are working on our mindset, trying to get
independent and to demonstrate to my family that I could work
out from our comfort zone but, above all, we are
CRITERIA
MINDSET
successfully, but also to grow and become stronger in deciding
experimenting something new. We are starting to
about my life.
use the following approach: “I’m not sure, but to
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Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
OUR STORY IS YOUR STORY
MERGING BEYOND
BOUNDARIES.
ANY BOUNDARIES.
SOME DATA
16
5 40
DAYS OF WORK FACILITATORS PARTICPANTS
We are proud to share with you in this issue the story of two excellent IT companies in Italy that decided to
merge. This story will show you an example of extraordinarily high openness, inclusiveness and agility where
all inner and outer boundaries faded letting the new and the unknown emerge powerfully.
When we think
about a merger
of two companies it’s
all relevant analysis
and decisions
to be considered,
Keeping this in
mind, our first
small step was to
Thus the two workstreams
purposely
chosen to set up this
Once reached
a sufficient
level of operational
Guided by passion and
responsibility, feeling
to be definitely part of
Fortified by
long-running
progress in open
Even in this case,
they decided not to
be locked in their
Only when they
finally reached a
clear entrepreneurial
The final challenge
then is to conceive
a company that can
FINAL THOUGHTS
easy to focus on the
but secondary if you
leverage one of both
board were brand
alignment, the next
a new unique system,
co-creation and
offices, they instead
vision, strong cultural
be adaptive, that
revaluation of the two
realize that this kind
companies’ strengths
identity and sales
step was to go deeper
all people were able to
significant conversa-
invited representatives
alignment, sharing
can respond in real
“We can be who we want. Changing
companies, division
of operation is first of
by introducing a
process: two issues
into what every single
define what the new
tions with all people of
of the most relevant
tools and processes,
time to changes
is an opportunity. Opportunities to
of company shares,
all a union between
shared collaborative
that deepen the core
person felt to be
organization could
both companies, there
stakeholders of the
we could definitely
and constantly
accomplish our potential, what we can
infrastructures, etc...
two different human
working board
of the two groups,
really important for
absolutely not be
came the time when
two companies.
start high-level
re-write itself every
become, our unique contribution to the
Of course these are
systems, each one
with rhythmic and
working both on
the future of the new
missing!
the shareholders of the
Customers, partners
working on the
time, diving into
world.” Claudia Pellicori, during the
with its own processes
constant meetings
inner dynamics and
company.
two companies had
and key professionals
adaptive organization
uncertainty as one,
iteration 0 of this project.
and tools, its own
so that it could be
outer relationships.
We explicitly asked
to think about their
to share the same table
design of the new
even fortified and
competencies, culture,
adapted in real time.
this question to all of
entrepreneurial vision
and using the power
company.
nourished by it.
values ​and principles.
This created a safe
them and we chose
to be followed as a
of LEGOR Serious Play
In short: each one
space where people
a methodology that
guiding star in the new
the two companies
with its own people.
could start making
could leverage collec-
organization building
therefore envisioned
their own proposals
and work together on
structural activities
in order to reach a
common identity.
tive intelligence and
self-organization:
the Open Space
Technology.
OPEN SPACE
TECHNOLOGY
process.
their future together.
ADAPTIVE
ORGANIZATION
DESIGN
HUMAN
SYSTEM
COLLABORATIVE
WORKING BOARD
ENTREPRENEURIAL
VISION
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Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
JAM NEWS
A Cocoon Projects Jam happens twice per year, at the beginning of each half. It is the most important CP governance event,
open to all members and contributors and lasting two or three days. During the CP Jam we cocreate our direction for the next 6
months. Here below you can have a peek at our last Jam.
#CPJAM
COOKING
IN OUR
LABS
@ShiverTweet
Every #CPjam teaches me something more about the meaning
of Ohana. We are blessed by its energy flow.
World unfucking in progress!
@pellicors
#CPjam is also time to think, grow, share, celebrate, open
your mind. Impossible can become possible,if you see beyond!
#2017h2 @CocoonPro
The Cocoon Projects Labs are our own innovation engine. New knowledge, mastery and even new value proposition elements are
developed here. They are open and voluntary structures, working by specific processes designed for proactively generating marketdriven
and high-quality value proposition.
It’s in the CP Labs that entrepreneurs and professional game-changers can express their best contribution in the co-creation of the
next Cocoon Projects.
Nalu
standard techniques that can be used with the To offer attendees a memorable experience beyond
Do you remember our self-organized ecosystem Rory’s Story Cubes and eventual interesting vari-
the training itself is one of the things we love to do
@CocoonPro
So many important conversations today. High contribution and
involvement to create a new way #cpjam #2017h2 #evolution
#revolution #waves
for work-life growth and mastery development?
ations that you can combine with the standard
in this lab, and we have just started. Follow us if
@emagorse
Yes, I’m talking about what in the previous editions
of Cocooners was called Yous. Nalu is just the new
name of that same lab.
We didn’t decide to change name just for fun but
techniques in order to create always new, customized
and adaptive ways to release the dices’ full
potential. Now our next step will be to decide the
best way to share these techniques and variations
you want to know what we have in mind for the
very next months!
Core 2
Living in @CocoonPro is like living in a continuous big bang.
Today we are mapping the galaxy around us #ecosystem #evolution
#cpjam #2017h2
that was because we started to organize the first
modules and we started to sew a tailor-made dress
out of a simple idea. But these are only internal
stuff and just a small part of our journey!
with our community and be ready, we are thinking
about something deeply immersive and practical.
We’re not going to reveal everything today: we
won’t give you the game and spoil the surprise,
In July we were invited by our partner ITOL Roxana
Mocanu to participate in 2 events held in Bucharest,
Romania.
On the 12th of July during the HR breakfast - in
@laurabolletta
imPossible is nothing! Oh, yeah! #roadtothefuture
#thefutureisnow @CocoonPro #cpjam #2017h2
We are now opening very interesting conver-
news are coming soon.
addition to telling our experience on CORE 2 - we
sations with other organizations and people all
around the world in order to accelerate learning,
LSP
started to use it working on the first quadrant. The
workshop involved more than 20 professionals
@sara_cosio
What is our trajectory?
leverage each other’ strengths and maximize the
These past six months have been really intense for
who explored for their first time the topic of oper-
#changingtheworld #challenges
impact we can have on a wider ecosystem.
this lab as we’ve organised three different facilita-
ational reputation using the Rory’s Story Cubes too.
#CPJAM #2017H2 @CocoonPro
Just like a baby, it’s time for Nalu to start walking
tors’ training sessions in Italy (both in Italian and
On the 13th during the Talent Planet event, held
and you know, when a baby starts walking is just
in English).
at Deutsche Bank and involving about 60 profes-
a matter of time before he starts climbing and
running all around.
Rory’s Story Cubes ®
In April we had the pleasure to host in Rome a
training held by Robert Rasmussen, one of the
fathers of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method.
It was amazing to meet people from all over the
sionals, we introduced the tool in one of the 4 key
note speeches called “Developing our potential”.
The feedbacks were really exciting and opened up
new questions to be answered, so we will keep on
@guido_martini
Mapping our ecosystem #cpjam #2017h2 cc/@CocoonPro
In the last issues by Cocooners we informed you
world and to share with them our backgrounds
working on the tool!
that we were collecting all the knowledge and
and experiences.
@Lucia_Coflowing
information we were developing and putting
In June, we organised the first training in Castel-
Stay tuned for the
Beautiful place for the creation of disruptive ideas that will add
together into a readable and usable form that could
mola, a unique venue in Sicily. Working hard in
publication of all the
happiness to the world! @ShiverTweet @Pellicors @CocoonPro
be shared with our community.
front of a stunning view of the Mediterranean
active Labs and their work
This is what we’ve been actually doing in the last 6
sea, led by Lucio Margulis, was an excellent way to
at labs.cocoonprojects.com
months: we finally developed some very powerful
start the summer.
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Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
A WORD
ABOUT US
Cocoon Projects is a last generation company,
Cocoon Projects’ governance system itself is
Cocoon Projects is thus involved first-hand in
These ongoing activities within the scopes of
We believe this is the time for establishing
devoted to supporting innovation and fostering
based on the Lean managements and Open
the edge international efforts for the develop-
Innovation, together with intense and contin-
a whole new culture in the management of
real value creation in the world entrepreneurial
Collaboration principles. It constitutes a last
ment of methodologies and tools enabling the
uous field operations at the side of national
today’s challenges for any organisation. And
ecosystem. It’s been designed to be effective,
generation adaptive organisational model
systemic improvement of organisations.
and international Customers highlight Cocoon
we’re able to design and co-execute ad-hoc
agile, open, fast and adaptive. Its Customers
called LiquidO TM
that has already collected
And it is directly engaged on a regular basis
Projects as the ideal partner for those organisa-
evolutionary paths on all the vertical aspects
are people and organisations in the need for
high interest and direct interaction by some of
by global networks of professionals in the
tions in search of sound experience within the
of this scenario.
significant evolution within the scopes of
the most relevant international experts in the
field, such as the European Organisation
most core and relevant scopes of Innovation.
work methodologies, tools and techniques and/
enterprise and management innovation fields.
Design Forum, the Stoos Network, the OuiS-
or stakeholders end-to-end relationships.
hare network, the Management Innovation
The goal is to make this change
Exchange (MIX).
really happen.
OPENNESS
Imagine the space of evolution
in these three dimensions.
A value of zero on all of
the three axes would fit
for a company from
the Fifties of the last
century.
Where is your organisation
today?
Where should it
be tomorrow?
ADAPTIVE
ORGANISATION
DESIGN
AGILE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
ADAPTIVE
ORGANISATION
LEANNESS
SERVICE MODEL
DEVELOPMENT
CONTINUOS
IMPROVEMENT
WORKPLACE
EVOLUTION
In the evolution of work across
the three dimensions
of leanness, inclusiveness
and openness, we can
provide services
in these 9 different areas.
LEANNESS
INCLUSIVENESS
REAL TIME
STRATEGY
MAKING
INCLUSIVENESS
IT’S ALL ABOUT
PEOPLE
OPENNESS
REPUTATION
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIENCE
DESIGN
IN
OPEN
NOVATION
CROWD-PLATFORMS
IMPLEMENTATION
IDENTITY
AND HERITAGE
EMPOWERING
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Cocooners - n° 3 - September 2017
MEET LIQUIDO
What is LiquidO
You might have heard of a new breed of organisational models, responding
to the fast growing adaptability, engagement and collaboration needs
within modern company structures. Or you might have simply experienced
the sound problems of slowness, rigidity, bureaucracy, disengagement
along with various kinds of waste and bottlenecks that “traditional”
organisational models generate and suffer nowadays.
This is what LiquidO TM is all about: the original “liquid organisation”
model for governance, born from direct experience within Cocoon
Projects and in use in a growing number of for profit and not-for-profit
organisations willing to get liquid.
Liquefying an organization means disrupting the industrial-age driven
assumptions on which rigid structures are designed and move on to make
it adaptive, dynamic and anti-fragile. Based on lean management and
open collaboration principles, the LiquidO TM model is fluid,
meritocratic and value-driven, enabling stigmergic
behaviour and “organic” effectiveness.
Why you would
want it in your
organisation
Rigidly structured organizations
cannot cope with the
current pace of innovation
and its complexity, let
alone exploit it. We need a
completely different mindset
and consequently new models.
And we need them to be simple
and people-centric.
This is exactly why LiquidO
was born.
1. Real-time adaptability.
The industrial age organisational approach, where
each area is defined as a restricted group of activities coherent
to one another, has its biggest limitations in the risk to fall in fragmented,
sealed administration and culture. As the company grows, so grows the
complex ramification, branching and costs of these models. Lack of
communication, heavy bureaucracy, disastrous efficiency.
COLLABORATIVE
WORKING BOARD
REPUTATION
TRACKING
The completely different perspective realized by LiquidO, in fact relying
on people and competences without fixed roles, provides an integrated
and adaptive business management scenario shifted to a systemic
approach, pragmatically meritocratic and inherently capable of real time
adaptability to any context. It’s just like water, some would say.
2. Better and faster information processing.
Hierarchies are a sound bottleneck both for decision making and competences
evolution. Too many info to process in order to succeed. Moreover,
on the other hand, the distance between where and how in the organization
strategies are created, and where and how they have to be executed
too often creates waste, lack of effectiveness or even complete failure.
Non-peer evaluation, silos and recruiting inefficiency are additional
heavy side-defects of an organizational design philosophy based on the
two illusions of control and predictability, and therefore actualized with
structural divisions between thinking and doing.
LiquidO is a viable and operational way to let all the brilliant people in
the company effectively emerge. Anybody can join each wave, surf it and
enrich it, so to say. And leveraging different viewpoints, backgrounds and
competences today is definitely critical to succeed in taking better and
faster decisions.
CONTRIBUTION
ACCOUNTING
COLLABORATIVE
DECISIONMAKING
3. Engagement and spontaneous leadership.
People are key in this picture. In fact, within
LiquidO everyone can decide whether to
join a process or not, try, and consequently
determine her level by fast
feedback loops from frequent and
specific peer-reviews driven by
the actual delivered value.
Besides a natural engagement
due to continuous feedback
and consequently improving
results, within this scenario
it’s really difficult to deny
emerging problems. Within
the old way of thinking the
organizations very often
conflicts, work overload, sense
of impotence, lack of decision
power, absence of endorsement,
unfair treatment and misalignments
are among the real causes of failures.
There is much more that can be done today, if
only we let go of control, predictability and rigidity.
LiquidO moves structures, processes and the organization
itself away from the center, where it is assumed that people have to adapt
to them, instead shifting the focus on people and truly empowering
them to dynamically find their maximum value creation spot within
the organization, expressing leadership effectively and without fear,
naturally growing and being rewarded for this.
Read the whole LiquidO whitepaper. It is available in
Creative Commons at liquidorganisation.info
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