COCOONERS - Making It Happen - No 6, March 2019

COCOONERS
N°6 - MARCH 2019 MAKING IT HAPPEN
LEARN FROM LIFE
OUR STORY IS YOUR STORY
A story about
talent.
How do you attract new talents in a global organization,
when you have an ambitious workforce
expansion plan, the world of work is changing at a
fast pace and people’s attention is mainly focused on
dream jobs at big tech companies? This is the story of
a multinational DIY company which realised that to
attract new talents you have to unleash your current
talents, and of how we worked together to design a
shared framework for talent attraction.
FROM THE FAMILY: EODF
Make a dent in the
world.
The European Organisation Design Forum (EODF)
was originally setup to create a space for people
across Europe who were interested in organisation
design to come together to share, learn, and inspire
each other, so that we can release the potential
within our own organisations. But over time it
has since become so much more, making an even
greater dent in the world!
LIVE FROM THE ECOSYSTEM
How does “thank you”
look like on an
ecosystemic level?
We’ve started this journey years ago. In fact,
we’ve never measured the creation of value in
terms of time spent on tasks, we’ve designed
our governance to allow flows of contribution to
be visible and nurtured, we’ve chosen steward
ownership entrepreneurial principles so as not to
focus too much on scarce resources like money.
Read at page 6 Read at page 4
Read at page 8
A word about
Cocoon Projects
What’s cooking in our
LABS
Meet LiquidO TM
Read at page 14 Read at page 10 Read at page 16
COCOONERS IS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
WHAT’S UP
Afew days ago, while attending an Aikido practice, I
listened to a phrase from the Master that made me
think: “help her by putting her in trouble” he said,
addressing two guys who were practising in the attack
and defence roles.
Thinking of my work with people in organizations, I found this
sentence very meaningful. Facilitating the achievement of a goal
does not mean making things simpler but making them possible.
Creating the conditions for people to experience new paths that lead
them to express their potential and evolve, does not mean making
the journey easier. Indeed, often highlighting obstacles or difficulties
is part of the value we deliver to organizations because evolution
passes through the desire and ability of individuals and the whole
system to question themselves. Although this is difficult.
The answer to the difficulties of the system as a living organism is
what the physiology of training calls “super-compensation”, the
adaptation of the body following a training stimulus. For example, to
increase the capacity of a marathon runner, the workload is raised by
gradually increasing the distance to be covered so that each time it is
a little more difficult to reach the goal. This triggers a mechanism to
which, day after day, the body adapts, improving itself, to the benefit
of the performance.
Bringing this concept back to my experience within organizations,
I believe that disturbing the balance of a system, sometimes triggering
a real revolution, has the great value of making it difficult to
generate change.
ALESSANDRA
CIANCHETTINI
Difficulty is a precious tool to cultivate and
not an obstacle to get around. This change of
perspective is, as always, up to us!
Why should the world of business embrace a
different perspective on life, I keep asking
myself? Why should entrepreneurs and all decision
makers change the guiding principles of their
aims and decisions, taking in account the good of the broader work
ecosystem, letting go of egotistic perspectives driven and perpetuated
by the ideas of competition, strategy, conquer and dominance?
And I have been asking this question around for quite a while now,
as well.
There’s a double-bind that is becoming increasingly evident. It is
that of having to survive in the status-quo and at the same time
of knowing that in this way we are sacrificing a better world and
possibly putting our own survival as a species at risk. Thinking in
terms of bottom-line and shareholders’ interest, and not having to
deal with what is released to the rest of the system as “externalities”
is convenient in the short-term. And deadly in the long term.
Yet, there’s hope. I have found hope in the very path through these
questions. I have learned that any double-bind bears within also
a double-opportunity to overcome it. The key to that is making it
both-and, instead of either-or: we have to nurture both opportunities
as one. More specific to this issue, the key is meeting both self-interest
and care for the broader ecosystem. Making them thrive
together, so much that they are recognized as one and the same
interest. Giving organizations tools and visibility to thrive on the
exponential dynamics that the ecosystem can provide them when
resonating, and at the same time making them see and nurture the
multiple interdependencies they have with the ecosystem itself.
STELIO
VERZERA
There is hope. And a lot of work to do.
I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will
be as one.
In many conversations I recently had with colleagues and
friends it emerged how in the world of work, we are accustomed
to a language that penetrated in our most natural
conversations, ending up being a language that is appreciated
and sought after.
What are our targets?
Who is in charge of this division?
We have to conquer this market!
Everyone here fights their own battles.
All these expressions, which are certainly not the only ones, derive
from war jargon. And actually we manage our companies as if we
are at war: we have competitors, we tend to accumulate and protect
resources and information, we recruit people who respond to the
hierarchy. All this brought consequences. We built organizations
in which people feel constantly under pressure and where punishments
generate fears that block every spark of creativity, workplaces
where control is more important than passion. Looking
at the ecosystem level, I see a wild use of natural and human
resources, I see the waste of potential due to the non-sharing of
information between different organizations, I see the endless
bureaucracy in which we are caught up.
Ok, but what can we do?
Since we are talking about how language affects our actions, I
want to put a word on the table: love.
We should all have more love. Try to go to work and instead of
filling that document in a mechanical way put some love into it.
When you meet a colleague, try to ask her how she is and ask her
EMANUELE
RAPISARDA
CUSTOMER PROJECTS
13 ITERATIONS
+ 160 PEOPLE INVOLVED
7 NEW PROJECTS
TALKING ABOUT US
IED SUPPORTA
OHANA MEETUP
with love. When meeting a client, try to
really listen to his needs, with love. When
you talk with a competitor, try to learn
from each other, with love.
It will not be easy at all, but I believe that
the good things in life are the most difficult
but not unpleasant for that. And love
is perhaps among all things the most difficult
and pleasant one at the same time.
T
ell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember,
involve me and I learn.
Benjamin Franklin
How strong and true is this statement? I remember very well concepts
that I have been taught by really involving me and my fellow students
when we were only 6 or 7 years old. I don’t remember a single word of
the explanations but we learned perfectly what chlorophyll photosynthesis
is because we tested and observed it with our own eyes, we saw
what happened if we obscured portions of leaves with black cardboard,
testing it for ourselves.
Education does not only involve children, we are all involved.
In the world of work, it is useful to get your hands dirty during ad
hoc and safe events such as jams, challenges, hackathons, in order to
deal with your skills. At a higher level of commitment we can enable
people to work on real projects to test themselves and learn a whole
set of knowledge that can only be learned by working in a real context,
without simulations. Obviously this cannot be done without criteria
and seriousness, because the person who has to learn risks coming
up against too big challenges, compromising the quality of the project
and the final value, as well as the feeling of being abandoned to themselves.
SOME OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE 2ND HALF OF 2018
COCOON LABS
4 ACTIVE LABS
14 PEOPLE INVOLVED
3 COUNTRIES INVOLVED
WORKSHOP 3: DESIGN
FOR ECOSYSTEMS
One of the possible ways is to do pair work, I found it valuable both for
myself and for other people. Doing pair work is like when you are small
and you have to learn to walk, you do it with your legs but you are not
MILUSKA
OJEDA
left alone, you have guides and the right stimuli
to give your best, you’ll fall, but the damage is
contained because the support is always there.
You are not alone but it does not stop you from
learning even if sometimes you will struggle.
CP OPEN GOVERNANCE
13 NEW CONTRIBUTORS
6 PEOPLE SHIFTS
5 COUNTRIES INVOLVED
EDUCATIONAL HACKATON
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Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
FROM
THE
FAMILY
We are glad to share the pages of this number of
Cocooners with EODF, one of the most valuable
community of professionals we have been working
with for a long time.
MAKE
A DENT IN THE
WORLD
COCOON PROJECTS
WEBSITE
HIGHLIGHTS
AN ARTICLE BY THOMAS DOERING & NICK RICHMOND,
CO-CHAIRS OF ORGANISATION DESIGN INSTITUTE AND
THE EUROPEAN ORGANISATION DESIGN FORUM
Eodf.eu
MASTERCLASS –
Dare profondità alla
facilitazione con LEGO®
SERIOUS PLAY®.
Il metodo LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® è estremamente
potente e utile nell’aiutare le persone a comprendere a
fondo cosa pensano e sentono.
The European Organisation Design Forum
and significantly contributes to other fields
Boyd’s OODA loop, to develop an evidenced
Design Community, and the Organization
(EODF) was originally setup to create a space
including agility, the future of work, the
based approach to determining how well an
Design Forum have launched a certification
for people across Europe who were interested
human revolution, behavioural and neuro-
organisation is developing its agility. So if
program for Organizational Design Profes-
in organisation design to come together to
sciences.
you are making a dent in the world and want
sionals.
share, learn, and inspire each other, so that
to meet others doing the same join us out at
This certification endorses professionals,
we can release the potential within our own
For example Cocoon Projects uses a combi-
www.eodf.eu.
whether external consultants or internal
organisations. But over time it has since
nation of Lego® Serious Play® and
specialists, to give organisations assurances
become so much more, making an even
ecosystems thinking to support the evolution
To improve the value and impact of the
that these professionals are credible.
greater dent in the world! Being a highly
of its clients to help them continue adding
EODF community, and to help organizations
inclusive community in addition to exploring
the power of organisation design to release
potential, our community both learns from
value to their networks. Fractal Consulting
has used Stafford Beer’s simulation approach
called the Viable System Model and John
identify organisation designers who have
credible experience and expertise, the EODF
together with its partners the Organizational
“As an external consultant, regularly winning
business is critical to the success of my organisation.
I was really pleased when a potential
client approached me because I am a Certified
Organization Design Professional” Nick
Richmond, Director of Tricordant Ltd
COCOONERS N° 5 is online!
Making It Happen.
Catch up about news, tools, thoughts, facts, people, work,
future.
To learn more about this certification check
out
http://orgdesigncomm.com/Certification-Program
or contact the author at
mail@thomas-doering.eu.
The next application deadline is set for May
1st, 2019.
Innolympics Education
Hackathon
We strongly believe that Education needs to evolve and
this means that what we have today is not enough.
4
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Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
OUR STORY IS YOUR STORY
A STORY ABOUT
TALENT
SOME DATA
5
DAYS
6 64
OF WORK FACILITATORS PARTICIPANTS
How do you attract new talents in a global organization, when you have an ambitious workforce expansion plan,
the world of work is changing at a fast pace and people’s attention is mainly focused on dream jobs at big tech
companies? This is the story of a multinational DIY company which realised that to attract new talents you have to
unleash your current talents, and of how we worked together to design a shared framework for talent attraction.
To begin with, we
needed to better
understand this new
eight countries
worked remotely
to explore the
Following this
first iteration,
two things were
It was time for the
following steps: using
the design brief as
Therefore, three
groups of
people - from several
The perfect ground
to create together
a pre-prototype
The third iteration
of this project
started exactly with
Something that until
a few weeks before
was not considered
The group was
now ready to
take an extra step:
Furthermore, the
range of action of
these initiatives was
FINAL THOUGHTS
challenge, gathering
complexity of the
clear: the great
a guide to develop
countries and with
of the new talent
the remote collection
possible was now
the representatives
not limited to a single
points of view from
challenge, its key
passion of the
the new framework,
different backgrounds
attraction framework:
of feedback from the
a reality, thanks to
of each business
business unit. Instead,
“We have understood that to attract new
the company all
dimensions and
people involved,
working iteratively
- started focusing
a proof-of-concept
human resources
everyone’s valuable
unit defined the
it was often cross-unit
competencies and skills we have to start
around the world in
existing constraints,
eager to make
to create a prototype
on the framework,
able to be shared
community. This
contribution.
initiatives they
and cross-country,
from our own competences and skills.”
the leanest possible
co-creating a brief
their contribution
that could be put into
collaborating remotely
within the company
activity culminated
wanted to commit to.
further encouraging
way. This is why
for the design of the
and acquire new
action and tested as
with our support. This
with the wider HR
in a workshop held in
What better way to
collaboration and
“We don’t need perfection, we need
we started with a
new talent attraction
competencies, and
soon as possible.
phase culminated in a
community, in order to
October 2018, in which
immediately turn the
leveraging diversity.
initiatives!”
digital workshop held
framework.
the need to develop
2-day workshop held in
receive feedback and
over 30 participants
framework into reality
A new approach was
remotely in August
a greater capacity
September 2018, with
finalise an actionable
worked together to
and start testing it?
already in place!
2018, in which 15
for managing
over 30 participants
prototype.
question, integrate
participants from
complexity.
exchanging
and evolve the first
experiences,
prototype version
CO-CREATION
discovering things in
common and sharing
successful approaches
of the new talent
attraction framework.
INITIATIVES
already in place among
different business
COMPLEXITY
units.
SHARING
VALUE
6 7

Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
LIVE FROM THE
ECOSYSTEM
Here’s to the system of value flows we work in. Our ecosystem. No initiative, tool,
competence, result can exist without roots in the liminal spaces between these
flows, between organizations, across narratives. Enjoy.
The ohana meets up
in Barcelona
NURTURING SHARED VALUE
How does “thank you” look like on an
ecosystemic level?
STUFF WE’VE LOVED READING!
Warm Data
Recognizing that complex problems are not susceptible to predetermined
solutions, the International Bateson Institute has taken up the task of
generating a category of information specifically dedicated to description
of contextual relational interaction, calling it “Warm Data”.
Read the full article
Small Moves, Smartly Made
Small moves, smartly made, can set big things in motion - that’s the
sub-title of my last book, The Power of Pull. It’s been a key theme of my
work for decades, but it’s coming back to bite me.
Read the full article
It Takes a Village to Raise
an Entrepreneur
Like the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, I would also
say: it takes a village to raise an entrepreneur. We have this myth of the
lone, heroic entrepreneur. And certainly, there is courage and heroism in
launching a business.
We’ve started this journey years ago. In fact,
we’ve never measured the creation of value in
terms of time spent on tasks, we’ve designed
our governance to allow flows of contribution to
be visible and nurtured, we’ve chosen steward
ownership entrepreneurial principles so as not
to focus too much on scarce resources like money.
These choices embody the need for embracing
the complexity behind human flows of
value, without oversimplifying it by mechanistic
measurement of quantitative variables. In other
words, we were already aware that what people
do is not always objectifiable in a standardized
measurement system.
Now, if you consider that the global capitalist
economy is based on scarcity of resources, you
have a clear frame of the problem we are facing: the invisibility of the real
and deep ecology of our value exchanges. And it is very hard to nurture
what you are not aware of. The flows of non-scarce resources like trust,
faith, support or generosity are invisible beyond the persons directly involved
in their exchange. Those persons just say “thanks” to each other
but then those flows cannot be noticed, shared and have exponential effects.
That’s what we want to offer to our ecosystem: a way to track non-scarce
value exchanges so that they can emerge and reclaim their true place in
an economy of value. A way to track all those things for which we just say
“thanks” but that disappear a moment afterwards. Actually, that’s exactly
what we want to track: the Thanks. Or, if you are nostalgic of the old financial
jargon, the THX.
The THX is a new current-see (way more than a currency) based on all those
things that usually make the difference but are not visible because of our
traditional monetary economy focused on the transaction and accumulation
of scarce resources. A tool to track the value of all those generative
and nurturing resources flowing within an ecosystem that multiply when
shared. Each player who uses it is recognized for the value generated and,
according to her operational reputation, the value of her THX can grow or
decrease. We believe it is necessary to allow a new kind of emergent, value-driven
economy. We are in beta already, so if you’re interested, let us
know! We have already tested it with some pre-totype, and we have noticed
that people catch the value in it and just fall in love with this concept.
We have received lots of interest in developing an app that people can use,
and that’s what we are working on now, a way for growing “eco” instead of
“ego”. The journey has already started.
The Ohana Meetup is our contribution to the
whole tribe of professionals, game-changers,
change agents, passionate people evolving
the world (of work).
Surrounded by an incredible amount of energy,
the first edition took place in Rome last year.
Individuals from all around the world gathered
curious and open to know what happens if the
ohana meets up.
Each participant approached the gathering
with a strong desire to contribute to a profound
change in today’s world of work.
The second edition will be on March 22-23 in Barcelona. People from 8 countries in 3 continents
are going to envision what working as an ecosystem looks like and why it is valuable for
all of us. We can’t wait to live that vibe again and be in the party with you all!
SPOT ON: HERE’S HOW IT FELT
EODF 2018
Stelio Verzera
A story you need
to know
What Cocoon Projects really means for you.
This year EODF conference’s title was
“Designing for Business Ecosystems”. So we
immediately thought it embodied our current
focus and we jumped in immediately.
It was an amazing way to participate in
how the organization design community
is exploring the topic, seeing connections
and interactions that overcome the typical
division between what’s “inside” and what’s
“outside” an organization.
FRESH STORIES FROM MOZAIC
Letizia Piangerelli
Out of curiosity
A little story on unlikely investigations and
pieces falling into place.
Eleonora Ferraù
The Journey
VISIT
Ohanameetup.party
In a nutshell, it’s been a real creation space.
All the conversations during the conference
have been very interesting, but for us one
narrative has stood out and is especially worth
mentioning here: the beautiful speech by
Nora Bateson called “Exploring Ecosystems:
Warm Data, Symmathesy and expanding the
edges of the self” that has opened to new,
powerful and fascinating questions for years
to come.
It’s never too late to put yourself out there.
Read the full article
Join the conversation in our public
Telegram channel @CocoonPro
Read on Mozaic Read on Mozaic Read on Mozaic
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Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
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 market-driven 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.
COOKING
IN OUR
LABS
Stay tuned for the publication of all
the active Labs and their work at
labs.cocoonprojects.com
Nalu
LSP
We knew that at some point in
bridges between them.
In Cocoon Projects we believe in
deeper into aspects that you only
the future the time would come
That means your people could
development activities as one
see when you acquire experience
to start breaking the edges
get inspiration by knowing how
of the components of personal
and discover that you never stop
between organisations that are
individuals in other companies
and professional evolution and
learning and improving! We have
using Nalu for the mastery path
are growing, having the chance
over the years several initiatives
worked on the human aspects of
of their people. What we didn’t
to leverage the knowledge that
have been launched from this
the method from different points
expect is that the organisations
lies in the liminal space between
Lab with the aim of helping the
of view and the enthusiasm
would ask for it so quickly. For us
the organisations. After all, an
ecosystem of the LEGO SERIOUS
generated by the proposal and
it is a very good example of the
edge is just a horizon that will
PLAY method to grow.
the participants’ considerations
fast pace at which the world of
expand as far as you walk.
The first was the LSP Fest (2016)
have confirmed that not only are
work is evolving, and as Nalu we
and the last the Masterclass
spaces like these useful but also
are happy to embrace this need.
#justnaluit
with Lucio Margulis and Stelio
necessary to confront and evolve
So, in the coming months, while
Verzera, organised by Nalu (Jan
in the use of the LSP method.
we keep working on opening up
2019), dedicated to certified
We’ll continue on this path, get
the platform to other organi-
facilitators in the LEGO SERIOUS
in touch!
sations, we will start to create
PLAY method. The goal was to go
Organisation Design
Core 2
Over the last six months of 2018
basic understanding regarding
2018 has been a fruitful time
organisations, we have decided
a new member joined our Lab
Adaptive Organisation Design.
for the CORE² Lab. We have
to present the tool to a wider
and we held the second meetup
Right now we are also organising
looked at the tool from different
public with an article in Spanish.
for the community interested in
for Spring 2019 a first master-
perspectives: from exchanging
At the same time we’re investing
Organisation Design.
class on the basis of Organisa-
insights with top professionals
time and energy to build a shared
We discussed some ideas to share
tion Design.
to collecting stories of people
common knowledge of the prin-
knowledge, experiment method-
So stay tuned!
who have used it for their oper-
ciple at work behind the tool.
ologies and grab opportunities to
ational reputation development,
So, on one hand we’re nurturing
grow together.
discovering the value they have
our experience while developing
Since we agreed that there is
found in it beyond expectations.
something new on the other.
a strong need for some basic
Those conversations have opened
If interested, please get in touch!
courses and resources, after the
up new questions and horizons
meetup we shared more contents
within and outside our team and
in our Linkedin group, Organi-
we are now ready to go further.
sation Design and Development
Beyond testing its application to
Italia, in order to spread some
the operational reputations of
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Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
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.
HIGHLIGHTS
#CPJAM
Participation in this jam has been huge. In fact, more than 70% of the
people involved in our governance have been present. But this is not what
matters most. The most relevant aspects of this jam participation have
been its breadth and depth. We’ve had people travelling from 4 countries
to attend, and an amazing number of different cities. And we’ve had a
mind-blowing amount of high-level professionals attending.
All of these brains and hearts power at once makes us thrilled and confident
about walking in the direction we want to follow for the next months:
our mastery, our contribution to the world of work and how it shows in the
perception of the ecosystem we are part of are important pillars of this
moment of ours.
MY FIRST JAM
“
Yes, it was the first jam but I never felt it was the first jam.
cocooner. Feeling at home, feeling very aligned with everyone.
”
It just seemed like another of the moments of sharing as a
Feeling I was already part of something.
#UncoveringValue
#ThePowerOfOpeningUp
@guido_martini
#cpjam is running fast into deep and valuable conversations.
It is always an amazing challenge to meet and discuss on how
we are evolving #makeithappen
@letiziapian
For deep and true conversations to happen you don’t need
much, still so rare. Just open some space for meaningful
questions, authentic listening and passionate people willing to
be there. That’s what always happens at #CPJam #2019H1
@ShiverTweet
So many times I’ve seen people cocreating, colearning and
making sense of emergence together. Then, every once in a
long while, I’ve had the clear perception of witnessing people
making #history. This has been one of those precious times. Jai
ho Ohana @CocoonPro #CPjam #2019h1
@emagorse
Where am I in this system? How is my clarity of where we are
going? How am I contributing? A small step from ego to eco that
in every #CPjam we nurtrure since the first one years ago. It is
always a different surprise seeing how people see themselves.
Elena Galli
@elenagalli89
“
There have been many things, like the motivation about
”
changing things, the experience and the mutual learning, but I
want to highlight the energy and the sense of Ohana.
#Sharing #Evolution
Jokin Urrutia
@UrrutiaJokin
@Pellicors
Mastery. Energy. Tools. Patterns. Fears. Customers. Projects.
Change. Countries. Enablers. Contribution... We are talking
about so many important topics and each of us is adding his
unique point of view and experience. Happy to be here! #CPjam
#people #evolution pic.twitter.com/9y5K5I0asd
@MattiaRapisarda
Experience change how you perceive. How you perceive
can change how you live an experience. #CPJam #2019H1
#experience #perception #storycubes #explore
@laurabolletta
It happens that you really breath the #energy around you,
you feel the #love you put in reciprocal #understanding, the
desire to put all that on a shared #direction. #CPjam #2019h1
#trajectory #Evolution
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Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
Cocooners - n° 6 - March 2019
A WORD
ABOUT US
Cocoon Projects is a last-generation company
Cocoon Projects’ governance system itself,
continuously evolve today’s most relevant
and international Customers, highlight
We foster the birth of a world of work based
devoted to fostering real value creation in
known as LiquidO TM , is based on a cutting-
work principles and techniques.
Cocoon Projects as the ideal partner for those
on ecosystemic awareness and practices,
the world-wide work ecosystem. It’s been
edge set of Lean Management and Open
organizations in search of sound experience
evolving both the very concept of work and
designed to be effective, emergent, open and
Collaboration principles and has repeatedly
Cocoon Projects is thus directly involved
within the most core and relevant scopes of
its organizational vehicles. We’re able to
adaptive. Its Customers are organizations in
collected high interest from some of the most
in the edge of international efforts for the
work evolution.
design and co-execute tailored evolutionary
the need for relevant evolution within the
relevant thought-leaders in the entrepre-
development of methodologies and tools
paths for our Customers on the many inter-
scopes of socio-technical work methodol-
neurship and management innovation fields
enabling healthy systemic evolution in
We believe this is the time for establishing
dependent scopes of this scenario.
ogies and/or stakeholders end-to-end rela-
world-wide. Most importantly, it enables an
organizations. These ongoing flows of
a whole new culture in the management of
tionships gardening.
all-in adaptive organizational setup allowing
learning, together with intense and contin-
today’s challenges for any organization.
Our goal is to make this change really
Cocoon Projects to practice first-hand and
uous field operations at the side of national
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° 6 - March 2019
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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