Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/725997
4 September, 2016 l Working World l WorkingWorld.com AN EVERYONE CULTURE BECOMING A DELIBERATELY DEVELOPMENTAL ORGANIZATION by Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey Developing Everyone in the Company The culture of Next Jump, an e-commerce tech company, is summarized in a catchy phrase: Better Me + Better You = Better Us. In other words, if I grow, develop and become more successful, and if I help you grow, develop and become more successful, then the entire organization becomes more successful (i.e., more profitable). Next Jump put some real weight behind the words through the structure of its compensation, which is 50/50: 50 percent of your pay depends on how you impacted revenues, and 50 percent depends on how you implemented the Better Me + Better You = Better Us culture. Next Jump is one of three companies whose practices and philosophies are at the heart of An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. (The other two featured companies are hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and movie theater conglomerate Decurion Corporation.) Kegan and Lahey call these companies Deliberately Developmental Organizations (DDOs). The core philosophy of a DDO is that a company's success depends on everyone in the company having an opportunity to grow. For a DDO, development is not one of the features of the company. Deliberate development is the engine that drives the company forward, as vital and irreplaceable as the engine of an automobile. Edge, Home and Groove There is no dearth of volumes describing the importance of putting your people first. And having presented its argument that developing people is the single most important function of a business, An Everyone Culture could easily tumble into a series of intuitive but motivating how-to's, which would probably include a chapter on listening with empathy. However, Kegan and Lahey are scientists, and building on their research on adult development, they have created a robust model for organization-wide development that incorporates three dimensions: • Aspiration. DDOs have a culture that relentlessly pushes people to grow, not only as employees but also as people. The authors call this the edge. • Communities. People must not only want to grow but must be enabled to grow, and that requires safe, trustworthy communities. The authors call this home. • Practices. The final dimension incorporates the actual development practices and routines of the organization. The authors call this the groove. Implementing these three dimensions requires a series of "discontinuous departures" — principles, practices and structures that represent a true departure from business as usual. FEATURED ARTICLE Business Book Reviews