(Published originally on LinkedIn)


 (Photo credit: © iStockphoto Krakozawr)
So you want to power innovation in your organization, you want to transform it, and take it to the next level, so that you can better serve your stakeholders and be happier about what your work. I too share these aspirations, and I have been trying to do this in multiple ways for the last two years. Success, however, has been limited, and fundamental change close to nil.  I have realized that part of the reason is the failure of myself and other executives in my organization to walk around!

Yes, to walk around and meet new people, or those who we know little. To observe and understand how different units/departments of the organization really function. To understand their mindsets, issues, challenges, priorities and aspirations. To better understand not only their vision of the future but also the journey they have traversed so far. To know what gives them the kick, or whether they derive the kick at all. In short, to get to know our people, their work, and our organization better. Much better - truly, madly, deeply!

I realize this is very basic, yet often neglected. I have often seen many great ideas for organizational improvement, which are also very simple to implement, not see the light of dawn (forget about day), because of absolutely avoidable skirmishes. Often, ego clashes, and an unwillingness to listen, to have one's way. Culture does indeed eat strategy for breakfast, products for lunch, technology for dinner and soon afterwords everything else too.

I observe that this is due to the absence of: workplace camaraderie, inter-departmental understanding, organizational commitment and a culture of aligning the organizational interest with that of one's own. All of which can be addressed, to a large extent, by walking around.

As put by 'The Economist', it involves the following:
  • "Managers consistently reserving time to walk through their departments and/or to be available for impromptu discussions. (MBWA frequently goes together with an open-door management policy.)
  • Individuals forming networks of acquaintances throughout their organisations.
  • Lots of opportunities for chatting over coffee or lunch, or in the corridors.
  • Managers getting away from their desks and starting to talk to individual employees. The idea is that they should learn about problems and concerns at first hand. At the same time they should teach employees new methods to manage particular problems. The communication goes both ways."
Here are some specific quick tips to help you walk around more, better and in a fruitful way:
  1. Find some time everyday to walk around; if possible, earmark some time for it.
  2. Resolve to get to know at least one new colleague every week; getting to know him/her deeply, beyond the usual hi-hello chatter.
  3. Have lunch/tea with at least one new colleague every week (often I observe that people have lunch with the same people almost daily).
  4. Listen and ask more than you tell. 
  5. Offer help for at least one new colleague every week.
  6. Seek help when you need, even from those who you don't know well. Valuable help may come from totally unexpected quarters.
  7. Gift something to someone once every month - a small and meaningful gift.
  8. Get into rooms you have not been before, just for the sake of it. And include rooms from other organizations too in this. And of course, let us keep the hierarchy aside.
  9. Invite others also to your room; have an open-door policy.
  10. Prefer a workplace design that offers lot of room for people of different departments to bump into each other.
Renowned management thinker and author Tom Peters calls it "the technology of the obvious". Yes, what is obvious is often overlooked and hidden! Which is one of the powers of MBWA: it can gift us new eyes, in seeing what is visible to the naked eye, yet hitherto invisible to the inner one. It can also help us see the same things differently.

In this way, I believe MBWA is a very potent tool for organizational transformation. So dear fellow innovators, let us walk around. And encourage others too, to do the same. For our organizations, and for ourselves.

(Published originally on LinkedIn)