The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation by Nonaka and Takeuchi, does an excellent job of showing the key roles of tacit and explicit knowledge in innovation. Drawing on works from both western and eastern philosophers, they show how organizations can create contexts which further innovation. Like Polanyi, they see tacit knowledge as the key, the centre of knowledge creation. I am including a diagram in which they show tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge working for individuals, groups and organizations. As you can see, there is a role for the individual (perhaps in a mentoring or coaching situation). This is a necessary aspect, but not sufficient. They must take their creation of concepts into the team and the organization as a whole. This book gives teams a whole new lease on innovation.

In the early ‘80s, Deal and Kennedy wrote their book “Corporate Cultures” in which they drew parallels with the culture per se, and organizations. This was a fascinating and compelling read, and still applies to working in organizational culture. Slowly but surely, the qualitative approach to organizations has gained strength and followers. There is a small but emerging field for the role of stories in businesses. Although still tied to the bottom line, there is a growing recognition that stories are the “underside” of organizations. They exist, like a shadow, in parallel with the financial and industrial side of business. Acknowledging that people tell stories all the time, the gist of the articles is to direct the stories — and to add to them. In two recent editions of Harvard Business Review, featured articles covered the use of stories in strategic planning and change initiatives. For many of us who are storytellers, this change is intriguing and worth watching.

No answers or strategies have been found – and used – in the organizational challenge of implementing change – whether it is via policy or other strategies. It often seems to me that those who design the policy ‘see’ how it benefits the organization and ‘see’ how logical and reasonable it is. Typically, those on the receiving end of the policy don’t have the same commitment! Recently, John Burger from Alberta Learning (Provincial Department of Education) talked to field based educators about the new policy on accountability. The feelings of anger and resistance were very strong. As a result, John has pulled together a team of educators and senior managers. We have agreed to work together to explore these emotions and to develop an approach to implementation of accountability. At the moment, there is far more energy spent in resistance than in implementation. I feel confident that Nonaka’s book will give us major insights into the tacit knowledge of educators and how to link that with the explicit policy so as to create conditions for innovation.

Universities in Australia have coped with immense and fundamental changes in their structures, student population, course selection, funding, etc. These changes highlight a chronic organizational problem. Senior executives need feedback on how the changes are perceived and implemented. This problem is exacerbated during times of immense and rapid change where there seems to be no time. It takes courage to give feedback. When feedback occurs, there is often a lack of acknowledgment, which contributes significantly to cynicism. As one employee said to me “I put my neck on the line so we could give honest feedback. It took a lot out of all of us. We sent in our concerns – and we have heard nothing. I’ll never do that again. They ask for feedback but they never act on it.”

The Central Queensland University is striving to find a more effective way of opening up the dialogue around changes that are being suggested, implemented or revised. One of their key concerns was working through a process of discussion and action.

I worked closely with middle managers to design the process of feedback. First, we worked on identifying the positives from specific initiatives. Second, the group arrived at consensus on what needed to be addressed. We then worked out a ‘speech act’ approach of specifying the issues, getting agreement on when the administration would reply, and what they could do. The managers also worked out their role in working with the proposed changes. I am now waiting to hear back from them about this ‘quasi contractual’ approach to feedback. I hope it is effective.

When Daniel Levinson wrote his book, “The Seasons of a Man’s Life” in 1979, he revived a legend and set a new concept into the corporate world. Mentoring – and its cousins coaching, counseling and sponsoring (to name just a few forms) – are well situated in the professional development of managers and leaders. There appears to be a recent renewal of interest in mentoring programs. Of all the initiatives we try in organizations, mentoring is both the most fragile and the most enduring. It is a transformative learning experience, changing the lives of both mentors and mentees. The changes happen whether there is an organized program or not.

In part this transformation comes from the mentee being able to talk freely, openly, and with complete trust about fears, tentative hopes, concerns, etc. Another critical component is the role modeling provided by the mentor as well as the fund of knowledge, stories, and insights that they share.

Personally, I am glad to see a recent return to mentoring programs. We have been through difficult times: cutbacks, early retirement schemes, part-time work situations. It is good to see people taking a risk, reaching out to talk to each other and spending the time together. As Lewis Hyde (The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property 1983) says, a gift economy operates with a sense of reciprocity. It is not tied to the dollar or to mandated obligations.

I have now launched this branch of my company. Its purpose is to provide one-on-one consultation with leaders in organization. It combines the holistic approach of a mentor program with a focus on the issues the client is dealing with. I have also had my first overseas client. An executive director of a small, dynamic, emerging company in France was experiencing a complex and nasty personnel situation. We used e-mail and telephone contacts to provide her with the personal and professional support needed. Thanks to technology, I could be there and work closely throughout the process.

All leaders, regardless of the size of the organization and their level of responsibility, need to talk about the major challenges that face them, as well as about everyday dilemmas. Depending on your situation, it can be difficult to find that support within your organization.

Working with a Running Mate is a proven way to identify new perspectives and opportunities for action. The collegial relationship and learning processes are designed to break the isolation.

More than a coach a Running Mate is a colleague who:

• Brings the latest theories or processes to the discussion
• Challenges you to go beyond the taken for granted
• Stimulates your self confidence and knowledge
• Provides a personalized learning environment
• Acts as a sounding board on key issues
• Engages in finding workable strategies
• Assists with assessment of your leadership style and 360 degree feedback from staff

It is Indian Summer here in Calgary. I have just finished preparing the garden for the inevitable cold, which you can see and feel hanging out in the mountains. They are shiny white, pristine – and menacing! I have ‘dead headed’ all the garden plants and so have taken out the last of the faded roses, snapdragons, and the languorous daisies. Not a harvest, but a good feeling of closeness to the earth.

The colors are phenomenal today – the last of such days as Chinook winds are forecast.