Insights from the performance arts on collaboration in business [Phill Christian, ISSS 1998 Paper Session, July 20/98]

These notes are a rough transcription, prepared as each individual presenter and/or commentator spoke at the ISSS 1998 conference. Gaps and errors have likely occurred. For more accurate citations, please consult the original presenters. These notes have been contributed to the ISSS by David Ing, of the IBM Advanced Business Institute (sabi@systemicbusiness.org).

Phill Christian, Seattle, Antioch U.

Will get paper, want to discuss application.

Was a union musician until into his 30s.

• 7 years in technology development.

• Crummy experience on a team.
• Encouraged to think about it by academic supervisor: reflection in terms of arts.

• Interviewed lots of people (both in business and performers)
• Found some characteristics for performers.
• Wrapped around a common set of goals, so common that they're not discussed.
• They're there by choice: more than just paying for bills.
• Big focus on the "other" person, flexible leadership model.
• Willing to subvert own personality, for the sake of the ensemble.
• Business teams:
• Told to show up because they were told to.
• Focused more on selves, and winning as individuals: self preservation.

• Organizations more hierarchical.
• Power as dominant power.
• Focus on competition, between organizations and within organizations.
• More self-assertive behaviour.
• Need to move from competition to cooperation.
• Can emergent behaviours be observed?
• Cooperation was seen as an emergent behaviour.

• Had to go back to 20s and 30s: Mary Parker Follett.

• New idea -->
• Shift in perspective -->
• Focus on values (trust, individual responsibility, goals) -->
• Space for collaboration opens -->
• Complexity increases, and collaboration increases. -->
• Happy clients and happy staff --> (loops back to values, hopefully positive feedback loop)

• Process from design situation --> end result (product, design and/or reality).
• Stakeholders in design situation: customers, management, audience, ...
• Analysis balanced with judgement (in a European sense, i.e. make good judgements about situations).
• Start from the reality we wanted.

• Want to flip so that teams coalesce around clients creating value.
• Try to join the customer's team (organismically) rather than being two separate parts.
• Need a "safe environment" so that everyone can speak their mind.
• Wanted a network, not a hierarchy.

• Started in management, people observed changes.
• Then teams got larger, people came in earlier.
• People asked about bigger issues, how the company was doing.
• Designs got better.

At first, had problems hiring qualified staff, but now no turnover, and people bringing friends in.

Went from doing web sites for radio stations to Boeing in 8 months.

Collaboration as value creation works.

Questions

• Healthy to a certain extent, e.g. IBM having multiple teams compete internally.
• Need to ensure shared purpose, however.

• Did hire a lot of people with performance backgrounds.

• No -- more emphasis on values.

• Depends whether the individual is into life-long learning.

• Intrinsic rewards in musicianship, whereas extrinsic rewards in business.