Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Scaling Up Excellence - Chapter 6

Here are some selected quotes from Chapter 6 of Scaling Up Excellence by Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao.  What you are not getting by just reading these quotes are the real life stories and examples which brings the principles to life. I know you would enjoy reading the stories and examples that go with these principles.

Chapter 6 - Connect People and Cascade Excellence: Using Social Bonds to Spread the Right Mindset

"Ignorance, mediocrity, and mistakes run rampant when organizations fail to link the right people to the right information at the right time.  This is true even when everyone involved has the best of intentions and even when someone somewhere knows exactly what to do (but no one has figured out how to get the information to those who need it)" p. 174

"...scaling hinges on discovering (or creating) pockets of excellence and connecting the people who have it and their ideas and expertise to others." p. 175

"...some leaders believe - or pretend to believe - that just by spreading a thin coat of something good, deep pockets of excellence will somehow magically form.  but the connect-and-cascade process doesn't work that way." p. 182

"Scaling is sometimes led by teams that have limited skill or experience with what they spread - and sometimes on one in their network is very adept at it either.  Yet, as the scaling team nd the groups and units that hey help gain more experience, true excellence can emerge." p. 182

"Studies of persuasion and social networks suggest that starting with a diverse group proels scaling for other reasons.  Such breadth means that a team is linked to more 'nodes' in the organizations's network" to the varied departments, locations, functions, and levels of the pecking order where each member is stationed, as well as to their numerous (and often nonoverlapping) informal friendships, groups, and affiliations." p.. 183

"Scaling stalls when you start with a bunch of clones.  Early on, you need a team with different, largely nonoverlapping, connections so that when they flock back together with others like them they will influence more parts of the network." p. 185

"Over 80 percent of women who own businesses in the United States were Girl Scouts, as were nearly 60 percent of current female U.S. congressional representatives and 70 percent of female senators.  Almost every female U.S. astronaut who has flown in space was a Girl Scout, as were all three U.S. female secretaries of state, and all five female governors of U.S. states in 2013."  p. 192

"Scaling doesn't succeed until the networks you build are buzzing with constructive actions that reflect and reinforce the goodness that you aim to spread.  In this spirit, we offer seven tools for 'making nets work.'" p.198

1.  The Top-Down Approach

"Hierarchies come in handy for creating a domino chain reaction that starts from the top and cascades down the pecking order." p. 199

2.  Broadcast Your Message Out to One and All

3.  Surround Them:  Have the Many Teach the Few

"One of the most effective - jif inefficient - ways to spread new behaviors and beliefs is to take one person, or a small team, and embed them among large numbers of people who already eat, live and breathe the mindset that you want them to embrace." p. ,

4.  One on One: The Power of Pairs

"Pairings are also critical for spreading change: not just for teaching new ideas and skills but also for persuading others to support and smooth implementation.  A key challenge in using this approach is figuring who is best paired with whom." p. 202,203

5.  From the Few to the Many

"This is the classic scaling strategy: a group of determined people bands together and labors to slowly spread their mindset, and associated actions and skills, throughout an organization or other network." p .204

"...successful scaling depends on never forgetting that you are fighting a groud war raterh than an air war.  The few must use their grit and skill to teach and convert others, who, in turn, start the domino chain of goodness in motion." p. 205

6.  Brokers: Bridging Disconnected Islands

"When a pocket of people have got something good, but no path connects them and their knowledge to others who need it, excellence can't spread."  "This is where people and groups called 'brokers' or 'knowledge brokers' come in - they become bridges between otherwise disconnected people groups, or organizations." p. 206

7.  Create Crossroads Where People Connect

"When it comes to scaling excellence in and across organizations, bazaarlike settings enable people to build new connections and strengthen old ones - largely through one-on-one interactions." p. 210

Create a Common Heartbeat

"Recent studies show that when people share rhythms with others they develop stronger emotional bonds and are more likely to pitch in for the common good." p. 212

"The key lesson is that scaling is propelled by leaders who think and act like 'connectors.' A big part of this role involves exposing or creating links that ought to be made for the greater good.  Many scaling veterans are adept at asking questions that reveal missing or weak links, which sets the stage for building stronger networks." p.215


"'confirmation,' the tendency to trust remember, and act only on information that supports what you already believe.  Confirmation bias is fueled when they reward subordinates and peers who flatter them, skew the data to confirm their views, screen out messengers and messages that deliver news they don't want to hear - and ridicule and punish people who present them with uncomfortable truths they don't want to accept." p.218

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