Chapter 10 - Introduction to Stories or "The World of Experiences"

The stories we present here are no ordinary ones. They tell of ideas such as the ones we have shared throughout the book being put into practice. How hard is it do you think, to change from the mechanistic environment to the extraordinary one? Given the subtle ways that control is applied, now that it is politically incorrect to be seen to command and control people, we would say that it is very difficult indeed. Yet the people who have generously contributed their stories fall into this category. We hope that you enjoy them as we tell them in historical order and with great appreciation to the authors.

1. Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal

Andrew Carter provides an honest and deeply reflective account of the Terminal's journey. He talks about beginning the process with a typical planning approach and as people gain confidence, challenging their understanding of the planning process. It is interesting to observe how various issues and questions emerged, and how the organization chose to respond to those emerging issues.

It is a true example of an organization that has increased its performance by concentrating on the development of its intangible assets. The focus on the intangible assets has been largely responsible for the stunning growth in the performance of the Terminal (ie. from 26mtpa to 55mtpa in a just few years). It is clear that developing trusting relationships and a strong sense of identity has resulted in timely and comprehensive information flows within the operation. The quality and timeliness of information, together with the release of the discretionary energy of people, has contributed to the Terminal's performance. Alma recently interviewed many of the people at Dalrymple Bay (hard hat, steel boots and on the night shift) and it was an amazing experience to hear people in this coal-encrusted environment talking about 'the good of the business', 'our team values', 'when there are issues, we bring them to the team as people are fragile and we do not want anyone to suffer' (actual quotes). There was absolutely no doubt that the business was everyone's business and whatever had to be done to keep 'simply the best' would be done.

2. Minerals International
(A pseudonym to protect the organization's identity)

This story is about a client organization that David has worked with over a number of years. It tells a story of the tensions that are often experienced in challenging the paradigms held by key members of an organization. It is probably representative of the experiences of many as they challenge the fantasy that organizations live in a world of certainty and, that absolute predictability is possible.

A fundamental piece in this story is the acceptance that there is a legitimate need to develop a responsive capacity as well as the capacity to predict. Extraordinary performance can only be achieved when both capacities are developed within the organization.

3. BHP Whyalla Rolling Mills

Geoff Voigt's "Whyalla story" from 1999 captures his journey to that date. The Whyalla experience was initiated by the application of a socio-technical approach to organization change. Initially, it was not possible during that period to introduce to some the ideas included in this book because the organization had not reached a level of understanding that would have gained acceptance of those concepts. Secondly, we as consultants, had rather crude conceptual frameworks and limited practical experience of the application of the model of Extraordinary Leadership. Geoff's story probably represents a significant step in his company's journey of understanding organizations as places of complexity and adaptation rather than mechanistic creations.

However, it was interesting to observe how the process worked and how new opportunities constantly emerged. The people involved often displayed surprise at what was achieved and were in frequent conversation about how it felt to challenge the existing management paradigms by taking themselves to the edge of chaos.

4. The Metropolitan Cemeteries Board

The Metropolitan Cemeteries Board is a statutory authority, established by the government of Western Australia. Its Chief Executive Officer, Peter MacLean tells of his organization's journey over a number of years with a particular emphasis on building an organization that is values based. It is interesting to reflect on the organization's handling of external pressures and the paradox's it faced in exercising extraordinary leadership.

Some of the features of the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board story are the importance of information in achieving outstanding performance, and the relationship between information, trusting relationships and identity. A second feature is the customer focus and the potential tension between it and the requirements of the bureaucratic functions.

What is not mentioned in the story, are the many innovations that have emerged from the cultural changes but trust us, there were many. One for example, was the development of an electronic site that celebrated the life of the deceased person, as well as the funeral. This allowed access to the funeral and whatever was stored electronically, for those distant friends and relatives.