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NEW ZEAL IN BUSINESS

Recently I registered a company with the specific aim of creating new zeal in New Zealand business. The company is named "New Zeal'n' Business Limited" .

By "zeal" I mean energy, passion and meaning. I love the way the name has two meaning because the company will be as much about New Zealand as new zeal.

I really believe that we have a realistic chance of creating a new way of doing business in New Zealand that could become a model for the world. Already New Zealand business is internationally known for honest dealing and for innovation .... so why not also be known for a fundamentally better way of doing business and working? Or in my terms "new zeal"?

Recently I've been writing about "beanbag management" by which I mean creating organisations that like beanbags:

• Have thin porous walls
• Are low and flat
• Are far more flexible than normal more tower-like structures
• Sit so closely on their markets and environment that they change shape to compensate immediately the market or environment changes
• Have a minimum of internal structure so people can move freely to wherever they add the most value.

Beanbag is certainly part of "new zeal", but there's far more..... It's also about:

Using all of the brain - left and right

I want more creativity. In my experience, business people are good at thinking logically, especially the strategists. Typically, they are strong analytical and straight-line thinkers. There is a need for analysis, but you can't start there, you must start by opening people's minds to possibilities. Dreaming about the future is a far more productive starting point for strategy than analysing the present. The biggest challenge is to get people to see a vision of what's possible. Once they have that clearly in mind getting there is the easy part.

Using all the brains.

I also want to encourage ideas from throughout the organisation ... from the Boardroom to people in gumboots and overalls. In my experience some of the best ideas come from the grass roots of the organisation.

Using all of the person: body, head, heart and soul. I want to encourage more meaning in work. In my experience many people in their work don't have much meaning, nor a clear idea about where they are trying to go nor any understanding of how they are going to get there. If people have a meaning in their work, they start doing all sorts of things better than if they don't. It's not just a matter of the senior people knowing the vision. It's a matter of every single person in the organisation having it, owning it and wanting to achieve it. This is the piece that's missing in quite a few of our organisations.

Using the power of joining minds together, to get "whole-mind-thinking". Finally I want to encourage the incredible power of people working well together in teams, sharing ideas in a creative and trusting environment. Sure people work in teams at the moment but in my experience it's seldom the primary form of organising work. This is a pity because most of us are good at some things and not so good at others. When people work together on a problem we nearly always get better solutions.

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Help

Being successful in this sort of organisation depends on finding other senior managers who are:

• Secure enough to allow their people to grow
• Open to new ways of working
• Keen to succeed and know that at present we are achieving only a small fraction of what's possible.

Over the years I have developed quite a network of managers like this, however, to be successful I need even more; so if someone has come to mind I would REALLY appreciate it if you'd let me know who you are thinking about.

Best wishes Bruce.

p.s. I will still operate primarily as Virtual Group Business Consultants Limited but New Zeal'n' Business will become my vehicle for researching and delivering these aspects.

p.s.s. Thanks for adding to my network.

Bruce Holland

Helps large organisations be focussed, fast and flexible. Places where people have more meaning, depth and connection.

Expert in Strategy, Structure, Culture and Leadership Development.

One of NZs most experienced change agents.

Liberating the Human Spirit at Work