Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) and the digital revolution Building a digital workplace
August 2016 5
Paulo Manuel Coimbra Nunes de Abreu also known as Paul Nunesdea is an organizational psychologist, MSc in Information Management, Ph.D. in Management Science. Paul optimizes group collaboration to bring around consensus and peer learning in smart communities and high-performance organizations. He undertakes consultancy and applied research projects with government agencies, municipalities and private companies in close collaboration with consultancy firms such as Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) and Mckinsey & Co.
Pierre Wettergren is an internationally acknowledged expert in Business Continuity Management (BCM) and since 2007 also an engaged expert within ISO developing international standards for societal security, i.e. ISO Technical Committee 223 “ISO Societal Security�, where BCM, Emergency Management, and other international societal security standards are developed. Pierre has been nominated the BCM consultant of the year in 2013 by the Business Continuity Institute and also in 2015 with the Innovation and Excellence award by the Corporate LiveWire.
5
Peter Beck is based in the Washington DC area and is focused on creating productive meeting tools and virtual events using MeetingSphere. He is an expert at designing templates and creating meeting support strategies. Peter has many years of experience in Government and Industry working with groups as a team facilitator, support technographer and business consultant, leveraging from his multiple degrees in Economics, Business Administration, and Information Systems.
Paul Collins (based in the Chicago area) provides management advisoryand facilitation and training services to organizations that aspire to employ leading-edge, 21st Century methods, tools and techniques. Paul is a founding board member of the Midwest Facilitation Network andthe Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Facilitators and has been a leading voice in the adoption and application of technology for decision support. Paul is also a certified facilitator/coach for the FortĂŠ Interpersonal Communications System.
For more than 25 years, W. Mick Blasik has helped hundreds of clients conduct strategic and tactical planning sessions that leverage technology. Mick is also the founder and principal of Collaborative Strategies, Inc., a company specializing in innovative on-line collaboration processes and electronic meeting tools. Prior to this, Mick enjoyed a decade at IBM where he held the position of Project Manager for the development of a world-wide collaborative product, now a staple of strategy sessions in many of the Fortune 500 companies. His education includes a Master’s Degree in Finance from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Binghamton University.
5
Contents Executive summary Digital transformation is having a deep impact in the way people work in organizations. Paramount to the digital transformation is the correlated level of organizational change it commands. Successful examples of digital transformation all use a participative planning process that engages top-management and the whole of the workforce to share the same vision, mission and strategy. By default, most organizations do a poor job of correctly identifying the problems that need to be solved. If you keep using your old paradigm meeting principles you would never be able to convert your communities and transform your organization. The software makers were the first to learn well the difference between meetings and workshops. Implemented properly, well-planned workshops are led by a neutral figure that designs clever group processes that make everyone engaged in the follow-up actions. Collaborative web-based tools and technology such as MeetingSphere™ provide a unique opportunity for engaging all your workforce in the participative planning process that is required for successfully managing change. Core fundamental contributions of groupVision’s service offer can be found in all the building blocks of the digital capabilities identified by McKinsey & Co.
The digital revolution 5 Engaging the workforce is critical
A fundamental discovery 8 What’s the secret? Creating a truly digital collaborative culture Meetings vs. workshops
How Group Decision Support System works 14 Inside MeetingSphere™
Contributions to the digital workplace
5
19
5
“
“
Making a conscious choice toward becoming digital requires a proven roadmap that stops you from being passively driven.
The digital revolution
Companies and Governments worldwide today are rushing headlong to become more digital. But what does ‘going digital’ really mean? According to a recent paper by Karel Dörner and David Edelman from McKinsey going digital means: creating value at new frontiers, creating value in the core business and building foundational capabilities. So being digital requires a subtle but fundamental mind shift in the way you think about yourself, your work, your team and organization and the business itself.
The digital revolution has generated some myths that have been countered by recent evidence:
MYTH
REALITY
Digital is primary about the customer experience.
Huge opportunities exist also in productivity, efficiency and employee leverage.
Digital is primarily matters only to technology or B2C companies.
Opportunities exist in all industries with no exceptions.
Let a thousand flowers bloom; bottomup activity is the right way to change.
Digital transformation must be led from the top.
If we do enough digital initiatives, we will get there
Transformation management intensity is more important for driving overall performance.
Digital transformation despite our IT.
Bussiness/IT relationships are key, and in many industries they must be improved.
will
happen
Digital transformation approach is different for each industry an company.
Digital leaders exhibit a common DNA.
In our Industry, we can wait and see how digital develops.
There are digital leaders outperforming their peers in every industry today.
Whenever you decide to explicitly go ahead chances are you and your company might be already pursuing some sort of implicit strategy toward becoming digital. The digital revolution impacts everyone pretty much like the sun light, when it shines it reaches everyone.
“ 5 6
Source: Cap Gemini: The Digital Advantage - How digital leaders outperform their peers in every industry
1 DIGITAL STRATEGY
3 DIGITIZE THE CORE BUSINESS
2 DISRUPT YOUR BUSINESS (BEFORE OTHERS DO)
5 CREATE ECOSYSTEMS AND CAPABILITIES
4 CREATE VALUE FROM DATA
“
Source: The Boston Consulting Group
So giving up being passively driven and making a conscious choice toward becoming digital requires a proven road map. The Boston Consulting Group proposes a ‘5 step plan’ to embrace the digital revolution which is pictorially represented in the graphic below. These five steps confirm the need for top-level management ownership of the whole plan. These five steps must not be something proposed by an external consultant or by an internal staff advisory team. For a successful digital deployment, the active involvement of the whole executive in the actual draft of the plan must be warranted upfront. The off-the-shelf approaches that seek for CEO approval to be implemented by decree will simply not work.
Engaging the workforce is critical On the other hand, a comprehensive roadmap that drives the whole company on how to become digital also requires engaging the total brainpower of the organisation in the planning process. Employees have the operational memory that needs to be transformed and embedded in new business models and ecosystems. Successful examples of digital transformation all use a participative planning process that engages top-management and the whole of the workforce to be all in the same page concerning the next steps and resource allocation priority. Take a well trained orchestra as a metaphor. There is never misalignment, everyone plays a different instruments in pure harmony with the others. That’s the same goal for a digitally transformed organization. Participative planning is key for individual alignment with overall transformation goals. 7
“
“
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - all the time. The truly agile and adaptative organizations have learned to unlock the power of their people.
5
A fundamental discovery
Definitions: What does Decision Support System (DSS) mean? A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based application that collects, organizes and analyzes business data to facilitate quality business decision-making for management, operations and planning.
We all know that the organization is the outcome of the strategy but we also know that culture eats strategy for breakfast - all the time. To develop new and transformational digital capabilities, culture and leadership are two critical elements that are required to succeed and probably the most neglected ones.
A well-designed DSS aids decision makers in compiling a variety of data from many sources: raw data, documents, personal knowledge from employees, management, executives and business models. DSS analysis helps companies to identify and solve problems, and make decisions.
What’s the secret?
“
The overall performance of any business or not-for-profit organization depends as much on external factors as on management talent. Jim Collins (1) and a number of fellow researchers published a seminal study about a number of ‘great companies’ that outperformed their competitors with a strong and sustainable stock value. But just 10 years later, the economist Steven Levit observed that those companies were not so great anymore and one of them actually closed down. Even the most extraordinary well-managed companies cannot resist and defy the law of the survival of the fittest.
Source: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/770/decision-support-system-dss
What does Group Decision Support System (GDSS) mean? Group decision support system (GDSS) technology supports project collaboration through the enhancement of digital communication with various tools and resources.
But there must be a secret for high-performing companies successfully enduring external circumstances. I am talking about relatively old companies that started 10, 20 or more years ago, such as Microsoft, Apple, Google or Vodafone, that are continually reinventing their products and service offers and stay agile as lean startups. What makes such giants remain kick-ass performers given their sheer size?
These types of programs are used to support customized projects requiring group work, input to a group and various types of meeting protocols.
9
“
Source: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27843/group-decision-supportsystem-gdss
Creating a truly digital collaborative culture The majority of successful enterprises in the world thrive on successful group collaboration and this is extremely dependent on a collaborative culture that empowers ‘facilitative leaders’ and bans the ‘lone wolf’ leader. Successful startups that have learned to survive in highly unpredictable environments develop a different kind of organizational DNA that makes them more resilient to failure when they become large companies. They tend to rely much more on the delivery of teams rather than the single individuals’ cooperative work. These ‘always-fresh companies’ are continually reinventing themselves. They are the kind of organizations where people huddle in meeting rooms that normally have the supporting technology they need for group creativity and problem-solving. Visitors of the most fashionable companies today are impressed by the informal nature of such huddle rooms with seamless visual collaboration technology such as video conference and digital interactive surfaces everywhere.
“
10 5
Source: Castleknock hotel
Meetings vs. workshops By default, most organizations do a poor job of correctly identifying the problems that need to be solved. There is strong desire to skip ahead to the “fixing” stage, which results in vast amounts of effort being spent on short-term fixes or solving the wrong problems. The ‘don’t bring me the problem, bring me the solution’ attitude is a boomer for any participatory process that must drive a successful digital transformation. Managers are obsessed by the ‘coordination of individual work’ and they take this principle aboard when running meetings. The effective coordination of individual work is something sacred because it delivers the daily operations that allow the business to run smoothly. However in a digitally transformed business the coordination-of-individual-work suffers new and unpredictable challenges.
When you run a meeting...
When you run a workshop...
Several people from different disciplines attend a meeting that starts off with a short briefing of the problem.
Implemented properly, workshops provide an opportunity to solve problems in a constructive way.
There’s usually very little context, no facilitation, and no mention of what will happen with the ideas that are shared.
Workshops are proactive and even fun; everyone involved can get excited about and definitively engaged in the follow up actions.
Then the participants are expected to start thinking up ideas on the spot; lukewarm brainstorming and tangential cross talk tend to dominate.
Whereas a meeting is chaired by the team leader, the workshop is led by a neutral figure that is not actually part of the team.
Meetings are often filled with too many agenda items that get systematically postponed until urgency requires an immediate decision which is normally suboptimal.
In a workshop, the group interactions are carefully engineered by someone who has experience as a group facilitator
11
“
Source: groupVision Iberoamérica SL
The software makers were the first to learn well the difference between meetings and workshops. The Agile movement is a response to the failure of the dominant software development project management paradigms and borrows many principles from lean manufacturing. Scrum is a programming method in many ways similar to a workshop. It has an underlying set of principles from the Agile manifesto, derived from the concept of self-organization, and defines a simple set of roles, responsibilities and meetings which are facilitated by a ScrumMaster that keeps the team focused on its goal. Other industries will be learning this difference soon, as they embark upon digital transformation. In the airline industry, for example, customers are happy whenever the plane arrives on time and the flight experience is pleasant with a caring and attentive crew. If you are in this mode of operation then running staff meetings is probably all you need. However, if you need to solve a problem such as ‘how to make your customer experience truly unique in relation to any other airline in the world’, then you would probably need a “scrum” like methodology to succeed.
DRIVE
USE TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
COMMUNITY
GROUP PROCESSES
WORKSHOPS
12
“
Source: groupVision Iberoamérica SL
Collaborative web-based tools and technology such as MeetingSphere™ provide a unique opportunity for engaging all your workforce in the participative planning process that is required for successfully managing change. According to Jacob Morgan (3), “people often decry online social media and other forms of electronic communication – including collaborative software – because it reduces the ‘personalness’ of interaction.” But software-based collaboration is a double-edged sword. If there is a lot of truth to that, it is no less true that social media and collaborative software bring a number of advantages. When people use software as an electronic form of communication in meetings they also normally experience a number of advantages, according to Jacob Morgan:
■ The use of the written word is neutral in relation to voice dynamics, intonations, and other associated emotional content.
■ It allows time to think and react before answering.
■ It gives more control of what one chooses to say.
■ It puts all participants in the same level playing field, whenever the comments are anonymous.
■ There is a gaming quality to collaborative software that makes interactions feel more play like.
The author concludes: “at early stages of interaction, the collaborative software actually increases the depth of interaction by easing the difficulties of interacting with wide ranges of people we don’t know well.” If you keep using your old paradigm meeting principles you would never be able to convert your communities and transform your organization. On the other hand, if you open the ‘pandora box’ of open participation without a plan you might end up with a lot of frustration and disenchantment. Implemented properly, well-planned workshops are led by a neutral figure that designs clever group processes that make everyone engaged in the follow up actions. You can transform an organization by creating a workshop-driven culture, where employee participation drives engagement. A bit like “Scrum” when used in software development. It spreads and leaders notice.
13
“
“
Offer someone the opportunity to rebuild a company or reinvent an industry as the primary incentive, and it will attract those drawn to the challenge first and the money second.
Simon Sinek 5
How Group Decision Support Systems work In groupVision, we help people to harness the power of group collaboration technology to help them solve their problems. Our company has a track record in Group Decision Support Software (GDSS) having worked with a number of different technology platforms since our inception in the 90s. Today, our Principal consultants specialize and train our customers in solving problems using MeetingSphere™ as the key diagnostic and problem solving tool. Based on our latest experience, MeetingSphere™ is best used to design and deliver your own company in-house workshops. We do not provide meeting productivity services because that is a given for anyone using this SaaS platform. Our focus is not on the technology side of meetings, we train our customers to deal with the cultural and organizational side of group processes with MeetingSphere™ tools and carefully designed templates for instant workshops with magical results.
15
We can assist large companies, municipalities, governments, public service and not-for-profit organizations, to create more effective solutions based on the holistic principles of group facilitation and the core principles that our software tool supports:
■ Anonymity
■ Interactivity
■ Process
Let’s first review how MeetingSphere™ works before mapping its major contributions toward the ‘building blocks’ required to transform and develop the digital capabilities in any organization.
Inside MeetingSphere™ MeetingSphere™ is one of the few technologies designed to support group facilitation before, during and after those meetings where we need to accomplish an objectives that are measurable and actionable. The six main activities taking place in collaborative decision-making are prone to be digitally supported by digital tools. MeetingSphere™ SaaS platform provides digital tools to conduct each of these activities:
Collect opinions. Generate ideas
Discuss Decide. Agree on action
Asses & prioritize
Document outcomes Share Information Knowlege
16
The MeetingSphere™ tools can be used to design a meeting agenda that organizes each of these group activities in logical sequences. Typically starting with a presentation, then brainstorm new ideas which can be carefully selected with a rating tool; best ideas are then subject to further in-depth discussion and finally actions are identified and registered for subsequent follow up.
Presentation Tool Kick off meeting with a presentation. Utilize the Presentation tool.
Rating Tool Move content of a brainstorm or iscussion to a Rating tool to prioritize an rate ideas.
Brainstorm Tool Capture more ideas in a shorter period of time. Sort into themes.
Discussion Tool Exchange views on highly rated or controversial items. Understand the issues. Build consensus.
Action Tracker Assign responsibility for follow-up actions with ActionTracker.
Report Maker Generate the minutes instantly with ReportMaker.
The sequenced used of MeetingSphere’s tools can be designed based on very specific and clearly identified collaborative processes or workflows. The combinations are endless, below are just a few examples. The advantage to start with a presentation before the brainstorming session is to provide the right source of evidence to speed up the path from problem to solution. The main pitfall to watch for when brainstorming without GDSS support is to automatically accept the first reasonable solution, the solution with the loudest advocate, or the solution proposed by the highest-ranking person in the room. These are often not the best responses. In a traditional workshop moderators tend to break the group into smaller teams is one way to avoid this type of problems. A good moderator may have additional methods of ensuring all ideas are considered equally and thoroughly. 17
By using MeetingSphere’s anonymity features these problems are non-existent by default. It also gives the moderator more control on the group interaction because she/he can easily set aside the participants’ pet peeves or ideas about how the solution should be designed without having an agreement on the criteria the solution should meet.
If running a workshop about a new web-interface design typical comments are: “Why can’t it have more white space?” or “I hate green.” Very little time should be spent on this type of input. By using the Brainstorm tool you can let people capture these ‘pet peeves’ in a specific folder and agree to address them at a later time. Once you have a list of real problems, prioritize them in order of severity using the Rating tool and choose the top one or two to focus on during the next part of the workshop. Severity should reflect the priorities and goals set previously. Finally you can have the group to deep-dive on the implementation of the solution that have received group consensus using the Discussion tool. The Action tracker let’s you record any decisions made and an instant report is published in the end with the MeetingSphere™ report tool. 18
All meeting form factors MeetingSphere™ can be applied in different kinds of meetings: face-to-face or hybrid, real-time or asynchronous. A meeting host can prepare a meeting agenda based on previous inputs from the participants and afterwards the review and follow up of decisions can be made from within the same meeting platform.
19
“
“
At early stages of interaction, the collaborative software actually increases the depth of interaction by easing the difficulties of interacting with wide ranges of people we don’t know well.
Jacob Morgan 5
Contributions to the digital workplace
LEADING ENTERPRISES USE SIX BUILDING BLOCKS TO DEVELOP DIGITAL CAPABILITIES
1
STRATEG Y INNOVA AND TION
Focus on future v alue and fueled by drive experime ntation.
How can your new digital capabilities sustain a business advantage that brings tangible benefits to any organization? And what about the intangible benefits? How can MeetingSphere™ add to this equation?
2
Investment x Digital = Tangible & Intangible benefits
CUSTOMER DECISION JOURNEY
Deep analysis and ethnographic research to understand how and why customers make decisions.
Definitively the core of any leading group decision support system (GDSS) contribution lies within addressing complexity and problem solving. This makes this platform uniquely useful for all of the digital capabilities identified by McKinsey, albeit in different respects.
3
PROCESS AUTOMATION
Reinvented processes and customer journeys through automation and agile processes.
Core fundamental contributions of groupVision’s service offer can be found in all the building blocks of the digital capabilities identified by McKinsey & Co, ranked by importance of business impact:
5
TECHNOLOGY
2-speed IT to support core functions and rapid development.
21
4
ORGANIZATION
Agile, flexible, and collaborative processes an capabilities that follow strategy.
6
DATA AND ANALYTICS
Usable and relevant customer analytics tied to goals and strategies.
“
Source: McKinsey & Company
1
STRATEGY AND INNOVATION Strategic planning can be a frustrating and fruitless effort… or a productive and profitable use of your time. The results you get are determined by the process you follow. The virtual Strategic Planning process explained here was developed by our associate Mick Blasik integrating collaborative technology into the process to make it easier, faster and more inclusive.
Converting strategic management into strategizing MeetingSphere™ workshops transform strategy making into a more participative process that engages your workforce for the journey ahead. Providing key support for fresh ideas generation and a reliable method for effective brainstorming warrants successful innovation management.
This methodology is typically provided to the Organization’s top-key Personnel and Board Members (usually 10 to 25 participants). There are two parts to the virtual Strategic Planning process: Part 1: Organizational Definition, Discussion and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis: Review mission/vision statements Ask probing questions about the business, competition, future, etc. Analyze internal and external environments using the SWOT approach Part 2: Team’s Analysis and Planning: Propose goals/initiatives Develop action plans (timelines, resources, etc.) Establish keys to success At the end of the session, a comprehensive summary report is provided which include a complete history of your session and a complete listing of your plans. If you want to learn more about this virtual online collaborative approach that uses technology in a friendly and productive manner contact us. 22
2 3 4 5 6
CUSTOMER DECISION JOURNEY As a research tool, MeetingSphere™ can provide in depth information about what your customers think about your products why and what they most value them, how do they use them and most important how do they wish to be using them. These workshops can provide invaluable clues for customer engagement.
PROCESS AUTOMATION These are key workshops designed to identify and destroy the barriers that normally existed between different departments and create unified business processes to serve different customer segments.
ORGANIZATION The use and adoption of MeetingSphere™ fosters the development of new digital skills in leadership and participative management. Our Trust Canvas (4) can be used for stakeholder engagement and change management, among other activities where you can excel your consulting or management practice.
TECHNOLOGY
MeetingSphere™ is in itself a digital tool that is designed to support the 6 basic activities that take place during collaborative decision making and problem solving. It is a must-have piece of software to be used in any conference or huddle room (5) that is designed to inspire collaboration and creative thinking.
DATA AND ANALYTICS We provide tailored made virtual intervention that collect the soft information you require to manage an engaged and inspired workforce. With our MeetingSphere™ ‘kiosk apps’ you can have a detailed report that is continually updated. 23 5
References
(1) Jim Collins http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/ good-to-great.html (2) Simon Sinek http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/simonsinek568205.html (3) Jacob Morgan http://www.thecollaborativeorganization.com/ (4) Trust Canvas http://www.groupvision.com/portfolios/ webservices/?cpt_item=high-performance-business-canvas (5) High-performance MeetingSphere http://www.groupvision.com/meetingsphere/
5