For this, my three hundredth blog post, I thought I’d mark the occasion by proposing something so irrational, so preposterous, so unbelievable that you might think I’ve lost my marbles.

Here it is:

“In knowledge-work, people work with their brains. So nurturing brain function is central to effective knowledge-work.”

And, in situations involving collaborative knowledge-work – as opposed to simply one or more individuals working with their individual brains:

“In collaborative knowledge-work, people work in concert with other people, all using their brains to some common purpose, or end. So not only is individual brain function central to effective knowledge-work, but nurturing collective brain function is central to effective collaborative knowledge-work.”

I see, time and again, organisations ignorant of this. Or, if not expressly ignorant, then wilfully choosing to ignore it. I can’t say for certain why this is. I suspect some number of different reasons are involved.

The Challenge

In any case, if you accept my basic premises stated above, then it follows that if organisations want to get the best out of their people, never mind doing the best for their people, then the real challenge is to create environments, situations, circumstances in which people can liberate and apply the enormous (untapped) potential of their creative minds, and of their innate social skills.

If you’re now wondering just how we might go about aligning our organisations to these new premises, how we might go about creating suitable conditions, you may like to check out some of my previous posts, including e.g. the Antimatter Principle.

Win-win

And through our creating such conditions, people working in these organisations may also come to feel better about both themselves, and their work. More appreciated, less distressed, and generally happier. We might call this a win-win scenario. A virtuous circle, even.

Is this something you’ve ever given thought to? Discussed with colleagues? Taken steps to do something about? Or is it so unbelievable you’d feel an idiot for even mentioning it? I’d love to hear.

– Bob