[...]... The Conductive Organization 11 their own capabilities The conductive organization works back from the customer The conductive nature of the organization is based on its ability to constantly seek out what’s happening with the customer—to bring that reality, the customer’s reality, into the organization and then respond to that evolving reality on a real-time basis The customer perspective focuses the. .. the impossible With the capabilities needed in place, in an integrated, mutually reinforcing, and cohesive fashion, the organization can break through existing patterns and trends To summarize these 12 dimensions of a highly conductive organization, we’ve compiled the key points, looking first at the end (the performance outcome) and then the means (the process of getting there) 16 The Conductive Organization. .. value-creation network partners, then we must have structures that are aligned to support the internal practice of these qualities Systems The fourth core organizational capability in the conductive organization is systems the assembly of all horizontal and vertical The Conductive Organization 9 processes across the organization that enable it to implement its strategy We use the term system to mean a connected... to the customer strategy and its environment The organizational strategy, with its embedded knowledge strategy, addresses the capabilities and mechanisms The Conductive Organization 15 required to bring the overarching business strategy to life in service of the customer These strategies are symmetrical and connected—they embody one another and enable each other As they build in concert with one another,... infrastructure All of these systems work in concert to accomplish the organization s strategy, meet stakeholder expectations, and deliver products and services to customers Leadership Leadership sits at the center of the organizational capability model for the conductive organization It triggers the organizational dynamic, creating the tensions needed to keep the other four key organizational capabilities... from the engineering and manufacturing sector Despite their different sector foci, in recent years both these practitioners have grappled with the same problem—how best to configure, and lead, organizations to enable high and sustainable performance in the knowledge era The Conductive Organization describes the solutions they crafted and applied within their organizations Intellectual Capital When the. .. equal to the pace of changing customer needs As a result, the highly conductive organization has the right configuration of capabilities in the right place at the right time to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves Strategic capabilities These capabilities, both individual and organizational, are elevated to a strategic level because they are specifically needed to realize the organization s... further develop the organization required demutualization and the conversion to a shareholder-owned company, which it would achieve by 1999 If this wasn’t enough of a change challenge, the organization was also in the throes of acquiring the Canadian operations of the insurer MetLife—an acquisition that would double Mutual’s size At the same time, becoming a stock company led to the renaming of the organization. .. mitigating some of the risk they face in a connected world The Conductive Organization As with any new thinking, we find it useful to focus our ideas through a central, unifying image that captures and reflects our ideas, concepts, and models For us, an apt image for successful organizations in the knowledge era is the conductive organization Borrowing from the laws of science and applying them to the art of... marketplace 6 The Conductive Organization Core Organizational Capabilities in the Conductive Organization The knowledge era, digital age, networked economy, or any one of the new labels given to this all-encompassing change in our lives demands that we rethink the way we design and operate our organizations and interact with our customers Our belief is that we do have the capabilities to meet these challenges . PM Page ii The Conductive Organization Building Beyond Sustainability FM.qxd 3/19/04 3:49 PM Page iii This page intentionally left blank The Conductive Organization Building Beyond Sustainability Hubert. xi Acknowledgements xvii 1 The Conductive Organization 1 2 The Customer Imperative 23 3 The Knowledge Capital Model 35 4 Customer Calibration 53 5 The Strategy-Making Perspective of the Conductive Organization. Internal and External Branding: The Character of the Conductive Organization 97 7 Culture: The Collective Mindsets of the Conductive Organization 113 8 Structure: The Custodians of Conductivity