How we define things sets a framework for life to unfold
Heroic Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 – by Frédéric Chopin found on Reddit.
This summer, I took a train across Poland, and while the landscape gently rolled outside the window, I played Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor which I found on my phone. It was first performed in 1830 at the National Theater in Warsaw with Chopin himself as a soloist, one of the last concerts before he left for France. The connection between his music and the land is incredible. I am sure he would be puzzled by the wind farms, but the rest remains unchanged.
Gregory Ronczewski is the Director of Product Design at Ibbaka. View his Skill Profile.
"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never." ~ Søren Kierkegaard
I found this passage in The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. It beautifully captures the difference between what we know and what awaits to be discovered. I am not sure how this book found its way to my shelf, but I am certainly glad it did. It gave me quite a few bits of information which I just needed to help me solve another competency modelling puzzle.Our competency modelling environment is done, and we have decided to build several open models that will be released to the public. We hope those models will serve as a starting point for defining organizational competency models or that they can be used as-is, for anyone interested in the competency. We hope they are relevant to individuals as well, although the individual use proves to be a little more tricky then imagined. And this is precisely when The Art of Possibility came into focus.One module that we still need to add to the competency modelling environment is a function allowing you to see a birds-eye view of your model. A structure of all components and their relations. How it is all this connected? It could be as simple as a table of contents, something we are all familiar with. But what happens if the model has hundreds of jobs or skills included? (We have one model already with more than 1,000 jobs.) It will be tough to see this all at once. It is pretty much a visual challenge, but at the same time, I kept asking myself why - why do I need to see the whole thing? In many books, the table of content spans over multiple pages and it's fine. But here, there must be a reason why it is critical to see the whole model at-a-glance.
Benjamin Zander, the co-author of The Art of Possibility, is the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic and a guest conductor with orchestras around the world. He is also a teacher with decades of experience, and you will find a whole array of stories linking music to the non-musical world. Or rather, finding music references in almost anything that surrounds us.
"...the performer loses his connection to the long line of music when his attention rests solely on perfecting individual notes and harmonies." It is perfectly played, but it is dull and lacks passion.
Years ago, I played an instrument. After unsuccessful attempts to complete a piece, my teacher told me to just play it. Don't look at the score to follow every note. He was right. It is the feel of the whole piece that gives it its power. The bars and notes are there, but you need to look beyond them. A similar situation can be observed in racing sports. An athlete walks the course visualizing it, to make a mental model of it. All the bends and turns, highs and lows create a rhythm. If you learn the rhythm, you may succeed in making a perfect run. And this is precisely why we need to see the whole Competency Model - to understand its meaning. What is this model intended to accomplish? What culture do we hope to encourage through this model. How will it be used and by whom? Yes, the individual behaviours, roles, jobs and skills will be there, but one needs to look beyond those necessary objects to fully understand what kind of organization will emerge from adopting such a model.
One of the models we are working on is Design Thinking. Again, it's not about a desire to apply Design Thinking to an organization. It is about what an organization that has adopted the Design Thinking model will be capable of. Which brings us a definition of a model. Here it is:
1. a three-dimensional representation of a person or thing or a proposed structure, typically on a smaller scale than the original.
2. a system or thing used as an example to follow or imitate.Both definitions describe a model as a construct to illustrate something that does not yet exist. Of course, one can build a model of Notre-Dame cathedral, but my point is that the whole idea behind competency modelling is to set up a stage for the future, the art of possibility.
What open competency models would you like to see? Would you be interested in adopting or enhancing a model once it is available? Let us know. Apart from Design Thinking, we are working on the Customer Success model. Perhaps we could collaborate on one that interests you. Send an email to info@ibbaka.com and we promise to respond right away. Possibility never disappoints.
