Internationally known expert in Business Intelligence and Organizational Alignment, and President and Founder of OLIVIAGroup, Olivia Parr Rud was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about her landmark and insight packed book Business Intelligence Success Factors: Tools for Aligning Your Business in the Global Economy.
Olivia Parr Rud describes how the explosion in information and Business Intelligence has increased opportunities on a global scale, requiring companies to rethink and redesign how they approach their entire business model.
Thanks to Olivia Parr Rud for her time, and for her informative and comprehensive responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the background to writing this book Business Intelligence Success Factors?
Olivia Parr Rud: During many years working in the corporate world, I saw how organizations struggled with the rate of change brought about by increased technology, specialization, and globalization. I noticed that clients who took a more holistic approach, i.e. viewed the organization as a living system, were more successful. So I began to observe and study their practices and leadership styles. Concurrently, I explored organizational dynamics and learned that there are some underlying scientific principles that effectively explain these organizational dynamics based on quantum physics, evolutionary biology and chaos theory.
Your book is about business intelligence. What is business intelligence and why is it important?
Olivia Parr Rud: Business intelligence is a term for the technology, data, automated processes and resulting intelligence that are used to improve the performance within an organization. Its importance comes from its power. Businesses that gather data and turn it into knowledge are able to gain a competitive edge by improving processes in all areas including marketing, product development, information delivery, human resources, finance, etc..
How can business people gain a deeper understanding of the current business landscape?
Olivia Parr Rud: I would suggest a few ways:
· Look at what is different and what is the same when compared to 1, 5, and 10 years ago. This is very powerful as a group exercise.
· Tap into how you feel; what inspires you, stresses you? How has this changed in the last few years?
· Learn the differentiating characteristics of the companies that are successful today – not just monetarily but those companies with a good reputation and high employee satisfaction.
Has recent research helped enhance the business intelligence relating to the business landscape for business people?
Olivia Parr Rud: There has been some research in the changes in organizational practices due to the increased rate of change. I think I am one of the few who has linked the resulting volatile business landscape created by the use of business intelligence to the latest research in organizational dynamics, the underlying science, and new competencies necessary to succeed.
Olivia Parr Rud (photo left)
One of the topics your book describes is chaos. What is chaos in this business landscape context?
Olivia Parr Rud: When leaders feel that their business is unstable or experiencing difficulties, they often describe it as chaos. They can view it as a problem that needs to be controlled. Or they can view it as an opportunity to unleash innovation and growth.
Has there been recent research, both in business and in other scientific disciplines, that has helped to understand the concept of chaos within organizations?
Olivia Parr Rud: Due to its nature, chaos is difficult to subject to scientific methods. However, there are a number of organizational experts such as Margaret Wheatley,Peter Senge, Christopher Laszlo, Jean-Francois Laugel, Edwin Olson, and Glenda Eoyang, who have written extensively and developed models for leveraging chaos within an organization. Olson and Eoyang suggest a number of frameworks for stimulating chaos while creating a container to leverage the effects.
Your book describes five essential competencies that can enhance a business's competitive positioning in a global marketplace. What are these competencies and why are they important to master?
Olivia Parr Rud: The five key competencies are Communication, Collaboration, Innovation, Adaptability and Leadership.
· Communication is an essential skill in the complex world of business intelligence. As organizations turn to high-tech solutions to address business challenges, employees need highly specialized and varied skill sets. In many organizations, each group speaks a “different language.” Yet their ability to effectively communicate is critical to the success of the business.
· Collaboration is critical to leveraging highly specialized skill sets among various groups or entities. At every level of an organization, it is no longer possible to do it all. Mergers and acquisitions are creating additional challenges. For collaboration to succeed, leaders must have the ability to build an environment of trust while encouraging competition.
· Innovation is quickly becoming the new competitive advantage. Business intelligence solutions are linear processes that can be automated or outsourced. Increasingly, these processes are becoming available to competitors. Consequently, businesses must be proficient at ‘whole brain’ thinking to creatively utilize these tools and insure continued innovation.
· Adaptability is necessary to stay current and competitive in the volatile global economy. Chaos theory says that if you fail to adapt, you will reach entropy or death. Adaptation is an ongoing process that must be supported.
· Leadership is perhaps the most important competency. The old fear-based, top-down leadership model does not work in our volatile global economy. The new breed of leaders will create the company vision, hire and empower self-starters, provide the resources, and let go. In a truly adaptable organization, everyone has some leadership role. Leaders will model the above competencies and set the standard for everyone in the organization.
How can the field of systems thinking help improve business performance?
Olivia Parr Rud: Because of the volatility in the world economy, viewing an organization as a ‘system’ can offer clues to how it is being affected by the pressures of globalization and the new high-tech, competitive landscape. In the past, companies were often product-focused and built in silos. Some organizations even encouraged competition between silos. But with business intelligence linking all the systems, many organizations are becoming customer centric. They are able to link all front end and back end processes.
Using a systems thinking approach, it is possible to optimize decisions for the entire organization. This may mean that the company will decide to sub-optimize in a given area while maintaining overall profitability.
Systems thinking can also help companies find problem areas sooner. For example, there can be indicators in one area of the organization that is a signal where adjustments have to be made in another area. And with the current level of complexity, a problem caused in one area may only be apparent only when something fails in another area. Therefore, communication and collaboration are essential for optimizing the system.
Your book introduces the concept of Holacracy. What is Holacracy and why is it important?
Olivia Parr Rud: Holacracy is a well-designed group of practices and structures that create an environment of strength and flexibility. The built-in accountability and transparency allows for the highest creativity while supporting the core vision and mission. It truly supports a systems thinking approach to business.
What is the future of business intelligence based on the research?
Olivia Parr Rud: The increased use of business intelligence is going to continue to drive competition in the global economy. As more and more companies embrace its power, they will have to develop the ability to adapt. This will take visionary, empowerment-based leadership as well as the competencies that support adaptability.
What is next Olivia Parr Rud?
Olivia Parr Rud: I feel that the most important competency for an organization is adaptability. My current research is focused on developing programs and practices to enhance leadership skills that improve adaptability. I am looking for opportunities to work with organizations in implementing these practices. In addition, I hope to start writing a new book on leadership next year.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your blog.
Kind regards,
Olivia
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My book review of Business Intelligence Success Factors: Tools for Aligning Your Business in the Global Economy by Olivia Parr Rud.
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