Guest post from Jurgen Appelo:

Thirty
years later, the story is still known all over China. With a market share of
close to eight percent, Haier became the biggest producer of major household
appliances in the world in 2011. At the time of writing this article, Mr. Zhang
still leads the company. And he is still on the lookout for new and better ways
of management. I feel proud and honored that he wrote the foreword for the
Chinese translation of my first book, Management
3.0.
What Would You Put on Display?
People love expositions, exhibits, and museums. Expositions about art, expositions about history, expositions about science, expositions about architecture, expositions about technology, expositions about biology (we call them zoos), expositions about photography, and (probably) expositions about expositions. If you are on vacation in Amsterdam, you can even go to an exposition about sexuality. And if you’re on a business trip in China, you can go to an exposition about the company that invited you, like I did when I was invited by Haier. Expositions and museums are popular because they tell stories with pictures or objects. They inspire people by showing both the beautiful and the terrible things that have shaped humanity into what it is now. Some things we hope to create more of in the future, while other things we hope to never witness again.
What would you have on display if your team had an exposition? Which photos, videos, sounds, screenshots, or texts would you show to your guests? Which emails, trophies, badges, or gifts did you get in the past that could serve as an example of what you want in the future? Which products, phone calls, or objects will serve as a reminder of things that should never happen again? Research suggests that adding a visual element to your goal-setting efforts brings you stronger results. [Dowden, “A Picture is Worth 1000 Words”] And artifacts can contribute to the communication of shared values and purpose. [Robin and Burchell, No Excuses loc:586] So, which stories can you showcase with artifacts to emphasize your goals?
When you are able to create a nice exposition about the work in your team, department, or organization, it is likely that you have found and visualized your purpose.
Jurgen Appelo is Europe’s most popular
leadership author, listed on Inc.com’s Top
50 Management Experts. His
latest book Management 3.0 Workout,
full of concrete games, tools, and practices, is available for free. Download
it here: http://m30.me/wo
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