Just Thoughts #28: Do you know the level of your organisational maturity?
Discussing organisational maturity, Ai and art, and who's responsible for translating all the content in the world? The publisher or the consumer?
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This article's Content is “handwritten” and co-piloted with Grammarly’s spell-checking and rephrasing for the desired tone of voice. I’m dyslexic, so the tool helps me overcome my impediments.
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I’ve had a few LinkedIn discussions with former employer Kristo Ovaska over the past week. He’s building a tool for personal development and feedback because he was proud of the feedback culture Smartly.io managed to create. I felt inclined to engage as much in maintaining and developing that culture as my responsibility during my tenure in the company. Hence, in this week’s post, I aim to summarize everything from the frameworks to the tactics we utilized to develop the culture.
I must acknowledge that here on substack, you can find
writing about culture building in companies, and his work has inspired me. Secondly, I’d use your attention towards ’s the piece on non-violent communication. Instead of discussing his successful incubation on the turpentine network, he gives an essay in the defence of the framework. This is a framework I’ve also subscribed to, and if Eric pointed out that it’s not a language you’d use in a work setting, which I disagree with, I would support the thoughts written.If you’re new to Just Thoughts and wondering why I highlighted Erics's work, you may want to read the intro for Just Thoughts #20 for more context. Without further ado, let’s dive into it.
P.S. Eric is looking for a CEO for Turpentine.
Free Headlines This Week:
Translating with AI: Who’s job is it?
AI in Art
Tribal Leadership: A framework for understanding organizational maturity
Paid Headlines This Week:
None. I struggled this week to create content, so do me a favor and pass this week’s new letter to those who struggle with culture creation or a lost CEO trying to figure out the subject.
Translating with AI: Who’s job is it?
In the previous Just Thoughts (#27), we reviewed The Finnish Startup Communities Vision for 2040. The document wasn’t released in English, which was weird, as it should have taken seconds to get a translated version, which you can now find here.
Using ChatGPT to do this work, I first tried to get it to get the same layout in a new PDF file, but it took so long that it didn’t let me download it, as the chat timed out. You can find that thread here.
While doing the exercise, I pondered: In a world with near-instant translation at the tip of your fingerprints, who’s expected to complete the translation? The publisher or the consumer? Furthermore, what’s the better option for the planet if everyone does it, as the answer comes with computational costs that heat our planet?
The document's release also included a recording released later in the week on YouTube. The comment section consists of a call for translation, which made me wonder why YouTube hasn’t rolled out a feature yet with instant translation as a premium feature you’d pay to unlock. I mean, the technology is here; what’s holding everyone back?
Someone product managing these tools could hopefully answer our questions, but I’m even more curious about whether it makes more sense to build a translator app for consumers or producers 🤔. As a producer, there is a marketing angle to it; you may reach and engage users in their native tongue who haven’t engaged with your content yet. However, once they are hooked, do you need to be the one to translate all of your content?
We’re not far away from being able to trust a computer-generated translation that we can’t read ourselves thoroughly. As long as the devil is in the details, the producers are arguably still responsible and worried about the conveyed meaning of the words used in the other language. Nonetheless, it’s only a matter of time before AI overcomes this hurdle and can always provide a perfect translation 100% of the time.
When that point comes, I feel there’s room for an app that handles all of your translations, acting like a filter between you and the content you consume online, whether audio or written. You "just turn it on,” and it’s translating for you. It will be the type of feature nested in your device family, and it feels like an Apple “thing.” A feature you turn on across all of your Apple devices, including your AirPods.
Anyway bara för att jag kan, niin vaihdan niiden kielien välillä, que eu sai falar, and I bet this might actually mess with the future translator app.
AI in Art
Just Thoughts #26 featured an interview with Kevin Aboch, whose artwork has been displayed in the Center of Helsinki for the past few weeks. On the last day of the exhibition, we visited with the kids and discussed how a computer could have created the art displayed. Kevin had taken thousands of pictures of people living in Helsinki and created AI-generated portraits.
The main message for the kids is that you can use the computer to create many things. Just imagine what you want to make. In other words, AI is a tool, but it is also a potent one. We’re not giving people guns when we’re giving people this technology. We’re giving nukes. However, unlike nukes, the tools can also do a lot of good in this world.
On a related note, at the AI in Art event, we discussed, among other AI-related topics, whether it makes sense to train an AI how we teach children. Image programming an AI to learn like a child. It sounds like something from the movie reviewed in Just Thoughts: 14, The Creator, but some have already decoded how kids learn languages by strapping a camera on a baby’s head. The question is not: Can we do it? It’s why we want to do it?
It still makes sense if the reason is to understand more about how we work as humans. I would at least like someone to crack all the questions related to what happens in our brains when we sleep. Based on Neuralink's ambitions, we can use technology to allow the blind to see in the future. This would undoubtedly be revolutionary but also likely to mess with qualifications for the Paralympics.
However, if we want to create child robots that learn like humans, I’m not sure we want to. Who said computers learn new things the same way humans do? I'm not an expert here, but would training AI the same way we educate children make any sense? I highly doubt it. Hence, the only other reason to create them is for companionship. With declining birthrates globally, it wouldn’t be weird if there was a market for robot children a few decades from now, no matter how bleak such a future may feel.
Nonetheless, AI will remain a tool, and there will come a day when you either reach AGI or the level of sophistication of the tool that is AI will be so high that it will be able to solve most of the problems humanity has today, only unlocking a whole new set of challenges we couldn’t grasp before that day arrives. Until that day, I will still stick to typing and writing because it makes me feel I still have a soul.
Tribal Leadership: A framework for understanding organizational maturity
I think I came across this framework as a reference from Chris Thur, CEO and founder of Yousician, after my tenure at Smartly.io. I like it because it describes organizational maturity and why some interventions don’t work even if they are “the thing to do” within organizations to create healthier work cultures. Additionally, instead of just being "descriptive” of what more extraordinary cultures there are, it gives you a roadmap to get there, unlike the Culture Code, a book I came across before joining Smartly.io.
The premise of Tribal Leadership is that organizations, teams, and groups operate on a ladder of “cohesion” from level one to level five, with one being the lowest level. The study's premise is the language used within organizations, combined with their financial performance data, which gives a stronger scientific foundation for the framework than spiral dynamics. A model with the same philosophical foundation, a group operating on lower levels, won’t understand the thinking and ways of working of those on the higher levels. Additionally, the level of operation may fluctuate with time, meaning a group may degrade.
In its simplest form, Tribal Leadership’s levels can be summarized as follows;
Level 1: The language used is “all life sucks”. Rarely found in the business context, it reflects an environment where everyone thinks all life everywhere is terrible. Individuals have resigned to the notion that society works for them.
Level 2: “My life sucks” is the premise, meaning individuals recognize someone somewhere has it better than them, but their life is crap. Business organizations rarely operate at this level, but you can find individuals who reside in higher-level groups who operate on this level.
Level 3 is the “I’m great level” where people compete, and the prevailing language is individualistic. There is no shared identity; unfortunately, this environment can be found in many business and societal organizations. I don’t fare well in these organizations, as I don’t have a sense of competitiveness, as described in the leadership profile assessment I shared in Just Thoughts #27.
Level 4: “We’re great!” the group or organization has a shared identity but still recognizes there are others to compete against.
Level 5: “Life’s great!” is the level that inspires all, and groups operating at this level tend to make history. The difference in performance between level four and level five is that at level five, everyone who tries to tackle the same challenge in their way is a collaborator, not a competitor. For example, if your business is curing cancer, everyone trying to do the same is a collaborator, regardless of organizational lines.
Here’s also the crux of distinguishing highly effective criminal organizations from unrecognized ones. A criminal organization will still justify actions against those who share the same values or aspire towards the same ultimate goal. In other words, they can never ultimately operate on level 5. They also find it unacceptable for you to leave the organization, meaning they rob individuals of “choice”. The one thing that allows people to move from level 1 to level 2.
Tribal Leadership's explanation of how to help individuals and teams move from one level to another sets It apart from other books about organizational culture. It doesn’t simply describe what is happening at the highest levels everyone wants to reach; it gives a roadmap and concrete actions. Additionally, the framework explains why seemingly right actions do not compute in some environments; Higher-level language does not resonate with individuals operating at lower levels, and from personal experience, I can say anyone who hasn’t ever operated on a higher level cannot imagine what it feels like. Their questions roam around lower-level problems, such as “What about competition?”.
Without going into detail about the process of moving people from one level to the next, the brief actions are as follows;
From level one to level two, Show people they have a choice. It’s a choice to stick to the environment. It’s a choice to consume the drugs. It’s a choice to react the way you do the actions of others. It’s a choice to hang out with the people who drag you down.
Because of this, I’ve made it deliberate to think in choices rather than decisions. Many get depressed because they feel they don’t have a choice. They use a language with themselves, saying, “I must or have to take care of the kids,” instead of saying, “I choose to take care of these kids.” The difference is seemingly subtle, but the impact is remarkable; you regain a sense of control.
Additionally, as discussed in Just Thoughts #27, there are two types of decisions—the one-way and two-way doors. The ones you can’t reverse and the ones you can. This takes away the power of “decisions”. Nothing is reversible when everything becomes a choice; there are only future choices to make in your new context that carry the consequences of your previous choices.
In my mind, thinking in decisions rather than choices disregards the result of time. When time passes, the context changes. It is no longer “the same decision” you’re reversing. Instead, and more often than not, it’s a new choice you’re making.
Thinking in decisions rather than choices disregards the result of time.
Finally, teaching your organization to believe in choices rather than decisions is a countermeasure for individuals falling into level 1. However rare it is to find that in business life, I’d argue it will make all the difference in the world for those at risk of suffering from depression or getting caught in addiction due to the turmoils of life, as it allows people to regain a sense of control.
From level two to level three: According to the tribal leadership model, those operating on level two feel a lack of appreciation. They do not feel valued. That is why their life sucks, but they can still recognize others have it better. To get someone from level two to level three, you need to acknowledge them. It would help if you gave them appreciation.
In non-business-related settings, I thank people for simply existing and sharing time. Nobody needs to try to exist, and giving time is something everyone can do if they choose to in business settings. It’s pretty simple. However, if time doesn’t seem to work, you may reflect on the five languages of appreciation when it comes to showing it. Some may prefer gifts over time. Others may prefer words or gestures like handling a task they struggle with.
Regardless of the method, the outcome is to show they are valued. That includes everyone, and the most commonly forgotten person is the CEO. Sometimes, they don’t deserve appreciation, but a CEO who doesn’t feel appreciated usually gets the whole organization stuck at level three or lower.
From level three to level four, magic happens when people develop a shared sense of identity. Getting there requires joint discussions about what people in the organization value and what they have in common, as well as forcing people to find others to collaborate so they can achieve greater things than they could alone.
Here’s a simple exercise:
Think about a time that brought you pride and joy at your company or in your team.
- Write your story on a Post-it - 3 min - 5 phrases max
- Share your story with a pair - 5 min (2 min / 2 min each) --> Give and receive feedback on how to make the message clearer. Get it down to three phrases max.
- Share your stories with another pair (4-person groups - 10 min, 2+2+2+2 min, and 2 min wrap-up) --> Pick one story to share with everyone. One person from the group shares their story.
Depending on the group's cohesion, you can be flexible with the times. Collect all stories and codify them into values. Codifying here means capturing the stories in simple, memorable one-liners that describe the stories in verb form. The easiest would be to use an LLM like chatGPT to help you.
Level four to level five requires creating a shared purpose—a noble cause everyone believes in and strives for. I’d refer to Simon Sineks' work, Find Your Why. However, remember this computer only with the team working on level four who have shared values. Try forming purpose in an environment where people are at level two; it will be a complete waste of effort. Also, operating at this level, you’ll have a team and organization that resembles religious tendencies. Others may start labeling you as a cult, so if you’re a leader of such an organization, make sure you don’t get lost in the cause and actually become one.
That’s an abrupt ending for this week, but as always there is more content to be written and consumed next week!
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