Managing Emergent Work: Revisiting Jazz Lessons
Published online at KnowledgeTree, February 2007
13 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2014 Last revised: 28 Dec 2014
Date Written: December 10, 2014
Abstract
Over time, a body of ‘conventional wisdom’ adopted from jazz band leaders has been codified to help managers lead emergent work processes. This wisdom encourages managers to create plans to guide execution, hide the emergent nature of the work from customers and lead subordinates by personally and publicly facing uncertainty head-on. This wisdom reflected a style of leadership that prioritised the actions of the individual leader over the actions of the collective. It came from an era where the separation between businesses and their customers was formal and proscribed. Today, this conventional wisdom is insufficient to support the fast pace of change and innovation required. It does not reflect the active role customers play in business development and the increased demand for transparency. It does not support simultaneously learning and doing during the work process. While conventional wisdom was informed by one view of jazz band leaders, today’s managers need to be guided by a different view of jazz band leaders – a view that focuses on how jazz band leaders support, not lead, emergence.
Jazz bands are always learning something new as they play. They focus on the conversation that emerges between notes, players and instruments. They start with a musical structure, but are not bound by it. They build mental maps of the expertise in their bands. They engage in front of, rather than hide from, the public. As knowledge about the music emerges, they support the emergent process of jazz by making connections among players, notes, and instruments, not by focusing attention on themselves. In the same way, successful managers support emergent work. The authors provide examples of this in both online and offline contexts, concluding that in order to successfully manage an emergent work process, people need to learn while they are doing the business of their work. To support this belief, four principles for managing emergent work are offered which improvise off the old conventions for a new riff on emergent leadership.
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