I have often considered myself as being far better operating behind the scenes then being the public face of anything. It is one of the key reasons for me being a consultant. I get to provide fresh insight, share learning and collaborate in the creation of a healthier organisation with a refreshed purpose, yet remain safely behind the scenes. My clients get to reap the rewards of our combined efforts, and I get the deep satisfaction of having helped solve another complex challenge without being particularly visible. It directly appeals to the introverted side of my nature.
I have been more than happy with this approach for the best part of a decade, however recently I have decided that my approach can be construed as both selfish and hypocritical.
A huge number of ideas, principles and practices that have been generated and refined over that decade could be further developed to serve a much wider audience. An example of this is the Improvement Canvas which was shared recently, a wonderfully simple way of encouraging personal, professional and organisational development. Our thinking and our collateral opened up for anyone to use or modify is a great first step, and I am excited to see more and more of this be refined and published in the near future.
Most importantly of all, was turning this thinking and approach on Open Works itself. The openness and transparency I champion with my clients, the need for continual experimentation and learning to improve, the intrinsic motivator behind doing something positive for society. All things I champion and will happily talk freely about, yet never purposefully undertook myself in my own company. Until now.
Open Works is an Open Consultancy that lives up to its values and shares its work as freely as possible in pursuit of better personal, professional and societal outcomes. These are the principles which underpin how it operates.
Open Works Design Principles
We use our skills, experience and empathy to partner with forward-thinking organisations that genuinely want to make a positive difference to their employees and customers.
Open Works maintains an entirely flat, fully distributed (i.e. remote) cell-based operating structure. We only have 2 forms of employee, Partner and Subcontractor.
We are not enriching any third parties. Our consultants keep most of what they earn, with 1% going to our charitable foundation and 10% going towards the operation of Open Works. Thats it.
We measure ourselves on three key elements: 1) our individual notions of happiness, 2) positive recommendations from our clients and 3) our societal impact.
We use a seasonal cadence to reflect on our performance against our measures and challenge ourselves and our habits to go further.
We have an incredibly high recruitment standard. We work with trusted and proven individuals we have worked with in the past who can operate effectively as an Open Works Partner. Any required subcontractors are recommended and operate on a trial basis only.
We follow the advice process for decision making. Any partner can make any decision, as long as they seek advice from people who have made that type of decision before and from the people who the decision impacts. The outcome must always align to our core values and principles.
Our partners have the autonomy to contribute in their own way. They are trusted to do the right thing by themselves, their partners and our mission.
We continually explore, learn and validate new theories and approaches to work on ourselves as well as with our clients. We are the change we expect others to be.
Our practical IP is published with an open licence on Github for people to access, distribute and modify as they see fit. Our mission is to help make as many companies as healthy as possible.
Five years into the formation of Open Works, and it feels as though we are just getting started.