Again, I found a nice article in Eberhard Huber’s projekt (B)LOG “about projects and people”:
It is not easy to have an independent mind (Mitdenken ist nicht einfach).
Eberhard isolates four reasons for “the lack of an independent mind”:
- Solutions are not clear;
- Information is not complete;
- There is no freedom of ideas;
- Fear
He might well be correct. But what a pity! Because if everyone in a team, project, enterprise were willing and capable of “having an independent mind”, everything would work a lot better.
So what exactly is the meaning of having an independent mind?
For me, having an independent mind means that you are willing and capable of contributing towards a shared future concept with your own competence. If everybody in a team, project, enterprise did it on the right topics, at the right time and at the right place in the appropriate way, we would probably no longer need any “project managers”. And everything would run smoothly, anyway.
One of the cornerstones of success is the culture lived inside a team, project, enterprise. A second cornerstone is the social network of the team, project and enterprise.
In order for the culture to work well, such elements as communication at eye-level and transparency must basically be a matter of course. Values, such as civil courage and constructive disobedience must be accepted and lived. In fact, it is quite simple: the social system team, project, enterprise must create a fear-free and transparent setting for knowledge and creativity as a basis for cooperation.
Networking is easily organized and the rest can also be practiced together. You will soon see huge improvements.
RMD
(Translated by EG)