The Intelligent Enterprise – Yes, Organizations need to be Intelligent

Intelligent organizations possess and are constantly learning and leveraging contextual intelligence.

Contextual Intelligence has two forms:

External/Environmental Contextual Intelligence whereby the organization stays informed and connected to the changing environment… the changing financial environment, the changing business environment, the changing economic environment, the changing demographic environment, the changing social environment.

This contextual intelligence goes on business intelligence.  Contextual intelligence allows the organization to identify the “tenor of the times,” and with appropriate organization agility and flexibility, enables the organization to co-evolve with its environment.

Thus the organization is always in the state of becoming, as the environment is a state of becoming.  The organization is as dynamic as the environment, changing at the same pace, even anticipating and pre-empting contextual changes.

The organization is anticipating, as Gordie Howe says, “where the puck will be.”

The intelligent organization also possesses and constantly leverages Internal Contextual Intelligence.  The organization is constantly surveying its people, asking questions, seeking information, not only about its workforce, but also about the changing internal organizational environment.  How is the organization and its people responding to changes made in the structure, the strategy, and the culture?  How are environmental factors, including decisions made by the organization, impacting the workforce?

Also, the workforce, particularly that part of the human capital that has contact with customers, partners, industry associations and other industry leaders, acquires useful information that the organization can leverage, but without asking the appropriate questions, this information is lost to the organization.

The organization possesses, in addition to contextual intelligence, a social intelligence.  Social intelligence focuses on relationships, how to enhance relationships, build on partnerships (both internal and external), and continually enhance relationships to enable strategic advantage, product development, product positioning, and market place advantage.

The intelligent organization is populated by people, teams, and leaders that demonstrate emotional intelligence.  Those who have emotional intelligence are able to manage themselves, their relationships, and their interaction in the organization.  Emotional intelligence is not always innate, but it can be learned.  The organization should support emotional intelligence, teach emotional intelligence, and reward emotional intelligence.

The final intelligence possessed by the intelligent organization is system intelligence.  The organization understands that it is a system, and understands how all parts of the system work together, to enable high levels of performance for both individuals and the organization as a whole.

Systems intelligence will also inform the organization of its place in the larger system, and how that organization is both influenced by, and can influence the system, that functions as its container.

The intelligent organization is wise and worldly.  The intelligent organization thinks, feels and learns.  The intelligent organization is strategic and agile.

Some organizations are intuitively intelligent, especially at start-up.  As the organization grows in size and scope, intelligence can be learned, intelligence must be learned, if the organization is to stay viable in a turbulent.

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