Corporate Education Group

Curing Ecosystem Blindness | 3 300 Brickstone Square • Suite 201 • Andover, MA 01810 USA • 1.800.288.7246 • +1.978.649.8200 • info@corpedgroup.com within the travel ecosystem by offering a unique service. • Recyclers. Recyclers fill a special niche that deserves mention. These companies follow larger companies and transform the remnants of their work into a viable business. An obvious example is the growing green clothing industry that transforms used soda bottles into attractive fleece jackets. However, recyclers are not always as obvious. For many years, independent consultants were the recyclers of the management consulting ecosystem. These small boutiques, known for their capability to help people adapt to organization change, came in after large firms implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems without considering the impact on employees. As recyclers, the boutiques gathered the detritus from the ERP implementation — morale issues, performance problems, resistance to change — and transformed it into thriving practices. Today, as systems implementers build change management skills to complement their technology expertise, opportunities for their boutique recyclers are waning. • Commodity Providers. These organizations provide simple, transactional services to organizations in the ecosystem. For example, ADP and Aon provide payroll services across ecosystems. Companies in India, China, and other rapidly developing countries sell low-cost coding services, leaving the more complex business analysis and technological architecture functions to on-site staff. These commodity providers can face stiff competition. Yet they play a vital role to the survival of ecosystem companies. Imagine what would happen if a company suddenly lost its ability to pay employees! Now That You Can See the Ecosystem... Michael May, who regained sight after 43 years of blindness, initially had difficulty making sense of the visual world. Likewise, leaders becoming aware of their ecosystem for the first time may initially feel overwhelmed and unable to synthesize the information. Until ecosystem competence grows, get the habit of scanning the ecosystem for warning signs: • A keystone organization that is failing, facing financial crises, or changing direction • A niche that is rapidly being crowded with competitors or that is becoming obsolete • A recycler that cleans up after companies that are becoming more efficient and leaving less behind These early warning signs can help you anticipate challenges before they arise and develop plans that will help your company thrive during change. ¹The concept of the keystone organization was developed by Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien in their 2004 book, The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability (HBR Press). About the Author: Maya Townsend, MSOD, is a trainer and consultant for Corpo- rate Education Group and specializes in leadership, strategy, and collaboration. During her career, Maya has successfully designed and facilitated training programs for over 5000 peo- ple in groups of 3 to 130 in the public and corporate sectors. Highly intuitive, analytical, and imaginative, Maya works at all levels, from CEOs to line workers, to develop the relation- ships, ideas, connections, and interdependencies that shift an organization to the next level of productivity and performance.

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