Jaleesa Simpson, 6 December, 2022
'Trust shapes our worlds and connects us with the past and future. When organisations are bestowed the heavy crown of trust, design and communication need to work together to trigger and shape trusting moments to guide action.' - Prof Amisha Mehta, QUT
'People are more likely to behave their way into a new way of thinking, as opposed to thinking their way into a new way of behaving.' - Ray Reagans, MIT Sloan
In series two of The Future Enterprise, a global webinar series jointly presented by MIT Sloan School of Management and QUT Business School, our experts discussed how to create a purposeful enterprise, how to cultivate trust for organisational success and how to scale inclusion for meaningful impact.
Delve deeper into the topics of our second series in their wrap-up articles and watch the webinar recordings below.
The Purposeful Enterprise
“Good design is fundamental to purpose; at its best it is invisible. Design gives meaning to objects and concepts, it is a connector,” Prof Lisa Scharoun, QUT
“The key to keeping purpose on the agenda of the COO and CEO is quantifying it in fiscal terms. Purpose in Action translates to culture, positive culture drives performance,” Prof Don Sull, MIT
In the first webinar of series two, Donald Sull from MIT Sloan and Professor Lisa Scharoun from QUT drew on their expertise to share their perspective of how purpose cannot exist without intentional design and lived social norms.
What's their advice for designing a purpose-led culture?
- Live your purpose
- Start, don't stop, with purpose
- Keep purpose on the agenda
- Respect shaping purpose
The Trusted Enterprise
“Trust shapes our worlds and connects us with the past and future. When organisations are bestowed the heavy crown of ‘hero’ trust, design and communication need to work together to trigger and shape trusting moments to guide action,” Prof Amisha Mehta, QUT
“Enterprises which trust employees with more responsibility and higher salaries are able to upskill work, stabilise employee’s schedules and pay significantly more than the competition. The puzzle is then, why don’t we see more firms adopting these mutually beneficial strategies?” Hahzir Rahmandad, MIT Sloan
Professor Amisha Mehta from QUT and Hazhir Rahmandad from MIT Sloan shared their insights into building a trusted enterprise and cultivating trust for organisational success, in the series' second webinar.
Their insights include:
- Establish trust or distrust
- Trust as an organisational glue
- Understand hero vs zero trust
- Demonstrate trust towards employees
- Promote inclusion
The Inclusive Enterprise
“People are more likely to behave their way into a new way of thinking, as opposed to thinking their way into a new way of behaving.” Ray Reagans, MIT Sloan
“How do you know what you’re doing is what should be done? No one has the complete answer, but…you need to look at the systems and structures of your organisation. People often want to know what’s different between our cultures for given situations, that puts us in a space where we need to know your culture really intimately but you don’t need to know ours.” Angela Barney-Leitch, QUT
To conclude series two, Ray Reagans from MIT Sloan and Angela Barney-Leitch from QUT discussed how leaders can initiate inclusion and scale it for meaningful impact in their organisations.
How can you create an inclusive enterprise?
- Analyse processes and policies
- Keep yourself accountable
- Change your behaviour
- Commit to the journey
Want to discover more about The Future Enterprise? Explore the whole series here.
Author
Jaleesa is the Marketing Content Coordinator for the Business and Law Faculty. She also is an alumni of QUT, completing a Master of Business (Integrated Marketing Communication), and a sessional academic in the Business School.