Stallone-Obaraemi Samuel: African businesses and the need for Co-Creation

According to Jean Houston in her article “Social Artistry”, too many of the problems in societies today stem from leadership. Unfortunately such leadership is grossly ill prepared to deal with present diversity and complexity. More unfortunate is the fact that this is not about inadequate training in a world that has supersonically become a global village, but even more tragically, it is about a lack of human resourcefulness, the unwillingness of leaders to leave their comfort zones. Our leaders appear to have been educated for a different world – a world long gone.

This is evident in the chaos, hatred and bitterness that is prevalent in today’s world that the formulas and stopgap solutions of the past can no longer contain. This has given rise to the strongest outcry so far in the history of man, for massive citizenry transformation and moral solidity.

The African Business community is not immune to the burns of this corrosive trend. Unfortunately some businesses have been left with deep scars. One basic reason is that African businesses today are blessed with managers of different generations, and in many cases different cultures. Although their strength lies in the their unity and intensive collaboration in the face of diversity, they fail to see this and these managers and leaders often avoid to work co-creatively with their co-leaders. In a firm at one point or the other, one person is either the internal service provider or the client. The situations may present themselves in very subtle forms. We just need to unbox our minds to see such situations.  They happen every day. Now, because humans are naturally creative, they want to shape their own experiences. Even if I have to spend 10 seconds talking or dealing with you, I obviously want to influence how I feel at the end of the day. Little wonder why we have so much friction in the world. The philosophy of co-creativity is to give everyone a chance to shape their experiences.

Logically the older generation managers might be slower and may take a little more time to think over decisions. However, the younger generation managers may be a little more brisk and daring. Some people may be “copro-politically” blunt, while others may be more discerning. Be that as it may, all cases actually complement one another, and managers and leaders must acknowledge that.

Co-creation is a generative process not only among consumers and suppliers but between all stakeholders - key partners, brokers, competition, and employees. Co-creation can be said to be a method of creating value by allowing participation and input from all sides with a view to innovating value for all. At its early stage, the definition was restricted to just consumers and suppliers. Today it has gone broader to include all stakeholders. Today co-creation is considered to be the key in the future, whether it be for innovation, marketing or distribution purposes. I like to add that it is also the key to high employee performance, strong corporate leadership and probably a saner world.

Organisation must continue to work towards balancing the drive for revenue with the education of managers and leaders to be more socially responsible and to be more accommodating. Usually when the stories across different generations and cultures are allowed to be told and actively listened to, the resultant story is bigger, better and bolder. Everyone becomes a part of the latter story.

Organisations must establish a culture that encourages leaders and managers to deliberately seek innovative solutions to troubling conditions. They must seek to groom managers that understand the deeper issues of today’s world and can air their views, however dissenting, in a clear, respectful but firm manner while accommodating the prevalent social complexities. You see the rule is simple: Someone mustn’t lose for you to win.

If African businesses yearn to forge enduring multi-stakeholder partnerships, create multi-sided sustainable business value, strong corporate culture that nurtures strong leadership with stable succession plans, then they all need Co-creative revolution.

Stallone-Obaraemi Samuel is Senior Human Resources Manager with TNS Global. Follow him @twitter.com/Stupendousstal

 

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