1st Edition
The Nature of Business Transformation A Swarm Intelligent Approach to Reinventing Organisations
This book is a practical guide for business professionals to develop and improve business intelligence and collective decision-making within their organisation. It proposes a progressive reconfiguration of the traditional business operating system using a nature-inspired framework called swarm facilitation that enables and facilitates collective decision-making.
Organisations have followed the same rigid formula of problem-solving and decision-making for over 100 years. It is dominated by centralised governance and pyramid decision-making. Such an approach is no longer fit for purpose in an environment of employee disengagement, artificial intelligence (AI)/superintelligence, and Covid-19 fallout. By the end of this book, readers will be able to:
- solve organisational problems and challenges collectively using swarm intelligence
- upgrade and future-proof business operating systems to reflect a more collective decision-making approach fit for the new connected economy and Industry 4.0
- embrace mindset quotients that support people working in a more networked, self-organising, and collective environment
The book is important reading for leaders and managers who are focused on building organisational capital and engagement and gaining value from the emerging technology by evolving their business operating system into a digital ecosystem as part of an ongoing digital transformation strategy. It will also appeal to experts working in the field of organisational change and development, both within the organisation and as consultants.
Introduction: Small Steps and Giant Leaps
Part 1: Theory
1. Business Transformation: From the Old Boss to the New BOS
2. How Honeybees Can Help Us Reinvent Organisations
3. Human Waggle Dancing in the Age of Intelligence Amplification
Part 2: Application
4. Swarm Transformation: Three Levers That Enable the Business to Swarm
5. Swarm 1.0: Developing a Local Human Swarm Strategy
6. Swarm 2.0: Developing an Augmented Workplace Swarm Strategy
7. Swarm 3.0. Towards a Business Superorganism
Conclusion: Swarm Transformation at a Glance
Biography
Richard Kelly is a London-based author, keynote speaker, columnist, and leadership and organisational development specialist. He has enjoyed an international career that has spanned 25 years working in the private and public sectors in various senior leadership roles. For the last 15 years, Richard has worked as an independent consultant and entrepreneur based in Europe and South America. Currently, he is the director of a niche UK-based leadership and organisational development consulting company, Swarm Business Solutions, that works with inspirational leaders to support the digital, structural, and behavioural transformation of organisations using the swarm transformation approach outlined in The Nature of Business Transformation.
'From schools of fish to swarms of bees, the biological principle of Swarm Intelligence empowers natural groups to combine their perspectives and make optimized decisions. Richard Kelly's latest thought-provoking book explores how similar principles can be applied to organizations, empowering business teams to optimize their collaborative process'.
Louis Rosenberg, CEO, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inventor
'This is truly an uplifting book addressing system leadership and giving us a pathway to achieve systemic change. Combining theory, applications, and supported by examples and research, this book fosters a new generation of collective leaders and systems. This is a moment in time where this book makes a compelling contribution to our thinking on leadership and systems in the decades ahead'.
Mario Chiasson, President of the Atlantic Education Institute and Director of Research, Innovation and Change Management
