Situational awareness at the edge

I first saw this tweet from David Bray, CIO of the FCC : 

Empower the edge, because it has better situational awareness than the top of the hierarchy. -David Bray @fcc_cio #Salesforce #ImpactMatters pic.twitter.com/ApUlZIa93w

— Zachary Jeans ☁️ (@ZacharyJeans) December 11, 2016

and I thought that made good sense. I found the article that it came from which is here : https://www.rainpartners.com/secrets-of-it-leadership-a-conversation-with-dr-david-bray-senior-executive-and-cio-of-the-fcc/ and it makes for interesting reading. I liked his comments :

"As a CIO I think the best thing I do is listen, and learn, and try to build a case as far as what are the different things needed for the different offices.

The second thing is actually to be very open that you want people to give you feedback. In a changing environment the top is only a few people, whereas an organiation has many more people at the edge. And they’re actually going to know what best fits their context. So it’s much more about cultivating and raising their insights up, as opposed to just doing things from the top.

And the good thing is I’ve now been doing what my PhD showed now at the FCC, as well as with the defense and intelligence agencies, which is about championing change agents. Change agents, I give them autonomy, I give them a measurable sense of progress, and I give them a meaningful source of work, and that intrinsically motivates them to be much more doers and getting things done at the edge, than it would ever be possible if we tried to do it in terms of command and control from the top."

and

"Another thing is you not only have to empower the edge, but you also have to encourage and cultivate a diversity of insights. I actually tell my team “I’m going to have blindspots”. I want them to be able to point them out. Bring data—so it’s not just your opinion—but I’m open at any given time. Come into my office, let’s have a conversation. And if you think there’s a better way we can go as an organization in terms of our strategy, please bring it.

I know I’m going to have blind spots, I’m only human, and we’re in an era of rapid, turbulent technology change, and so we all have to work together cultivating change agents."

Makes good sense to me