Kākou is the value of Communication: We all want to be In The Know.
Kākou is an intention, one of inclusiveness.
Kākou is a desire, a desire to embrace the hearts and minds of everyone involved, and to keep them close in every initiative and strategy, every goal and leap of faith.
Kākou is a goal. For a company to claim they are Kākou is a significant achievement. It means that everyone within that company has the feeling that they are included in everything that really matters. They are never left out, and hence, they matter.
On the other hand, when Kākou is missing in an organization, this is what you might hear:
“I’m sorry, but I just didn’t know about it. How can I be expected to participate?”
—Apologetic, Dejected, and Switched off People in many Organizations
We all want to be “in the know.” This desire is where that phrase “knowledge is power” comes from, for knowledge is awareness of the options we have to take action. Greater knowledge is greater awareness of all the variables associated with those options, and thus with the risk – or certainty – of the outcomes of our options. “If only I had known” means there was some information missing that we felt would have made a significant difference with the way things turned out.
When you adopt Kākou as one of your values, you continually ask yourself if you have asked everyone, told everyone, and let them know about everything that will affect their effectiveness. Thus we call Kākou the “Language of We,” for at its core, Kākou is about complete communication. Our language is our best tool in communication, for when you think about it, our language is our most accessible tool, and the one we more easily and naturally use. Think of Paul Revere and his midnight ride: When all else fails, our language is the tool we count on in communication.
Clearly, as the quote above with alludes to, Kākou leads to greater expectations of performance. We will acknowledge greater responsibility for those things we are aware of. However, pursuing Kākou is not just about assuring performance, and I urge you to think about that as the fringe benefit. Kākou goes farther and deeper, to trust and belief. It is the trust and belief in the “power of we,” and the desire for the synergy that comes from collective intelligence and willing, eager collaboration. We give people information, and we count on our belief that the way they will think about that information may possibly be different from how we will; it will create an even greater knowing.
Kākou is an assumption that others know what I don’t, and if we put our heads together, we can compare notes and gain the benefits we can share in. Kākou is knowing (and trusting, and believing) there is abundance there.
So a few questions to reflect on:
- Are we kākou in the way we communicate in this organization?
- Is everyone ‘in the know’ and feeling good about the awareness they have?
- Are people asking, “What’s going on?”
And perhaps, on a more personal level, your own asking and telling:
- Where am I in this chain reaction of communication?
- When am I asking for more knowledge, and how can I get it?
- When are others asking for more information, and when should I be giving it?
This last question goes back to that inventory of inclusion we took this past week, and you might want to take another look at your list.
Photo credit: Operator?! by Dalla at Flickr.
If you are just joining us, this is our third posting in our study of Kākou:
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